The pot of coffee is always on [even after 2 years have passed]. Come on in. Sweet ice tea too.

[TurboOne]

Evening all, we had rough weather today. It was 87. Winter is hard in SoCal.

Chief, run you train outdoors with that smoke, then it will warm up again.

Roger, I didn't think GA was ever that cold. FL and GA I thought lived on the warm side. Hope you warm up.

Mr. Duda, the ref, emailed us all pictures of you cutting the corner. We erased all evidence of the infraction on this site, so as far as we are concerned you didn't cut. And yes the pictures were taken from 300 ft away, so we were able to see the violation very clear. Or he just could have something against the Lone Star State.

Jon, glad you didn't freeze, will have to divert swim trunks, and suntan lotion from PEtim to you with your heatwave coming.

Daan, if that pair were on the show, it never would have taken off the ground, except if they were on extreme makeover.

Whew, still have time to make more room in train garage.

Tim

[laz 57]

Hi GUYS,
Got the cable and hooked up everything. Pretty easy. Turned on power and added engines called engine and it worked yea!!!!!!!!!!!! Problem is and I emailed TOM,on this,
is how do you activate the track power through DCS? And I thought I could run 3 TMCC engines on 3different tracks? There are only 2 TIU fixed ports and two variable ports. Are the two fixed ones only for command? 2 variable ones for conventional?
Please steer me in the right direction?
Laz57

[spankybird]

I have e-mailed this to LAZ, but for the rest of you:

Out of the box, the TIU has four channels, all four has the DCS single on it. 2 are setup for fix voltage (command use only - but we can cheat on this) and 2 variable voltage. The variable voltage is used to control convential engines and will run DCS or TMCC engines, but only at the voltage that you set the remote at.

The two veriable channels can be re-programed to fix channels and can also be re-programed to be togled back and forth from fix to variable.

Tell me which way you want to do it.

Have you entered the engine ID of the TMCC engine (add engine in the menu) to the remote - TIU ?? be sure to change the switch on the bottom of the engine to program, then after entering it, change it back to run.

tom

[ChiefEagles]

Yes Laz, set it to program, go to edit engine, enter engine number [I used the same number], it will tell you to move it to run, do that and it is ready. I added my engine the other night in DCS remote. Engine set there and would not respond. "Light Bulb" came on. I hit edit engine in DCS menu, told me to switch engine to PROGRAM and I went through the steps. She started tright up when I went out and selected the engine. I have run two MTH PS2's and the Lionel SD80 on the same loop with no problem. Remember one thing, do not pay attention to the scale miles per hour when running TMCC engines. They do NOT match the MTH engines. Fastest I can run my TMCC is about 27 mph [MTH scale mph]. That is about 80 scale mph. When you buy some MTH engines, the scale mph will be right.

[Anonymous]

Beautiful job DAAN

Snow melting and raining 33 degrees. Does anyone know what SLUSH is? I just plowed thru about 5" , of it uphillfor about 2 miles. Toyotas are great little trucks.
Ordered a Lionel Camelback w/ tmcc today, should be here in about 10 days.I will celebrate on the 19th, the new HOME DEPOT in Sandpoint is opening..YIPPEE.NO more driving 45 mi. for supplies.... Got to go cook for the missus. Cornbread and sweet tea (hot)
TIM

[ChiefEagles]

Coldest night of the year so far they say. Into the teens. Wind chill into the single digits. Not to get above freezing tomorrow. Then warmer to only have possibiltiy of SNOWHIO by Sat. night and Sunday. [:(] [}:)] Going to watch CSI Miami in bed. Good night.

[spankybird]

So PE TIM, does that mean it will freeze tonight.

We are at 5 deg now and it is snowing to the south of us.

[Buckeye Riveter]

Chief, CSI Miami was really good tonight, but why did what is name dump the girl at the end?

Cold night in Buckeye Land. I guess I won't go to the beach tomorrow.

