Sean

the notches are the rpms the engine runs at. so notch 8 being full throttle and notch 1/2 being barely moving. everything comes as 3 by default, theres probabaly an easy way to reprogram it using that controller but youd need to check the manuals, i usually do it by changing cv values with my laptop. I would avoid using the analogue mode on that controller as damage can be possible quite easily. once you have this all worked out you wont want to go back to dc operation at all https://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/images/E-Z_Command_instructions.pdf Page 3

THIS

fun tip: load up a heavy train and turn on drive hold whilst its stationary, set desired notch and toggle drive hold so that the train is crawling on a high notch. toggle it on and off as you see fit until the train gets up to speed, once up to cruising speed turn on DH once more and drop it down a notch you can simulate a long heavy train very easily now bliss

if you turn the controller from say 80% to 0 it will slow down based on programmed momentum. if you press the brakes during this you should be able to perform a much sharper slow down stop a quick stop. theres also the hand brake and train brake and i think they all work differently from what i can remember. the emergency brake is pretty self explanitory. theres also manual notching instead of drive hold but you need 3 buttons for that to work fully. I mainly just use, lights, engine sounds, horns, drive hold, and manual notching. I dont usually bother with the brakes at all and have a dedicated emergency stop button incase of runaways so i dont use the e brake either. I tend to use manual notching on heavy freight and drive hold for passenger work but both functions achieve mostly the same thing it just comes down to personal preference about what one to use

have you tried to run any "second radius only" trains through that circuit to see how they handle it before you go tearing it up?

I would LOVE to see IRM making the loco and turf wagon.

Lol i never would of thought of it being the same thing.

been taking some time away whilst i sort out some other stuff around the place but yesterdays arrival (the bus) prompted me to get in for a tidy up and small running session, which then turned into me putting up the backscene and making a small carpark for the station as the train ran around, the code 75 seems to be very smooth and well laid. also have the unfinished dutch van on the line for testing purposes. still need to find somewhere to put all these green boxes

Are you referring to like a pure graphite stick from an art shop @murphaph?

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when i looked into this a few months ago the consensus seemed to be that these three terms are used generically by manufacturers to allow them to avoid listing specific specs of lubricant to buy and best practice would just to be to go out and buy specific lube and grease from your local model shop. that said there are a few things ive learned over the years that might help. Silicone oil should be fine - I used to use it to oil my airsoft guns and in particular a part called the "hop up" which was an adjustable piece of very soft rubber that the BB strikes at full velocity before travelling down the barrel to add back spin. this was a specific recommendation and we were to NEVER use wd40 (dont wd40 your model train either lol) "sewing machine oil" seems to just be a different terminology for 3 in 1, I have the bottle of singer machine oil here and when you read closely it seems to just be 3 in 1 in a fancy bottle. same nozzle etc. in the end i tried a little bit of hair clipper oil as the hair clipper has lots of plastic parts and it seemed to fit the description of a light machine oil perfectly. I later read that this too is probabaly mineral based so could also be unsafe but so far things have been grand and if i need to relube ill use something more specific but it seems fine for now.

definitely looks sandy to me

id go for 5 or 10 in cie as well.

Perhaps "a man we know" can investigate the true story here and bring us the inside scoop from wexford street.

I didnt actually realise we were waiting for additional mk2d's lol Perhaps thats a good point as I dont recall hattons making ANY mention of the upcoming 141's, are they still listing the mk3's as upcoming?

outside of the arduino method the other end of the scale is the roco and nce options which most people seem to go for, I like the roco and have played with one a little and the app is nice but i dont think it can do anything that my arduino system cannot and is a little restricted as it uses its own protocol(not too badly mind you). however it is plug and play mostly straight out of the box. I think you need to stop an ask yourself how do you want to drive the trains? do you want handheld controls or do you want the ability for app control over bluetooth(and maybe you want both eventually). Do you want your trains to be smart controllable ie automated runs eventually etc or will you always drive them manually. Do you want something you can take out of the box and just plug in and go or do you mind spending additional time setting up a system for the first time. There are also small DCC controllers out there such as the bachmann ez command and ive always liked the look of these for their simplicity but at the same time they are supposed to be very limited in terms of programming and you might not be able to access all of the locomotives functions with one of these. @DJ Dangerous has one but i dont know if he has used his one too much yet. they come up used on hattons from time to time. Whatever route you go down, you will need to work approximate power needs for your layout before you start shopping. every decoder on the track will draw some amount of current even when doing nothing. it can be wise to leave some overhead for safety reasons and or future expansions.

