Hornby Elite

[Chrissaf]

Yes it is still available and as far as I know Hornby have taken delivery of some new stock and I am sure I will be corrected if that info is not correct about new stock.

The catalogue number is R8214 and will show up in all kinds of online stores where it is for sale so I will not point to one in particular for obvious reasons of favouritism.

A careful look around will show one or two places where the retail price is reduced to just over £200 but there may be some with even lower prices.

Just use your search engine and you shall find.

All you need do is update the firmware when purchased which will bring the machine up to date anyway. This is easily available on Hornby's own site.

[Chrissaf]

Just in case you are completely unaware. The Elite is totally compatible with Hornby RailMaster. You could have kept the original Elite and just bought RailMaster software on its own. This would have been a cheaper option than buying the RM / eLink combination. Depending upon exactly when you purchased your eLink, Hatton's may have been offering their long standing and still current RailMaster for £5 bargain price offer.

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When the Elite is used with RM, the position of the Elite rotational knobs is fed back into RM and moves the throttle sliders of the Elite selected loco** in RM in synchronisation. This gives you the best of both worlds, physical knobs AND click PC screen control at the same time.

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Note** for this feature to work, you first have to select the loco being dual controlled with the Elite knobs and buttons, the same way you would when you previously used the Elite on its own. Dual control meaning control from either the Elite knobs or PC screen throttle together in real time. You also have to have the "Elite feedback=1" line in your 'railmaster.ini' file.

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There is nothing in the grapevine rumour mill regarding any possible Elite replacement at this time. The current firmware is version 1.44. Being firmware upgradable means that new Elite features (within reason) can be updated in software.

[Chrissaf]

I switched my Elite (sold it) for Railmaster & Elink a while ago but i'm missing the phisical knob turning that you get with the Elite. Do Hornby still make the Elite? Is there a newer version? Are there any plans for a similar product or a new Elite does anyone know? 

[96RAF]

Elite is available again from Hornby as well as the old stock found at some suppliers which may be cheaper.

I received mine last week to replace the ones I 'killed'.

The new batch come loaded with firmware v1.44 and start up in Standard Mode out of the box.

Rob

[Bulleidboy]

A related question - but if you were to buy a new Elite (the latest v1.44), would I be right in thinking that everything on your layout would have to be re-programmed - loco addresses, points motors etc?

[Howbi]

Shouldn't think so, BB.........the binary code for every number is universal and as each decoder remembers it's address I would expect any new Elite would  run any DCC layout.........HB

[2e0dtoeric]

No, the i/d is stored in the decoder, not the Elite. So decoder 007 would still be decoder 007.

What you would have to do is re-name everything, in the new Elite, as that IS stored in the Elite. ie decoder 007 = Evening Star (or whatever).

(added a comment)

[96RAF]

If you have previously addressed your locos and saved them all in RM then plug in the Elite in place of the eLink, reconfigure the settings and away you go.

Rob