Page 23 - March April 2009

Please ensure you respond to the letter when it arrives in order for us to organise these events and more importantly, ensure that you all have a variety of activities to choose from and participate in.
Your 2009 Convention Organising Team Tim Rudge, Kay Rudge & Terry Lee
Crawley Model Railway Society annual exhibition
18 and 19 April 2009
Tanbridge House School, Guildford Road, Horsham
18 layouts plus demonstrations, trade stands and refreshments. Easy disabled access. Admission adults £5.00, concessions £4.00, children £3.00 family (2 + 2) £12.00.
Further details 07724 242349. Website www.crawleymrs.org.uk
North Downs Model Railway Circle MRE
30 May (Saturday) 10.00 am to 5.00 pm
St Clements Catholic Church, 307 Kingston Road, Ewell, Epsom, Surrey KT19 OBW
Adults £5, under 16s £3, senior citizens £4, and families (2 + 2)
£10. All profits to St Clements Catholic Church.
15 layouts: American layouts are Ellis (S, US, 6' x 2'), Subway (HO, US, 12' x 6"), Five Mile Siding (H), US, 4' x 2').
Trade: Simon Freestone, Roger Jones, Ready to Run, Sittingbourne and Kemsley Light Railway.
There is full disabled access and free parking.
Further details 07758 458827 and www.ndmrc.com
Ely & District MRC 31
first exhibition at the Ely Community College, Downham Road, Ely, Cambridgeshire (signposted on the A10 Ely bypass)
Saturday 9 May 2009, 10.30 am to 5.00 pm
An American show in 2nd hall with NMRA stand.
Layouts include Hill Country 'N'; Roundhouse 'HO'; 14th Street Yard `G'; Western Avenue '0'; Rosebud 'N'; Silver Forks 1-10n3'; Godinez 'N'.
11 other British layouts in another hall.
Traders include Layouts 4 U, P&H models, Brians Trains, LSWR plus other traders in the main hall.
Outside: Peterborough Model Engineers' ride-on railway with live steam.
Refreshments; ample free parking.
Admission Adults £3.50; Concessions £2.50; Family £9.00 (2 + 2); under 5 free.
Further details 07751 443811, spanner.spence@yahoo.co.uk www.app-ltd.com/elymrc
Advance notice
The Calder Northern will present a themed meet "Eastern Roads" on 4 October 2009. Layout owners, traders, booksellers etc have been approached. More details to follow.
Advance notice
Alton Limited 2009
Sunday 12 July 10.30 am to 4.30 pm Medstead Village Hall, nr Alton, Hants Layouts, Bring & Buy, Trade, Demos etc. Free Car Park
Refreshments
from page 21 Wouldn't it be nice if I could change the turnouts via DCC? A Gaugemaster accessory decoder was purchased and, after a happy afternoon of exploration and CVs, I had some DCC-controllable points. The ability to set routes is addictive, it has to be said. Conversion of the rest of the layout will follow slowly, as sitting under the layout with a
soldering iron isn't much fun!
The next sound conversion was more tricky, an Athearn Genesis F9. For this I chose a Digitrax DH165AO and a Soundbug sound module. Wiring it all up and getting it all in the body was relatively easy — however, the stock diesel sound for a Soundbug is a GP38, which doesn't sound much like an F unit! The other problem was that the headlights didn't work (both of them). After a struggle I got the second headlight working on the Fl control but managed to blow the bulb in the top headlight. Later research has shown that BN dual headlight F units only used the bottom headlight, the top often being painted over, so I'll just route the bottom headlight to FO.
In order to solve the sound problem I purchased the Digitrax PR3 programmer, which allows the downloading of sound schemes into sound decoders. According to the instructions the programmer worked with JMRI on a Mac, but after hours of fiddling about all I could do was erase the decoder and, if I was lucky, program it to make a horrible buzzing noise.
I looked on the user forum for JMRI and there were others with similar problems, so I wasn't alone. Eventually I had to resort to Windows, which worked a treat. The closest sound scheme was for a GP10, which has a nice first-generation sound.
The number of wires from the redundant control panels is gently decreasing, but at the moment I still use rather more than two wires to control the layout. My first sound- and DCC-fitted loco is on order from Walthers. I must admit I wouldn't go back to DC now...
Team Track Trading
American Railway Models and Accessories of all Scales
The only retail store specialising in American railroad models of all gauges in West Cornwall — Mail Order welcome
Rapido Pre-Wired Telegraph Poles (10) - £21.00 UK post paid
Athearn HO Genesis F45s in BN and MRL livery (DC) now in stock at £98.00 (p&p £5.25)
DCC with Sound £163.00 (UK p&p £5.25)
Athearn N Gauge F45/FP45s due in April and May, order now. DC versions £66.00 (UK post paid).
DCC with Sound £130.00 (UK post paid)
KATO C44-9W SP #8110 or #8137 - £88.00 (p&p £5.25) Call or E-mail for N gauge Specials
Diesel Spotters Guide (Full colour) £20.00 (UK post paid)
Store: Unit 9 Market Way, Redruth, Cornwall, TR15 2AS Tel: 07544 765937 or 01209 213554 (evenings only please) www.teamtracktrading.co.uk accounts@teamtracktrading.co.uk Ebay Store: Redruth Model Rail
Shop Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday 10 - 4 (other days and times by arrangement)
APRIL 2009
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