General Success

 I finished working on the decoder for the General. I was assisted by advice from George Bogatiuk of Soundtrax. He suspected that the output for the headlight was damaged during my installation. He said repairs would be covered by warranty. However, if I only needed a headlight, he suggested wiring the headlight to the yellow wire that usually controls the  back-up light.  That sounded better than taking out the decoder and sending it back. 

So that is what I did. 

I also had to modify some CVs. Normally this would be a trip to hexadecimal hell. But this was very easy to do using the Blunami Ap - heck - even I did it. First, I did a total decoder rest by setting CV 8 to 8. You have to power down the decoder for the reset to take effect. Then I input 63 in CV 57 and 0 in CV58.  Now the head light works. I used the ash pan effect on it per George's recommendation and it looks very much like an oil lantern.

Then I did some test runs. I suspected that this locomotive would not pull as much as the Fury (nee Texas) and the Masons. The motor in the tender is a bit smaller than those and the tender is lighter. To improve the pulling power I added weight to the bottom of the tender and inside.  However, there isn't that much space in either location.  Based on my tests, the loco needs about 4 ounces to pull 9 cars up the ruling grade. I could only fit about 2 ounces. 

I also had a scare as I tried to shoe-horn in as much weight as possible. I accidentally popped off the prop shaft to the rear gear box. Luckily I found it and was able to replace it. 

I used my dremel tool to grind away the thick resin of the factory wood pile to make room for the speaker. It now fits snuggly on the loco but can easily removed for maintenance. Being thinner, it provided less muffling to the sound from the speaker below it. I sprayed it dark brown. I will finish painting it later. 

Here is a quick video showing the engine in operation. It can easily pull six cars. I will do more testing to determine its maximum capacity.   I still need to weather, paint the wood pile, fix the front link and add crew figures.

Success, ...almost

 

Test running the General 

I installed a Soundtrax Blunami decoder in the locomotive General today.  That involved installing the decoder, current keeper, speaker and adding a working headlight.  It went fairly well. Overall, I am very impressed, but there is one lingering issue.

Installation

All the electronics fit in the tender

The first thing I noticed was that the wire to the  electrical pick-up on the pilot truck was broken. This is a common problem with these locos. The Osceola had the same problem and I fixed that yesterday.
 

I had to remove the pick-up to clean off the solder joint and solder the wire. 

Next was the decoder. Installing that in the General was much simpler than my previous decoder installs because I did not add all wheel pick-up to the tender and I did not use the Stanton battery and battery power supply. Thus, there was enough room in the tender to install the decoder on one side of the motor and the current keeper on the other.

I added a sugar cube speaker on top of the gearbox for the lead truck. It sounds great.

This loco has electrical pick-ups for one rail on one side of the tender and for the other rail in the engine. I usually add all wheel pick-ups on both sides of the tender, but this locomotive seems to be running well without them. We shall see how it does when the wheels get some dirt.

I wanted to add a working head light. As installed at the locomotive factory, the headlight light comes on whenever there is voltage on the rails. So it was always on when placed on DCC. 

I had to take off the fire box to get  at the head light wires inside the boiler. The wires from the light were attached via a mini plug to the main power wires of the locomotive. It was easy to unplug it. 

However,  I misunderstood the Blunami instructions and connected the headlight to the decoder output without a ballast resistor. The headlight in the loco was working with 15V from the DCC track power.  So I didn't think I would need a ballast resistor. Oops, that was not correct. The bulb burned out after a brief moment of working. 

The dang headlight won't turn off

So I replaced the blown bulb with a micro bulb I had on hand with a 460 ohm resistor. Now the head light is on but it won't turn off. I suspect I somehow damaged the lighting circuit or perhaps I have an incorrect setting in the control application.  Which leads me to the next part of installation, the Blunami Application.

The Blunami Application

Downloading the Blunami Application to my iphone was easy. I fired up the app and it quickly connected to the decoder. The controls are easy use.  I really like it. The throttle response is excellent. I tested it from various rooms in my house. It works all over the basement and I can even control trains from the kitchen. 

The buttons on the ap have an audio or haptic response, so you  feel like you are pushing a mechanical switch instead of a screen on a phone. It is much better than I expected. One thing I noticed is a slight delay of about 5-10 seconds from when you open the ap to when you can control the loco. This caused a few moments of panic until I got used to it.

Programming is easy. I tried various settings for sound and speed control. It will take some more playing around to get things dialed in. I tried the digital engine calibration. It worked automatically. I really can't tell if it made a difference but it was easy to use. I think it might be chuffing a bit to much, so that is a parameter I need to play with some more. I have to say it easier to program the decoder functions with this device than any other way I have tried. 

I only have one iPhone, so I don't know how I will deal with multiple engines and users. My operators can easily download the ap if they have an iPhone. But not everyone does. What if I want to run two or more engines? 

It is perhaps fortunate that I am using this ap as two of my EasyDCC throttles have stopped working. So, I am down to one functional EasyDCC throttle and 3 throttles that work with the Stanton systems. I haven't decided if I will convert my other locos to Blunami.  

Remaining Issues

I need to find out why the headlight won't turn off or react to any controls. The Aquia Line doesn't use headlights in daytime, so I can disconnect it, but I want to get it working properly. 

Since this loco is the famous W&A RR General, I decided to keep the name the same. However, I made a sticker with the USMRR logo for the sides of the tender using my laser cutter and brass micro thin plastic.  The sticker is removable in case I need to sell the loco. It can go back to being the W&A RR General. 

I need to work on the woodpile and add some weathering. The front link needs to be modified for use with my couplers. I also need to tweak it a bit as I run it and find problems. But it a nice addition to the fleet. 

Back from RPM East with a Blunami

 I returned from the RPM East 2023. I had a good time. It was great to see model railroad friends and meet new ones. 

