Class 121

[NIRCLASS80]

5 hours ago, ttc0169 said:

Unfortunately I have had two locomotives with broken vacuum brake pipes-129 and B132 both on the cab end,however I swapped around the brake pipe on B132 from the nose end to the cab end and replaced the nose end with a spare vacuum pipe from the IRM 42’ bogie wagons,

On 129 I decided to replace the vacuum pipe on the cab end with the IRM brake pipe-which is stronger than the MM one. 
 

See before and after photos below...

The hole needed opening out a little more to accommodate the IRM brake pipe. 
 

Great idea. I forgot about those little spares!  Thanks IRM. 

[murphaph]

11 hours ago, mmie353 said:

Well besides having issues with my sound on my MM0121, these are pics of the lights I have from it, I am not sure if they are correct that is bothering me. Please feel free to advise

This intuitively feels wrong when I look at any other pictures of the early marker lights. They were usually a twin red/white on one side and a single white on the other.

But I don't have any pictures in any of my books of this loco in delivery condition.

[Noel]

Looks ok to me. The lights on B135 and B125 seem spot on. Not sure if any issues could be the decoder set up, but the lights are working perfectly for me with the Wheeltappers LokSound 5 decoders. 

[murphaph]

Did B121 really have this red/white white/white configuration and if so were the white/white lights both illuminated like that?

[jhb171achill]

1 hour ago, murphaph said:

 

Edited December 14, 2020 by jhb171achill

[murphaph]

But looking at pics on the net there were twin twin arrangements too, but were they white/white on one side and if so were both these lights actually illuminated simultaneously?

I think the 121s had a crazy mix of lighting arrangements. Many pics show a lamp on the lamp iron on that side with the white/white (assuming the model is correct) side.

It looks like they standardised on the 141s and later 071s with red/white - white however, but the 121s seem to be a real Mish mash.

[Barl]

I got a chance to take my 121's out of their boxes and it looks like I've been one of the lucky ones with the only damage I can see being a slightly bent, but not broken, vacuum pipe on 124. 3 of these are from IRM and 2 were collected from Marks. 

I haven't run any of them yet but hopefully they will be ok! 

 

[Mayner]

1 hour ago, murphaph said:

This intuitively feels wrong when I look at any other pictures of the early marker lights. They were usually a twin red/white on one side and a single white on the other.

But I don't have any pictures in any of my books of this loco in delivery condition.

There are several photos of B121 Class in as delivered condition in the IRRS flickr album

The B121 appear to have been delivered with twin marker lights on both sides same as the Metrovicks and B101 Class Sulzers.

The G611 & B141 Classes appear to have been delivered with the 2+1 arrangement.

In practice locos seldom ran with the marker lights illuminated (in day light hours anyway). 

On CIE/IE loco head lights were not used in daylight hours until an instruction went out in the 1990s to run with headlights illuminated in daylight hours. 

Light locos would have carried a separate tail lamp to indicate the train is complete rather than depend on a single red marker lamp.

 

 

 

[murphaph]

1 hour ago, Mayner said:

The B121 appear to have been delivered with twin marker lights on both sides same as the Metrovicks and B101 Class Sulzers.

But the As at least had a fairly "orthodox" red/white-red/white configuration, right?

The as delivered 121s seem to have had this "weird" red/white-white/white configuration and this seems to be reflected in the model, but how were these illuminated is the question. Where all three white lights on simultaneously? Given the As predate these locos and were fairly standard it seems a really odd departure.

Wikipedia example of B126:

[Noel]

Overall these are truly amazing models and they look incredible hauling trains. B125 arrived recently and its even better looking than the photo graphs. Will lightly weather it in the weeks ahead.

[Mayner]

B125 & 126s arrived this afternoon 7 days after shipment from IRM in Dublin & just a day late for my birthday.! Meanwhile B131 is on its way from Rails wonder when it will turn up?

B121 was fine after its journey 126s with a broken leading vacuum pipe and damaged snatcher on the 2nd mans side. 

The big question is whether they are re-gaugable to 21mm and to find a space in the display case for them along with my other Murphy Models diesels

[Joe Keegan]

Hi John 

Belated happy 21st birthday again

They can be re gauged to 21mm as Paddy wanted them to be converted without too much fuss.

I have a grey 121 to convert over the Christmas for Adavoyle.

It will an interesting project with the stepped axels for the rotating journals.

 

 

 

[flange lubricator]

I received two 121 class yesterday very well packaged from the UK one has a broken Vacuum Pipe , I also have  another one with a broken pipe received from a Irish supplier ,this is only a minor  issue  would be great if some replacements could be made available at some stage .

[chris]

4 hours ago, Mayner said:

B125 & 126s arrived this afternoon 7 days after shipment from IRM in Dublin & just a day late for my birthday.! Meanwhile B131 is on its way from Rails wonder when it will turn up?

B121 was fine after its journey 126s with a broken leading vacuum pipe and damaged snatcher on the 2nd mans side. 

