ColinB

What make decoder was it?

They don't like heat guns. I bought one of those PCBs for points that take a centre off, biased on switch. The switches supplied were horrible so i had to change one. The only way to get it desoldered was to use a heatgun. I thought I will use the same technique to put the new one in seeing as there was still bits of solder over the holes. Bad idea, the switch looked ok but didn't move. In the end I had to remove all the solder with a solder gun and solder each pin individually. I think the lugs on the miniature switches are too thick and narrow for the small type spade connectors.

Sorry I missed out the zero, typing too fast again. I was just thinking 30 milliamps is not much current, I know the unit is not driving anything. I must admit I very rarely work in amps.

0.3 of an amp is 30 milliamps, I am surprised it is so low. Yes your microcab will use that to drive the processor inside the unit and the display even while it is doing nothing.

There were a lot of dodgy capacitors around several years ago, vert many computer motherboard failed for that reason.

The only issue I have had with Bachmann split chassis locos is the insulators that fit between the wheel axles. You can get them new from Bachmann. I also replaced the plastic "top hat" washers that hold the two halves together. I also bought some conductive grease so that I got good electrical contact and lubrication on the wheels. I converted all of mine to DCC and they still run well, probably a lot better than my ringfield based locos, although I have sold most of these.

I used Replica Railway Spares http://www.replicarailways.co.uk/. What parts do you need? In the end though all my Mainline locos were Scots or Jubilees so I replaced the chassis with Bachmann ones.

Here are the photos of it attached on the underside of the bogie, I think Barrie Davis of the YouTube videos used a washer.

Yes rpjallan I am still around, I filed a piece of phosphor bronze that I had ( I used to build classic bikes so I had a bit to use as a drift) down to about 1mm and then glued it on top of the bogie. I will take a photo of it for you in the morning.

To be quite honest the only differences between the A4 Railroad version and the super detail version of this era is going to be the valve gear and the tender. The later Railroad versions had a different chassis and motor, but these ones share their chassis with the super detail one. I think both sorts are listed on the New Modellers Service Sheets. Service sheets 344, 358 and 394 seem to cover all variants. I suggest 344 for the tender and any of the others for the loco. The biggest concern is if you need wheels, they come in red or black depending on your model. So I think from a previous post R3173 is a blue LNER one, so you need red wheels which either have RD after them or the easiest way to find them is to do a search of Peters Spares. If your valve gear is broken, I think there is a shortage of Railroad valve gear, but the super detail one fits as long as you use the corresponding cylinder block.

I would probably say R2339. I think R3173 is a Railroad model so might not have pickups in the tender. I assume R2339 has. R2339 may have better detail.

That is why wherever possible I move it all to the tender. I broke some Merchant Navy valve gear trying to get it all to fit, being more worried about crushing the wires. After that I vowed to put the DCC into the tender wherever possible. The only exceptions are A4s and unrebuilt BOB/West Country where because of their large fronts there is tons of room in the loco for even a speaker as well.

If it is 2500 now then it is no longer limited edition, I fill sorry for those people that thought it was limited to 1500. I like the look of the loco but at that price I am not that interested. The bigger issue is now Hornby thinks there is a market for locos with prices this high, are we to expect more price rises this year. Fortunately, most of the other loco suppliers locos are nowhere near this price, so their products are more desirable to me.

Yes, I liked the look of it and then I saw the price. I imagine there will be takers, it is above what I want to pay. I did pay that much for my class 812 but that did include decent sound. They are nice locos. I suppose as it costs, so much Hornby can probably guarantee that it will be made in time. I assume it is only available from Hornby direct.

I see Hornby are doing it again rushing through a loco in commemoration of the Queens Platinum Jubilee.

No 96RAF I didn't, I still have the devices so I could check one day. When I mailed Zimo they were adament that there was nothing wrong with their software, which having dealt with German/Austrian Software companies for years is normally the answer. I have got some real interesting stories about my attempts in the past to actually locate a serious error in CAN communications software. So I didn't bother arguing and decided to move on. There was a really good video on YouTube that an New Zealand guy made which answered all the questions I had with the new device and he was absolutely right. It does appear from the guy at Zimo that they have implemented a new command so that may be the issue. Anyway the Digikeijs DR5000 is all that I wanted, so I am happy and compared to the price of modern locos, relatively cheap.

Well I contacted Zimo direct and told me to try a few things, but it still didn't resolve the issue. So yesterday I bit the bullet and bought a brand new Digikeijs DR5000, what a wonderful device. I am pleased to say it fixes the issue. I suspect Zimo will be phasing out their previous technology, YouChoos has currently ran out of the old style 8 pin sound decoders so it sort of forced my hand. Obviously their must be a timing issue with the Fleishmann Controllers DCC signal.

Having spent entirely my career working on microprocessors and digital communications, I understand DCC perfectly. If you use another decoder you won't be able to vary the speed of the fan motor independently because the fan speed would be dependent on the loco speed, unless that is what you want. If you want to add another decoder then do it, personally I would just buy the interface board off EBay it is only £4.00 and then control the fan on/off with a function key. I suppose the only issue is the inductive load but then again you would just need a reverse biased diode across the terminals. It is a really interesting idea, what micromotor are you thinking of using, I wouldn't mind doing that with my ones. I do have a preorder for one of the new Bachmann diesels with the same arrangement so it will be interesting to see how they do it.

Seeing as the sound decoder uses the back emf to control it adding a second decoder is not going to work too well. LokSound V3.5 is an obsolete type and even worse it uses a 100 ohm speaker which is not a good idea. Sadly with most sound decoder you can get them upgraded for £30, but this service is not available for version 3.5. I cannot understand anyone that hardwires a DCC decoder you are just asking for trouble.

I think you need to read the specification on the LokSound decoder, the logic outputs for Aux 3 and 4 will be a function of the decoder. If they are only logical outputs there is a guy on EBay (blwtechnicalservices) that did make an interface circuit, so seeing as you are adding the fan you could add that next to it. It has got to be simpler than fitting a Plux22.

I must admit AndyMac I have had no such issues, I did have one guy that bid then messed me about. I pointed out that he should have paid me within 3 days at which he told me to cancel the transaction. I did and stopped him bidding on any of my other items. Generally I state in the listing what P & P will be, which normally is what Royal mail charges me. Generally the stuff I sell on EBay is items that I no longer want, so whatever I get for them is a bonus. There again if the item doesn't sell so be it, or again someone messes me about then I just cancel the transaction.

To be honest all the Rails stuff listed on EBay does describe any faults.

I bought a Duchess off Rails via EBay and it was perfect. I suppose you just have to be careful. The box was a bit faded but there again I didn't buy it for the box. Never bought anything second hand off Hattons from their lists it all looks to be bit overpriced.

There is a reason for a slump, although I have not noticed it, it called mammoth rises in energy and the cost of living. This eats in to peoples spare cash. As a Classic motorbike dealer said to me at the beginning of one recession, "you can tell when a recession is coming people stop spending money on their hobbies". Actually "Rails" secondhand prices aren't that bad compared to Hattons, I have bought some reasonably priced things off their EBay shop.

I stopped going to Train Fairs/Swapmeets years ago. I imagine they will go the way of Autojumbles, the well established ones will remain, the smaller ones where there isn't much to buy will die.