I finally got the Atherarn F45 with Tsunami sound decoder programmed, which had not been listening to the programmer. Use of an 18 V power supply feeding the Dgtrx PR3 allowed Decoder Pro to read and load all the needed CVs here. Later I read that using the HO switch setting on the front of the Digitrax command station also works to give it that extra nudge for users programming via the DCS in N scale. I am leery of excess voltage being applied to any of my units with custom lighting, so am careful to keep other locos isolated while using the higher voltage. The Tsunami uses a number of different configuration values different from Digitrax decoders, so took some time to get the CVs remapped to match my other functions / sounds on existing decoders, as well as setting the speed curve to match existing locos. Real happy with how this unit performs here now. Almost every train now has at least one sound unit in consist, but hoping at this point for a next generation release of a PnP sound units pre-programmed with similar (F45) quality sound files before I spend more (now I am spoiled)....
I do not like the color of the headlight, so this unit is in the middle
of a consist till the LED gets changed out (and a working rotary beacon gets
added). This placement in the middle of a consist is typical here anyhow. Since I typically only have one sound unit so far per consist, the sound coming from the second unit seems to be the best compromise to create the proper illusion. The Digitrax system here is configured for Universal Consisting. That originally caused a problem because only the lead unit number can blow the horn and ring the bell. So currently I have the first two locos assigned with the same lead unit number, and configure the CVs so that each loco position gets the proper lighting / sound effects as needed. This actually works pretty good.
Here is a list of the CVs that I changed to get this unit to run with my other (Digitrax) power on the layout.
CV-Value
03-05 (accl)
04-05 (decel)
*14-00 (?)
17-217 (loco addy 66) or + 17-XXX (to match lead)
18-228 (loco addy 28) or + 18-XXX (to match lead)
25-16 (spd table)
29-54 (config reg)
*30-00 (shifts function map)
+33-00 headlight
+34-00 rear light
*38-00 (move dynmcs)
*39-08 (move dynmcs)
*49 thru 52 @128 (?)
67 thru 94 @ 03-100 (spd table)
209-100 helps slow speed response
210-05 helps slow speed response
With Decoder Pro, check the "use speed table", "user defined speed table", and "match ends" using 03-100
* denotes settings after changes, that were used to match sound Function keys on Digitrax decoders
+ denotes settings configured to use as middle unit utilizing lead unit eng #
Hope the above saves someone prog time, as this is another hobby in itself at times...
Friday, June 28, 2013
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
SD9's back in service
After inquiring with Digitrax on the stall issue (see last post), they got back to my email in less than an hour! What was confusing me was the fact that one loco would stay running
while the other stalled, even though they were MUed together... So they recommended resetting Ops Sw 36 and 38 on the DCS100. I thought that would do nothing, but after resetting they appeared to be back to normal? Thinking that it was just coincidence, I kept running the locos MUed together for an extended period. Never stalled when hooked together again. So then moved to running them independently, but then each was stalling again. I tore them both down again and re-cleaned the wheels and needle bearings. After inspecting closer with a 10x magnifier, it appeared there was maybe oxidation or residue that the alcohol missed last time around. This time I used brake cleaner and burnished the contacts followed by alcohol. There is a heavier current draw for the sound decoders, and it looks like they are way more prone to drop-out as compared to conventional decoders. For now, they are running much better, but still a bit temperamental (more testing needed). I suspect for these two units that meticulous cleaning on regular intervals is going to be necessary, but have not found the need to do so on any of my other sound units... I have the nod of approval to return these decoders for exchange if needed, as they mentioned it is possible for a weak spot on the decoder.
Final Analysis at this time: inconclusive
Final Analysis at this time: inconclusive
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Digitrax Sound Decoders with Stalling Issue?
