GWR/LMS OO Gauge DCC RR&Co

Thanks Michael. I am glad you like phase 1 of the hotel……the roof will be a challenge but I will have a better idea once I have built the corner module.
I now rarely follow the initial scalescene recommended sequence of glueing and cutting most ,if not all, of the components before assembly. When I did this in the past I found I had major problems……one of my first terraced houses is known as the shambles……and it has nothing to do with York:lol:

The railcar has turned into a bit of a bonus because I can now make more use of the parcels depot…..previously the siding was only scheduled for use a couple of times a day

Best wishes

John

The hotel looks quite impressive, John. I can see a few long days and lots of skill in the work.

Cheers
Evan

This shot is stunning John - it really does look the part and so realistic.

 

I also note you appear to be weakening slightly on your resolve not to have sound ……………….keep up the good work. 

Great photos and video John the railcar looks great and a new toy lights for you to use.

I was tempted myself to buy the crimsom version at the weekend i already have the the Hornby ex Lima  Gwr version.
Trouble is my eyes were distracted by an O gauge 3f jinty on special offer so i bought that LOL

Brian

Ssamm wrote:

The hotel looks quite impressive, John. I can see a few long days and lots of skill in the work.

Cheers
Evan

Thanks Evan…….sorry for the belated response! There will be few more long days before it is done though!

Cheers

John

[user=6]Petermac[/user] wrote:

This shot is stunning John - it really does look the part and so realistic.



I also note you appear to be weakening slightly on your resolve not to have sound ……………….keep up the good work. 

Only slightly Peter…….although now I have these new hi tech hearing aids……who knows?

At least I can hear locos moving now which is quite handy when I inadvertently punch in the wrong numbers! :oops: :lol:

Glad you liked the photo ….tripod wouldnt work, in fact I couldnt even see through the view finder…..definitely a case of point and shoot and make sure "anti shake" was on!

Best wishes

John
 y there so

[user=2137]Briperran[/user] wrote:

Great photos and video John the railcar looks great and a new toy lights for you to use.

I was tempted myself to buy the crimsom version at the weekend i already have the the Hornby ex Lima  Gwr version.
Trouble is my eyes were distracted by an O gauge 3f jinty on special offer so i bought that LOL

Brian

 Hi Brian

Good to hear from you….hope all is going well. Glad you liked the video.

Congratulations on the new purchase……So whats the plan …..another layout?

Best wishes

John

Excellent shot John. In fact, every thing is excellent. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[user=434]John Dew[/user] wrote:

 Hi Brian

Good to hear from you….hope all is going well. Glad you liked the video.

Congratulations on the new purchase……So whats the plan …..another layout?

Best wishes

 John

Treatment going ahead fine John thanks.

Yes i am going to build a sort of long u shaped shelf layout in 0 gauge i already have some track and wagons i have sorted out sizes and things and how i can fit it withought being restrictive with the 00 layout below.
must admit very impressed with the detail on the Dapol Jinty i actually put a sound decoder in this morning and uploaded a Lms 3f Jinty file i got for £17.50 from wheeltappers soundfiles as its easy as i have a lokprogrammer.

Brian

I've been led to believe that, once you mess with "O" Gauge, there's no going back.

Be careful Brian - you're on dangerous ground ……………………………..

[user=6]Petermac[/user] wrote:

I've been led to believe that, once you mess with "O" Gauge, there's no going back.

Be careful Brian - you're on dangerous ground ……………………………..

Where is the “agree” button?

Nevertheless….good luck Brian….I look forward to reading about it, or perhaps a video?

Best wishes

John

I spent most of my time last week wrestling with RR&Co. I suspect few of the followers of this thread share my fascination with computor control but I hope you would agree that an account of day to day life on Granby would be incomplete without the occasional passing reference to Train Controller.

One of the essential elements of computor control is that every train on the layout is shown in the same block ( and facing the same way !) on the computor screen. In an ideal world the shortest block will accommodate the longest train but in practice this is not always the case. There are protocols for dealing with a train that overhangs into the previous block but I managed to really confuse RR&Co with this scenario: 

A Dean Goods backs the branch goods into a short siding, uncouples the brake van and then leaves in the opposite direction to shunt the yard.




This is normally a straightforward procedure . However the fact that the train occupied two blocks and was then separated into two separate units one of which reversed direction produced some very "unexpected results".

Typically the computor located  the rest of the train in the short block and the brake van in front of it in the previous block ! This was not helpfu.

I lost count of the number of times I ran that schedule back and forth. If nothing else, I proved that not only is patience a virtue, but adding a Zimo decoder +stay alive to an Oxford Dean Goods transforms its performance. It literally did not miss a beat…….not a moments hesitation as it pushed a 7 car train over dodgy track at scale 10 mph




After much trial and tribulation I finally devised a means of convincing the computor to believe me. It could not be described as an elegant solution…..in fact Heath Robinson verges on flattery…….but it works:

Computor screen and reality are as one again

The brake van is uncoupled:




The rest of the train heads back to start shunting





For those few of you found the RR&Co stuff interesting , you can find a more detailed explanation of the problem and solution here

https://www.freiwald.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=34766

I hope that everyone else did not find it too boring. If nothing else it gave me the opportunity to post more photos of what is rapidly becoming one of my favourite locos





Regards from Vancouver where we are in holiday mode….next week we will be flying to Mexico for a short break

John

John, one has to join that RR forum to read threads.

