Sean

have been wanting the shapeways n stuff for ages but the high costs for what you actually get have always put me off.... what do i want from 3d printing? well, the ability to purchase files of models and print out as many copies as i would like, just like we do with scalescenes stuff now. otherwise its no different to buying brass or resin kits, to me at least quality aside.

some really good advice here folks and i think the best take away is to err on the side of caution with things. sound seems nice and all but at those prices, i just might have to pass, i love the idea of realdrive but need to be able to justify those high costs, the audio engineer inside of my brain has been trying to come up with other ideas for adding sound to the layout which in reality may just be a little more practical (and much better sounding to boot) that same audio engineer would probably quickly become tired of the sound of trains through iphone speakers as robert has hinted at above.... I wonder what work could be done in this area to improve bass and fidelity of onboard speakers, phones have improved MASSIVELY in recent years and there may be a scope to bring some of that technology over to a locomotive. thats a topic for another thread however which merits further investigation on my part! the layout in mind is very simple with no more than 2 locos running at a time, but its a very slow moving depot so my biggest draw again is unlocking the full potential of the lights as i want to be able to fully light the layout over time also. DCC accessories dont really interest me and im happy to do points by hand for now, ill eventually electrify them but thats practically going to be years away. so with all this in mind, and no particular limits on time as i have an exceptionally(for me) smooth DC controller im probabaly going to order the arduino shield and one single soundless decoder and play around on a lenght of track to wet my feet and that way i will soon see if its for me or not. Will probabaly go with an official IRM of MM decoder to start with as they dont cost a whole lot more than the generic ESU ones and i know all the functions will be as they need to be to get started with.

Interesting food for thought Dave as its not usually you hear from someone who is more for DC my biggest annoyance with DC is how the lighting on the loco is controlled and i dont really want to turn those lights off either... @Murrayec due to budget constraints i really am leaning towards the DCC++ option, mainly because i have virtually everything there already except a motor shield and decoder so i can be tinkering. I build midi controllers driven by arduino boards so am also kind of interested in seeing just what it can do with a train. that being said you are probabaly right about the decoders, and i dont want to risk blowing up my lovely trains!!, so can at least justify getting those. are you saying the sound and non sound ESU chips the same at a hardware level and can be programmed with sounds later? control from a phone or tablet really appeals to me.

RIP RAWIE NUMBER 5 slightly nervy but enjoyable work, not bad going for a couple of hours. had to use fillers in a couple of spots as i was low on clay, so may need to leave a good few days before sanding it down etc. will have to see how it goes. pulled the molds off early because i dont want a perfect concrete edge i want it to be broken and distressed. Also cut out and glued down the loading platform, and also with this brings another change of plan, beet hoppers have always been on my list of wanted rolling stock, but with no real justification to get them due to lack of facilities on the layout. and since im rather partial to hopper type wagons in general, and magnesite are coming. I have decided that instead of a disused loose coupled loading dock that it can be an in use loading dock to cater for all types of mineral hoppers complete with period clapped out 10 or so year old JCB! watch this space....

lifted everything off the board again to do the usual "slab the whole yoke with polystyrene" treatment and to lay the underlay, hopefully the trackwork is a little more forgiving now! just about ready to fill this lot in with das and hope for the best! madly the styrene exactly matches the rail height with the underlay underneath!

my biggest gripe is not being able to control the lighting and the lighting operating like a dimmer switch as the loco runs though slow operations Anybody using DCC++? looks right up my street.

hey guys, looking for some info on this topic and in general I have absolutely have no idea where to start as i have only ever had DC systems where can i find out about wiring? whats the best entry level controller to pick up and are there any available second hand? could an arduino be used to put together a controller in a DIY fashion? In regard to the decoders on the loco i have much the same questions. not sure what to look for, i think all my locos are 21 pin. what are the best entry level decoders that wont break the bank and is there any chance of finding them second hand? again can i DIY them? I would consider myself to be quite proficient at the DIY side of electronics so should be able to tackle somthing if such a project already exists. I understand sound to be quite pricey so can live without this for the moment but id like the option to be there so i can easily add sound in future. Locos to be chipped are MM203 MM130 MM143 and IRM007 ahhh so many questions Cheers.

with this talk of backscenes i cant help but think about a layout with no backscene, or one that is simply solid green! going to experiment with just that on my N layout. a green screen backscene would be very interesting indeed for photography purposes!

off to shapeways i go........

