Modern Power

 Last week I purchased one of these.

Normally I wouldn't be interested in such modern motive power since my railroad is set in the late transition era, and normally I wouldn't be interested in Norfolk Southern, either. But we have train shows coming up, and I am always looking for new and interesting trains to run at public shows. So why this loco?

So that I can do this with it. Yeah, it's the wrong number but it is the right type, and numbers can be changed.

Now all I need is some high-side gondolas in NS paint and I'm all ready for a ferry move to Strasburg.

Grrrrrrrr

I'm always on the lookout for new loads for cars to deliver to my team track. For instance, a couple of days ago I made a gravel load for a hopper car out of ballast and a styrene base and it turned out pretty good. I thought I might like a load of cars (as in automobiles), but the auto carriers are just too new for my era.

I did some research and found out before the era of auto racks some railroads, notably the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, delivered cars on truck trailers by way of TOFC loads. They did so by using 85 foot flat cars, which is way too big for my railroad, but one truck trailer will fit on a 40 foot flat car, so that's what I am going to do.

But to unload this flat car requires a ramp that the car can be pushed up against so that a tractor can hook up to the trailer and pull it off the flatcar. I didn't have a ramp...but I had a pile of stripwood.

Two hours later I had a frame for a ramp. All I needed was decking. I had some wooden coffee stirrers somewhere, so I went to try to locate them. When I came back, I found the dog had eaten my newly constructed ramp.

To say I was discombobulated is putting it mildly.

I never did find the coffee stirrers, but when the wife got home I handed the dog watching duties over to her and built another ramp. The decking is sheet basswood that I have scribed decking lines into. It is safely installed on my layout now, far away from chomping doggie jaws, and I think it will look pretty good after some weathering.

Shapeways has truck trailer auto carriers. They also have autos to put on them. Additionally, they have tractors to put on flatcars, and since I now have a ramp to unload them...

 

My team track has never been busier.

Back to the NCE

 I got an email last week saying my NCE PowerCab was in the mail.

This was welcome news, but rather unexpected since I had not received any word at all about it since I sent it in. I checked on the tracking number and the post office said it would be here Saturday. So today I went out to the mailbox and there it was!

I opened the box and the job sheet was the first thing I saw. Reading the job sheet showed that they had indeed found a faulty component that would keep the Cab Bus from operating, and on top of that they replaced a faulty potentiometer for the speed knob and threw in a new book for the 1.65 firmware upgrade.

I plugged the PowerCab into the left socket on the WFD31, turned the power on, and when the PowerCab booted up the light went from red to purple! Success! I connected my cell phone to the WFD31 network and for the first time the PVRR was wireless!

I plugged the Cab06 in and checked it out, and it works as well. So now I have both wireless operation and a throttle for my future yard. For now I have one locomotive programmed into the PowerCab and one programmed into the Cab06 so I can run them both at the same time without having to punch the Recall button.

I was a little put out that I had not gotten any updates while they had my system, I was at least expecting a "We found this wrong and it will cost you this much to fix it" but I can't argue with the results. The Cab Bus is up, the thumbwheel operation is flawless, and it only cost me shipping to Webster NY.

Fun little detail, I had sent it to New York in the original box all wrapped up with brown paper, and to send it back to me they unfolded the box and turned it inside out. I unfolded it and turned it back right side out and I'm using it to store my new manual and the extra cords.

One day soon I'll break out the Dynasis system and do a side by side by side comparison with it, the PowerCab and the Digitrax systems. Until then I have some trains to run.

A Tale of Two Couplers

 Well...three actually, and four if you count the Z scale coupler that is pictured in comparison. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

First, it is confession time. I am not a big fan of Micro Trains couplers. I'm not a really big fan of their trucks, either, but I like the trucks better than the couplers. Except for the six axle passenger car trucks. I hate those things, always dropping wheels, and the exploding couplers, don't even get me started...

But back to couplers. Micro Trains uses a two piece coupler design with a spring in the middle to provide a delayed uncoupling action. Some of the designs are meant to replace the T shank Rapido couplers, and if the standard design is a PITA to put together the T shank designs are something altogether different.

