Class 37 TTS

[Yelrow]

Greetings, my Class 37 TTS  arrived today, very speedy on track, interesting sounds.  What do others think. I am impressed. john

[96RAF]

I loved it from the minute I got my hands on it John. 

I love the way you drive a TTS diesel, totally unconnected between throttle and wheels, a bit like those old Saab 95s and Rover 75s with free-wheel levers on the steering wheel.

Class 37s have had a lot of different engines in them along the years and Hornby went to great lengths to ensure this one matched its refurbishment state.

If you want to get totally confused John read up about the transition CVs and how you can set them to alter how the notch up cuts in and at what throttle setting.

To give you an example of how it works at default settings - if you tweak the throttle a bit to move off the brakes will release and the loco will move off at idle. If you give it some more beans it will notch up to get going then come back to idle. Give it more beans and it will notch up one and stay there. This repeats up the throttle range until you hit notch 3 which it is flat out.

You can throttle the sound up as you go or you can notch up and down manually with F5/F6. You can bring it back to idle with F7 or really give it some welly with Thrash F8.

 

Why would you want to use F5 at a standstill - well they were often used as generators for works gangs so they would stand there revving their nuts off producing electricery.

Great fun.

[Yelrow]

RAF, Hi, bought instructions down to read, as did not understand about Notch Up.   Thanks for that, all becomes a little clearer. Wanted to explore it  making a running noise, like the way the locos chuff. I really  wish they would tinker with RM, to allow more than 6 or 7, i forget sounds. How many can i have in the Elite. Am teaching  english, tonight, so it will have to wait. I got mine at a ridiculous price, from that liverpool store, and only £3 postage to france. Have 3 TTS, sound and 1 Locksound, now, so am quite content. Not allowed to do a Graskie. john

[96RAF]

John - you should be able to show all your function buttons on the expanded throttle - click the (hard to see) blue circle on the small throttle and a bigger one will appear in a new frame showing more buttons. You can click the red arrow at the bottom of this throttle and even more buttons will appear then you can click and drag this button screen up and down to show the rest. Even then I can't get them all to show - F25 never appears. HRMS is aware.

Be aware also that you can get in a right mucking fuddle with buttons on the big throttle and the little throttle not matching what the loco is doing. Sometimes they go green and sometimes they don't, its all very confusing and something HRMS are supposed to be fixing.

[Fishmanoz]

John, surely this has been covered for you before?  RM is not limited to the 6 functions that show initially, you have all 25 available for use with TTS, just as Rob is telling you above.  And you've been told recently on your Elite muddle thread about the number you have there in 3 banks of 10 functions (yes I know the last bank is only 9 giving a total of 29), so again more than enough for the 25 in TTS?

[Yelrow]

Fishy, i am well aware that i can expand functions, but on the past thread more than one of us, mentioned we would like more on the loco screen, as we are initially limited. For those who have nothing better to do all day, than to sit in front of rm, or elink, thats fine, no memory problems, but nobody has that luxury, the most i have at the moment, bearing in mind the size of my property, is , to snatch an hour a day, unless it rains. Consequently, given my age, and disability, one would prefer simplicity, as by the time i am ready to sit in front of the sceen. i have to spend most of that time, looking at notes, to try and recall how i make screens different. By the time i have remembered/ read all that, its time to stop. I am not complaining, am delighted with elite, class 37, and, RM facilities, but if occasionly, one asks a question twice, a tad more tolerence, might go a long way. john

[RDS]

Hi John

I have not considered a sound Loco until I read your thread.  Is it the R3289TTS, shown on the Liverpool dealers website as a Class 97, running number 97301?

I have an old Hornby Class 37 but it is very lightweight.  I know it is very subjective but does this new model feel quite solid?

(apologies if this post gets repeated but it did not appear to register the first time)

[Yelrow]

RDS,HI, R3289 TTS, yes, £69.70, plus £.3.00 Postage, absolute gift. They have the 47, green one, at same price..As to quite solid, i am happy with it, but you would probably get a better answer from RAF96, who also appears  similarly pleased. The notching up and down, is to me, radical, and to get a sound loco at this price, i think, is a steal. On the other forum, people are removing sound decoder, and putting it in to other locosl,  as they are so happy with  sounds.It does run very smoothly, very quiet, and incredibly quick. I only have the Diesel that came with the Majestic set, for comparison, and there is none, it corners beautifully. Hope this helps. john

[96RAF]

To give mine a bit of extra weight for added traction I double sided taped some old flat steel weights into the roof taking care not to block the sound escape holes (engine exhausts). I have added an Express Models Class 37 lighting kit to it and some cab lights. Really pleased with the beast.