I have been working on Phase II and Phase III of my layout. Next step is to buy the foam for the table top and reroute the track onto the new sections. Tonight cut an access hole beneath the mountain.

PE Tim, Home Depot is just about one mile away from my house. It is great just to roam the aisles to see what is new.

Eighty seven degrees.............................I wonder what that feels like? I wore my longjohns to work to day because my office was only 53 degrees when I arrived. Those NW window seats are cold!!!

[ChiefEagles]

Get up!!!! Get up!!!!! 17 degrees out and high only to get to 29!!!!! [:(!] Yanks, take your cold back. I really will be angry if we get SNOWHIO this weekend. Now PE Tim can keep his IDOSNOW and Jon, his IOWSNOW. [Duda has a long list of these] Got to run in to town and see GP this AM. So, stayed up instead of taking my snooze after Pam left. Got her car warm and her coffee ready. Fed the boys [dogs] and let them out and back in. They did not stay long. Both said BRRRRR. [;)] Have a good one and God bless all. [:D]

[spankybird]

Good Morning All,

NE Ohio is in the deep freezer today, temp at 5 with wind chill at -10 deg. Good thing is no new snow today, yet.

Almost can’t remember what 87 deg feels like, but it was only a week ago we had 71 and then 6 hours later 28 and snow.

Chief – we just want to keep your Sweet Tea cold.

Laz – it was great talking to you last night, glad that your DCS is working.

Pick of the Day


all be safe and warm

tom

[ChiefEagles]

Tom, is LAZ's DCS really working? He did not have to rewire? It is so complicated, I thought it would take weeks and lots of work. [;)] OH, MY TEA is cold enough. [:D]

[laz 57]

Hi GUYS,
BRRRRRRRRRRR!!! 7 degrees here this morning.
A BIG THANK YOU TO SPANKYBIRD last night talked to him on the phone and he got me on the RIGHT TRACK[;)] Now it seems all is ok with the DCS, I will get the video as all of you suggested and bone up on this new stuff. Thinking about getting a MTH engine at the Allentown meet on Feb 26. What would a good price for a PS2 Steamer in an 0-8-0 configuration be?
CHIFIE the check is in the mail[;)], should get it in 2-3 days.
Have agood one can't wait to get home and play.
Laz57

[ChiefEagles]

LAZ, your two boxes should be going this AM as soon as the UPS store opens. You need to take your cold air back. [:(!]

[Frank53]

no idea how cold it is here - don't want to know.

Have to go out at 1:00 on the cycle again -hope it warms up, my feet are still frozen frmo yesterday.

[laz 57]

CHIEF,
Wish had that RRBEL air that we had last week.
I called TOM and he straighten me out with the DCS. Show have some fun tonight. Gonna try and run some conventioals, any tips?
Laz57

[jonadel]

Chief--

I always taught our boys to share and that's what we are doing with our "clean out the nostrils cold air". We want you to enjoy the clean, crisp air that sharpens the senses--for goodness sakes it's winter, let's make snow cones! Wouldn't it be horrible to live in St. Thomas or Antugua and just have that old boring warm 81 degree weather all year long? (Oh give me that opportunity, just once, for a year)

We are supposed to hit 37 tomorrow, now that's something to celebrate[8D] and yes, I think my brain is frozen as we just made reservations to go to Steamboat Springs, CO for spring skiing. A short 11 hour drive to some of the best skiing in the world.

I think I'll go turn up the thermostat and imagine what it's like in California.

Jon[:D]

[Jim Duda]

Lazzie - Conventional on DCS???...C'mon! (wink) Here's what works for me: I have my LW into the VARIABLE In/Out - scroll to System Setup and choose Variable. You should now see a VOLTAGE display on the handheld. Turn off the handheld and run your train using ONLY the Txfrmr (like the old days). If you want to control them via the remote, just turn on the handheld. Simple, huh?

When you want to run TMCC and/or DCS engines, scroll to System Setup, choose Fixed, Read, and the appropriate engine(s) and the SMPH should come up in the display.

Tom - is that how you do it?

