Welcome to Little Wicket Railway! A OO model railway set in the LMS steam era (but visited by locomotives from all eras). I got back into the hobby after a 20 year break and a lot has changed! Very interested in automation, electronics and saving money.
I'll share build progress and anything I learn along the way👍
using you videos to setup 64 points servos i soon realised it is a pain to go through JMRI and click all the points so it knows the position. So made the following Python script for Panel Pro to run at startup to set all points to "CLOSED". Just open a text doc and paste the following and save as .py import jmri class setStartup(jmri.jmrit.automat.AbstractAutomaton): def init(self): return def handle(self): self.waitMsec(1000) # Initial wait time in milliseconds # List of turnout IDs turnout_ids = [ "CT1001", "CT1002", "CT1003", "CT1004", "CT1005", "CT1006", "CT1007", "CT1008", "CT1009", "CT1010", "CT1011", "CT1012", "CT1013", "CT1014", "CT1015", "CT1016", "CT1017", "CT1018", "CT1019", "CT1020", "CT1021", "CT1022", "CT1023", "CT1024", "CT1025", "CT1026", "CT1027", "CT1028", "CT1029", "CT1030", "CT1031", "CT1032", "CT1033", "CT1034", "CT1035", "CT1036", "CT1037", "CT1038", "CT1039", "CT1040", "CT1041", "CT1042", "CT1043", "CT1044", "CT1045", "CT1046", "CT1047", "CT1048", "CT1049", "CT1050", "CT1051", "CT1052", "CT1053", "CT1054", "CT1055", "CT1056", "CT1057", "CT1058", "CT1059", "CT1060", "CT1061", "CT1062", "CT1063", "CT1064" ] # Set each turnout to CLOSED with a delay for turnout_id in turnout_ids: turnouts.provideTurnout(turnout_id).setState(CLOSED) self.waitMsec(1000) # Delay between each operation return False # All done, don't repeat again # Create an instance of the class and start the automation setStartup().start() Hope this is useful to anyone else.
Just found this video, I’m pulling my hair out.. these decoders are just NOT fit for purpose. I’ve so tried to set this chip so that I get a class 47 and not a steam train....I feel I’ve been sold a pup. I bought two of these decoders with the intention of setting up a class 37 and class 47, ha no way.. so they will be returned to the dealer and I’ll stick with loksound, extra money yes but zero hassle!
Hi. I think this is a great video. Many thanks for posting it. The only thing I have to question is: You provide a link to the Diode Voltage Dropper, but you make no mention of this nor actually fit one to your Power Car's CD motor in your video. Do you have to fit one of these if you are converting to DCC? What would be the problem in not wiring one into the motor circuit? Thanks, Rob.
Hornby's A1s and A3s were retooled in 2022 I believe. They used to have an ugly seam line down the middle of the top of the boiler. Thats how you can tell the difference.
Hi Rob, I find your videos inspiring. It's been too many years since I did model railways, but you and one or two others have inspired me to get back into it again. We moved back to France at the beginning of the year, where I was diagnosed with cancer. I'm on chemotherapy at the moment and so watch your videos. Please keep up the great work you do as it's keeping me motivated to get started very soon on the track, which should be at home ready. Cheers Alan
Hi Alan, sorry that it's taken me so long to reply to this, I will explain in the next members video. Sounds like a you've been having a pretty tough time of it. I hope the chemo is doing its job and that you're back at home working on the layout soon. Thanks for your kind words. Please do stay in touch and let me know how you're getting on.
I have this problem now I keep using the rest code and it just goes back tolink device and then reset again have done this several times. and it's driving me mad...
I'm a bit late to this but I just bought one and here's my take. I have got back into railway modeling since retiring, 009 with most stuff scratch or kit built especially the electronics as I'm a retired IT systems engineer and this was the big draw. I've tried my best to use DCC but it was becoming expensive and frustrating trying to fit decoders into extremely small locos so I recently decided to give good old DC a try. The HM6000 seemed to tick all the boxes, I particularly wanted to try the sounds. Bluetooth PCM with sound! Out of the box I was unimpressed to say the least. Locos going supersonic and humming like a swarm of bees. I'm using Kato N gauge chassis which seem happier to be on lower voltages than most. In desperation I built a simple voltage dividing circuit to go in the feeds from the controller to the rails to cut the max PCM waveform voltage by roughly half. Now I have a 2 channel controller that will give me realistic scale speeds and big bonus the sounds work so much better seemingly in line with what the loco is doing. The locos seem happier too with no more humming. Still using JRMI / CRMI to control the track and signals but train control is moving to DC with block detection Arduino controlled and it's working well. Fed up with the faff and expense of DCC ? With a few modifications this is a viable alternative. P.S. An old laptop PSU works a treat. My old Toshiba PSU even had the right plug on it! PPS Love your channel.
Shocking design and build quality. I can never understand how Hornby can't avoid these amateurish problems from ending up in their designs and passing QC. Makes it all the harder to justify paying the higher costs of modern models.