The meet was held in a local community college without an official hotel. I stayed at a hotel about 6 miles from the conference. I found that to be less than ideal as it was not easy to pop into the room to get stuff, take a nap,  or get a snack compared to when the meet is held in a hotel.  

The facility itself was quite modern, clean and bright. The clinic rooms, display area, and dealer space were scattered about the facility. So people had to wander about to attend the various events. There was an interesting central area with a library/lounge/cafe where people tended to congregate. But it did seem to lack a critical mass for easy socializing and networking. There were 200 people signed up, but I never got to see most of them. 

The room where I presented my clinic had several computer monitors scattered about the room with a series of tables. People could watch the presentation on the monitor nearest them. But, if I was pointing out something on the screen, they had to look at my screen. My laser pointer did not work on that screen, so I had to use my fingers to point out specific items. It worked, but definitely was not ideal. The set up also had excellent sound, so the videos I played were easily heard, if not too loud. 

I presented my clinic and attended two others. I tried to go to some other clinics but they were standing room only, so I hung out in the display room instead. The clinic rooms were probably too small for the great turnout that they had. 

The highlight for me was a chance to talk with George Bogatiuk of Soundtrax to learn about the Blunami system. I brought some of my battery locomotives with me to display at the meet with the intent to get some of his advice on packaging and how the Blunami might work. Alas, he was too busy to leave his table so we never got to examine my locomotives. Nevertheless, I was impressed with the demonstration set up he had. I had a chance to try the Blunami on an iPad. The ap worked much better than I expected. I decided to get one with a keep alive to evaluate on my O Scale General.

I know DCC brand is like a religion to some folks. But I keep an open mind and will try out anything that seems like an improvement. In my specific case, I am looking at the ease of programming offered by the Blunami and hoping to get better throttle response. I installed the Stanton radio decoders I have  in the metal boilers as the batteries and battery power supply take up all the available space on the tender. So the radio response can be spotty due to the receiver being in essentially a Faraday Cage. I am hoping the the Blunami solves that problem by allowing me to install the decoder on the tender deck with the keep alive in the boiler.

The display room had some nice models on exhibit. George Bogatiuk had his HO scale 4-4-0 locomotive there. He did a very nice job on it detailing and installing electronics. 

I was also impressed with Ted Culotta's exhibit of highly detailed freight car models. 

I departed on Saturday afternoon as I wanted to get to Mainline Hobby Supply in Blue Ridge Summit to talk with Brian Wolfe about some issues for MARPM. While I was there, I purchased a Blunami Sound decoder and keep alive. I hope to install them before the next op session. It is always great to visit that hobby shop. One of the best model train hobby shops in the U.S.

I stopped at the Greencastle Highland Train Station on my way to the Mainline Hobby Supply. I did not know this was a Virtual Railfan camera site. In addition, they have an Automatic Train Control System display in the window of the station to show a real time view of rail traffic on the former PRR, now NS, line. Sure enough, a southbound train was heading our way. So, I stuck around to photograph it.

On Sunday John Burchnal stopped by the Aquia Line to visit. He is in town for a family visit. It's a funny coincidence, as next weekend I will be a guest at his house in Cincinnati. I will be presenting a talk about military railroads to his local NMRA division.

I fired up the layout so we could run some trains and discovered that both of the locomotives I took to the RPM East meet suffered some kind of damage. The damage on the Fury was especially alarming as the valve gear popped out of the cylinder. Fortunately, it was an easy fix. This is why I don't like taking these models to shows. They are somewhat fragile. They don't like being lifted off the track and being exposed to vibrations on a long car ride. 

Whiton will need to have some insulators installed on the tender side frames as the wheels are shorting. It seems that the paint has worn off and the bare metal the side frame is touching the un-insulated side of the wheel sets. 

Battery and Bridges

I am slowly getting better. I can now sit at my computer without discomfort. I have been walking 2 or more miles each day and doing physical therapy every other day. I'm still not fully healed, so I cannot do heavy layout work yet, but things are getting better.  

Last weekend Mike Spoor visited the Aquia Line. He was up in the area to visit Fort Meyer to get his new rank sewn on his uniforms as he was promoted to Sergeant First Class.  Congratulations!  Mike has a bedroom sized switching layout with dead rails, so he needs a battery powered engine to operate. 

A few months ago we started the process of converting one of his diesels to battery power. However, we needed to order some additional components. So I ordered them and they arrived. Then COVID hit followed by the floods. So Mike's project was set on the shelf. Thanks goodness, as the parts did not get damaged by the water.

With Mike in town, we took the opportunity to finish the job. The plan was to put the  Airwire decoder and LiPo battery in a box car. That car would connect to an engine. Mike had several older locos and we found one that worked and had directional lighting. So, there was no need for extra wiring for lighting effects. We used a plug to allow Mike to disconnect the box car from the engine if desired. 

The battery is also on a plug so it can be charged separately. The biggest problem was getting the plugs between the engine and loco to not be so obvious. I used thinner gauge wire on the plug from the loco than I used on the box car. Unfortunately, those wires broke after a few op sessions. So we need to redo the engine side plug with more durable wires.

 This weekend the ACWRRHS held our annual meet. The original plan was to come to the Washington DC area, visit the museums and operate my layout. But COVID happened. So we had  the meet via Zoom.  Thom Radice set up a nice program. We had participants from all over the US, UK and Australia. I did a talk on how I built the Potomac Creek Bridge. Don Ball, Rhett Tyler and Charlie Taylor also gave talks on their bridge construction.Eric Gates from Great Britain discussed his fine scale 5-ft gauge HO layout with an equalized locomotive.  Joel discussed how he makes structures for his N scale layout. It was a fun meet, but not as good as getting together in person.

The Model Railroading Hobby is a Big Tent

Last night John Socha-Leialoha visited. John is a brilliant engineer who currently works for Microsoft. However, he also is involved in numerous other projects as you will see if you keep reading.  I first met John years ago while on a  trip to the Tacoma area. Back then, John was helping Mark Bridgewater build a large N Scale layout.  I liked Mark's layout when I visited, but I liked his Cobra 427 replica even more. IIRC they were developing the Bluepoint switch machine back then. If you use Bluepoints, then you have used one of John's ideas.

