Contact the  HO scale  Apple Valley Model Railroad Club. They still using the old depot at 7th Ave and Maple St?

Some of the members may be able to help you with your large-scale locomotive or know someone locally who can help you.

I note you do not have any of your turnout's switch motor connected to power.

Easiest is to use the AC terminals of your DC power pack to power the switch motor of an E-Z Track Remote Turnout. You line the turnout (move the Points) with the control slide switch included with the turnout.

Use the DCC to power and control decoder equipped locomotives.

 

Quote from: Mark Damien on May 06, 2007, 07:33:26 AM

Hi all,
Just a question about MAP.

Seen on a website :
BLi & PCM now have MAP pricing Minimum Advertised Pricing. 20% off RRP.

Does this mean dealers are no longer allowed to "free trade" in the US?

MAP been around for years.

No, it does not mean dealers are no longer allowed to set their selling prices in the US.

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ebtbob,
You are drawing conclusions on uninformed hearsay. r0bert has touched on a few points.

Linda needs to educate herself about MAP. Has nothing to do with MAP; but still, as a model train retailer she should be furious about the BLI buy direct program.

Not so sure information about BLI’s business policies is fair game under the rules of this board.

Isambard... And the Manufacturer's ID of the decoder in your locomotive is?

As r0bert wrote you can type the proper image tag before and after the URL to the image.

Or you can type or copy and paste the image URL in the message. Then
highlight the URL and  Click on the Bulletin Board Code Insert Image
Button

It will insert the img tags for you.

Please do not post images of copyrighted photograph or other material. For that stuff just give the link.

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r0bert click on the Insert Code button to preserve formatting of code and prevent parsing of the Bulletin Board Code. Thus you can display the tag code as it should look without adding spaces. I enclosed your example in Code tags without have to use the extra spacing. To print
use the [img]...web address... [/img] hyperlinks

Bob,
Still have the hum when you run the 4-4-0 locomotive using DC instead of DCC?

Does the humming noise level decrease as the locomotive speed increases?

If yes and if Bachmann is still installing their entry level decoder, that decoder operates the motor at a frequency heard by people with normal hearing as a hum.

msowsun,
Much Better  

Thanks for taking the time to giving more thought to your first solution (with a little gentle prodding from me) and providing a corrected photo markup.  I don’t have the time and written instructions alone were not going to help Vinney at this point in time.

If you have the time, show what feeders go with which power pack and how to connect the power packs if you use two.

Vinney,
It is OK now you don't have the Atlas book. As you may recall from the first thread that started this, I told you, you would need to modify the turnouts to all routes powered if you followed the Cab Control for a double track layout wiring Figure 4-14 in the Atlas book.

Now that we reasonably know the turnouts you have are the power-routing type then I once again suggest you study the diagrams in http://www.trains.com/mrr/default.aspx?c=a&id=181 it should help you understand the why of msowsun’s corrected photo markup.

Remember DCC makes wiring and train control easier (and more fun) than using Cab Control Block. 

Msowsun ball is now in your court. 

Vinny,
Try msowsun's suggested method of only placing insulated rail joiners on both rails of the turnout’s divergent route (per his markings on your layout photo) and let him know what happens as you run two trains.  

Both are 1:48 scale

Some of the main differences
On3 models 3 foot gauge prototype
On30 models 30 inch gauge prototype
On30 -- uses HO scale wheels and track geometries
Track gauge
On3 -- 19.0 mm
On30 -- 16.5 mm (same as HO)
Coupler height
On3 -- 14.3 mm
On30 -- 9.93 mm (same as HO)


On3 equipment usually cost more than On30

The Complete Atlas Wiring Book -- All Scales -- Book # 12, page 30 -- figure 4-14 covers cab control (use of two DC power packs) for a double track layout.

So back to the train store to buy or look at the book 

You will see you need 4 additional insulated rail joiners, 2 Atlas Selector switches or the like and more power connector wire.

Wiring is simpler if you were using DCC instead of Cab Control.

Vinny,
Without an accurate diagram of your track plan and how you have it wired, I and anyone else would only be guessing at what is missing or what you have wired or gaped (insulated) wrong.

I could not locate a Bachmann N-gauge turnout to see how it is wired. So if the turnout is power-routing type then study the diagrams in http://www.trains.com/mrr/default.aspx?c=a&id=181
This article, however; does not help you with how and where to place any other rail gaps or connect any other power feeds necessary as required by your track plan.

Out of the box some HOn3 Blackstone Model K-27 locomotives are running erratically on DCC. This has been traced to factory over lubrication. Should someone get such a locomotive place it on DC powered track and run it until the lubrication burns off the motor’s commutator and brushes. Yes, you may see smoke!

Quote from: r0bert on April 29, 2007, 07:27:43 PM
... in normal operation the glue in the flywheels for the drivshaft sockets will give long before there is enough load to stall the motors,

Robert, perhaps this will be the case; but, it is easily fixed if it occurs.

Both motor’s position in this locomotive do not simply allow holding the motor shaft as I usually advocate when doing a stall test. I do not recommend someone use the hold down method as it can create drive train or shell issues that are not easily corrected.

I do consider, as I stated, it a waste of effort to use a decoder for each motor.

Quote from: Isambard on April 30, 2007, 11:58:24 AM
... we need a means of looking at the quality of the power and signal at various points on the layout. Any recommendations would be welcomed.
Thank you!

Usually all that is needed is a good quality true RMS multimeter to find power issues and disabling the decoder’s Power Source Conversion.

Consider something like The DCC Pocket Tester made by Pricom http://www.pricom.com/Trains/DCCTester.shtml if your club has someone with the knowledge to understand and use the information the tester provides.