2 questions from a noob...

[frazzle]

Hi guys, and i am pleased to join this forum.
Ok, im new to trains, so i have 2 unrelated queations:

1. I have bought a DCC set, its the Cornishman one. Ive also added Track Pack C, so its basically 2 ovals, 1 inside the other with a single

point between them. When i run the train on the INSIDE ring, and when i run it backwards, a weird thing happens. The train runs fine for a bit, then stops and jolts in the other direction, then stops again and begins its original course once more. I have used

the point pins to make sure power is covering the whole track, and this only happens when the train is traveling in revrse. Any suggestions?

2. I understand that 00 gauge is 1:76. So I took the measurements of my house. Its 21m long. This equates to

21000mm, so to scale I make this 276mm. This seemed a little large to me, so I looked at many of the larger Hornby Station Houses, and while they look like they would be huge buildings in real life, their scale sizes are around 190mm, much smaller than my

house. What am I doing wrong? I 'think' I understand how to calculate scale, but if im right, hornby are cheating and making their scenery to a smaller than 00 scale, and thats doesn't make sense?

Thanks for reading guys and MERRY XMAS to you all :)

Paul

[poliss]

Does it happen at the same place every time? Does it happen on a curve?

[DW]

Hi,

Your conversion is right enough.

21000mm is 68.9 feet in length. At 4mm to the foot therefore 68.9*4mm is 275.6mm.

I don't know but Hornby may be making use of shrinking these buildings so that they will fit on nearly all model

railways as a lot of their customers simply do not have space on their layouts for the full size buildings.

Cheers.

[frazzle]

poliss said:

Does it happen at the same place every time? Does it happen on a curve?

well, my track doesnt have much of a straight it does happen on the small straight too. Also the place it happens varies, though it seems

to like to be in 7 or 8 specific spots?

[frazzle]

DW said:

Hi,

Your conversion is right enough.

21000mm is 68.9 feet in length. At 4mm to the foot therefore 68.9*4mm is 275.6mm.

I don't know but Hornby may be making use of shrinking these buildings so that they will

fit on nearly all model railways as a lot of their customers simply do not have space on their layouts for the full size buildings.

Cheers.

Hmmm interesting. Well if thats the case, does anyone know the actual scale Hornby use

for their buildings? My wife wants to build our house to scale and if we use the dimensions ive posted about, it will look stupidly big compared to Horby buildings that we will also use

Paul

[poliss]

Try taking the point clips out, then connect the power to the inner oval and see if the same thing happens.
I think the 'large' is just to distinguish it from the 'small' building i the Hornby range. It may or may not be based on a real building. I

thought the Airfix church was way too small until I saw the building it was based upon, which is a tiny church on the Isle of Wight.
The exact scale is 1:76.2 btw.

[37lover]

We had an extension built at the last house I lived at, so I built a scaled down version using the accurate drawings submitted for planning and the model looks (too) big on my layout. I would suggest you obtain one of the Hornby buildings and adjust your

scaling so your home model has gutters at about the same height as the hornby bldg [assuming both are single or double storey].

[frazzle]

Thanks for your replies guys. It try removing the clips but i seem to recall that when i 1st set it up (before i know about the clips) i couldnt get it to work without using them (when i say clips im referring to the small staples that u put in the points

to add power to them).

Also, it doesnt happen to a different loco, so could it be the loco?

Im suprised at Hornby. Im not bothered that they use a different scale for their buildings, but i would have expected then to at least tell us what it

is!!!!!

Paul

[poliss]

No, the outer oval won't work if you remove the point clips. The idea is to check if there's a fault on the inner oval by just having that connected to the controller.
Is it the inner oval that's the addition to your layout? It could be that the radius

is too small for the loco to work.

[frazzle]

poliss said:

No, the outer oval won't work if you remove the point clips. The idea is to check if there's a fault on the inner oval by just having that connected to the controller.
Is it the inner oval that's the addition to your layout?

It could be that the radius is too small for the loco to work.

Yes the inner line is a 2nd radious (2nd smallest, i think its called the 2nd radious?) so it could well be that its too small. Just weird that it runs sometimes and not others.

Also it runs fine forwards....

[poliss]

It could be something to do with the connection between the loco and the tender. i.e. When it's going backwards the power connection could be being interrupted.

[frazzle]

poliss said:

It could be something to do with the connection between the loco and the tender. i.e. When it's going backwards the power connection could be being interrupted.

Thats an interesting thought. I see that there is

a brass? connestion between tender and train, but i dont know why the tender requires power? Its pretty heavy but i figured the motor would be in the loco itself? Whats the tender needing power for?

[poliss]

I haven't had alook at the service sheet, but either the tender has power pickups or the decoder is in the tender.

[frazzle]

poliss said:

I haven't had alook at the service sheet, but either the tender has power pickups or the decoder is in the tender.

ok, further testing has proven 1 thing....its the train. I have since got it to repeat the issue

on the outer ring, and thoroughly tested another train (steam but without tender) and this works perfectly in reverse on both ovals.
Back to the problem train....it doesnt just stop (as you would expect with a loss of current) but it actually jerks in

to forward movement for an inch or 3, then stops and resumes reverse. When i attached the tender i simply pushed the black plastic connector and the brass one through the hole in the tender (top hole, there is a very slim hole beneath this but i found if i

used that for the brass connecter it 'lifted' the leading tender wheel off the rail). Have I made some error in connection? The screw under the tender hole was slacked off then slightly tightened. Its not tight though as i wanted (i assumed) to keep the attchment

flexible

Paul

[trainlover23]

." I understand that 00 gauge is 1:76. So I took the measurements of my house. Its 21m long. This equates to 21000mm, so to scale I make this 276mm. This seemed a little large to me, so I looked at many of the larger Hornby Station Houses, and while they

look like they would be huge buildings in real life, their scale sizes are around 190mm, much smaller than my house. What am I doing wrong? I 'think' I understand how to calculate scale, but if im right, hornby are cheating and making their scenery to a smaller

than 00 scale, and thats doesn't make sense?"

Don`t forget not all houses are the same size. Hornby have probably made the houses to an AVERAGE size.

[frazzle]

to trainlover 23. Yes thats true houses do vary, but according to scale, my house would be a giant, and unfortunately, it isnt that big :(

To Poliss. Right, further testing still...
The tender actually does nothing. Its just for show as far as

i can tell. I removed it and the train ran fine. I reattached it and removed the train wheels to see if the tender wheels were used as a pick up...nothing. So, running the train in reverse without the tender...perfect. Pushing the tender (ie link not engaged),

perfect. Reattaching then tender...same problem. I removed the brass connection from the train assuming that Hornby may use this as well as the plastic one as standard. So, now there is no way any power is being transfered. But, same problem. So i guess its

an issue with this particular train not liking reverse when the tender is connected? Cant really see how that makes any sense though?

Paul