Having watched the YouTube videos on Mckinley - I am sure I want block detection and computer control options.

This I think means digitrax or Lenz.

If I use Lenz then I could also use LDT for cheaper and neater occupancy detectors - see the RS-8

http://www.ldt-infocenter.com/english/home_frame_e.htm LDT block detection

Which is also used here

http://staffordcentral.co.uk/wip.aspx see 17th Jun 07 entry ....and here

http://www.electricnose.co.uk/dcc/dccsystem.html see also ...

http://www.electricnose.co.uk/archive/000458.html

in terms of computer control everyone seems to be opting for Friewald http://www.freiwald.com/

I notice that one of the bigger Dcc specialists is close to Mum and Dad - so perhaps I could combine a trip

http://www.digitrains.co.uk/index.html

I have just received a lovely new Bachmann Class 47. Which really is a little too late for what I am modelling. This loco was actually built in 1962 - the year I am modelling - so I suppose it's ok.

The model has a 21 pin DCC socket - I found that using a converter to an 8 pin Lenz silver made it hard to fit the body back on, so I ordered one of the new 21 pin Lenz silver decoders and that seemed fine.

The NEM pockets seem to be just at the right height and I have used a type 19 Kadee coupler -

Some notes on fitting a decoder to a Bachmann 9F - for my own poor memory and to help others...

First release the pony truck front bogie by releasing the obvious screw (green arrow indicates)

Then release the two screws shown by the red arrows and the body should be able to be removed.

I fitted a LENZ silver, note that a LENZ silver direct would not fit.

I always cover my decoders with 13mm heat shrink insulating tubing from Maplin. A quick blast with a hairdryer is sufficient to shrink it around the decoder.

Then I placed the decoder in the smoke box of the 9F...

While I was at it I fitted Kadees in the NEM pockets - they were perhaps very slightly high - see pictures against the height gauge below. I used number 20s but I think 19s would be fine (I had run out of them so couldn't try)..

I have fiddled with the track plan to eliminate the three way points (not available in peco code 75) and to put an extra crossover in - and to get the max radius back to 60cm - but on the main scenic parts of the track the major curves are all 80cm or better.

This version also shows all of the trestle construction which has been designed to keep the woodwork from fouling the tortoise point motors that will go under the circuit.

Thinking about Kadee couplings you get offered taps and screws and drills you get advertised by Kadee - these come with confusing notations like 2-56 and #50 - here is a decoder to those notations - concentrating on the small sizes relevant to Kadees

American Drill Sizes

#43 ....2.2mm #48 ....1.9mm #50 ....1.8mm #53 ....1.5mm #56 ....1.2mm #62 ....1.0mm

American Screw sizes

Tend to be of form X-YY (e.g. 0-80) where X is the diameter and YY is the threads per inch

000 ~ 0.85mm oo ~ 1.2mm o ~ 1.5mm 1 ~ 1.85mm 2 ~ 2.2mm

I have been doing lots of work on kadees, I have modified some of my stock, and researched a lot.

It seems very complex, with a bewildering array of kadee types and fixings.

It isn't helped by the fact that the NEM standard that should help and is bandied around alot is both poorly adhered to and poorly explained...

There seem to be two relevant standards -

The NEM 362 http://www.miba.de/morop/nem362-d.pdf and the NEM 363 http://www.miba.de/morop/nem363-d.pdf

though everyone seems to just talk about NEM coupler pockets.

Whilst I have found the Kadees for NEM (17 though 20) work ok in the 362 pockets, they rarely seem to work well in 363 in my very limited experience.

Sorry can only find the standards in German, think may have to get them translated.

There also seems to be a real need to gather everyone's UK conversion experience together and no-one has really done a solid job on this.

Only working intermittently whilst I am here and not in Oxford.

But I have settled on a track plan. Well I say settled it has been through about 40 revisions. I am using the freeware Xtrkcad, which is actually very good once you get up the learning curve.

The room is about 5.5M by 4M at maximum, but it has the boiler room taking out a corner of it, and it is also narrower at that end.

I have now built two of the trestles and have bought the wood for most of the rest, but not done much more, apart from succumbing to an occaisional shopaholic desire to purchase lovely models - mostly locomotives.

I have been thinking and experimenting with couplings a lot and more on that anon.

First I have fitted diagonals (with Anna as helper) as you can see from the first photo, these are bolted on, maintaining the ability to take the whole thing apart fairly easily. AgedP was completely correct in pointing out that these were necessary.

Earlier in the week, I fitted a Lenz Silver DCC decoder to the class 31 loco I recently purchased.

This was not as bad as I had feared but it left me with two questions - (a) how you use heatshrink tubing - if you are supposed to heat it then what means? (b) why did my Lenz Silver decoder come with nine wires, eight which are soldered into the standard sized eight pin plug and one loose purple one?

I have fitted my first point motor a tortoise, which I both like and hate, I love the realisitic slow movement it gives, I love the loss of clunky, unreliable, peaky current, solenoid motors but I don't like the way they work with Peco points, where the over-centre spring is too strong for a typical tortoise, I still think it is much noiser than it needs to be, I don't like the mounting mechanism. More research needed. In the short term I have removed the over-centre spring from the one point that I have so fitted.

Questions - can I drive both points in a crossing pair from a single switch, - what is the best way to fit with peco points. Cross wiring code 100 vs code 75.

First Track layed DCC wiring using bus connectors Code 100 electrofrog Lenz silver - what does the purple wire do? Hornby 31 conversion temp or perm?