Acton North - Modern North London 00

[actonnorth]

Hi guys,

Just a quick update from me.

All the wiring now done, so the track is fully electrified and DCC compliant. Next stop, scenery.

Ive also started painting an old intercity livery MK2 into Caledonian sleeper livery. This will then replicate the MK2 lounge car as seen on the mainline.

Happy Sunday!

[actonnorth]

The new MK2 to add to the sleeper train.



The catenaries have started going up. The northern end has been finished. Need a few more singles for the southern end, and some triple span gantries for the station through lines.

[skyblue]

Looking good - are you using the Dapol OHLE?

[actonnorth]

Garr I am so frustrated.

I'm going down another form of DCC control as the E-link/railmaster combo, is, well, crap.

Ive had the set for a few months, and Ive only had them working for about 20 minutes in all that time. If its not the DCC controller not being found by the software, its the railmaster reverting to factory settings for no reason at all.

Not only that, only after much swearing and toil that the points decoders were not linking to the controller, research shows the Hornby decoders do not work with the E-link. 2 Hornby DCC products and they are not comparable with each other! What the f**k?!?!?!

Overall, I am not impressed, in fact, I am Livid, and anyone thinking of getting the E-link, AVOID!!!!!!!

Waste of money, waste of time and waste of energy.

[skyblue]

Sorry to hear about your problems. I don't know anything about DCC (I'm still living in the dark ages of analogue!) but I can empathise with you about control problems in general, having had a faulty HM2000 a few years ago, and it got really annoying not being able to run trains when and how I wanted to. I hope you find a solution to the control problems and don't let it put you off the rest of the layout - you're doing a great job!

[Dad-1]

What a disaster, just as you're getting towards the fun bit.
DCC can be a disaster, more than a few compatibility problems around.
One comment - don't try Dynamis, well I can't get it working well enough.
Not being computer literate I'm trying to keep mine simple.

Geoff T.

[actonnorth]

Cheers guys.

I'm going to get the Hornby elite and sell the E-link on.

The reviews for the elite seem more favourable, and I used to own one before I sold all my railway stuff a few years back.

Its a shame really, as when the E-link works, its looks brilliant. You can control several locos from one screen without having to search all the time, you could map out your layout and everything.

I may give it another go over the festive period, as I'm not normally one to be defeated by technology, but, if the frustrations of the past few weeks Continue, its a goner.

Its also annoying as I want to move onto the scenery but cannot until I know the electrics do what they are supposed to do.

Have a good Christmas guys.

[briantwigley]

Great layout - love the plan and wish I had the space for something like it!

As for DCC, I use an NCE Powercab, it's easy to use but has a lot of features.

I can't remember how much it cost, something like £120.

Ryan

[JohnN]

Sorry to hear about your control issues, especially as your layout has such potential. I hope you find that solution that's right for you quickly.

[actonnorth]

Hi guys

Thanks for the messages.

I'm still waiting to try one last time to get the E-link to work. Ive not been in the loft since the last post from me as I have been suffering quite badly from the flu bug going round, which means I have either been bed bound or in no fit state of mind to sort out issues.

Over Christmas, I got the Virgin Charter relief class 90+DVT set, and one coach. I need to buy the 3 pack coach set and another single coach to make up a rake, however.

I have also brought a signal gantry to go on the southern end of the station.

Hopefully progress will be made soon. I have a day off on Friday, so, may try and get something done then.

Happy modelling everyone.

[End2end]

To be honest I'd ditch Hornby and get another manufacturers controller.
Let's be honest, Hornby is NOT 100% DCC compatible so why waste your time on money on them when there are far superior 100% compatible DCC controllers out there that CAN be connected to a pc without the need for Hornby's half assed job of either hard or software.
In fact there is an item called SPROG that will connect the layout to a pc. http://www.sprog-dcc.co.uk/ (no affiliation)
I designed my layout on Horby's HVR2, and guess what?. It's NOT true to scale. Luckily I test-laid the track on my board BEFORE deciphering that the HVR2 software was out of scale.
As a tran set owning child Hornby seemed the be all and end all of model railways. How wrong I was.

Understanding that controllers can cost a lot of money I had to go with a budget DCC controller, the Bachmann E-Z controller. Albeit still not 100% DCC compatible as you cannot change C.V.'s but I have no faith with Hornby's so called TECHNOLOGY anymore.
Don't get me wrong, this is not a Hornby bash, far from it. There are still some lovely Hornby rolling stock I would like, but if they are loco's you can guarantee that I will not be installing ANY Hornby decoders in them.
Thanks
End2end

[briantwigley]

I had the Bachmann before I had the NCE and it was a good controller, I think it was only around £35

[actonnorth]

Good news!

After much re-configuring and software manipulation, Ive only done the impossible and got the E-link to work correctly!

Hurrah!

Now, time to clean ALL of the track after the re-lay, and the scenery fun can begin!

[skyblue]

That's good to hear. I look forward to seeing your progress.

[nickbrad]

Excellent news about the e-link, let's hope it stay working now