BagEndJct

Thank you. I will try. I'm in Spain and I have always had great difficulty communicating with the RM servers. I did it once using my mobile phone but, since then, have always failed. I read here about uninstalling Windows AV, which I will certainly try.

I'm wondering if I can expect a reply from Railmaster support? I'm in a bit of a pickle. I have 2 copies of Railmaster, one activated on my old laptop, which is the one I use for my layout, and another I had on my main laptop as backup, which I will use when and if my old laptop gives up the ghost. Now, my problem is that, forgetting that Railmaster was activated on my main laptop, I had occasion to reformat the hard disk to overcome problems with Windows. Now, of course, I need to get that copy deactivated before I can activate it again. So that's why I need help from RM Support! I Emailed them about a week ago, without an acknowledgement or reply. I'd buy another copy but it only seems to come with a new E-Link these days which makes it rather expensive!

Can I ask if there is sufficient Railmaster support to deal with the problems I always have registering the RM software on a new laptop? I can never get this to work via the Internet here in Spain. It's sad for me to report that my layout is stil out of action since the roof of my "Trainshed" was ripped off by wind last March and I'm still waiting for a new roof to be fitted. Next month, I hope. It's going to be a lot of work to get it all set up again. Everything was thrown into boxes to protect from the heavy rain that followed the mini-tornado.

Thank you for the sympathy and good wishes which are much appreciated. Things can go terribly slowly here in Spain but also very quickly. We've had a response from our insurance company and they are willing to pay what amounts to half of the estimate we got for a new roof, which is better than expected given the roof was ancient and fragile. Now the slow bit..... waiting for the builder to give us a date. It's going to be a while but I'm going in over the next few days to remove more from the board, give it a bit of a clean and then protect it as best I can from whatever mess the builder is going to make! Thank you again!

Good morning all. Well I had just solved most of the problems I'd had with Train-Tech DCC signals, I had a new Dapol semaphore signal I was about to fit to replace one that had stopped working, and was looking forward to some trouble-free running of services when..... disaster struck. Here in SE Spain we've had some terrible weather, the wettest March ever, for example. And along with that came the winds. One night it was particularly windy and the power went off. We went outside but soon retreated indoors as quite large items were being blown about. When we felt it was safe, we went to check my "Train Shed", an old goat shed. All seemed well till we looked up and realised something was missing:- the roof. Luckily the rain had not yet arrived so I managed to retrieve as much stock and buildings as I could and stash them in the garage. Next morning we covered everything with plastic sheeting. And there my poor old layout had remained, disused and covered in gravel and bits of roof. We are now waiting for a new roof to be fitted but that is going to take some time. Meanwhile, I'll carry on following what's going on here with interest and reading my various magazines which I get online. We believe it was a mini tornado that cut through. Some neighbours got a lot of damage and others none. So, take care all, and see you soon! John

OK, thanks! I'm finding I have to give new, previously unused, numbers to some signals which seems to be solving other problems. Getting there!

Aha! I found one signal with the address 84 and one points motor is 12. I do remember them acting oddly. The signal is easily accessible but I have to dig out how to change the points address, (points motor connected to Hornby R8247 decoder/controller.) I have the instructions on my screen and changing brain to a lower gear! Thanks again for all the help!

@St1ngr4y Eek! You're right, Ray. 196 it was. I must go through and check the others. That fact was filed away somewhere in the back of my brain but it never came out of the filing system - not that there is one! I am really enjoying setting up (or re-setting up) all my programs and signal actions. Railmaster did do something right and changed a program where the signal was included to its new address. I was gobsmacked! Happy New Year!

