When I want to quote previous post, the forum automatically quotes everything in the post including any other quotes that were in that post, then when I try to submit it, it won't let me until I delete all of the extraneous quotes that I didn't want to quote anyway. If I wanted to quote a previous post that the person quoted to reply to, I would have quoted that post directly. I think it would be easier if the forum was set to quote only the reply in the post being quoted without quoting any quotes that are in that reply.

For anybody on dial up, the home page for the Model Railroad Hobbyist Magazine now has a lite edition that will download 19 MB instead of 78MB. It has lower quality graphics and less embedded rich media, but still uses the Adobe pdf format. The videos and extra rich media are now embedded in the web browser on the site rather than being downloaded in the magazine. All of the content is still there, just in a smaller MB package to make downloading easier and quicker.

Hi fellas,
Thought I would give an insight how my layout came into being, as well as maybe introduce myself to those of you who may not have been able to avoid me in the past.
Some of this has been posted on another forum awhile back in a slightly different way.....But....
If you can bear with me over the next little while, I will endeavour to chronicle all the fun and mistakes P[: from beginning to the present of the making of "The Pistonbroke RR"

OK. From the beginning............A few years back...

O.B. Jack was a complete novice at this techno internet stuff, and had no idea about making train stuff.
and I still am, ..but .. having a fat time of it now.

So back to the beginning......... Many moons ago , I had a triang train set as a kid and loved it. so when the little anklebiters (grandchildren) came along "The War Office" and I decided to get a train set for them to play with when visiting.

That was the beginning of the end.

We first tried to see how much space would be needed for this train set. Check out the 1 ft squares drawn in chalk on the floor, Ahhh we were going to be soooo professional about all this!!!

We did set it up once but it was never going to work . Hard concrete floor.
People tripping over it :'(
Having to pull it up all the time then relay it :

"So lets make a little table to put it on dear " whispered The War Office
"Cool" said Jack. "I can probably manage that"
"But first " says She " We need to polish the floor if we are going to put something permanent in here"
"Dang" says I "But OK lets do it"

Big Mistake

Here is the Real Estate


Here is the machine The orange thing ...not the driver


Here is the aftermath


and here is more. Note, even The Dog checked out the damage


And more


So the cleanup started ........ and 3 days later we had


Then this is it. Reclaimed for the right of way


and looking the other way


So there we were, some 3yrs ago setting out into the unknown world of model RR
Initially we were going to put the settrack onto a table, plug it in and away we go. But that would be to simple would'nt it?
So with great trepidation and a fear of the unknown we looked on the internet to find a trackplan.

Big mistake # 2
Because we found a whole new world of little trees and engines and houses and cars and flex track and scenery and on and on we could go, but mainly wonderful helpful people (who are probably not so little)
Now we had to make some hard decisions. ??? How big? How high? How Much? How to do it? Will we? Wont we?
What the heck. So like a Bull in a china shop we charged in boots and all.

So ends chapter one.
If you can be bothered to tune in sometime in the near future, you can follow the trials and tribulations of this never ending saga

Cheers Jack

Okay scratchbuilders, I need to pick our brains. How do I drill holes in thin brass? A normal drill bit seems to be like twisting a fork through spaghetti. I have tried sandwiching the brass between two pieces of wood, and still little luck. Any hints here?

In 2005, I was rushed when I first designed and laid the track for my first layout, which is 4x6. Ever since, I've been solving (fairly successfully) the errors in my track work -- mostly uneven roadbed (especially around switches) or poorly joined flex-track. My layout board is also hopelessly warped and that, of course, causes problems. I'm not sure what can be done now to correct it (I've thought about using clamps to try to straighten it!) and I don't have much space for elaborate, heavy-duty benchwork. Its current benchwork (if you can call it that) is basically a sheet of plywood with a very weak/light frame under it.

I just recently started building a very small 3x4 HO layout using 15"R curves. I can still run most of my stock on it. I have one 4-6-0 and one long Pacific that can't cope with the tight curves -- everything else seems to run OK, even my CNR Hudson and my other (shorter) Pacifics.

At any rate, the 3x4 layout is upstaging the larger one because its trackwork in laid on a very flat surface. I hardly ever have derailments on it and my trains run very smoothly. Also, the scenery is looking really good as well. IMHO, I think my trackwork and scenery skills are much better now than they were in 2005 when I started on the larger layout.

So my question is: Do I scrap the first layout and expand the newer one? It's a tough decision as I've spent a fair bit of time and money on the first one.

