Flashbang

As Chrissaf states, the R7277 track design is full of Reverse loops. AFAIK more than one RLM is needed! Other makes of RLMs are available and most work well. But cost of so many needs to be factored in as well as their placement, you need to be working on the understanding that the longest possible train (Loco and all carriages or wagons) must fit inside the RLM section - between entrance and exit Insulated Rail Joiners that make the isolated section.

This is a Railmaster software move? Please see this topic here... https://uk.hornby.com/community/forum/changing-computer?ccm_paging_p=1#end-of-replies Note; Typing in capitals is consider as shouting, plus it makes it much harder to read. grinning

@Teebee. Run time is a lottery! If you purchased the set/loco recently and it fails, return it to Hornby for an under warranty repair (After the New Year now and once a returns number is obtained). Slowing as it passes over the power track yet is fine elsewhere indicates to me the track is not fixed down and there is a high possibility that one wire end is loose in the connector or is not inserted correctly? The track is slightly moving and causing the broken/poor connection. Check by lightly tugging on both wires one at a time at the power track end. Also ensure all rail tops and the locos wheel cleaning is undertaken regular too. Why not run the loco occasionally in reverse with the wagons still behind the loco rather than trying to push them around in front of the loco when going in reverse? smiley

Generally any scale, so long as the loco has a decoder fitted and the Select power supply is capable of providing sufficient Amperes (I would recommend using the 4.0 Amp. power supply for 0 gauge) N and OO/HO scales around 3-4 non sound locos on the supplied 1.0 Amp. power supply. Do not be tempted to use the DC operation mode with any unfitted loco - Address 0, as there is a very high risk of a DC only locos motor burning out!

The Hornby level crossing will be at 67mm track centre spacing which is way above the correct and real life 6 foot way spacing! Even Peco Streamline at 50mm track centre spacing is still a little too wide! But using 'Modellers Licence' its not that bad and IMO far better than 67mm spacing! The LK50 Crossing Gates kit is good or their LK-51 half barrier kit, but you would need to add a decking such as the WillSSMP201 Wood Planking.

Seems someone in Hornby thinks that advertising on the Forum is a good proposal too. Puts me off as it pops up everyday! See image..

TBH I would not even recommend 5v relays to be used with solenoid point motors! Even with a pulse its still above the rated coil voltage, also many of these 5v boards use LED Opto couplers designed to work on 5 volts from an Arduino etc. output. So avoid. The link I provided many posts back, is to a relay board designed for 12 volt operation so will work happily with the HM6010 output. smiley

I had to guess which output A or B is On when the Green is selected. The wording I placed in the drawing reflects this., So move wire shown in + (A) to the - (B) retaining the common positive in ©. Then when there is no connection to negative on B the relay is not energised and red aspect shows. When B is connected to negative the relay energises and a green aspect is displayed Its simply moving of one wire A to B. The HM6010 uses zero volt switching exactly the same as any DCC decoder. :-)

OK my bad!! The OP images looked like Electrofrog points hence my comments and they use IRJs too! I missed any mention of ST points being used throughout. In this light its possible one of more droppers are crossed? It is also possible one of the points has lost its frog wire insulation separation under the point? Only a logical disconnection and then reconnection one by one and testing after each reconnection of the points should reveal the issue! Which is exactly what I suggested way back in previous posts!

I don't really understand the last post? When the slider is at Red the relay is de energised and the red signal aspect is displayed. When the slider is moved to Green the relay energises and the green aspect is displayed!

I cannot see any gaps in the points two closure rails? You cannot bond stock rail to closure rail on each side of a Electrofrog point without having these two rail gaps! No gap equals a full short circuit! Then when you have the two gaps you will also need some means of applying the correct polarity feed to the rails after the gaps into the frog and out to the IRJs on the ends of the Vee rails. This is usually done by a point motor operated change over switch feeding the frog. But can be manually switched or by a surface mounted small micro switch fitted adjacent to one side of the point and whose operating lever is depressed in one point position by the points moving stretcher (Tie) bar.

Somewhere you have a positive rail abutting a negative rail. Only by removing all the droppers and starting from the beginning can you determine which connection is causing the problem. So once all connections are disconnected, apply DCC power and ensure all is good. No shorts with any point position. Assuming all is good then connect one pair of droppers at a time and retest to prove if a short occurs when any point or that dropper pair is incorrect. After connecting the first one and if OK continue on until hopefully the short is discovered and then resolve by correcting that connection.