Mark has since moved to the Atlanta area and John has transitioned to being a tool junkie that supports model railroads.  John is notionally modeling the RGS in HOn3, but what he really enjoys is building stuff for the model railroad hobby. And he has a serious set of tools to do that in his shop. The hobby is a big tent!

John demonstrating his throttle prototype

Interestingly, John's first comment on seeing the layout, was "Nice crew lounge." Too bad I plan to make it much smaller.

When I asked John if he wanted to run some trains he said, "no thanks. I could care less about operations." What he did show me was a new Wi-fi throttle that he is developing along with two other engineers for TCS, the DCC company.  You can learn more about the throttle here.  John went on to explain how he likes TCS decoders because of their high fidelity sound. Now it was my turn,  I said to John, without rancor, "I could care less about having correct sound in my engines if it means more complexity. To me diesel sound is just industrial noise." I referred him to my now classic DCC rant previous posted on this blog.  I love complaining about DCC.

The throttle did have a nice feel to it. John designed and produced the throttle case with 3D printed plastic. The plastic had a slight grain that made it non-slip. The wi-fi throttle uses JMRI and a wifi net. Unfortunately, I was not set-up to run it, even though I do have JMRI.  For now, I'll stick with my EasyDCC system.

Fusion 360 demo, my dispatcher's desk is proving handy for multiple
tasks. 

Next John gave me a short demo/tutorial on using Fusion 360 to make 3D drawings of parts. Learning 3D drafting is on my bucket list, so it is a skill I want to learn. The demo blew me away!  John was able to draw quickly some parts, in this case a wagon wheel. I need to budget some time to get that program and learn it. It is free if your business makes less than $100K a year! Great for a cottage business like mine.

John also showed me some of the videos he did using injection molding machines. He was a CNC router that he can use to make aluminum molds. He has two injection molding machines, so he can make styrene parts.  It goes on, he also has tools to rapid prototype printed circuit boards, including some machines, such as a pick and place machine, that he built himself. I now have some serious tool envy!  We really need to convince John to move to the DC area.

To follow more of John's work see his blog https://trains.socha.com  and his youtube channel.

Tsunami2 Steam Decoder

I installed a new Soundtrax Tsunami TSU-2200 Steam Decoder with current keeper in Engine Haupt this evening. If you are keeping score, this is the third decoder I have installed in this loco. The previous Soundtrax Tsunami decoder and current keeper started having trouble that seemed to get progressively worse.

I am happy to report that the new TSU-2200 seems to be working very well, see video below. The install was pretty easy, as I just had to cut out the old and solder in the new decoder to the existing wires. Installing the Current Keeper was really easy as it has a plug that fits the decoder. All I had to do was trim the plastic insulation on the decoder a tiny bit to allow the plug to slip in.

As usual, I couldn't get my Easy DCC to program the decoder address. So I had to get out the SPROGII. Of course it was set up for HO locos, so I had to convert the SPROGII  from HO to  O scale locos. I actually set it up so I can now do either scale without further set up. Thankfully, the SPROGII worked. While I had it on the SPROGII programming track  I did some basic programming.  Then I used Ops Mode programming to tweak some of the CVs while the engine ran on the track . The only CV I can't find is the simmer and hiss sound when the engine is idling. All my other steamers make noise when they idle. This one doesn't. Anyone know what CV controls that? I need to repair the wood pile as some of the logs fell off during the decoder swap and it will be ready to roll.

While I was playing around with locos and my iPhone, I hooked up a DC power pack to PoLA and test ran the new Key Imports HO scale PRR B6 0-6-0.  It runs well and has surprising tractive effort for such as small loco. This engine is for a project for my next book. I plan to install a sound decoder and current keeper in it too.

Infrastructure Improvements Wrap Up

I am just about finished with infrastructure improvements for the basement and the layouts. I finished repainting all the common areas that I planned to repaint. I did not target the areas with backdrops, fascia, or valances, though I did touch up a few places on the fascia. We are supposed to get new carpet for the stairwell in a week. That will be the last of the planned improvements. Hopefully it will give the overall layout room a neat and clean appearance. I also took the opportunity to reshuffle the wall hangings and swap out some of the old pieces with new.

New lights eliminated back lighting at Falmouth

Next I installed new LED light strips to replace several of the problematic fluorescents lights. Thanks to a tip from Frank Hodina I ordered an 8 pack of these LED lights from Amazon (click here). Combined with some 18-inch long LED light strips I got from Home Depot I was able to greatly improve the lighting in my layout room and shop. These lights are supposed to last 50,000 hours. I hope that is true since I had bad luck with the flourescents. Nearly every one of the fluorescent lights I had in the layout room have failed over the 8-12 years they have been installed. Usually it was a bad bulb, but I also have several ballasts go out too. They were a real pain to replace.

The LEDs also use less power, create less heat, do not emit much UV, produce a consistent color light, and are linkable making wiring much simpler.  These fixtures are also very light weight. I used hot glue to install them. I was able to put them in locations that help avoid the back lighting that my existing light system created.


Like many of us, I have way too many books and magazines.  I wanted to add more book shelves to the layout.  To do it, I added a display shelf under the Borax peninsula on PoLA.  I used the same Ivar shelf system I used elsewhere in the layout. I put various models on display in this area since it is visible from and back. The shelves freed up from no longer displaying models are now holding books.

I think Ikea is discontinuing these shelves, so I was unable to order extra shelf pins. But my local hardware store had some double threaded studs that worked perfectly to secure the shelves.