Trying to troubleshoot what is taking place with a couple locos I have on the layout that are equipped with Digitrax sound decoders..Here is a vid I took last night showing what I am combating here:
These chassis are both N Atlas SD9's MUed together via jumpers in an effort to diagnose why the sound decoders (SDN144AO) fail even with a combined 12 axles for electrical pick-up. Are these sound decoder boards in need of replacement? I have a number of these decoders in use on the layout (in various locomotives), and none exhibit the same characteristics as these latest two that I purchased together. They worked fine for a few opp sessions and now are both completely useless running solo, stalling every one to two feet on clean track with clean wheels.One would assume that both units would stall at the same time since electrically MUed, but obviously not the case. Watching the vid one can see the headlight drop out as well as sound reset when locos stall. We have tried wiggling the decoder boards to check for loose fit while MUed, but there is No evidence of that being a possible cause for decoder dropping out. Of note is that SD9's with conventional non sound decoders (DN163AO) perform flawlessly through this track section even when running solo (as well as above mentioned other units using this same SDN144IO decoder operate fine)....
I will contact Digitrax and see what their recommendation is next. I am thinking something is internally wrong with one of the components on the board regarding this particular run of decoders that I purchased together.
Anyone else seen this, have ideas / feedback?
Ya I know the sound file is in need of help, but that will follow...
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Yes the RR is Still Alive
Been getting back into the swing of things on the RR here, now that the work picture has improved a bit.
Foremost, I have been quite eager for the release of the Wheels of Time PC&F Insulated Boxcars, especially in my home road... and picked my order of cars up from my favorite hobby shop today!
I am impressed with everything about these cars all the way down to the metal wheelsets and how they got the wheel profile correct (oh wait, those are BLMA trucks! ...with Athearn wheels?). The only gripe I have at this point is the choice of steel weights for the few of us that actually use the MT couplers, and a number of them have unresponsive couplers over the uncoupling ramps that I will have to investigate. These along with the few other road names I picked up are truly a welcome addition to the roster here.
I will be retiring and selling off all my Micro Train "FMC" SP / SSW dbl door boxcars now that these have arrived. The MT cars were great for their time, but the dimensions are just too far off for me, and I prefer the old Roundhouse/Athearn and Fox Valley body styles for these. The current stable of FMC dbl door box style here is heavy handed, so the new PC&F cars will help to balance out the fleet. Already got my order in for WOT's second release (in SSW paint). Rumor is one of my all time favorite cars will be released later and drain my wallet if a correspondence I had with Matthew is interpreted correctly....
So, after the layout sat idle for an extended period, I encountered a few issues that appeared which I am going to try to blame on that A/C failure during last summer's heatwave.
Two of my mainline handlaid turnouts had a stock rail lift on more than just a few pc ties, but fortunately just a matter of reheating the joints and now back in service. Those two turnouts are probably close to 15 years in service, so still pretty proud on how reliable and durable all the handlaid turnouts have proven to be over all the years.
Then I had a couple more flex track sections that warped and came loose from the benchwork, but once ballasted wont have a chance for a repeat offense.
The biggest fix was regarding one of the yard throats into staging. The #7 Atlas turnouts there have been causing locos to stall. I really appreciate Atlas for their great strides in pushing N scale, but their use of production in China has left a few rough edges. Hoping their next run of code 55 turnouts are an improvement for all my fellow modelers. I am at over a 50% failure rate with the nine turnouts that I utilized in the Klamath Falls yard throat. Power is not being routed through the turnouts, as their internal power feeds are not "hardwired". I have had to drop numerous feeders to power dead rails on these turnouts. Was contemplating being lazy and use a couple of their #10's for the Hampton expansion, but still on the fence if to go back to handlay as I push forward on the next phase of the expansion...
Other little fixes since the layout was dormant for so long was a few cranky Tortoise motors that refused to throw when reversing. I only run about 5 volts to them to simulate that proto slow motion speed, so they were stalling for some reason. Fortunately they seem to have come back to life after using them repeatedly for awhile. Might have to bump up the voltage a bit more if it becomes a problem, but not real sure what is going on since it has worked fine for so many years previous...
Last little noteworthy fix was repair of the roadbed at Oakrdige siding where the trackage had developed an unnatural hump. Appears that all the moisture from multiple workings of the plaster there had warped where two plywood sections joined together, so only solution was to reinforce things there with a piece of metal sheet stock. Aint it pretty? Someday yet more plaster will blend it all in.