Cheers,
Rob

I don't know if anyone else mentioned it. But GE did a little writeup about the train Obama and Biden rode the other day from Philly to DC.

http://www.gereports.com/inauguration-sp...l-express/

I didn't know this, but apparently the Genesis series are pretty old and most of them have been through their third lifetime. Apparently a lot of the metro lines get a lot more funding than Amtrak (I didn't know that). Those locomotives run about 165,000/year average. NJT signed a big deal to purchase 26 locomotives from a German company, and some of the locomotives they are replacing are forty years old. While, the GE Genesis locomotives Amtrak uses were build in the mid to late 90s.

Deluxe Innovations ATSF Twinstack 150701.
This is the red Econostack version.
Could work trade from the shop.
Please PM Me.
Thanks , Mike

...minding my own business, and then- Wham!

Well, I decided to follow up with a certain EZDays (who shall remain nameless) and found myself here! Thanks for the hand up. I look forward to not looking back.

Oh, by the way- let me introduce myself. My name is Mark and I've been known to check into various N Gauge forums that are interesting and active. Others knew me as MCL_RDG there.

Regards for now.

Mark

There seems to be a lot of modelers that haven’t gone over to DCC. We took a poll a while back and the split was about 50/50. I can see the advantages and the features of using DCC since I spent a good 40 years building digital control systems. I’ve chosen to stay with DC since my N scale layout is relatively small (about 60 sq. ft.) and there won’t be more than one or two consists operating at any one time. It’s economics as well, and I know I’m not alone in that regard.

Anyway, I’ve seen many questions on several forums regarding DC power packs, so I’ve put together a few diagrams that might be helpful in explaining some basic concepts of DC. I also have a tutorial on the use of a VOM and it includes a primer on basic electricity, voltage, current and resistance so it might be helpful in reading that as well. The diagram below shows what different voltage sources do over time. If you had an oscilloscope connected to these power sources, this is what you would see; the technical term for that is called a “waveform”, some prefer, “waveshape”. It represents what the voltage measurement is at any point in time. Up and down is some value from zero volts, left to right is time. For example, waveform “A” is pure AC, just like what is at a wall outlet. The voltage starts at 0 and grapdually increases to some value before it goes back to zero and reverses itself and goes negative and equal amount. The frequency it does this at is called Hertz (Hz). The basic frequency in North America is 60 Hz, while across the pond and in OZ it becomes 50 Hz. At 60 Hz, one full cycle takes 16.6 milliseconds. We can thank George Westinghouse for successfully pushing this concept that was conceived by Nicolas Tesla. Edison would have had us all running on DC if he got his way. Now, in order to get this voltage to be reduced, one must use a transformer. This will lower the wall outlet voltage from say, 120 volts, to something more usable, like 12 or 18 volts. There are times when this is enough, like running some Lionel O gauge, or operating lamps or other accessories and for switching turnouts. There are times when AC won’t work and DC is required, for instance, running most other scale engines and all electronics. Waveform “B” shows what happens when you add a diode to the circuit. A diode, or rectifier, will only allow current to flow in one direction. By placing this in series with the load, the result is that the negative half of the cycle is blocked. You will find this on most cheap power packs that come with your basic train set.

An improvement on that is shown in waveform “C”, where, by using four diodes, it is possible to flip the negative half-cycle and not have the blank space, or 0 volts for that portion of the cycle. I’ve got an early model MRC that does it this way. Both these methods are OK for running trains, but are unreliable since the voltage will vary with the load. If you add a capacitor to “C”, then you get what you see in “D”, filtering and a little more stability. The little squiggles are called ripple. What is happening is that the capacitor charges up like a small battery and slowly discharges. The next part of the cycle causes it to charge up again. The amount of ripple is dependent on the size of the capacitor and the amount of the load. The load still has some affect on the voltage output here as well.

Waveform “E” shows what pure regulated DC looks like. It’s accomplished by adding some electronics and some more filtering to “D” so that the voltage remains constant regardless of the load, the same as you get from a battery. Most engines don’t need that kind of regulation, but most electronics do.
   
Now there are power packs that are digital in nature, but are still considered to be DC. The ones I have are the MRC Tech 4’s. What they do is produce a DC regulated voltage that is constant, but is pulsed, or turned on and off quickly, so that the average voltage is equivalent to some DC value. For example, if the pulses are 18 volts, and they are there for 30% of the time, than the average DC would be 6 volts. If you look at waveform “F”, you can see that the pulses are short resulting in a low average value and the engine will run slow. In “G” the pulses are wider and the engine runs faster, and “H” shows it running almost full speed. What’s really cool about this is that it’s possible to do things like “momentum” and “braking”. What happens here is that the electronics in the Tech 4 power pack will start up the train with short pulses, then slowly increases the pulse width until it reaches the maximum voltage the unit is set for. The same for breaking, it will stop the train slowly by decreasing the pulse width until it reaches zero.
   