During the last op session Engine Haupt was acting up again. I think the decoder and perhaps the current keeper on it are bad. So I ordered a new Tsunmai 2002 steam decoder and current keeper. George Bogatiuk at Soundtrax suggested this approach as the new decoders are more efficient. Hopefully this is the answer, as Haupt is a good runner, heavy puller, and sounds great,... when it runs.  Yes, I hate DCC.


We had a busy Easter weekend. My brother and new fiancé visited. After a triple party to celebrate their engagement, my mom's 94th birthday, and our retirement from government service, my brother did an informal op session on PoLA.
A few days later, my friend, Bayo Adedeji, stopped by with his 10-year old twins, Alexander and Ariana to run some trains. They are on spring break. This is the second time they operated the layout.  Hopefully, they will come back again.

Last but not least, Seth Neumann and Steve Williams of Model Railroad Control Systems sent me this test video showing progress on the Telegraph system.  They are nearly ready to send the Arduino systems to me for installation on the layout. I'll post more about that as it gets installed.

The Inmates Are Running the DCC Asylum

DCC Comics Latest Story

Anyone that reads this blog knows that I have a love-hate relationship with DCC.  This week the DCC relationship needle is swinging toward the hate side.  Here is why.

The prototype photo at the left shows the scene that inspired the PoLA layout. I wanted a layout that featured heavy duty, six-axle locos switching freight cars on wharves alongside massive modern ships and cranes.

For the Waterfront Terminals and Operations book I borrowed some of Ramon Rhodes's BNSF 6-axle diesels to use as photo props on this layout. Thanks Ramon, those were very helpful, but I always planned to get some large BNSF power myself to operate on the layout. Thanks to Matt Gaudynski at Fox Valley Models, I did get some BNSF GP60s for the book.  But those were 4-axle locos and the GP-60M is probably not correct for Los Angeles, though the GP-60s did frequent PoLA.

So over the past few weeks I have purchased some new HO scale 6-axle locos. The first was a  BNSF Gevo Tier 4 from Scale Trains in the Rivet Counter spec. It has a Loksound V4 Select decoder. I got it via a Facebook sale, as they were out of stock by the time I looked into getting one. The model arrived and I put it on the track. It looks fantastic, runs beautifully and sounds great, although way too loud. My wife could hear it up stairs. The decoder in this loco has a keep alive circuit, which is a nice touch.

A short while later, I received an Athearn ES44DC from Mainline Hobby Supply (a fantastic shop with great service) that I had advanced ordered a few months ago.  It has a Soundtrax Tsunami decoder. It also looks fantastic, runs great and sounds realistic, although also too loud.

So now I am finally able to recreate the scene that inspired the layout. Well, maybe, as long as I don't try to run locos together.  The locos have different speed characteristics and the function buttons control different functions. Some of the functions on one are not available on the other.  So it's time to reprogram. No problem I've done this in the past using my EasyDCC. I'll just program new addresses, remap the functions and consist them together.

Like all DCC locos with decoders, these come programmed to address 3. It's a simple matter to reprogram the address, right? Just put it on the programmer track and push a few buttons. Nope, for some reason my programming track would not work, even though I purchased a Sountraxx programming booster for it. Not just for the new locos, but I also tested some of my others, where it previously worked, and now it didn't. I checked the wiring and power. All seemed OK. I cleaned the track and checked the solder joints. All were OK, but still no programming track capability.  Fraking DCC.

With the programming track inoperative, I looked to Ops Mode programming. It worked, but you really can't change loco addresses in Ops Mode  (it is feasible but a pain in the petunias). Also, remapping functions with Easy DCC in Ops Mode is an exercise in hexadecimal hell. Consisting is somewhat easier, until you try to customize the function buttons. Then you're back in hexadecimal hell. Fraking DCC.

Being unable to figure out what was wrong with my EasyDCC programming track and dreading the hexadecimal torture that is Ops Mode programming on EasyDCC, I looked for options. After a few hours of internet searching, the best shot seemed to be JMRI Decoder Pro. I was able to download Decoder Pro and it worked on my iMac.

So I ordered a SPROGII v4 from Mountain SubDivision Hobbies to create an independent programming track. It arrived a few days later.  I went with a SPROG II as I didn't want to try to interface with my EasyDCC system with a serial to USB adapter cable since I was having trouble with the EasyDCC programming track. Also, my computer is not in the same room as my layout and my laptop is too old for the latest versions of JMRI. OK, I admit I have extra computers laying around the house, but they are all old and I didn't want to go through updating them all.

Did you notice how this is evolving into a discussion of computers and software and not model trains. This is part of the hate side of the DCC relationship.  I get enough of computers at work and just about everywhere else. When I play with my trains, I want to play with my trains. I don't want to use computer software, update drivers, look for USB ports, attach serial buses, and check Java versions.

The SPROGII v4 comes with Mac OS X USB drivers installed, so setting it up was fairly simple. The manual is a hundred pages long. A quick scan shows hundreds, maybe thousands, of possible options. Lets look at that later. I'll just follow the quick set-up.  I put the Athearn ES44DC on the track and asked it to create a new loco in Decoder Pro. After about 5 minutes, the software said, "No decoder detected. Error 301." I had to google that.  It is either a bad decoder, bad wiring (it's two wires for cripe's sakes), or dirty track.  OK,  check all and try again.  Still no luck. After a few more tries, including making sure the loco still worked on the layout, I resorted to the classic debugging technique. I rebooted the Mac and SPROGII.

Still no luck, error 301. OK, maybe it's the decoder. Lets try another loco. I put the Gevo Tier 4 on. Whoa, wait a minute - DecoderPro worked. I was able to change the address. Lets test it. Back on the layout, I can't get the loco to respond with the 4-digit address, but it will work with the 2-digit address. Fraking DCC.

