Another great Saturday night on the Des Plaines Valley 'club' layout. The
layout operates on an Easy DCC system. We've run as many as six locomotives
simultaneously, that's all the throttles we had. When you see an 0-8-0 and an
SW-1 glide past each other at a slow walk shuffling cars on adjoining tracks,
there's just no thought of returning to the pre-DCC world. Chuck has recently
installed several tethered throttle positions so getting beyond six should
be..., well, Easy! Won't have to arm wrestle for the four wireless throttles
anymore! <G>
Sound was 'en vogue' Saturday night. There were a couple 2-8-0's chuffing away
and before long there was sound installed in two of a three unit brace of
SD60's and a CB&Q Zephyr power car. Just a personal observation but with
everyone so excited by the explosion of great sound systems, sometimes the
noise level can get a bit high. We reset the volume CV on some SHS 2-8-0's to
about 25% and that seemed about the right level for these old ears. Next we
need one of the Tsunami large steam decoders and get it in a Berk or 2-10-4...
I'm looking forward to that!
I also dragged out my S1 and S4 Alco switchers, the OMI brass ones that
supposedly don't run. Well, they ran just fine on DC, shuffling cars on moving
trains. Definitely not SHS level, but solid for 20 year old models. I pulled
the S1 apart and added lighting and a decoder and it ran even better. Of
course I also cleaned out the goop that passes for Korean lubricant in all the
gearboxes. I did however miss on the resistor calculation for 1.5 volt 15 mA
lights - smoked em both! There were really really bright for, oh..., maybe 10
seconds!! I'll attack the S4 and pay a bit more attention to resistors as the
S4 Alco's have twin seal beam lights. Both are painted for NYC so they will
make a nice addition to the hostling pool when complete, gotta balance all
those EMD switchers.
The evening finished off with a Pennsy K4 on a short passenger run, using
decals to renumber a group of SHS NYC 3-bay hoppers, doing a little work with
Cloverhouse dry transfers, getting steel wheel sets in a PRS reefer (whoever
invented plastic wheels should be banished to HO!!), reviewing some new artwork
by 'the prez' and enjoying a good laugh when our host fried a decoder in an
SW-1. We've sent more than a few light bulbs and decoders up in smoke
lately... Oh well, you gotta break a few eggs to make an omelet...
Never a dull Saturday at Des Plaines Valley...
Jim Kindraka
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