Meanwhile, been acquiring materials for the Hampton siding expansion phase, and currently have Ray's CAD overlay cut out and draped across each end of staging. We are fine-tuning how the benchwork is going to come out of the helix and still leave K Falls and Portland Yard throats readily visible, and how to pull off the scenic aspects of this undertaking in what space there is to work with. This project is all about adding another siding for operations, removing some of the down time inside the helix, while hopefully still getting some antiquated resemblance to this section of the RR. The layout is not linear in configuration to begin with, but now that it has taken on the "G" shape configuration, it is one of my goals to make it as user friendly for the operator to be able to walk with his train and / or view signals from a perspective that makes it as clear and user friendly as possible. The design is for some version of the crossing over Willamette River at the head of Lookout Point Reservoir (even if somewhat condensed), and a siding that holds the monster trains on the layout. This whole concept is nothing like I have seen before, and it will be a challenge to pull it off, but I think there is some hope...
Before I tear into the benchwork on this next phase, I am trying to make an attempt to push forward on some scenery around Oakridge to make it more entertaining for operating crews meanwhile, instead of the long trek across yet even more plywood prairies... I have made slight progress around the rock shed area, which could have been extensive progress if I had kept better notes. I had trouble matching colors for the base coat on my plaster, as five + year old abbreviations were misinterpreted, resulting in plaster coloring that had to be reworked. Got that resolved only to find that the brand new replacement scissors I ordered for cutting my polyfiber didnt work as well as the original set from the same manuf part #... Yes they were made there also... but stumbling along best I can with what I got at this point.
Art brought over some BLMA 89' flats recently for a test run on the layout. We mixed them into a 23 car TOFC train (20 89' flats, 2 skybox and a hack), that runs regular on the layout, spreading them in different parts of the train. We placed a couple right behind the head end, and a number spaced randomly throughout the rest of the train. They revealed a minor flaw in the atlas turnouts that first had to be attended to. The BLMA wheels were derailing on the stock rail where the notch is cut for the point rails.... after passing over this notch with a few light file swipes they performed flawlessly through the turnouts. My helix is the ultimate durability test for trains, and the stresses were at their limit for these new cars. The complete sets of BLMA cars worked well together, but we did have some uncoupling events up near the front of the train where they were placed between Micro Train flats. The MT flats have varying height couplers for whatever reason, so this appears to have contributed to what uncouplings we had. I have had to strategically place my MT flats in order where the couplers line up to avoid uncoupling. The only major issue we had was with the lead BLMA car coupled behind the power. On some occasions the lead truck would derail, so not sure yet, but figuring this is due to a combination of body mount and fine flanges under extreme circumstances. I run MT LP wheels and FV metal wheels on the MT flats currently in service on this train, and it is running at its maximum reliable length already. Overall analysis is that the BLMA cars are going to fit in fine with their own strategic placement also.
In the sound department, I have been toying with my SD9's and the sound files I downloaded from John McMasters. His units sound great in HO scale, but I am still stumbling along with mine here. Digitrax seems to have forsaken the sound project side of things, and kind of dissapointed that in the last year little to no sound product releases have materialized from any of the manufacturers pushing the envelope for N. I suppose economic conditions have some impact there... The bright side on the sound department here is that Ray picked up an Athearn F45 in BN colors (with Tsunami) that will be living here.
It makes the Digitrax sound effects seem kinda limp, but I am glad to at least have sound that fits into my other Hood units. The F45 will take the lead and augment the current BN SD40-2 which acts as pool power heading up a manifest off the BN. Currently working on how to read / write this loco with Decoder Pro, but once I swap my 12v PS with an 18v for the PR3, anticipating that it will resolve program issues. Hopefully not going to turn into another "project"...
Lots more in the works...
Hope we can get back to more regular updates of the RR in the months to come.
Foremost, I have been quite eager for the release of the Wheels of Time PC&F Insulated Boxcars, especially in my home road... and picked my order of cars up from my favorite hobby shop today!
I am impressed with everything about these cars all the way down to the metal wheelsets and how they got the wheel profile correct (oh wait, those are BLMA trucks! ...with Athearn wheels?). The only gripe I have at this point is the choice of steel weights for the few of us that actually use the MT couplers, and a number of them have unresponsive couplers over the uncoupling ramps that I will have to investigate. These along with the few other road names I picked up are truly a welcome addition to the roster here.
