Lower Thames Yard

[Walkingthedog]

Is it steel or nickel silver.

[Bandit Mick]

Are you relying solely on fishplates to conduct power. Possibly a silly question - I expect you are not.

[Tallpaul70]

Are you relying solely on fishplates to conduct power. Possibly a silly question - I expect you are not.

Bearing in mind that this is a 5ft x3ft6ins "quickie" layout that is really just a test track the track is what I have to hand so is a mixture of nickel silver and steel with just a couple of feeders on opposite sides of the oval all running under DCC.
Bearing in mind that wiring /soldering is not my forte, the time it would take me to wire it to the best standards with links to bus bars from each section of track would be counter productive as it would probably render the layout not worth completing by not being available for me to use a worthwhile period of months before the main layout is built.
The fact that there are only a couple of sections that perform intermittently to me confirms the sense of this approach.

Cheers
Paul

[Bandit Mick]

Eh!

[Tallpaul70]

Hi All,
Have had a week off from modelling as there was a number of jobs around the house needing doing and we had thoughts of a few days away, hence no postings.
The jobs got done (just!) but the high temperatures put pay to thoughts of getting away particularly seeing the coast getting increasingly crowded.
So we have just chilled as much as possible (in the deep shade!) at home.

I was amused by the flurry of speculation around Bachmann's EFE Rail announcement, lets hope all the faults with some of the locos first time round have been cursed. Not much to interest me so far although I might go for a few of the weathered versions of the Kernow wagons. However, if more Kernow specials get a re run, could be interesting? Pity Hattons have the property on the 14xx, another run of those would be good!

Meanwhile , its on with the job list including:-
Relay Thames Lower Goods Shed track,
More wagons to fit Kadees
Complete plans for the Goods Shed
Buy Hall TTS chips
etc. etc.

Hope everyone is fit and well and getting models completed, although this coming week will be challenging if we get the promised thunder storms!
Cheers
Paul

[IanAlan]

Hi Paul, I'm just wondering if 'cursed' rather than 'cured' was your phone changing what you wrote (mine's always doing this) or a Freudian slip?

[Tallpaul70]

Hi Paul, I'm just wondering if 'cursed' rather than 'cured' was your phone changing what you wrote (mine's always doing this) or a Freudian slip?

I wish they would teach these phones to spell!!

[Tallpaul70]

Good day All,

Over the last year I have been investigating the wider use of Hornby TTS Decoders in locos other than the locos they are named for. In the last few weeks, I have been doing more on this due to the introduction of the Hall TTS decoder.

Last week, I found some useful information on South West Digital's web site, which suggests which locos in each of the four Grouping companies and BR loco fleets can be replicated by the same sound files.

So for instance, it backs up my decision to use the Hornby TTS Hall decoder in Counties, Granges and 28xx class locos!

Once I have got by head round the relevant data, I will post a distillation of it here.

Aagh!!

It has just started tipping it down here in south Bedfordshire for the second time today, so it looks like I shall not be venturing down the garden to my Model Room again today.

Best regards
Paul

[Tallpaul70]

Hi there,
I promised in my last post that I would post a distillation of the information from the South West Digital site that relates to decoders for Great Western/Western Region locos.

So here goes:-
South West Digital have divided the GWR/WR steam locos into four groups. each of which it has assigned a particular decoder to.

Group 1 comprises all panier (and saddle) tanks plus the Dean Goods.

Group 2 comprises the small prairies and 2-8-0/2-8-2 tanks plus 0-6-2 tanks, 15xx Panniers and the 38xx 4-4-0 tender locos (Counties)

Group 3 comprises Counties, Halls Granges, Manors, Dukedogs, Cities, all 2-8-0 tender locos, all 2-6-0 locos, 2251 0-6-0 tender locos, and all varieties of Large Prairies.

Group 4 comprises Kings, Castles and Stars.

I think that I will be using these Groups and fitting full price decoders to my models in Groups 1 and 2 , Hornby Hall TTS to my locos in Group 3, and I have already have Hornby TTS decoders in my Kings and Castles.

This may not work for locos with non 8 pin sockets, but there are a number of Hornby and Bachmann locos that are 8 pin. So the choice may be between 8/21 pin adapters, which there may not be room for in some locos; hard wiring 8 pin decoders, full price 21 pin decoders, or non sound decoders.

Fitting non sound decoders in some cases will help to offset the full price decoders. I may not be able to make decisions on non sound decoders until I have completed my loco allocations to trains and see if there are any that will be used on perhaps one run in a day's timetable where the lack of sound will not be too noticeable!

I don't have locos in all the types detailed above as locos that were withdrawn before 1960 are not relevant to my layout. So the Dean Goods, saddle tanks, Cities (except Truro), Dukedogs, RODS (in the 2-8-0 category), 38xx Counties and Stars are not for me!

In future posts I will detail the site's similar details for SR, LMR, ER, and BR locos plus BR Diesels and Units. It will probably take three more posts to cover these areas without blowing the readers minds with too much detail in one posting.

The sites listings in some areas are not as comprehensive as their GWR details above, but they say they will be expanding the lists as they develop sound files for more Locos and Units.

I hope this information is of use to others?
Cheers
Paul

[Walkingthedog]

It’s dead simple really, they are dependant on how many cylinders they have and/or the size of the loco.

This has always been the case. This goes for locos from all the companies, the only real difference being the sound of the whistle.