ColinB

Generally if Hornby want this to be a success they need to get the Android version to market as quickly as possible. Android seems to be the preferred platform for most people, plus it's products are a lot cheaper. Generally it seems the IT community favors Apple, historically it was a much easier platform to work with as Apple strictly enforced what you could do and licensing. We are already beginning to realise that this product is too big for many locos. I would wait for the Android version, it gives Hornby a bit more time to sort out their undocumented features and a bigger user market, to comment on how good it really is. Lets face it you can probably get a top of the range Android base pad for the price of a refurbished Apple one. The thing to also remember is my DigiKeijs plus a second hand laptop to run it, was cheaper than the prices you are quoting for a refurbished IPad.

Well if you want it under DCC control you have two options, run wires from the tender off the main DCC controller or fit a function decoder in the loco to just control the smoke generator. You give the two decoders the same address and assuming you don't use sound you could make F1 your smoke generator control on the function decoder. The new drawbar only has four connections as far as I can see. What you could do is connect it across the motor so the higher the motor voltage you get more smoke.

I bought one, I just replied to the mail shot I got. At the price it was good value most modern Duchess/City locos are a lot more that is why I bought it and it will definitely run on my layout. I didn't realise it was only 200, special edition locos are only worth a lot in the first couple of months of their release. There are still Elizabeth locos on the EBay site not sold. I actually got mine from Hornby at the recommended retail a couple of weeks after they were fetching ridiculous prices on the famous auction site.

It is an awful lot more complicated than that, all the checksum does is tell you that you have got it wrong, which probably terminates the download. In our software they were frame numbers indicating which frame was wrong and as such asked the sender to repeat the frame. There is an awful lot more but I am not going to go into it, I have been here before. The good news is though it doesn't "brick" the module, so you can try again. We had an ABS module where the Supplier got it wrong, I had a pile of about 10 under my desk, only useful as plant stands. That is why I said I will be very interested when the Android app uses go online.

To be honest I know very little how the Hornby app works but I worked on flash reprogramming of automotive electronic control units for years. With our software routines we had tons of software to recover if the download missed a load of download bytes, in fact it usually tried 3 times. I suspect this software doesn't. Most times it will work but occasionally at periods of high network traffic it fails.

I had this issue on my Duchess, but that was because I was using live frog points and a special switching system I devised. Normally there shouldn't be an issue, but if it is an issue just buy a smaller set of pony truck wheels that sit higher above the rails. I am sure you must be missing an insulator somewhere as normally the fixed pony truck wheels don't short out. As to the A4 there are two different types of bodies, the early loco driven ones and super detail ones have the rear mounting slot under the cab further forward than the later Railroad ones. You should find if you bought a recent Railroad A4 body it should fit without modification. Note the A4/A3 Railroad chassis are different to the Railroad Tornedo chassis. I don't know about the P2.

Each to their own.

I don't know about Apple phones but the big issue with my Samsung is literally holding them while you do something. You normally inadvertently press a button or softkey and your app goes into the background. Of course it only takes a few clicks to get it back, but it is a pain. With a pad it gets a lot better as the user area is much bigger. Again with the DigiKeijs you can run ITrains on a Smartphone which does a lot of what the Bluetooth interface does although not the CV reading, but I found that from a user point of view the screen is too small. I don't know how the Hornby system will expand, it definitely needs to display accessories from say a drop down menu so that they are easy to control. As long as the app is written correctly I would suspect that virtually all new Tablets should support the Android app when it is released, usually the biggest issue with conformity is where an application writer has not rigidly stuck to the rules.

Yes 96RAF you are absolutely right, but there is a limit to how many you can physically get on the screen. Now if you are happy with the way the Elite works then this is an improvement but if you have something like I have in a DigiKeijs then there is no comparison. As it uses a Windows front end there is no limit to the amount of locos you can display on the screen and it remembers them from last time round. The only disadvantage is you cannot name them, well at least I have not found a way yet. So in my case on my layout I can run 5 continuously, so clicking between windows is painless. Then we come onto accessories. Now the Bluetooth would be extremely useful in the case of tank engines where you try and fit Keep Alive/Stay Alive which means you can't reliably program them on DCC, but then as SAM demonstrated so well, the new decoders won't fit into most tank engines as they are far too big. Unfortunately as I have found TTS decoders are very hard to find, most Retailers have sold their remaining stock. I was paying £35.00 to EKM for TTS decoders which is not a lot more than a decent DCC decoder so I tended to fit them to all my locos, which I suspect from posts on this website is similar for other people. Yes they blow up easily if they get hot, but once I figured that was an issue I took steps to reduce the risk. So I doubt that they will become ornaments unless you find a backstreet Retailer that doesn't sell much.

Yes 96RAF you are absolutely right, but there is a limit to how many you can physically get on the screen. Now if you are happy with the way the Elite works then this is an improvement but if you have something like I have in a DigiKeijs then there is no comparison. As it uses a Windows front end there is no limit to the amount of locos you can display on the screen and it remembers them from last time round. The only disadvantage is you cannot name them, well at least I have not found a way yet. So in my case on my layout I can run 5 continuously, so clicking between windows is painless. Then we come onto accessories. Now the Bluetooth would be extremely useful in the case of tank engines where you try and fit Keep Alive/Stay Alive which means you can't reliably program them on DCC, but then as SAM demonstrated so well, the new decoders won't fit into most tank engines as they are far too big. Unfortunately as I have found TTS decoders are very hard to find, most Retailers have sold their remaining stock. I was paying £35.00 to EKM for TTS decoders which is not a lot more than a decent DCC decoder so I tended to fit them to all my locos, which I suspect from posts on this website is similar for other people. Yes they blow up easily if they get hot, but once I figured that was an issue I took steps to reduce the risk. So I doubt that they will become ornaments unless you find a backstreet Retailer that doesn't sell much.

