T-TRAK: The Adventure Begins

I don't remember if I mentioned that I have recently joined the North Raleigh Model Railroad Club. Just this past weekend I attended the Great Train Show at the Raleigh fairgrounds with the club and had an opportunity to debug and run the Model Power Mikado that I had put the DCC decoder in.

Apparently somewhere along the line I had reversed a wheelset, but since the Model Power inexplicably uses axle wipers for pickup power instead of the 4 wheel pickups that are found in the Bachmann Spectrums and Kato Mikados the connectivity was so horrendous that I didn't notice it. This made the loco stall in various spots around the layout and when I cleaned the wheelsets and axle wipers it caused a dead short on the track.

Some quick investigation with a multimeter and the offending wheelset was found and reversed, and the Mikado happily pulled a coal drag around the mountain track all day Saturday. I was hoping to get a decoder put into one of the K4 Pacifics but alas it was not to be, I don't know what is going on with that loco but it is pretty annoying...kind of like the SD7.

At any rate, running on the club layout really gives the locos a chance to stretch out and show their stuff, something they really can't do on the cramped setup I have at home. Unfortunately I really don't have the room here to build N-TRAK modules, but thankfully there is an alternative...T-TRAK!

My plans are to build some T-TRAK modules for show and also maybe for use at home since they are small enough to sit on a table when they are in use and don't take up much storage space when they are not. But of course, me being the glutton for punishment I am, I insist on putting Nn3 on my modules, which as far as I can tell has not been done before.

My intentions are to use Rokuhan Z scale roadbed track 220mm curves at 38mm (1.5 inches) elevation. This puts my Nn3 trackage a little over an inch and a half from the standard gauge and high enough that I can run a spur of standard gauge underneath the narrow gauge if I want to, as long as I don't use tall cars on the spur.

Rokuhan does not have sectional track in the proper lengths to make multiples of 310mm, but fortunately they do have flextrack. This comes in 330mm lengths, so a single piece of flextrack will suffice for each module. I'm planning on soldering the feeders to the track so connections shouldn't be an issue either.

I'm not a big fan of the toylike looks of the Rokuhan turnouts but I'm not planning on having any on these first six modules anyway, and when I do there is always FastTracks. I have several of those to use so I won't have to build any more right away, either. I'm also not a fan of their method of putting power to the track, so I'll be soldering feeders to the rail joiners on the corner modules.

So far I have all the track I need, both the Kato Unitrack and Rokuhan, and I have just ordered all the connectors that will be required. Next is to get the lumber and foam and start building.

Maybe I'll even be able to get this project done.

Sigh

I tried to put a decoder in a K4 last night.

I failed miserably.

One of these days I'll be able to do this without all this bother...I hope.

Pilot Program

One of the biggest visual eyesores of the Minitrix K4, in my opinion, is the pilot.

I like the looks of the pre-war pilot, that's not it. It's just the way that it is attached to the front of the locomotive shell instead of being free floating. To attach it there is a fair amount of structure that was not present on the prototype.

I took a look at it to see what I could do about it, and I came up with two different ways to reduce this visual aberration. The first way is to detach the pilot from the shell and attach it to the frame, unfortunately this is not easy to do. The second way is to carve away as much of the offending structure as possible while still leaving the pilot attached to the shell.

The pilot that was left attached got all of the plastic between the steps trimmed out, as well as all of the structure around the sides. A piece of plastic was then added to the bottom of the smokebox to prevent light from the headlight leaking out and illuminating the pilot truck. I need to paint the frame that is now exposed but I think it looks a lot better.

The second method was to cut the pilot from the shell and then attach it to the frame. To do this I sanded off all of the top step and then put new top steps on, attaching the backs of the steps to the frame. It's not the best looking way to do it, the pilot is farther forward than the other locomotive, but it does look better than the way it came from the factory.

The biggest problem with the second method is now I can't swap another shell onto the chassis unless I detach the pilot again. Another problem is the cylinders are not the right size or style because the chassis is of European design and was used for the K4 because it was close enough.

I wish I was good at 3D design, I'd come up with a better solution and make it in Shapeways. Both ways look better than the original at any rate. It should do until I can afford the Bachmann locomotives I guess.

I've Been Working

The other day Mrs Hades asked me to clear off some bookshelves that I had under the train table so that she could use them.

This led to a multi-hour cleaning and repacking session which culminated in my taking apart the pedestal for the long-gone 4x8 layout.

At which point Mrs Hades asked if I could build a work table out of the old pedestal, and when I said I could she insisted I do so.

This gave me a place to put all the clutter that was on the layout itself, so for the first time in a pretty long time there is nothing on the layout table that will not eventually find a permanent home there.

Just in time, too, because the second of my Pennsylvania Minitrix K4 locomotives arrived the other day, along with a new set of Bachmann tender trucks to put on it.

So now I have a semi-matched pair of Minitrix K4 locomotives. The new one doesn't run as smoothly as the old one so I may end up putting the motor kit that I have on order into it instead of the one I ordered it for.

Today I cleaned and lubricated the trucks on the SD7 and got it to run like it should and repainted the tender and streamlining boards on the newest Model Power Pacific. I think I'm going to paint those side boards red to match the Bachmann J class, I think it would be a good look for that locomotive.

