murphaph

I'm pretty sure the Lokprogrammer has the option to select defective/flickering light as the effect type. I really like cab lights. With automation of the layout you can periodically switch them on at random stations as the driver makes his tea or reads the paper. No smartphones or Kindles in 1995 lol.

First attempts at a building, the tiny and free coal merchant one. My first attempt was not a success. I made errors in the assembly through carelessness and poor lighting (just working at the kitchen table). The second attempt in progress...

For some reason Noel's pic of Bray main Street looks very English to me. I can't quite put my finger on why though. Lack of ESB poles cluttering up the place maybe?

There's also a model shop in Kildare Town. If you draw a line from Cork to Belfast, is there a single model shop west of it?

It's relatively straightforward to install a resistor in series with cab lights to dim them right down to realistic levels.

RIP Aidan. Deepest sympathies to his family. I've also enjoyed the atmospheric quality of Aidan's work here.

Given the level of attention to detail I'm assuming MM considered cab lighting but didn't install it for some practical reason. It would be interesting to hear that story. Is it possible the decoder outputs are maxed out with the other lighting features?

Are there no cab lights to help see all this detail?

I think a high quality, well laid out and easy to use online store has a far better chance of success and if it fails you will have invested far less in it. If you can establish yourself online you could look at opening a physical location later on in an industrial estate where rent and rates would be far more affordable than a high street, which is where you'd need to be if you started off with a bricks and mortar store, depending on passing trade. The Mark's Models model, so to speak. Ok they started with physical locations but their HQ is on an industrial estate and I bet they shift more online than over the counter and their online shop could be improved upon (see IRM's shop for comparison). I wish Ireland had the market to sustain a model shop in every provincial town but modelling just isn't that popular anymore in Ireland (or anywhere really). Covid has given it a boost but how fleeting that is remains to be seen. Anyway I wish you luck in whatever you do. It's easy to criticise and be negative but it's better than everyone here saying "yeah great idea" when in reality they may not even live in Ireland nevermind Carlow! I live in Germany for example. Many of the posters here on this forum are not in Ireland at all so please bear that in mind also.

How were the poles actually handled? Can someone explain the steps of the process from standing pole to "chopped up pole"? I mean I presume other machinery was involved or did they fell them with chainsaws, cutting up lineside and using manual labour to load into the wagons?

I can't comment too much on commercial systems as my experience is with home brew open source DCC modules that you solder together yourself. Others will have tips there I'm sure. For the bus wire gauge you should bear in mind that a single DCC controller with inbuilt booster will be able to deliver a limited amount of current. On a small layout or one with few locos this could be sufficient. On medium and larger layouts you'll typically need additional boosters which simply amplify the DCC signal and provide more power. Therefore I suggest using cable with at least as much current carrying capacity (preferably a bit more for safety's sake) as your controller and or boosters can provide. I wouldn't skimp on it but I wouldn't overdo it either. The reversing loop length needs to fully accommodate your longest train for physical rather than electrical reasons. The tail of the train has to be fully inside the loop before the head of the train can begin exiting the loop or the head of the train will collide with its own train further back. I guess DC layouts also need reversing modules in reversing loops as the same problem with a clash of polarities must exist there. There are other digital command control like protocols on the market so care is required when ordering say decoders that you don't inadvertently order one that is incompatible with your chosen system, which IMO should definitely be the DCC as defined by the NMRA. If you buy decoders from IRM or MM they conform to this standard. Motorola makes a competing standard called mfx which I believe is similar to what Märklin use. Some high end decoders like the Lokpilot 5 or Loksound 5 from ESU are multiprotocol decoders. They can be configured to respond to any of the protocols. If you go for NMRA DCC which you definitely should you can save some money on decoders by buying the DCC only version. ESU for example make the Lokpilot 5 in DCC only and it's a bit cheaper. You just need to be careful not to order a decoder marked mfx or mkl for example on the ESU site. I'm not very familiar with other manufacturers apart from Lenz.

Is that image of ballast in a gypsum wagon from after the gypsum traffic ceased? I assume so but would be nice to know for sure.

