The Express

 

Newsletter of the Tinplate Trackers, Austin, Texas

October 2001 – 31st Edition

A newsletter will be sent out every two months to the current members, past members, and visitors of the club.  Please contact Steve Wise at 512-444-3310 or E-Mail him at swise@aoot.com if you have any information you would like to have included in future newsletters.  All comments/submissions welcome!

From The Editor

 

Hello members! 

 

September and October proved to be two more busy months for the Tinplate Trackers:  we ran at the San Antonio Fall Train Show in September, we did two Cub Scout events during their Train Month, we held our annual club meeting where officers were elected, plus we operated at two October events in Round Rock and Flatonia on the same weekend!  Additionally, we successfully raised funds via two raffles at these shows, and recruited another father/son team to the club. 

 

I hope you all had as much fun at these events as I did!

 

Stevo.

PAST CLUB EVENTS

 

Cub Scouts Demonstrations

September was train awareness month for the scouts.  Our members put on demonstrations for two scout troops:

 

Eanes Elementary School – Sep 20th, 2001

 

Scott put on a short demo for Pack 66 at the Eanes Elementary School Sep. 20.  He used the new 4'x8' layout.  The layout was flawless.  The pre-wiring was great, already set up for two accessories that just need power, block signals and crossing light.  It took 1/2 hour to put on legs, wire in accessories hook up the transformer and put the trains on the track.  About 70 boys we present with their parents.  Discussion was about real trains and model trains.  Bob Stettner loaned him both G and HO gauge boxcars, and Scott acquired an N-scale car at the Temple train show to talk with the group about scales and gauges.  Everyone enjoyed the layout.  Several people said they had trains in storage and may get them out.

 

Dripping Springs – Sep 27th, 2001

 

Bob and Adrian put on a demo for the Dripping Springs scouts.  The layout ran good.  They didn’t use the layout legs because they were too tall for the kids.  Instead, it was set on lower tables so these youngsters could pull their chairs up close.  [Bob has since redone the legs so they are shorter]

 
Setup was slightly hindered by the lack of quick connectors for accessories, and Bob and Adrian will solve this I’m sure!  This will make future setups a little faster and a whole lot easier.  The kids loved running the trains.  Speed was a problem and measures should be made to limit speed when letting kids run things.  Adrian ran his new Lionel UP that has a governor on it.  That was great. 


Bob took his IC passenger set, but the cars are too long.  They ran OK but just didn't look right and the kids want to touch everything.  We need a couple of used starter set engines or some power that no one cares about any more for these types of events.  Nothing fancy other than a couple of action cars like Scott has.  Kids don't care about the fancy stuff, they want to operate and touch. We need to use things that we won't be worrying about breaking!   Another improvement would be to add several action buttons on layout for kids to activate...horn, crossing gate, etc. 


Overall this was a very positive experience for Bob and Adrian. 

 

Great job guys!  Many thanks to Scott, Bob, and Adrian for their efforts!

 

Fall Train Show – San Antonio - Sep 29th & 30th, 2001

The club ran at the Fall Train Show in September at the Live Oak Center.  Setup was Friday, and operations ran Saturday and Sunday.

 

The show went well.  There wasn’t a huge turnout to the train show as a whole.  We all have some pretty neat trains though!  Over the two-day show we had Steve, Scott, Buddy, Bob, Jim, Ira, Adrian, Rick and Ricky in attendance.  Adrian towed the trailer down on Friday, and Jim towed it back Sunday. 

 

We still had a few power problems. We had variable power on track 4, a slow corner on track 3, track 1 with a whole side slow.  We also had some alignment problems, which Ira’s pictures made obvious.  This seemed to be particularly true with the 072 switches and 45-degree crossovers but there are also other track issues.  These problems will need to be addressed at our next workday.


The raffle went well.  We did very well considering how few people were in attendance at the show.  We never really had a big crowd at our layout as we usually do.  We took in roughly $141.  After expenses, we cleared around $60.

 

Annual Club Meeting – Oct 10th, 2001

The club met for the annual meeting at Luby’s at Steck and Mopac.  In attendance were Steve Wise, Buddy Burk, Jim Smiley, Scott Smiley, Bob Stettner, Ron Fiebelkorn, Adrian Elliott Ira Schneider, and Ed Weltens.  Below are the notes from the meeting:

 

The group finalized details for the Flatonia and Austin Jamboree events.

 

The club will not send an application to attend the January 2002 Houston GAT show.