I hope these explanations are not too technical, but I think they might answer some basic electrical questions I’ve seen come up from time to time.

Jim Currie suggested that I do a tutorial on the use of a VOM meter some time ago. This is essentially copy of that tutorial that was posted elsewhere over two years ago. His thinking is that every modeler needs this tool, and should know how to use it. A VOM meter is indispensable for use during wiring and troubleshooting layouts and accessories. This meter is an electrical device used to measure Volts, Ohms and Milliamps, thus the name, VOM. There are two types of these meters, one is analog where the value of what you’re measuring is shown by the position of a needle on a dial face, and the other has a digital readout. I have an analog meter that is probably a good 50 years old and still works, but finding one is difficult nowadays, so we’ll talk about the digital type.

Let’s spend a little time discussing what is it that we’re actually measuring. Volts are the amount of electrical potential between two points, kind of like the amount of water behind a dam, the higher the water, the more potential there is. There is AC volts and DC volts. AC is what you get out of the wall socket in your house and can only be created by a generator. Current flows back and forth 50 or 60 times a second. DC volts are what you get out of a battery or a power pack that has change AC into DC. Current flows only in one direction in this case. There is another tutorial on power packs here that you might want to read. Voltage by itself can do nothing. You can frequently measure voltage between yourself and a water pipe, but it is normally harmless. Notice I said “normally”. If you measure a few volts between you and the pipe, that’s what’s know as “pick-up”, if you measure a lot higher, say 110, don’t touch the pipe, that’s not a good thing. What is required is current, measured in amps, to get any work done. Think of this as the water pressure that flows through the pipes leaving the dam. Resistance, measured in ohms, is the ability to oppose the forces of electrical current. This would be the same as when the water pressure hits a restriction or narrowing in a pipe, lowering the water pressure. Or in our case, lowering the amount of current that flows. There is a relationship between these and can be expressed in a formula: Voltage equals Current times Resistance, or, E = I x R. If you know any two values, you can calculate the other one using this basic electrical formula. “E” is used to denote voltage and stands for “Electromotive force”, “I” stands for current and “R” for resistance. Power is the Voltage multiplied by the Current, or P = E x I, and cannot be measured using a VOM.
A basic meter looks like these:
   
You can purchase an inexpensive meter for under $10US, and up to a couple of hundred dollars for a very sophisticated instrument. The one on the left I paid about $3 for on sale at Harbor Freight, the other two were about $40-50 purchased at an electronic supply house. There is no need to spend more than that. Some meters can also measure things like capacitance or even temperature. Simple meters now days have the ability to check transistors. Features and accuracy are depended on the individual model. Some are designed for more rugged use than others. For instance, if I were to drop my $3 meter, I’d just leave it and sweep it up with the trash, but my $50 meter has a rubber cradle to keep dropping damage to a minimum. Analog meters are also very sensitive to abuse as well. All meters are set up about the same. There’s an on/off switch somewhere, holes at the bottom for probes, a digital readout and a large switch used to set the meter to select what you are measuring. Make sure the meter is set for the measurement you’re about to take and at least the highest value you expect to see. Remember, the numbers on the meter selection switch represents the highest value that can be read in that switch position. Also, make sure the two probes are in the correct holes for what it is you are measuring. You can damage the meter, or blow an internal fuse, if you have it set for 20 mA and you are measuring 2 amps or if you’re measuring voltage and the meter is set to measure resistance. Each meter is different in some respect. The meter on the right is self-seeking in that you can just set it for what it is you’re measuring and it will seek the proper scale for the value. To me these types of meters are confusing. The smaller meter does not measure AC current and has limited range positions.

Measuring Volts:
When wiring up anything, it’s the wires that bring the voltage to wherever it’s needed. In our case, the wires go from the power pack to the rails (maybe through a control or switch panel), then to the loco’s motor. If you don’t have voltage, you don’t have anything. When testing, I always start at the farthest point. If I don’t have voltage there then I check the power pack. If I have voltage at the source, then I can work back in either direction to locate the point where I have voltage on one side, but not the other. In the case of rail wiring, it’s necessary to move both probes as you go since there is no common connection (or grounds) in DC rail systems. When measuring DC voltage, there is polarity, the red probe goes to plus, the black to minus. If they are reversed, the meter will read a minus (-) in front of the value. Remember, if you don’t have a load, you will read the same voltage all along the line, that can change when you add a loco or a light somewhere.
   