@St1ngr4y @pd91223 Thank you both. But, before I tackle my feathers, I have another issue exercising my grey cells. Indeed, it's exhausted them. I have one twin headed 2-aspect signal. I have reset both according to Ray's method of setting these up and they both work correctly and are in sync with the plan icon. However, I am updating my programs, one of which sets the right hand signal (the one set by touching the contacts twice) to clear/green. When I run the program, I see the signal change to green but it then it immediately changes back to danger/red. Tried all sorts of things to solve that to no avail. When I click the icon on the track plan, the signal operates correctly. I have "tested" that item within the program, and the same thing happens: to green, then back to red. Thank you! PS I thought I'd see what happens with the left signal of the two and that operates correctly. How odd! PPS SOLVED! Sorry about all this but rather than delete the entire post, I'll share my solution in the unlikely event it might help someone else. It struck me that the addresses of the two signals were way apart. I changed the address of the 2nd signal to one above the first. Result! It now operates correctly both manually and via a program. Whether it was just changing the address per se, or giving it a number plus 1 of the first signal, I don't know. The mysteries of Railmaster!

@St1ngr4y Yes, it does Ray, thank you. Can I just check (can't find my instructions, nor can I find this online): to set the address of the feather, you touch the contacts a second time after the lights are flashing? I know that's the way to set the double-headed signal I have. Thanks John

@St1ngr4y Hi Ray. I failed to say "thank you" for your latest "trick" and for all the time you have put in to solving these problems. Yes, I will take a look at 'routes' again. I gave up when the results were so unpredictable due to the TT signals being "out of sync". It's certainly the case that some (most?) TT signals start off as green in which case the green button would have worked, as you say. I have some happy hours ahead now, getting signalling to work as I want it to. It's nice to see the 3 aspects changing to amber when they should! What pleasure we get from little things working properly. But where would we be if everything worked out of the box as it should. No problems to solve; no grey matter to exercise! Feliz año nuevo to you and all Hornby fanatics!

Hi Ray Just to let you know that this tip worked! I set the signal type to a 3-aspect, then I was able to chose amber for the "other signal". I then reset the signal type to 2-aspect and saved the plan. All is well! I am now working my way through and it's great to have these signals working as they should. Not happy to leave you in peace, though, I then realised that this trick won't work for points, where in "other points and signals" there is no choice of amber and no way of using that trick. "Aaah" I thought "use a program within the points control box to set the signal to amber". Yes, that does work but it does not take account of in which direction the points are being thrown. It performs the program each time the points are operated. In some circumstances this doesn't matter, but not in all. Individual programs may be the ultimate way to go. I have one or two for leaving different platforms and they work well. Note to self, I must update those programs now that ALL my signals are functioning correctly.... at time of writing! However the layout plan would end up even messier than it is with, symbols for programs all over the place. @pd91223 Fairly easy to reset them again, as per Ray's "reverse polarity trick". The worst problem I have is when there is a short circuit and the eLink/Railmaster program reports this. If I have one of my Dapol semaphore signals (connected to the system via a Train-Tech SC3 controller) set at clear when the short circuit occurs, then it is out of sync (and "reverse polarity" has to be set) until the next short circuit. It's odd that just resetting the controller with the signal in the "wrong" position doesn't correct this. Only a short circuit will do! John

Thanks so much Ray. Won't have time today but will hopefully test it out tomorrow. It would be nice to get all this working correctly so that I can click on various items, as appropriate, and they do as they are supposed to! Best wishes John

There's another issue I'm hoping there is a cure for (Ray?). Most of my TT signals are 2-aspect home but I have 3 3-aspect home signals but I can't find a way of setting those to "amber" from the next signal's "Other ......" setup, when that signal is set to danger (red). In the box where you set what you want the signal to change to, only red or green is offered. Though I have vague memories of amber coming up sometimes! I've tried reinstalling the 3-aspects to see if Railmaster will pick up the fact that that's what they are, to no avail. Do hope I've explained the problem so that it can be understood. John

Ray Holy mackerel! That seems to be the solution, thank you! I tried it on two errant signals and they now appear to be behaving themselves. When I tried this before, I think I hadn't unticked reverse polarity before exiting the signal setup window. I have several signals around the layout now to correct, some in pretty inaccessible places, so I will have to get someone with a more flexible spine than mine to get those lights flashing! Thanks again. John