Noel

At 38sec you can see the 201 has a different shade of orange (i.e. much more yellow) than the coaches.

I think these are too heavy for parts of the itinerary route. Will have to be 071/111 class.

Can't wait to see this develop. The more I look at that track diagram the more interesting the operational possibilities seem. I know JM is a 'stickler' for correct signalling and prototypical ops. Five different railway lines converging on one station - awesome place to model.

No prob here and I'm using ROI IP address. However I am logged into youtube. Try logging into youtube and then click the link above.

JM, do you remember 2011 there on the mooring for the tall ships? Happy memories and glad it wasn't the Black Water.

Sounds like there could be an issue with the loco alright.

Very nice. Your livery respray is much closer to the real super train coaches I remember. The side by side by photo shows just how hideous the 'dayglow orange' really is out of the box. Nice job on the respray, looks great.

OK, so none of the lights worked on your grey 071 with a similar decoder? The first MM sound decoder I bought was DOA (dead on arrival), no drive, no lights, no sound, but the dealer replaced it no problem and it ran fine. FYI, I use Lenz (10321) 4 function decoders on my non-sound 071s because I don't care for the cab lights and they are good value at €25 in Germany for a top brand decoder.

At €18,000 for a six night trip with a couple sharing, thats about €1500 per person per day. I wish them success in such niche market. A grand suite on a luxury cruise ship might cost about 65% less for twelve nights.

Here you go: http://www.belmond.com/grand-hibernian-train See the tweet works - we are talking about it exactly as intended by marketing

The Rathcoole premises may also be an option if its easier for you to get to by road. Might be worth a phone call if it was, to check they can look it there as well as Hawkins street.

WOW - what a stunning track diagram for what was once a major freight and passenger hub. The possibilities for layout operations and traffic mix are endless. I dare not make any suggestions to such an amazing plan, but have you considered moving and using curved points instead of the straight points at grid box 4 & 5 (SE end but LHS when viewing diagram). This would enable you to add one foot to the platforms by moving the point work into the bends at the SE end of the layout.

Doesn't sound great especially if you could smell the decoder overheating. Unfortunately I suspect the decoder is fried. You need to establish why. Is there a short in the loco PCB, or was it a fault on the decoder, or however unlikely a problem with the DCC controller. If possible I'd bring the loco and decoder to the dealer who supplied both, and get them to diagnose the cause. Avoids the risk of damage to other components when iteratively swapping out elements when attempting to trace the fault. Ps: I have also test ran 071 locos with a Bachman 4 function decoder but I can't remember if it ran the running lights F0 or not. I don't think it would run the spot light as it is on F4 which those decoders don't have.

The 'new publication' thread caused me to find this: Michael Palin's railway trip through Ireland in 1993. Hard to believe so much has changed in only 22 years!

I suspect its similar to the 'Bradshaws' book used on BBC's 'Great Railway Journeys in Ireland' and 'Great British Railway Journeys'

Because our layout started out as DC, it is now wired to run as DCC or DC. There are isolation sections and blocks which are switch on and off as appropriate in DC mode, however in DCC mode all sections are left switched on (i.e. live rails everywhere). I use a few master switches to switch between DCC master controller out put, or the outputs of DC controllers. I find this useful for testing, maintaining and running in locos in pure DC mode (i.e. no decoder installed). In DCC mode all I have to do is ensure there are no analogue DC locos on live sections of track (i.e. switch block sections off). No problem the other way around as I configure my loco decoders so that they do not respond to Analogue/DC (i.e. CV29 bit 2 = 0 off). This setup allows me to occasionally run some old locos that will never be converted to DCC.

Hi Alan. Yes at 245mm long it seems these are designed to be used with some Hornby custom flexitrack cut to length. I haven't used set track myself for a while so could be wrong. Noel

N gauge is a great scale for 'coffee table' displays. I don't think 00 gauge would work nearly as well for smaller displays.

Thanks Dave. Wow learn something new every day. Interesting model. From the photos it does not look particularly fine scale with a hint of 'clock work' style body detailing, or is that the norm for O gauge?

Didn't realise MM had commissioned O gauge models

Wow what an enormous collection of MM locos. Looks amazing. Best of luck with the new project.

I found 1/4" balsa stringers good for stability with cardboard structures (i.e. balsa structural frames). I also use it with some plastic card buildings.

I didn't realise so many German and French railways were at altitude. I've travelled quite a bit on Swiss alpine railways which are obviously well above sea level.

Where does fantasy start and reality end? Superbly realistic.

Subs from EU nations are well aware of the safety protocols and procedures when operating in these waters and the risks associated with traffic conflict. There are extensive sops and checklists prior to surfacing and during ops near fishing targets. Just like aviation accidents things sometimes go wrong. I'd hazard a wild guess that the alleged sub was not from an EU country.