SRman

I'm not 100% sure on this (translations of information from Danish to English can be a little odd, at times!), but I believe the initial engines fitted were air-cooled, but later ones, and refurbished units, are water cooled. What information is available is that the type of Deutz engines and the mechanical ZF automatic gearbox specifications changed with later batches. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IC3 Whatever the actual case is, these units are smooth-riding, quiet, comfortable, and accelerate quickly to their maximum speed of 180kph. They wouldn't win any beauty awards, but the rubber-nosed design has featured on the subsequent 4-car IR4 EMUs (which can couple up to and work in multiple with the IC3 units), and also on the Oresund trains which run into Sweden, but are incompatible with the IC3/IR4 units. On our trip from Copenhagen to Hamburg via Fredericia on the Jutland Peninsula, we had unit 5058 for the leg to Fredericia, then changed trains to 5085 for the rest of the journey (only certain units have the necessary German Automatic Train Control fitted, so 5085 seems to be a well-photographed unit at Hamburg). There was an eight minute cross-platform changeover time allowed, which worried me a little as here in Australia that would probably result in a missed connection. As it was, the DSB trains were dead on time all the way. I should add that I was able to get us into 1st class for the same price as Standard class on the earlier train I had originally planned to use., just by taking a train an hour later than planned.

And now for something completely different! I enjoyed my rides on Danish IC3 DMUs so much I wanted a model as a momento. The only model of these units in HO scale has been from Heljan in the early 2000s. They had some mechanical problems and weren't especially detailed, but they looked reasonable. There were several livery variants released, including two different DSB (Danish state railways) versions, a Swedish (SJ) one (their class Y2) and an Amtrak one, marketed as a Walthers model. They are all as scarce as hen's teeth! I managed to locate one in the Swedish 'Kustpilen' livery (literally 'coast pillow', as far as I can ascertain) at a reasonable price in France, and it arrived today. I may, at some stage, repaint it into DSB silver with dark blue window strips, but for the present it will remain in SJ livery. I have already done one modification to improve reliability, and that is to tap a small screw into the base of the centre car at each end to locate the bogies, which previously just rested there and tended to pull out the drive shafts (a known fault with these models). The centre car has a central motor and flywheels, whereas the real ones have the outer, driving cars powered (with two Deutz engines each) and the centre section unpowered. It was DCC-ready and now has a Lenz Standard+ V2 decoder fitted. The unit has run successfully around Newton Broadway, but still needs a little adjustment and fettling before I can say it is totally reliable. P_20190212_213559_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20190212_213614_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

I believe they may have retooled the body too, but I don't have a date for that. I agree with Chuffinghell that we should not have to clean off flash on these things, although, to be fair to Dapol, their wagons do tend to be a little less expensive than the other major manufacturers.

The fencing off of the public footpath from the railway is almost complete now. there are a few spots where railings have pulled away from their posts and will have to be re-glued, and a few very minor paint touch-ups required, but otherwise I am very pleased with the overall effect. I want to add some appropriate signs and a few cast iron (white metal) bollards at each end of the path t complete the scene. P_20190130_220053_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20190130_220117_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Trying out a slightly different viewpoint, class 700 0-6-0 30315 passes the same location with a mixed goods train with 20 wagons. P_20190202_114349_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr The modern class 68 in the upper left of the above photo spoils the illusion slightly, but was on track cleaning duties with the new CMX track cleaning tank wagon. I am also trying out Track Magic fluid in it for the first time. So far it has now cleaned all of the outer track and loops, but still has some of the inner loop lines to traverse.

As a slight divergence from the fencing work, I have 'bitumened' the goods yard/engine shed roadway, and the occupation crossing leading in, using a textured spray paint. P_20190128_103931_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20190128_103943_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Continuing the development of the lineside fencing, I have added the railings to the posts over a few sessions to help preserve my back. The first photo shows the tools and materials involved. As can be seen, I decided a green suited the fences at the level crossing end. P_20190128_123658_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20190128_123613_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20190128_123623_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20190128_171723_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20190128_171613_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20190128_171704_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

In my original sound installations in 33s, with LokSound V3.5 decoders and 100 ohm speakers, I used two speakers in parallel. One in the fuel tank mouldings, and the other, a 23mm round speaker with severely cut down sound chamber mounted at an angle behind the cab bulkhead at the #2 (non-radiator) end. This still works well today on both of the locos I fitted this way. One retains its original Howes sounds, the other has been reblown with a slightly cut down legomanbiffo sound project. I see no reason why this would not work on a newer Heljan 33, although with newer LokSound or Zimo decoders, the range of 4 or 8 ohm speakers available is much greater.

I like what you have done with the Jeeps, fodenway. I clicked the 'Useful/Informative' icon, but wanted to do the 'Craftsmanship/Clever' one as well - we can only choose one, so please consider the other one clicked as well!

Just in case anyone is wondering: do I have a plan in what I do next? Answer: No. not really. I do what I feel like doing at the time, within the overall constraints of certain things have to be done before other jobs can follow.