whats your ideal price range and skill level? I built my dcc controller on a chinese arduino mega with an ethernet shield and the official arduino motor shield for less than 50 euro all in.(motor shield cost the most rather than risking a chinese one) it plugs into my home router and i control it via an app on one of my phones or tablets, or JMRI on a pc. Its actually not that difficult of a thing to set up, but i would say its not for complete beginners as you do need a very small bit of programming to get it up and running although all code is provided for on the projects website. if you can comfortably build a pc and install windows for example this should be no bother to you. you only get 2 amps of power though unless you invest in a different motor controller, which might not support 12 locos sitting idle on a layout although works just fine for running 2 or 3 trains

i keep putting off the i6 because its too modern for my liking and I'd been hovering over this for long enough to know that not buying it would be regretful. Have vivid memories of the horrid red machette, I think from taking BE busses from caslebar(shudder) to galway around ten years back. they still had these yokes knocking around.

ah i dunno im fairly delighted with the price i paid for this bus today, the price even dropped a little bit when i logged into my .ie account, not sure why though. https://www.ebay.ie/itm/115858008679 compare that to an hour or two before this where I was surfing facebook and stumbled upon some lad trying to flog oxford models for 3x their retail prices because they had Irish company liverys. a touch under 60 euro for an anpost ford cargo? Hey ill tell ya what, you amend .ie into your ebay urls and ill make more of an effort to trim mine deal?

nice batch of mir kits going here; 7 taras and a few flats and 6 more ferts https://www.ebay.ie/itm/126014176323?hash=item1d5707bc43:g:U34AAOSwi8xksU4H&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4CvRRYibGSmCJigOn%2FYUdyIpby%2BLySQ1FmJkNqRyoCt2wa58jHdUqMdI1wX%2B7Ew8SV8ToBxL8WPg%2Fknk7n4Kxj4Qi51kFFCCL0pI63ZydS6pFtD4aYWVCFO%2BI0IRMekxLzWWcSwhHHppeyZEBaiisArpBiHrmlk1%2FA5YPuxlixmHtSunIlFkBNOtSJqA23jdeNpV941jR85lQBz5bNXaK9oE0Rpym9M518%2BXeHiJ82fgKWd7H2dyJCdPgQdHIJnc4yTd80Z32ItBL7n9xQdwGT2NSgxh9t%2F8jcLpZryQyHvz|tkp%3ABk9SR4rD9_WuYg https://www.ebay.ie/itm/126014195625?hash=item1d570807a9:g:3mcAAOSwg6RksVOJ https://www.ebay.ie/itm/126014532749?hash=item1d570d2c8d:g:He4AAOSwi0NksaSf&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4F1t9HS5bfY0JdJoUMB7qGopheFJvVZJEZF7NjxIHR4%2BYZy2mUm9r%2Fditdd1Z9gvFsCtbr8hMT7kY61iwn7FU2nZ2hD2aIBSjC6RFLh2YGNHph2cKfniG4F%2BIEF9%2B12LgsHDC%2BExWPP0lSAYriUUY3UTr4tSOhARAZ4MZp1heVgKt%2BkYtOjYpKaxEobraJSKy%2BJ3%2FPh077i8%2B%2BhG145LP0bp0fmqF9EZV45pbawqf6pykexuN2ukxUJe%2B%2BLKsd2B9Sc%2FOjvY8o1olpQc%2Fc5cokRXR%2BJ5VpcctXnu%2BDeuQCgj|tkp%3ABk9SR4rD9_WuYg I would of bought these but got 12 blue ones instead recently.

ya but you get unlimited sun and bud clubs so its a fair trade off Postman came in the end. he was just late LOL

where it will sit until christmas? man im borderline annoyed that stuff i ordered yesterday wasnt sitting in the postbox this morning.

How long did you have the power applied patrick? did you try to drive on the DC channel of your DCC controller, and what controller is it? the buzzing sound would be considered "normal" as it is the motor taking the full voltage of your dcc system but not moving until the dc channel lets it move. since the motors arent moving they heat up to dissapate the power and this is why failure is common when people do this as motors overheat easily.

should be there in time for winter

the white paint was still soft and lifty this morning, whilst the black roof and ends presented no issues whatsoever, reminding me why i swore not to buy dealz paint ever again. masked off again and brushed on an enamel which dried properly this time, once that dried i remasked and did another black coat with the aim of sharpening the lines which seemed to work, sadly could not do the same with the orange layer which would have tidied things right up as i ran out of orange paint, ill get back to that in a few days though when i get to the shop. kinda happy with it now except for the last orange paint coat but im still gonna be on the look out for something to use as a suitable gangway and handrails as well as a decal kit and a source of egv grilles. only built this yoke out of the OCD factor of needing the right egv to go with the particular set of coaches im running. when the IRM ones arrive im gonna need to build a second one. so gonna start planning that soon also.