Adrian

Just saw this @controller - that's a negative, you can use DCC for the track but don't necessarily need to use DCC or an accessory decoder to control points. You can set these up as previously done for DC layouts using a suitable DC power supply (an old DC controller will work nicely), a capacitor, and momentary contact switches (or push buttons) to switch the point. Hope that helps!

@mmie353 I literally just finished sound testing a load of different speakers on my 141/181s - I get them from Roads and Rails as well. You might find this useful... 1. The playlist of different speakers tested is here and you can judge for yourself (I found a combination of a sugarcube and megabass worked best for bass and higher freq sounds): 2. There's a direct comparison video of double iPhone vs sugarcube & megabass in that playlist as well - second last vid 3. Here's a few pics of how to file off the lugs (4 metal on the chassis, 1 plastic inside the roof of the loco) and fit the speakers (get some black tack from Roads & Rails if you are ordering, it's class): You can get a set of files from Woodies for a few quid Make sure and mask up to stop the filed metal falling into the motor Metal lugs filed off Cut / file off the plastic lug on the right in this picture Black tack is very handy for sticking down the speakers - I covered over chassis with black tape as a speaker base - left a gap in the tape for air to circulate around the motor (not sure if needed but was being cautious ) 4. And the finished result is here Hope that helps your decisions!

Yeahh...I also bought a LokProgrammer but haven't used it yet - got it mainly because it was available when I was ordering something else and they can be hard to get I plan on a lot of sound locos as well so it makes sense. Apart from that I'm a software developer in my day to day so also just curious on how it works

They are generally available all the time on Roas and Rails - looking earlier I can see you can get an 071 there too. If you look on Marks Models / IRM, most of the sound decoders for older locos remain sold out and come in sporadically. AFAIK Roads & Rails buy in blank LokSound decoders and have the sound files so they just add them to the decoders, add a speaker and sell them that way - hence they are always available

@raymurph I was in the exact same boat a few months ago - looking to build up a fleet and nothing in production. Best bet is keep an eye open on this forum, get in touch with the contacts above and watch eBay I would definitely grab a couple of 121s from Marks before they are gone too - I’d even ring up and buy them as opposed to depending on a visit. At least then you’ll have something to play with Also they had some 071 sound decoders last week so perhaps grab one of those even before you find a loco, as they sell out quickly too Lastly Roads & Rails in the UK do quality sound decoders for 121s (two different engine types) as well as the 141/181 - I’ve bought a few and would recommend them Best of luck, these locos do come available from time to time so patience is needed, bear in mind though you will likely need between €200-€400 per loco though, so start saving!

No worries, best of luck Sean

You guys rock! I love that you are taking the market by storm and both your companies have become the new gold standard for what quality looks like. I watched two Hornby employees review the A class recently and the two lads were almost embarrassed by how good it was, how many features were in it and how easy it was to open and add the decoder. Keep up the great work! I adore my two (count ‘em) A classes !

Slightly different opinion to some of the replies on this thread but I absolutely love having DCC sound and lighting and am a total convert. You do have to get a decent DCC chip and speaker but it’s well worth it - check out the vids below, you’ll know if it is for you Avoid the Hornby select like the plague, it’s very basic, for a little extra spend you’ll get a more reliable controller with more functionality. And if you buy a Hornby DCC sound loco, the basic speaker they add is not a good reflection of proper DCC sound, so just be aware Personally I use a Lenz LZV100 unit with a LH100 handset and find them powerful yet easy to use. You can go digital with points or leave them as physical switches which I have done and it’s cheaper, up to you If you want cheap but good decoders just for running without sound, grab a Zimo MXR600, there about £20-25 Sterling. If you want sound go for an ESU LokSound V4 or 5 they’re about €100-125. I buy from Roads and rails in the UK as they include speakers for free and have good service. They also do sound chips for the MM121s (both engine types) and MM141/181. Marks Models currently have sound chips for the MM071. I get the IRM A class sound chips direct from IRM. In my opinion it’s worth the investment. Here’s a few examples to give you a good idea (throw the headphones in and turn it up, especially for the last one!) So you can see if it’s for you Bear in mind that they sound even better in real life as well! IRM A class & MM071 MM071 MM121 old and newer engine MM141 with double iPhone speaker MM141 with EM2 bass speaker (this speaker is way too big to fit but I just had to try it out for a laugh cos I have one spare - it’s a pity they don’t fit in the 141) There’s lots to learn with DCC and it can be confusing to start, so if you have more questions keep em coming. I wish I’d had someone to ask when I started with it two years ago!

Nice work Sean, I like working with DAS too so I’ll be interested to follow along and see how yours turns out! Also, DCC sound is definitely worth it - grab yourself a LOK sound decoders with double iPhone speaker for the 141 from Roads and Rails and you’ll be very pleasantly surprised

Gorgeous work Kevin, and welcome to the forum - looking forward to following your progress

Amazing work Noel, just read all 7 pages and caught up to now. Attention to real life detail is class and I’m looking forward to following along with you from here I also love comparing the first few sketches of a layout with the most recent photos - it gives you such a sense of achievement and keeps the motivation high!

