Blunami! Pt 3

I said I was going to show the installation on a Bachmann J class, but I got into a bind and didn't have the time to take any pictures. I also installed one in another ATSF 4-8-4, and the only thing different about it from the previous installations that I have already shown is the size of the decoder, which I will show later in this post.

I had one of the old type Bachmann J classes that I was trying to get running for a friend, and he was considering putting a decoder in it if I could get it to run decently. It had the dreaded split gears, and I had found some 3D printed gears, but the old chassis just doesn't run well. I told him that I could put a decoder in the old crappy B-Mann chassis J, but it would never be a great runner. I might possibly get it to be an adequate runner, but given the limitations of that chassis that was about as good as it was going to get.

However, there was a guy selling one for a really really good price, and I bought it. I told my friend that I would pass it on to him for the same price as I paid for it, and I could try to work with the old one but the new one is miles and miles superior to the old one and for the price he would be an idiot not to go that route instead. Of course he agreed with me.

It was supposed to have an ESU decoder, and it did, but when it got to me I found the tender top had a hole cut in it for the cube speaker and the speaker sounded like garbage. So, I ordered a new tender shell and some speakers of the correct round type for the loco and traded him that one for one that I had on hand that had a Tsunami 2 TSU-1100 installed in it. 

This was a loco that I had picked up really cheap at a train show (cheaper than the "new" one that had just arrived, in fact) because it didn't run (a bit of Kapton tape on the chassis fixed it right up). I traded shells on the locos (my old one was 601 and the new one was 611, which is the one he wanted) and waited for my parts to come in.

When the tender shell and speakers arrived it was quick work to swap them out. Bachmann really hit it out of the park with the Spectrum J class locos built after 2005, and installing a sound decoder consists of removing the tender shell, removing the PC board just enough to slip the 15mm round speaker into the pocket made for it, reinstalling the PC board, and soldering the decoder in to the tabs built on the PC board for just that purpose.

Of course for this one I had to remove the old speaker and ECU decoder first, but once that was done and the old solder removed from the board the new installation went as expected. As I mentioned before, while I was at it I installed a Blunami BLU-1100 in the last of the three 4-8-4's I have, too, so now I have four 4-8-4 locos (three ATSF and one J class) equipped with Blunami decoders.

I do have a photo of the two decoders side-by-side to show their relative size. As you can see, the 1100 is about the same size as the TSU-1100 so if the TSU will fit the BLU will fit, too. As you can imagine, there is much more room in that 54 foot 4-8-4 tender for the speakers as well when using the 1100 rather than the 2200.

The best thing about having the Blunami decoders installed came about this past weekend when we had a train show. All of a sudden, about an hour before the show was to end, the wifi went wonky and the Engine Driver app that everyone uses on their cell phones stopped working. What that meant was, if you didn't have a Digitrax radio throttle you were done running trains. Unfortunately we were contracted, as it were, to run trains right up until closing time.

I killed the Engine Driver app and pulled up the Blunami app and right away had a pair of trains running. A couple of our other guys had radio throttles, so all four of our NTrak layout tracks were occupied until the end of the show. The 1100 runs just as good as the 2200, sounds just as good, and fits a lot better into smaller spaces.

To say I am pleased with these decoders is an understatement. I have four of these 1100's, two of them have been installed and I plan to replace the two 2200 decoders in the 4-8-4's that have them with 1100's instead.

And then I will have a grand total of four steam 2200's... and I have four HO scale steam locomotives...

I also just purchased a BLU-2200 for EMD diesels, since I have an HO scale GP7.

It looks like my HO scale layout will be DC powered with no blocks. I'll probably use a dedicated 15VDC power supply for it rather than hook any sort of throttle up to it, so it won't even have a control panel, just an on-off switch. I will manually throw turnouts so I won't need power for them, either. That should make things really easy.

And now all I need to do is build some benchwork...
 

Blunami! PT 2.5

 Once upon a time I told you about installing Blunami BLU-2200 decoders into a Bachmann 4-8-4 steamer. As you may recall, I picked the Bachmann 4-8-4 because it has a big tender, big enough to fit this HO scale decoder and the two speakers required for the 2W output power rating of said decoder. At the end of that post, I expressed a hope that they could be downsized for N scale.

Well... someone at Soundtraxx must have been listening, because the BLU-1100 has now been released! 

As soon as I knew they existed, I jumped online and ordered some. Unfortunately they were back-ordered, and even now at the time of this writing they are listed as "out of stock" on Soundtraxx's website.

BUT! I just got an email saying they have been shipped! I should have them in my sweaty paws very soon, and as soon as I do we will have a comparison and another installation post, this time on a Bachmann Class J. 

Rises And Elevations

The first part of the benchwork has begun.

I made some L girders out of 1x2 and fastened them to the wall at 30 and 51 inch heights. The 51 inch was necessary to clear the light switch of all things, but that's about where I wanted it anyway, and the 30 inch is perfect for a table-top height HO gauge layout.

Or so I thought.

The first real bit of benchwork I built was a 3x6 foot platform for the Scenic Ridge layout that I am going to build as Nn3. It, too, is built from 1x2 strip wood, and with the foam on it measures right at 2 3/4". At 51 inches from the bottom, the top of the platform with the Styrofoam sheets attached is just under 54". That should be fine as long as I don't have any problems at the back of the layout, assuming I will have the long edge against the wall. 

Which you know I am going to, for no other reason than it will be difficult to reach at that height.

 Added to that is the fact that the entire layout isn't built at foam level, oh no. There is a 2" riser that goes on the top of the base board that sets track height, and then a 4% incline that adds another 2" before it's done. Because I'm building this in Nn3 I may be able to get by with substituting the 4% incline with a 2.5 or 3%, which will only raise the track another inch and a half. Still, that would be a 3 1/2" maximum track height, added to the 51" bottom height, added to the 2 3/4" base height, which puts the highest track elevation at 57 1/4" from the floor and almost 3 feet from the front edge.

Yep, I'm going to need a ladder to get to the back of the Nn3 layout. But it will look spectacular at that height.

Due to this, I'm considering putting the HO layout on the adjacent and opposite walls, which will put it under the widest part of the standard gauge layout instead of under the narrow gauge, where it would impede access to the back of the Nn3. I'm also considering a 3" difference in height between the standard gauge and narrow gauge sections, which would be about a 2.5% grade along the 10 foot wall, which is completely possible and would add a little interest besides.