Fine, 2 digits it is. Now, maybe I can remap the Loksound functions to match the Soundtraxx decoder using Decoder Pro. Hmm, that's not working either. Lets download the Loksound manual. Over one hundred pages later of electrical engineer gibberish with a slightly Germanic twist (BTW I am a big fan of German technology as I drive a Porsche and have a bunch of Festools, but you have to admit they have a certain way of describing technical things. Alles ist Ganz Ordnung, Ja? I supposed it could be worse, as it is not translated from Chinese or Japanese) I find out that function mapping for LokSound V4 Select decoders is not really compatible with Decoder Pro. Loksound recommends you get their programmer device. That costs $120 and you need a Windoze 10 computer. So add another couple hundred to the price as I am a Mac user.   Oh well, I guess I'll live with the functions as mapped.

Fortunately, when the locos are consisted you can disable certain functions. But even with Decoder Pro this is a trial and error procedure as the effects of disabling a function don't work the same on each loco. Fraking DCC.

So, where am I now? I have been able to get both locos programmed to new 2-digit address. I don't know why the 4 digit addresses didn't work. I was able to get them consisted. The lights work almost as intended, but still not the way I want. I won't bore you with those details. Fraking DCC.

I was able to lower the sound volumes using Decoder Pro. OK, now the big challenge, can I get them to run at the same speeds. After about a hour of tweaking in Decoder Pro and testing on the track the answer is no, but they might good enough. Fraking DCC.

One of the things I like to do when switching is to use the brakes. Because I haven't been able to figure out function mapping, this consist will operate without the brake function. Fraking DCC.

Finally, one bit of good news. My PHL66 SD40 , an Athearn model with a Wow sound decoder and keep alive, was acting up. I sent the decoder back to the manufacturer and they said it checked out. But it still acted funny when I reinstalled it in the loco. By funny I mean the sound was dropping out and the throttle  was losing control. Fraking DCC.

I put the loco on the SPROGII programming track and used Decoder Pro to do a decoder reset. That seems to have fixed that problem. Now, I need to reassemble the loco and reattach the lights. However, I am considering swapping the decoder for a Tsumani. That will simplify things as it will mean I have two and opposed to three types of decoders no the layout, as I only have one TCS Wowsound decoder.

In conclusion, I think the DCC sound manufacturers in their arms race to "out feature" each other have gone too far. In an effort to make their locos sound and act more realistic we have lost simplicity and ability to work interchangeably. When I play with my trains, I want to play with my trains. 

I walk every day along the former RF&P main line to get to metro. I often hear trains coming. I try to guess what they are and how many units. I can never get it right. To me they all sound the same. So all this effort to get exact prime movers, air compressor sounds, etc. is lost on me.

Let's be honest, it's basically industrial noise. Most of my visitors, operators, and wife prefer the DCC sounds system be at a low volume anyway. DCC sound is trying to attain sound fidelity well past the point of diminishing returns. Now, they are making things worse.

I hope the DCC manufacturers take a step back from their oscilloscopes and EPROMs and take a look at what model railroaders want. And don't just look at it from your own stovepipe system. They need to consider the whole technology ecosystem of operating model railroads. A ecosystem where old and new components from different manufacturers have to work together. That was supposed to be the NMRA's job, but right now I'd say they failed. So now we have the inmates running the DCC asylum.


PS.  Added Nov 2. 

My wife asked me if I felt better by writing this "rant."

I replied, "yes, because it was nice to know I wasn't the only one having these issues."

Anyway, having thought about it, I decided to throw good money after bad, and I ordered a second Scale Trains Gevo to run as a matched set. These locos are just too nice and smooth running to not use on the layout. The cost of a second loco with the factory decoder was less than trying to get a laptop and proprietary programmer.  The Decoder Pro software  can handle most of the functions I need except for remapping.

Now, I need to decide if I will sell the Athearn ES44DC or keep it and  get a matching unit for it too. One can never have too many locos, right?

Catering to the Iron Beast: The Never Ending Battle

Steam locomotive models, like their real life counterparts, require constant maintenance, care, and the occasional angry word. Case in point - the Aquia Line has 5 locomotives, and only two were running reliably. The two were Fury and Whiton. Both have battery power. Whiton has been the recipient of the new BPS circuity. Prior to that it had problems holding a charge. Since the upgrade it has not lost charge once.

Engine McCallum has DCC and all wheel pick up, but no keep alive. It wheels must be kept clean to run well.

Haupt and Oscela have all wheel pick up and keep alive capacitors. Haupt's keep alive will only hold about 4-6 seconds of charge. Lately it started stalling in several places. I decided to clean the wheels. At that point I noticed, that the all-wheel pickups I had installed on the tender trucks had worked loose. They were no longer making good contact. I fixed those and did a thorough wheel cleaning with acetone. After that, Haupt ran without a problem for 30 minutes straight.

Osceola mysteriously stopped running a few weeks ago. It would make sound and would move about one revolution in each direction before stopping. I carefully inspected it but could not find a problem. Given that the sound was fine and it did move a bit, I figured there was something jamming it. I resigned myself to send it out for another set of eyes to look at it. But, this afternoon we had some guests. When I fired up the layout to demonstrate it, I noticed that one of the throttles on the Easy DCC control panel was set to 007, the number for Osceola. (That system comes with two fixed-in-place throttles.)  I reset that to zero and tested Osceola. Sure enough, it worked just fine. DCC systems generally cannot handle two throttles controlling one decoder. A simple, seemingly inexplicable glitch like this is more evidence that, "to err is human, but it takes DCC to really foul things up."

While running it I noticed that it shorted briefly as it crossed turnout frogs, but it kept powering through. A quick look underneath revealed that a wire to the pilot truck pick-up had broken. It was dragging and causing the intermittent short.

That was a simple fix and now Osceola is running perfectly. Its only drawback is that it has little tractive effort. About 3 or 4 cars is all I can expect it to haul around my layout. Thus, this engine will be used as the reserve engine kept in steam for use of the commanding General. So it will run as an extra when General Hooker  or his staff needs a ride to and from Aquia Landing. I found a message in the archives (or maybe it was Haupt's book) that mentioned this requirement.

