cowside

Later ..... factory defaults (DCC Concepts Zen Decoder) have improved response greatly. Interestingly I had a Class 52 Dapol with a Rails/DCC decoder and it hardly moved with default decoder settings. Had to adjust CV2 to CV6 to resolve.

Thanks for replies. I'll reset decoder to factory values and see what happens!

I'm still trying to find the best values for CV2 to CV6 for a Bachmann pannier tank running under DCC with RailMaster. What values do our experts recommend for CV2 to CV6?

That's solved it! I just could not see that the big bearing was actually two smaller ones. Having separated them, the two bearings fit nicely into the chassis. Thank you atom3624 for your helpful advice!

I am replacing a collector plate on a Castle class loco (service sheet 306) due to mashed pickups. Having removed the old plate the axles fit into a groove on the underside of the plate. There is one brass bearing on the axle but this is too big to fit into the groove. The bearing can move along the axle. Should it be centred or is there some trick to this?

Thanks to you both. Having seen too many buggy software 'upgrades' I'm going to stick with v1.65. It's bad enough now without self-inflicting more pain sorting out unnecessary issues!

I run v1.65 with ProPack and it works fine, even for Voice Control on a Windows 7 PC. Loco details not in 1.65 are easily added. Given the hassles that always come with an upgrade,is it worth upgrading to v1.72 or later? What is the gain?

I've been using LAIS decoder chips for a while and they work fine. But if you want to connect a Stay Alive then you need to buy the KungFu version at about £12.50. I have used a KungFu with the LAIS Large Stay Alive on an old Lima Western class loco and it zips over every point, even the large radius Hornby curved points which are the most prone to sticking locos.

Thanks for the responses - the link from Britannia Builder was very helpful. Of course, it might have been possible to find this thread if the forum search was any good! The suggestion that the speed curve figures were every 10 mph seems to be borne out by the number of them - 5 for a small tank and maybe 10 for an express loco. I'll check out the cloning suggestion from RAF96. It is still a puzzle where Railmaster puts the speed factor info!

One of the frustrations of Railmaster is the inability to copy a configuration from an existing loco to a new one. I have a number of Bachmann 45xx tank locos for which there is no Hornby equivalent. For each of their configurations I have used a Hornby 42xx tank profile which has the same size wheels, adjusted the shunt and cruise speeds, and then applied a speed correction factor to convert from a slow freight loco to a nippy branch loco – adjusting this to get a prototype 45xx running profile. Unfortunately because this is a trial and error method I have not recorded the speed corrections used so I thought I would look into the resource.mdb database to see if the correction factors were there. The resource.mdb database (copy!) opens in Access 2003 and the relevant table is easily copied into Excel for analysis. This has raised even more issues! Column CL is called Factor but I cannot see how this relates to the corrections I have used. In addition column CO called Speed Curve has a list of values - variously 5 to 10 of them, which seems rather strange. Is there anyone with knowledge of these variables who can explain what they are?

Will check this again!

Coundn't see anyting catching when I applied power direct to the wheels - one of the first steps I tried! It's really baffling!

I have acquired an oldish Castle class loco with a 3-pole motor. I have about 20 such loco and thought I knew their problems and solutions. This loco is a puzzle. it makes a clicking noise which increases in frequency as speed increases - at the same point in the revolution every time. I thought it was a missing cog tooth, but checked and it's not - especially as the loco goes beautifully at very slow speeds. I then thought it was a coupling rod striking the cylinder slider - not that either! Then checked the B2B on the driving wheels, and they're OK. Changed the motor brushes and springs as well. I'm baffled! Currently the loco is unusable since it creates a cacophony of sound at anything other than shunting speed. Any thoughts?

An update:For a new model this loco is terrible on points, particularly curved ones - where it stops and sometimes starts again, making it unusable. It seems to be based on a very old model. The problem has been solved by fitting a LAIS KungFu chip with their large stay alive capacitor added. The model is now usable.

In order to fit a DCC decoder I tried and failed to unclip the body of this loco using the instructions in the Service Sheet enclosed with the loco. I contacted Rails of Sheffield from whom I bought the loco. They have been helpful and replied: **PLEASE NOTE THAT THE INSTRUCTIONS PROVIDED WITH THE LOCOMOTIVE ADVISE TO UNCLIP THE BODY FROM THE CHASSIS, THIS IS NOT THE CASE. UNCLIP THE ROOF FOR DCC FITTING** It is easy to unclip the roof, and this exposes the DCC socket ready to use. I think it would be impossible to get at it from underneath!