 

We will have a workday, meeting, and possibly a fun run on January 26th, 2002 at Branch Creek Estates.  Jim has reserved the clubhouse for both Friday (1/25) and Saturday (1/26) so we can setup on Friday and have all day Saturday to work.  Details to follow via email.

 

We will be going to the SAMRA Train Show, Feb 2nd, 2002, at the Live Oak Center.  More details will be coming later on this.

 

Ed volunteered to build 2 new corner modules for the club.

 

Ira will be building a control panel for the switching yard (see article below on his design).

 

Bob and Adrian will be adding some audience interaction devices to the 4x8 layout.

 

Steve will put the draft module specs that Ed developed on the club web site.

 

Jim was given approval to buy 2 used tires for the trailer.

 

Several trailer maintenance and module maintenance items were added to the future projects list and they will be worked on at the January workday.

 

New board members were elected/selected/volunteered/sentenced for the next year: Scott, Buddy, Jim, Ira, and Ron.  Jim informed Ron via e-mail after the meeting that the other board members had elected him president.  Congratulations Ron!  Joe Maverick is not a board member, but will remain the club treasurer.

 

Austin Jamboree – Oct 27th, 2001

Scott, Bob, Rick, Ricky and new members Randall/Ryan all worked this event.

 

They were in a separate room where an N-scale group was last year.  There was concern about too little traffic flow here but it worked out great.  Scott ran trains for 15-20 minutes and then the kids came and took over.  Kids of all ages including several with gray hair! J  They took down names/email addresses for several interested new member prospects as well.


Scott, Bob, Rick, Ricky, Randall and Ryan all worked the room and ran trains.  Randall's Mom and friend Cynthia were there also.


Tons of Kids came through...many more visitors than the club has seen when doing this event at the BCE clubhouse (as part of the layout tour).   The church also had lots of chairs set up for parents and grandparents to watch as well.


The 4x8 layout was setup for this event with its new 24-inch legs.  Adrian and Bob learned by accident at the Dripping Springs Cub Scout event how much better it was to have layout at kid height. 


Operating accessories included a rotating beacon, a station, crossing lights, a block signal, and a signal bridge.  Scott brought an operating flagman with button for kids to operate plus a ton of buildings, cars, a working oil derrick, and other stuff from when he was a kid.  Randall took PICS of layout and crowd...check our web site soon for these pictures.

 

Bob’s old ZW 275 ran all day providing more than adequate power.  Scott found an inexpensive transformer and Bob will mount it on the 4x8 for permanent power. 


Trains/engines were run from Scott, Steve, Rick and Randall.  Steam engines from Steve, Scott, and Rick, a Tommy The Tank from Scott, plus diesels from Randall (ACL), Scott (ATSF) and finally a UP passenger set from Rick.  Everything ran well except one steam from Rick had a problem with crossover now and then.

 

Rick had long steam train on inside loop so engine got around loop just after caboose cleared crossing...looked like a crash coming...again very exciting to kids.


Only a couple of crashes happened, with nothing hitting the floor.  Late in day a small short flared up, looking like a fire, in the wiring of the oil derrick and station!  Some non-taped wires shorted.  Apparently this was exciting to visitors!


All in all: a great event.  Thanks to all who helped make this a great day!  

 

Czhilispiel – Flatonia – Oct 27th and 28th, 2001

The club setup Friday Oct 26th for the Flatonia Czhilispiel.  Adrian was Fat Controller and managed the layout setup.  Jim had truck problems, and ended up towing the trailer with Scott’s suburban.  But we got started around 5pm and had plenty of help.  Bob, Steve, Adrian, Ira, Jim, Randall and his friend Terry all attended the setup.  Big thanks to Randall and Terry for leveling the layout!  

 

The room was large and held three layouts: our 5x3 module layout, the San Antonio N-Trak group (SANTRAK), and an HO modular layout from the Rockport Models Club (S.A. & A.P).  And there is room for more next year.  Tommy Shults organized the entire train aspect of the Czhilispiel and it ran smoothly!  Congrats to him for successfully pulling this off.  We had several remarks from various city officials thanking us for coming and that they really enjoyed the event. 


Saturday we had Ira, Steve, Adrian, and Ron to run trains.  Steve was Fat Controller, and Ira’s wife Loraine ran the raffle.  The club thanks Loraine for handling the raffle!  That was a big help on Saturday as we only had four members there to operate.   There were approximately 200-300 visitors on Saturday, many children both young and old!  We sold around $125 of raffle tickets.  Some of us managed to sneak out and sample the chili cook-off, which was great!


