Noel

Thanks Guys. What I've just tried is drilling the NEM pocket at the sides to make a gap for the Kadee's plug spurs to catch. Ran out of time to do more than one coach this evening, but will try another tomorrow. If this works then at least the coach could be reverted to NEM363 tension locks by simply plugging in. BTW, there is much more play with Kadee's then I had expected, not much better than TLs. Thanks again. For Mk2's it looks like glue is the only solution, but at least the NEM sockets will be intact if ever they need to be reverted to TL by sniping off the Kadee's.

Just looking at some of the prices for MM stock on ebay, do sellers think all buyers are as thick as turnips? Prices including postage way above what you can buy off the shelf from retailers for readily available items. For example who is going to pay €64 for a coach that you can buy RRP for €49 or probably as low €40-45 if you do a deal with a retailer. Postage of €17-22 seems such a scam.

Fantastic, I love it. I'd say they were less than comfortable.

Well next time I clean track I'll wear a hi vis jacket, helmet and have a fire extinguisher to hand. (just kidding). The corduroy cloth is just damp with cleaning fluids such as methylated spirits, acetone, etc, which while flammable are a bit like paraffin and diesel, difficult to ignite. The CMX itself is all metal construction. But you raise an interesting point, and one I had never considered before. I guess if folk allowed excessive cleaning agent to leak onto the track/sleepers and/or underlay/ballast the risk would be greater, but used properly only the rails get a wipe of the cleaning fluid, and should never come into contact with the sleepers or ballast. So far I am reasonably impressed with it's cleaning ability. A simple idea well implemented and despite the excessive price I think it is worth it. Think of all the track work of some layouts that is not easy to access for hand cleaning like under baseboards, under scenery, etc, with this thing you just drive it around out of sight.

Sublime

Ah, didn't realise that. Has anybody on here used kadee NEM couplings to build a rake of Craven's? Thanks, I tried something similar with Hornby LMS coaches 35 years ago but still leaves a fair gap. I had hoped Kadee NEM362 might have solved this and been easy to snap fit without having to cut anything. Thanks, interesting products and certainly fills the gap between corridor connectors, but in effect still leaves a heck of a gap between the actual coaches. I made up similar corridor extensions a very long time ago again for old Hornby coaches using plasticard and black tissue paper, but it didn't really bring the coaches closer together. I guess I just had unrealistic expectations of what Kadee's could achieve on my 750-900mm radius curves with MM Cravens and MM Mk2's.

Thanks Eoin. That's really helpful and explains the problem clearly. So creative 'bodging' is required to change coupling systems with MM coaching stock. So much for NEM362 as a 'standard' pocket for couplers, apparently a myth. Different heights and different length sockets! I think I'll stick with tension lock for now and just put up with unsightly gaps in favour of trouble free running.

Thanks the photos may help me see where I am going wrong. Thanks Guys. When I plugged the no 20s into the NEM pockets and then put the Cravens together on the rails with the corridor connectors touching the kadee's under neath were not even in contact! Way too short. An option would be to only partially push the kadee's into the NEM pocket and then use either a screw or glue to lock them there. That way the couplings would protrude more than when pushed all the way flush with the NEM socket.

Thanks Eamonn. It sounds like the speaker housing was split into two which was the technique recommended by MSB to get some bass (i.e. speaker retained in half the case), OR did the full 20x40mm speaker housing fit in your 141? I might try and cut the lugs of one of my 141s so see if the full bass reflex speaker housing makes much of a difference compared to a standard 20x40mm speaker in the MM cradle. Noel PS: I am awaiting another updated 141/181 Zimo from Keith with the version 3 tweaks.

Thanks. I had read back over the other Kadee threads before I started, and reading them a few folk had fitted No 20's successfully to MM Cravens, but how I would love to know because using the NEM sockets with no 20s did not work for me because the couplings are too short, aside from the fact the couplings were not locked in the NEM pockets.