Measuring Current:
There is no current on an open circuit. Once you add a load, or some resistance in the circuit, you will generate current. The lower in resistance the load is, the higher the current. The higher the voltage, the higher the current will be for the same load. That’s why when you increase the voltage from the power pack; the current increases and the train will run faster. Current is always measured in series with the load, that is, you must connect the meter in line with one of the power wires. Remove one wire from the power pack; connect one probe to the power pack, the other to the wire you just disconnected. Set the meter to the highest current setting. On some meters that will require moving the positive probe to a different probe hole. There may be a fuse in the lower settings while a setting of 10A or more usually aren’t fused. If for instance you want to find out how much current your new loco draws at slow speed, adjust the power pack to the setting you want and put the loco on the track. Turn on the power pack and read the meter, if it’s too small a number, you may have to lower the meter setting. If the meter value keeps changing as the loco goes from one section of track to another, that’s a good indication that you have some rewiring to do. It could mean that a rail joiner is not making good electrical connection or that you need to add a new voltage drop to the rail section that is affected. Undersized wire will cause these problems as well. As you increase the speed setting on your power pack, the current will increase as well. If you have a lamp connected to your power pack, as you increase the voltage, or speed setting, the lamp will get brighter and the current will increase. The total current at the power pack is equal to the sum of all the currents required by all the loads you have. Let’s say you have two locos and at the 50% speed setting, they each draw .250 amps, and you add four lights, each drawing 50 mA, or .05 amps. Your total current draw will be 700 mA or .7 amps. You have to check the label on the power pack to see what the maximum output is. Some are rated in amps, others in watts, or power. If you exceed the rating, one of two things will happen. The unit will shut down until the load is removed and or the power pack it reset, or on some cheaper units, the voltage will drop to compensated for the increased current and it will heat up. Some have thermal overload protection, but the ones that don’t can be damaged this way, so whatever you power pack is like, it’s best to know how much current it can safely deliver and how much your equipment is loading it.
   
Measuring continuity:
Continuity is basically when you have an electrical connection from one point to another, or a “short”. For instance, of you have an open or loose rail joiner, you most likely won’t have continuity along your rails. Continuity is essential to complete a circuit and for current to flow. Frequently, when troubleshooting wiring, it is easier to use the resistance setting on the meter to test continuity, which should appear as a short. One word of caution, do not measure anything on the ohms scales with power on. It is best to just disconnect the wiring to the power pack. Many meters have a continuity setting that is denoted by a musical note next to the switch position. With the meter set for that, the meter will buzz whenever the two probes are touched together. If your meter doesn’t have that, then use the lowest setting for ohms. A short will then show as “0” and an open circuit as a “1” on the left.
To test for a short between the rails, connect one probe to one rail and the other probe to the other rail. If the power pack is disconnected, you should see an open circuit. Note that if you have some lamps in the circuit or have the power pack still connected, you will see some resistance, but you shouldn’t see a short circuit.
To test for an open circuit to your rails, connect one probe to the end of the wire that went to the power pack, and touch the other probe to the closest rail where the other end of the wire is connected. You should see a short. Run the probe down the rail and you should see a short all along the rail. If at any point the meter shows an open or high resistance, you have located a problem area. If you have a switch or control panel in the circuit, you’ll have to be sure the switches are in the right position. You should repeat the process with the other wire and rail.
   
Measuring resistance:
Everything that uses electricity has resistance. For the most part, you shouldn’t care. If you know the voltage and current ratings of things, you can calculate the resistance. On the other hand, if you know the resistance and the voltage, you can calculate the current. If for instance you have a 5 volt lamp that you want to use in a 12 volt circuit, you need to know either it’s current rating or it’s resistance so you can put a voltage-dropping (or current-limiting) resistor is series with it so as not to damage the lamp. Set the meter to one of the ohms scales, in this case a lower one. Touch each probe to one of the lamp contacts or wires and read the meter. Let’s say it reads 50 ohms. Using the formula above, you can calculate that it takes .100 amps, or 100mA to light. You’ve got to use a series resistor with a value that will drop 7 volts across the resistor and the remaining 5 volts across the lamp. Using that same formula, you can determine that you need a 70-ohm resistor, or a standard 75-ohm resistor. In this case, a one-watt resistor would be necessary. You can use the resistance scales to check continuity as described above. This is a good way to do it since it can show when you have a connection, but a poor or high-resistance one. If you’re checking continuity on your rails and you’re getting 0, or a short, then your OK, if you see a higher number like 100 or 1000 ohms, you can have either a poor solder joint, a corroded rail joiner or even a dirty track.