CV29 - Gateway to solutions

I know you might think CV29...what? But bear with me and you will find that this little thingie can ease your life.

First of all, what is it?
When using digital locomotives, you need to have a locomotive fitted with a decoder. Most of the locomotives currently sold are DCC ready, meaning there is a slot to fit a decoder. A decoder is not that expensive and easy to install. Or take the sting out of this operation and buy DCC Fitted locomotives. Either way, once the decoder is fitted and you are sure you have done it right, the train might still go backwards....it does, happened to me twice. This is where i found out about the existence of CV29. It is a setting of the decoder that can handle multiple things, but the most important 2 settings are default direction and DC Operation.

Setting CV29
Setting these is fairly simple but the number to set is a bit of nerdy algorithm stuff. But basically, the number should be in the digital format of 1111. I realize most people do not know what this means but every position is a switch. so 0001 means only the first (reading from the right) is switched on. 1101 means the first, third and fourth are switched on. But because we humans find this difficult to grasp, we decided that the numeric system is easier. So position one is given the number 1, position 2 is 2, position 3 is 4 (gotcha, you thought it would be 3) and position 4 is 8. Add these up and we have a numeric presentation.
In our examples, 0001 is 1 and 1101 is 1+4+8 = 13.

More Info
Anyway, if you want to know what is going on, check this link: (click me)

But how does this help me?
Well, remember the train going backwards...just set this value to 1 and it goes forward when it needs to.
Want to use your digital train on an analog layout? set this value to 4.
Want to do both? set the value to 5.

It helped me quite a bit and using the Hornby eLink and a seperate programming track made short work of my problems...

Last remark
When a decoder is not fitted, never, ever place the train on a digital layout. You WILL burn the motor!
Placing a Digital Only locomotive on an analog track is not harmfull. It just does not work. No damage is done.

Preparations for the next step: a double Helix

The basic layout is done. Digital Control has been added. Everything seems to work fine. It is time to prepare for the next step.

One of the reasons I wanted to do all this, was to start a collection of nice trains to look at (and a train is only a train if you can actually run it). Having spent a few hours online browsing through ebay, online retailers, hornby and what not, it is obvious that my collection will grow beyond 4 locomotives.

In the current layout, the number of sidings will only accommodate part of this future rolling stock. So we need to add. And what better than to add a Helix. You know, one of those merry-go-rounds that bridges heights. Better yet, lets have two. One of the left of the tv's and one on the right. Have multiple levels going from left to right and back.

So i started drawings on how to construct these things. And I think I found what I would like to do. Will keep me busy for a while.

But I have to. There are so many gorgeous trains to be had.

Here are but a few....

Dapol Class 52 Diesel

Princess Royal Class

Class 08 Shunter (Digital Sound)

Manufacturer		Hornby
Productcode		R2977XS
Class		08 Shunter
Number		D3511
Livery		BR Green
Era		III (1945 - 1970)
DCC		Factory Fitted with Sound
Locomotive ID		004
Weathered		No
Link		wikipedia

GWR Class 2721 (The Western Master)

Manufacturer		Hornby
Productcode		Part of Train Set R1173
Class		2721 0-6-0
Number		2732
Livery		GWR Green
Era		I (1870 - 1920)
DCC		Factory Fitted
Locomotive ID		003
Weathered		No
Link		wikipedia

The Mallard

Manufacturer		Hornby
Productcode		Part of Train Set R1171
Class		A4 4-6-2
Number		4468
Livery		LNER Blue
Era		II (1920 - 1945)
DCC		Converted from DCC Ready
Locomotive ID		002
Weathered		No
Link		wikipedia

The Flying Scotsman

Manufacturer		Hornby
Productcode		Part of Train Set R1167
Class		A1 4-6-2
Number		1472
Livery		LNER Green
Era		II (1920 - 1945)
DCC		Converted from DCC Ready
Locomotive ID		001
Weathered		No
Link		wikipedia

Change of plans....lets go digital and modern!

Been busy for a few weeks but progress has been made on my model train project.

Not only that, i moved the landscaping project to a spare room and created a second project in my living. The idea is that it has no landscaping, just trains in design kind off layout.

And i have added digital to the layout. Very cool.

Here is the techie stuff:
- Hornby 00 gauge
- Hornby eLink connected to windows 8.1 laptop
- Handheld software on my phone
- 2 locs DCC fitted
- 2 locs (Mallard and Flying Scotsman) DCC ready and fitted myself with a decoder

move the current project to the spare room

clear the area

add some carpenter skills (that i did not know i had)

have some track go behind tv's to the other side of the living

add some christmas spirit

go digital