[cnw1995]

Sheesh, coldest Mid-Jan in nearly a decade here...108 consecutive hours of sub-15 degrees (without wind chill) - it's 3 or rather 6 below with a light zephyr...Thanks Chief and GregM - I have copied your replies into a text file and hope to study more to figure this out tomorrow night. - essentially I gather if my isolated segment uses two 3-ft sections of track, I have to insulate every single tie on that long rail that I isolated using plastic pins on each end of the section... . To warm myself up, I'm going to buy a couple of White Sox tickets today for a July and an Aug game - so I can take each older child. Single season games went on sale super-early this year. I've never been to their 'new' (now decade old) park. Stay warm!

[spankybird]

Jim – I do mine a little different.
1 I run my TIU on fix voltage, not track voltage. I use a 1 amp 18 volt Radio Shack power supply (around $18.00 or so for it)
2 I reprogrammed my Vera bibles to be fixed voltage channels. I also assigned Track A to variable 1 as variable voltage to use as an option.
3 When I run conventional, all I need to do is control it from the transformer, like the old days. If I also want to run DCS on the same track at the same time, then I use the remote.

I will post the instructions on how to program latter. I have to look them up at home.

tom

[spankybird]

I had a copy of this here:

This is for setting your Variable channels to Fix channels. Go to:

MENU, SYSTEM, DCS SETUP, point at your variable channel and hit the FXD softkey. This puts the variable channel into Fixed mode, which will leave it at full power until you either toggle it again with the FXD softkey or you go to the variable channel with the TR button and use the thumbwheel to decrease the voltage.


You can create multiple "tracks" in the TRK menu and assign them to the same Variable IN/OUTs.

By defualt, when you press TRK, you'll see TIU1 VAR1 and TIU1 VAR2. Assuming your only going to power your track through Variable one you could do the following.

Pres TRK, select S2(should be S/U above it)

You are now at the track setup menu

Select Add Track, select add TIU track, select TIU1(if this is your only TIU)

Select variable 1(which ever you have your track connected to).

Now give it a name such as "Conventional", select the "D" at the end of the alpha numerical list to signify you are through with the name.

Now you are back at the Track setup menu

You can now repeat the above process to a T, but, give it a different name, i.e. "Command"

Once this track is named and you are back at the track menu setup screen, select edit track, then select re-order track.

Move either the command track or the conventional track that you created to spots 1 and 2.

Select the command track from your track menu list.

You should see Volts:0.0

[FJ and G]

Tom,

I run my conventionals off the variable channel, at 6 volts and those Williams engines still take off like bullet trains.

Nother topic:

BTW, a few days before this brutal cold snap, took BB the beagle out rabbit hunting (on Saturday). We had a ball. But when I returned home, she was covered with tics. Frontline didn't work for her. This will be our last rabbit outing unfortunately. Those dam@ed tics!

:-(

[TurboOne]

Morning guys, it got down to low 40s here, but hate to say it, not I don't another rough day in the mid 80s today. Although at 8am it is a balmy 47. Stays hot then about 3:30 temp drops 20 or so degrees, then about 6:30 another 15 or so degrees.

Built a little model house with the daughter last night,

THAT IS WHAT MAKES THIS A GREAT HOBBY ! Together Time.

Will be putting on the roof tonight.

Stay warm if you can, we will talk to you later.

Tim

[wrmcclellan]

Good Morning all!

Got back last night from Corpus Christi and the USS Lexington Scout camp trip.

Have to say after 8 days on the road and minimal sleep - it is great to get back home.

The overnight stay on the Lexington was pretty cool and the boys had a great time. After a long day of touring the ship, and after the normal public visitors left, they opened some additional stuff like two 40 MM cannons where the boys could sit on them and operate the azimuth and elevation controls. Got to watch a movie (80 mm vs 75 mm IMAX - wow) on helicopters. The segment where a copter hovers so a lineman can climb onto a 500,000 volt high tension line over a canyon for maintenance is mind bogling. The arc that he drew with a probe to equalize the potential between the copter and the line was impressive. Then he clipped a lead to the transmission line from the copter until he had transferred himself and his tools to crawl on top of the line. Wow!

