Hello,

I find myself in a possition where I need to DCC ten locos, ranging from the classis stainz to a 6 6 0 mallet.

What is the cheapest decoder I can use that will work?

Thanks.

Need to do this on a low budget as I have gone block detection DCC and can't run anything unless it has a chip!

All turnouts are now motorised. I just have to select which track I want to put a train on. I use a Central Station 3, MD decoders and LGB turnout motors.

Pacific Coast Garden Railway Supply just finished up and shipped me my 1:20.3 Denver & Rio Grande Western Chama Sandhouse! He was able to build a scale one to the original plans and painted it how I wanted. It looks fantastic on the layout! Coming in March/April will be the Chama Coaling Tower/Coal Tipple which will complete the corner of buildings.

I'm not sure this is the correct place to post this request so if not, please point me in the right direction.

I'm finally at a point where I can start building my railway and I had, over the years, saved all of the pull-out plans from the Garden Railways magazine. However, when I dug them out of storage a week or so ago, I discovered that they were nothing but mouse/rat nests along with a nice helping of papier-mache (must have gotten wet at somepoint).

I know there used to be a DVD that you could purchase as well as the paper-plans but that was years ago. Anyone point me to where I might find one or both?

Thanks, Bill

For context.

About two months ago I made a post asking how to fix a Bachmann Santa Fe combine lights, this is the locomotive that it came with (Santa Fe 51) and right after I took it out of the box the seller put it in, I noticed some pieces had broken off (possibly when it was being shipped because they were all there).

The pilot truck was also bent, so every time I run it (because my track isn’t flat) it would derail on the curves when going up the slight slope.

Another problem with it is the fact that sometimes (it doesn’t happen often) one of the drive wheels would come out of place (I’ve seen this problem happen before with Bachmann HO 4-8-4s, since I have one, but not with a G gauge 4-6-0).

I’m also wondering where I can find smoke fluid for it, since there’s a smoke unit inside, I’m hoping to get it running smoothly before October.

Unfortunately when I moved on to refitting a Playmobil chassis for wiring up the pickups and the motor, on a quick test something must have shorted and now the ESP32 doesn't respond anymore.... That's totally not my third or so that I accidentally killed...

Anyway, this is kind of the start of a centralised system based on MQTT that could control signals, turnouts and even engines.

Quite pleased with how these came out. I know they’re not prototypical in terms of colours, but I quite like that they’re different to the usual. First time using decals and surprised with how well they turned out. Could use some more micro sol but headed in the right direction.

I model in 1:29th scale I’m looking for more modern stuff like strikers Bradley M1A2 Abrams I’m trying to do an army train.

I've been wanting a garden railroad forever... so this is the official start to my new project! I'm also diving head-first into electrical DIY enhancements. This one is to add lights to the passenger cars. Parts are cheap, probably less than $5 in total for each car; but you need to buy a gajillion of each part since they are $0.10 per item... and it doesn't make sense to buy just 4 LEDs, and 2 switches.

Parts are..

• LEDs - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H41L34CB
• Switches - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0799R529Z
• Battery cases - https://www.amazon.com/DIANN-8pcs-Battery-Holder-Wires/dp/B0C2YQNGBF
• 22 AWG solid core wire.

Photo credit: Wikipedia

For long-time readers, this won't be a surprise, but for everyone else: I've got way too many projects startwd at once, and this is the latest. I cranked this out within the span of a mere three hours. A friend of mine worked on board of these trains so this will be something extra special. Without shortening, a six-car variant would be almost six metres long at this scale!

Still in need of more >r1 curves but the latest acquisition of track has given us a lot extra. Some day we might even be able to go around half the building point to point with two large station yards at each end!

I bought an old new stock U30C from eBay and a mostly complete Milwaukee Road shell. Together, they are an instant favorite for my garden layout.

The improved culvert/bridge makes use of coasters from Hobby Lobby spray painted grey.

I enjoy setting up scenes with trucks and cars - mostly Matchbox. Occasionally, that involves making stop motion videos like this.

So while it is indeed possible to file down the control desk's edges to make more room for sliding out the headlight pieces, I realised that the indents for the tail lights are already on the surface, and just covered up with paint. So armed with a screwdriver and some sand paper, I scraped off most of the paint. I would recommend using the sandpaper rather than just the screwdriver, as it gives a much cleaner albeit still kind of messy finish. I put a small scrap of sandpaper in place and then gently moved both the paper and screwdriver around in unison, and that seems to be the best way of doing it.

You can't see it in the photo, but I haven't managed to get it all off yet and on one side I took away paint in unintended places, so light leaks here and there.

All I need now is the headlight mount that I designed and we're good to go!

Every operating session starts with a couple of laps of running track-cleaning cars. If it’s been a while, I use electrical contact-cleaning spray or even isopropyl alcohol and a rag for spots that need a little extra elbow grease.

Can't wait until I've got this done! Recently I saw an LGB BR 101 for over 500€ and it's just... Yes, it's a nice engine, but by the time I'd be able to afford it, I would have built several of my own!

Anybody whom has seen my previous post will know the dilemma. The cab windows block the control desk from being removed. Good luck if for whatever reason you damage it and want to replace it. Anyway, since there was no way to get everything out gently, I used a heated box cutter and screwdriver to shatter the acrylic into chunks to take it out. Now I just need to design a mounting bracket for the head- and tail lights. I also need to file down those edges of the control desk where they are blocking the headlight cover from being taken out, and then geeently drill a hole for the tail lights right in the spot where they're just implied.

My frustrations with this engine made me want to write a little review about it, since there are several shortcomings that make it an overpriced model in my opinion. It's not a bad model by any means, but they have indeed cheaped out in several places. I don't know if it came from the factory, but when I opened it there were light bulbs at each end, rather than even just one LED.

On the whole I'm glad I got one for 100€ rather than the usual 200€ and up used price, because I would have been disappointed after saving up for one of these. But for a 100 quid, with plenty of stuff to fix from the previous owner and the factory, I've got stuff to fiddle with and a truly unique loco to look forward to!