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.