I will be retiring and selling off all my Micro Train "FMC" SP / SSW dbl door boxcars now that these have arrived. The MT cars were great for their time, but the dimensions are just too far off for me, and I prefer the old Roundhouse/Athearn and Fox Valley body styles for these. The current stable of FMC dbl door box style here is heavy handed, so the new PC&F cars will help to balance out the fleet. Already got my order in for WOT's second release (in SSW paint). Rumor is one of my all time favorite cars will be released later and drain my wallet if a correspondence I had with Matthew is interpreted correctly....
So, after the layout sat idle for an extended period, I encountered a few issues that appeared which I am going to try to blame on that A/C failure during last summer's heatwave.
Two of my mainline handlaid turnouts had a stock rail lift on more than just a few pc ties, but fortunately just a matter of reheating the joints and now back in service. Those two turnouts are probably close to 15 years in service, so still pretty proud on how reliable and durable all the handlaid turnouts have proven to be over all the years.
Then I had a couple more flex track sections that warped and came loose from the benchwork, but once ballasted wont have a chance for a repeat offense.
The biggest fix was regarding one of the yard throats into staging. The #7 Atlas turnouts there have been causing locos to stall. I really appreciate Atlas for their great strides in pushing N scale, but their use of production in China has left a few rough edges. Hoping their next run of code 55 turnouts are an improvement for all my fellow modelers. I am at over a 50% failure rate with the nine turnouts that I utilized in the Klamath Falls yard throat. Power is not being routed through the turnouts, as their internal power feeds are not "hardwired". I have had to drop numerous feeders to power dead rails on these turnouts. Was contemplating being lazy and use a couple of their #10's for the Hampton expansion, but still on the fence if to go back to handlay as I push forward on the next phase of the expansion...
Other little fixes since the layout was dormant for so long was a few cranky Tortoise motors that refused to throw when reversing. I only run about 5 volts to them to simulate that proto slow motion speed, so they were stalling for some reason. Fortunately they seem to have come back to life after using them repeatedly for awhile. Might have to bump up the voltage a bit more if it becomes a problem, but not real sure what is going on since it has worked fine for so many years previous...
Last little noteworthy fix was repair of the roadbed at Oakrdige siding where the trackage had developed an unnatural hump. Appears that all the moisture from multiple workings of the plaster there had warped where two plywood sections joined together, so only solution was to reinforce things there with a piece of metal sheet stock. Aint it pretty? Someday yet more plaster will blend it all in.
Meanwhile, been acquiring materials for the Hampton siding expansion phase, and currently have Ray's CAD overlay cut out and draped across each end of staging. We are fine-tuning how the benchwork is going to come out of the helix and still leave K Falls and Portland Yard throats readily visible, and how to pull off the scenic aspects of this undertaking in what space there is to work with. This project is all about adding another siding for operations, removing some of the down time inside the helix, while hopefully still getting some antiquated resemblance to this section of the RR. The layout is not linear in configuration to begin with, but now that it has taken on the "G" shape configuration, it is one of my goals to make it as user friendly for the operator to be able to walk with his train and / or view signals from a perspective that makes it as clear and user friendly as possible. The design is for some version of the crossing over Willamette River at the head of Lookout Point Reservoir (even if somewhat condensed), and a siding that holds the monster trains on the layout. This whole concept is nothing like I have seen before, and it will be a challenge to pull it off, but I think there is some hope...
Before I tear into the benchwork on this next phase, I am trying to make an attempt to push forward on some scenery around Oakridge to make it more entertaining for operating crews meanwhile, instead of the long trek across yet even more plywood prairies... I have made slight progress around the rock shed area, which could have been extensive progress if I had kept better notes. I had trouble matching colors for the base coat on my plaster, as five + year old abbreviations were misinterpreted, resulting in plaster coloring that had to be reworked. Got that resolved only to find that the brand new replacement scissors I ordered for cutting my polyfiber didnt work as well as the original set from the same manuf part #... Yes they were made there also... but stumbling along best I can with what I got at this point.