The recent spell of hot weather means that I have not been doing much in the train room - that remains hot because I have to keep the doors closed because of two certain young cats who love to poke around in there given half a chance! I did get a few more road vehicles under way - some John Day and TPM CarKit 4 models. More about them later. I also started on one of the more permanent buffer stops to replace all the temporary ones from various different sources. The Peco ones aren't too bad so may remain in places, but the others have to go. I dug out one of a batch of Mike's Models buffer stop kits (type C) which represents at least some of the Southern constituents' practices. I used Araldite to assemble it, and it is a little rough but that was a learning process. The sleepers have come from a short off-cut of Peco bullhead track. There's a photo of it on the workbench in unfinished state, and a couple of it in a finished state in place, but not anchored, on the layout. I will have to re-ballast that area too. P_20190127_105744_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20190127_134314_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20190127_134325_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr These also show a little bit of fencing I have been playing with at the end of the siding, and protecting the level crossing access. This is a bit of Ratio spear fencing with a gate (in black). All of it is in raw plastic but I haven't decided what colour the fence and gate should be in yet: obvious ones are white, black or green. Here are a couple of earlier shots showing the arrangement in more detail. Note that it isn't glued down yet. These also show the earlier, unsatisfactory (to me) temporary buffer stop. The new, slightly shorter stop means the gate looks as if it actually has room to swing open. Note also work has commenced on the four-rail fence, with the top rail now glued in place. P_20190126_215429_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20190126_215446_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

The Parkside kits use some standardised sprues for the underframes, so parts are included for alternatives and even duplicates where the same sprue is needed for some doubled-up parts. It is probably cheaper for them to churn out two sprues with all the parts rather than two differently designed sprues with only those parts needed for a particular kit. Keep all the unused parts in the old modeller's scrap box for future use on other projects.

The opposite to the above is if you are prepared to sacrifice the interior fittings, use a Replica motorised chassis.

Hornby have managed this before, because they keep their cards close to their collective chests. Remember the 2 BIL? It was only a very short time between their announcement and them actually appearing in the shops.

All of the earlier Hornby non-TTS sound locos had 21-pin ESU decoders and PCBs set up for the 21-pin interface.

True, but they don't mention her swallowing any beer!

The CMX Track Cleaner wagon had its first test run this evening. I top-and-tailed it with two Heljan class 33/1 locos, although one was more than capable of shifting it, as the second half of this video demonstrates.

If you are a true, dinky di Aussie, you learn to swallow them in the right direction!

Just a thought: if the body was not the original one, the lighting in the cab modules may not be correct for the way Hornby wired the sound locos. For some reason, only theri sound locos (using the 21-pin ESU LokSound decoders) had positive return on the lights, while all other locos had negative return (from memory - maybe it was the other way around). What this meant is if bodies were swapped , one had to swap the cab interiors back to the chassis they started with otherwise the lights would not work. Further to that, is it possible the lights are causing a short in one direction? The ESU decoders do have a form of overload protection so will take themselves off-line if the short occurs. With that in mind, try removing the cab interiors from the body and running the loco without them, then put each one in turn and try it.

Extra protein!

Here we go again, this time with some more modern diesels and an electric. All of the named examples have etched plates fitted, either as supplied by the manufacturer, or bought as third party add-ons. Listing them in numerical class order, class 58 is represented by three Heljan locos: 58 017 is in the class' original "red stripe" railfreight grey livery. 58 004 is in the pre-privatisation Mainline livery adapted from the previous Railfreight 'triple grey' livery. 58 024 is in the privatisation era EW&S livery, which was later simplified slightly to just EWS. P_20190117_214652_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20190117_214856_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20190117_215559_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Next is my solitary class 59, 59 005 Kenneth J Painter, which has a Lima body on a newer Hornby chassis. I have fitted head and white marker lights at this end only. I will try to do a neater installation at the other end in the future, but I don't see the need to waste my efforts on working tail lights. P_20190117_212230_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Class 60 is next, with three Hornby examples in my collection: 60 077 Canisp is in the intermediate triple grey Mainline livery. 60 078 is in the 'proper' Mainline aircraft blue, and is heavily weathered. 60 048 is in EWS maroon, with the later branding style than 58 024. P_20190117_215007_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20190117_215201_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20190117_215407_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Class 66 is well represented, with all being Bachmann examples. EWS 66 089 came to me as a very heavily weathered example - a bit too heavily weathered for my liking. I de-weathered it a little and renumbered it while I was in the process of repainting sections. 66 701 Whitemoor is in the attractive GBRf blue and orange livery. 66 522 is in the very distinctive Freightliner/Shanks livery. 66 610 is in standard Freightliner livery and has the later style headlamps. 66 407 and 66 412 are in DRS 'compass' livery. 66 412 is a little bit of a hybrid with a later body style but an earlier chassis fitted - bought like that with sound fitted so worth the asking price. 66 425 Sunderland is in First GBRf livery. P_20190117_212429_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20190117_212700_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20190117_212919_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20190117_213020_vHDR_On (1) by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20190117_214025_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20190117_213248_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20190117_213445_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr The new Vossloh class 68s from Dapol are attractive models. 68 002 Intrepid and 68 003 Astute feature next, with both in DRS livery. P_20190117_214238_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20190117_214422_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr The GEC Class 70 can not be called attractive by any stretch of the imagination, although Bachmann's model is superb. The real ones earned the nickname "Ugly Bettys". 70 003 shown here is in Freightliner Powerhaul livery. P_20190117_213624_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Based on the class 60 styling, but with more rounded contours, class 92 dual voltage electric locomotives were slightly more attractive. 92 022 Charles Dickens is in Railfreight Distribution livery. This is a Hornby body with a modified Hornby class 60 chassis and modified lighting. I do have more accurate 3D-printed pantographs to fit when I get around to it. The pantos do not need to be operational on my layout as all electrics are running on (dummy) third rail (third and fourth rail in the case of the London Transport stock)! P_20190117_215816_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Finally, and on a completely different tack, a new addition which cost as much as a locomotive is the CMX track cleaner from the USA. P_20190117_215922_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