You can buy all Micro Trains couplers in kit form, which just adds to the aggravation (the price break advantage pales considerably with every spring that flies off into the null space between universes, never to be seen again), and some assembled, which adds to the price but in the long run is worth the extra charge. Some couplers do not have pre-assembled versions, most notably the T shank designs, so assembly is required. To add to the fun of the T shank design, most of them cannot be assembled off of the model and can't make use of the assembly jig. 

The assembled versions also have a very annoying habit of coming to pieces at inopportune times, most notably their talgo truck designs (for non model railroaders, talgo trucks have the couplers mounted on arms off of one end of the truck). I can't count the number of times a trip pin has caught on a piece of clothing and popped the lid off the draft box. You may be able to recover the coupler halves, but that spring is nestled up to your missing socks and 10mm sockets. The body mount designs, once they are mounted, have the mounting screw to hold them together but everything else needs to be touched in strategic areas with a hot soldering iron tip to keep them together. On top of all that purists will point out their unrealistic size, although to be fair the standard N scale couplers from all the manufacturers share that particular flaw; some are worse in this regard than others, but all of them are oversize.

One thing that all Micro Trains couplers do, regardless of their design, is bounce. This is extremely annoying as you watch your train run down the track at switching speeds, the cars bounce back and forth as if they are connected with pogo sticks instead of couplers. Unfortunately this design flaw is carried over into the Z scale line as well, so fitting Z scale couplers to your rolling stock to provide a more realistic size doesn't eliminate the bounce.

Couplers from other manufacturers don't bounce. Atlas's Accumate couplers, the couplers found on BLI cars, and the McHenry style EZ Mate from Bachmann will all play fairly well with each other and have no bounce. Unfortunately the Accumate is difficult to retrofit onto cars not originally equipped with them, BLI does not offer their couplers separately, and the EZ Mate, although it will fit into Micro Trains draft boxes as if they were designed to do so, are even more oversized than the rest and have excessively long shanks (to fit EZ Mate couplers into Micro Trains 1015 or 1016 boxes, use their short shank and medium shank respectively in place of Micro Trains medium and long shank designs). Additionally, using the EZ Mate means you have to buy two couplers to make one, and that can get expensive in a big hurry.

But, for all their flaws Micro Trains followed the old Texas Ranger motto and got there firstest with the mostest, so they are the industry standard for better or for worse. Most of us use the Micro Trains couplers because they make a coupler style or conversion kit to fit almost every car and locomotive ever made in N scale, and if all else fails you can always glue on a piece of strip plastic for a body mount coupler.

Micro Trains has not been completely tone-deaf however. A few years ago they released a new design of coupler called the True-Scale. I recently purchased some of them to see how they stack up.

 First off, they only come in kit form, not pre-assembled. However, instead of the disappearing spring, each coupler half is fitted with a whisker that provides the coupling action (uncoupling has to be done with a tool, no provision is included for automatic uncoupling). This makes them extremely easy to assemble. The following pictures shows the assembly process:

The parts. Note the absence of coil springs, the whiskers on the ends of the coupler halves serve that purpose.

First the lower coupler half is positioned over the mounting stud

and then the upper half.

The coupler box lid is then pressed into place, and just like that the coupler assembly is complete.

Flipping the completed coupler assembly over reveals the mounting hole for the brake hose.

Actually fitting this hose is optional, it does nothing for the operation of the coupler and is there strictly for appearances.

Assembly was so very easy, in fact, that I found myself becoming quite annoyed that Micro Trains hasn't seen fit to redesign the rest of their couplers along these lines. Not only is the assembly very easy, but since the coupler halves have a fixed pivot point the bounce is completely eliminated. Also, true to their name, the size is close enough to scale (smaller than even the Z scale coupler) to make purists smile.