We had a larger turnout of members on Sunday: Steve, Ira, Adrian, Jim, Scott, Bob, Ed Sr. and Jr., and Ryan and Randall Howell.  Ira was Fat Controller and again Loraine helped out on the raffle table.  We raised roughly another $125 dollars on Sunday.  Our net earnings after paying for the raffle item and towing expenses should be around $100.  There were probably another 300-400 visitors for Sunday as well.  Tommy counted 786 total visitors!

 

With the exception of the voltage drop we’ve seen at other events, the trains ran well.  Steve removed the block controller unit from the sidings and mapped all sidings to a single transformer to simplify siding operations.  This worked well, but we did have one case where someone left an engine on the siding and it took off when another member was doing a siding operation.   Nothing hit the floor though!  The TMCC problem was eliminated as well (see articles below on the TMCC and voltage problems). 


Flatonia is really a train town.  Every ½ hour or so a real train whizzed by just outside the exhibit room.  These were big UP and KCS trains running at top speed (usually around 45 MPH).  Tommy is building the train angle up as a tourist location by enhancing Flatonia’s rail fan potential.  He’s receiving a donated real caboose and passenger car to put in near the switching tower, working to have an observation area built, and also working on a RV park nearby for rail fans.   He’s raised support for all this from the city, who now sees the potential $$ from the rail fan industry.  Good work Tommy. 

 

So, a wonderful time was had by all!  A big “Thank You” to all members who attended, and to Loraine Schneider again for helping us out with the Raffle!  We’ve been invited back next year.  I recommend you attend this event!

FUTURE CLUB EVENTS

 

Pending: Fun Day – December 1st or 8th, 2001

We are still exploring the idea of a year-end fun day on Saturday Dec 1st or 8th where we all get together, eat some food, and maybe run some trains on the 4x8.  Another possibility is a layout tour if someone volunteers.    More info to come via email on this…

 

Club Workday January 25th and 26th, 2002

The club will get together at the BCE clubhouse Saturday Jan 26th, 2002 to work on the layout, and perhaps run some trains.  The primary task is to debug the wiring problems we’ve experienced at recent events.  Setup will be Friday Jan 25th.  Details will be sent out in email and in the next newsletter so stay tuned.

 

SAMRA Train Show – San Antonio – February 2nd, 2002

We are confirmed for the SAMRA show at the Live Oak Center on Saturday, Feb 2nd.  More details will be provided as we get closer to this date, but mark your calendars now!

 

2002 Club Event Schedule

Here is the latest schedule for 2002.   This schedule is now maintained on the club web site.  Check the web site for the latest information on our events schedule.  There are obvious conflicts on this schedule, but until the group agrees what goes and what stays, I’ve left in the conflicts (EG:  a BCE event conflicts with Czhilispiel/Jamboree weekend).

 

Please submit comments as well as news about any other prospective events to the TTAT members email reflector, ttat-members@aoot.com.

 

DATE

SHOW

PLACE

STATUS

Jan 25/26

Club Workday

Branch Creek Clubhouse

Confirmed

Feb 2

SAMRA Train Show

Live Oak

Confirmed

Mar 2/3

GATS

Live Oak

Pending

Mar 15/16

Club Fun Run

Branch Creek Clubhouse

Pending

Apr 20

Model RR Jamboree

New Braunfels

Pending

Apr 26/27

Club Fun Run

Branch Creek Clubhouse

Pending

Aug 17

Train Show

New Braunfels

Pending

Aug 24/25

Rail Fair

Burnet

Pending

Sep 28/29

AMRE Train Show

Live Oak

Pending

Sep/Oct TBD

Annual Club Meeting

Luby’s Cafeteria

Pending

Oct 25-27

Club Fun Run

Branch Creek Clubhouse

Pending

Oct 26/27

Czhilispiel

Flatonia

Pending

Oct 26

Austin Jamboree

Round Rock

Pending

Nov 30/Dec 1

GATS

Fort Worth

Pending

Dec 6/7

Club Fun Run

Branch Creek Clubhouse

Pending

 

OTHER NEWS

 

New Members Randall and Ryan Howell

Please welcome Randall and Ryan Howell, our newest father/son pair into the club.   Ryan won a year membership with our club at the San Antonio raffle.  He is 10 years old, into trains, computer games, and baseball…normal boy stuff.  Randall is an Engineering Maintenance Technician at KVUE-TV 24.  He has trains & track for all gauges from Z thru G except for S.  None of his layouts are of the permanent type (all throw down & pick up later, no space for a permanent lay-outs).  He has a lot of fun with changing things each time & is more into the running his engines than into scenery.

 

Welcome to the club guys!

