murphaph

A subminiature relay is the easiest and simplest way to do this. You are directly replacing the mechanical switch on the high side of the supply (so a simple open collector transistor circuit will not work). Those little 12v relays cost €1 or so. The relay will rarely need to switch so contact burning is of no concern. I'll just use the ESU file for the 201 for the time being but I will replace the prime mover sound later with a full throttle one from a US loco with the same engine. There's one in there. I just can't remember the name of it. I'm going to try an iPhone speaker. I ordered a few.

Funnily enough on eBay.co.uk there are empty keg cages for sale. I guess that cages like those weren't found in GB but the kegs were.

I understood the question to mean "can I have something like US locos with the left and right ditch lights alternately flashing" and this is unlikely if the 071 wiring is anything like the 201 (I haven't examined a 071 yet) because the two marker lights at each end are wired together. You would need to make changes to the wiring to allow independent control of the left and right marker lights. The Lokpilot v4 supports flashing lights but has very few outputs (6 in total without using their expander board) and on the 201 (and I assume 071) they are all allocated to the marker lights (2), headlights (2) and cab lights (2) already. Apologies if I've misunderstood the question.

It's highly unlikely if the 201 is anything to go by as the end marker lights are driven by a common function output on the decoder. You would need to be able to drive them independently to make them flash alternately. That means hardware) wiring changes and more function outputs than the MM decoder (which is a Lokpilot v4 really) has available.

Sure when I get around to the relay for the 201 I will document it. I'm working on a few other things in parallel right now though (trying to resurrect an openDCC controller that I haven't powered up in 10 years and get RocRail to interface to it to run my test oval. The controller is a bare PCB job screwed to the baseboard and took a battering during our house move a few years back). I will also need to wait until my Loksound v5 actually arrives as it needs that additional output.

So I will install a miniature relay and instead of the common return from the red LEDs going through that switch, it will be connected to either side of the n.o. terminals of the relay. The default state for these lights should be off as locos will generally not be running light engine and thus the red marker lights will be off more often than they are on so it's better to have the default state of the relay as not energised. The relay coil will be driven by aux 5 with return to the common positive of the decoder. Very simple job but adds a lot IMO. I will do all the soldering on the loco board rather than touch the decoder. The decoder should still be removable. As the proud owner of zero baby GMs I have no idea about the wiring but if I did get one I imagine I would also want the same lighting setup as on a 201 to be honest. If there are no cab lights I would probably add them.

I may as well add some information for anyone interested in the 201 electronics. The main board accepts a 21 pin MTC decoder. I suspect the majority of owners will have a Loksound 4 or Lokpilot 4 installed as these are the chips sold by MM. These chips have forward/reverse lights, auxiliary outputs 1 and 2 which are wired to the headlights front and rear on the 201 and auxiliary outputs 3 and 4 which are wired (via a pair of transistors to amplify the output because the decoder output is TTL, very low power. The NEM 660 standard requires this but I suspect it was a fake standard created by the decoder manufacturers to allow them to sell you extra hardware later on to actually use these outputs) An examination of the main board in conjunction with reading the ESU manual for the v4 revealed: -all function outputs are open collector type. That means the output is switched to the internal gnd of the chip when active. The "return" path is to a common positive pin (pin 5). This is irrelevant for incandescent bulbs but not so for LEDs for example. -the outermost groups of 4 wires lead fairly obviously to the 3 LEDs at each end of the loco, red and white marker lights and the headlight. -the red marker led return path to the common positive of the decoder passes through the aforementioned spdt switch, which simply allows the return path to be interrupted and thus prevent the LEDs from illuminating. -the two outer pairs of a group of 3 smd resistors on the main board are just the series resistors protecting the aforementioned LEDs from over current. -the two transistors (marked Q) are used to boost that TTL output from aux 3/4 to a usable level to drive something, in this case they are feeding into the two white headers and in operation on to the cab lights at either end. This means that all the available aux outputs on a Loksound 4 are exhausted already and without sacrificing one of the existing functions, nothing else can be driven by this decoder. ESU do offer an adapter board which gives physical access to the "missing" microcontroller outputs. Essentially the microcontroller on the decoder has more outputs but they are not connected to the 21 pin connector. To use them you need that ESU adapter. Neat sales trick but other decoder manufacturers were not as stingy as ESU so it seems that to compete, ESU dropped this approach with the v5 as that decoder has like 10 physical outputs. I have decided to cease purchasing V4 decoders because of this limitation. Luckily I only bought one. For that one I'll consider putting it in a ballast plough with ballasting sounds. Don't need as many outputs for the plough as a loco. The v5 is the better choice by far if you want to add even one more function (in my case I definitely want to be able to switch the red marker lights off when not running light engine and that requires another output).