Another good thing is the True Scale couplers are a drop-in replacement for the Micro Trains 1015 or 1016 coupler that is used in many body mount applications. The 1300 short shank True Scale is used to replace the 1015 and the long shank 1301 True Scale is used to replace the 1016. Many diesel locomotives made by Atlas, Life-Like, Kato and increasingly Bachmann, also use this size and style of coupler draft boxes if not the entire coupler, so retrofitting those locomotives is a snap. If your rolling stock came equipped with body mounted couplers there is a very good chance one of these will be a drop in replacement, and if not they are as easy to body mount as the 1015/1016.

The true-scale couplers comes as either long or short shank.

A size comparison. The top couplers are a Bachmann medium shank EZ Mate fitted to a Micro Trains 1016 draft box on the left and a Z scale coupler on the right. The middle couplers are the long shank True Scale on the left and the short shank True Scale on the right. The bottom couplers are the standard N scale Micro Trains 1016 on the left and 1015 on the right. Note the size difference between the N scale EZ Mate at the top left and the N scale Micro Trains 1016 on the bottom left. Also notice the size difference between the Z scale coupler on the top right and the True Scale couplers in the middle.

 And now for the disadvantages.

First off is their size. They are small. Smaller even than the Z scale couplers, as I mentioned before and as clearly visible in the picture above. What that means is they will not couple with any other coupler, either N or Z, by any manufacturer. This means you either have to convert your entire fleet at once, made more difficult by the fact that there are only two offerings (short and long shank, both body mounted) so converting most cars is going to mean body mounting, or you are going to have to make conversion cars to use as you convert your fleet slowly. That's not such a big deal to those of us who started out with Rapido couplers, but anyone that is new-ish to the hobby will likely find this very annoying.

A comparison of size mounted on cabooses. The caboose on the left has the standard size N scale Micro Trains coupler, the one in the middle is the True Scale coupler. The caboose on the right is Nn3, fitted with a Micro Trains Z scale coupler. This difference in horizontal dimensions is great enough to prevent the use of True Scale couplers with either N standard or Nn3/Z scale couplers.

 The second issue is their size. Not only is the coupler smaller in the horizontal dimensions, it is also smaller in the vertical dimension (this is called "gather" and refers to the dimension of the coupler face). The reduced gather means there is little to no wiggle room for mounting height, you will have to make certain the coupler is mounted to exactly the right height as measured by the Micro Trains height gauge or there is a high likelihood the couplers will not couple.

A side shot of the previously pictured cabooses showing the difference in gather between the standard, True Scale, and Z scale couplers.

This photo is a better illustration of the gather size difference between the standard N scale coupler on the left and the True Scale coupler on the right.

Although closer, it is apparent that the gather of the Z scale coupler on the left is also bigger than that of the True Scale coupler on the right.

Another disadvantage to the reduced gather is that the coupler does not tolerate sloppy track work. While we should all strive to be perfect in our track work to improve the running qualities of our railroads, in the real world we are not all skilled enough to get every level perfect and every grade transition flawless. The True Scale coupler demands both.

A third issue is their size. Because the shanks are so much shorter the coupler swing, the angle it can deviate from centerline, is greatly reduced. And, since they are all body mounted, this means that tight curves will cause freight cars to be on the ground instead of on the rails. So in addition to the tight tolerances in vertical variation required, larger radius curves are also a must-have.

So far I have one locomotive, a handful of freight cars and a caboose converted to the True Scale couplers. I have adjusted heights to match perfectly, but my trackwork is not pristine enough to ensure flawless operation. I am happy to report that Kato Unitrack assembled on a flat surface is sufficient to run this train, however, and I am pleased with the results. No bounce, closer coupling (not a good thing on tight curves but it looks great on the straights), and more prototypical size.

Since my current layout uses curves tight enough to derail body mounted couplers (especially these body mounted couplers) and has vertical variations in excess of their gather (meaning, great enough to cause them to uncouple by lifting one over the other) this train will not see service on my home layout. I am almost positive that vertical variations will limit their use on show or club layouts as well, T-TRAK and N-Trak layouts often have large enough vertical variations at the module joins to cause problems on standard size N scale couplers so these will never work. When I build the next version of my home layout I will pay closer attention to my trackwork and use bigger curves, so hopefully they will work there.

In the meantime, they sure do look great on my display shelf!