I also discovered that two of the frog juicers on a hex-frog juicer circuit card were not working properly. I had to cut the  wire to those frogs to get the circuit to function properly. I also noticed that if I touch the card and slightly move it, the circuit acts erratically.  At one point the card got really hot and made a slight burnt smell, but it still seems to function.

The bottom line is that now I have 4 engines that run very reliably and one, McCallum, that is a bit prone to stalls.  I am looking into adding a keep alive to McCallum to help it run more reliably.

Alex and Jake running a train out of Aquia Landing

The guests today were John Drye, Jake Brendel and his girlfriend Alex Connole. After a home made lasagna dinner courtesy of my mom, they had a chance to run the layout. This was the first model RR the Alex saw. She told Jake that she thought the civil war layout was really cool. Jake however, seemed to prefer PoLA, though he liked the unique aspect of Aquia.

Passing Brooke

This past weekend I was at the NMRA MER annual convention in Harrisburg. I delivered 4 clinics over the weekend, went to an op session at Brian Wolfe's layout, and visited 3 other layouts. I also attended several other clinics including one by Ed Kapuscinski on his NCR N scale layout, and 2 clinics by Lee Rainey, a long time member of the the ACWRRHS. I had known Lee several years on the ACWRRHS forum,  but this was the first time we ever met. Lee models the East Broad Top and PRR in Mt Union in S scale.

I entered the Conductor's Car model in the model contest. It won first place in the caboose category.

Also in the model room was a G Scale train by Dennis Lenz that featured a Hartland 4-4-0 pulling  6 cars, 5 were USMRR flats with a Union Artillery battery, and forge, while the sixth was a  combination freight car (the latter was lettered for the Manassass Gap RR).

Some of Denis Lenz's G scale cars

Getting Ready for Op Session 2

Newest freight cars to join the Aquia Line fleet

Logo on new shirts

Like the Monitor arriving just in time to save the Union fleet at Hampton Roads, the new Aquia Line embroidered shirts have arrived just in time for the ACWRRHS Op Session and Open House. (BTW have you ever noticed how many ACW battles swung by the just in time arrival of a some unit - Johnson at First Bull Run, AP Hill at Antietam, Longstreet at Wilderness and Chickamauga, Buell at Shiloh,... I digress)
Actually they are on a UPS truck to my house  update- are on hand now.  These are special shirts reserved only for those that have helped build the layout.

The op session for the ACWRRHS starts at 1300 tomorrow. I expect a big group. Then at 1500 it switches to an open house for the ACWRRHS members that don't want to operate.

I had a busy week, despite catching a cold.

First, I tweaked track by test running both battery and DCC powered locos. I found a few spots that needed adjustments. I have learned that the most problematic aspect in my turnout construction is where the point rails bend at the frog. That bend has to be made very precisely. I have found that the portion of the point rail that is adjacent to the frog can be set a bit loose without hurting performance. But the guard rails opposite them on the stock rails must be spot on. They need to be set right to the gauge so that the trucks don't pick the frog, but not too tight that the pinch the wheels.

I also drove more spikes, so there is probably only 6 feet or so of track left to spike.

I finished building 6  more cars, 4 box cars and 2 flat cars, thanks to some pre-assembly work from JB Weilepp and Paul Dolkos  (see photo above). I painted these box cars medium gray, which looks good when paired with my other burgundy and tawny brown colored cars (sounds like a wine tasting, bring your own crackers). All these cars have home-made cast metal trucks, so their brakes do not operate. That makes 21 cars so far. I think 30 to 36 is a good target number. I have three more "kits" ready to build. Then I want to make some peaked roof box cars, which will require some new laser drawings.

I went on a coupler height adjustment campaign too.   When backing cars, coupler height is critical. When the couplers are mismatched height, the links jam and cars derail. As long as the couplers push face to face when backing, they run well.   I also swapped the factory installed couplers on the locos with my own photo etched versions, as mine work better when pushing.

I also cleaned the pickup wheels for my locos, ... but then, I swapped the battery power supply for Whiton with one of the new designs.  The new BPS uses track power to power both the motor and the battery recharger. The battery only kicks in when the track power is off.  In other words, it is the mother of all keep alive circuits.  I did a test and sure enough, the new BPS can run the decoder off track power even without a battery. With this BPS and the old battery, Whiton now has been running near perfectly.  With the new BPS system, one can use a smaller battery, which will make future installations much simpler. I am now seriously considering converting all the locos to the Stanton battery system.

Wait, didn't you just wire the whole layout for DCC? Why not just just DCC decoders with keep a-lives capacitors?  Haupt has such a keep alive circuit with regular DCC. For some unknown reason, it will stall every now and then. The Stanton battery locos don't stall. They even chug through the occasional short that happens when my brass locos  touch wheels to frames on my tight curves.  Yes, as much as I tweak the engines they do still happen.

A last item, I modified the timetable a bit to try to pack in a bit more action.  One of my testers from last week suggested I run fewer cars in the trains fro new operators, so we will try that.

Tomorrow should be an interesting day.

Resistance was not futile

Ohm my word, it finally happened. I finished wiring the tracks to the Aquia Line. There were a few glitches along the way,  such as I forgot to gap the turnout on the wharf, that caused a few head scratching moments. But after cutting those gaps, all was back to normal. Also, some of the guard rails of my frogs were not electrically connected to the neighboring rails, causing a few unexpected stalls. I fixed those by soldering jumpers. People that solder their frogs and guard rails don't have this problem.

I installed a Tony Trains Exchange On-Guard auto reverser circuit on one leg of the wye and added 9 Tam Valley Frog juicers to the turnouts. Both items are straight forward to install and worked great.

