Dear Mr. Sipple,
My husband pointed your article out to me (Larger View) as I was reading him excerpts from a book about the Transcontinental Railroad I plan on using in a thematic unit next year in my fifth grade classroom. Wow! What better way to teach geography, history, math, writing — well, you get the idea! Thank you for your gentle nudge — I will look forward to seeing next month’s story. Will it have particulars?
We have a 20 x 15-ish G gauge layout in our yard and no room in an 800 sq. ft. house for his N scale layout — he does have an incredible collection of engines and rolling stock, however. I think my best bet would be to use the G gauge locos — if my heart can stand the fact there will be the unplanned disaster lurking around a curve in the track.
How were you able to find someone willing to donate used track? We do have a local HO group. I guess that is as good a place as any to start.
I can see just sitting here thinking about it, that a project like this is going to take on a life of its own very quickly. If and when I get it up and running I will send pictures.
Emily Bennett
Pocatello, ID
I personally feel Large Scale is the way to go; there will be plenty of particulars in Part Two, in this month’s issue. To get track, try sending letters to people who make or distribute track. You might, for example, be able to get an unused oval left over from a broken-up set. If they donate it to the school, they can receive a letter of donation from you and write it off their taxes.
As to the danger to your trains, much of that is resolved by preparing your class and installing the appropriate understandings before the trains come to school. You know your kids, so you should have an idea of what you can allow. Load them up with a written response assignment; that helps as it consolidates the learning. I would say to never leave trains out and unattended in your classroom. Good luck and enjoy this new dimension in teaching! — John Sipple
Sir:
It has now been almost thirty years since I had the time or interest to make a model railroad. Thank goodness all of that has changed. Finally my life is starting to settle down. I want to start another railroad. But which scale? N or HO.
I have just read your publication and I am really starting to think about this new venture. However, before I start to work on the design of the layout perhaps you could answer a question that is haunting my sleep. The question is Couplers?
I have seen in both scales (N or HO) that everyone seems to be turning to the knuckle style coupler. This is fine, I never liked the old type very much. But my quandary is now that almost every manufacture is making their own interruption of the art, how do they match up to (Align with) the other guys. Am I limited to only a few suppliers for rolling stock and engines.
To put it in other words, “Will a Kato hook well to a Bachmann to a Life-Like to a Athearn to a Roundhouse to a Deluxe, etc.?”
Now at the time of this letter, I am a little over fifty, and my eyes are in need of a little help in close quarters. My hands are still flexible, but some day, I am sure that the fingers will start to become stiff. I can build the train, I can run the train, I can enjoy the time spent. But the days of small springs and little screws are fading fast.
In your article about Walthers’ Gunderson Hi-Cube 50 foot boxcar you talked about how well this car related to other stock in John Sipple’s layout. Is this typical of the industry or is this Walthers car a novelty? Is there much difference between rolling stock that has been produced in the last five years and the ones that were made before then?
Rolla Wells
Alfred, Maine
A lot of questions, Rolla. First, today’s knuckle style couplers are very compatible with each other, perhaps not as much as the older styles, but enough so that no persistent problems are likely to occur. Locomotives and rolling stock are also being produced by the vast majority of manufacturers to be quite compatible — this is a direct result of many of them wanting their products to be as close to the prototype in every way possible, far exceeding the models that you are probably familiar with. As far as “HO or N” is concerned — if you are like me, the smaller the parts, the longer it takes to find them in the carpet. — Ed
Dear Sirs:
This note is in reference to the articles that appeared in the May and June, 2001 issues of Model Railroad News.
The lead article in the May issue has a story regarding the Baldwin V-1000 yard engine, shows a set of ladders on the engine man’s side of the hood. It is recalled that the units were purchased without the ladders unless some companies requested such application.
In the June, 2001 issue on page 12, there is a story about the PS-1 boxcar in G scale. In column 3, about 2/3rds down, it is stated that it is open to question about the veracity of the car decoration.
We had a set of these cars painted in a greenish hue with the other decorations as per the photographs in the article, with the following notations painted to the left of the doors on both sides, RESTRICTED TO ON LINE SERVICE DO NOT LOAD OFF LINE.
Athearn produced a model of these cars and I also have one in my photo collection. It is in the greenish hue and decorated exactly as the G scale model shown in the June issue, and with the road number 467109, in reality as well as Athearn’s reproduction.
My father was on the B&O for 37 1/2 years and was the office manager the last 15 years for the trainmasters. I was there for ten years plus, with the last 14 months in the Freight House located at 24th and Race Streets, which is where I came across car 467109.
John X. Fearon
Philadelphia, PA
Dear MRN:
Could you please tell me which issue the review for the MRC2000 DCC system was in. Also, in the review of the Atlas system in the June, 2001 issue, you state that only one engine can be running at a time. Is it not possible that after one engine is set to be running at the desired speed, the active address can be changed to a different engine and the previous one will continue to run at its set speed?