I'm also considering sticking the Nn3 out from the wall, which will extend it six feet from the wall. At a 10 foot 10 inch room width, that would leave 4 foot 10 inches for the main section of the standard gauge and an aisle. Figuring at least 24" for the aisle leaves a 2 foot 10 inch bench depth for the standard gauge. This does give me enough room for a 15" radius turnaround loop for the standard gauge, especially if I consider curving the front of that section towards the wall. 

That would also allow me to put the grade along the same wall as the Nn3 layout will stick out from, which will not interfere with the turnaround loop on that end, and would also give me a nice level spot for the interchange yard on the layout spur going to the narrow gauge (which will be standard gauge... maybe... or maybe it will be a coal washing plant with the narrow gauge climbing down the grade to get to it.).

So many possibilities... but that's why I built the base for the Scenic Ridge layout first.  

Let The Fun Begin

 I have finally completed renovations on the train room. Mostly. Except for some trim work that isn't really important right now.

At any rate, that meant that trains must run in the new train room!

I am kicking around several plans, but one of the things that I have decided will absolutely happen is dual scales. Maybe even triple scales. I will have an HO layout, an N scale with Nn3, and for the third, the Nn3 may get the option of removable buildings so that it can become Z as well.

The only question is where to put the HO. I have debated putting it above the N, but I think I have decided to put it below. The HO will be at 30 inches (basically tabletop height) and the N will be at 54 inches. The HO will be tucked under a portion of the N that has very little operational requirements, so reaching over the HO to get to the N won't be a huge problem.

I decided on these heights so that I can operate the HO from a chair and the N will have enough room under it for the 48" high racks I have built to put my equipment cases in. The N was only going to be a foot deep at this point, but it will now be two. The tracks will be at the front and more space for scenery will be towards the back. This also gives me more room for the interchange for the narrow gauge branch.

Anyway, I needed to plan the benchwork, so the first trains to run in the new train room was HO. I set the track up and wired up the Empire Builder Digitrax DCC system that Mrs Hades got for me. As you may recall, I attempted to go wireless with that one and failed miserably. It worked with wired throttles, though, so I built some buss cables to run to the track, plugged in the throttle... and nothing. Everything SEEMED to work, the throttle showed the locomotive was selected, there was power on the tracks, but the trains did not respond to the throttle. They all made their normal background sounds, but none of them moved, and none of the throttle commanded sounds or lights worked.

To say the least, I was extremely discombobulated. I knew it wasn't going to work with the wireless throttles, but I decided rather than mess with it I would just swap out the DB150 from the Empire Builder with the DSC210 from the Evolution Express system that I just bought. To save some time hooking more things up, I just used the plug in throttle again instead of plugging in the UR93 duplex transceiver and putting batteries in the DT602D... and this time it worked perfectly.

This makes me question the problems I had with my previous DT402D wireless throttle. Since it worked when plugged in, and occasionally when unplugged, perhaps the problems weren't with the throttle, but with a failing, but not quite gone yet, DB150? Maybe there was nothing wrong with it after all, and I didn't waste my money on it, and it will work with the DSC210? (Or with the Zephyr, which can be used as a command station with other throttles/wireless devices connected by LocoNet, which is another thing I should have tried.)

I haven't had the time to mess with it yet, but the next thing I will do is hook up the UR93 and see if the DT402D will work with it.

The Fitzgerald Locomotives

Once again the Cotton Brute is in my possession. This time it requires no repairs. Instead, it is being operated, possibly for the last time (at least for a while), at the Danville Rail Days event in honor of late NRail President John Wallis. John had decided to retire the locomotive due to its age and relative fragility to prevent it being damaged or lost. It was destined to be put on display at a place yet to be determined.

As you may recall, Cotton Brute was restored for the NRail 50^th Anniversary celebration that occurred in 2023. The refurbishment was done at the direction of President Wallis in late 2022 and the restored and updated locomotive was run for the first time at the Danville Old 97 Rail Days (Danville has since dropped the “Old 97” designation) event in 2022. It seemed only proper that she should make her last appearance there before being retired.

But this story is not about that locomotive.

Along with the Cotton Brute, Jim Fitzgerald also built two other locomotives; Cotton Boss and Cotton Beast. The current whereabouts and disposition of Cotton Beast is unknown, but Cotton Boss is now also in my possession.

When I asked current NRail President Andy Zimmerman about the possibility of featuring Cotton Brute at Danville, I also recalled that John had mentioned having Cotton Boss for possible restoration. I asked him about this project and he replied that he did not know what the condition of the locomotive was yet, since both Beast and Boss were in possession of one of the club members helping the family sort and process all of John’s extensive collection.

Contacts were made, appointments were set, and both locomotives ended up in my hands. Cotton Brute was briefly tested to ensure its operability, and I finally set my eyes on Cotton Boss for the first time. The intent was to evaluate the condition of the locomotive for restoration and repair.

What we found was promising. The construction of the Boss is radically different from the Brute. Just like the Brute, the center section of the locomotive has been custom-built, but as far as I know there isn’t any depleted uranium in its construction. 

The ends of the locomotive are from a donor chassis, tapped and drilled to accept a series of screws holding it into the custom built center section. The trucks on this chassis are 4 wheel, not 6, so unlike the Brute the donor was not a U30CG. I suspect they, and the chassis ends, are from a Minitrix F9; the construction of the trucks, complete with the finger wipers at the truck ends, certainly suggests they are, but the rest of the mechanism does not exactly match photos I have found online. The Minitrix F9 is the closest I have been able to find, and it would only make sense that the trucks are from the same donor as the chassis ends.

The top of the locomotive consists of a series of three plates; two short ones on each end for spacers and one long one across the top that holds everything together and also holds the Sagami can motor in place. The locomotive ends slip over the center section that includes the tank in its construction. The inner two screws fasten the top plate to the center section. The two short plates are fastened to the end pieces and the long plate is fastened to the short plates with the two outer screws. The Sagami can motor hangs from the top plate with two screws, but in an interesting arrangement there are three set screws in a triangular formation that are used to adjust the motor orientation. This is necessary because there are no drive shafts; the ends of the motor shafts are fitted with one coupler end that fits into the other coupler end attached to the end pieces. There is no play to this arrangement, either it is right or it is wrong. I suspect this rigid requirement is the cause of what I found next.