Definitely! Something to tie us all together as a community. The reason I was suggesting this is that when I started back into modelling about 18 months ago, I saw so much activity on Twitter for UK modellers and thought it was great - I was looking for an Irish community on there and just couldn't find it, so I honestly thought we weren't as active. I then got put onto this forum by another member and was surprised and delighted to find a whole thriving Irish modelling community on here to take part in. And you were all so welcoming as well. So it got me thinking about how many other Irish / Irish-themed modellers could be out there not knowing about the forum and if we simply used a hashtag like #tmrgire on Twitter it might help attract them. Anyhoo, rambling over Love this by the way

Hey folks, I'd be interested in opinions on this. Having used Twitter since I started back into modelling I've noticed there is a vibrant UK community which uses the hashtag #tmrguk - it makes it very simple to filter out all the noise and just get railway modelling tweets. There is also one for #tmrgusa which was started recently. I've searched for an Irish equivalent but there doesn't seem to be any? (Please correct me if I'm wrong!) If there's none, then I'm proposing that we (as in the Irish Railway Modelling Community) could start using #tmrgire (it's case insensitive so #TMRGIRE would work as well, it would stand for The Model Railway Group Ireland) for any Irish Railway tweets - this would help Twitter users to find railway modelling tweets specific for Irish Railways. You can also put the hashtag in your display name. I'm gonna start using it anyway and hopefully others will join For anyone concerned with duplicating content I find Twitter very good for small day to day stuff, posting quick pics of minor work and getting feedback - and the forum here is much better for longer form discussions as well as major layout updates etc. There's no onus on anyone! I'm gonna do it anyway so just posting here to spread the word. @Irish Railway Modeller you could also start using it when you Tweet if you like Have a good day everyone!

Phase 2 is complete! So in this phase I concentrated on getting the ballast in place with a base level of weathering and some trackside details. I've gone for a really dirty, oily 1980s depot look, with lots of spilled oil around the tracks as well as oil leaks from the locos along the most used routes in the depot. Things are much cleaner nowadays but they really didn't bother cleaning anything in the 80s! Have included a set of reference photos as well that I was working from. I also experimented with point motors, manual levers and point rodding to see how it would look - it turned out great but the point rodding was very fiddly (especially as I had already laid the ballast and had to dig some of it up). In the end I decided that in our depot, the last of the old point rodding was about to be removed and replaced with manual levers, and some of the previous point rodding was just lying around, rusting with time. This will eventually be overgrown with grass and weeds etc. in the next phase. Honestly, I'm delighted with this result One thing I found as well is that as most phones have cameras at the top, if you hold the phone upside down you can get a much more realistic perspective Also, reversing the camera and placing the phone in unusual places can give you great, normally unseen shots looking out from the back of the layout - just a quick tip for any folks reading this In the next phase (Feb - Apr) I hope to complete: Backscenes Fuelling point Level crossing road surface Static grass and overgrown areas Weathering of the sheds Practice weathering on some old locos and body shells that I have - no way I'm starting on my lovely Irish locos! As always, I welcome any feedback / thoughts / ideas people have - enjoy the photos and the short video at the end! --- Reference photos I was working from: Looking across the depot from the fuelling point into the setting sun (got this shot totally by accident when the phone looked directly at the light bulb ) Looking through the engine shed with light reflecting on oil stains #183 in the headshunt with old rails and the last of the point rodding still in place before being replaced in our fictitious depot Obsolete point lever frames and rusty point rodding, with manual point levers, a relay box, manhole and rusted rails This siding in the foreground will be a little overgrown and used for fuel tanker deliveries - I'll probably add some fuel pumps into the ground for pumping fuel from the tankers to the fuelling point #073 sitting on the fuel point, with oil stains reflecting the light The other section of the layout (initially just for loading locos out of sight, but I decided I might as well practice here too and make this section more modern) has electronic point motors, with cable trunking emerging from a (future) tunnel and exposed wiring to the motors and relay boxes Note the oil stains where locos idle, waiting for release from the sidings, between the sidings will have some weeds and static grass added in the next phase. The rusty siding to the lower right is no longer used and will be totally overgrown. Cable bundles running from the trunking to the relay boxes, these will also be overgrown with weeds Another unusual perspective, I love the foreshortening effect on curves when seen from this angle Murphy Models class 071 #073 on a short move from the headshunt into the fuelling point

I’ll be the same on mine, keep it as close as I can but not at the expense of leaving locos on the shelf Your collection is really impressive, looking forward to following the progress

Just read all 11 pages of Duggort! Fantastic layout, you should be proud looking forward to.m seeing your progress with the extension

Nice layout Just catching up on it, good job on the ballast weathering!

^^ latching sounds about right - on Lenz it’s the same, edit the cv settings for the functions and turn on momentary

Love it, that’s some lineup of locos you have

Thank you very much Noel, appreciate those comments! Especially the carpentry which was never my strong suit Just finished a video series on creating oily, grimy ballast at the fuelling point - if you're interested check it out over in the tutorials

This is a very quick series of videos on how to get that dirty, almost smooth, oily ballast typical of a filthy fuelling point. I experimented with fireplace ash, coal dust and baby powder to get the right consistency and found that a 3:1 mix of baby powder and coal dust did the trick. My wife thought I'd lost it when she found me in the sitting room scooping coal dust out of the bucket with a spoon! Here's the end result: The playlist has 5 x 1 min videos - jus enough for a cuppa You can watch individual videos or the full playlist is below... * Step 1: Add the baby powder / coal mix * Step 2: Airbrush a base layer of grime * Step 3: Spray on a heavier oily layer * Step 4: Add oily patches * Step 5: Add reflections Full Playlist

Cheers Jason, I like keeping it short and simple with minimal waffle - enough of that online!

Thank you Dave! Missed your comment so sorry for the late reply Lots of work done in the last few weeks so stay tuned for an update this week

Yep total agree, that 567 engine is very unique, I’m delighted with it

Delighted with these class 121 sound chips for Christmas , checked with all the Irish suppliers but eventually got them from Roads & Rails in the UK. 1st is #127 with the newer 645 engine sounds, 2nd is #132 with the older 567 engine - enjoy!