Help please! I'm new.

[russell_hinton]

Dear Forum

I apologise for any silly questions I am about to ask. I am a complete novice with model railway. I bought my eight year old son the Hornby R1126 Mixed Freight set plus Hornby track packs B, C and D for his birthday today. Unfortunately I have not been able to get the set to work as I had hoped.

 Firstly, whenever I used the points to move the train from the outer oval to a connected inner one the train would cross a set  of points and then stop completely. 

Secondly, I was unable to get two the two trains to run at the same time which I believe I should be able to do with the digital set up. Can anyone help by telling me where I am going wrong or is the set faulty? I wondered if I needed the digital electric point clips to solve the first issue?

Kind regards

Russell

[Cronan]

Hi welcome to the forum. Yes you need the R8232 point clips. The point/turnout you get with the set should have two point clips already installed just copy the way they are installed with the new point clips. The R8232 comes with twenty clips and is about £4.

Hope this helps. 

[Rog RJ]

You may find there are two points clips in one of the little plastic bags in the set ready for you to fit them.  They are made of very fine wire and can be easily missed.

[Yelrow]

hi, welcome to  f orum, they appear to have cleared up your point problems. Unless i am mistaken, the locos  will both have been factory supplied with CV03, which will show on your select controller. If this is the case, one will need a new number, for them both to run. When you put one on the track does the select say 03. When you change them over, does it still say 03. If so , you need to change one, or if you intend to buy more, both. Come back and confirm what happens , then we can talk you through the rest, if it is necessary. To do this, you need a couple of rails joined up to make a programming track, but report back, first. john

[poliss]

The locos come factory set to 1 and 2 from looking at a video John.

You will need to insert the point clips to make the whole layout live Russell. Sometimes they can be found on the underside of the main packaging.

Selecting the locos to control is shown near the end of this video.

[Fishmanoz]

 I think the video may be giving a wrong impression. My memory is that mine were both on 03 and you have to change one to run both. In fact, you should change both as John says. 

Also can't rme,ver if their are DCC point clips with the set or if you have to buy a pack separately. Irrespective, you need to install them to run on the entire layout. 

[Yelrow]

Fishy, cause for celebration, you and i agreeing, john

[Fishmanoz]

I'm always up for celebration John, so yes let's. And if we all thought the same on everything all the time here, it would get a little boring wouldn't it?

And the auto correct sure had fun with my second para above. It is supposed to say "Also can't remember ....."

[russell_hinton]

Many thanks guys. I appreciate your help. I checked the packaging and clips were fitted to the set of points which came with the set but not with the  points that came in the track packs. I have bought some and they should arrive tomorrow. I will come back to you when I have fitted them. 

Cheers, Russell. 

[russell_hinton]

Hey guys. Fitted the point clips and they work like a dream. Will try two engines at once at the weekend. Cheers!

[Yelrow]

RUSSELL, high, thats good but you will still have to change cv, from 3, on at least one of them, to control individually.Its all in your instructions, you just make up a liitle prog track, put loco on, read cv, then change to any number, eg 6. If you get stuck, come back, john

[Fishmanoz]

And just to confirm,Cohen John says to change the CV, he means to change the loco ID address/es from 3 to anything else up to 59.   The ID is of course stored in the loco decoder's CV1. 

[RDS]

@Yelrow & @fishy

poliss said on the previous page that they come factory set to 1 & 2, so Russell won't need to change anything if that is the case.  Don't confuse him, he says he is new!

[Fishmanoz]

I'm not sure he is right, my memory of my mixed freight is  I had to change one from 03 as that is how both came. 

And the start of my last post should say "And just to confirm, when John ........."

[russell_hinton]

Dear John

This is something I am struggling with. Can you tell me what you mean by making a "prog track"? I have tried to programme both locos and can at times get them both working but I never have proper control of both of them and one usually stops working after a couple of mnutes. 

