2e0dtoeric

Well, I just put a post on here, and it has disappeared!

I've got a TTS Duke, and although the model looks good, I'm not over enamoured with the TTS - (compared with a 'regular' sound chip) It makes realistic noises - BUT - the exhaust sounds do not relate to the wheel revs. After a bit of running in (it was a bit jerky at first) I get eighteen - yes eighteen chuffs per wheel rev at very low speed, and a mere two chuffs per ref at a higher speed, wind the rpm's up to semi-fast level, and the chip is going frantic with chuffs! The whistle sounds are good, as are the various other noises - except the door-slam, which sounds like a short chuff, and the 'fireman's breakfast, which sounds like hail on a tin roof. When sitting static, with the F1 selected on, the boiler noises are not constant, they have a small audio variation in pitch, on about a two per second rate, as though the sound is being modulated by a type 66 dismal running in the background. Does anyone else have any comments on the TTS sound, now they have one to listen to? Or is mine a rogue? The hornby ad, shown on the forums a short while ago, also had only two chuffs per wheel rev.

You need to use a miniature camera, but the site won't let me put the link on! Go to ebay, and search for mobius camera - they're the size of a tictac box, and are High Def 1080p, records onto an SD card.

You need a miniature camera - something like this, if the site lets me put the name on - http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=mobius%20camera&_trksid=m194&ssPageName=STRK:MEFSRCHX:SRCH

That's it, PJ, but not fat - yet! Oddly enough, I've never had to use it, except for track-cleaning! The two 'ends' are 48" (1220 centipedes, I think, for those that can't measure in English!) radius on a 50" board.

Yes, PJ, I can reach it all! (Hence the 'rescue hole visible at the r/h end, and one at t'other you cannot see, round the l/h bends!) The boards are three feet wide, and the previous form had a backscene which meant I couldn't reach any problems behind it, without getting the steps and a 'grabber' out, which proved to be impractical! (It also proved to be a popular sleeping spot for the cat, so there was always a lump of fur stuck to the first locos round - not a good idea!) End to end, it's about 30 feet, but as you can see, it's an approximate 'dog-bone' layout. I didn't say in that piece, but have previously, but it's DCC, with every rail piece fitted with droppers to the bus (Don't start that argument again, please!) and some of the locos are sound-fitted. The pile of boxes at the l/h end are all of very short run (100 pieces) local-to-me private-owner four-wheel coal trucks (except the few Hornby ones!) from Astley Green Colliery museum - http://www.agcm.org.uk/ and there are also another six maroon mk1's, a rake of cheap Pullmans, and a few more wagons lurking off-camera. Everything that needed it has been re-wheeled with metal, not plastic, wheels.

p.s. - note the 'scale' filth on the roof-tops, and the very un-scale fingerprints!

Here's my re-started layout, just the bare bones at the moment, but you'll get the idea. The theme is a Preservation yard, with a local branch passing by, with a small halt serving the yard. If you look at the rough and ready sketch, the red line is the branch, and the blue is the preservation yard. Note there's a cross-over link between the two, so the proper loco's can go 'on loan', and dismals can bring tours in! http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee160/2e0dtoEric/newtrack-plan_zpse7c98d9b.jpg looking left http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee160/2e0dtoEric/railwayleft2014_zps2a2c7c7b.jpg looking right http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee160/2e0dtoEric/railwayright2014_zps284c9a36.jpg

This is a quick sketch of my new track-plan. There is nothing to photograph, yet, because it is just naked track on bare boards, while I chase any bugs out.

Point of order...... permission to approach the (railway) bench?

No, that's how long it took to find the dictionary under all the stored boxes! My latest acquisition - a letter from the bank, saying - (paraphrased) oi, how about putting some in before you spend any more!

I'll probably get banned for mentioning it, because I got a rival company's heavily discounted GBRf 66 so that I can swap the body-shell for their noisy Freightliner 66 shell, which doesn't look right in front of a rake of maroon (pretend West Coast) coaches! I'd have preferred an EWS shell, but they seem to be like gold hen's teeth. I know there's one made as a special, due around Easter next year, from a shop near me.