W. W. Scott
Frankfort, IL
Thank you for the great review of our Atlas Master DCC system. I can see from your organization’s article that your staff has spent a lot of time working with the system. While the article is very good, there are a few clarifications I would like to make.
Even though an N scale dual-mode decoder is not yet available, Atlas has produced the following N-scale locomotives with factory-installed decoders: GP40-2, U25B, SD50/60/60M, SD35, FM Train Master, and the B23-7, as well as the soon to be released GP38.
The Commander and HO Dual-Mode Decoder have been awarded Conformance Warrants 00-07, and 00-08 respectfully, and are in full conformance with the NMRA Standards and RP’s.
The original Commander manual is currently being revised to clarify the use and operation of the unit. It will also include a number of additions, which were inadvertently left out in the original version, as well as new features added to the Commander after the manual went to press.
When a modeler requires additional power to operate his layout, he may add up to three power stations to the Commander. The power stations communicate with the Commander via terminals C & D. Under no circumstances should the modeler connect an Atlas Generator to terminals C & D. The Atlas Generator is a transformer, which lowers the wall voltage to a level the Commander can use. Connecting a Generator to terminals C & D will damage the Commander, and will void the warranty.
While in locomotive control mode, the function buttons, F0, F1, F2, are used to control the available functions on the selected locomotive. Once a modeler enters the menu system, the function of these buttons change. In the System, Programming, or Speed Step Menus, F1 is used to enter or acknowledge changes, and F2 is used to exit the menu. When in the Switch menu, F0 and F1 are use to control turnouts via Accessory Decoders, and F2 is used to exit the menu.
While a modeler can actively control only one locomotive at a time, once a locomotive speed has been set, it will continue to run until the modeler either changes the speed or stops it. This allows the modeler to select and run other locomotives. The number of locomotives that may be operating at one time depends on the size of the layout, the available power, and the modeler’s dexterity, but can conceivably be up to 99 different addresses.
When in the Switch menu, either F0 or F1 can be configured to set the turnout to either main/normal, or siding/reverse. The direction a turnout will throw depends on how it is connected to the accessory decoder.
The programmer in the Commander initially uses Register Mode for programming. However, once the modeler reads one of the eight registers, the Commander performs a test to determine if the decoder will support direct mode programming. If so, the Commander will switch to Direct Mode, allowing access to any of the configuration variables used by the decoder. The Commander does not have the capabilities to use Page mode at this time.
The locomotive capacity of the Commander is actually 99.
Future planned upgrades to the Commander are to include consisting and access to two additional functions.
Edward R. Majury Jr.
DCC Development and Support
Atlas Model Railroad Co., Inc.
Hillside, NJ
There are two types of Model Railroading; practical and prototype.
Up until the present, model railroading sets were manufactured for practical model railroading purposes. Eighteen inch radius curves and horn hook couplers were used for ease of operation and minimal space requirement. The horn hook couplers, can withstand rough handling (a must for younger train enthusiasts) where the new knuckle couplers break very easily. This makes the car temporarily useless and increases the frustration level for the new modeler.
Prototypical rolling stock requires body mounted knuckle couplers and RP-25 wheel flanges. This increases the chance of derailment on the 18" radius track and standard switches. To this the standard answer is use 22" radius track. Unfortunately, everyone does not have the room for wide radius curves.
Let’s keep the fun in the hobby for the beginner and the average model railroader. If and when they are ready for proto railroading, let them do it by choice rather than ramming it down their throats.
The added problems of proto model railroading can only discourage many new model railroaders.
Daniel Arsanian
Model Power Customer Service Manager
Dear Sirs:
I've subscribed to MRN for the last few years and have often appreciated many of the very informed and detailed reviews of HO products I'm interested in. I have often saved, that is, cut out and then filed, quite a few of them but it's cumbersome and they often either don't get cut out or, if I get that far, they don't get filed. For many other journals, papers and magazines I receive I'm able to access the article online and then do a paperless save to the appropriate file on my hard drive which gets the job done quickly and is easily accessible again without having to find the scissors or create new file folders (the paper kind).
I'm wondering if there is a way to open and save both present & archived articles, special forums, and yes, maybe even an editorial now and then? Access could easily be limited to paid subscribers by printing a subscriber code on the mailing labels that could then be entered for access. Actually, I find one of the more useful aspects of MRN to be the ads so I wouldn't want to rely on an electronic only subscription but I would like to be able to have internet access to the various articles.
I would also like to suggest that you might consider doing some brass reviews and perhaps some more advanced electronic forums with more line space than currently allowed. I also hope you don't become primarily "large scale" publication as certainly the largest group of modelers is and probably will remain HO.
Thanks very much for your efforts at producing a really worthwhile and well done publication.
Bruce Van Dyne
Bloomington, MN
