ColinB

Actually got it all working, running my Duchess along a piece of test track. Definitely a big issue with USB comms between Elite and PC, it takes many attempts of pulling out wires as per instructions to get it to work, but once it connects it does work. So I must have a valid license.

Well RDS he supposedly contacted Hornby to get it transferred. When I activated it on the Hornby website it didn't give an error. I know that is how I have done it in the past with similar packages that I used in my old job. It doesn't matter that much, I won't be using it, I just wanted to see how difficult it was to use. I only use the Elite to program locos, the Railmaster and two accessary modules came with the Elite when I bought it broken off EBay.

Well RDS he supposedly contacted Hornby to get it transferred. When I activated it on the Hornby website it didn't give an error. I know that is how I have done it in the past with similar packages that I used in my old job. It doesn't matter that much, I won't be using it, I just wanted to see how difficult it was to use. I only use the Elite to program locos, the Railmaster and two accessary modules came with the Elite when I bought it broken off EBay.

Well RDS he supposedly contacted Hornby to get it transferred. When I activated it on the Hornby website it didn't give an error. I know that is how I have done it in the past with similar packages that I used in my old job. It doesn't matter that much, I won't be using it, I just wanted to see how difficult it was to use. I only use the Elite to program locos, the Railmaster and two accessary modules came with the Elite when I bought it broken off EBay.

I assume it is flexitrack, that is always doing it. Sometimes it is because it is old and the plastic degrades. Given the weather at the moment I could see it pinging out when it expands with nowhere to go. As someone said pull the track from the other end where it has separated with a pair of long nosed pliers past the split part and then thread it back. Trouble is if you have graveled the track it is a bit more difficult but possible.

Yes that is what struck me. I have over 250 locos, mainly because I fix broken ones. I have about 40 points. Now I only ever run about 5 locos but they could be any of the 250. I keep a spreadsheet of the loco ids and when I want to run one, I put the id into the DCC controller. The other thing was you couldn't just put class 47 into it and it selects all the Hornby class 47s, no you have scroll down to the actual model number which if you bought it from a split set you won't have one. I am sure that there is a way to bypass the Hornby model as you must be able to enter non Hornby locos. Let us put it like this, it could be so much better. I notice it also makes use of loco detection, but Hornby doesn't support that at the moment. That is what I like about the Z21 software, when I was testing mine I just changed the id but kept the rest of the default data, who cares if it is some German loco if you are only doing a test.

My version is 1.6.1 and I bought it direct from Digikeijs.

Well I tried it and surprisingly it works on my laptop with the activation code. I remembered what I didn't like about it. It seems to want you define every loco before you use it, rather than having a simplified menu for just running a loco with an id (correct me if I am wrong). I like programs that let you do that and save putting all that data in once you decide to get serious.

I suppose it is what you want a DCC controller to do. I just want it to control locos with a simple user interface, that is why I like the Digikeijs. I can set pull down boxes for each of my locos and control them, the only limiting factor is the speed of my current PC. I originally was going to write my own windows interface, but it does entirely what I want it to do. When reading the manual today, I even found it has a scripting function. For wireless control if I want to, I have an old Samsung phone running the Z21 software. So I really don't need Railmaster. Pete Waterman is using the Z21 software to control the locos on his exhibition in Chester Cathedral so I assume it can't be that bad. I only said RM should be free to enable Hornby to sell more DCC controllers, seeing as I imagine that is the only controllers they work with. Perhaps I will have a play with my RM just to see how good it is.

If you are thinking of going digital does that mean that you have purchased the Select. If not may I suggest that you look around. There are better devices on the market, which will give you more expandability for the future.

Yes rpjallan but you just use the Z21 software which is a free download. I must admit I have never used Railmaster in anger, it came with my second hand Elite. Even though the Seller said he had told Hornby about the license change, it never worked. I even had issues loading it on my laptop, which for me generally puts me off. It reminded me of some of the bad packages I had used in the late 1990s, issues with a license system. They should be providing it for free, that way more people would buy the hardware that goes with it.

I know AndyMac there are, I recently upgraded my system, there is a thread that got locked about it. It wasn't until I downloaded the manual that I found out all the other things it would do. Given Hornby can't meet the timings with its core locos, I seriously doubt if they will ever make any more Elites, well not in the near future.