In a way, you have answered your own question! You said you haven't any 1st dia curves, then ask about putting in 1st radius points! The same comment apply, recent bigger locomotives will not go round 1st radius. Only 060 shunters will happily go around 1st radius. Regarding the spacer track, I cannot answer this, as the only place this can occur on my layout, I have about a foot (35 cm) of straight track between the points, as it represents the cross-over between the local branch line, and the 'preserved' group area. Eventually, it will have working gates across the link. All my layout is flexi-track, except for the point-work.

Latest acquisition for me - not exactly rolling stock or a loco - I got the Oxford diecast Ridgway Scania low-loader with the multi-wheel telescopic trailer. It is now parked in the 'yard', with a bit of old track tacked to the trailer with silicon sealant, and an equally tatty old 060 and tender (running number 44074) perched on it. The loco will eventually be liberally rusted up. The trailer does telescope, I didn't measure it, but it's around a foot long, fully extended.

Ah - Poliss beat me to it while I was typing that lot out!

I don't know what you have been looking at! From what you put, you have very little understanding of electricity, so if so, PLEASE get help from someone who does, before you hurt yourself or your equipment! I'm assuming you are thinking about DCC control, not ordinary dc 12v. It would be easy to explain if we could post pictures on here, but - From the mains wall socket to the transformer is one cable, but it has three wires inside it, in a flexible tube. DON'T MESS WITH THIS! Mains electricity can kill! From the transformer to the controller there are probably two wires, coloured red and black, or it might be a single cable ending in a plug of some description. Inside the cable are two wires. (That depends on what transformer and controller you are using). Your controller probably has six connections on the back, not counting the one for the power from the transformer. It will have two connections to go to the track, two connections to go to the programming track, and two connections for lights and such, around the layout. Again, it depends on which controller you have. Ignore the last two sets for now. Now - the bus wires. First-off, if you only have a small track, (that doesn't mean 'N' or 'Z' gauge!) you don't need this, just the two supplied wires from the controller to the track. The bus wires are two thicker wires, (provided by yourself), that run all around the track underneath the boards. (Thicker wires 'lose' less electrickery than thin wires). Each piece of track on the board has two short thin wires that drop down through it, (fitted by you), and connect to the bus. All it does is by-pass any possible bad connections between pieces of track, and 'evens out' the power that reaches your loco's. You have to make sure that all the connections to the bus are the same way round!! Get a piece of paper, and draw on it, one red ink circle, and one black ink circle, one inside the other. That's your imaginary track. Now draw a red line across the bottom, with a black line next to it. That's your imaginary bus. Picture your two circles are made up of small sections, as the track would be, and join each section to the bus - red to red, and black to black, and then transfer the image to your layout. If you get one (or more) crossed over, the controller will see a short circuit, and turn itself off, so you have to take care to get it right.

Which year? :-)

It's a bit like trying to race Formula 1 cars on a go-kart track.

Mucklestone - Don't take your track to the edge of the baseboard, unless you have it at ground level. Leave a bit of space for derailments, rather than have expensive bits toppling to the hard floor.

As Graskie said, watch the loco very closely as it runs over the point, as slowly as it will go, and see what is happening. Then you may be able to see the cure!

Kwai have we still not got an 'edit' button?

Isn't that a bridge too far, though?

p.s. Especially in a 'busy' area, ie a marshalling or fiddle yard, where there are a lot of sets of points interconnected.

I do - I soldered droppers to the toe-end, which is more or less the same as Flashbang's method. It's probably not strictly necessary, if the track sections either side of the point are droppered, but it reduces the chance of a dodgy fish-plate contact.

I may be wrong, but I read somewhere amongst all the spec sheets that a DCC chipped loco should not be used on a DC track. Perhaps it was a Loksound chip I saw it on?