The big question is whether they are re-gaugable to 21mm and to find a space in the display case for them along with my other Murphy Models diesels

lucky you mayner, customs got their claws into mine, no release date as yet

[iarnrod]

Has anyone attempted to remove the CAWS/radio pods from the bonnet of either of the CIE Supertrain locos? Just curious if these are glued on or if there is a hole remaining if removed.

[PJR]

Any idea when the  567 sound decoder come back into stock in IRM or Marks            

[WRENNEIRE]

45 minutes ago, PJR said:

Any idea when the  567 sound decoder come back into stock in IRM or Marks            

I know a man ............

[Warbonnet]

52 minutes ago, PJR said:

Any idea when the  567 sound decoder come back into stock in IRM or Marks            

We're due more later this week according to MM.

Cheers!

Fran

[K801]

Thanks IRM, 121s arrived safe and sound

[DiveController]

12 hours ago, PJR said:

Any idea when the  567 sound decoder come back into stock in IRM or Marks            

Marks told me during this week

[Edo]

All my 121s have arrived and running great- poor B121 needs a little bit of tlc after a de-boxing malfunction - nothing that can't be sorted with a bit patience and glue!

Edited December 16, 2020 by Edo

[StevieB]

Is anyone else on the eastern side of the Irish Sea having trouble laying their hands on the latest 121’s. Just spoken to Hattons and there seems to be a delay in getting them out of Dublin. It wouldn’t have anything to do with the time of year, Christmas no Brexit, would it?

Stephen

[Georgeconna]

I got my First Rails order yesterday,

5 in fact 3 had damage to handrails, 1 set snapped off completely. BNT and IR's

My Double order of the IE's Came in and mostly ok except the bonnet etch had come off one loco but was easily and carefully put in place.

Just the supers left now to come to the PO. looking forward to seeing those.

[murphaph]

25 minutes ago, StevieB said:

Is anyone else on the eastern side of the Irish Sea having trouble laying their hands on the latest 121’s. Just spoken to Hattons and there seems to be a delay in getting them out of Dublin. It wouldn’t have anything to do with the time of year, Christmas no Brexit, would it?

Stephen

That's bad news. I honestly thought these things would be long since delivered but what with Covid and now Brexit I'm wondering what the hell is going to happen.

I see smaller Manchester based sellers on eBay have them. Rails have them. Hattons don't seem to have them. I hope they at least use some common sense and hold off on charging them to our credit cards until the 1st unless they can guarantee that they can get them shipped before the end of the year. 

I will be mightily annoyed if they charge my credit card on the 31st charging me UK VAT and then exporting them to me in Germany for German customs to stop them and slap another €100 VAT on them (and that would be in the Inc VAT + shipping price).

If they have been let down on the supply side there's nothing they can do except use common sense and hold off on billing us in the EU until January and deduct the UK VAT at that time.

I've tried asking them to confirm that they will do this but they seem unwilling to do so.

[MD220]

I contacted Hattons earlier this week about delivery times for the ST 121s and they replied that they had no confirmed date for when they would receive them. I ordered my IR 121 from IRM and dithered that much about getting a second (supertrain) version that they'd sold out of them by the time I'd manned up! Ordered from Hattons instead. I'll know better next time. My next concern is that being in Co Down will there be extra hassle getting it back into the North if its delivered after Jan 1st?

[Wexford70]

1 hour ago, StevieB said:

Is anyone else on the eastern side of the Irish Sea having trouble laying their hands on the latest 121’s. Just spoken to Hattons and there seems to be a delay in getting them out of Dublin. It wouldn’t have anything to do with the time of year, Christmas no Brexit, would it?

Stephen

Kernow jus emailed to say they have 2 for me

[murphaph]

46 minutes ago, MD220 said:

I contacted Hattons earlier this week about delivery times for the ST 121s and they replied that they had no confirmed date for when they would receive them. I ordered my IR 121 from IRM and dithered that much about getting a second (supertrain) version that they'd sold out of them by the time I'd manned up! Ordered from Hattons instead. I'll know better next time. My next concern is that being in Co Down will there be extra hassle getting it back into the North if its delivered after Jan 1st?

You should be fine either way. Customs won't have anything to do with parcels going from GB to NI. At least not initially. They will be concerning themselves with lorries of food products not parcels of non-food stuff IMO.

[Georgeconna]

2 hours ago, murphaph said:

That's bad news. I honestly thought these things would be long since delivered but what with Covid and now Brexit I'm wondering what the hell is going to happen.

I see smaller Manchester based sellers on eBay have them. Rails have them. Hattons don't seem to have them. I hope they at least use some common sense and hold off on charging them to our credit cards until the 1st unless they can guarantee that they can get them shipped before the end of the year. 

I will be mightily annoyed if they charge my credit card on the 31st charging me UK VAT and then exporting them to me in Germany for German customs to stop them and slap another €100 VAT on them (and that would be in the Inc VAT + shipping price).

If they have been let down on the supply side there's nothing they can do except use common sense and hold off on billing us in the EU until January and deduct the UK VAT at that time.