Sorry DarkRedCape that wasn't quite what I meant, they probably thought they were doing you a favour, I did say they they should have told you the situation. I do wonder when the Elite will reappear if ever. There is a shortage of micros and I suspect the one in the Elite is probably near obsolete, so getting new ones will be difficult. Just for the record Hornby discourages Retailers from adhering to preorder prices according to the preserved railway where I preordered before the 10 +10% rise but the loco arrived after. So I got stung by the price increase, the preserved railway went to great lengths to explain it was part of Hornby's terms and conditions. The only company to stick to pre order prices is Derails, then I got the opinion it was a one off case. Of course Hornby stick to the preorder prices, but they make the rules. If it is a pre used item by law they are supposed to tell you. The incredible thing is that they go for silly money on EBay. As for pre owned bit, I suppose I wouldn't have been impressed, but then sometimes it is difficult to know. I suppose the big question is "does it work", "has it got huge scratches over it" and if you want a new one are you willing to wait another two years for it. I would just moan at Hattons and ask for a discount, oh and check the price with a second hand one on EBay.

He did get a discount though, they sold it to him at the old price, which should be 20% below the new price if you can get one, which going by the throughput of their locos at the moment may be never. Hattons should have explained the situation though. I imagine it was to stop him keep phoning up and hopefully keep him as a customer.

I think you can still get Wrenn wheels, in fact I think you can still get most parts. I forgot about the old Romford wheels someone probably replaced the old ones to traverse modern points.

I wouldn't be surprised if the A4 and Duchess shared the same chassis, I know that Hornby did this with some of their Ringfield based models. As to the part numbers, I don't know. I have a Hornby Dublo Duchess and a Wrenn A4, I will have a look. I am pretty sure the wheels are the same size between the two. I think they are also the same on a rebuilt Wrenn Merchant Navy. Could the person that presented this post give us some photographs.

If it is a die cast body that implies Hornby Dublo (original) or Wrenn. Correct me if I am wrong but all the Hornby Mallards are plastic body. I generally remove the wheels with two small screwdrivers or buy one of those extractors on Amazon for model aircraft propellers. The extractor is a better method but you might need to do a bit of searching to get one that fits. The extractor will pull them off squarely meaning less damage.

I think if you name all of them then there isn't an issue. I stopped using Hornby pins as they were too thick and not long enough, they also split the Peco flexitrack. As my layout is on cork and fibreboard I use Peco pins on the flexitrack as I said earlier and m1.6 screws on the points. Pins don't seem to work very well on the points. When you ballast, the whole lot gets glued down by PVA glue although I have got to admit the PVA never seems that strong, so I wouldn't use just PVA glue, plus with fexitrack you need something to stop it "pinging" back. I don't know how good the new pins from DCC concepts are, again for me they look a bit chunky.

I agree its not brilliant, Going Spare is right, I did find with mine the dummy car was putting a lot of drag on the train. Once I did that and with the extra weight in the driving car it did actually work quite well, I also put the latest 5 pole motor in it and added TTS sound. Check the pickups if you have them on the dummy car.

I downloaded the manual for my new DCC controller it appears that I can add 4 of these power drivers on different isolated sections giving about 12 amps capability. I won't say which make it is, but I think you all know.

I think when I measured the current on my Limas it was between 600 and 800 mA, these also have circular magnet strips so I don't think so easy to magnetise. Now if it was an old Triang or early Hornby X03/X04 then yes you could.

That profit they declared is for a year ago, nobody knows what the current status is, the report mentioned Covid lockdown. If the reports on RMWeb are any ware near true, then they have serious financial issues. Look around at the web mostly everyone is discounting them, often by more than 10%, that to me does not seem that the models are flying off the shelves. I think the other manufacturers make them to sell, hence the price. I don't know what Hornby's strategy is, I am not even sure they do.

@Sir john that is why I said buy ones you like and use them. I bought the 3 Hornby Dublo releases last year mainly because I liked the look of them and wanted basically an updated Wrenn. They weren't much more expensive than the price Hornby charge for the same loco with a plastic body now. I bought them because I liked them. It is like the Jubilee loco, when it comes out (if it ever does), there will so many on EBay that it will be interesting to see what they sell for. In a couple of years it will be like the black Britannia. Most businesses have their product ready for the actual date before people forget.

Trouble is rpjallan not all customers are as understanding as you.

Lima and Hornby ringfield motors drew reasonably large currents even when they were new when compared to the modern motors.