I never tire of looking at you layout John. I wouldn't have the cheek to call mine a layout… maybe some day. You're right about that Dean Goods, it's really nice, and doesn't the real coal make a difference. I've done a couple of my tender loco's with it. I've never been into computer control, but I've been impressed by those that I've seen. Good luck with it.

Fully understand the problem with shorter blocks and trains that are longer than the blocks that is a problem i will possibly have within Itrain but thankfully most of my blocks are quite big.

John reading through the last post you were mentioning uncoupling the brake van i note it looks like kadees fitted to the wagon are you using electromagnets in the uncoupling areas or just an ordinary magnets fitted under track?
The reason i ask is when using Railroad and co and Itrain most people do what i will call an uncoupling shuffle my brain thought with a permanant fixed that could create problems with unwanted coupling but do you find if you have a fixed magnet you have to do the shuffle to uncouple?

Brian

[user=606]Sol[/user] wrote:

John, one has to join that RR forum to read threads.

My apologies Ron……I didnt word that very well. I know there are a few (very few)  followers here and elsewhere who operate with Train Controller……that link was designed for them……the thread contains demonstration files that can only be opened with TC.

If you and anyone else want more detail and the solution I can post a simplified version.

Again my apolgies

Best wishes

John 

[user=1120]peterm[/user] wrote:

I never tire of looking at you layout John. I wouldn't have the cheek to call mine a layout… maybe some day. You're right about that Dean Goods, it's really nice, and doesn't the real coal make a difference. I've done a couple of my tender loco's with it. I've never been into computer control, but I've been impressed by those that I've seen. Good luck with it.

Thanks Pete

It is a nice model but underpowered ….not enough weight and they substituted the original 5 pole twin flywheel motor for a coreless motor with a single fly wheel…..which was a bit naughty I think. In addition my model was defective and had to go back to the UK not once but twice!

Hence my enthusiasm for the prodigal now I have it operating well……..a video will emerge eventually

Cheers

John

[user=2137]Briperran[/user] wrote:

Fully understand the problem with shorter blocks and trains that are longer than the blocks that is a problem i will possibly have within Itrain but thankfully most of my blocks are quite big.

John reading through the last post you were mentioning uncoupling the brake van i note it looks like kadees fitted to the wagon are you using electromagnets in the uncoupling areas or just an ordinary magnets fitted under track?
The reason i ask is when using Railroad and co and Itrain most people do what i will call an uncoupling shuffle my brain thought with a permanant fixed that could create problems with unwanted coupling but do you find if you have a fixed magnet you have to do the shuffle to uncouple?

Brian

Hi Brian

They are standard Kadee delayed action magnets…….you can just see one below the Brake Van coupling



Electro magnets below the baseboard would look much better but would be very impractical on Granby…….I can never quite make up my mind and keep moving them! I dont even cut out the sleepers but just lay them directly. The exception being magnets on the Parcels Railcar routes……the power bogie fouled them so I had to set them into the sleepers. Fortunately they were long established and as near permanent as can be.

Unintended uncoupling can be an issue……..typically in the middle of a train that stops over a magnet that is used by a totally different routine for another train! I just top and tail some rakes with Kadees and use tension locks for the intervening wagons……other times I clip off the hooks just leaving the buck eye (although I wince when I have to do that) and finally the issue can sometimes be solved by moving one of the two magnets slightly.

Sometimes uncoupling will occur automatically, without a shuffle, when the loco stops with the coupling directly over the magnet. This generally happens if the loco is pushing rather than pulling. But as you and I know when operating with the computor "sometimes" isnt good enough! I aim to stop the train so the coupling is on the very front edge of the magnet and then after a short delay l have the loco push back l"………this ensures the couplings open

Similarly with coupling. Pushing the loco back on to the train generally couples. But again "generally" will not do! I make sure the loco pushes the coach back a little before stopping then I have it move forward 1/2" and then back  1" to ensure the buck eyes actually engage.

I find consistent uncoupling the most challenging  part of automatic operation…… just a momentary hesitation affects the time and distance calculation and the loco stops short……thats why I keep gushing on about the stay alives I have been fitting…….it has made some routines almost bullet proof! :lol:

Sorry I have rattled on a bit but hope I have answered your questions

Best wishes

John

I am mightily impressed that you can get programme such control, John.  That must take a lot of trial and error - not to mention  patience!  I don't think my simple layout warrants computer control, but even so I admire that aspect of teh hobby.  Olovely to see some other parts of the layout too.
Michael

Thankyou very much for your reply and explanation regarding the uncoupling John.
Especially outlining the wrinkles ones does encounter.
Its an area i have never tackled in the past i intend to implement this on this small o gauge project im about to start the kaddee option does look well worth looking at as i will not be having that much stock on the layout so cost will not be to much of an issue. If i were to do that on the oo layout the cost would be horrendous but your idea of only putting the kaddee on the front or back of the rake and retaining tension locks for the rest makes good economic sense.
Do you know if the permanant magnets they sell are strong enough to operate the couplings below the track sleepers or possibly under a baseboard? I realise you find you need adjust things and move the magnets sometimes with your set up to find the best position.

many thanks

Brian