[RDS]

To give mine a bit of extra weight for added traction ... ... I have added an Express Models Class 37 lighting kit to it and some cab lights...

Ok thanks.  Did you have to add another decoder for your lights or is there some capacity on the existing one for some more functions?

[96RAF]

TTS decoder is 2 function - and supports directional lights on F0 - white and yellow wires - and another function on F18 (steamers) or F25 (diesels) - green wire - both using blue wire as common positive.

[Yelrow]

RDS, Get it bought, before they sell out. john

[Yelrow]

Ran it on both elite and RM, last night, but still need a  course on notching, started it up, clicked on notch, but will have to allocate time between cutting many lawns, rotivating veg patch, and such like, to read in more detai. Isnt it quick, fastest loco i have. johnl

[96RAF]

Quick course on TTS notching John. Apologies to any real diesel drivers out there, but I have read the Class 47 manual.

 

To move a diesel essentially you let the brakes off and rev the engine, which will generate electricity to power the wheels. The more revs the more electricity. And a bit like steam once you have it moving you canback of the go-juice a bit.

 

So you can see the engine and the wheels are only loosely connected by way of the driver.

 

F5 notches up 1 notch at each selection, and F6 notches down 1 notch from each slection, but from idle there are only 3 notches in the rev range.

 

So we have Idle (tick over) - Notch 1 (slow range) - Notch 2 (mid range) - Notch 3 (flat out).

 

Now these are engine speeds we are talking about, not loco speeds, so you can play around all day with F5 and F6 and the loco won't budge - effectively the same as your car in neutral gear.

 

To get the loco to move you turn the speed knob (Elite) or slide the slider (RM) and this acts like the driver saying I need electricity to move this beast. That demand makes the diesel engine react accordingly and notch to the required revs that would produce enough electricity to overcome the load on the loco.

 

If you turn the knob to say about speed step 5 (note that these speed steps are not shown anywhere you can see) then TTS will let the brakes off and the loco will move off at Idle revs. Give it a bit more throttle and it will rev up to Notch 1 then drop back to Idle again. Give it more throttle and it will rev to and stay at Notch 1. This repeats up the rev range as you speed up the loco. If you back the speed off the revs will follow the speed.

 

If you want to play noisy you can use F8 to Thrash the engine by 2 notches if available (this doesn't affect the speed though only engine revs). If you want to play quiet you can use F7 to bring the engine back to Idle (again it doesn't affect the speed).

[Graskie]

Great post there, RAF, for diesel sound ignoranti like myself. I have a fair number of BR diesels with sound and your excellent explanation of notching up and down, especially thrashing, was of quite some help to me. Thanks.

[96RAF]

Great post there, RAF, for diesel sound ignoranti like myself. I have a fair number of BR diesels with sound and your excellent explanation of notching up and down, especially thrashing, was of quite some help to me. Thanks.

 

I don't know how the full fat sound decoders do it Graskie but TTS method works for me.

 

Edit (its fixed):

Decoder speed steps can be monitored versus MPH/KPH if you have Rocrail, which is what I used to check the notch transition parameters that you can change via the various associated CVs as noted in the famous TTS diesels 'manual'. A bit like altering the gearing of a race car for different circuits.

[Graskie]

I'll have to check on that, RAF. Off hand I think they probably vary, some notching up and down automatically, but I think you have to select certain functions to do that sort of thing with others.

[96RAF]

TTS has auto-notching following speed knob activity and manual notching has no speed effect. I just wondered if any others had tied manual notching to speed change because that isn't how the real thing works.

You ask the loco to do something and the engine responds to the tractive load requirement needed to overcome the perceived inertia (e.g. how heavy do I need to lean into the harness to move this cart).

I had expected some comment back from a real life driver Graskie but no takers so far. Have we got any on the forums. 

Reading the 'school notes' from the Class 47 conversion course was very interesting - 1st page follow, but I have the whole book  - obviously from the days of manual typewriters, hand drawn illustrations and Gestetner copies..

[Rocketcooper2000]

im having a problem with wheelslip since i had top off and fitted directional lighting... this traction tyre hasnt worn out already..? anyone else have same issue..

[96RAF]

I double sided taped a few old steel chassis weights into the upper body of mine for extra ballast as it was such a lightweight. I would rather do without rubber tyres if I could get solid wheels and rely on good pickups.

[Yelrow]

Mine has yet to slip, but still mastering, Le Mans, start. john

[96RAF]

1st page follows, but I have the whole book  - obviously from the days of manual typewriters, hand drawn illustrations and Gestetner copies..

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Backspace stuck me in the yellow box again - grr !!!

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