Art brought over some BLMA 89' flats recently for a test run on the layout. We mixed them into a 23 car TOFC train (20 89' flats, 2 skybox and a hack), that runs regular on the layout, spreading them in different parts of the train. We placed a couple right behind the head end, and a number spaced randomly throughout the rest of the train. They revealed a minor flaw in the atlas turnouts that first had to be attended to. The BLMA wheels were derailing on the stock rail where the notch is cut for the point rails.... after passing over this notch with a few light file swipes they performed flawlessly through the turnouts. My helix is the ultimate durability test for trains, and the stresses were at their limit for these new cars. The complete sets of BLMA cars worked well together, but we did have some uncoupling events up near the front of the train where they were placed between Micro Train flats. The MT flats have varying height couplers for whatever reason, so this appears to have contributed to what uncouplings we had. I have had to strategically place my MT flats in order where the couplers line up to avoid uncoupling. The only major issue we had was with the lead BLMA car coupled behind the power. On some occasions the lead truck would derail, so not sure yet, but figuring this is due to a combination of body mount and fine flanges under extreme circumstances. I run MT LP wheels and FV metal wheels on the MT flats currently in service on this train, and it is running at its maximum reliable length already. Overall analysis is that the BLMA cars are going to fit in fine with their own strategic placement also.
In the sound department, I have been toying with my SD9's and the sound files I downloaded from John McMasters. His units sound great in HO scale, but I am still stumbling along with mine here. Digitrax seems to have forsaken the sound project side of things, and kind of dissapointed that in the last year little to no sound product releases have materialized from any of the manufacturers pushing the envelope for N. I suppose economic conditions have some impact there... The bright side on the sound department here is that Ray picked up an Athearn F45 in BN colors (with Tsunami) that will be living here.
It makes the Digitrax sound effects seem kinda limp, but I am glad to at least have sound that fits into my other Hood units. The F45 will take the lead and augment the current BN SD40-2 which acts as pool power heading up a manifest off the BN. Currently working on how to read / write this loco with Decoder Pro, but once I swap my 12v PS with an 18v for the PR3, anticipating that it will resolve program issues. Hopefully not going to turn into another "project"...
Lots more in the works...
Hope we can get back to more regular updates of the RR in the months to come.
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Oct / Nov / Dec - Progress
I have not had time to work much on the RR for awhile due to work schedule, so it has not progressed much. I even had to terminate a few operating sessions that I tried to get off the ground, but it appears that maintaining a job is necessary just to keep the train room.
Back in September I had the Oakridge section and east side of the pass all prepared for scenery, and was making slow headway with minor plaster filling and re-contouring in that area. Was just starting to work on the base color coats and geared up to add ground cover when I got transferred to another job...
I had to pull up all the masking tape off the rails when I found that it would be awhile until I had time to push further forward, and so the layout has basically sat idle since then. Otherwise, I have been purchasing a few items here and there and doing minor tinkering.
I bagged a CMX track cleaning car on ebay for 40% off, that is ready for its first test run...
Hopefully keeping it filled with cleaning solution will help with the track cleaning train, as chasing it around with an alcohol filled eye dropper was not the most efficient. I have found that 70% alcohol on my Centerline cleaner cars seems to build up a residue on loco wheels and other, but not sure what is actually taking place there. On-line reading tends me to think that the alcohol is partially breaking down the gunk and relocating it. My Minitrix wheel cleaner was balking at removing this gunk from engine wheels, and the only thing that would remove it was running each loco in place over an alcohol soaked tissue. So not sure what the best cleaning solution should be for the new CMX tanker... Some reading indicates use of lacquer thinner might be better, or perhaps 90% alcohol instead. My fear is in the weathered rail profile that I have painted with lacquer base paint, and how durable it will be with these solutions over the long haul. Since I can control the drip rate on the CMX car, I am leaning toward the laquer thinner and see how that goes.
Another acquisition I made on ebay was to get the 70 tonner needed for my Klamath Northern roster, which will be used between the KN interchange and the mill up at Gilchrist. I couldnt resist the 70% off price on this puppy. It needs the twin sealed beam and one of a kind door louvers, but pretty straight forward after that with the reefer orange paint and some custom decals.
