Signal Post

Just looking at the photos above it doesn't look like you have a huge amount of space for wheels etc. How about some metalwork (which we can see that you are adept at) representing the leaf springs, just the tops of the wheels, top of the axle boxes and some surface treatment of the ground in front of the shed to give the impression of a platform edge?

They're coming along very nicelyI

As regards ground signals it's not unknown for some exhibition standard layouts to include non-functioning ground signals, the small size of these compared with the much larger signal arms means that the fact that they don't move isn't terribly noticeable, however the presence of the (fixed) ground signal does add to the overall impression.

Having seen the wonderful results of your labours on previous locomotives I'll be following this thread with keen interest.

Just a question David (@David Holman), in reading the text above and referring to the diagram I wonder if you are have inadvertently swapped platforms 1 and 3 in your thoughts?, The explanation seems to make more sense if platform 3 is considered as the bay platform (adjacent to the siding) and platform 1 as the up platform.

Anyhow I'm glad you did put this up as I was going to post a diagram myself and you have saved me some work! btw my suggestions would have been somewhat similar to yours (great minds etc...!)

It was great getting the opportunity to see this wonderful layout today having seen so many photos of it here on the forum and to meet with yourself (Patrick), Alan and Kieran and receive some great modelling advice. A very enjoyable day out. Thanks.

Didn't manage to make it to Bangor today after all. Got up early and went down to the kitchen for breakfast only to discover the small matter of a leaking roof.......! Hopefully all sorted now and planning on getting up there tomorrow so hopefully will get to see Brookhall Mill and finally meet  @Patrick Davey and @Tullygrainey.

Best of luck at the show.

I'm really looking forward to seeing it tomorrow having followed its construction etc. on the forum.

Had same problem, not able to order using Firefox, but worked first time on my iPhone.

Looking forward to this model.

What a shame, you missed a great talk. You were even mentioned in dispatches!

Have you considered using adjustable feet to raise the height of the legs?

The type shown are what I am referring to, the great advantage of these is that they can be adjusted very accurately with ease rather than trying to get the dimensions spot-on for wooden blocks etc. 

I have obtained some from Station Road Baseboards in the U.K. a good few years ago (pre-Brexit) and more recently at the Squires stand at Warley (www.squirestools.com). The screenshot is from their "Tools and Materials" Catalogue, p367. I'm pretty sure that they will dispatch to points outside of the realm....

Hope this is of some use.

Thanks for this detailed explanation Jonathan. I know that there are many on here who will already be familiar with the situation and with the history of the RPSI/IRRS/DCDR having been around and either involved in or following the events described above, but there are also many others, including myself, who either were not active railway enthusiasts in former times or in some cases had not even been born. It is very useful for us to gain some insight into the wonderful work that has been done and indeed continues to be done by a very dedicated few who work tirelessly in the interests of Irish railway preservation.

Thank you.

I saw this appeal on here last night, it is a terrible disaster for the good folks at the DCDR and indeed for any of us who value this wonderful heritage railway. I hope that they manage to raise substantial funds to help out with repairs to the huge amount of damage caused.

In the nature of this forum if members aren’t commenting on the topic (ie making replies) then the topic tends to drop off the list of recent posts, in addition if the topic is located in a group of topics (eg News, Irish Models etc) which includes a popular thread (such as the Hatton’s 6 wheel carriage thread) then it won’t appear on the home page either. 

I know that you are all aware of this but the reason for my post is just to bring the appeal to the attention of members, I am sure that many of us on here would wish to make a generous contribution but may not even be aware of this appeal.

To this end if members could post an occasional reply it would help keep this topic to the fore and hopefully get the word out there.

Finally I have no connection with the DCDR myself but I would wish all those involved the best of luck with the appeal and I would like to express my admiration for the wonderful work that they do on this marvellous heritage railway.

I came across this video on YouTube, nicely put together and may be of interest to some on here.

Hi Jonathan,

Given that A12 works ok with the Lokpilot decoder that would indicate that the loco itself including wiring, motor etc is good.

Since the sound functions (of the Lokpilot) are working that means that your decoder is in contact with your controller and would point to a problem with the decoder itself.

There shouldn't be a compatibility issue between the Digitrax controller and the ESU decoders since they all work to a common protocol.

The likely problems with the decoder are either a fault in the decoder itself (hopefully quite unlikely given the symptoms) or a problem with one or more of the CV settings.

