Lb101

The outer loop goes pretty close to the edge of your base board along three edges, assuming it is completely to scale with the layout. if you have an expensive loco derail (particulary prone on corners) there is a risk it might fall off. Unless you plan on having it up against a wall or are incorporating a raised edge/buttress or incorporating fencing which is fixed enough to ’catch’ derailing trains. if so make sure your longer locos and carriages aren’t going to clip anything. Personally I’d probably bring it back into the board a bit if possible (reduced diameter), but that is because I like adding low relief (narrow in depth) buildings to edges to add realism. If that doesn’t bother you then keep it as more track as you have done, but with consideraction for the above points about room for locos/rolling stock to get around the corners without hitting walls/raised edges.

Looking great, brilliant idea.

I like the box too. And that’s some sized tender!

I think actually it’s 450 mA for each controlled output now (the manual is in the loft somewher). No slave connectors post 2015 probably due to above sharing reasons.. Though Hattons website say it’s 500 mA (And mention the new one doesn’t have connections to the now discontinued slaves, which were R8013 for left and R8013a for right)

My hm2000 is newer. They’ve done away with the slave sockets so only the two control knobs it has can be used (they changed the power to 470 mA I believe for controlled, I may be wrong on that). That said I changed where I park all my locos recently so had to reverse them all out. I had no fewer than 5 locos running on one track at one point with no trips (all newer locos). I’ve also had at least two old locos running. Suffice to say, as I always tend to run one at a time, or two if parking one whilst moving one out, this unit does the job for me! i think it’s tripped once in the 4 years I’ve had it, I think when a loco derailed and cause a short circuit across the rails.

Many thanks Chrissaf, now I know 😆. The cost of this controller, given its better quality and internal components compared to the Hornby standard single ‘set’ controllers (including the new model) made buying the HM2000 a no brainer for me then as I have two isolated DC tracks and so would need to have bought two of those ones. Sorry to steal the thread at the end, but it was related and gave some relevant clarity to part of the initial question I hope.

Hi Chrissaf. Is this the case for all controllers? I was under the impression that the latest Hornby HM2000 for example had completely isolated controlled/uncontrolled circuitry from the power input (all sorted within the ‘control box’ itself somehow) so current draw from one doesnt effect the other and therefore no voltage drop to locos. I thought it was only the one uncontrolled AC and one uncontrolled DC which share current on this unit (that’s how the sheet it comes with reads to me anyway) That said, I’ve noticed the ‘on’ indicator light fades when I switch it all on. if this isn’t the case I’ll be switching all my lights and point motors to separate transformers! On the original question, @lawstrains, can you see the make and model of your controller, might help but looks like your quest has been answered? thanks

Hi. My son has Adhd and is currently being assessed for autism. We started small with a DC set, I can see how the DCC FS will be appealing to him and if he is like my son nothing else will do!, At the minute he is eagerly awaiting the Hornby class 800 Azuma coming out later this year Though don’t know whether that will be a purchase, no room left and rather expensive though I’d like one too! But he changes his mind all the time (class 55s came before that, picked up an old one cheaply, DC and it runs great). An advantage of DC is price and options for someone who is forevever into different locos. We stuck to DC. It became my hobby through him. I rigged up a cheap blue tooth speaker to my iPhone and that’s the best I could do for sound but to be honest his interest in sound isn’t there (loco noises and station announcements didn’t float his boat, he prefers to make the noises himself). He too enjoys watching the wheels, he also enjoys pulling into stations and doing the announcements himself he has picked up from real stations. He always enjoys switching points and parking trains. I’d start with a single oval and have a couple of stations and a couple of sidings for parking locos. Then it can grow from there, one oval keeps it simple and gives more room for scenary. Some days he wants to do dioramas and scenary (trees, scatter paths etc) other days he has in mind which loco he wants to run around. We now have a whole loft mini world with lights and point switches, scenes, etc still DC. He enjoys sitting/lying on the floor looking closely at trains as they go by (going back to the first starter set I put together on the floor with one turnout) so we have an n scale layout too which sits on an old flat door i picked up for a tenner. In summary id start simple and work up, maybe one oval with turnouts as per above. I have found he wanted a couple of things which he lost interest in but by and large he loves all aspects of it. I learnt with him and spend more time in the loft than him, he comes up when he wants to. He might want to move to digital one day, I can see the appeal but don’t know much about it and at the moment he is happy with switches and a simple controller. That and sleeping in the ‘den‘ under the layout with me on a weekend. i prefer dc as he plays with enough digital stuff and also I can pick up relatively older cheap locos he decides he wants for dc running e.g we went on the javelin, we now have a Railroad Javelin. He is 8 now and understands if he wants an Azuma we may have to sell some other locos. great hobby to share, teaches everything from circuits to economics! We were lucky enough to go on Union of South Africa last December, A4s are his favourite steam loco, he loved it!