The ends of the locomotive were loose and had quite a bit of movement. It was a quick job to remove the outer screws from the top plate, and the ends with the shorter plates attached slid out of the assembly. The short plate screws were then tightened down and the now solid ends were reattached to the center plate, making the entire chassis solid once more. It is my belief that if the motor is even slightly out of alignment, it will cause a vibration that will loosen these screws over time.

The wheels were cleaned and the mechanism lubricated, and then the locomotive was placed upon the rails of my humble 2x8 foot oval layout. Power was fed to the rails (DC only) and for the first time in who knows how long, the mechanism moved. I ran it several times around in each direction and it performed flawlessly. I did note a bit of vibration, indicating that perhaps the motor alignment could use some adjustment, but this was beyond the scope of my investigation so I left it alone.

I searched through the N Scale Locomotive Encyclopedia (I am ever grateful for this fantastic resource) and determined the shell is from a Lima FP45. This model did not have porches molded to the shell, they were instead a part of the chassis. The sides of the shell do not completely cover the chassis so about an eighth of an inch of the chassis shows beneath the bottom sill of the shell. There was the remains of one porch, without a doubt from a Minitrix U30/U28 due to the similar appearance to the Cotton Brute porches, that looks as if it was attached to the bottom of the shell. Glue remnants on each end of the shell indicates there was a porch on each end. The porch pieces were reassembled and re-attached to the front of the shell.

Amusingly, in the same box, were the missing air tank end pieces to Cotton Brute’s tank. As you may recall, those air tank ends were replaced with solid ends because donor air tank ends could not be found for the one end that was missing them. They are un-needed now, but it was interesting to find them in the box nonetheless.

President Zimmerman was apprised of the condition of the Cotton Boss, and I received the clear signal to complete the cosmetic restoration. I have the parts to replace the missing porch and end railings and refresh the paint on the tank, but since the Boss will likely not see any operational service she will not receive any of the mechanical upgrades that her more famous sister did. It will instead be restored cosmetically while her mechanical components remain operational on analog power only.

The restoration will, of course, be documented here. 

Gutted

 Of all the things I had on my mental bingo card today, this was not one of them.

 I just opened the following email about ten minutes ago from the President of the North Raleigh Model Railroad Club:

"I am very sorry to have to share the news that we have lost a good friend, mentor, leader, and a pillar of our club with the passing of John Wallis last night.  We only have limited information so far from John's son, but by all appearances he passed peacefully in his sleep last night.  

I have known John for 22 years and some of you for much longer than that.  I will miss his kind nature, quick wit, our Hurricanes hockey conversations, his encyclopedic knowledge of railroading and everything related to model railroading, and his eagerness to share all of that knowledge with anyone who was interested.  

Our club will absolutely miss the person who was a constant leader since 1980.  Whether he happened to be serving the club as an officer or not he was always the person who stepped up when something was needed and kept the club moving and growing.  

When we have more information to share about any arrangements, I will pass that along to the club."

John was also the President of NRail, and he was the one that arranged for the restoration of the Cotton Brute for the 50th anniversary of the founding of that organization. He was a mainstay in the model railroading community, and N scale in particular owes a great deal of its popularity to him.

We have a show this weekend. I just saw John on Friday as I was helping to set everything up. I didn't go today because I was doing things around the house. It won't be the same to not see him tomorrow.

Rest in peace John. Thanks for everything. 

The Trouble with Digitrax, PT III

 In two of my previous posts, I detailed some issues I had with Digitrax DCC systems.

To sum up, I prefer my NCE PowerCab for daily operations due to its simplicity and intuitive ease of operations. The problems I run into with my NCE are that it doesn't play nice with TCS decoders (which I use exclusively in my older Atlas locomotives) and when I program on the programming track I lose some cab parameters and have to set the cab back up. These issues are annoying, but minor, so I've decided to live with them, although one of these days I will likely send it in to have the cab parameter problem looked at.

The Digitrax Zephyr starter system is likewise easy to operate, especially for someone just transitioning from DC. I own the oldest of the sets, the DCS50, which has since been replaced by first the DCS51 and then the DCS52. They all have a single knob that you turn for engine speed, and a lever for forward and reverse, just like a DC throttle pack would have. The only difference is the keypad, which is used to enter the locomotive address and operate the functions as well as programming locomotives.

The problem is that the DCS50 doesn't show throttle settings in steps or percentages, so it's nearly impossible to set two locomotives to the exact same speed setting for speed matching. Also, the Digitrax systems as a whole don't seem to be as user friendly when programming locomotives as the NCE system is. The Zephyr is somewhat easier, but it's not easy to program advanced features since it is, after all, a basic starter set, as well as being very old. I'm sure that the newer versions are better; the DCS52, for example, has a larger liquid crystal display screen that shows much more information than the DCS50's sectional LED display.

However, since my club runs Digitrax, I have to program my show locomotives on that system due to the difference in track voltages between the two systems. Locomotives speed matched on NCE aren't necessarily going to be speed matched on Digitrax, which causes operational difficulties on show layouts. Therefore, I needed a more capable Digitrax system for programming, and to that end I purchased a Super Empire Builder Xtra, or rather had one purchased for me.

I had been using it successfully to program my locomotives, but one day I decided I wanted to run cordless operations. To that end I purchased some used throttles and interface panels, none of which have worked the way I wanted them to. To further complicate things, I hooked the Digitrax up to a loop of track to program my newest locomotives and, due probably to operator errors on an unfamiliar system, failed miserably, and had to program them with the NCE system (which, for reasons I have already extensively detailed, won't work so well on the club layout).

That brings me to this; a set of locomotives I couldn't program properly, a set of throttles that are virtually useless, and no way to run wireless if the cell phone setup doesn't work for whatever reason. So, finally, in desperation, I have made a purchase of a complete new Evolution Express Duplex Radio Starter Set, which should include all that I need for wireless operations as well as providing the proper throttle to run at the club shows.

I have almost decided that my new layout, which will be about 3 times bigger than my existing one, will use the Digitrax system because I now own so much Digitrax equipment. Digitrax did do one thing right in that all of their systems will work together with Loconet, so I can set both the original Zephyr and the DB150 from my Super Empire Builder starter sets to be boosters. 

