To “Thinking of DCC’s” John Sipple,
On the decoder install in the December issue (Conversions, one big and one little), you had a statement that said, “The blue wire is the common (+) ground while the white is the headlight and the brown is the function 4.” I think you should have said, “The blue is the common plus wire while the white is the headlight and the brown is the function 4.” The reason that most people get confused with the blue wire is because they use pull down transistors for the function controls. That being the case, then you will have to put the load between the plus voltage and the function transistors. This is done so that when people make mistakes and short the function wires to ground they cannot blow-up the function transistors.
On your problem with the smoke unit, you can wire a relay to one of the function lines and have the relay contacts turn the smoke unit on or off. If you do this be sure to put a diode across the relay coil to kill the back EMF that the relay will generate.
The review of the Aristo tower was very good. You can still hook the tower to the track for power. Just put a bridge rectifier between the track and the tower. The lights in the tower will be on all the time the booster is on and you may have to install a resistor to drop the voltage to the lamp. You could install another lamp in series with the one in the tower, say two 12 volt ones. The draw on the booster would be very light.
You could install LGB switch motors on your turnouts and power the motors with NCE’s Switch-Kats. The Switch-Kats have the provision for turnout indicator lights. Install the Switch-Kats in a small plastic box and put them right by the turnout. They also have inputs for local control push buttons or track trips. This will allow you to throw the turnouts with your throttle.
Also, I see that you have discovered that stainless steel is not near as good a conductor as brass.
Bob Burton, Road Foreman
WEA Railroad, “A Yard Line”
Kansas City, MO
I have just been “browsing the Web” and saw Dudley Booth’s letter (June 2004) about Cyril Littlebury. As I outlined in my book, Arthur was Cyril’s father and died in Vancouver in 1945. Cyril also died there. He had no siblings.
Donald Bain
brmna@brmna.com
I usually do not read articles about O gauge 3-rail items. This one (December 2004) caught my eye and I read it first. Being a scale modeler and a steam locomotive fan, some people call me an expert! In reading this article I noticed a few little things that I thought I would bring to your attention.
First, Leetonia and Cherry Valley Railroad was not in Pennsylvania, it was in Ohio. You have the wrong Leetonia! This 5.85 mile long railroad took off the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago one of the Pennsylvania System lines in eastern Ohio at the town of Leetonia and ran north into the coalfields. There were many Coke ovens here. They are there today but mostly submerged in water.
This drawing you mention first appeared in a May 1958 issue of the Model Railroader magazine drawn to 1/4 inch scale. The Lionel model seems to represent this locomotive very well except for the omission of the air compressor as you have noted. Also not shown on the drawing, and missing from the model as well, are at least two safety valves that should be recessed into the steam dome. And I cannot see in your photographs any sign of hatches on those sand boxes. Since they put metal railings on the boiler and saddle tank why didn’t they go one step further and add them as well to either side of those cab doors?
One other thing mentioned in this article was “metal steam lines to cylinder.” These are not steam lines at all. They were oil lines to lubricate the cylinders that came from a Hydrostatic Lubricator located in the cab up on top of the boiler. Steam to the slide valves came down through the Cylinder saddle casting as well as the exhaust steam returning to be directed up the stack to induce a draft.
Edwin C. Kirstatter
Cuyahoga Falls, OH
I found your comments most interesting (December 2004 Editorial), John, since I have obviously returned to the child’s approach to train movement, although I don’t feel the least childish in doing so. Since I am using manual turnouts, use a skewer to uncouple the cars, have two manual turntables and manually remove my carfloats from the layout, I decided to go all the way with the “Hands On Control” and simply push and pull the locos and cars by hand, just like your grandchildren, except, being in HO, I keep mine on the tracks, most of the time. I have become very good at it and recommend that every body should have a small switching layout to play around with. It eases tension and is very satisfying. I even take time to (mentally) do most of the tasks involved in the switching of cars, like hooking the glad hand connectors, waiting for the air brakes to be pumped off, etc. Takes all of the stress out of operating the layout. Try it! You will like it!
George N Baustert
Bradenton, FL
I thought your review of the Intermountain RTR 5,277 cubic foot car (January 2005) was well done. I must have spent some time looking at the bottom view on page 29. Unless my eyes are deceiving me, the axle which appears to be the number Four position, appears to be out of the journal box (No. 8 journal), and the crew step above is missing. Was it on purpose or an “oops”? I buy A-Line steps in bulk, and Kadee trucks too. Otherwise I think the model is great.
