Large Scale Central

Beginner builds a railway

Track and Trestles
#55
Dave Healy said:
Hans-Joerg Mueller said:
Dave Healy said:
Are the two pieces of blue conduit coming out of your shed anything to do with power? If so (since you're using DCC), I'm curious as to their purpose.
Dave,

DCCers quite often run a two wire DCC bus along the track and quite often also a DC or AC bus for whatever is required along the line. The “two wires to the track. Finished!” is for those who like to do remedial work. :slight_smile: :wink: :slight_smile:


Hans, educate me.

I have never used anything else but track power. Since our layout is small, a heavy-gauge pair to the track from a 20 amp Bridgewerks works fine. We also run two pairs for a nominal 24v (switches, etc.) and a 6v pair for a dead-man button used by my young grandsons to run the trains. Ergo, I’m on your wavelength when you say “a DC or AC bus for whatever is required along the line”.

What I don’t understand is why John or anyone else would want a DCC bus. I thought the whole idea of DCC is to dispense with wires! What am I missing?


Dave
I don’t know what Hans feels about DCC but for me the whole idea is to be able to run multiple locos on the same track at different speeds and not worry about what block they are in. You do not need to break your layout into blocks at all if you don’t want to. The throttle controls the loco not a section of track.
John

#56

Thanks, John - that helps.

Over nearly 32 years, Kay and I have concluded that my brain functions serially, whereas hers runs in parallel. For me, multi-tasking ends up being multi-trashing, whereas doing many things simultaneously and well comes naturally to my good lady.

The thought of the damage I’d do running multiple consists on the same track is mind-boggling. DCC would mean “Damage Control Constantly”. My hat’s off to you, and anyone else, good enough to manage it.

#57

I would never consider trying to run more than two locomotives on the same 400 ft of track by myself. Howsome-ever, if ever I took a bath and invited some of my friends over to run their locomotives on my track, the idea of DCC or battery control has merit. That is the only reason that I would even think of planning for it.

#58

AHA! Another reason it’ll never happen here! I never take baths . . . .

#59

It has been about a year since I posted about my railroads progress. In the Spring I was very pleased with the way the railroad survived the winter. I did a minimal amount of rebalasting, ran my LGB Track cleaning Loco and started running trains. Over the winter I had built two structures, astation and a switch tower.

#60

Nice!! Is that scratch-built?

#61

Yes they were scratch built. Windows and doors were purchased.

#62

Looks good, John…

#63

Your railroad is fantastic!

#64

During the Summer of 2007 I had laid all the track for my two loops plus the alternate route over the trestle. Originally the alternate route came off the outer loop and reentered onto the inner loop. I found this to be a mistake and rerouted it so that it crossed the inner loop and returned to the outer. That way I could run trains continuously on the trestle if i wanted to. It does mean however that I have to be careful not to have a collision at the crossing with a train on the inner loop.

Prior to the LGB bankrupcy I had purchased several switch decoders (LGB 55024) These I installed on the switches which route trains from one loop to the other and also onto the alternate route. They were very simple to install and are controlled from the Easy DCC system that runs the locomotives. No extra wiring was necessary. I needed two more and could find them nowhere in the US. Dragon G Scale in England had some. Unfortunately the price in dollars was now double what I had paid.

My next project was to put some track on top of the mountain and run a small mine train from a mine shaft to the coal shuttle I had built from a kit. It is running analog power with an LGB reversing unit unit to send the mine train back and forth.

I’ll post some pictures a little later

#65

Here are some pictures of the LGB Mikado:

#66

Originally my mountain had a dry wash in front of it. I always intended to put in a water feature so I decided to go ahead. Needless to say it would have been much easier if it was done before the tracks were laid. I had to remove the bridge over the dry wash and totally reconfigure the mine traine tracks. Also I changed the direction the stream was going to run. The water feature is a waterfall about 30" high which flows into a pondless stream. When the pump is shut off the stream goes dry so there is no standing water.

In front of the Coal Shuttle I built a bunk house for the workers.

#67

Some more shots of the mountain and stream:

#68

The outer loop has a long straight run before entering the tunnel. About 20 feet before the tunnel the alternate route branches off up over the front of the mountain.

#69

Good looking railroad…

#70

Nice! Thanks for the pictures…

#71

Great looking layout…thanx for the pix!!

#72

Excellent looking RR you did a great job, all that research paid off.

#73

For Andy Clarke and Ken Brunt:

Thank you both for your encouragement.

I have a long way to go to try and measure up to the Bluestone or Rio Grande Southern.

It is really great to have this forum where you can see what others have done.

#74

With all that work do you feel good!!!
Half of the fun is building it!
Nice job!
Sean