Swapping Systems

 When last we met I was awaiting parts for the Digitrax Zephyr.

The plug arrived, I wired some track wiring to it, plugged it in and set the system up...only to find that half the power cord had not been included either.

So, back to Amazon I went for a power cord to run from the wall to the AC/DC adapter. It is a standard cord like you would find on a laptop computer, so no big deal, just the frustration of not having it included to deal with.

The cord arrived and I hooked it up. It works just like it is supposed to, running trains flawlessly...except for the Atlas redbird. The decoder is acting up on that again, once again it is hesitating between the application of throttle and the movement on the loco at the initial roll-on. After that initial roll-on it is fine. 

Just to make sure I hooked the NCE up to it and got the same results. Check the momentum, yep it's off, looks like that decoder is going flakey again. I don't think I'll bother sending it in for repair, I'll just put another decoder in it and call it good.

As a side note, one thing that I like about the Zephyr that I don't have with the PowerCab is the ability to see what is already programmed into each of the CV's. I'm sure there is a way to do it with the PowerCab but I haven't discovered it yet. Perhaps it will be in the version 1.65 book when it arrives.

At any rate, I have a third (count them, THREE!!!) DCC system to play with; the NCE PowerCab (which I love), the Digitrax Zephyr (which looks to be just as good as it is advertised to be), and the Bachmann Dynamis wireless system (which has an annoying tendency to have throttle to base station communication issues but is otherwise OK). One of these days when the PowerCab has returned from it's test and check I'll have to do a side-by-side comparison of all of them.

But for now I am building a shelf for the Zephyr to sit on while the PowerCab gets sent to Webster NY to have its cab bus system checked out. Hopefully when it comes back it will be fully operational and not only will I be able to use my new Cab06 throttle with it, but I will also be able to use my WFD-31 and control trains with my cell phone.

DCC Down

 I recently purchased an NCE Cab06 because 1) when I build the new layout I'm going to want another cab for the yard and 2) I needed something to test the PowerCab out with and this seemed like a good time to fulfill reason 1.

It got here, I plugged it in and...nothing. It powers up, it shows the address, and it refuses to respond to any inputs at all. Looks like the issues I had with the WFD-31 does indeed end up being PowerCab problems.

So on to other things. I wanted a Digitrax Zephyr system to run my HO with so that I wouldn't have to unplug the NCE to use there and, as I said last time, the only other DCC system I have (Bachmann, made by Lenz) is problematic. On to the auction site, oh look there's one for $100, win the auction and anxiously await its arrival.

When I looked on the porch today I found HURRAY! It's Here!!! Open the box, unpack the system and...

the little gray plug on the back of the unit that the tracks hook up to is not there. Would maybe have been nice to know that so I could have ordered one.

So, I have a plug on order (I actually ordered 2 because 2 is 1 and 1 is none) and maybe by Tuesday it will be here. At that time I can hook the Digitrax up to the layout and box the PowerCab for delivery to NCE. Once that gets repaired and returned I can then hook it up with the WFD-31 and maybe get some cell phone throttle action going...which is where we started this saga.

I would have just run the layout on DC but apparently the TCS decoders I have installed in the Atlas GP7's don't play nice on DC, probably because my DC is PWM. I could hook up the old MRC analog throttle and see, but I don't want to work that hard.

That's enough crying for now. I'm going to go run some trains.

Well...damn.

 I got the 1.65B EPROM for my PowerCab, installed it and...the WFD-31 still doesn't work.

I am in contact with the manufacturer, he is right on top of things and hopefully he can figure something out. Right now he suspects there is an issue with my PowerCab cab bus, but since I've only ever run it as a single unit without any other throttles attached I can't say for sure. What I can say is it isn't communicating with the WFD-31.

It is still working as a stand-alone unit, so I'm not dead on the rails anyway. I sure wish it would work though because I was really looking forward to using my cell phone as a throttle. I am hopeful the manufacturer can figure something out, but I have a sinking feeling it will have to go to Oz to find out for certain. I have an equally disturbing feeling that once the WFD-31 checks out my PowerCab will have to go to NCE to be checked out as well, leaving me with the choice between the Bachmann DCC system that has proven to be problematic and running DC.