Kenneth Clouhgley
Commack, NY
Does any company sell an N scale version of the Pennsylvania’s S2 Steam Turbine locomotive?
Robert. L. Londer
Philadelphia, PA
To “Thinking Of DCC” guest columnist Mike Acker:
Thank you for your neat article on the Prodigy Advance (January 2005). I have had mine for over a month running Stewart FTs and since at present I am running on an 8-foot Free-mo module yard throat, I can’t get much mainline running, so I get to do a lot of switching. Generally I am enjoying the control, but one thing is starting to bug me. I have sound and am really striving for realistic operation. The thing that is getting me is the slight jerk or hesitation when I adjust the throttle up or down. Can you recommend anything that might eliminate that? Speed 1 does nothing, speed 2 is jerky, speeds 3, 4, and 5 are usable in a yard or A/D track scenario. I am using 28 step with acc at 8 and dec at 3. I have not made any changes to sv or tv from factory settings. The sound B unit is Soundtraxx DSX150, and the power units ABA are Digitrax DH163D’s. I firmly believe DC is dead, long live DCC!
John Colley
Port Townsend, WA
To answer your question on your problems with your Stewart FTs having a “jerking or hesitation” problem on acceleration and deceleration, the first thing I would do is to increase your number of throttle steps from 28 to 128. This will give you smaller increments of speed change from your throttle when you increase or decrease your speed. Another thing I would do is to increase CV2 (Start Voltage) to a number that will make your locomotive just start to move at throttle step 1. The best way to monitor this performance is to remove the shell and watch for the flywheel to turn. You may also need to decrease CV3 to a smaller number.
I consulted with our editor, John Sipple, who is farther advanced than I am with DCC and he has the following advice to add:
Hi John, here’s my two-cents: First, for fineness of control, I’d move your decoders to 128-step operation. Then I’d find what speed step gives you a real, usable speed and raise your Start Voltage to that level. Then try setting your throttle for “Yard” service, letting you move the knob back and forth to advance or reverse your loco without having to press the direction button. You might do better to reduce the acceleration to six instead of eight. The DH163s have a number of features which can help you here. First, you can adjust speed stabilization on CVs 55, 56, and 57 adjusting, in effect, the back EMF. You should read the Digitrax Mobile Decoder Manual (version 2002 or later), pages 59 - 61. You should also consider the “Switcher Mode” which can be set up by setting CV54 to 01 which lets you press [F6] to toggle “Switching Speed” on or off. Switching Speed cuts throttle speed in half and accel/decel to about a fourth.
Actually, right after going to 128 speed steps, I’d probably trim the stabilization first. This may make adjustment of CV2 unnecessary and yield excellent performance at minute-hand speeds. The decoder’s “Switching Speed” mode would allow you to set up your locomotives to handle trains gracefully on the road and then hit [F6] to play in the yards. The Prodigy Advance “Yard Throttle” mode is lots of fun when switching, especially when combined with really responsive locos. — John
And now, I’ll conclude my advice:
Lastly, I would like to add that I found that there still is a learning curve in understanding the full capabilities of DCC. The main thing is, keep it fun while you learn and try to move ahead in small increments. Don’t try too much at once. Enjoy! — Mike Acker
First, I want to say that I enjoy your publication so much that I have recently extended my subscription into 2007. One of the things that I especially like about your reviews is that they are often mini-tutorials, and I have learned much about things like the history of various prototype locos, practices around the hobby, and company backgrounds from reading them. But I must say that I was quite disappointed in your review of Tony’s RRampmeter in the December 2004 issue.
First of all, you didn’t review the product, only discussed its application. This instrument is advertised to measure true RMS voltage and current to an accuracy of ±2%. I was disappointed that you didn’t even attempt to verify the manufacturer’s claimed performance, nor test its accuracy over a range of wave forms typically encountered on model railroads (AC, DCC, DC, pulse width modulated DC, etc.) After all, if it doesn’t yield accurate, repeatable measurements, why purchase it? This is a bit like writing a test report of a power saw by discussing furniture construction techniques rather than whether the saw makes repeatable, square cuts.
