Well it’s been a busy month or so at Mark’s Trains, with many conversions, servicing and repairs completed. I also attended my first exhibition as a trader getting my name out there to potential customers in the local area and offering friendly advice on all matters concerning DCC and sound. I have also visited a few exhibitions to leave some of my flyers, and to have a look around at some of the great layouts for inspirational ideas.
I have had quite a few sound conversions on steam locomotives with additional items such as weathering, firebox flickering effects, and working oil lamps being installed. These bespoke items are starting to prove popular whilst sound conversions are being undertaken, adding to the overall realism of the model.
The highlight of recent work that I have undertaken has got to be the conversion of two O gauge locomotives to DCC Sound. There are a lot of wires inside these models which may appear confusing to some, but with my knowledge I can easily assimilate the function of each wire and connect them to the appropriate terminal on the large sound decoders. These larger gauge models have ample of space to install two high quality bass reflex speakers that pump out sound at very high volumes, and at extremely good quality too. Having these two locomotives on my workbench whilst testing has been an absolute pleasure, and feels like I am stood next to the real thing. O gauge locomotives have a much higher level of detail to them, and that’s not just the body detail but also the mechanical detail such as working roof cooling fans that whirr away. Working at this gauge feels like real engineering; I am comfortable with that as it reminds me of my previous career.
With the investment in equipment and knowledge over the years it is now starting to pay off, as I’ve had quite a few enquiries involving larger and much smaller scales. From garden railway models at gauge 1 through to Z gauge models (and any other gauges/scales) I really can undertake work at all scales. If your particular gauge isn’t on my price list, please do contact me to discuss prices. It is impossible to list prices for every gauge on my website, I only list the most popular gauges. But that doesn’t mean I can’t do any other gauge, with the exception of trying to fit a sound decoder and speaker inside a T gauge locomotive for example. For that I’d need a magic wand, and I seem to have misplaced mine 🙂
Anyway I hope you all had a wonderful Summer and are looking forward to what this Autumn brings, I certainly am! If you have a spare minute head over to my videos page where you will find two new videos of an O gauge class 52 ‘Western’ and class 42 ‘Warship’ being tested on my workbench. I apologize for the iPhone recording, it is a little shaky and doesn’t give the sound any justice, it was much louder in the room when I recorded these videos.
Anyway enjoy the videos, and keep an eye open for the next news update!