irishthump

The 121's were fitted with the EMD567 at that time. The pitch of the engine sound can be tweaked up or down on the Loksound decoders. I use the Lokprogrammer to do mine but it can be done with CV's easily enough. The same with the various sound functions, you can set up a loco so that only certain sounds will play while the loco is in consist. I do this with my own locos.

EMD F7 EMD GP7 BR Deltic BR Class 08 Soviet M62

VAT or no VAT, the savings from Hattons aren't always so hot. I've ordered from them once in the past, purely because Mark's was out of stock and I couldn't wait. The order was for general stuff, track, underlay etc. no big ticket items. After shipping was all added in it was actually slightly more expensive!

Something else that occurred to me, and it may be perceived as a downside to the cheap price from Hattons... How many 121's will get snapped up by Ebay Vultures in the UK and elsewhere? I can see them being bought in bulk at the cheaper price, hoarded until stocks run out, then sold off at crazy prices. Yes I know this happens all the time, but with the hype around these locos many will see an opportunity.....

What makes me laugh, and I've said this already, is that certain people are talking about saving a few quid in a situation where it's not a matter of the saving allowing you to buy a loco for yourself because you're cash strapped. It s a case of - "Oh look, I can buy 5 locos instead of 4!".

I paid for mine back in 2018.... so it’s all gravy now! And congrats to the lads in IRM. As I said on the Facebook page, these look bloody mouth watering!

Yeah, fair enough. I use insulfrogs o my own layout but I solder jumpers between the stock and switch rails so I'm not relying on contact between the two. Consequently I don't have issues, except where I've neglected to clean the track in a while! Bear in mind that's with 4 and 6 axle locos. 2 or 3 axles have issue and are always prone to that type of problem.

I think space would really be an issue there. Anyway with all-wheel pick you shouldn't have problems. I could never understand US modeller's (other than yourself) obsession with power packs. Most of there loco's are 4 or 6 axle with power pickup on all axles.

That would make sense, the Loksound tends to sit a bit higher than other decoders. I know this is a little outside your wheelhouse, so to speak, but would you guys consider offering a decoder re-blow service?

I'd be very surprised if space was the issue. Loksound are not the smallest of decoders and from what I've heard there's space enough for them to fit. I've also heard nothing on the grapevine to suggest ESU have designed a bespoke decoder just for this loco. (If anybody has heard different please chime in.) I'd say it's more to do with the array of lighting functions in the loco. Plugging in a bog standard decoder will result in some lights not working as intended, similar to what people discovered installing standard decoders in their 201's.

Those engines were originally to be used for 6 double engined locos to be used for express passenger services.

Are these PM’s sound decoders?

Here’s another one of those “on a whim” projects that every modeller is guilty of... I have an old Hornby HST which I re-motored a few years ago. It ran well but I was never completely happy with it. I wanted to find a replacement chassis that I could perhaps shoehorn into the body. I had a Bachmann class 25 chassis which happened to have the correct wheel spacing on the bogies but was too short. I ended up cutting and lengthening the metal frame and fitting it to the original plastic under frame on the HST. I then fixed the side plates from the original bogies to the Bachmann ones. I also had to lengthen the front drive shaft with styrene tube. It runs smoothly but is a little noisy, but since I’ll eventually install a sound decoder I don’t think it matters too much! First pic is the original chassis and motor bogies. Second pic shows the Bachmann chassis and bogies fitted into the original body with the bogie side frames also fitted. Last pic is the finished loco next to the dummy car from the same set.

Wow, that's great info! Thanks for the detailed response.

Thanks for that JHB!

Guys, Anybody have a timeline for when the 121's were fitted with the EMD 645 engines taken from the withdrawn class 201's? Trying to decide which engine would be most appropriate for my Supertrain 121's!

The full width cab body really does look the part! Reminds me of another one of my favourite European locomotives, the mighty M62.

Terrible news. Didn't know him personally but I know his face from the exhibitions. RIP.

Couple of interesting videos of the Serbian Class 666 trundling about it's business. The loco is an EMD JT22CW, mechanically identical to the 071.

I know you might not have the answers to these questions but I'll ask anyway! 1) Are the decoders definitely being produced by ESU? 2) Any idea who is producing the actual soundfile for the sound decoders? 3) Did PM actual obtain new sound recordings of the engine types in question?

Yeah these locos use the same EMD 567 engine as the 141/121's. Except it's the larger 16 cylinder version as opposed to the 8 cylinder one in the 141/121's. But the sound is almost indistinguishable!

Thanks for the replies, lads. Not in a rush for the order, I was just worried in case Des had shut down for the duration of the lockdown!

Lads, Do you know if Des at SSM is taking orders at the moment? I emailed him the other day but no reply as of yet...

The pickups are a simple set up. Phosphor bronze strips glued to a styrene block fixed under the chassis.

Scratch built (ish) CIE break van.... A combination of a Dapol kit, some styrene, And an old Hornby break van. I also added leds for the long side lights and added a keep alive circuit to prevent flickering. Power is provided by bronze strip pickups on all 4 wheels. The old Hornby chassis makes it sit a tad high but I can live with that. Overall it’s not particularly accurate but it’ll certainly pass the 3 foot rule! Just need some decals are weathering to help disguise the flaws....