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So does the SDN144 range of sound decoders. Good decoders with excellent value, BUT they do seem very quiet when compared to other brands of sound decoder

How to deal with moles

Yes they are quite good, full of features and very good loco control. The only issue I have found with them is volume.... compared to the CT Elektronik and ESU sound decoders they are very quiet. I like to use the sugar cube type speakers as they are easy to hide and give excellent sound (Tho the Bass is a little lacking for heavy diesels) and have tried to use these same speakers on Digitrax SND144 decoders and the sound output, while nice and clean is fairly quiet. I have tried a selection of different speakers with no improvement, so I guess its down to the decoder. As a side note, all the speakers tested were 8ohm as per the decoder specs

Thank you I am pleased with the reactions it got however there is (Like any model railway) room for improvement

you lucky begger! its -31c here!

Seeing you guys have posted some of your indoor layouts, here is my N gauge Christmas layout. It was build more as a decoration than a true model railway. Stage one was build in October 2010 with only one hand, as I managed to break a bone in my hand. A little detail added by the wife Kids enjoyed playing trains but wanted more places to go so it was extended for xmas 2011 A second station, goods yard were added Along with an operation crossing A new control panel was installed Sadly work commitments meant for 2011 the layout was operational but unfinsihed Christmas 2012 I had my son (aged 12) over form the UK who is into trains (Has his own layout in the UK) and work started in ernest to get it ready We ended up with this To be honest it didn't look very good for me, but the kids loved it as did some of the grown ups. Then we dimmed the lights and ended up with these scenes Hope you enjoyed the pictures, further plans include adding people, more trees and some signalling. I also plan to add some kind of telltale to indicate which way the points are set to prevent derailments

Its still doable with care.... you just need to find a way to insulate the motor from the chassis frame. If you post a few pics I'll see if I can figure out a plan.

Watching..... those top link locos look rather nice

Im guessing where she lives doesn't quite have the extremes of temperature we do here (-24.8c this morning)

Indeed and they are and quite cheap as well... we have 2 20 footers in the garden for storage of the kids outdoor toys and our "gardening" tools (ride on lawnmower, log splitter, quad bike etc) We paid a little over €2500 for the pair including delivery, to buy/build a similarly sized shed would have cost 3 times that much. With regards to conversion to a raliway room, the main problem would be maintaining a fairly constant temperature/humidity and fitting windows

I heard a brilliant comment about Mit Romney from a British comedian "The wheel's still turning but the hamster's dead"

Im finding solder paste a godsend... really makes life a lot easier when doing rail droppers or working under the layout

A little more useful info is this little beauty http://deltang.co.uk/v5.htm might need the booster board to give more power depending on the loco, but look interesting... going to order one next payday

I've done one or 2... With help from Griff Its not too difficult to do the conversion if you take your time and think through what you want to do. The hardest part I find is routing the wires. Think yourself lucky you are not considering DCC'ing N gauge locos. Post up a couple of pics of the locos "topless" and I'll see what I can advise

I have manage to do one so far , more as a proof of concept than anything else I used and old hornby ringfield Western.... plenty of room in there even more as you can remove the centre weight as the battery is heavier I used a orange 2.4Ghz micro receiver (taken from a RC plane I erm.... crashed) http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__26124__OrangeRx_R415_Spektrum_DSM2_Compatible_4Ch_Micro_2_4Ghz_Receiver_UK_Warehouse_.html A micro ESC with BEC I had laying around (taken from same plane) And a 3 cell 850Mah lipo (borrowed from my Trex 250 RC heli) Managed to shoe horn it all in and get it running, it worked well but only in one direction, slow speed operation was pretty good (this could be improved with a better ESC) and run time was a little over 40 mins. Once I find some suitable Reversing speed controllers I plan to make a power carriage next. All the radio gear/batteries will be fitted inside an old LNER teak, with motor output leads. this will then connect to a socket on the back of my tender drive A4, All existing pickups will be retained so the A4 can still be used conventionally as well. Other plans is fitting batteries inside containers on a spine wagon to give a "quick change" battery option

Have you joined the digitrax yahoo group? there are lots of sound projects on there http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Digitrax/ Have to register before you can download, but its well worth a read I played around with Digitrax sound decoders and put together a nice Hornby Western. The big issue I found with them was that they were quite a bit quieter than my other sound locos

Not posted here in a while due to life getting in the way still too much snow to make a start or the railway but things have been moving along nicely inside I now have pretty much all the stock I need tho there's always room for more decoders have been fitted to most locos now 200 yards of flexitrack have been delivered along with a substantial quantity of points Rail joiners - Check 4 x 100M rolls of Bus wire duly liberated from Father in laws workshop (Its power cable for tractors so should be beefy enough lol) Kids have been madly casting Linka parts and creating cottages, castle ruins and god knows what

I'm glad im not the only one who does that with screws.... my wife thinks Im mad... that and the constant click of the camera (I photograph screw locations ) I was worried ther other day when I put the "guest" laptop back together.... I had no spare screws!

Biggest mistake I ever made was selling my DCS50 Funilly enough I now use a DT401 throttle on my Fleishmann Twin Center. Oh and a PR3 for decoder programming via JMRI.... so much easier than remembering al those CV Values

Well you learn something new every day! I never knew that.

On our old layout when we were kids we had a garage under the viaduct called "Bodgett, Flogget and Skarper" My Uncle (we inherited most of the buildings from him) had a strange sense of humour. there were others as well.... Robin something... I think it was a solicitors firm and Arkwrights general store (this was a representation of the shop from Open All Hours)

I guess we are quite lucky Our water comes from a hole in the ground via a pump Our sewerage goes into another hole in the ground (emptied anually) I work for the company that supplies our telephone, mobile phones, internet and TV Heating and some cooking is via a woodburning stove... cost is my time to fetch and chop the wood but petrol is €1.74/litre Being quite a small close community here, everything is done by someone from "just up the road" so everyone knows everyone and their grandparents. This means there is little chance of getting shoddy workmanship. Unfortunately Being the only one within 20 miles with an IT degree I'm now the "computer bloke up the road" lol

I think I need a duchess in my collection..

Those are now sold by dapol as they bought most of the moulds from airfix (see website in previous post) Can be quite easily be converted to running status

these ones? http://www.dapol.co.uk/index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=25&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=59" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;