Success story for newbee with change over to DCC

[Grandpawmoses]

 UPS ran last Friday with my DCC command center, two locomotives, & track with two DCC turnouts & two crossovers. Saturday morning I got the track assembled per my planned layout using a trial version of "Anyrail" software. It's E-Z track & it's a 52" outer oval and a 44" inner oval connected together with a pair of crossovers. There is a turnout in the inner oval with another turnout to make two dead ends. I wasn't too sure about the turnouts & crossovers so I checked everything with a volt-ohm meter for shorts constantly.
I had absolutely no problems reprogramming  the command buttons (not using the default #3) for the two engines (one even has sound).  Had no problems programming the two turnouts & one of the crossovers (even programming the default position) but one crossover sometimes would not work. Rather than send it for repair I did a little investigating & found a loose solder joint. Resoldered & now functions.
I had a small situation with the loco with sound. Everytime it passed over a crossover or turnout, it would stop. If you returned the throttle to zero position & back to speed it would start moving again until it crossed another switch. The problem (I think) was due to the stiffness of the wires (connecting the engine with the tender). The front wheels of the tender were just barely contacting the rails & would bounce when passing over a switch frog. I assumed the tender had a track pick-up on these wheels and would lose it's signal or power when they bounced. Anyway, the problem went away after I repositioned those wires.
Thanks for taking the time to read my long post but I was so satisfied with my results that I had to write it.
David

[Yampa Bob]

Hi David,
Congratulations, and thanks for sharing your success with us. Sounds like you are a happy railroader.

Just a suggestion, some tenders are a bit light and can benefit from about 1/2 ounce added weight.  Something to consider if you experience derails thorugh turnouts.

Regards.

[Grandpawmoses]

Thanks Bob,
Hadn't even considered that.
David

[Yampa Bob]

There's usually enough space for weights over the tender's front truck, where it seems to be the most effective.  Don't know what tenders you have, but here are a couple of pictures that might help. One shows where I added 3/4 ounce in a Vanderbilt tender, scroll down to the 6th post.

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php/topic,7439.0.html

Regards.