Yep that's the long and short of it. Hardware changes are required for this. Manually operating the switch with a hundred quid decoder with spare outputs is not an option lol. I don't want the red lights off all the time. They look too nice for that.

So I took a closer look inside. The LEDs are hardwired together from pins 7 and 8 of the decoder, ie when pin 7 is pulled low, the white marker lights at end A go on while the red marker lights at end B go on. There is a spdt switch under the loco which allows the path from the red led (led3 according to the silkscreen) to the positive common on the decoder to be interrupted, leaving the red led off. Helpfully, not, the led silkscreen has the incorrect polarity for those 3 LEDs and it took me a while to figure that out. The cathode chamfer on the larger white LEDs is not visible unless under magnification. I trusted the silkscreen.

Is it actually possible to configure a Loksound/Lokpilot V4 equipped 201 to allow the rear marker lights off when the loco is hauling something? I tried (using Lokprogrammer) to add a condition to the rear lights function so that it also requires F22 to not be set but it switches both front and rear marker lights off. Are the lights hard wired to display the opposite at each end or can individual control be achieved without hardware side changes?

Does anyone know the manufacturer/part number of the speaker in a 201? I bought a used one on eBay only to discover that the factory fitted speaker has been removed by a previous owner

Very interesting. Did these trains take the direct curve at Limerick junction?

How and where was the grain carried? These things seem like they would have a large market given everything they transported.

I need to check the speaker on one of my 201s. I've never opened one before. A quick Google didn't really help. Is there anything I should be aware of before I start? Thanks!

Me too lol. I have actually been wondering about these two axle flat wagons because of the coal to Ballina but what else did they transport in the 1990s?

Bachmann Marks Models Auto ballasters would also be an option I think.

@Noel what are, in your opinion the best donor coaches for mkIII resprays?

Isn't the one beside the Imp the delivery colour where EMD used an off shade?

Does anyone know if Mark's Models will also be retailing the IRM A Class?

Does anyone have any idea will all the tippex 121s make it to the UK retailers before January 1st (end of Brexit transition phase)?

Was space at a premium at these sites or why did they build them as opposed to simply cascading normal turnouts/points? I learned something new this week:P PW engineers call them turnouts. Signalmen call them points! (At least that's UK practice, would be interested to know if it's different in Ireland)

That's actually really useful.

Me neither! Fig. 1.2 in the "Track" book shows BH rail on concrete sleepers on the Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth line in 2010. So it was definitely used on the mainline in GB. I think you are right though that "simple" FB rail was more popular in Ireland, which is worth noting. I think I'll try to model a good mix of the types. I may even model the CWR on Cork line as in retrospect, the track will be difficult to see and modelling it is easier. The pandrol clips are so low profile that a little drop of solder is good enough! For BH you really need the chairs for it to look right.

BH was definitely used on mainlines in the UK and Ireland before the transition to FB began. I read that in my recently acquired "Track" book by the 2mm Scale Association. I am pretty sure you can even still find it on the mainline on concrete sleepers, but only lightly used lines.

I wonder was anything like Fig. 107 ever built in Ireland. I think they'd only resort to such things if space was very tight. Note the joggled (kinked) stock rails for the second set of facing switch rails, whereas the first set would appear to be "undercut".