Here is a proto shot by John Bauer of it at the mill by their chip loader (that for some reason has a shed over it unlike others I have seen... maybe that doubled as the engine house at one time?).
Bachmann's version pulls fairly well on the flats, but after some extensive testing on similar grades and curves needed for this operation, I found that it will be most reliable pulling about five cars from Gilchrist Jct and up to the mill. It pulls seven on similar trackage here with minor wheel slip, but I should probably configure mill ops based on what appears will be the more reliable train length. This operation ran a couple trains per day anyhow, so might be a kick if that fits into the operating scheme here once we progress to that point.
Here is a shot of KN's later GE 125 tonner with a shorter cut of cars, coming back from the mill (another one of John Bauer's fine shots):
Adding cars to be used for the last lumber drag that will eventually fill the train schedule. Recently picked up a couple more Exact Rail out of production lumber boxcars with the yellow doors, and an old Columbia Cowlitz high cube box from LBF. I have a couple units acquired for this train so far, but still need to find a couple more Kato SD45s, then put decoders in them all.
Last few weeks been acquiring some screen mesh, and sifting old plaster bits and pieces for some loose rock / talus on the east side of the pass. Today I stained some sample runs of different earth colors... so see how they came out tomorrow, then can adjust as needed. This should get my scenery materials closer to complete for what is needed to finish the east side of the Hill (and possible upgrades to the west side later). More later...
Top of the list as soon as I see stability in the work schedule will be to call crews back from furlough. Look forward to more good times moving some traffic across the RR, and hopefully then we can also verify that the latest operating scheme has been fine tuned correctly.
Happy Holidays
Back in September I had the Oakridge section and east side of the pass all prepared for scenery, and was making slow headway with minor plaster filling and re-contouring in that area. Was just starting to work on the base color coats and geared up to add ground cover when I got transferred to another job...
I had to pull up all the masking tape off the rails when I found that it would be awhile until I had time to push further forward, and so the layout has basically sat idle since then. Otherwise, I have been purchasing a few items here and there and doing minor tinkering.
I bagged a CMX track cleaning car on ebay for 40% off, that is ready for its first test run...
Hopefully keeping it filled with cleaning solution will help with the track cleaning train, as chasing it around with an alcohol filled eye dropper was not the most efficient. I have found that 70% alcohol on my Centerline cleaner cars seems to build up a residue on loco wheels and other, but not sure what is actually taking place there. On-line reading tends me to think that the alcohol is partially breaking down the gunk and relocating it. My Minitrix wheel cleaner was balking at removing this gunk from engine wheels, and the only thing that would remove it was running each loco in place over an alcohol soaked tissue. So not sure what the best cleaning solution should be for the new CMX tanker... Some reading indicates use of lacquer thinner might be better, or perhaps 90% alcohol instead. My fear is in the weathered rail profile that I have painted with lacquer base paint, and how durable it will be with these solutions over the long haul. Since I can control the drip rate on the CMX car, I am leaning toward the laquer thinner and see how that goes.
Another acquisition I made on ebay was to get the 70 tonner needed for my Klamath Northern roster, which will be used between the KN interchange and the mill up at Gilchrist. I couldnt resist the 70% off price on this puppy. It needs the twin sealed beam and one of a kind door louvers, but pretty straight forward after that with the reefer orange paint and some custom decals.
Bachmann's version pulls fairly well on the flats, but after some extensive testing on similar grades and curves needed for this operation, I found that it will be most reliable pulling about five cars from Gilchrist Jct and up to the mill. It pulls seven on similar trackage here with minor wheel slip, but I should probably configure mill ops based on what appears will be the more reliable train length. This operation ran a couple trains per day anyhow, so might be a kick if that fits into the operating scheme here once we progress to that point.
Here is a shot of KN's later GE 125 tonner with a shorter cut of cars, coming back from the mill (another one of John Bauer's fine shots):
Adding cars to be used for the last lumber drag that will eventually fill the train schedule. Recently picked up a couple more Exact Rail out of production lumber boxcars with the yellow doors, and an old Columbia Cowlitz high cube box from LBF. I have a couple units acquired for this train so far, but still need to find a couple more Kato SD45s, then put decoders in them all.
