And they're too lazy to fix the problems with their wheelsets that cause the shorts in the firts place. For the small type of layout you described, Peco (whether insul- or electrofrog) will be fine out of the box if your wheelsets are adjusted ciorrectly. For a large club exhibition layout that requires a high level of reliability then you should also wire the points correctly, whether the layout is DC or DCC. People who build their own track have been doing it properly for decades.
MBQ
Cutting the power in a section to prevent foul moves is no more prototypical than having steam outline locos driven by electric motors. An engine coming to a dead stop when it hits the dead section is not realistic. If you want realism and true prototypical fidelity then use DCC, drive the trains and obey the signals.
MBQ
There are two system allowing readback from a decoder (bidirectional comms in NMRA DCC parlance).
The first is proprietary to Digitrax and is known as transponding. It was offered to the NMRA as the basis for a standard but was refused due to patent or licensing issues. That's all I know about transponding.
The second is Lenz Railcomm which is becoming a de-facto standard as third parties release products, especially Railcomm equipped decoders (all recent Zimo decoders can be updated to enable hardware that they already have). It is under discussion by the NMRA as a standard. Railcomm works by cutting the track power (existing boosters can be made compatible by adding a cut-out module) and shorting the rails. The detector is switched in series with one rail and the decoder injects a current into the circuit formed by the decoder, the detector and the rails. There is very little hardware support for detection of the decoder transmission, just a module from Lenz that displays the decoder address on a 7-segment LED display. It's not even integrated with their own feedback bus or XpressNet. You do need isolated detection sections.
MBQ
If you can solder, join MERG and buy their accessory decoder kits.
MBQ
wrote
And therein lies a problem; Hornby seem incapable of producing models with a consistent back-to-back measurement (13.5 to 14.5mm appears to be their normal range depending upon the model). Whilst it is a doddle to adjust the back-to-back setting on wagons, coaches and some locos; doing so with some of their tender drive locos can be a nightmare without using a variety of shims to hold wheel-mouted gears in mesh. Back-to-back can also be a problem with some of their recent Chinese produced super-detailed steam locos - and I define anyone to 'easily' adjust the b-t-b on the driving wheels of those fitted with Walchaerts valve-gear.
No wonder they (Hornby) persist in producing dead frog points with grossly over-scale clearances.
John.
The problem arises when the open point is opposite polarity to the adjacent stock rail. I've never had any such problem myself.
Some of us like to avoid $500- locos crashing into each other, even if it is somehow realistic! Having dead track sections beyond signals at 'stop' seems a small price to pay!
As they need isolated track sections I might just as well use those to power the loco I want to run.
The trouble with MERG/foreign subscriptions is that it costs us a small fortune to send them money. Last time I checked it was more than the subscription.
Regards, Greg.P.
"Greg Procter" wrote
Only ever had it with a Hornby class 110 dmu (back-to-back problem) but at the time that was the ONLY Hornby item I was using, other than rolling stock (all of which had their b-t-b settings) adjusted.
John.
It depends on one's point of view, I suppose. Preventing passing signals at danger adds to realism in my book, perhaps as I view things from a Signalmans point of view from a previous life.
Richard
They now take subscriptions by PayPal, but you have to pay a little extra to cover the charges imposed by PayPal on MERG (doing so is legal in the UK).
You can also pay in USD or AUD to local members in USA and Australia, respectively, so not incurring currency or foreign transfer fees yourself.
It may be worth investigating again.
MBQ
While I have some problems with the couple of Peco points in the garden, I don't have that problem (and the problems are nothing to do with DCC).
There is setting up to do with a Lenz Compact? ;-) As far as my children are concerned you turn it on and drive.
Most problems in my experience are dirt and valve gear getting bashed.
Replace it. The hard problems are things like getting Percy to run sensibly.
Mark Thornton
It's interesting, I think we're seeing the development of a new model railway myth in the USA!
You don't have to set addresses on your chipped locos? (chipped as in decoder fitted, not Tri-ang Jinties after falling to the floor ;-)
Sure - I do a lot of repairs; dirty wheels, dirty wipers, worn brushes, over-oiled motors and gears, under oiled motors and gears, bent bits ...
We live a long way from decoder supplies and by the time they get here (NZ) they are expensive. I've kept a few in stock but the turnover is so slow that I now have out-dated stock.
Regards, Greg.P.
Heck no, none of them come anywhere close to the magificent Mrs Thatcher.
Cheers, Simon
Does the hornby one seem less expensive as it has a CDU included ?
Cheers, Simon
Not really, I use simple diode/resistor/capacitor CDUs on the principle that lots of simple CDUs are more effective than one big expensive one.
Think should roll back a bit and stop trying to use DCC to solve everything. In this case then isolated blocks would be the simplest answer. So open the switch, start your loco, and nothing happens cos its the wrong one. There problem solved and no suprises cos of the wrong loco comes out of hiding.
DCC helps after all !
Cheers, Simon
OK, youre a whizz with electronics. i can play with software. But even copper wire cringes when i approach with a soldering iron. So I have to buy that sort of thing. its not one big expensive one its in the accessory decoder so 1 CDU for every four points.
Cheers, Simon
"simon" wrote
How dare you mention that witches name in a forum which reaches the areas in the north of England where coal used to be mined?
John.
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