Hmmm? Well this afternoon as a test I replaced some of the NEM362 tension lock couplings on two of my MM Cravens with Kadee NEM no 20 couplings. Disappointing results unless I've done something very silly: The couplings to not snap lock into the longer NEM363 sockets on the MM Cravens (i.e. can pull back out) The Kadee no 20 couplings are not long enough to couple a pair of MM cravens. Running backwards on 750mm radius curves an MM 141 pushing a Craven buffer locks and derails the coach. The MM NEM tension lock couplings have longer shafts than Kadee NEM couplings! Hence Kadees would need glue to keep them in the longer MM NEM socket. Which is incorrect NEM socket length - MM or Kadee? But the bigger problem is Kadee's longest NEM couplers, the no 20, cannot reach long enough to couple two MM cravens. HELP - Or is the whole idea of plug-in replacement Kadee's and NEM a myth. It looks like I am going to have to stick with tension lock because there is no way I am prepared to cannibalise my MM coaching stock to get Kadee's to work.

Just some feedback and thanks to those who gave me advice. Received delivery of an HO gauge CMX track clean over the Christmas break, but didn't get a chance to try it until a few evenings ago. It came only with Kadee couplings. Ran it behind an MM 141 and found it very effective. It is understandably very heavy and nearly stopped the loco over some point work due additional friction. Next time I will run it double headed with a pair of 141s . I used it with methylated spirits, but next time might try acetone. Before next use with acetone, will pre-test the fluid against spare underlay and track just it cause it causes any kind of chemical reaction or damage. I ran it slowly twice around each loop, and then another four loops at medium speeds. One or two points not cleaned for 10 years needed a few direct wipes with cotton buds soaked in solution. Other than that it is a heck of a lot easier and quicker than my old methods using cloth blocks by hand. Any further words of advise or wisdom would be welcome.

Thanks. Did you take the speaker out of the case and rest it in the existing MM speaker cradle, or remove the cradle and put the speaker in its place with half the speaker body still attached? (i.e. without having to saw the chassis lugs off)

Super video and wonderful layout. What speaker did you put in 187? FYI, I set CV287=44 increased from 22 on MrSoundguy's Zimo which gives a longer braking sound duration as 141/181s come to a halt. Out of the box it was a little too brief for my taste. I also adjusted CV255 and CV29 to move the notch table higher and achieve better scale top speeds. Keith now has a mk3 version of the 141/181 sound project with tweaks like this incorporated and flange squeal now a latching on/off function rather than a limited time play (i.e. the flange squeal will can now play indefinitely until you turn it off like the LokSound 071 projects). He has also reduced the 'clinking' sound when the GM motor is idling. I have really grown to like the 'Realdrive' method of driving model locos with coasting and braking needed to more prototypically drive and stop trains. The LokSound also sounds great and more direct to drive, but it's just not as much fun to model drive trains like the real thing. PS: I found after much 'play time' that running more than one loco with sound on at the same time seemed a little cluttered audio wise. One loco seemed to cancel out the others subtle sounds when notching down, coasting and braking. I've also turned the volume way down to get a balance between GM motor noise and wheel/rail noise from coaches and wagons.

Sacrilege! Such drawings might be good for a dart board. Would the bus company that replaces the tyres with railway wheels have drawings, or Lego instructions? (In jest)

+1 for Peco. While Hornby points are targetted at the toy market, it is also the entry route how many of our 'juniors' get into the hobby so they serve a useful temporary purpose. Much of my old Triang stock (70s rubbish) won't even run over Peco points (ie coarse wheel flange depth and width), but 1960s Hornby Dublo wheel sets run fine.

Yes we could have fired spuds as a deterrent. Or threatened to use 10-10-20, or the chemical weapon 'Nilverm' - known to eradicate liver fluke and eliminate all known germs. Tu-95 is a relic of the cold war, and was already a technical relic by 1960, yet is still operational today - a junk heap. Working in Moscow just after the wall came down, one wondered how anything actually worked.

