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

Hi Ray <<When you press the Red button, do you have Reverse Polarity checked?>> I've tried with and without! But not using your method! I'll give it all a whirl. Thanks so much. Merry Christmas everyone! John

Hi Ray No. they are simple 2-aspect home signals. I have a couple of 2-aspects with feathers and they give me no problem. OK:- I plug the signals into the track. Open the layout plan. Swear as I try and get the signals to flash with my little piece of wire on the two contacts. Right click on the appropriate signal symbol (already set up) and press the RED button. I have tried deleting and starting again, to no avail. I have to say, most of my TT signals are well behaved. It's just 2 or 3 rogue ones that cause all this grief. Cheers John

Sorry for the delay in reporting back but.... I've tried various ways of getting the thinner legs of new signals to make contact. In the process, I used a spare bit of track to test things out and that brought to light that, not only are the signal legs of different thicknesses, but also the track slots are of different sizes. No wonder it's been driving me to distraction! I tried the foil suggestion but couldn't get that to work. But with a lot of jiggery pokery, I managed to get fingers to match slots, just about, and with the aid of a tiny piece of plastic under the signal, I have new signals working in the locations I need them. However the problem of syncronising the signal with its symbol on the track plan remains. One new one is correct, the other is not. If I tick the 'reverse polarity' box, things work OK until you operate a set of points or other signal or use a program where the rogue symbol should be operated. Usually 'reverse polarity' is not recognised. I've also tried reversing the red and green symbols in the setup box but that has had odd effects too. Indeed, operating one set of crossover points had the effect of "uncsyncronising" the signal until the program was rebooted. I think I am going to give up using the "other points and signals" feature until this issue is sorted out (if it ever is).

Some good suggestions. Thank you guys! The gap really is quite big. I'll report back when I get something to work.

@pd91223 David at Train-tech admitted there had been a manufacturing issue but they were within their "manufacturing tolerances". @Chrissaf Great suggestion but I'm afraid I'm not up to track laying again. What I have, I have to stick with. What it is getting old!

I'm pleased to see this subject has raised its head again as I'm still struggling with a couple of my signals and getting them into 'sync'. One thing I'll try is to click "Reverse Polarity" before setting the address, to see if that sets it correctly! I've found that, although I can get the display and signal in sync by setting "Reverse Polarity", this is not necessarily recognised by programs and/or "other signal" commands. Something that's paining me far more at the moment (and this may be off-topic, if Mods wish to move this to another thread?). I bought a couple more of these TT signals and the 'fingers' are far too thin to make contact in the slots on Hornby track. Not really fit for purpose. I did contact David at Train-Tech about this and he offered a couple of solutions which didn't work for me. I have since bought a couple more in the hope that the issue had been fixed but, no, I now have 4 signals that won't make contact in the slots. I am trying to avoid having to do any soldering, drilling and clambering under the board to wire them up, given my fragile spine these days! Yesterday I tried gluing some thin plastic strips to the fingers but the thickness of the fingers is critical. Has anyone come up with an effective solution to this problem, please? I did get them working by wedging something under each end but then the signal is standing at an acute angle. Not at all satisfactory!

OK. Thanks very much for the advice. Not as easy as I'd hope for! I will see how I get on....

I'm resurrecting this as someone has kindly brought me out a new King TTS Decoder as I'm pretty sure the chip has blown. Now I have, to me, the daunting task of taking the tender to bits, removing the old decoder (hopefully I can just plug in the speaker already fitted to the new decoder) and installing the new one, plugging in the old speaker. I am happy to admit that, whenever I have tried to disassemble anything, then things go disastrously wrong and I need all the help I can get. I see from the King George I instruction sheet that the tender cover is "easily" (ha ha) removed by removing 2 screws and moving the cover back and down. I do think I should disconnect it from the loco first and have purchase a plug puller for this very purpose. If anyone can give me any hints and tips, I would be extremely grateful. 'Good luck' wishes also gratefully received! John

OK thanks. I recently gave the whole board and track a good Spring clean. However, we had a huge storm on Monday and dust will have found its way in and probably onto the track. Also, gecko poo was actually causing a derailment. So if it's down to track grubbiness, I must give it another good clean! Thank you.

I've reduced CV56 even lower to 2. And the loco is now performing pretty smoothly and comes to a nice gentle stop without lurching. So I'm pleased. However, it once again took off with a mind of its own. I checked CV29 and it's set at 2 so this means analogue operation is already off. Any further ideas on this, please? It scares me to death as previous occurrences of this with other locos have proved to be terminal for the DCC controller! Thank you, as ever.