Thanks - I couldn't resist, and thought there'd be people who'd recognise it 🙂 I don't think I can change the voltage at the track - my Gaugemaster system outputs 13V, and the NRMA specifications for DCC say it should be 12V for N gauge, but you make a good point because it should be possible to adjust how much of that the decoder lets the motor have, so it's possible it's not giving it the full 13V when at max speed step. I might look into that in future - thanks!

Thanks 🙂 Ah, good to know about the YoutTube editor - I've never considered that before! Yes the increases are odd - it's as if the motor benefits from a mini running-in each time the loco is used.

Thanks :) Yes the HST holds that speed record, though if I remember correctly it was a 5-coach set that did that record. But if you want to model what HSTs do on the railway you only need it to go as far as 125 Mph... and in the case of the plain blue Dynamic Lines and the Castle set power cars they actually have MTU engines, not the Valenta ones that set the record, so I don't think anybody knows what those ones could be capable of. Same for the IET - there were concerns they wouldn't be able to keep to the timings of the HSTs over the hills of Devon when on diesel-only.

Agreed - I do like seeing HSTs on the move :)

Thank you :) That's interesting - you continue to be a source of good stats on Dapol HSTs! I've just calculated the scale G force around the corner on my layout (7.6G!), and it's got me suspecting that very few people have such large sweeping curves on their layout that a scale 125Mph would be appropriate for the turns, so maybe a motor that performs better at lower speeds is the better choice. I certainly like being able to drive them slowly into and out of the sidings, so if it's one-or-the-other I think smooth when slow but not quite a fast enough top speed it what suits me.

Hi Ian, thanks :) I tried to capture some close shots for the start of this video, and in those I think the Castle set does look a lot faster, so I think you're probably right about how it would look from a side-mounted camera, though I suspect even then I'd need to be viewing the footage in I-MAX to have the same effect as real life. Yes the gradual increase is odd - I don't know enough about exactly how the motors work to come up with sensible theories, but I'd be very surprised if it were the DCC acceleration - if it were that then it's following one acceleration gradient up to very nearly top speed, then suddenly switching to a massively shallower gradient to do the last little bit, and both the Dapol and Kato (different decoders) behave that way. But, my curiosity is satisfied for now where scale speeds are concerned :) Now I'm waiting for my Sonic Models Large Prairie to arrive :)

@@endoorrailway - Ah, I'm also waiting on the Large Prairie which will be a loco from a new manufacturer to me! I think I ordered the wrong decoder for it though as apparently it needs a 6 Pin 90 degree decoder, which is something I'd not come across before! Oh well! Just another path to follow on my model railway journey! Cheers, Ian.

Yes, I only noticed the other day the description mentions that, but the one I found at Rails was out of stock so I've ordered it from TMC. Today I've come home to the loco waiting for me :) I won't have time to play with it today though, so the decoder's got another day to arrive! I must have put one of those in my Sonic Models 56xx because that has the same note in its description, but I don't remember it at all!

@@endoorrailway - Mine just arrived this morning! :) Just off to look for a new decoder with RailCom now... Ian

It would make N gauge people uncomfortable - I did a Google search for the calculation, which gave this formula: "Cornering G force = speed (mph) squared / corner radius (ft) / 14.957" At a scale 125 Mph on my layout that's a scale 7.6G!

7.6g woo best get Gforce suits with the train tickets might explain the ticket prices haha

lol yes, I think it even just about out-does Formula 1! My railway doesn't have any people at the moment, maybe for the best.