Ate in shifts in grand mess hall style - where boxed mashed potatos, boxed green beans, and boxed "mystery meat" Salsbury Steak (you know, where the grill marks are painted on and every patty is identical!) was the order of the day.

Volunteered to do late night "Fire Watch" where the volunteers along with folks who work the Lexington patrol the berth areas (red lights on) for any signs of smoke or flames. Shifts were 12-2, 2-4, 4-6. I lucked out with 12-2. The reward was a special tour for the fire watch teams into areas of the vessel that the public does not get to visit.

Take care all and I hope you are having a great day!

Regards,
Roy

[1688torpedo]

Hello Everyone! Tmcc & Dcs. Oh Brother![;)] I would rather use a ZW or a V Transformer for conventionel running.Plus its more convenient than having to program and re-program engine numbers. This is what is so enjoyable about Pre-Postwar Trains.You Just take them out of their boxes,Make sure they have enough oil & grease and you're off and running.No Electronics to fry.nothing to program.Just watching Trains run & No Electronic gremlins waiting to happen to Your Trains. What would happen if a Billy Goat wandered into your Trainrooms and Gobbled up all of your Programing instructions or BB The Beagle was mad and got even with her owner.? Yep you guessed it. The Tmcc & Dcs instructions would be a prime target for Angry Dogs & Hungry Billy Goats[:0] Just some Food for thought.[:)].......Keith.

[laz 57]

TOM and JIMBO
I'm going to play with boths ways tonight to see what works for me.
Laz57

[Jim Duda]

Laz - the reason I choose to power the Variable channels with the Txfrmr is to be able to choose the track voltage using the Txfrmr handle. I run DCS/TMCC @ less than 12 volts to save engine/car lamps and to control their brightness, make it easier on the smoke unit, etc. I guess I like DIM lights in the passenger cars as opposed to bright ones.

Anyway, do what YOU like - I think you'll really enjoy the flexibility you now have...

[ChiefEagles]

Doug M, yu got it. Laz, I run Post War [1950's] and some MPS conventional as Tom does by leavingthe TIU plunged into fixed and move the transformer handle. I found that the Polar Express and the Willaims run best with variable plugged in and using remote. Try both ways and see which works best for your transformer and engines. 1:53 PM and 27 degrees. Yuz Yanks can take your cold clean air back anytime now. [;)] Was gong to train lady's but got someone from Home Depot coming to look a bad carpet job. So, I go run trains and fill the house with smoke. [}:)]

[daan]

Holland get's a bit colder slightly. We now have about 40 degrees and they start snowstorm warning for the weekend.. If you don't want the cold air chief, bring it up here, I can swap for rainstorms and drizzle..
Take care.

[Anonymous]

Nice weather in south NV. The highs have been right around 70. They are talking about maybe setting a record for the high temperature. [:)] Hope everyone is doing O.K.
Larry

[TurboOne]

Good evening all,

Looks like the coffee and snacks are on me, so lots of smoothies all the way around [8D][8D]

It was another rough day at only 85 today, it still is 68 at 5:30pm that is unusual for us. We did have a few white clouds today.

Tom, that smoke pic of the day is great. Can't wait to graduate from my smokeless desiels and move on up to steam power.[:p]

Laz, it may be cold, but at least you get to do some "trainin".

Larry in Nevada, I am coming to Vegas in Feb. Do you know any good train stores ?

Daan, hope you get your snow storm, by good friend is from Holland, I told him about you and he said hello. He actually said it in Dutch but I can't spell it. [:D]

Roy, your trip sounds awesome. What an experience. Glad you made it back ok.

Chief, keep on smokin'

Actually dug a trench today about 4-5 feet deep and 10-12 feet long. My arms are about to fall off so Take care all.

Tim (yes it is sunny in San DIego)