 

Welcome Ed Weltens

Ed Weltens (senior) has also joined the club!  Ed has been to several club events and has a wonderful collection of trains.  Bob cornered him in Flatonia and got him to join officially!  Welcome Ed!

 

Temple Train Show – Sep 15th, 2001

Bob, Jim and Scott went to the Temple train show Sat Sep 15th.  The show was pretty dead, not a large crowd.  Sellers said no one was buying too [this was immediately after Sep 11].  There was a modular O gauge 3-rail layout setup.  It was put together by 3 guys and built by two of them using 2x4 modules with 4x4 corners (cut the corners like ours) and 2 main lines per national standards.  They had several modules turned sideways, only 2 feet of track and had short spurs on these with some buildings.  They also had one area with 072 switches to transfer tracks.  They had a wooden bridge module that was their entrance area that saves 3" on clearance!  They used a thumb tack-applied skirt.  The layout was TMCC command controlled and included some accessories that were added after set up but were pre wired.  They used 6' extension cords (3) for their wiring and connections (Remember that we have and use 10 wires on our layout).    The set up was about 22x26 feet and they could not use all they had because of space.  They used furniture dollies and other wheels to make frames to hold 4 modules for transport.  They have a small trailer too.  Their modules had painted ballast, and painted deck using 1/2" plywood for the deck.  This seemed quieter than ours.  All modules were painted the same, and there were no sky boards.  The guys said set up took 4 to 5 hours, with 2 of them.

 

Web Site Update

I’ve added Ed’s draft specification of the club module design to our club web site under “Articles” section (http://www.trainweb.org/ttat).  Please review this and provide comments to Ed Weltens.   This document describes how to build a straight module.

 

I also began archiving our club email so that we can build up a knowledge base from our email discussions.  You can access this archive at our web site in the “Members Area” section.  The email archive is indexed or sorted by both date and subject.  As soon as my schedule permits, I’ll add an on-line search form so that you can search the archive for topics of interest.  Check it out!

 

Pictures from the various events over the last two months will also be available soon on the web site under the “Photo Album” section.

 

If you have any comments or suggestions for improving the web site, please email Adrian and/or myself.  We’re always open to your suggestions and comments! 

 

TMCC Problem Solved

Ever since the Burnet show we have experienced problems with our TMCC engines on the club’s layout.  All the TMCC engines’ headlights flickered steadily, and the engines did not respond to all commands.  Sometimes, they wouldn’t work at all! 

 

We (accidentally J) discovered in Flatonia that if we turned off the power box for the siding modules, the TMCC problem disappears!  After debugging further, we determined that the TMCC Command Base in the siding power box was the culprit.  At that point I felt rather stupid, having built the power box myself.

 

There’s a long story here about why this is true, but the short of it is:  You can only have one TMCC command base attached to the outer rails of your tracks.  We had two attached (one from the main power box, and one from the siding box).  They were colliding with each other trying to submit commands onto the rails.   Problem solved.

 

Lesson: if it hurts…don’t do it! J

 

Power Problems on our Layout

In addition to our TMCC problems, we have all experienced power loss problems on the club layout over the last several operations.  In Flatonia, we think we have isolated the problem to a few modules. 

The above figure shows part of the Flatonia layout.  The highlighted modules are where the power loss was noticed during operations.  I believe most of these modules were part of the power loss we saw in San Antonio at the Fall Train Show as well.

 

The plan is to address this problem at our BCE workday on January 25th & 26th 2002. 

 

Stay tuned!

 

New Switching Yard Control

By Ira Schneider

 

[Editor’s Note:  Ira has volunteered to create a new control panel for our switching modules.  This came about from long email discussions among the group about problems with our current control system.   I believe we have reached consensus on what we all want, and Ira will build it.  Below is his description of the new control panel.]

The switching yard modules, including the four sidings, are a great addition to our layout.  However, we have experienced some operational problems with the sidings:

I am building a control console to alleviate these problems.  The console will sit on a shelf attached to the left-hand (from the inside of the layout) transition module and will be connected between the power pack and the transition module.  The power pack will be simplified to contain only one powermaster and two (or three) transformers, one providing power to the sidings, one providing constant voltage for the turnouts and the UCS (uncoupling tracks), and possibly a third providing a second constant voltage for accessories.

The top of the console will consist of a diagram of the switching yard and a set of switches and LEDs.  Here is my current design for the console diagram:

The symbols on the console are as follows:

The green LEDs give us a visual indication of which sidings, if any, have power applied to them.  If a siding has power, the toggle switch indicates whether the power is coming from the mainline transformer or the siding transformer.  The green/red LEDs let us see how each turnout is set and the toggle switches let us control them from a single location.  Of course, we can still switch the turnouts manually.

