Dying to get started, but....

[bopdoc]

I've been out of railroading (HO) for 35 years; now planning a 1:20.3 garden logging railroad (point-to-loop with a turntable). I am computer illiterate and electronics/wiring naive. I am amazed at and bewildered by all that is currently available in model railroading. I plan on running one loco (Bachmann Shay), want a remote control for it , would love a good sound system (which allows me to operate the whistle in real time) and don't plan on having many accessories. Any thoughts/recommendations as to which control/power/sound system(s) would meet my unsophisticated needs?

[altterrain]

 RC-battery is the way to go with your requirements and the description of your layout. It will also let you operate your loco just about anywhere.

I would recommend a RCS (http://www.remotecontrolthrottles.com/) system to you. Its a fairly simple and small remote and has bell and horn/whistle buttons. It has a range of 50-75 feet. They can do the installation of the battery, RC, and sound for you or sell you the components.

Phoenix is pretty much it when it comes to high end sound these days - http://www.phoenixsound.com/products/products.html).

-Brian

[Southwest Chief]

CVP Airwire 900 is a very good system for what you're looking to do as far as sound control.  Combine it with Phoenix sound and you've got a great system.  It's what we run. 

Airwire is intended to run with battery power and we primarily use battery power instead of track power.  So you should decide on what type of power you'll use.  A lot depends on which way you go (track vs battery). 

I'd recommend battery because wiring for a track powered turntable can be a little tricky.  We did it as we used track power in the beginning, so it's not impossible.  But it's about 1 billion times easier using on board battery power.

[Greg Elmassian]

 Battery will indeed make life simpler if you have 2 reversing loops (the loop and the turntable)... you will have to squeeze batteries and speaker in, so I would go with LI-ion batteries.

Since space will still be at a premium, I would use the QSI board and the small Gwire receiver. I would also recommend the NCE Gardenwire throttle, it's easier to use and you can control all the sounds more easily.

Regards, Greg

[lownote]

 

I'd second greg's suggestion--QSI in my opinion has the best sound going and it will run on constant track power via wireless or with battery via wireless or on conventional DC track power

But Phoenix also soudns good and RCS stuff has an excellent reputation

If you don't want to go wireless, then DCC would simplify the reversing loops and make it easy to remotley trigger switches. But it might be overkill

[Engineer_Ray]

 All good suggestions so far. I would add Aristo's Revolution as another good R/C choice. It and RCS and Airwire are all good choices. I second the recommendation for battery power. It simplifies wiring greatly, eliminates track cleaning (except for big debris), and allows you to run for guests at a moments notice. There are folks who will do the battery, R/C conversion for you, if you prefer. It's not difficult, but figuring out where to put all the pieces and wiring them up might be a challenge if you've no experience in this area.

[bopdoc]

Much thanks to Brian, Matt, Greg, Lownote, and Ray (GREAT pix of MMRR...where did you get the inspiration for that helix?) for your input. I took my problems/questions, along with your suggestions, to a guy who installs gizmos(that's just my collective term for all those RCS/CVP/Locoloinc/NCE terms that are Greek to me), and his main concern was how much running time can one get out of a battery small enough to be crammed into a Shay loco and/or tender (especially a 2-truck Shay tender)? (remember, I'm planning a logging layout, and I would strongly prefer not to have to have a box car behind my tender....although, if I absolutely had to, I could probably rout the innards out of a large log, and hide the batteries in the cavity....which would be fine for the trip from the woods to the sawmill, but then what?). Any input re: how much real running time one can expect from a reasonable-sized battery?.....thanks again

[altterrain]

 I run my kitbashed Dunkirk which has B-mann shay trucks from a RCS equipped trailer car -

I use NiMH subC 14.4v 3.4 Ah packs and get 3-4 hours of run time. You can get some pretty cheap Li-Ion packs now - http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370243681588&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

I have a bunch of 11.1v 2.2Ah Li-Ion packs that give me pretty good run times (5 hours) for single truck critters. I usually get them from all-battery.com

-Brian

[Southwest Chief]

Battery run time is a great question to ask.  But I doubt you'll find one answer.  Many variables go into how much run time you can get out of a locomotive.

A lot depends on how long a train you run, how much grade your line has, the outside temperature where you run trains, the type and size of battery you use, and what accessories you loco has (including smoke, lights, sound, etc...) .

I have a feeling our situation is unique, possibly due to the atypical environment our layout is set in (see our website for more info).  But we get exceptional run times out of pretty much every loco.  In fact I did not have to recharge one of our new locos this entire summer.  The weekly average of run time we would put on the loco was around maybe 3 hours a week.

I've never had a battery run down during continues usage since we don't run the trains all the time.  And with a turntable at one end, we can't set the train aside and let it run on its own.  So I'm not sure what the full times would be for our locos.

Jonathan Bliese of Electric Steam Model Works did all of our battery conversions.  He could probably give you a good guess as to run time for your particular loco and if it is feasible to run without a trailing battery car.  It would really surprise me if he hasn't already done several battery conversions for the Bachmann 2 truck shay.