irishthump

Well I recently fitted all my 141's/071's/201's with body mounted couplers so I removed all of the coupler mounts. On the 201 I ended up just snipping off the coupler pocket as I didn't the time or patience to disassemble the loco to remove it! The whole gory tale is here.

Do you actually need to remove the coupler mount to fit the plate? I think the blanking plate just clips in front of the mount.

Jesus, you had to say it didn't you.....

Jesus lads youse are gonna break me! Think I’ll have to take the plunge with one of these. Was looking at the Bachmann version but this one looks the business.

Guys, Just looking at the CAD renderings on the IRM page. The CAWS guard seems to obstruct the NEM pocket, is the CAWS guard removable or is there further tweaking to be done?

Thanks, Fran. 054 is fine!

I've pre ordered 051 do I need to change the order?

The announcement of these locos is as good as a dose of Viagra! I'll get me coat....

Yeah I hear you. When it comes to creating sound files from scratch I haven't had the time to go down that particular rabbit hole! But there are other reasons I strongly recommend the Lokprogrammer... Blank decoders can be got for 99euro from supplies like Modellbahne. The cheapest decoders I can find from the UK (with a loaded soundfile) cost around £115 and if for some reason you're not happy with the file, you're stuck with it! (I realise suppliers are accommodating and will probably change a file for you but that necessitates you sending the decoder back to them). Legomanbiffo, who uses Loksound, will sell you the file if you wish for £10 so you can load and fine tune it yourself. Also, ESU are constantly upgrading the firmware and features on the V4 decoders. Full Throttle, for example, needed a firmware update for it to function, the improved brake function is the same. Without the programmer I'd have had to send my decoders off to be reblown before I could use those features.

The soundfiles for the MM 201 and 071 decoders are available for download from the ESU website (they do this with all soundfiles they produce for other manufacturers). You can then simply swap out the prime mover sound (or any other sound in the file) for the one from another file. The Lokprogrammer software also contains a library of sounds for this same purpose. Sounds from other files can be saved to this library for convenience. There is a shortage of prototypical Irish horn sounds but Euro and US horn sounds can be altered in pitch to make them more suitable. My own 141/181 soundfiles use the MM 071 file as the basic template and I just switch out the prime mover. Sometimes I also change the flange squeal and alter the pitch of the horn sound slightly. There are 6 or 7 versions of the EMD567 available on the ESU website, including the prototypical 8 cylinder model. Even if you use the same engine sound in several loco the pitch can be altered slightly to make them sound different. All of this is simply a matter of "dragging and dropping" in the Lokprogrammer software, it takes no great skill at all.

Hats off, Lads. Must be a massive undertaking!

There was a recent firmware update for the V4 decoders which improved the independent brake function. The deceleration value for the brake is now controlled though CV179 (I think, have to doublecheck!). Previously this CV was for the dynamic brake function. You can now set you the loco's deceleration to maximum (255) and coast until you apply the brake to stop the train. To use this you would need to get Wheeltappers to ensure the firmware is updated. Although this is done automatically when uploading a soundfile. If you're planning to have a lot of ESU decoders in your fleet I strongly recommend getting the Lokprogrammer. You can do all these adjustments yourself as well as creating and modifying soundfiles. ESU are constantly adding to their library of US loco soundfiles and even now you can have a different engine sound in each of your locos.

No that's not big. I'm extending the main run on my own layout which will make it 17x14, even that is bigger by area.

How big is it? The article doesn't give dimensions and it doesn't look THAT big.....

To be honest I found it quite entertaining even if the whole concept is a little peculiar. To me, trying to achieve a layout with the time constraints involved is never going to work that well, and the "challenge" to incorporate the household junk into the layout just seems silly. I have to admit the first episode made me laugh when that team who brought WAY too many scratchbuilt structures ended up losing!

Yeah you're in trouble alright, you're missing a Supertrain A. Don't worry I'll sort you out!

I'll hang on to my one SF A Class. Mainly because I went through hell and high water to get the chassis running well and the lights working! But it will probably become a display model. I'll happily strip out the good motor and drive shafts, the pcb and the Loksound decoder to use in other projects!

Lads, Early days but just a couple of questions regarding the DCC end of things for the A Class (meant to ask in person yesterday but I forgot in all the excitement!) I'm assuming the loco will require a 21PIN decoder judging by the sheer amount of lighting functions. Would that be correct? Also you mention a specific sound project and decoder being in the works can you give any more info on that? Will it be an ESU product as with the MM 071/201 or a bespoke product from one of the UK sound producers (Legomanbiffo or MrSoundguy for example).

Words fail me..... Hooefully my bank card will have no such problems!

Tension Lock Couplings? I think...

These are sounding better by the second!

Oh they are tempting! Will you have samples at Raheny?

Where exactly do they derail? On curves? Points?

Well if I remember correctly the Hornby class 40 just has 1 powered bogie, similar to the Railroad class 55. So it won't have a hell of a lot of pulling power to begin with. It would probably slip its wheels long before it could burn itself out but it still wouldn't do the motor any favours.

I have to agree with Garfield here, 5 ounces per wagon is WAY too much weight. As he said the wheels may well be the issue here. Can I ask, are they metal wheels? A lot of the cheaper Hornby tank wagons come with plastic wheelsets. These can often be out of gauge or just distorted and they cant be fixed. If you switch them out for metal sets they will run much better straight away and probably won't need any extra weight.