irishthump

No such luck.... All I managed to save was all the peco pointwork ( I binned the Hornby ones!) and a few sections of flex track. All the ready-to-plant bits and pieces like figures, small platform details and lighting were kept and I managed to save the point motors and they're toggle switches. Everything else went in the bin!

Yep, pretty traumatizing!

Well I wouldn't call this an update but anyway... The layout is history! My attic had to be cleared in a hurry for insulation to be installed, so everything had to go. To be honest, I was thinking about making some major changes so this really forced my hand... Anyway I'm looking forward to getting started on the new layout, hopefully it won't be too long!

Not trying to start anything here but in fairness, Garfield, the threads you mention are being hijacked by the same individuals. Expressing any kind of satisfaction with a Silverfox product is like a red rag to a bull with these people.

Actually, they were filmed under regular, incandescent bulbs.... But anyway here's some more pics of them from my workbench thread http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/77-Graham-s-Workbench/page4 These were taken in more natural light.

I would highly recommend the Lenz decoders myself. I use Lenz standards when hardwiring old Athearn Blue Box locos and the slow running is absolutely perfect, even with the crappy old open-frame motors.

Depending on the chassis you could probably replace the wheels that have traction tyres to ones without them. I recently did this with a Hornby deltic chassis. It's an improvement but you have to add a lot of weight to get any traction.

Bear in mind that if it has the standard Hornby decoder you won't be able to adjust CV5. Basic Hornby decoders offer very little adjustment, CV's 2, 5 or 6 can't be changed.

Speak for your bleedin' self!

No good for anything! The tip was gone after hardwiring a decoder into 1 locomotive.

Yes but in fairness the soldering irons are muck. They have a really low quality bit that lasts a about a day!

Forget I spoke!

Well that's barely a 1% grade which should'nt cause too many problems. Like you said it's probably all the weight, also if the converted Hornby flats still have the plastic wheels they can cause an awful lot of drag, especially on a curve.

As a matter of interest, how steep are your grades? Are they more than 3%?

Divide all your full size measurements my 76. Or 76.2 if you want to be super-accurate!

My deepest sympathies to you and your family, JHB.

You'd be a Guru yourself if you posted as many positive comments as you do negative ones....

Maybe you could ask the mod team to set up a separate part of the forum dedicatd to real modellers.

Ah that's sad.... I must have watched his Model World video on Youtube a hundred times! A pleasant chap with a genuine love and enthusiasm for model trains of all shaoes, sizes and gauges!

PM sent!

My point exactly...

I don't for one second think the Lima 201 is superior in detail to the MM 201, and that was not my point. My point was that there are MANY modellers out there who are more than happy to overlook dimensional and livery innacuracies in a decent running model. I've seen Lima 201 bodies being placed on Bachmann chassis on this very forum! The Heljan vs. Dapol class 52 discussion is case in point. There was much hullabaloo over the issues with the front profile of the Heljan model, but that did'nt stop plenty of modellers with the same attitude as me from buying them. Same with the early 37's, they sell like hot cakes on Ebay. Plenty of modellers are more concerned with running their trains rather than looking at them.

I would have to disagree, there's a huge percentage of modellers (myself among them) who are willing to sacrifice some details in favour of model that runs well.

Bachmann have the "Sound Value" range for their HO line, and I have a couple of those locos. These use budget priced Tsunami decoders which are great but again they have a lack of adjustment whenn compared to the high end decoders.

That seems to be the general consensus... The sound is of good quality in general and they are grea value for somebody who wants to try sound without breaking the bank. But the more discerning sound-users are focusing on the lack of adjustment. The individual sound volume levels can be adjusted but things like not being able to sync the chuff sound with loco speed is a downer for some people. I'll get one of the diesels myself when they come out, you can't go wrong at that price!