While I am not answering all of your questions, more pins means more connections directly to the PCB, and potentially more independently controlled items. However, it isn't quite as simple as that: some 8-pin decoders can offer just as many functions, but they have to have flying leads to power the items that aren't catered for in the 8-pin connector, so may have several wires 'floating' from the decoder, including those for a speaker in sound decoders, something a 21-pin decoder doesn't require because the speaker connections are allocated specific pins on the 21-pin connections. For examples of the latter, since Bachmann have been offering sound-fitted locomotives, they have standardised mostly on 21-pin connections, which means they also use standardised PCBs for each locomotive (or unit) type, with speaker tracks and solder pads incorporated - very handy for swapping sound installations between locos, or adding third party sound decoders. Some types offer compatibility with different numbers of connections, as in the PLuX standard, which was supposed to supersede many previous types, but in reality hasn't, where the connection on the PCB may allow for 8, 12,16 or 22 pins - an 8-pin PLuX decoder could plug into a PCB with 22-pin connections without any danger of misalignment with the correct connections. Next-18 can be very compact and seems to be slowly coming in, although many manufacturers are still relying on 6-pin connections for their smaller OO locomotives (and N gauge). That's by no means a comprehensive summary of the different requirements and features, but may assist you to understand the reasons for some of the differences.

AT last they have got rid of those horrible, mostly identical little cylindrical rubber buttons. That was one of the major factors in putting me off the the otherwise very competent Digitrax system.

Time is always a problem, isn't it Pete? On our recent trip to Europe, UK and USA the main reason was to catch up with relatives, although we did manage a couple of others - Rick (gwiwer), Brian Macdermott and RobertCWP, all of this parish, Very kindly altered their own schedules to accommodate us. I steered clear of any temptations such as model shops, although I did come home with one 'new' locomotive, courtesy of Brian. Our friends and relatives also catered for my interests by arranging things like visits to the Danish Tramway Museum, the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway, and Mount Snowdon Railway, but I was being very careful not to impose my interests in such a way as to dictate the schedules of where and when we visited things, with one major exception ... our pre-organised visit to Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg. In all the other things, the friends/relatives were the focus. I'm glad you had a good time, Pete. Some nice photos there.

Moving back to southern England, and just after the end of steam on the Southern Region, around 1967/8. A class 33 D6520 hauls 4TC set 416, probably heading for Weymouth. For the return journey, the set will be driven from the 4TC cab with the 33 pushing. At Bournemouth, the TC will be attached to a 4 REP EMU at the London end, probably with another 4TC at the Weymouth end. The 33 will uncouple and the REP will take the TCs on to London. The 33 will wait at Bournemouth for the next incoming REP/TC/TC combination, and pull one or both TCs to Weymouth ... and so on. This went on until the mod 1980s, when the class 442 5-WES units took over the services, by then electrified all the way to Weymouth. The 4TC units were versatile and, while their main reason for being was the London - Bournemouth-Weymouth service, they did pop up elsewhere, with a couple of (re-formed) units even finding their way into London Underground Limited's ownership for special services after BR had finished with them. P_20190111_185753_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr P_20190111_185859_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

They get you in, don't they. They are very nice models, with only two flaws (in my book): the 4-pin DCC connection, and the weak whistle which breaks off if you look at it too hard! My solutions were to wire a TCS M1 decoder to the 4-pin blanking plug, and to use Markits' turned brass whistles or, in one case, a piece of brass wire turned in the Dremel with a file (none were necessarily the same pattern as those that broke off). I was careful handling my Pecketts but it only takes one knock and that's it for the Hornby whistle. They look great and run very sweetly. p.s. that's a great price, too.

With that thought about horses and Igors, perhaps you could have a horse with a spare leg carried at the rear - just as our cars have a spare wheel, so with a horse ...