Another option and using ready built items, is to connect a relay board to the C and one of the two other connections on the HM6010 and then via the relays contacts change the signals two aspects. No wiring alterations are then needed at all. A suitable 12 volt DC ideally regulated power supply would be required to feed all your colour light signals and possibly any LED layout lighting in buildings or street lamps etc too. A ready made relay board could be for example the Brimal MR221 unit https://www.bclstore.co.uk/product-page/dual-changeover-relay-card-2-amp-at-12v-dc I have no connection with Brimal other than suggesting a product. Edit to add drawing...

AFAIK drop in track sections are usually home made. Small section of track has its fishplates removed as too does the two fixed tracks on each board. The rail chairs are cut off on the first two sleepers at each end of the drop in section. Then metal fishplates (Hornby R910) are slid on each rail ends of the drop in so as they push fully on. The track section is dropped into place and the four fishplates slid back so as around 50% goes onto the fixed rails on each side. Its a bit laborious where several tracks pass over a board joint though TBH if you're DCC then only two reasonable sized flexible wires are required to connect / pass board to board. I would consider this option rather than using drop in tracks! Dowels are sold by several suppliers and on eBay. Station Road Baseboards.co.uk are one (I have no connection to them) look under Alignment Dowels.

Trestles are an ideal portable support. Whether purchased ready to go or you make your own is up to you. Making your own is cheaper and 44 x 21mm PSE timber is about the minimum I would use. Just ensure you have means of holding the legs apart - light weight chain or cord etc, otherwise they can easily do the splits! With ready made ones ensure their working height is suitable. Modular (Portable ) baseboards are no problem if constructed of suitable materials. Alignment can be by eye and simple M6 coach bolt, a washer and wing nut holds and pulls the two abutting boards together. Or using wooden dowels or better metal pattern makers dowels for continual correct alinement. I use latches to pull the two abutting boards together and the metal PM dowels for a perfect every time level baseboard top alignment. Tracks across the joint must align perfectly and of course power needs to pass board to board. Several options... Use a drop in piece of track with fishplates that slide back and fore to connect the rails. Use copper clad PCB and solder the rails to the PCB strips in place of two or four sleepers. Cut through the copper track between rails and also if the copper is retaining two paralleled tracks side by side then also cut the copper between the two parallel tracks too. Use small Brass counter sunk wood screws inserted a little in from the edges of the boards and in line under the rails, their flat heads driven down to just under the rails bottom then solder the rail to the screwheads. Note: When using ether copper clad or wood screws lay the full length of track across the board joint having removed the plastic sleepers in the fixing area first and then solder the rails, when cooled cut the rails along the join of the boards. I use a Razor saw or an electric Dremel with metal slitting disc for these cuts. grinning Connections across the board are best done with flexible wire and a multi pin plug and socket. (Never use mains style connectors for this!). There are many connectors suitable such as D connectors, DIN plug and socket, Pluggable terminal blocks etc and many other options too! All will depend on the number of circuits needing to cross the board joint(s).

IMO morairamike has hit the proverbial nail on the head with their comments. Its 100% correct, as any Insulated frog point, regardless of make, can cause running problems and by moving to Electrofrog points (not sold by Hornby!) and adding a DCC power bus pair of two wires and droppers connecting the Bus to the rails above, can only improve running by 100%. It is basically "Best Practice" which has been advocated by many modellers for years! Reliance on power clips and conversion of Insulated frog point (Hornby ones) by adding 'staples' - Point Clips is considered to be a poor way of improving DCC power and date transmission rail to rail. The track is still relying on each metal rail joiner (fishplate) passing power, and data on DCC, rail to rail. These rail joiners are always the "Weak Link" in the distribution system around the layout. In fact fishplates should really only be used to connect the abutting rails and not be relied upon to pass power and data! Best practice on a permanent DCC layout has dropper wires connecting to every piece of tracks rails to the Bus pair. Points outer stock rails too! Diamond crossings do not need Hornby point clips, neither any special wiring, as basically they are two straight through tracks crossing each other, but the Hornby versions do suffer from excessive plastic in the frog area! Which can cause stalling or stuttering. Point clips are only suitable IMO on non permanent layouts, where track design may change or the track has to be lifted and relaid frequently. But where the layouts track plan is considered to be OK and permanent, then seriously consider adding a DCC bus pair of wires and smaller wire size dropper wires Bus to rail. What wire size? For the DCC bus pair, consider 32/0.2mm flexible wire (17AWG) for the Bus or use a larger wire size on large layouts or where the bus wires length exceeds around 5 Mtrs. For Droppers and if fitted to every track section, then use 7/0.2mm (24AWG) but no longer than 400mm rail to bus wire. Where droppers are not fitted to every section of track then use 16/0.2mm (20AWG) flexible wire. All dropper wires are soldered to the rails. At the bus connection, twisting and soldering is best, but other means of connection can be used, such as screw terminal blocks, Wago 221 terminals or even Scotchlok connectors of the correct colour/size for the wires being connected. Best practice wiring can only be considered exactly as that!!