I would suggest that you put your loco on a programming track, put the controller into programming mode and read the value of CV2, the value should be something fairly low (I normally use a value of 2 for the A class and I think the default value is 1). I have seen this CV take on a value of about 153 (I can't honestly say that I didn"t inadvertently programme that in, but I don't think I did!). If CV2 has taken on a value way above normal the effect would be that the loco won't move until the speed step is brought up to over half way (ie if you're using 28 speed steps a value above 14) at which point the loco will take off at breakneck speed! Changing CV2 back to 2 would cure the problem if that is the situation.

If you don't have a programming track etc handy, you could try putting the loco on a rolling road or a continuous loop (oval etc) and winding the speed up in order to see if this is the problem, however BE CAREFUL if doing this on a shunting layout etc as the loco may start off at high speed....

Yes your video above (125 and A3R) are playing perfectly. Enjoy the benefits of DCC, I personally think that DCC sound is great on shunting type layouts.

Delighted to hear that you got it sorted.

Sean Moncrieff on Newstalk did a piece on this very topic yesterday and decided to interview someone who knows what he is talking about, namely railway historian and writer Jonathan Beaumont (aka @jhb171achill of this parish).

https://www.goloudplayer.com/episodes/the-history-of-irish-railways-N2IyMDYzZWMyODA3MjVhN2VhYjZhNzk5ZmVjOWQyZG

An informative talk and I suspect that Jonathan's modesty precluded him posting the link here himself.

One other thing that you may wish to try is (with the blanking plate installed) place it on a DC layout (or rolling road) and bring up the power whilst checking the directional lights on the loco, they should be illuminated at a reasonably high power setting even if the motor has burned out, if they are not showing then the problem is likely to be in the circuitry or wiring of the loco (as @irishthump has mentioned above).

Might also be worth trying the blank plate from your other 121 (No. 132), this would rule damage to the original blank plate (which I understand was installed at the time of the incident) from being the problem, it's unlikely that it is a blank plate problem but for the sake of a few minutes work might be worth checking.

I am sure that @DJ Dangerous did not mean to cause any offence, however I think it is very unfair to suggest to any member of the forum that they should desist from posting (unless they are being abusive or generally straying outside the norms and guidelines for posting on a forum, which is more a matter for the moderators than for us mere mortals). We all have our own aspects of the hobby that most interest us greatly and equally other areas that are of less interest to us.

I for one have watched the progress of this wonderful layout from inception to exhibition display with great interest and was delighted to get the chance to view it live last weekend at the Wexford show and to get to meet @Noel and his glamorous assistant who were both most welcoming and helpful in showing me the workings of it.

In relation to the criticism above of the posts lacking "newness" I could not agree at all, whereas there were no new developments in the layout per se, the story of the "life" of the layout making it's first appearance at exhibition and the story of exhibitors experiences in travelling to and exhibiting at the show, together with an outline of plans for the future expansion were, in my opinion, both interesting and newsworthy for the folks involved in our hobby.

In conclusion let me say a big thank you to @Noel for creating and displaying this wonderful layout and for allowing us to see your progress through your posts on this forum. 

@Noel KEEP POSTING PLEASE!

Looks great, can't wait to see this layout in Wexford tomorrow!

Safe journey.

That's a shame Jon, I'm sure that you would have enjoyed it. It took me a couple of attempts to login via Zoom.

Watched this talk on zoom, very interesting and enjoyable. Thanks Niles for posting the link here, I wouldn't have known about it otherwise.

Thanks for that Darius, it looks like a fabulous layout.

I was fortunate enough to make a visit to the Allypally show a few years ago, if you think your travels to it were convoluted, mine involved a drive to Dublin Airport, flight to Heathrow, tube and shank’s mare to Allypally in the morning and vice-versa that afternoon……

Lovey photos Darius, thanks for sharing. Do you by any chance recall the name of the second dockside layout (photo 21 onwards)?

It seems like a massive and unusual layout, was it OO?

You mentioned that you are new to DCC, so one of the first things that I would check is do the lights turn on or off?
If not then before you start into resets etc could I ask what address you are using for the loco?

Have you changed it (using your programmer)? It’s default value as shipped should be 3 (sometimes shown as 03 or 0003).

If you have changed it (eg to 0071 ) and it has not responded to any commands then try using address 0003 (or 03 or simply 3) on the Hornby Elite in case the decoder has not changed address correctly, and see if there is any response from the loco (will lights turn on and off, will it move etc). All of this can be done with the loco on the normal running track, only if you need to proceed to the more advanced stuff (as described by the guys in the posts above) will you need to use a programming track.