Noel

Darwin awards

Ordered two copies three weeks ago, one for a friend and one for myself. Hopefully arrived before I get home from holidays. Looking forward to it. Glad to read in the recent all island strategic rail review the recommendation that the rosslare to Waterford railway line be restored to traffic.

When I was at school Ireland was admired worldwide for its advanced harnessing of peat for energy, little did we realise then how much damage it was doing to our climate and biodiversity. End of an Era, all right, but from a climate perspective, existence doesn't seem an optional aspiration.

I doubt it’s a compatibility issue. Digitrax is one of the best US DCC controller eco-system. These may be ESU decoders but should work perfectly with any DCC system. Perhaps try a decider reset CV8=8 and reprogram the locos address, just in case any of the motor/drive CVS were askew.

Agree lovely work. A light overspray of Rail Match sleeper grime over the laid track and ballast using an airbrush can nicely weather both the track and the ballast material making it all blend.

Great news. Broken wheel and snail versions I’m in. Hope they don’t inherit the drooping Dapol NEM pockets. It’s handy to plug kadee NEM couplings in. €18 is a good price.

Nice. Are they to be Kits or RTR?

Wonder if the MM mk3s are still on the radar?

Looking forward to driving some of these when I get back home in a few weeks.

Impressively precise conversion.

Superb job. Was the donor a Hornby, Bachmann, or Tri-ang?

Only a few seconds should not have damaged the DC motor when fed with DCC AC wave form. I’ve done it a few times myself by accident. Suggest diagnosis steps: Put 21 pin DC blanking plate back in the loco, disconnect the NCE from the track and try a DC controller to see if the un chipped loco still runs ok on DC. Assuming it does run, then remove from track, disconnect DC controller, put 21pin decoder in loco, put loco on test track, go into programming mode on NCE Cab. See if decoder manufacturer ID and model no are displayed. This tells if decoder is responding. If yes give it a DCC address and try it on DCC. if it doesn’t run in 1 above it sounds like the motor was damaged by AC current for too long. if after step 3 it won’t run on DCC that might be because the address on the decoder is wrong. A decoder reset CV8=8 will reset the decoder back to factory defaults and default address of 3. caution: with NCE Power cab only put one loco at a time on the track when programming or you risk programming every loco on the layout, and loosing loco addresses already allocated. Only have the one loco to program have only that on the layout. Hopefully it’s not damaged.

Customers who folded 8" floppies over and rammed them into 5" floppy drive slots!!! Or the customer who posted 8" data floppy discs back to support for analysis by folding them over so they would fit in a 1/3 A4 envelope and stapled a with complements clip to the folded disc.!!! Strange but true. A mouse once got inside a customers Pertec 6m removable hard disc drive which caused it to head crash, phoned support and asked if they should use the Super Cat utility 'sprcat' to try and read the disc!!!

Thank you duly ordered. Looking forward to running my green and black A classes with these

A simple 15v AC power transformer is the norm. Old Triang power controllers had two outputs a 12v DC regulated and a separate 15v AC for point motors. Some folks like to use 15v AC combined with a capacitor discharge unit which is capable of more grunt when used with solenoids, especially when throwing say two points from a single switch. My old layout was done this way but the maze of wiring from each point back to a central switch panel was like a brilopad growth under the layout and a nightmare to diagnose when something went wrong. I know your not going DCC for the layout but there is no doubt one area where DCC excels in reducing wiring simplicity and reducing work load and that is point motors, even if trains are powered by 12v DC from track block sections and isolation sections. Having no wires running under the layout back to a central switch panel is a joy. Just a DCC bus wires only for point motors, not track means only one power supply for the lot including layout lighting signals, semaphore serves, etc, and only two wires back to a central decoder connected to say 15-20 switches of whatever kind you like, toggle switches, lever switches, push button switches. You can even have a portable virtual signal box containing a panel of switches that can be moved around the layout much like a portable cab controller (DC or DCC). DCC concepts sell a mix of components that can do this on a DC only layout (ie with only DCC accessory decoders or DCC addressed point motors, or solenoids the SEEP, Peco, etc. Worth reading up on as it literally reduces the work load by 85%. Another thing to consider is are you planing to use electrofrog points or insulfrog points, the former need a frog switch, PECO sell a switch that can go under the point or if using stall point motors such as Tortoise or Cobalt they have built in frog switches so you'll only need about 4-6 inches of local wiring under the point for frog switching. Electrofrog points aside from looking better, their main advantage is smooth low speed running over the entire point without stalling short wheelbase locos (eg 040, 060) due to wheel losing electrical conductivity passing over plastic frogs on insulfrog points or train set standard points (eg Hornby or Peco Setrack).

Great progress. Looking forward to watching this project. Recommend checking out use of 3mm closed cell foam for under track (ie for sound insulation and raised track bed). I used a double layer so ballast never came directly into contact with the baseboard acting as a hard sound bridge. Cork lets PVA seep through creating a rock hard sound bridge to ply base board.

Just gorgeous. My favourite layout ever on here. The Epoch era of Irish railway transport. Beautifully and artistically authentic.

Yea in Tippex Livery they operated right up until about 2007 with PP commuter sets, Limerick shuttle, etc. And in pairs for some freight operations. For many layouts a 121 paired up with a 141 hauling a mixed rake of Cravens, Park Royals and Laminates was classic from the 1980s right up to the naughties.

Apologies only saw this today. Really sorry to hear about your sad loss @Class87 . Thoughts for your family and your brothers loved ones.

Super concept. Really looking forward to watching this evolve. It's gonna be good.

Impressive however, not sure it makes financial sense, you could employ a hundreds of drivers, house and transport them for a tiny fraction of $1.3bn for the next 50 years.

Fran, thank you very much for that information. Much appreciated. Looking forward to them. Noel

Dave, chill, if its an agenda to simply ask a supplier when one of their announced products will be available, then yes perhaps that's an agenda. Its just a query, and not an unreasonable one. What's your problem with nearly everything I post? I shut down the Gort thread, is that not enough for you? Please chill and get off my back.

H Guys When are the promised ESU sound decoder projects for the earlier livery IRM A class locos due for release (ie the original Crossley engined A class metrovics in Silver, Green and Black Livery)? @Warbonnet I have green, black and silver A class locos in need of decoders. Its been 5 years since announced. Thanks in advance. Noel

Best loco livery of all (imho), quite like the grey 071s too.