In other news, I made another dual gauge turnout.

Believe it or not this one was even tougher than the last one because all the fiddly bits are between the standard and narrow gauge stock rails. In particular, look how the narrow gauge stock rail from the points to the first frog (the middle rail that runs from all the way to the right to where it ends at the bend) has to narrow to a point in order to clear the standard gauge straight pathway as well as the narrow gauge curved.

All of these gaps are super tricky and critically essential. I spent a lot of time with the files on this one before soldering on the new pieces, but this time I was smart about it and soldered everything in from the outside to the inside, including the points onto the throwbar.

I'm happier with the way this one turned out as compared to the last one, the rails are straighter and the guard rails better aligned.

But of course...it was supposed to be a left hand turnout and it's a right.

I'm certainly getting in a lot of practice though.

Well, That's Disappointing

For my birthday the lovely Mrs. Hades purchased for me a WiFiTrax WFD-31 wireless interface for my NCE PowerCab DCC system.

I installed it as per the directions, hooked everything up and got my cell phone to connect to the WFD-31. It's not happy to do so because there is no internet, but I'm not ready to put my train layout into the Internet of Things so I'm fine with that.

I opened the Engine Driver app on my cell phone, set it up to communicate with the WFD-31 and selected my locomotive. With bated breath, I dialed up the throttle...

and nothing.

Turns out, the WFD-31 only works with NCE PowerCab version 1.65B. I have version 1.28C.

Fortunately there is an upgraded EPROM available for the PowerCab (and has been since 2012) to incorporate V1.65B, and it isn't too incredibly spendy. So it is on its way, and maybe by this time next week I will be happily wi-fi throttling my trains.

Until then, it still works like it should as a tethered system, so I'm just going to go run some trains to make myself feel better about it.

It's Ugly

...but it works...finally. Sort of.

When last I posted, I had used my new Fast Tracks Code 40 N/Nn3 jig to build a dual gauge right turnout with rails to the left. It took a while but I finally got the physical turnout built. The electrical isolation will come later. I had a few issues during the build, compounded by the fact that there really aren't any instructions with the jig.

The instructions, such as they are, that are available are for HO dual gauge turnouts. They basically just list the order in which the rails go in. Since the N/Nn3 dual gauge fixture uses a slightly different rail arrangement from the HO/HOn3 fixture these are of limited use. The first problem I had was with the check rails between the standard and narrow gauge, there just isn't enough room to reach in there with my soldering iron. What I finally decided to do was remove the standard gauge stock rail on the dual rail side first in order to put them in, but the NEXT time they will go in immediately after their adjacent stock rails.

The second major issue I had was connecting the points rail for the standard gauge rail on the double rail side. There just isn't a lot of room to play with there and I kept soldering the rails together. I finally solved the problem by wrapping paper around the stock rails to isolate them. Then I put a spacer under the throwbar so I could hold the points rails down onto it and get the solder to stick. The paper kept the solder from sticking on to the stock rails while allowing the solder to flow from the points rails to the throwbar. Having a more delicate soldering iron for this definitely would have helped, but I have what I have. Perhaps I can find one with a smaller point in the future that would be better for this job. I considered removing the standard gauge stock rail again to do this, but decided against it because the points rails on the dual gauge side have to be synchronized. For my next attempt I will put the points rails in immediately after their stock rails are installed and solder them to the throwbar at that time; both standard gauge points first and then the inside narrow gauge point rail and stock rail.

The next issue I had was adjusting the gauge here and there to clear flanges and whatnot when testing with MicroTrains standard and narrow gauge trucks. I had to move some stock and check rails out to increase the clearances, and file some of the rails at the frogs (that's a tricky little bit there, too much and the wheels drop into the gaps, too little and they won't go through the check rails). This took a while to do, but both of the trucks will now go through the frogs without (much) issue. Next time I will take a bit more time working with the file to try to create a more precise fit.

