Yes!! My MRC Prodigy Advance squared DCC system quit working!!! My guess is that it's either where the power supply plugs into the base unit or it's the plug that plugs into the wall as one of the prongs broke off and I glued it back in. I think it is where the power supply plugs into the back of the command unit. I took it apart, but I don't see anything that's obviously loose or has come unattached. I hate the thought of buying a new system$$$
Really? I've never heard of anyone glueing a broken prong, spade, whatever you want to call it, that plugs into the wall receptical, back on.
I think that's your problem.
Check your other thread on this, you can buy just the wall wart power supply from MRC.
Mike.
My You Tube
Good Morning all,
I'm a fairly long time member, who hasn't done anything with trains for a few years now; so I have visited the boards quite a few times awhile back, but had never posted.
I am getting all of my HO and Lionel stuff out, and am going to try doing scenery and buildings etc for the first time, and this is what's driving me nuts right now.
I remember as a boy my HO scale cars and engines ( not that I ever had more than maybe two Xmas boxed sets worth at any one time) but they all coupled together fine ( most of the time) and just worked and all of the couplers I remember were the same little black ones that weren't the style that I see now with the long curvy bull horn hanging down off of them.
Now I have about 10 engines and probably 45 cars and hardly anything will couple up to anything else. I have alot of the older black style that I remember, along with a bunch of really tiny looking brown couplers, and one car has a funky red coupler that I hadn't seen before. Quite a few of my cars and engine couplers are the brown coupler with the curved bull horn ( kind of looks like an air hose) looking piece hanging down off of them.Most of the cars are E Bay finds, that for the most part aren't real new but they aren't ancient either. The cars and engines with this style will barely couple to any other cars or engines at all.
My question is, is there a semi universal coupler that I could replace most of these with to get the majority of the cars to couple ? I have been looking on my own and trying to research it, but as with many Google searches the complete answer is elusive and many times confusing. What was the most prevalent coupler on rolling stock, say 15 or 20 years ago ? I did find that many say the Kadee # 5 is a pretty universal coupler that should work in many applications. I really want to try going to knuckle couplers if possible.I usually had good luck with them, and the above mentioned brown ones seem to not be working well at all together, or with others. I really must admit that I am confused with all of the options. Maybe the ones I remember as a boy ( I am 54 now) were the horn hook style ?
I do understand that I will be in for some added or removed shims, changing of some coupler boxes, swapping out parts and such like that to make some of them line up.
I hope I was not too confusing fellas, I understand that despite trying to find out what I can on the types of couplers, has left me more mixed up than ever, and my descriptions of what type I think each is may be wrong...
I appreciate any and all suggestions from you guys, and am excited to get a string of cars and engines together and get rolling so I can go build some scenery
ty1220 My question is, is there a semi universal coupler that I could replace most of these with to get the majority of the cars to couple ? I have been looking on my own and trying to research it, but as with many Google searches the complete answer is elusive and many times confusing. What was the most prevalent coupler on rolling stock, say 15 or 20 years ago ? I did find that many say the Kadee # 5 is a pretty universal coupler that should work in many applications. I really want to try going to knuckle couplers if possible.I usually had good luck with them, and the above mentioned brown ones seem to not be working well at all together, or with others. I really must admit that I am confused with all of the options. Maybe the ones I remember as a boy ( I am 54 now) were the horn hook style ?
Yes, go with #5 Kadee couplers. They are far more reliable than the horn-hook style. It depends on the car about how much trouble you'll face in replacing them.
What I'm currently fighting is ensuring the trackwork is suiable to shift gears to painting scenery. Spending months on testing the track is competely opposite to how I did the 1st layout. I now see why everyone is suggesting waiting because it's far easier and cheaper altering track without scenery.
The older couplers are either "Horn Hook" or "NMRA X2F" style. These were universal for ready to run HO equipment for about fourty years.
.
The other couplers styles you are encountering are likely either "Kadee Clones" or Kadee Compatible" styles. There are many.
I would suggest you convert all your couplers to "Standard Head Kadees", of which the good old #5 is included. I use all Kadee couplers on everything I have.
Kadee also makes a "Scale Head" coupler, which is less forgiving on grades and coupling alignment. I will sacrifice some scale authenticity for better reliability, so I do not use them.
The Kadee website will help you out a lot. Please do not get driven too crazy!
-Kevin
Living the dream.
First it may benefit you more to start a new tread with your questions there. This is a thread from a few months ago with nothing to do with your problem, so it’s makes little sense to have it here.
As for your question, the black ones are horn hook (aslo called NMRA) couplers. They are the old standard and haven’t been widely uses on stuff since like 20 years ago. These are pretty much in compatible with other stuff.
The other couplers would mostly fall under the knuckle coupler variety. There are many differen types, it seams each manufacturer makes their own. The brown ones you mention sound like Athearn’s McHenry couplers. They are okay, but not as good as Kadees.
This brings us to Kadees. These are close to the standard coupler brand, but as they are patented, few manufacturers make ready to roll stuff with KDs, only higher end stuff and then only sometimes.
Kadees come in many types. The number 5 is the standard version, and uses a separate center spring. Number 148 are the same head but use “wiskers” instead of a separate centering spring. Number 158s are the same as 148s but use a smaller “scale” size coupler head.