I can use the Zephyr exclusively in the yard as the hostler's throttle and put the DB150 over on the mountain turn-around loop, sprinkling the various control panels around the layout and installing the LNWI module for cell phone ops. That should give me plenty of operational flexibility, and I should be able to use all of my throttles on IR if nothing else (I would have to purchase a UR91 interface panel to use the radio function on the 401R throttle).

I will then keep the NCE system for the Christmas layout and for various smaller projects that I may decide to get into. I have also almost convinced myself to build an HO layout on a shelf above the N, so that would be a perfect use for the NCE system. I would have to use a stepladder to get to the rear of the HO scale layout if I decide to build it, but that's a minor concern. It would also give me a nice place to mount some lighting for the N scale.

But first, I have to get the train room ready to build benchwork, so I'm off to do that now. 

Scheduled Delivery

Three more modern locomotives, an AC4400CW, an SD70Ace, and an SD90/45MAC, all in Union Pacific paint, are scheduled to arrive today.

I don't know why I'm doing this to myself. At this rate my modern diesel roster will soon outnumber my steam roster. 

Observation

 Drywall finishing work is a lot like modeling. You spend a lot of time waiting for things to dry.

Where the closet wall came out there is a lot of variation at the joints where the old closet wall meets the old room wall. On one side the door frame occupies much of that joint, so the variation is not as pronounced. Just above the door is worse, but not really so bad.

On the other side of the room, however, the surface of the room wall stands about a quarter inch proud of the surface of the closet wall. To make things worse, the drywall on the room side is crumbling along that edge, so it isn't firm against the wall studs in that joint area.

To remedy (but not really correct) it I am sanding the room wall down into the plaster about an eighth of an inch at the edge, feathering out six inches or so. I will then build the closet wall out about an eighth with drywall mud to match the sanded surface, feathering that out six inches or so as well. When I am done I should have a 12 inch surface, six inches on each side of the seam, that gently transitions from one surface to the other. 

The wall will never be straight all the way from corner to corner, so my goal is to simply smooth the transition and then I can disguise it with benchwork and scenery. In order to get it done, however, I am having to drive or pull nails and sand about 2 vertical feet of the wall at a time along the seam and then fill with drywall mud. Because the mud is so thick it takes a long time to dry. I will then have to sand that down, fill in the low spots, let that dry, sand it smooth again, and repeat as necessary to get that smooth transition. 

I expect this will take a few weeks on the days that I am not working. Fortunately there is still much to do while the wall dries, so that time is not lost completely. Perhaps by this fall I will have the room walls finished enough to paint, then I can start building the layout.

If it was easy everyone would do it. 

How It Begins

So far I have torn down the closet wall and expanded the room. I have decided not to close in the door between the rooms because it really isn't necessary. The door is in a wide wall, so it won't be in the way. I'll just build my new benchwork over the opening.

Today I got the last of the demo materials removed and pulled up the tack strips. I got the hole in the ceiling patched, and then made a dump run to empty the trailer. This is what I have so far. 

This is the view from the door looking to the left. Along this wall will run my staging yard. I'm still finalizing plans on this yard, but it will contain engine and car repair facilities, including a 12 stall roundhouse and turntable.

This is the view to the right. Along this wall will be the main part of the layout. My current plans, subject to change, is to have an expanded version of my current layout in this area.

Let's take a look inside, shall we? 

This is the door coming in, the one we were just looking through. The staging yard will start in the gray area to the right of the door as we are looking at it now and extend along the wall to our right. To the left of this door will likely be the narrow gauge portion of the layout, built on the Woodland Scenics Scenic Ridge layout with some slight modifications. I have right at 8 feet of wall from the corner to the door.

This is the wall to the right, which as you can see contains the old closet door for the room next door. My initial plans were to close this door in on both sides, but Mrs Hades has convinced me it's more trouble than it's worth. I'll just build the benchwork over the top of it, and as a bonus if I ever want to expand into that room all I have to do is open the door.

This wall is 10 feet 10 inches long. The yard will extend almost 8 feet along this wall from the left side, and there will be a 15' radius turnaround loop in the corner on the right for the main part of the layout, extending along the wall to the right. I haven't yet made a final determination how that yard will tie into the main part of the layout, but there will likely be a Y involved, so there will be some fancy wiring needed.

This wall is 13 feet in length. The main part of the layout will be along this wall. So far as current plans go, it will be an extended version of my current switching layout. There will be a 15' radius turning loop on the left, and then the mainline will extend along the wall to the right. (Note the patch in the ceiling right above the ladder. When the room was used for storage a critter of undetermined nature got in there. I think it was a squirrel looking for building materials.)

This is another 10' 10" wall. The mainline will extend along this wall to another turnaround loop in the corner by the window. This turnaround loop will be almost totally disguised by a tunnel mimicking the CSX mainline at Point of Rocks, MD. A branch line will come out from the main here going to an interchange to the narrow gauge portion of the layout, which will be located on the wall to the right.

This is the tunnel at Point of Rocks. It originally contained a dual main line when the B&O built it, but since then trains have gotten taller with longer cars. The C&O Canal ran along the side of the cliff between it and the Potomac River. Eventually the canal closed, and sometime later the railroad center-lined one track in the tunnel and filled in the canal to build a bypass around the river side for the other main. I first saw this tunnel from the Highway 15 bridge above, and thought it was the perfect disguise for a turnaround loop. The link takes you to the page where I found the photo. But I digress.

 I have two options for positioning the narrow gauge layout. As I said before, there is right at 8 feet from the corner to the door. If I butt the roadbed of the lower narrow gauge track loop on the Scenic Ridge layout right up to the roadbed of the standard gauge track on the turnaround loop, I will be able to build a single mountain for the two and run the narrow gauge 6 feet lengthwise along the wall. However, that leaves a problem with accessing the tunnel when the inevitable stall or train wreck occurs.

I can cut an access in the bottom, along with the access that will be needed for the turnaround loop, but that means climbing under the layout to get to it. Alternately, I can cut access holes in the top for both standard and narrow gauge loops, but since both will be on a 3 foot wide bench that is probably going to be too long a stretch to reach from the top. The advantage to this arrangement is there would be a single mountain in the corner which ties the standard and narrow gauge portions of the layout together and gives it some continuity.