 

I will remove the Lionel switch controllers from the edges of the transition modules, since they would be redundant.

HOW DID YOU DO THAT?

 

Lionel PowerMaster Track Power Controller:

Command Mode vs. Conventional Mode

By Ed Weltens

 

The Lionel instructions for using a command equipped locomotive recommend using the Command mode on the Powermaster unit or Track Power Controller (TPC).  This mode of operation differs from the conventional mode only with respect to how much power is applied to the tracks and whether or not it is variable. 

 

Conventional:

In conventional mode the track voltage is variable since that is the conventional way of controlling locomotive speed.  More voltage = more speed, very simple.

 

Command:

In a command mode the track voltage is a constant 18V AC.  TMCC engines have a circuit that regulates the amount of current drawn from the constant voltage track.  Command functions are sent to the engine by the command base.  The Powermaster or TPC only controls track voltage.

 

The instructions state that you can use a conventional transformer to provide the track voltage by dialing the throttle all the way up, but don’t mention that using the Powermaster or TPC you can just dial up the voltage using the Cab-1 remote.  At full throttle in conventional mode you should get about the same voltage as in command mode, and the engine will not know the difference.

 

Advantages of conventional power for TMCC engines:

There can be some advantages to using conventional track power with TMCC engines that are not readily publicized.  For example, let’s consider operating in a club environment like TTAT.  When a two-operator switch takes place on a track there is less likelihood of having a runaway train if the track power is always in conventional mode.   Dialing up the power would be gradual instead of an instant 18V as in command mode.  In addition, if you wish to run at slower engine speeds, the number of speed steps used by the Powermaster or TPC are compressed in a lower voltage and will make the engines run slower even at full throttle.  This could be very helpful when using a layout for kids to operate by setting the voltage so that the maximum speed was safe for the trains.  Finally, if you are running cars with lights or smoke units you can extend their life or control the smoke output with track voltage since track voltage is still used to control these devices in most cars or engines.

 

So the next time you are operating a TMCC engine try operating it in conventional mode on the Powermaster or TPC.  You will still have all the command functions as long as there is a Command Base hooked up to the outside rail.  The only thing I have head of that may be adversely affected by this is some coil couplers not firing if track voltage is too low.  Experiment with smoke output and passenger car lighting by dialing the power down a little.

 

Using the Sidings

By Scott Smiley

 

[Editor’s Note: I realize that the control system will change for the siding modules, but nonetheless, the method for bringing a train out from a siding and another main line train into the siding is not trivial when running conventional trains.  Here is Scott’s method.]

 

If both engines are command control the process of changing trains using the sidings is pretty straight forward.  While the first train is on the mainline, turn on the power to the appropriate siding and address the engine.  Then by addressing the two engines, you can stop the mainline one before the entrance and start the other outbound.  Existing switches should automatically turn.  Once on the main line, stop it and bring in the other train after turning the switches.


Now if one or both of the engines is conventional, this is where the art comes in.  What we have to be careful of is having both engines on the same power control until we want that.  It is inevitable.  The main lines and sidings are controlled separately.  My suggestion to this is as follows.  Stop the mainline engine before the siding and put it into neutral after reverse. Leave the power on (it should be ready to go forward).  Turn the switches to enter the siding.  Start the engine in the siding moving onto the main line.  It will keep going on the main line since the power is on, hopefully not full speed.  Once clear of the siding, you can push the direction button once.  This will stop the new train, which came out and start the old train moving into the siding.  Since one engine is in neutral, you can control the speed of the moving train.  Once into the sidings, use the siding power control to complete the maneuver.  Be sure to reset the inbound switches before the new mainline train comes around.  This seems to be the simplest way I can think of to switch trains with one in a siding.

 

Remember: the siding can be in command mode when you turn it on.  This is separate from the mainline status.  It is always smart to ask the prior operator or check the switches yourself.  Tracks 1 and 4 and the sidings use Lionel PowerMasters and therefore use a switch on the side of the unit to change modes.  Tracks 2 and 3 use the IC Controls controller and can switch from conventional to command on the hand held CAB-1.  Pushing L and Set under the little door at the bottom of the CAB-1 will set it to Command Mode.  Pressing M and Set switches to Conventional mode. 

Remaining 2001 TEXAS TRAIN SHOWS

 

November 24th & 25th, 2001

The Forth Worth GATS show will be held at the Convention Center which is located at 1111 Houston St.  The show is open to the public from 11:00am to 5:00pm each day.