OK, re-ballasting and relaying 26 miles of track is probably going to cost many €m's

Thanks for info. They might be easily remedied without too much expense. A tractor with a hedge saw could cut the hedge rows right back along the route in about eight weeks. Then some serious weed spraying with simazine and paraquat will not only kill the weed but persist in the ballast for nearly 12months stopping regrowth. Aside from structures like the bridges and aqueduct the major cost would be the track work and re-ballasting if needed. I presume that section was upgraded to concrete sleepers in the 90s so the track may not be in bad condition, but if wooden sleepers the cost could be vastly higher. If they get the line earning revenue, and gradually bring it up to higher running speeds, in years to come they could run cruise liner pax specials from Foynes to Limerick during the cruise ship season. There is a fabulous little 'pullman' style train that brings cruise ship pax from Civitavecchia into Rome.

Ah its about 10 years since I travelled on the Enterprise myself, for work so they put me in Business or whatever they call it now. It was good back then, even better than City Gold on the Cork run. When I'm paying for myself I travel down the back too!

Hi Fran. Does the Enterprise still have a proper business service with decent table service catering? Noel

Hi snapper, sorry our posts crossed, was on the phone. Yes I can see freight only keeping the cost down. The viaduct looks a little shaky! Found a few interesting links: https://irishrailwaydevelopments.wordpress.com/2013/12/09/railfreight-from-foynes-again http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/f/foynes

Am I correct in the assumption that the line is still intact and was operational up to only 14 years ago for freight and still has occasional engineer trains running. Robertstown viaduct apparently needs some attention and 201s are banned from the line anyway. I was surprised how much of the rail network is off limits to 201s presumably because they are too heavy. Lucky Irish rail still have plenty of 40yo 071s to run freight over the network where 201s are not permitted. I've been to Foynes many times but only from the sea, never by road. It would be interesting to see if summer passenger rail services could make money on that route if reopened.

A basic list of DCC systems with very approximate street prices. Most of the European gear like Lenz, Roco, ESU and Zimo are usually better priced in Euro zone than from uk suppliers. It looks like many manufacturers will end up with black box systems controlled from smartphone/tablets (or PC ughh). But IMHO the one thing missing from a touch screen interface is the tactile feel of a throttle control without having to look at the screen. Ideally one should be able to hold and operate a cab/phone single handed and without having to look at it for throttle control. Ok we have drifted a bit of the original question, but it seems there is no comprehensive list of decoders that matches ID/VER numbers, only IDs. JMRI makes a stab at it but is hit and miss. For instance it cannot distinguish or identify a Bachmann 36-553 from a 36-554 decoder. Looks like decoder manuals is the only method of getting version numbers. Anyway its been an interesting thread.

Thanks Eoin I have JMRI. As you say its rather clunky but if you have to setup more than one or two decoder settings its easy to do compared with using the limited interface of a cab unit. It saves a lot of time setting up speed curves. The main reason I have JMRI is so I can use an old iPhone and iPad as zero cost wireless DCC cabs for walking around the layout (i.e. WiThrottle app). The app also allows clear labelling of function buttons which is great for sound equipped locos. As to DCC systems, yes the MRC/Gaugemaster is a great system. I nearly went with it when switching to DCC last year but narrowly opted for the NCE because the cab ergonomically lended itself a little better to one handed use, and was a 5amp system. Being an IT bod I wasn't really concerned about the system programming interface, more of the ergonomics of driving trains once a system was setup. The NCE cabs lcd display gives good visual feedback of speed, functions in operation, direction, etc. I was drooling over ESU's fabulous Ecos 50200 system and its fabulous user interface, but didn't like the fixed games console size of the twin cab controller and the savage cost of their hand held cabs. NCE's basic cabs (e.g. cab04, cab05, etc) are truly hideous dating from late 1970s hobby electronics), but their power/pro 'dog bone' cabs like the MRC/Guagemaster appealed to me. IMHO, the future of DCC controller interfaces is with wireless smartphone and tablet interfaces and all of the vendors need to up their game from their dated ergonomics. The technical side of DCC should be buried under plain english smart user interfaces, and words like CV, BEMF, long loco addresses, should be unknown and invisible to users. If you want to turn up the volume of a sound equipped loco there should be a volume knob or slider bar, not a CV to be set.