Hi For future use consider the following actions when using Super glue or using contact adhesive etc. Take a piece of scrap paper and apply a drop of the super glue or other glue onto it, to form a small puddle of glue. Gently dip the end of the item to be fixed or its fixing places into the puddle and if too much glue is seen, wipe the items surplus glued surface on an unused portion of the paper. Then and only then fit the component into place and hold secure until the glue has set. joy

Hi, "Compatible" means the DCC decoder will need to be hard wired into the loco or a suitable socket installed and then a mating plug used on the decoder. e.g. 8 pin NEM 652. Some soldering will be needed to remove the existing two wires from where they connect after leaving the wheels wipers and reconnect them to the decoders two input connections or to the decoders red and black wires. Then the decoders Grey and Orange wires connect to the motor wiring connections. As for what sound decoder to fit, a lot will depend on the space available to fit a sound decoder which is normally larger than a non sound version so space will become a essential requirement.

Hi Three options IMO... A) Buy a current issue of a Model Railway magazine - Hornby Mag, Railway Modeller. Model Rail etc and look inside and you will find several companies who specialise in buy second-hand items as a complete lot. B) List each item and then look on line at such sites as eBay and see what a particular item has sold for or is up for sale currently and then list them all yourself. C) Find a local model shop or model railway club who may be willing to offer you a job lot price. Option B will provide the best return money wise, but will involve a lot of work!

If you want the same then you will need to obtain a Hornby R8249 decoder. You of course can also fit a non Hornby 8 pin decoder if wished, so long as the replacements physical size fits into the space available . Are you 100% sure that the original decoder has blown? Have you tried resetting the decoder via CV8 value of 8 this will reset to address number 03. Or just tried the loco with decoder fitted on address 03?

Twisted & soldered. Screw terminal blocks. Wago 221 or similar style connectors. Ready made connector blocks. Suit Case/Scotchlok connectors (must be of the correct colour size though). Earthing bus blocks. Barrier strips. All are suitable, it is really what is right for the end user. grinning Of all those I've listed, the Wago 221 style is probably the easiest to use and rewire into. In case you don't know what Wago style connectors are, they come in 2, 3 and 5 way internally connected blocks. Wago example... https://www.wago.com/gb/electrical-interconnections/discover-installation-terminal-blocks-and-connectors/221

Xuron rail cutters. For OO/HO code 100 rail use their top to bottom version item 2175B. BTW never use rail cutting Xurons to cut anything else such as point motor drive pins. It will ruin them! See https://xuron.com/blog/2019/07/model-railroad-track-cutting/

I looked into these conversions a couple of years ago, They look really good, if you're able to undertake the conversion process. However, I was totally disappointed by tender drive locos, as often the locos wheels and motion would lock up and all you saw was a loco skidding along the rails as the locos wheels didn't turn and the tender drive pushed the loco along.frowning Sold most of them, and now I only purchase modern loco drive items! But the conversion would be great for a Diesel or other non tender drive items. smiley

Try repressing function key F?? (often F3 or F4?). Whatever the horn sound for that locos decoder is allocated to? grinning

A nice simple set of instructions Gwrdriver. Well done!smile Hope the signalling on the rail railway keeps you fully informed of when to apply the brakes or accelerate and you're not inputting CV changes - Ha ha. sunglasses