Thank you all for your interest and various comments and suggestions. My main track is a 28ft end to end, with only gentle curves and no noticeable gradient, however that is at my home in Cornwall and not currently available to me. My test track is an oval with 15 inch diameter curves. I have today tried a power and dummy + 8 rake, and suffered many derailments, not as I would have expected on curves, but on straight sections devoid of turnouts. The rake consisted of 4 Dapol HST coaches and 4 Bachmann Mk III's, Rapido couplings. The problems occurred at the junction between Dapol and Bachmann. I need another 4 Dapols, with couplings attached separately to the coach rather than to the bogies. Are all new Dapol Mk III coaches like this, or just the HST set?

I anticipate less problems with my end to end, and look forward to trials with it. I shall persist with trying a power car at each end, and shall try a variable resistor as recommended by SwissTony. It will be a real test of my electronic abilities which are minimal.   

John T

Meant 15 inch radius.