Working the Engine

Procrastination is a great thing.  Someday I'll get around to writing about it, but that certainly isn't today. However, I did finally get around to fixing up my GP-38 (Atlas with built in Lenz decoder).

It was running really poorly - jerking and stopping every couple inches.  So I took it apart, made sure the connections looked ok from the motor to the DCC board.  It was worse than before when I put it back on the track.  Of course.  This hobby can be killer for the ego, I'm telling you.  But I never let technology win, so I took it apart and put a big ol' blob of solder on the DCC board motor connector that I thought wasn't getting a good connection.  Put it back on the tracks and it ran like a champ.  I won this one. Hurray.   I can't claim the all the credit for this victory, I have to thank the Internet for a lot of the thought power behind the simple fix.


Next on the list is getting my C-630's to speed match so I can put them into a consist.  I've spent hours trying things but they refuse to match speeds despite being identical.  

Frustration has a new name and its Model Trains.

Servo's and more Servo's

As much as I want my layout complete, its quite fun building it.  But sometimes, just sometimes I just wish the damn thing was done already !  I have most of the track work complete for the up and down tracks - by that I mean two ways up or down to the main loop.  Final end to end connectivity requires two bridges to be put into place.  Once that's done then I can start running trains and watching them go 'round and 'round without human intervention.  I can also focus on using JMRI  to get the trains running automatically, and someday, intelligently with route decision making etc.

Anyway back to the work for the last week or two.  I think I've mastered Servo installations and my personal technique to get the servo to throw the switch.  The problem is kind of related to the type of movement the servo is designed for - radial (not sure if this is the accurate word, but its a circular motion) while the throw on the switch is linear (back and forth).  Getting the radial movement to translate into the linear is the heart of the problem with servo's, or at least it is for me.  The solution is dirt simple, and there a couple ways to actually do it.  BUT  there are new servo's that are linear geared, and would be perfect for this.  Unfortunately I've already purchased my 50 odd servo's (each is a whopping $2.49), the new ones are 4.29 or so. Anyway, back to the technique.  I use a wire all bent up to reduce the radial movement into as small as possible so it mimics a linear movement.   I'll try to use Google sketchup to do up what the hell I'm talking about.
 

Suffice it to say that my technique works pretty well.  Of course there's always a joker in the crowd so my installations aren't yet flawless.  I've done 14 installations with this new technique and managed 12 of them without any muss or fuss.  2 of them need tweaking which I'll get to when I have some patience to work on it

I've also been installing the Tam Valley QuadPics that control the servo's on the front of my benchwork.  A track plan will cover them with the push buttons controlling the turnouts in that.  Fascia will go above and underneath.  Or so the master plan dictates.

I got really clever in my installation and used old computer motherboard spacers (brass thing in picture below) that screw into the benchwork, and then a screw goes into that to afix the Quad-Pic.

I've got 5 fixed in place currently, another couple are slated to be done this weekend.

I've also begun painting my Atlas bridges.  Finished two of them, working on the third.  They're a snap (haha, literally they snap together with four screws to hold the track and bottom pieces together).  I primed them up and then painted them black.  Added some rust colour and they came out ok I think.

Another Digitrax installation

Well, tried another decoder install. Had to research the case removal again. The Kato P42 Genesis was on sale at the LHS at a price I just couldn't pass up. Unfortunately there aren't any matching LRC Via Rail cars so I had to settle for other Via Rail cars but there is precedent in the real world to support this.

The KATO P-42 "Genesis" VIA RAIL

So with the help of Reality Reduced I found out all the needed tricks to pull off this decoder installation without any issues. He used a sound decoder, but I went basic with the Digitrax DN163K0A.  It was a breeze - well, mostly. The biggest issue turned out to be getting my damn fingernail beneath the kapton tape end to get it off the decoder!! Finding the end of the tape wasn't pretty either. All things considered, though it worked out really well. Then I threw it on the track and watched her run.  Worked great !  I've got some factory installed decoders in my other Atlas locomotives, all from Lenz and I have to say, I see the reason that people wouldn't want to have factory installed decoders.  The Digitrax are awesome - they run incredibly smooth, which I think is thanks to the BEMF.  I'm working with JRMI's decoderpro to work out the kinks in my twin C630's.  I think the electrical contacts need cleaning/fixing, as they suck on the track. 