Another option is to put the turnaround loop in the corner, extend 2 feet along the wall, and finish off with the 3 foot mountain end of the Scenic Ridge narrow gauge against the wall with the 6 foot portion sticking out into the room. I can then cut my access holes in the back, beside the entry door, for the narrow gauge and I won't have to crawl underneath to get to the track. I would still have to have a hole under the standard gauge loop because 3 feet into the corner is still a long stretch. The advantage here is two more feet of branch line, which gives some separation between the mainline and the narrow gauge, suggesting more distance between the two. 

Mrs Hades asked me if I was going to build a 2 level layout, and I replied in the negative because it's really too much for a single modeler to deal with. However, I have since considered building an HO shelf layout above the N scale. I would lower the N scale a bit, perhaps making it comfortable to operate while seated, and put the HO scale at a comfortable level to operate while standing.

I have also considered moving the switching portion of the layout to the front of the yard extension, pushing the yard to the back side of that extension, and putting the dual mainline ending in Point of Rocks along the long wall. This would allow me to put the narrow gauge on the wall with the window and put the HO on the wall by the entry door.

That's the thing about an empty room. It's not really empty at all, it's filled with possibilities. 

And So It Begins

Saturday began the destruction.

The carpet and padding was pulled up and a start was made on pulling up the staples and tack strips. Mrs Hades helped me at this task, I cut the carpet into strips and she pulled it up. The carpet and padding was then rolled up and put into trash bags for disposal.

Today the wall came down.

First the drywall on the new layout side was taken down to expose the wall studs. Next the wall between the closets was taken down. Finally, the drywall on the closet side was taken down. That piece came out unbroken, so it can be used to close in the closet door on the old train room side. Last but not least, the framing was taken out, and the new layout room is now at its full size.

Next up is the finishing work.

The building debris needs to be cleared out and disposed of, then the new layout room walls need to be refinished so they can be painted. The ceiling also has a hole in it that needs to be patched, and the texture on the ceiling is falling down, so it needs to come the rest of the way down. After that the rest of the staples from the carpet and padding needs to be pulled out, then the new flooring can go down. The last step will be to put up new baseboards and crown molding, and then the room will be complete.

And then, at long last, the work on the layout can begin.

Some Work Was Done

 Yesterday I cleaned out the closet of the room that my layout, such as it is, currently resides. This is hopefully the beginning of the new train room renovations. The idea is that I will have one room for the layout, and the current room will be a workshop.

The closet of the current train room shares a front and back wall with the closet of the next door room, which is where the new train room will be. The intent is that I am going to tear out the back wall (front wall of the new train room closet) to expand the space in the new train room. This will make the two rooms roughly the same size (10' 9" x 13').

When the wall is gone the next step will be to close off the old train room closet door opening, and then some sort of drywall work will be needed. The closet wall drywall has a vinyl wallpaper on it (to prevent mold perhaps, the same drywall was used in the kitchen and bathrooms) that doesn't blend in well with regular drywall.

Mrs Hades has had some success in peeling off the vinyl wallpaper and sanding the remaining paper smooth enough to take paint and blend in well with the regular drywall, so we are going to try that first. The seams will need to be taped and filled, then the paint can go on.

Before doing the drywall and paint work, however, the carpet will have to come up. We are going to install some sort of rolled flooring when the carpet, padding and staples are all out and any patchwork needed is complete. My hopes is that none will be needed and then this work can go quickly.

So, the sequence of events will be: tear out the closet walls to expand the new train room; fill the closet door hole between the rooms; pull up the carpet, padding, and any staples; prepare and paint the walls; and then, finally, install new flooring.

All of this is tentatively scheduled for next weekend.* Friday we will get the flooring, 2x4's for the door framing, and drywall to patch the door opening along with drywall tape and filler. We have paint, so that is covered. We will then have Saturday and Sunday to get the work done, or at least as much as possible.

And then... the construction can begin!

*I wrote this post several days ago. Yesterday was Friday, we got the flooring but the wall that is being taken out will supply the framing 2x4's, and we will have to get the drywall materials later. Let the fun begin!

Heritage Units

 For reasons still unknown to me, I have acquired yet another Norfolk Southern heritage unit. This one is a duplicate, sort of; an SD70Ace in Erie paint. This one, however, is a Kato where my other is made by Fox Valley Models. It was a good price, and I just couldn't resist the urge.

I haven't taken any pictures to show the comparisons, but the differences between the two brands are well known. The Kato has molded in details where the FVM has a bag of yet uninstalled detail parts, the Kato locomotive colors are a lot brighter than the FVM unit, (a comparison of pictures online suggests the FVM is closer to prototype) and the Kato is capable of the expected rocket ship-like top speed while the FVM had a more reasonable top speed from the factory. 

Other than the excessively high top speed, the Kato runs with the quietness and precision otherwise expected from the brand. Installing DCC allows for the top speed to be reduced to a more reasonable level, and it has been speed-matched on the Digitrax system to the others. 

I have decided that, given the troubles I had with obtaining parts for my FVM locomotive, the Kato will replace the FVM unit on the show circuit and the FVM model will go on display. I will likewise replace any other FVM locos that I can find Kato substitutes for, but I don't expect that will be any time soon.

The Trouble with Digitrax, Part 2

The used Digitrax DT402D that I ordered came in, and it works. Sometimes. When it wants to.

As long as it is connected, it works like a champ. When it is disconnected it acts like it is still connected, but if you make a control input the white LED on the front flashes, which is saying it couldn't communicate with the command station. Every once in a while, if the stars align and all is right, it works wirelessly. Those times, unfortunately, are few and far between.

I sent a tech request to Digitrax and their answer was to buy a brand-new UR-93. I resisted for a while, but finally bit the bullet and made the purchase.* Results? Same thing. It works when it wants to. Another tech request to Digitrax asking for a test-and-check on the DT402D was DENIED!!! because it's obsolete and Digitrax doesn't have parts for it any more.

So the upshot is I have an expensive tethered throttle. Two of them in fact, since the 400R needs an UR-91 for simplex operation that I don't have. Once upon a time I could have sent it in to be upgraded to a DT402D, but it, too, is obsolete and there are no parts for the upgrade. That one does work by IR though, so it's not a total loss. The 402D supposedly has IR capability, too, so I might be able to use it that way as well.

I had played around with the idea of going with Digitrax with my new layout since it is going to be bigger than the old one. I still might, but for the time being my Digitrax experience is not all it could be.