I saw a bunch of these videos and I ask myself, what do they different? I haven't manged to get one simple scan of a stone, claymodel or simple things like that on a turntable under perfect conditions. Most of the time the scanner refuses to start at all or the scan is missing some parts no matter how often u repeat hovering the area. I spent over a week now trying to get at least one scan. It's just frustrating!
Rob talks about building a circuit to log in and out of a block as complicated, which it is NOT!!! I can do it with 2 chips and under $7, and that cost includes the IR sensors for a block as long as you want.
Excellent video - but I don't think you could call it the same tooling from years ago. The big differences are that this one has a metal running board, not plastic, and the previous version had an ugly join line right down the middle of the top of the boiler - right where you don't want it - which makes the seams on this one more than acceptable by comparison. I can see why you might think it's the same tooling - they look very similar, but that's only because they're both excellent representations of the prototype.
Hi little Wicket, I love your videos very much and already have picked up a lot of information for my own DCC-EX command station. I have one question regarding the connection of the DCC power to the rails. At both end there are loops where normally the polarity of the supplied power needs to be changed to prevent a short circuit. How did you solve the problem? I understand that this is not really subject to your video but I would like to know this. Best regards and keep on doing well.
Hi! I use DCC40 gaugemaster reverse loop modules. I already had them, but they're not ideal. They use relays, so click and are slower than a digital solution. I don't show it in the video for simplicity, but I had to reduce the DCC-EX sensitivity to shorts.
If you are running these near Metcalfe models (eg tunnels or card bridges), just dont park the engine under while running, the water vapour will cause damage overtime, especially if you are running a lot of 'Steam' engines.
Great video, i shall hopefully visit today, cycling over from Peterborough and then over to Melton Mowbray or Leicester before catching train back to Peterborough, depending on how long I spend at museum, a its a place wanted to visit for the past couple of years, i remember going to watch the Sundew dragline walking to Corby from Exton, in 1974.
I could not get on with this dongle. Just didn't seem to work properly. I suspect it something I'm not doing right but even with hornby's help I couldn't see what it was.
Did TRS invent it? I'd also be interested to know. I wonder if getting a decoder to pulse an atomiser in response to wheel rotations is licensable, it's not really a new concept. Maybe the design of reservoir/wicking system was special?
@@LittleWicketRailway a year ago I saw an interview with the "Inventor" here on RU-vid somewhere. And while you might be right about the fact that none of the technology is new. The application of using a water atomizer in a model train, synchronised with sound/wheel motion is. And he was applying for a patent. Which I wager would succeed. After all, new applications and combinations of existing technology get patented all the time.
@@fladder1 my knowledge of intellectual property law isn't great, but it looks like this idea was first patented in Germany back in 2005 patents.google.com/patent/DE202005005647U1/en
Lol, just goes to show that even in this case we shouldn't believe what someone claims😅 Thanks for the patent link I'll study that. Maybe I'll find a way to fit a similar system in an n scale loc
What size did your baseboard end up being. I’m currently designing my 00 gauge layout and not sure what size to go for. I prefer continuous running to shunting though.
nice, hope the dev team are looking at "Rpi Pico W", new automations would not need recompiling (guessing that is being done for the arduino), pico could "command" the arduino/motor board, arduino pins are 5 volt, Pico pins are 3.3 volt, need level shifter for serial communication between them
Dcc ex is superb. I have a setup with 2 full circuits, a branch, 2 passing loops and an extra through line in the main station. The branch runs automatically with full semaphore signalling, the 2 main circuits operate their signalling and when the loops are set the signsl logic follows. I have used master and slave Arduino Megas and a load of sensors. It really is cool, doesn't use JMRI or any other proprietary 'stuff' and works really well. I'm now adjusting things so that rather than the trains operating the signals, the signals will control the train. DCC-EX is superb anx badly under publicised. Well done Little Wicket for this showcase.
Thanks. This looks like what I'm looking for, but one question. Could you program this to Run automation at set times of the day for a set amount of time and then park the trains at set locations at the end, say a 20 minute run time? I need it to run automatically at set times of the day. I'm currently looking at DC to control this with programming power to turn on and off with sensors, that include weather sensors, for an outdoor track.
There is an additional piece of software from DCC-EX which is a clock. It runs on an additional Arduino that you hook up using the i2C bus to your DCC-EX base station. The two can interact and it opens up timed automations. For example, you could use this with a PCA9685 to run lighting sequences inside buildings if that was of interest.
Very interesting. The hobby is getting technically/electronically more and more complex. It can be daunting just trying to keep up with it all, but this shows how effective and useful these advances can be.
Fantastic video Rob, what a crazy little system, definitely something that seems quite daunting but as always you've made it bite sized and seem very manageable. Perhaps something to try one day on my own layout. What a treat to see it all run flawlessly. You must be very pleased after that effort. Looking forward to more. Keep well.