I've tried asking them to confirm that they will do this but they seem unwilling to do so.

Strange for sure, all mine from Rails have arrived and there is one more package only left yesterday so I will get that next week all going well into the loco PO.

Now need to get into Marks for 2 sound chips so  I can have a play xmas day.

[DiveController]

I cancelled my order of 4 locos with Hattons as they had no timeframe for me and I'll repurchase with another model shop in Ireland as soon as they ever get 567 chips which were supposed to arrive yesterday but no sign of them as yet

Edited December 19, 2020 by DiveController

[WRENNEIRE]

Hi Guys,

 

121 DCC and DCC sound chips have arrived. And more on route. We will ship them out asap.

 

Kind Regards

 

Murphy Models

[Noel]

I've successfully used 121 sound decoders from WheelTappers for some time and very pleased with them. Excellent prototypical driving features and independent control of the head lamps (ie coasting, braking, throttle hold, etc). Some nice additional functions like kadee uncoupling, cascading train coupling snatch and converse buffer clashing as an entire train comes to a halt. Full lighting support for double header consists. I just love driving these wheeltapper projects like real prototypical trains with real stopping distances and procedures. They are the very same ESU LokSound V5 decoders that MM supply so no issues with warranty (ie just better sound functionality). Cost seems the same. I'm just a happy customer using these for years driving my MM baby GMs even before the 121s came out. They also consist (double head) really well with MM 141/181 locos as was common practice on the real railways. Have fun and enjoy. 

http://www.wheeltappersdccsounds.co.uk/styled-5/index.html

[ttc0169]

13 hours ago, Noel said:

I've successfully used 121 sound decoders from WheelTappers for some time and very pleased with them. Excellent prototypical driving features and independent control of the head lamps (ie coasting, braking, throttle hold, etc). Some nice additional functions like kadee uncoupling, cascading train coupling snatch and converse buffer clashing as an entire train comes to a halt. Full lighting support for double header consists. I just love driving these wheeltapper projects like real prototypical trains with real stopping distances and procedures. They are the very same ESU LokSound V5 decoders that MM supply so no issues with warranty (ie just better sound functionality). Cost seems the same. I'm just a happy customer using these for years driving my MM baby GMs even before the 121s came out. They also consist (double head) really well with MM 141/181 locos as was common practice on the real railways. Have fun and enjoy. 

http://www.wheeltappersdccsounds.co.uk/styled-5/index.html

Are you on commission?

[irishthump]

13 hours ago, Noel said:

I've successfully used 121 sound decoders from WheelTappers for some time and very pleased with them. Excellent prototypical driving features and independent control of the head lamps (ie coasting, braking, throttle hold, etc). Some nice additional functions like kadee uncoupling, cascading train coupling snatch and converse buffer clashing as an entire train comes to a halt. Full lighting support for double header consists. I just love driving these wheeltapper projects like real prototypical trains with real stopping distances and procedures. They are the very same ESU LokSound V5 decoders that MM supply so no issues with warranty (ie just better sound functionality). Cost seems the same. I'm just a happy customer using these for years driving my MM baby GMs even before the 121s came out. They also consist (double head) really well with MM 141/181 locos as was common practice on the real railways. Have fun and enjoy. 

http://www.wheeltappersdccsounds.co.uk/styled-5/index.html

Ordering from Wheeltappers (or any UK company) may prove “problematic” from Jan 1st!

[fishplate7]

15 hours ago, Noel said:

I've successfully used 121 sound decoders from WheelTappers for some time and very pleased with them. Excellent prototypical driving features and independent control of the head lamps (ie coasting, braking, throttle hold, etc). Some nice additional functions like kadee uncoupling, cascading train coupling snatch and converse buffer clashing as an entire train comes to a halt. Full lighting support for double header consists. I just love driving these wheeltapper projects like real prototypical trains with real stopping distances and procedures. They are the very same ESU LokSound V5 decoders that MM supply so no issues with warranty (ie just better sound functionality). Cost seems the same. I'm just a happy customer using these for years driving my MM baby GMs even before the 121s came out. They also consist (double head) really well with MM 141/181 locos as was common practice on the real railways. Have fun and enjoy. 

http://www.wheeltappersdccsounds.co.uk/styled-5/index.html

Agree 100% Noel. I have bought some recently and I'm getting immense fun from driving these locos, which takes a bit of learning! Nothing better than applying F5 (brake), then F18 (Heavy Load) then set it to speed step 12 for example, then finally disengage F5.....and wait! The engine revvs and the loco strain as she pulls away with a heavy load is a sight and a sound to behold. Highly recommended!

[murphaph]

Are the wheeltappers projects based on his own recordings or the ESU files?

I believe the MM chip sounds are derived from the ESU recordings of similar US locos but stand open to correction on that.

The ESU files for these engines are very good quality HiFi recordings.

I just used these files on blank decoders (using a Lokprogrammer) and swapped out the horns. They are full throttle projects (drive hold, Coast etc.).