 A picture of the real 4500, retired from CPR in '93.  She's still working on the Western New York Pennsylvania Railroad

My two C-630's in their maroon colours

The work continues but the progress seems slow

I had expected to have been finished the track work by now but progress has slowed.  The inclines are trickier than I had first thought, and I've had to change the path some of them took too many times to count.  I also added another way up and down so there could be two trains running simultaneously at any 1 time without too much interference. 

I've also spent a lot of time investigating train detection to automate the layout with computer control - of course!  Since I don't feel like ripping up the track to put in total power block isolation, I'm going to go with photo transistors.  I also think that power tracking isn't the right way to do things - it feels like a left over from the DC days when you had to use power blocks.  There's also better ways to do detection - sound, RFID, IR, etc.  I think that the tech should not only show where things are (with an inch or two) but what the things are (loco ID's, etc)  RFID can almost do this - the location aspect is difficult or so I'm reading.  Photocell's can read this info as trains pass over if they've got the tech for it... just nothing right now unfortunately. 

I'm still stumbling slowly forward. 

Building the yard

Got some work done this past week.  Its been a bit frustrating as I was waiting for bridges and was hemming and hawing over the elevation, and curves.  Just thinking too many things and not doing anything.  So I said 'screw it' and built the yard.

I'm now debating on whether its going to be the Kitchener Station or the Streetsville yard .  Kitchener is where I was born and raised, so there's some nostalgia, but Streetsville is close to where I work now and its more a true yard (and its CP).  I might put Kitchener across the table now, so I can have the best of both worlds!

The original plan has met some changes - shocker!  - and due to lack of foresight on my part about cliffs and scenery and other stuff, two tracks were discarded.  No big deal, they were just going to be rip tracks and engine spots.   Oh and the angles on the one side are off, but it still works!

Building the yard

All put together and glued down

So that's the work that's been going on lately.  Still having issues on where to place all the controls for the switches, as the front of this section's table has all the electrical wiring going to it.  Hindsight being 20/20 it was the wrong place to put it all.  Oh well.

Rolling Stock

I love to get parcels in the mail.  There's just something Christmasy about it.  Anyway, recently I ordered some Thomas the Train stuff from my N scale supplier, so I tacked on a few things that I needed (well, wanted is a better word).  And I finally found some Rapido Via Rail cars on line from a great supplier in Manitoba (go Canada eh!? Rapido is also Canadian so its nice the total solution was sourced from here)  and the more I looked at his stuff, the more I decided to buy.  of course. 

So in addition to 4 Via Rail cars, pictures to follow, I got 4 hopper cars from Intermodal.  Ok, my thoughts on the Rapido - wow, awesome detail, nice rolling, great stuff but I expected that from their price.

The Intermodals were surprising though.  Inexpensive, 15 bucks or something, but the detail and quality are top notch. Very impressive.

 

Hoppers in action!



Going East out of Fergus's Industrial Spurs

Track plan revision

I've done some things here and there, but its slowed down.  I'm finding that I've been thinking way to much and doing to little.  So I thought I'd post this and see if I can push forward a bit.

I revised the plan to include another way down from the top layer, before I had only 1 way down and no way to turn a train around.  The revision allows a train to come up, make a complete loop and then descend to the bottom layer.   The picture is below, the green is the top layer, about 10" above the blue.

Revised Track Plan

Also a bit frustrating is my deviation from the plan !  I'm finding that I'm close in my layout but there are some serious differences. For example the Kitchener Yard - I screwed it up a bit and my two engine leads are going to have to be on the south end and not the north as on this plan.  Also there are going to be some seriously steep cliffs as I don't think I thought enough about horizontal elevation changes.

Prettied up in Photoshop

I thought of a new style for my layout plan - the actual with pictures, so I tried it out with mixed results.  Only the top half, I still had a few problems with skew and my angles.  I think next time I'll have to rig up a fix to hold the camera vertical every time.

I hope that it will all work out in the end !

 Also I'm ordering some Via Rail stuff to go with my P42 Via Rail Locomotive