Yes it appears so, with all the hype with the new system, people seem to forget there is at least a 20% cost difference between TTS and the new system. On top of that the new system decoders are bigger. So let's say you have an A4 that you want to run on DCC, you are only going to program it once, if you are like me and run a multi windows DCC controller what does the extra give you, a Bluetooth system that is great for one or two loco, not the 10 or 20 that I can do on my existing system. So yes for me TTS with a decent speaker is a better option. Then of course you have the issue that none of it works on Android at the moment so my HM7K is no better that a TTS at the moment.

I have never been into Apple, expensive devices that put me off. You are better waiting for the Android device application because there are a huge array of Android tablets. You could probably buy many for the price of one Apple device. It is a shame that they don't develop apps for the Kindle Fire, in its colour large screen form it is relatively cheap for a large screen display. On the other hand I do wonder how well the download will work once it gets swamped with the large array of Android users.

Really weird it is a two pin connector and it connects to pads L+ and L- on the PCB. One of the pins goes to pin 8 of the decoder. I can't find where the other pin goes. Different subject but did you know that there is an entirely different loco to tender drawbar on the Hornby Dublo Sir Nigel Gresley. Obviously Hornby have been very busy in the last year.

Who cares about the rotation, it is definitely not worth all the posts about it. You criticise me enough for doing things like that. Back to the connector it cannot be for speaker as on 8 pin the speaker has to come straight off the decoder. Initially I thought power feed like Keep alive/Stay alive but again I think you need extra connections to the decoder. Why on 8 pin which is a dying interface.

I generally do mine by using old credit cards or loyalty cards, in some cases 4. I think if I remember the bil was one of the easier ones, sometimes on some models the clips get stuck with the driver window frames.

I never noticed the connector below the DCC PCB when I took my HD Sir Nigel Gresley apart but I am glad you mentioned it. I will do some further investigation. Perhaps it is there to add Keep Alive/Stay Alive power. Now I know it is there, I will see if I can trace the connections. That would explain why they designed a new PCB for 8 pin.

Yes, Fishmanoz I know from the earlier thread. Like the original poster, I didn't bother searching. It should be on the box or in the instructions. Previously you didn't need to bother as they were all 8 pin, but at this present time it is. Fortunately on an A4 it is incredibly easy to get to the DCC socket. The thing that is quite interesting is they have redesigned the 8 pin socket, why bother it is the same shape as the 21 pin. Why not fit the 21 pin PCB, the connections to the loco are exactly the same. They obviously have their reasons.

The tender should be pretty standard, in fact the same as all the other Merchant Navy locos, it is only the loco body that is changed so I would have though it was standard NEM. I am wondering it it is a fitment error by Production perhaps it just needs a different NEM pocket. I know you shouldn't have to change it on a £320 loco but it is less aggro than sending it back. If you bought it direct from Hornby I am sure you can send it back for repair and being it is Hornby, they will refund the postage.

This is for information only. I just received my new Hornby Dublo Sir Nigel Gresley. Having searched all over the box and the fitting instructions I could not find what DCC decoder it needed. Normally you would assume 8 pin but during the transition period it could be 21 pins. The diagram in the instructions looks like a 21 pin one. Anyway in the end the only way to find out was to open it up. Amazingly it still is an 8 pin but the DCC printed circuit board is a new type, much larger, more on the lines of their 21 pin one with the 8 pin connector at the back. Much nicer design, much better layed out.

Ok, I can understand your frustration, I did the same with my HD Duchess of Lichfield, but basically this is the same loco as East Asiatic Company loco, so it should behave roughly the same. I know you shouldn't have to do this but I suspect that they are faults that can be easily fixed. I get opinion that Hornby think that most will be used as collectors items so their inspection is not so thorough.

Yes I liked it especially the paintwork and ordered it. I was surprised to get an extra 10% off so for me it was good value.

I think the new Hornby Dublo might be heavier. A better comparison is between the Duchess class as they were made by both companies. The tenders on Wrenns were plastic although on the original Hornby Dublos they were metal. I have both an original Hornby Duchess of Montrose and the latest new Hornby Dublo City of Lichfield. I will weight them.

You are lucky, i got confirmation that DPD were due to receive it on the 21st March. I am still waiting and according to DPD they have still not received it.

Trouble is every time you add an adapter you take up the little space you are allowed for the decoder. On some of my Bachman locos in the case of TTS adding the adapter made it such that the roof wouldn't fit properly (I eventually rewired it to a 21 pin header. As was said on another forum this PCB is large so that on many locos it won't fit, try fitting it to a Hornby class 87. A lot of people me being one, don't want to machine chunks out of their £200+ loco. So on some locos it will work on others it won't. So you do what I do at the moment pick the decoder that best fits the application.

You need to raise a technical request to Hornby (as it says customer support), this forum is not really the place, they need to know. This feature is new and very few people are using it. I can think of a few issues that could cause it (I used to write reprogramming applications for automotive modules), so Hornby need to know before they release the Android app and get swamped with a substantial amount of new users.