Rog RJ

She was born Catherine Bachman.

Your best option is to get a length of wood and fit some track to it temporarily and prop it up and test what incline will work for you. The class 31 has good haulage power but 12 wagons may be a problem on the type of incline you are thinking about.

Try this shorter link http://tinyurl.com/Vespa-s-link

521_gramps said: thanks for this --- I must say though ive looked at the pic but since im a total novice I still don't understand it . which colour wire goes to my power controller then in laymans terms how do I connect the yellow switch ( seems to have two inputs ---- to the controller ---- and then to the isolating track itself ---- sorry to be a pain but I need some simple instructions im afraid . regards again for your help though I don't have the plans book you are referring to so I don't know how the plan looks. Assuming you are talking about a reversing loop (or return loop) you don't need a connection back to the power controller. Wire it exactly as shown. The switch picks up power from the rails and switches the isolated section to the correct polarity as required in conjunction with the point leading to the reverse loop.

521_gramps said: hi ive completed the track layout 8 in the latest Hornby plans book ---- it has a loop that requires two isolating tracks and two ---- R.046's the two way isolating switch ( yellow ) . ive got the packet that contains a green a brown and a red all the same length wires --- and a short brown one BUT I have no idea how to connect this up to the layout --- can someone guide me on this please regards There's a diagram at the bottom of this page http://www.freewebs.com/platelayer/tipsandwiringpage2.htm

I have the advantage of having the DCC fitted version which I have checked out previously.

idlemarvel said: I'm sure there is no such a thing as a 7 pin decoder. It may be that some decoders don't use all the pins but the socket for fitting the decoder will have 8 sockets (in general, leaving aside n-gauge 6 pin and some other manufacturer's 21 pin). I have a Hornby Pendolino which came "DCC ready", I just removed the "dummy" (blanking plate) and inserted the ESU sound chip and it worked. Follow the instructions (carefully!) that came with the Pendolino (or download the maintenance sheet from the Hornby site, link below) to open the Pendolino and install the decoder. If it came "DCC fitted" then I assume you just remove the supplied basic decoder and replace with ESU. Look at step 4 on the instruction sheet. https://www.hornby.com/filelibrary/download/?FileID=244 Hope this helps. If you look at the service sheet for the DCC fitted version ( https://www.hornby.com/FileLibrary/Files/Download/?FileID=83 ) you will see that it really does have a seven pin socket which makes decoder replacement more difficult but not impossible. BTW the two locos in the old Mixed Goods set used a 4 pin socket, I don't know if the replacement Mixed Freight set uses the same 4 pin socket.

bulleidboy said: I think there speed steps? Both of these CVs can be used in conjunction with CV2 (Vstart - the starting voltage) to set a simple speed curve. CV5 is called "Vhigh" and can be used to limit the top speed of a loco. Very useful for those little 0-4-0 "pocket rockets". CV6 is called "Vmid" and can used to set the mid speed. The list of CVs is on the NMRA site http://www.nmra.org/standards/sandrp/pdf/S-9.2.2_2012_10.pdf

Some of the clip on tender tops have a small slot at the front end where you can insert a small screwdriver and gently lever the top up.

WindyMiller said: Thanks for the replies guys. This does look like the problem I am having. The article says Hornby have fixed the issue but obviously not. It looks like a fiddly job to fit a piece of plastic down the inside of the guide rail. I must say I am a bit unchuffed that that I have to go and "fix" a problem with new sets of points and interesting right only turnouts. I think an email to customer services is in order here. :( Have a look at the part number moulded into the underside of the points. I believe points were modified a few years ago to try to overcome the derailing problem. I think those which have been modified usually have an "M" suffix.

I believe the Eurostars are known to take a lot of power, which could well be the reason you are seeing problems. As Poliss has said, it is not recommended to run dc (analogue) models on DCC (digital). The best thing to do is convert your Eurostar to DCC by fitting a DCC decoder.

Virtually any loco can be converted to DCC. Some are easy and some are a bit more difficult.

Early R8215 decoders won't accept 4 digit addresses, so if you are trying to use 4 digits, that may be the problem.