It's my own fault for buying used equipment. I was trying to go cheap and it bit me in the rear. I can either suck it up and buy a new DT602D (or UT6D) that is supported or I can stay with tethered throttles. That's the price of buying someone elses problems, I guess.

*I also bit the bullet and bought the LNWI, so I could go WiFi if I wanted to, I guess. That, at least, works fine.

Whyyyyyyyy?!?!?!?!?!

 Why do I do this to myself?

So for my new-to-me Kato locomotives that I finally got all put together*, I decided to go with the good old XL Systems sound decoder. Why? Because I decided for some reason I wanted sound, the XL Systems decoders are about as low priced as you can get for sound decoders, and since I picked a pair of custom painted shells they weren't going to match up with any other railroad, so it didn't really matter if they would run with anything else.

I have written about XL systems decoders before, but to recap, they are a horrible decoder with  fantastic packaging arrangements. They used to make MRC decoders (and maybe they still do, MRC only has 3 and they all look very similar to the XL systems decoders with the same numbers), and to date MRC/XL Systems decoders are the only functional decoders I have ever thrown away.

The fantastic packaging arrangement is the inclusion of the speakers on the board, so they are true drop-in decoders. The new Kato decoder (1960B) has a cubic speaker that really sounds good, but the round speakers on the plain 1960 board is more than acceptable. They come pre-programmed with different horns, bells and prime movers to choose from, but unfortunately they have not seen fit to publish a table that tells you what setting is for what sounds. But that's not what makes them horrible. What makes them horrible is their speed table programming.

At speed step 1 the sounds notch up but the locomotive does not run. Well, one of the decoders I ordered for the Katos was defective, so when I sent it back for repair I asked about it. It turns out that CV2 (start speed for you non-DCC folks) has to be programmed at an insanely high level. XL says to start at 100 (which is at or above where you would normally program CV5 for top speed in any other decoder) and go from there.

There is also a kick function in CV65 (this is supposed to spike the voltage to get the loco to move slowly) that doesn't seem to have any effect. They also do not creep like Katos are capable of. With a TCS decoder, for example, the Kato diesels will crawl at 0.1 scale MPH, but with the XL decoder the slowest I could get the loco to consistently move was about 5 scale MPH. 

Setting the start speed so high also makes setting the top speed impossible. Try as I might, I couldn't get CV5 to slow the top speed down below about 175 or so; with the TCS (or Digitrax, or NCE) decoder the speeds can be scaled down to more reasonable prototypical speeds (I normally program mine to 50 in the middle and 100 at the top so that they roughly correspond with throttle percentage settings). At CV5=255 the loco zips along at a scale 350 MPH, but even if CV5 is set to zero (normally this doesn't work, with any other decoder brand the minimum CV5 setting has to be above CV2) the loco still runs exceptionally fast.

So I now have two Kato sound equipped locomotives with custom paint that run exceptionally fast that I can run together at the train shows. They should work out well there because train show trains at actual prototypical speeds of 65 scale MPH bores the onlookers, they really do look way too slow on the large layouts.

*I actually swapped out one of the new chassis for one that I had because the trucks and tank were black on one and UP gray on the other. I put the Chicago & Northwestern shell on the black trucked frame and used the chassis from one of my Union Pacific dash 9's (which I have more than plenty of) for the second custom painted locomotive. I used the UP's non-sound decoder on the CNW loco so it will run with the rest of them and put the XL sound decoder in the ex-UP chassis with the custom painted shell. That way my custom locomotives match, and I have a really cool CNW locomotive.

These Are Not The Same

 Last month the train club had a display at New Bern for the Coastal Carolina Model Railroad Club's annual event. It's always a good show, and as always we had a great time there.

While I was there I happened to find a pair of Kato locomotives for a very attractive price. Attractive meaning $25 each for one C44-9W that appears to have started life as an undecorated model and one AC4400CW that appeared to have started life as a Canadian Pacific unit. 

Both of these units had been rather horribly redecorated with red paint and some sort of turtle decals, but a bit of work with some IPA and a short-bristled brush cleared that away in short order. The dash-9 unit was also missing a sill piece, creating a space between the tank and the body.

These sill pieces were apparently made of unobtainium, because I was not able to find them on the Kato website. In fact, the handrail sets for the C44-9W listed on the Kato website looked nothing like the pieces that I had installed on this locomotive.

At first I went to the mailing lists and there were some folks that had complete body shells that they were willing to part with. I made some purchases and found that, although they fit the mechanisms, they were different in that they not only did not have that sill piece, they didn't even have provisions for it.

I was finally able to find it as a part of the handrail set for the AC4400CW, so all was well. However, it did spark my curiosity, so I looked at the other Kato dash-9's that I have in my collection, and as far as I have been able to tell there was a change in the model. 

Which one came first? I don't know, but the shells that came with the $25 units were the type that had a sill plate and the ditch lights are mounted on top of the porch, as on the BNSF locomotive pictured above. In the other model the ditch lights are below the porch and there is no sill plate, as on the UP locomotive. The gap in the second version is filled by the fuel tank, in the first version the sill sits behind the protrusions in the fuel tank.

 

Note the tank protrusions and the sill plate on the BNSF model. In my opinion this is the better looking version of the two. Unfortunately I didn't notice the difference in the ditch lights until after I had taken these pictures, so I haven't illustrated that difference. The dash-9 shell that came with the $25 mechanism is this type.

Note the lack of sill plate on the UP locomotive and the extension on the top of the fuel tank. The bottom of the walkway has protrusions that fill the gaps between the loco shell and the trucks, and the gap between the tank and body shell is filled with the tank extension. All the dash-9 shells that I purchased separately are this type.

Also notice the protrusions on the front and back bottoms of the mechanisms. The ones on the UP version are longer than the BNSF model. They are also thicker at the extreme ends, and they are stepped, where on the BNSF model they are not. The two $25 mechanisms are identical, and are the same as the BNSF version.

In all other aspects the mechanisms are the same except for this bit of casting in the front and rear. The part numbers molded in the side frames are the same as well, even though those castings have that minor difference. Note also that this is the exact same mechanism as is found on the AC4400CW and also on the Kato ES44AC (those models have the non-stepped versions of the chassis).