A full size loco going around a radius 2 or 3 curve (scaled up curves and equivalent curvature) at a not excessively high speed we are scaling up to I imagine would derail due to the momentum and forces involved (little locos can cope easily with scaling speed on curves due to their size and build, but as you say it looks unreal as the physics is different, correction the forces are different to full size and what a full size train could handle, the physics is the same). imagine the people inside if it didn’t derail, plenty of coffee spilled to say the least. Someone else can figure out all the physics of that one if geometry and forces float their boat, too complicated for me.

Agreed Fazy, run locos steady as she goes! There is an off topic thread going on now in that section about time and speed (you’ve written in it but for the benefit of those interested and wish to see their locos arrive before they have set off etc. and try to get their head around that). It was probably started because of this simple question. Edit: it did, I’ve just gone back in time and read Ericm0hff’s original post on it (it’s called ‘speed consideration’)

Ps. Can’t edit the above due to iPhone problems. The original post was simply how do I measure scaled speed. Again take a distance and measure how long it takes to do that distance. Get the units right, and the distance you choose is divided by time taken to do that distance to give actual speed. Multiply by 76 for scaled up speed. Sorry just wanted to answer the post question as it was written in a concise way.

Just for fun. Perhaps an easier way, point me out if I’m wrong. Measure the length of your track, at the middle point between the rails will do (you only need to do this once). then use use: time = distance divided by speed e.g for a scaled required 100mph on a 10m run then it is (10x(1/1609.3))/100). Multiply by 60 to get minutes and then again for seconds = 0.22356 seconds (full size loco to do 10metres at 100mph). And this by 76 to get scale = About 17 seconds. 1609.3 converts metres into miles but you can swap the units of 100mph to km/h if you work metric. Just keep the above equation and change only the 10m length. If you want to know for part of your track (long straight rather than corners or vice versus) calculate for that distance. Simply run your loco so it takes that long to get around that distance. i keep meaning to do this the other way around for my Eurostar (Hornby Railroad), I want to measure full scaled up speed as I’m sure my boy has it running over the sound barrier down a slight incline we have and around a gentle curve. I may need to play a sonic boom on my iPhone to make it sound realistic 😀

Thankfully it runs both ways

EnGee, it’s good you have given this concise advice, under complicating it. Phill300, i’d follow the last post first to identify the problem, then the rest of the posts might help solve it or give some alternatives/food for thought.

This looks great. are you using uncouplers. running anti-clockwise on the inner track will be easy (on the left hand side, the Uk it’s usually the left). This is assuming locos will be stored on the turntable outs and rolling stock on the long sidings. You can run locos from your turntable and reverse pick up/drop off rolling stock using track uncouplers in the siding (reversing stock into the sidings to drop off/pick up). for the outside line, if that is running clockwise I.e. on the left again (as is the norm) then you will need uncouplers on the main track (to uncouple stock from locos) then the one in the siding (for uncoupling a shunter which can push stock in). Otherwise going clockwise, you’ll hem in locos in the sidings. if you weren’t planning on using decouplers or direction isn’t important to you please ignore me.