Russell

[Yelrow]

Morning russell, have been down the same road. There is some confusion between us, whether you need to reset locos.When you put one on the track what no is shown on select. If 1 is 02, and the other 03, for example, you have no worries. If like me they both show 03, then you need to rest, 1 , preferably both. if you cannot get them both to control, this suggests to me, they are both same number, as were mine, which ran together, and stopped together, which is when fishy, put me right.. To make a programming track,, is very simple. You just join 2 pieces track, together, use your power rail from track, if you only have one, place train on, and follow select insructions, to read existing cv/ number, then change to new one. You only need to change one, at this time. Having done that both will run. I CANT STRESS ENOUGH, THAT IF LOCOS NOW, READ DIFFERENT NUMBERS, YOU NEED TO DO NOTHING.  .Normally all locos come set to no 3. keep in touch, john

[RDS]

Hi Russell

I have raised a new thread on this section to try to find out what ID the decoders are set to when Loco's in your set are new because I was concerned that people are telling you to reprogram them when that would not be necessary if they are already on separate ID's.

What DCC number to do enter onto your Select for each loco?

Incidentally, a prog track is just a piece of track that contains only the Loco you want to program.  This can even be your complete layout if you only have one train on it.  Usually though, it is a separate piece of track.  The reason for this is that when you program your Loco with a new ID, the ID you use will be applied to all the Loco's on the track at that time.  This is why you do them separately or on a special separate track.

Do the instructions that came with your set, state that you have to set the ID's before you can operate both trains at once or is it done at the factory.

There are many but one of the big advantages of the DCC system you have is that you can control your trains separately (even if they are on the same length of track) by entering the Loco's ID number on your controller. 

 

[Yelrow]

RDS, surely the fact that russell is unable to control both of them together, would tend to suggest a conflict. john

[RDS]

Hi John

Not so sure because Russell says that one stops working after a couple of minutes (not both) which suggests to me that they may have separate ID's already.

[Yelrow]

RDS, it gets worse. on the u tube video, as per poliss it says 1 and2, for locos, but when they show the select with them both running , it shows 03, curious. I would normally bow to the knowledge of poliss, anytime, but i offered the alternative, having seen the 03, plus the fact that everybody knows (or used to ) that all new locos were 03. still, when he buys another loco,  at least he will know about  03, john

[RDS]

John

When the Select is switched on, it always shows 03, just like my Elite does.  

If Russell is able to control at least one of his Loco's just by putting it on the track, it proves that one at least is set to 03.  If both Loco's are put on the track and move off at the same time and stop at the same time, it proves they are both set to 03.  As you say, new Loco's are supplied with the Decoder set to the 'default' value of 03.  I have no personal knowledge of the Mixed Freight set but I do think that because it is probably a starter set, that the two Loco's included in the set, should have their decoders pre-set to different ID's and 01 & 02 would seem logical.  After all, (I would have thought) someone who is new to the hobby and like Russell, has bought the set for a childs present, just wants to be able to put the track together and operate the trains.

If the set is bought by someone who already has a Loco set to say 01 & 02, then they are familiar with changing ID's anyway.

[Yelrow]

RDS. i agree, 03, if notrains running, but in the video, they were both running.Would not the loco number then appear. john

[RDS]

Hi John

Yes you are right, on the Select (and Elite), the number of the Loco running is displayed.

[Fishmanoz]

For the third time, I have a Mixed Freight set, it was my first foray back into Hornby a couple of years back.  And again for the third time, my memory is that both locos come on 03!

Russell, your set comes with a copy of the Select manual and the instructions in it are well written. Go to the sections on setting up a loco, then setting up a second loco. You should have no problem doing that but remember that you can only have one loco on the track when you are doing the programming. 

And ignore what people have been saying about a programming track. The Select does not use one. You just remove from the track everything but the thing you want to program and follow the instructions on how to do it. 

[Yelrow]

Fishy, sorry to disagree again, but if you look at all u tube videos for Select, they all say, place loco on programming track. I certainly have one with my select. Videos, have 2 tracks set up, First instruction , PLACE LOCO ON PROGRAMMING TRACK, FOR ETC ETC ETC, sorry. john. You can do it the way you say, but thats not what videos say