The upshot is that now I have two fully functional Kato locomotives for around $30 each (I only needed one sill plate and it was found in that $6 handrail set mentioned earlier) including parts and the paint for the undecorated unit. They are in matching red livery, but they are now decal-less. I could just order some Canadian Pacific decals, but I think I will have to come up with something special for them.

I also have some body shells that need the extended gas tanks. Fortunately Kato has them on their website, so I have ordered a few. One of the shells was the Chicago and Northwestern 8727 in Operation Lifesaver paint, so that may find its way on one of the two mechanisms instead of a red shell.

Either way, my diesel fleet continues to grow.

Something New

 I am playing around with airbrushing.

And by playing, I mean that in the most literal sense. I am using a really cheap Testors external mix airbrush kit that I picked up really cheap several years ago from somewhere I don't even remember, it's been that long. I have been meaning to give it a try for a while yet, and so I decided that now is the time.

The impetus for the project was a complete non-running Atlas/Kato RS3 frame that I got on the auction site for parts. When it arrived, just out of curiosity, I pulled the motor and tested it. It was completely dead, but when I pulled the brush caps off of it I found a broken brush. I installed new brushes and it ran.

I reinstalled the motor and found the wheels to be so gunked up that it wouldn't pick up power, so of course I had to clean them thoroughly and apply some Conduct A Lube on the axles and truck contacts. After that I had a perfectly running mechanism.

I have a couple of RS3 bodies, complete with handrails and Micro Trains coupler conversion kits, that had been repainted rather badly, but some time in the ultrasonic took the paint right off. I wanted a better paint job than brushing would produce, so out came the airbrush kit.

So far, I have to say I'm happy with the results. I only have the light color (very light gray/green) base coat on it. I need to mask it off and put on the second color, which will be much darker (Brunswick green), but I don't have the proper size of masking tape. It's on order and should be here tomorrow. Gotta love Amazon next-day delivery.

I'm hoping for a final result of a Brunswick green locomotive with a pale gray/green stripe running the length of the body side. If it turns out as good as I hope, I will also try putting some diagonal yellow or gray/green lines on the front and rear. I will then print out some black decals for the light color stripe to complete the body shell. 

If it works out, this will give me the first locomotives for the standard-gauge portion of the Path Valley Railroad. And, if they end up looking the way I want, I have some GP7 shells to paint in the same scheme.

I also have a bit more expensive (but still relatively cheap) Harbor Freight internal mix airbrush kit that I haven't unpacked yet. The internal mix is supposed to produce a much finer coat than the external, so that is probably a better way to go anyway.

From everything I have read about it, and from the review videos I have seen, the Harbor Freight kit is actually not bad (although I think a compressor with a tank would give more consistent results). It might be time to finally break it out.

And if I like it, there is a tank kit for it on Amazon.

Apropos of nothing I suppose, ten years ago yesterday my lovely missus agreed to go out with me for the first time, thus sealing her fate.

UPDATE: And the results are:

Appearance-wise, I think it looks very Erie-ish although that wasn't really my goal. Otherwise I really like the way it turned out. Now I have to find my clear decal paper and print some decals.

The Trouble with Digitrax

A couple of weeks ago the club had a show. The setup went fine and everything was looking good... until it came time to run some trains. Unfortunately something had happened with the command station setup (Digitrax booster connected to a laptop with Java Model Railroad Interface connected to a wireless modem) and we weren't able to connect with our cell phones. This made me very sad since that meant I couldn't run trains. However, those club members who had radio throttles were able to connect, via a Digitrax UR93 duplex-only transceiver which is connected to the booster's LocoNet, and run trains with no problems.

One of the club members had an extra throttle that he graciously loaned to me, so I was also able to run some trains, and that got me to thinking that I needed options. So onto the E-pray I went where I found an inexpensive used Digitrax DT400R, which looked like the DT402 throttle that is in my new-to-me Digitrax Empire Builder set (those who know Digitrax are shaking their heads right now). I don't have a receiver for it yet, but I was able to operate it tethered and with the IR, and it works great.

Unfortunately though, it looks like I screwed up with that purchase (those who know Digitrax are nodding their heads right now) because the 400R can't do duplex operations, which is what my club's UR93's are, and I compounded that error by ordering a Digitrax UR92 interface panel for use on my Empire Builder set, which is also duplex-only. Bottom line, the throttle I have won't work with the club's DCC setups, and the interface panel I ordered won't work with the throttle I have, either.

That means I need to order a DT402D if I want to stay vintage and get the proper type radio throttle to work with my club, and either sell the 400R or get a simplex UR91 panel to go with it. I've put an offer in for a 402D since that's what I really need, so we will see what happens.*

To say I'm a wee bit disappointed with my Digitrax experience so far is overstating things a bit, but not by much. It's my own fault, though, so I can't really blame Digitrax as much as I want to.

The problem is that Digitrax has so many different versions of everything, and not everything works with everything else (especially the older stuff), and Digitrax has a bad habit of making their newer stuff not backwards-compatible, so you really have to be careful when buying Digitrax equipment (and plan on buying a bunch of new stuff when you upgrade, apparently). Word to the wise, people, do your homework and refer to this guide from Digitrax that I really wish I had seen a lot earlier than I did.

To go radio with the NCE requires an RB02 radio base station and either an NCE radio throttle or a modification to my current PowerCab to add a radio transceiver to it. I have no plans to do so because it was a whole lot easier (and cheaper!) to go wireless by installing a WiFiTrax WFD-31 panel and use the old cell phone throttle. That doesn't help me out with my desire to go radio in case of issues with the club setup though. 

For what it's worth, going the cell phone route with Digitrax only requires the purchase of a Loco Net WiFi Interface (LNWI) module which hooks up to your existing LocoNet, but since my Digitrax is not currently part of a permanent setup I don't need it, and it's more than I want to deal with right now. (The club doesn't use them because of their limited connectivity; four devices per LNWI and eight maximum LNWI modules per setup, and we have more than 32 devices wanting to connect on some of our big NTRAK layouts.)

*Simplex means the radio traffic only goes one way (between the throttle and transceiver) at a time, duplex means the radio traffic can go both ways at the same time.

Blunami! Pt II

 In a couple of previous posts I told the tale of the new Soundtraxx Blunami decoders and showed how to install one in an N scale Bachmann 4-8-4 Northern locomotive. I believe the N scale Bachmann J class also has a large enough tender to install a Blunami, so I might try that since I have one of the older versions (but not white-box older; it's one of the 2006 and up releases) that I had to put my own decoder in. I equipped that one with a Soundtraxx TSU-1100 decoder, so there should be enough room... maybe...