Last few weeks been acquiring some screen mesh, and sifting old plaster bits and pieces for some loose rock / talus on the east side of the pass. Today I stained some sample runs of different earth colors... so see how they came out tomorrow, then can adjust as needed. This should get my scenery materials closer to complete for what is needed to finish the east side of the Hill (and possible upgrades to the west side later). More later...
Top of the list as soon as I see stability in the work schedule will be to call crews back from furlough. Look forward to more good times moving some traffic across the RR, and hopefully then we can also verify that the latest operating scheme has been fine tuned correctly.
Happy Holidays
Sunday, September 16, 2012
More Videos of the Layout, and....
Now that I have been cruising Youtube and looking at all the SP N scale stuff, I stumbled on another vid of the layout my buddy Vinny digitized while here during a loose ops sess.
Layout Vid
Looking forward to the next time you can make it out this way again there Vincenzo!
Other:
Came across a couple more issues that had gone unnoticed after that heat wave in the garage... on the day of the layout tour. Had a "sun kinked" rail in the siding at Oakridge where power kept uncoupling. After a closer look I was able to work the ME 40 flex track back into shape since it hasn't been ballasted there yet. Resolved it after some further persuasion with a little ACC to hold it in place. Then there was an electrical short in the staging yard where one of the rails expanded into a frog at a turnout. I never finished soldering all the rail joints in staging, so some of the short rail sections need to get completed anyhow. Later experienced another short on one of the Tortoise motor pwr circuits that I was unable to find, until Dan M. eyeballed a wire laying across another where they were soldered to a turnout toggle that controls the Weyerhaeuser plant. Probably unrelated, but fortunately we weren't doing any switching that day anyhow. Thanks Dan!
Meanwhile having fun playing with the WiThrottle App to make the I-devices act as throttles. Originally it was just my kid with the Ipod Touch so I wasn't that interested... Pretty easy to work with to acquire trains and I like the throttle speed controls.... Good times working on the RR.
More on using your Iphone with the App:
WiThrottle
Layout Vid
Looking forward to the next time you can make it out this way again there Vincenzo!
Other:
Came across a couple more issues that had gone unnoticed after that heat wave in the garage... on the day of the layout tour. Had a "sun kinked" rail in the siding at Oakridge where power kept uncoupling. After a closer look I was able to work the ME 40 flex track back into shape since it hasn't been ballasted there yet. Resolved it after some further persuasion with a little ACC to hold it in place. Then there was an electrical short in the staging yard where one of the rails expanded into a frog at a turnout. I never finished soldering all the rail joints in staging, so some of the short rail sections need to get completed anyhow. Later experienced another short on one of the Tortoise motor pwr circuits that I was unable to find, until Dan M. eyeballed a wire laying across another where they were soldered to a turnout toggle that controls the Weyerhaeuser plant. Probably unrelated, but fortunately we weren't doing any switching that day anyhow. Thanks Dan!
Meanwhile having fun playing with the WiThrottle App to make the I-devices act as throttles. Originally it was just my kid with the Ipod Touch so I wasn't that interested... Pretty easy to work with to acquire trains and I like the throttle speed controls.... Good times working on the RR.
More on using your Iphone with the App:
WiThrottle
Monday, September 10, 2012
First Youtube Vid Posted
Cobbled together the sound units and strung a bunch of cars together to make my first youtube vid.
It runs a bit faster than the original, and the sound level is a bit low (so Crank It Up! for the full effect), but hopefully can figure all that out as I move forward...
It's just a Railfan's perspective of one loaded lumber drag with midtrains grinding up the pass.
A good motivator to push forward on that scenery... as soon as work gives me some of my life back.
Enjoy! :)
Here is the link: Midtrain Helper Video
It runs a bit faster than the original, and the sound level is a bit low (so Crank It Up! for the full effect), but hopefully can figure all that out as I move forward...
It's just a Railfan's perspective of one loaded lumber drag with midtrains grinding up the pass.
A good motivator to push forward on that scenery... as soon as work gives me some of my life back.
Enjoy! :)
Here is the link: Midtrain Helper Video
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