Just be careful with the isolation of the programming track if it is contiguous with the main track. If you are not careful and park a loco so that the loco's wheels bridge the isolation between programming and main track, you can inadvertently program all your locos on the main track. If doing this it would be very good practice to isolate the two sections with a short completely dead section that's as least as long as needs be to ensure a loco can't bridge the two sections under any circumstances.

Id'd love a bit of background. I have no idea what these are but they look interesting.

I feel DJ has praised me well beyond my abilities deserve but here's my $0.02 nevertheless: Personally I would advise anyone building from scratch to use a bus of appropriate wire gauge, to divide the track up into signalling blocks just in case later you do decide to add some automation and to run droppers to each block, soldering the fishplates within blocks to have no potential points of failure. This doesn't cost anything except a bit of wire and some time. This isn't "complicated". It's still just two wires but it's going to be more reliable and future proof. In DCC you theoretically don't need electrofrog points as the whole layout is receiving the same DCC feed, but many DCC folks do still install electrofrog points (and the associated switchgear to change the frog polarity) for one reason: better slow speed running of short locos with limited pickups over the points. The insulfrog is a dead spot so an 0-4-0 with one dodgy pickup can easily stall at prototypical speeds. An alternative could be to use beefy capacitors as a "battery" to keep the loco alive. All personal choice. In the hidden areas you can typically get away with insulfrog coupled with simply going faster over the points to use momentum to carry the loco over any dead spots. These aren't really DCC issues though. An insulfrog point in a DC layout can cause the same problems though DCC usually offers better slow speed running than DC so the problem might only manifest itself because DCC is better in this regard. The takeaway is that DCC wiring is simpler (on more complicated layouts) or at least as simple (on very simple layouts) as DC and IMO the benefits are clear. You are driving the train and not the track. It's just way more realistic.

The magnetic roof is really nice looking.

I'd be amazed if there wasn't a long crossover period.

There's an article in the Observer today about the boom experienced this year by the UK model rail sector as people have been forced to stay at home and their attention has turned to that old childhood dream. Even the more established firms are facing big problems due to unprecedented demand coupled with manufacturing constraints.

I'm happy with the business model if it continues like the ballasts. Enough for one complete rake, more or less, per release, safe in the knowledge that next time there will be new running numbers. That'll do me.

If anyone doesn't believe how tricky it is to catch up once you miss the initial release, all you have to do is look on eBay for IRM stuff. You generally won't find any and if you do it'll likely go for 50% more than the RRP. I've been lucky in meeting (virtually at least) some really decent people (away from eBay) who aren't price gougers. Otherwise I'd still be scratching around looking for the first few items at highly inflated eBay rates. By the way I'm still looking for that elusive bubbles pack A if anyone is willing to part with one lol

It helps a lot as always I was missing the crucial aspect of the air being forced into the passenger space via the train's movement.

Gotta make hay while the sun shines George! Just don't tell the missus!!! As DJ said to me, sure they're an investment.

Can somebody explain what pressure ventilation means in this context. I tried googling but the term is not specific enough I reckon. How did it work in a railway context?

These aren't the worst wagons to have an issue on the NEM pocket heights luckily enough. They ran in fixed rakes more or less. You wouldn't be (prototypically anyway) shunting these things individually I would have thought. They were all going from point A to point B. Either unit train gypsums from Kingscourt to a cement factory or ballasts that were loaded together at one point and brought together to the works site. That's the case for me anyway. I'll modify the end wagons in the rakes a la Noel's Kadee fix and use fixed couplings on the intermediates, using the NEM pockets as they are. For me at least there will be no need to modify all the wagons. I had ordered the IE bundle, all the IR wagons individually (as I have the IR ploughs) and the ore bundle but then I realised I need two ore bundles, one for the laden and one for the empty return workings to Kingscourt! Don't forget your empty workings lol. Another ore bundle ordered so!

Great stuff and fair prices. The effective 75 for the ploughs in the bundle is particularly fair. I wasn't originally going to buy the IE ploughs as I have the IR ones but at that price it would be rude not to lol.