Brake wheel, which way???

[Anonymous]

OK I have some really dumb questions:
#1--- Which way should the brake wheels face on the cars, to the front of the train or the rear?
#2--- Is there a way to determine what the scale speed is of a train on a layout? A formula or using a stopwatch or something?
#3--- How long does your smoke oil last (using JT's mega-smoke) on your engine if you run it continously?
#4--- Is there a way to change the chuff rate on a Lionel with railsounds 4.0? I'm running TMCC but don't see where I can change the rate. Is it upgradable to 5.0 or is there something available to modify what I have? I have the Lionmaster 4-6-4 J3A Boston & Albany Hudson 2003/2004 6-38086.

Thanks for the time to help me with these questions guys.
George

[Anonymous]

1. Brake wheels face whichever way they face. There is no "order". The brakes are only used when a car is parked for a while anyway, the interconnected airbrakes under the cars are used to help stop the train.

2. http://members.shaw.ca/sask.rail/construction/lsbuild/scale-speed.html

3. Sorry, I'm not allowed to run my smoke units for more than a few minutes

4. The only way to change the chuff rate is to modify the trigger mechanism. If it is a cammed system you're pretty much sunk. Units triggered by magnets may be able to have additional magnets placed to force additional triggers. Lionel is not offering RS 5 boards for seperate sale so upgrading is a moot point.

[lionelsoni]

Brake wheels in the nineteenth century were used to stop the train. But even then there was no rule about which way they went.

Trivium: The end of a car with the brake wheel is the "B" end. The other end is the "A" end.

[csxt30]

Let me add to Bobs' post , though not much ! The piston always faces the break wheel, except on certain cars like cabooses, where there is a break wheel at each end of the car. Plus other cars that have multiple pistons, auto carrying cars & of course articulated cars, stack container cars, & some of those that have up to 5 cars, are counted as 1 car ! Those cars will be stenciled for A & B ends. Thanks, John

[lionelsoni]

And, John, since you mention articulated container cars, these have the units designated by the letters of the alphabet, but not in order. Unit A is at one end (the A end) and unit B at the other (the B end), then units C through whatever in order, extending away from the B unit.

[csxt30]

That's right Bob ! Plus, they are lettered left side & right side on the trucks for the wheel location, like L-1 thru L- 10 & on the right side also. We have a wheel impact machine that gets us all these wheels to change all the time, as these cars are getting older now. This machine registers in KIPS !
Thanks, John

[4kitties]

Answer to question #4 - TrainAmerica Studios offers a plug-in upgrade board for TMCC that will let you set the chuff rate to 1, 2 or 4. It is $109 and is said to work with most TMCC engines, not just Lionel. Here is a link to the specific page for this product:

http://www.tastudios.com/EOB_Drop_in.htm

They have specific instructions for the Lionmaster Big Boy, so you probably should confirm with them that this will work in your Hudson.

I have 3 engines that I plan to do this to: my Lionel PRR J1a and N&W Y6b, and my K-Line scale Hudson.

Good luck, and if you make this mod to your engine, I would like to hear how it turned out for you.

Joel

[Anonymous]

Mine has Odyssey already so this will replace the odyssey system and give me the added features of chuff rate and speed step control? How well does this EOB work for speed control? The Odyssey system works great, I don't want to mess that up.