Engine Haupt,  equipped with a Tsunami sound decoder, chugs across the manual turnout from the Bakery siding

The turnout to the siding for the bakery could not use a frog juicer. This was because a locomotive entering that frog will also trigger the frog juicer on the frog of the adjacent crossover. Frog juicers do not work well when two are tripped by a loco at the same time.  To solve that problem, I added a manually operated SPDT toggle switch to handle the polarity on that frog to the fascia near that turnout. I added a switch plate on the fascia to help operators to remember to flip it when they also move the points.  Fortunately, that turnout is only switched when accessing the siding, so it normally will be set for "main line." This is the only non-automatic polarity switching frog on the layout. Hopefully it won't cause too many operational errors.  A better solution would be to add an under table mechanism, but that would require a new design as my current switch stands and point bridles are scale size and not easy to modify.

Some lessons learned from this wiring exercise.

1. Turn off layout power when wiring
2. Follow a color code to keep track of polarity - I used "red to rear."
3. Test for shorts after each connection
4. Wiring with bi-focals under the layout is tough. Bring a work light with you to better see under the bench work. My desk chair could be adjusted to allow sitting under the layout in some spots which helped make things more comfortable.
5. Testing DCC circuits with an Ohm meter can be tricky. Engines, especially battery powered,  left on the tracks will measure as high resistance shorts. Best to remove all engines when debugging.

With all the wiring done, it is time to do some testing, and that is on going.  The wye works well. I have a few rough spots in the track-work that tuning and adjusting should help alleviate.

I am thinking about modifying my links to prevent them from jamming when cars are backing. As long as the cars push coupler face to couple face they work well. But sometimes, the links jam in the pockets and don't allow the faces to touch. That can cause the cars to lift off the rails. I plan to make narrower links without the middle bar. Hopefully, that stops the derails that sometimes happen when backing up.

They came from a land down under

Lachlan runs an engine into Falmouth while Garry videos.

This evening Garry Glazebrook and Lachlan McGuire visited  Alicia and I in Alexandria, VA. 

Garry and Lachlan are from the Southern Highlands of Australia near Burradoo.   Both Garry and Lachlan have layouts. Lachlan described  his as "small" and currently stored in a shed, while Garry has an extensive model railroad called the Newcastle to Fassifern. It includes an large steel mill, a harbor area, and over 200 turnouts. Lachlan helps Garry with the wiring, a fact that would come in handy later. 

After a quick introduction to the layouts, they had  a chance operate both  Aquia Line and the PoLA.  

They had the honor of running the first train on the new tracks. Like most new operators, the double slip stub turnouts caused some confusion. 

Since the tracks at Aquia Landing are not yet fully wired, they ran a battery powered loco.  They were the first operators to turn an engine on the wye at Aquia Landing!

Lachlan discovered that the locos and cars were shorting as the crossed the boundary between the new booster we added last week and the old booster. Fortunately, Lachlan is a bit of a wiring guru. We spent about an hour debugging the problem. In the end we concluded that there was something wrong with the new booster. No matter how we wired its output wires it caused a short at the boundary. But otherwise it worked fine. At first we suspected that since they were from  down under, that may be contributing to the short. But we eventually ruled that out. We could not find any crossed polarity feeders. We also could not find any feeders that would have been causing two boosters to feed one section of track. In the end, we removed the "new" third booster and reverted back to a two booster system - one for PoLA and one for Aquia. Then everything worked fine. This is another case of, "to err is human, but to really foul things up takes DCC." Anyway, it was a good test of the system. At least it is working now.

It was fun to compare notes with Aussie model railroaders. Perhaps we need to make a visit to the Land Down Under.

A hull of a lot of sanding

We are getting a bigger boat

After a good nights sleep and three cups of joe, I headed down to the basement to see if the GENSET still worked. I fired up the DCC and, yes, it did!  Alleluia!

Then I dived into the Soundtraxx decoder manual and technical reference, which I found on-line on Soundtraxx's website. After about 3 hours of arcane reading about bits, indexed configuration variable pages, function mapping, and OpsMode programming I was able to get the GENSET to operate with momentum, braking, and automatic ditch lights. I even did some remapping of the function keys. It now runs very well and sounds great.  The independent brake function is really nice. One push to apply and it makes a nice squeal as it comes to a stop. Push again and it makes an air hiss sound as the brakes release and the loco moves.

 The current keeper makes for stall free operation.   All in all a sweet running loco. It looks good too. Now to add some slight weathering.

The EasyDCC system has a nice control panel that simplifies programming CV values. At one point I was setting individual bits on the ditch light CVs. It's very easy to do with the EasyDCC system. No need to add up binary and hexadecimal numbers to get desired effects. There are thousands of combinations of settings. Seriously folks, this DCC sound stuff is getting out of hand. You could make loco sound programming a hobby all to itself.

Sanding the bow on the deck table. This is going to
get serious....

Just before lunch I began work on shaping the bulk carrier hull. I initially used a table on the back porch to sand the hull. But I decided to get serious and set up my portable saw horses and work table.

I used a belt sander with a very coarse belt for rough shaping, then an orbital palm sander to smooth out the rough surface. Finally, some putty and hand sanding to get the surface almost to the finished smoothness.

Rough sanded bow

I added a quarter inch to the top of the forecastle layer to bring it up to the correct height. For that I used a piece of quarter inch aspen plywood that I cut with my saber saw. That worked out pretty well.

I glued and screwed the parallel mid body pieces to the bow and stern. We had cut rabbets in Rob's shop, but they were off a bit. A few shims were needed to get everything square and level. The reason for the glitch is that we used a router to cut the rabbets, and not the table saw. My brother was concerned the wet glue would trip the safety stop of the table saw. So we used cruder methods to cut the rabbets and we were off just a bit.

Hand sanding around the bulbous bow

Belt sander makes quick work on the stern section

Next I will start sealing and sanding. The deck will be covered with a skin or styrene. I have not decided if i will skin the hull sides, or just seal and paint.

I ordered a bunch of detail parts from Deans Marine in the UK, but they have not yet arrived.