I was concerned that the standard gauge trucks with the "pizza cutter" wheels would hit the ties, as happens with Atlas code 55 track. I am pleasantly surprised to see that doesn't happen, but I haven't put the turnout into actual service yet so I haven't run any locos through it. I am assuming that newer locomotives won't have too many issues but I'm not so sure about some of my older ones. I have checked some of their wheel flanges with a micrometer and I am somewhat surprised to learn that most of them measure around 0.035", so as long as my solder joints are not horribly large they may just run OK.

But, before I can do that I will have to cut the isolation gaps. Once again, lacking clear instructions, this will take some looking and planning to see where to make the cuts. I think I have it figured out...but something I also figured out is that the saw I have used to do this on my code 55 Nn3 turnouts is just not adequate for the job. So, I have the appropriate saw on order and it should be here soon. In the meantime I'm working the turnout over with some jeweler's files to clean up errant pieces of solder and smoothing some of the transitions in the frogs and check rails.

At first I was a bit sad that the jig wasn't made for code 55 to match Peco flextrack, but I did understand that the clearances just weren't adequate for the check rails using code 55 rail. Now that I've actually built the turnout that understanding has been massively reinforced. I can either join it up to code 55 or hand lay code 40 track when I finally build the yard where they will be used, but that will be a while yet.

I am sure that the next turnouts will go easier, but I am initially satisfied with this one. When the turnout is complete I will mount it up and try running some locos through it under power. I'll let you know how that goes when it happens.

 

In other news, as of today I am eligible for senior's discounts. So I have that going for me...

Dual Gauge Woes

When last we met the TCS decoders out of the newly acquired Atlas GP7's had been removed and sent in for repair. They have been repaired and returned and I'm happy to say they are now working flawlessly. They have been hauling freight in and out of Clarinda as scheduled (meaning, whenever I feel like running a train or two).

The HO scale decoder came in and was installed in the Mikado. It is working great as well. The decoder out of the Mikado is in the Geep and is also working great. I've also picked up a couple of other steam locos, an AHM 4-4-0 in V&T livery named Reno, and a Rivarossi 2-4-0 in Beauford and Moorehead paint, at a train show and picked up some rolling stock to match it. I haven't decided if I will repaint the 2-4-0 for the holiday railroad or not, but I'm certainly considering it. I may or may not put DCC chips in those two, at this point I haven't really decided.

So moving along, I am anticipating some N scale dual gauge construction soon, so I got the Fast Tracks fixtures for that purpose. Today I attempted to build the first one.

I failed miserably.

Well, maybe not miserably. It is together and works, except for the fact that there isn't a throwbar installed and for the life of me I can't figure out how to attach the standard gauge point rail on the double rail side to the throwbar. There is plenty of room to attach the narrow gauge and shared rail points, but that standard gauge rail, because there is so little room to get the soldering iron down in there, won't heat up enough to melt the solder.

On a similar note, the guard rails for the standard gauge between the dual gauge rails is also nigh unto impossible to install, and for the same reason.

I'm having to figure out all of this as I go because there is absolutely no direction on the Fast Tracks site for N/Nn3, and using the HO scale dual gauge turnout guide pictured above has the narrow gauge stock rail (#3) going in before the standard gauge point rail (#4), which once again doesn't leave enough room to solder it to the throwbar. So that means I will have to do something different.

For my next attempt I will build the dual gauge side from the outside in. On the dual gauge side of the turnout the standard gauge stock rail (#1) will  go in first, then the standard gauge guard rail (all of them are labeled #13; the HO template shows two of them but the N scale one combines them both into one), then the standard gauge point rail (#4, which is formed from the same piece of rail as the narrow gauge stock rail past the points). 

Paper will then be used to isolate the stock rail from both the point rail and the throwbar, and the point rail will get soldered to the throwbar. After that, and only after that, the narrow gauge stock rail that runs past the points (#3) can go in, and that should get all the necessary parts in between the standard and narrow gauge stock rails. The tricky bits past that point are the many pieces of the dual frogs. The rest of the build went OK, so I'm not expecting any problems from that.

I think I can salvage my first attempt by removing the standard gauge stock rail and soldering everything in before reinstalling it, but that will have to wait until I feel like torturing myself again.