Also, you write about a clever boxcar housing for the meter on your outdoor railroad. Have you verified the meter’s performance over the wide temperature and humidity extremes one would encounter in that environment? For example, some electronic devices will fail completely under water condensing conditions, such as morning dew. I seriously doubt that Tony’s designed the meter for that environment.
I recognize that you probably don’t have a calibration test lab in your offices, but the Portland area is a center for electronic test instrumentation. Surely someone up there could have helped you with some basic calibration tests.
Also, I think that you missed a wonderful opportunity to educate your readers about some basics of the wave forms used in model railroading, and why a true RMS meter is such a useful device, especially for DCC. I know from personal discussions that there is a lot of ignorance on this subject out there. For example, people using DCC put a digital VOM across the rails and get an acceptable reading, and then wonder why headlights are burning out and passenger car roofs are melting.
I might add that I own one of the version II RRampmeters. It is a very nice and useful product that gives reasonable readings, but I can’t vouch for its accuracy. My only peeve is that the case doesn’t lend itself to panel mounting. You have to choose between flush mounting the raw circuit board in a cutout and giving up the nice graphics on the case, or surface mount the packaged version. It would have been nice if Tony’s offered a separate panel mount bezel for flush mounting.
Again, thanks John for your great publication. But I think that you blew it on this particular review.
John Heitmann
Big Flats, NY
Instead, I set out to use the instrument as a consumer would, to apply it to daily, ordinary tests. It has been several months since I first penned the review and I’ve used the meter under some very adverse weather conditions. I’ve scooted out to perform tests between rain showers, on freezing mornings, hot afternoons, and some nice, sunny days. I have locomotives which are a known issue for me, and so when I run them, I watch the meter, and I’ve found that it reads very consistently, despite the weather. I would say that the hobbyist who uses it inside all year round will find this to be a very reliable unit. My use outdoors is a bit extreme, but that’s the workingman’s test. Along the way, the meter has helped me out tremendously, in part because it is so very available. It is at least designed for testing DC, PWC, and DCC, which my general VOMs are not. That, of course, was my real point.
Our reviews serve to introduce the reader to the product. Our job is to give you a look at the item and its capabilities, rather like taking a field trip to a hobby shop with camera and pencil, returning home to show you what we saw. In that way, we are a sort of a virtual hobby shop. We don’t take locomotives apart or test items to destruction in the manner of Consumer Reports. Within the limited space of the review, I had to create something with visual interest besides a plain printed circuit board with some components on it and show how such a meter could become a really useful tool. The magic of the product is that it makes the measurement easy; I’ll leave the accuracy testing to those with better equipment than mine.
As to the mounting of this one, it didn’t come with any sort of bezel, which I made clear in the review. It would be up to the purchaser to create their own mounting, whether in the panel or something else. I chose to put it into a boxcar body which works well for me. I don’t take up issues which aren’t in the package in any review, and the version I have would be restricted to either panel mounting or something creative. Some guys will look at this product and see an answer while others will be left behind by the technical aspects of it. At least they know what it is, what it looks like, and how it works. — John
To “Thinking Of DCC’s” John Sipple:
In the November 2004 issue, Volume 10, Issue 11, you refer to the possible demise of ZADC. You asked for comments and opinions.
I would be very reluctant to purchase (or in my case, sell) a DCC system that didn’t offer the ZADC option for several reasons.
1) For beginners, those individuals buying their first starter set, ZADC gives them a way to run two locos. One DCC equipped and one they probably already own. This minimizes their initial cash outlay and gives them a sort of comfort in knowing one of their old locos will run on the new system.
2) The collector, primarily the brass collector, probably has a locomotive that he will never, under any circumstances, modify by installing a DCC decoder. The model may be too valuable, or delicate, or it might have a paint job that the owner doesn’t want to risk damaging by disassembling the loco. Whatever the reason there are model railroaders who will never consider modifying some particular piece of motive power, yet they will want to run it from time to time. ZADC offers this.
No one is going to suggest that ZADC is the best way to run a locomotive, but it harms nothing to include it in a DCC system. The stalwart DCC users can simply ignore this function. As long as there are locos made to run on DC it would be a questionable move for a DCC manufacturer to ignore the fact that someone will want to run an unmodified loco on a DCC system.
John Glaab
Laurel, MD
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