A pretty good week for playing with trains.

Surprise Motive Power

So this showed up on the railroad...

I put a bid in on an auction for a nickel over the starting price and much to my surprise I won it.

This is an Atlas RS3, developed jointly with Kato. According to the information on the Spookshow listing this is the second version of this loco, made after the split with Kato in 1999, as evidenced by the plastic trucks and shell mounted Rapido couplers. It's a nice running little loco that I really have no need for, but then again when has need ever really mattered when it comes to model railroading?

I'm sure I'll find a use for it somehow.

Presents!

This past week we went off to see Mrs Hades family the way we did last year, and even though the rain canceled the fireworks we had a good 4th of July party there. While we were there we went to Ohio to see her Grammy, and her aunt gave me a box full of trains that had taken up space in the basement since whichever cousin it was that had them lost interest in them.

When we returned to Pennsylvania her mother added a small bag full of trains that one of her dad's brothers had lost interest in many many years ago as well. I didn't get a chance to look through them at all while I was there because the 4th is a big to-do for them so they kept me busy. They stayed in the box until we returned home, at which point I was able to unpack them and check them out.

The first thing you will notice (besides the fact my kitchen is a disaster and needs a good cleaning) is they are all HO. Other than that, the first set pictured above is a Cragstan set made by Distler of West Germany (yes kids, once there were two) sometime in the 50's. This is the set that came from Pennsylvania and included the locomotive, two freight cars, the caboose, a bag full of track and the battery controller (with no batteries, thankfully). The locomotive is interesting in that its electric motor was connected to the two drive wheelsets by way of rubber bands. Other than the fact that one band is missing and the other is completely dysfunctional the set is actually in pretty good shape, the battery terminals are not corroded and the track is all there and in good repair. The motor in the locomotive works as well, so as soon as I can find some suitable rubber bands it should run.

The controllers to the left are identical except for the name imprinted upon them, one is a Tyco and the other is an AHM. They were both included in the set from Ohio pictured below and they both work beautifully.

This AHM set was from the mid 70's and featured an EMD GP-18 locomotive and four freight cars plus the caboose. There were also a handful of buildings in the box with this set; a barn, farmhouse (with two-holer out house), chicken coop (the picture doesn't show a roof on it, but it was there), windmill, stable, and even a dog house. There was also a station with passenger platform, a dairy bar and an interlocking tower. Two bags of people and animals and a bundle of telephone poles were also found in the bag. All of the parts to the structures were there, along with a few extras. There was a box of curved AHM track and a box of straight AHM track, all brass rails, plus a pair of Atlas 90 degree crossovers and a single bumper (but no turnouts at all), pictured below. Everything was in good shape and fully operational, although there were a few tie ends broken off some of the track pieces (undoubtedly from assembling and disassembling the trestle set).

The caboose was unfortunately missing its rear truck and one set of wheels on the front truck, but the rest of the cars were in great shape. The farmhouse seemed to be a bit big, and a few of the people and animals seemed to be a little oversized as well, but that might be just my perspective as an N scaler. The locomotive ran good in forward and reverse, although it did take a bit of persuasion to move the first time. A good cleaning and lube job should have it in tip top shape immediately.

There was a couple of extra walls for the station, what looks like a billboard with the date of 1957 on it, and a few miscellaneous unidentified pieces as well. The square piece underneath what looks like a bit of fencing turned out to be the roof of the chicken coop, so all the structures were more or less complete. The barn has a broken wall which should be easily repaired and there is a single stool missing from the dairy bar, other than that just a few signs on the station and interlocking tower and a broken mounting pin for the windmill fan are the only issues with the structures.

The only thing that appears to be missing from the otherwise complete bridge and trestle set is the deck for the bridge itself, although the bridge sides may have been designed to just snap onto the sides of a straight piece of track.

Since the trains all belonged to family members I am loath to dispose of them even though they are Horribly Oversized, so we will probably end up making something to put under the tree for Christmas. I was just glad to see everything more or less complete and in good shape given their age.

More Fun with DCC

Did you know that when you are programming a Digitrax decoder and it asks you what you want your minimum, maximum and middle voltages to be, they don't really mean voltages?

It's true!

So, with the "malfunctioning" DCC decoder once again installed in the Mikado, and properly programmed, the Path Valley Railroad ran one day totally digital (and totally Model Power powered). The Lackawanna Pacific pulled the passenger train while the Mikado handled the freight duties.

In the process I've found that my little layout just really isn't set up to run two trains simultaneously...but then again, that's not the way it was designed in the first place. It was designed as a switching layout with the possibility of roundy-round train running, and it fills those roles admirably.

If I wanted to run two simultaneously I'd really need to put in a dedicated mainline and turn the existing main into the switching siding, that way I'd be able to orbit the passenger train while I was switching the freight. Unfortunately I just don't have that kind of real estate to play with.

Now I just have to fiddle with the SD9 until I can get it to be a good locomotive on DC again, and then I'll try once more to put a decoder in it. I don't know why I'm so hell-bent on putting DCC into that locomotive, but it's become a quest of sorts.

I'm also going to put a decoder into the K4, I just haven't decided if I'm going to wait for the new motor and gear to get here before I do it.