But I digress.

In those posts I touched upon the operation of the locos using both the Blunami app and the DCC system, and I was also able to test it using my cell phone as a throttle on the club's DCC system. I have yet to try operating the loco(s) on straight DC, perhaps I will one day but since you can control the loco through the cell phone app on DC it's not really important. The only quibble I had with the Blunami app was there wasn't any way to consist locomotives, not on the Android app at least. 

Well, I'm happy to say that there has been an update to the Android app, and now it is completely possible to consist your Blunami equipped locos on the Blunami Android app. You can't consist non-Blunami locomotives, of course, but I was able to consist both of my Blunami equipped Northerns and run them around my test track using my new-to-me Digitrax Empire Builder DCC set that some sweet lady got me for Christmas. 

And even though I programmed these locos on my NCE set, as I had done with my previous locos, they ran perfectly together... probably because they were identical locomotives (I had a third with a newer type can motor that I matched to the Blunami that was in my installation post; the older motored version got a Digitrax equipped tender) with identical decoders. It's probably a fair bet they won't run with differently branded locos and differently branded decoders until I match them on the Digitrax set, but that's an issue for another day... maybe.

Fox Valley Models

 In a previous post I said that I have been collecting Norfolk Southern heritage units. So far I have three; Erie, PRR and Southern. I also have a few non-heritage Norfolk Southern units, of course, because you may recall it all started out with an SD70Ace to lead J class 611.

I also have locomotives in the other Big Three American railroads (BNSF, Union Pacific, and CSX, which is TOTALLY NOT C for Chessie Systems, S for Seaboard Systems, and X for all the other railroads in the merger, oh no). I like to run them in foreign power consists because you are seeing more and more of that on the rails these days.

The two Big Canadian railroads (CP and CN) are also represented in my collection since their locomotives are also seen in foreign power consists, and because they both have mainlines running right down the middle of the US; one on the western side of the "man with chef's hat" states (Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana) and one on the eastern side.

And, since the CP merged with Kansas City Southern, and because I like the KCS Southern Belle paint scheme, I had to have at least one loco with that livery. However, I ended up with two. The first one says KCS de Mexico on its markings, and I didn't catch it before I got home from the train show with it, so I had to get another one that didn't say "de Mexico" on it.

I tell you all of that so I can say this; all three of the NS heritage units and both of the KCS units are made by Fox Valley Models, and they are visually stunning, with lots of little add-on parts that I haven't bothered adding on because they are just too fiddly for me to feel comfortable messing with. They also run great, and are so easy to put DCC in that it's ridiculous; just pop the shell off, unplug the 6 pin shorting plug, insert a 6 pin decoder, and reinstall the shell.

But of course, since they are a different manufacturer with a different decoder than the rest of my modern diesels (mostly Kato, but also two ScaleTrains and one Atlas), they run at different speeds on my NCE system than they do on Digitrax. And therefore, as per my last post, I put them on the "speed match with Digitrax" program.

One thing I should probably mention, when I got the KCSdeM loco the front headlight didn't work. The vendor I bought it from at the train show said he had burned it out when putting the DCC chip in it. That should have told me something... but I just replaced the LED and moved along.

During my speed matching routine I found my PRR engine wouldn't reach the same speeds as the rest of them and the KCSdeM loco was very noisy and ran slower the longer it ran. I swapped in the shorting plug and found that the PRR engine had a bad decoder, which was easy enough to fix, but the KCSdeM loco was unchanged with the shorting plug and started emitting a strong ozone smell (but no magic smoke). So, it looks like it has a bad motor in it.

ScaleTrains bought FVM last year, so I sent them an email to see if I could send it in for warranty repair. Their response was they don't fix different branded locos so I would have to contact the manufacturer. I pointed out that since they had bought FVM they WERE the manufacturer, and they replied, "Yeah, but we didn't make THOSE locos so we're not really. So sorry."

(Come to find out they won't be making ANY FVM locos since some of the tooling was lost. Without that tooling they can't rework the locos for sound and fancy lighting, as ScaleTrains likes to do. Because of that they are just going to design and release their own line of locos with brand-new tooling. So, even though they own FVM, they don't really own FVM, if that makes any sense.)

Bottom line, if you have any Fox Valley Models N scale locomotives they are now expensive (might I even say, overpriced) pretty looking future shelf queens.

In happy news, I put out a plea for FVM motors on one of the N scale forums and I have a few replies, so it looks like I'll be able to put this one back on the rails at least. I've also been informed that the motors are very similar to, if not the same as, new Atlas motors, so that also may be a source of parts. The driveline certainly looks Atlas-like, which is no surprise really since it also looks very Kato like.*

When Atlas severed ties with Rivarossi they contracted with Kato to make their chassis, and when they severed ties with Kato they sent all their tooling to China. And once you send something to China, China owns it and makes it for everyone at cut-rate prices, so that's why all modern diesels share the same design now. But I digress.

At any rate FVM joins the list of very expensive nice looking and running locomotives that have no support beyond the point of sale. Say what you want about Bachmann, at least they have a robust support system in both service and parts.

And now I'm done with my rantings. I still have locomotives to speed match.

*UPDATE: The FVM motor I received was a tad bit sketchy, too, so I put it's flywheels on a Kato motor I had sitting around and the Kato motor went right in as if it were made to do so. The new Kato motor runs at a way higher speed than the original FVM motor did, so the Atlas "slow speed" motor may be a better match, if you can find them. I don't have one of those, so I can't check on it. At any rate, I was able to speed match them to the others (using CV settings closer to what I use on Kato locomotives than the ones on my other FVM locos) and all is right again.

**UPDATE II: I found an Atlas scale speed motor, a 5 pole skew wound, and it was almost a drop-in replacement. The flywheels on the motor were for the Atlas SD50/60/60M and were a bit shorter than the FVM ones, a real shame because the driveshafts slipped right into the Atlas flywheels. A bit of quality time with the gear puller fixed that issue right up. I then had to trim the lower contact  and bend the upper contact to lay against the motor. After that it went right together and the original speed settings worked perfectly. The Kato motor is back in the spare parts bin.