Puttying the holes and gaps

Using a box to mock up the superstructure.  The silos and ship will make a good view block. 

The Mysterious Ways of Dr DCC

While I was in Florida last week, I purchased a Soundtraxx PTB-100 Programming Booster. The booster is supposed to provide "reliable programming of all Soundtraxx DCC decoders." It was simple to wire up, except that I had to cut the power input wires to my Easy DCC system to splice in the taps for the input power to the PTB-100 circuit. It turned on and the status light gave a reassuring blinking green glow.

I put the troublesome GENSET loco with the Tsunami 2 sound decoder on the programming track. Alas, the PTB-100 status lights gave brief red flashes when I entered programming instructions, indicating that there was insufficient voltage input to the circuit. I got these red indicators for both the GENSET and one of my O scale locos with a Tsunami decoder.

I put the GENSET on the rails and it fired up. Things seem to work normally. But, after about a minute the loco would not respond to inputs. I shut everything down, checked my wiring and input voltage to the PTB-100. All seemed OK. I tried to program again. Red error lights again. But when I tested the loco it worked properly.

I did a full reboot cycle to see if to would still work and it did. I have no idea why it worked, but for now I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

There are two special functions FX26 nd FX 27 for ditch lights that I can't access from the Easy DCC system as there is no way to address as 2x function (or perhaps I can but don't know how. I may have to remap these to different function buttons. But having read the manual, I have no clue how to do it. I also have no clue what the dynamic brake function does. Gosh, I hate DCC!)

Also, when we arrived home, the USPS had already delivered the bow and stern parts to the bulk carrier  ship model that I mailed from Florida. Good job USPS. I placed the wooden ship hull on the intended wharf area. It fills the space quite nicely. I may make the borax pier an inch narrower, and the water area a matching inch wider to have a bit water between the hull and the fascia. Right now the hull comes right up to the edge of the fascia.



So all in all a good day. One more loco in service, and the ship hull in house. The jury is still out on the PTB-100.

The week of DCC Comes to an End

The week of DCC comes to an end with the creation of a separate easy DCC zone for PoLA. I had ordered a separate Easy DCC Zone Master a few weeks ago, but finally got to install it today. The most difficult aspect of the job was running the bus wires from the central distribution panel under the bench work. The rest of the hook-up was pretty straight forward. Once I connected the wires and double checked everything, I flipped on the master power. Fortunately,  there were no sparks or smoke.  Everything seems to be working.

This concludes the to-do list of DCC items I wanted to finish. I still plan to add a third booster for Aquia Landing. That will be relatively easy, as I had previously installed the bus wires under the benchwork as I built it. I also have some wiring to do when I lay the Aquia Landing track, but that will be done incrementally as I work on the track.  All the steam locomotives have functioning DCC and sound. All but one have either batteries or current keepers.

Brad is watching Margaret operate PoLA

Earlier in the day Brad and Margaret Trenkamp visited the layout. They are new neighbors of ours as they recently moved into a striking modern townhouse in the Del Ray area of Alexandria, a mile from my house. Brad is building a Florida theme switching layout in a spare room of the house in the style of Lance Mindheim. It is great to have another model railroader near by. Lance was also scheduled to visit today, but the snowy roads caused him to abort.

Margaret got a chance to run a train on PoLA. She said it was the first time she ever got to run model train. She did a great job as she carefully listened and followed the guidance I gave her on operations. If only my normal operators were so meticulous.  Later Brad got to take Osceola on a run over the USMRR with 5 cars in tow. One of the cars derailed on a turnout in Brooke. But Osceola ran and sounded great. Afterwards, Brad and I discussed the next step in the layout plans.

After they left I checked the turnout and the wheel sets of the offending car. For once it was a wheel set with a wobbly wheel that was partially out of gauge and not my track work that caused the problem. Our the past two weeks I have been tweaking and tuning problems on the Aquia Line as I discover them. Things I have done included, adjusting some stub points to prevent interference. Humidity changes seem to affect them. I also fixed a few switch stands that had minor issues. I cleaned the track and wheel sets on the locos. That is the first time I have done that in probably two years.   The layout is operating better as a result. I did some dusting too, but the layout should probably get a thorough vacuuming. Another remaining task is to check all the cars for consistent coupler height.

I am running out of excuses to avoid layout track in Aquia.

I also did a bit of editing of the Osceola Silent Film Check it out if you have time.

Back at the Dexter Lake DCC Club

Tonight I swapped the battery decoder in Osceola (with the incongruous diesel sound system) for a Tsunami T-1000 steam decoder with a current keeper. I also swapped the large speaker with a tiny sugar cube speaker. This had the effect of reducing dead weight in the tender as the battery and speaker did weigh a few ounces. In accordance with Dave Schneider's suggestion (he is the manufacturer of the locomotive model), I removed all the weights I added to the engine. He suggested Bullfrog Snot for traction tires too, but I had already added traction tires to the port side drivers.

Soundtraxx Sugar Cube speaker

 It is now running very nicely. The current keeper prevents any electrical stalls and sound drops. The natural balance of the engine is good and it doesn't suffer from curve drag as much as when it was loaded with the extra weights. It still has some trouble with the grades, but that is OK. It can run the mainline with 5 cars, with a running start on the grades. It should be able to handle 6 cars on the flats. It is not necessarily a bad thing to have engines on the roster with different tractive effort. It will keep the yard and engine masters on their toes.

Wood piles compared

 The sugar cube speaker sounds quite good too, almost as good as the QSI HB speaker in Haupt. With the tiny sugar cube speaker and the smaller decoder hidden in the walls of the tender, the installation in Osceola is practically invisible. No need for a huge wood pile to hide electronics.

 All in all I am glad I added Osceola to the roster. It's great looking model and it does run very well. We O scalers are lucky that SMR produced these locos.

 I also put a second T1300 throttle in service. Just a few more DCC tasks to add some boosters to zones and I'll be back to laying track.