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.

Verification

For Christmas this year, my wife noticed that I had been eyeballing a Digitrax Empire Builder Xtra DCC starter set. The set was complete with DT402 throttle, DB150 booster, 15VAC power supply, and Loco Net panel, and even included a Bachmann DCC equipped F7A Erie-Lackawanna locomotive.

The reason I had been eyeballing the Digitrax set is that I noticed when I speed matched my locos at home on my NCE PowerCab they played very well together, but when I took them to the shows and ran them on the club layout (which runs on a Digitrax system) they no longer did so.

Another reason is that some - most, to be honest - of my TCS decoder equipped locos hesitate when you roll on the throttle on my home layout, sometimes taking up to a half a second to respond to throttle increases (they slow down just fine). I suspected that having the NCE firmware updated so that I could install the WiFiTrax WFD-31 had this unexpected side effect, because I hadn't noticed a problem until sometime after I had the work done.

Side note, no one else I have ever talked to, either in person or on line, has had this problem. Go figure.

One of our club members has been involved in DCC since the get-go and he said the track voltages were different between the two systems. He had no idea why the TCS decoders had a delay on the NCE at home but not on the Digitrax club layout. At any rate, I wanted a Digitrax system so I could compare locomotive speeds and hesitation tendencies between the two systems. 

I have a Digitrax Zephyr, but it doesn't show locomotive speed so it wasn't much use in comparing locomotive speeds at 50% and 100% throttle settings. The set I was looking at had a speed percentage display, so it would have done quite nicely.

Much to my dismay, the listing disappeared before I put a bid in on it. As you may have guessed, some sneaky wonderful person in my life had paid the price to snatch it out from under me, and it magically appeared under the tree last Wednesday morning.

I finally got a chance to test it out today, and as expected the locomotives that were perfectly speed matched with the ACCUTRACK II speedometer on the NCE ran at different speeds on the Digitrax. What I didn't expect is the NCE system was faster. It uses a 13.5v DC power adapter and the Digitrax uses a 15VAC power supply, so I had expected the Digitrax track voltage to be higher, resulting in faster locomotive speeds. 

However, when I measured the track values using the AC setting on my multi-meter, I found the NCE system puts 13.8v on the track, almost a full volt more than the Digitrax which measured at 13. This causes as much as a 10 SMPH difference at the top end of the throttle, and of course different decoders and different brand locos are all affected differently. 

The Digitrax has a switch to set track voltages for N, HO and O, and the owners manual says the track voltage for N is supposed to be 12v. I expect the situation would be reversed if I was an HO guy, since according to the manual the Digitrax system puts 15v on the track in the HO setting (there is no adjustment for scale on the NCE).

So far I have also verified the locomotives that hesitate on the NCE do not show that tendency on the Digitrax, which is a real shame because I love my NCE system for its ease of use, and the WiFiTrax 31 made it super easy for me to control the trains with my cell phone. Yes, WiFi control can be done with a Digitrax system, but it's not as easy as simply replacing the interface panel. I'll probably continue to use the NCE on my home layout and just live with the hesitation since that is what I've been doing all along.

So, that is what I expected. What I didn't expect was one of my locomotives (a Kato SD70M with a TCS K1D4 decoder), which had been a problem child at the shows, also acted up on the Digitrax system at home. On the NCE system it worked just like it was supposed to, hitting the expected half and full throttle programmed speeds within a SMPH or two, but on the Digitrax system it's like I never programmed the speed tables at all. It is controllable, it is just rocket-ship fast and hits it's peak speed (as in all she can do, not the programmed full throttle speed) at half throttle. 

I will be changing that decoder, and I'll send it in to TCS to be checked, although I'm doubtful they will be able to find anything since it does work as it should on the NCE system. I will also be pulling out the sound decoder on my only sound equipped Kato locomotive because I've decided that a) sound is over-rated and b) I don't like dealing with the start-up sequence shutting the locomotive down whenever it hits a bad spot on the track. I have some NCE decoders I could use, but I really like the slow-speed characteristics of the TCS decoders, so I'll just stick with those now that I know they aren't a problem on the Digitrax system.

I have an NTRAK show coming up in February (New Bern NC from the 21st to the 23rd, you should definitely come check it out), and that's where I run my locos in consist, so I will be setting up a loop on the Digitrax to program locomotives for the next couple of months. The ones I use exclusively at home (a pair of Atlas GP7's) won't get the speed matching treatment on the Digitrax, but they run alone anyway so it doesn't really matter.

By the way, I did check out the Digitrax DC mode using address 0. It works, but not well, and I burned up an old cheap white-box train set Bachmann F9 in the process. Not a big loss, but there it is. Also, regarding the Bachmann F7A that was included in the package, it ran pretty well for about 20 minutes and then coasted to a stop. After a brief rest it ran again, for about the same amount of time. 

Either the decoder is flaky or the motor is on it's last legs, my guess is the motor is going bad. I'll have to send it back to Bachmann for repairs I guess, whenever I get around to it, or I could just order another motor to put in it. It's not like I don't have other locomotives, and I'm so concerned about this one that I'm not quite sure where it is right now. Somewhere in the train room is all I know.

I hope everyone else had a great Christmas, and we'll see you all in the New Year!