shied away from work on the layout over the week as a disastrous first operating session had been plagued with constant wagon derailments on points, particularly during reverse shunting, chalked it down to a mixture of hornby points combined with an extremelly unlevelled track bed. I had considered replacing all the points with peco(which i still may do for reliabilitys sake). Had another go friday and had a nice few hours of operation over the weekend , up until now i had not seen any need for DCC and sound chips and all that malarky, despite having a degree in audio production! but now i am seeing it as one of my most wanted features to add to the loco's and im thinking about other ways i could experiment with incorporating sounds into the layout. Perceptually its a bit weird seeing the trains going around without making any sounds, a bit like driving an electric vehicle for the first time! a full yard will be a rare sight. MM203 the odd one out on era. perhaps as they climb in value to approach the 2000 euro mark some kind soul will trade me for an immaculate toothpaste IR 071 which is still in a sealed box video-1644720336.mp4 video-1644720329.mp4 video-1644720323.mp4 We did manage to catch a few videos of train movements down the newly built street, once you cross the tracks the road will continue left and i might get to squeeze in something low relief stuck onto the backscene, in to the right is the train station car park where ill be able to display around half a dozen cars, as i add them to my collection. Cheers!

Interestingly relevant I have been working on converting this IRM flat for push pull operation as a camera dolly to give the "drivers experience" in the bits that i shoot, of course its gonna have the same issues of cropping and ill need to pan it to avoid staring out into the abyss when the train is moving in certain directions, but it should be cool for building little video narratives of the movements. one thing ive been trying to do with all my latest layout pictures is to get the camera lens down to eye level and attempt to shoot as if im a little 1/76 person holding a big camcorder, im hoping practice now should pay off with really atmospheric shots once the layout develops a bit more. im noticing its a little tricky at times given the size of modern phones!

anything i post onto here is done using the phone and cropped to hell,possibly filtered have an old slr that i was gonna sell but have decided to hold onto it since getting back into fish and railways, i know i will only regret it, only like 8 megapixels but so much choice given it takes canon lenses.

got some myself last week they are super quality.

We catch a quick glimpse of 143 as she arrives in with the dublin service, 007 awaits signal to depart with a liner.

I have one of these that i built myself using a 6w hornby van, the middle axle should slide in and out as the wagon goes around corners.. if thats a silverfox unit it should be the same chassis from my oggling of the photos, the couplers should also turn through corners

Will the ladder and lid be removable to allow to become the ballast wagons as well?

hopefully this, and that they will be modular just like the 40's with different options available over time. beet, containers, tankers etc. I feel like it might be coaches though.

+1 On Irishmail from me too, just took delivery of a beautiful 143 a very painless transaction.

All track has been temporarily lifted and the basedboard is gone away until tonight to have a backscene installed. that being said the holy grail has arrived!!! (definitely an unplanned purchase but too good not too buy :D) more pullin power than this whispy backwater will ever need. find me 071 in this livery now and i will have the full fleet. has to be mentioned that im MUCH happier with these handrails than i was with the ones on 130

As the bank has been broken several time over the past week , this was seen as a good opportunity to finally finish some kits. have made them my own with the addition of the strenghtening girder. already liking how these look cant wait to get a coat of paint and some decals on. ten miles of hertigate railway exist on a rail spur approximately 15 miles away from the terminus, with the aquisition of mk2 stock, these have been passed along to that railway which they plan to use to instate a second daily service on their line. initially as a push pull, later as a dmu once the green car sees an overhaul, as a future project, we will see a better representation of this railway.(new thread soon) to compliment their mixed steam special that leaves the station once a day, quite unusually the cattle van has been converted and carries the mail for the village post office, along with any other small loads that the locals might want to charter. They even have their own volunteer ran PWD division, Irish rail allow the use of the railhead facilities for ballast deliveries and any other heavy supplies which may be difficult to get out the winding village lanes. they too rely on fuelling facilities here and the weekly fuel delivery is split with 15% being reserved for the heritage side. a heating van is also used on passenger services during the winter months. a group of eager catfish await the 16:00 home from the lakeside.

PM sent

Today on the Railway; video-1643579857.mp4 Railcar turns on turntable for the first time, with a satisfying index click to altert the user on proper alignment! next time ye shall see 130 use it under its own power. a thought crosses my mind; sure why bother motorising this if none of the points will be and your going to just be sitting there within reach anyway! its not as if the real ones were motorised in the end. so we shall see on that. when asked about the ongoing issue of siding lenghts at a recent meeting, a senior engineer piped up with "Just build a BRIDGE and get over it!" so thats exactly what has happened. leaving both generous loop and sidings everywhere Sean

ARGH, have wanted one since they came out however never got the chance being a snotty teenager and only getting back into things in my late 20's early 30's now. I would find it very difficult to ever pay more than the price of a new 121 class for one of these ever. as we all know you cant just stop at one either so that figure compounds that being said I cant see them not being re released at this stage. the demand is clearly there now more so than it will have been a few years ago. If paddy doesnt i dare say IRM will take the reigns at some stage and come out with their own variant. IR Diesels were THE iconic thing for me on the railway growing up.

Great to hear it! will PM now.

are provincial still going the website doesnt instill much confidence