McHenrys are okay, and similar to KD 158s, but plastic, and also work okay. Walter “Proto Max” couplers are simlar to KD 5s (had to tell the difference) and are also okay. Accurail‘s Accumate couplers are really bad, and less compatible with Kadees and others, and also come on Atlas stuff. I HATE those and change them VERY quickly!
I hope that’s helpful. You said you also have Lionel stuff, but I know little about those and not will most people on this forum. Go to the Classic Toy Trains forum for that stuff.
Regards, Isaac
I model my railroad and you model yours! I model my way and you model yours!
steemtrayn rrebell steemtrayn We can have this... this... a but we can't have this... You aren't going to like this but just saw one a week or so ago. Looked at it because I admired the work but didn't need it Brass, right? I have an A-B-A set, factory painted from Oriental, but I'm waiting for someone to mass produce them in plastic. The excuses I get don't make sense to me, when those other limited interest units are being made. (Which, by the way, is a good thing.) The EP-5 and steam turbine have one thing in their favor the BP-20 does not. They were made in S and O gauge tinplate and powered many, many trainsets each Christmas. Few outside of the Jersey shore south of South Amboy even knew of the Baldwins. Fortunately, we are seeing more and more obscure prototypes being produced so, Pennsy modelers need to make their wishes known. Look at the number of New Haven models that have been recently emptied our wallets!
rrebell steemtrayn We can have this... this... a but we can't have this... You aren't going to like this but just saw one a week or so ago. Looked at it because I admired the work but didn't need it
steemtrayn We can have this... this... a but we can't have this...
We can have this...
this...
a
but we can't have this...
You aren't going to like this but just saw one a week or so ago. Looked at it because I admired the work but didn't need it
Brass, right? I have an A-B-A set, factory painted from Oriental, but I'm waiting for someone to mass produce them in plastic. The excuses I get don't make sense to me, when those other limited interest units are being made. (Which, by the way, is a good thing.)
Well, while I'm still within walking distance of crazy, I thought it only proper to let everyone know that the roundhouse at Mount Forest is pretty-well finished, and is operational, despite the lack of ground cover...
ty1220 My question is, is there a semi universal coupler that I could replace most of these with to get the majority of the cars to couple ? I have been looking on my own and trying to research it, but as with many Google searches the complete answer is elusive and many times confusing. What was the most prevalent coupler on rolling stock, say 15 or 20 years ago ? I did find that many say the Kadee # 5 is a pretty universal coupler that should work in many applications. I really want to try going to knuckle couplers if possible.I usually had good luck with them, and the above mentioned brown ones seem to not be working well at all together, or with others.
If you'll contact me via PM ("Conversations"), I may be able to offer some help.
Wayne
maxman SeeYou190 What is eating at you right now? Gilbert Grape
SeeYou190 What is eating at you right now?
Gilbert Grape
Gary
Is anything driving you crazy right now?
Yes, the weather. It's been raining here for 7 weeks.
Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale
I want to thank everyone who replied to my coupler questions. That was helpful and I also looked around quite a bit more and did find a couple of helpful articles that I hadn't seen before, and some better pictures that more clearly showed the different coupler styles. After years of 20/20 vision, mine has plummeted in recent years as far as seeing small print and pics and I am struggling now with pics of little stuff like that.
I understand that this might not have been the most relevant thread for my topic, but it is and has been driving me nuts.
Thanks again all for the help
Yes, crooked/stupid Ebay sellers who send me the incorrect (much less expensive) item in place of the item they photographed and described verbally in the item description. Then when I complain they ask me to provide photos to "prove" they sent wrong item. Then they ignore my response! I want my money back.
If dealer takes care of me, I won't post their name on here. We'll see.
John
doctorwayne I thought it only proper to let everyone know that the roundhouse at Mount Forest is pretty-well finished, and is operational, despite the lack of ground cover...
Excellent Wayne! Your project is kind of hiding in this thread. Time to bring it out !
What's bugging me is work. I am here in Baton Rouge to do work for a specific customer. But I keep getting pulled out to work on other things. Eventually this customer is goign to get mad, plus if I don't get everythign done here, I will probably have to come back. SO that's extremely annoying.
And Mel, what do you mean the internal pullups in an Arduino don't work? I use them all the time when prototyping so I don't have to shove a raft of resistors in my breadboard. My actual circuits use external pullups because software faults happen, but for testing, they do the job.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
mbinsewi...Excellent Wayne! Your project is kind of hiding in this thread. Time to bring it out !...
Thanks for the kind words, Mike. If anybody's interested (or just needs to kill some time), they can see the whole thing HERE.
If they have nothin' buggin' them now, it just might be annoying enough to do the trick...
ty1220 I want to thank everyone who replied to my coupler questions.
I've sent you a PM regarding couplers, ty1220.
EDIT: If you want to read it, go to your profile, near the top right of the screen, and click on "Messages".
SeeYou190For about four weeks I have had a boxcar roof on my workbench. It is fully assembled with a nice roofwalk and seperate corner grabs, and it is painted in a nice glavanized finish. The problem is, I cannot find the boxcar that goes with it!
I just located the boxcar that the roof goes with that inspired this thread. I put the boxcar on a tray and set it on top the cabinets in the kitchen.
I am thrilled this thread has gone on for three months and three pages without getting too far off of track.
Nope..... I'm somewhat crazy already so nothing can drive me crazy when I'm already there
TF
Folks who place periods in their subject lines...
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
tstage Folks who place periods in their subject lines...
Tom, the . at the end of a sentence is a period, while these....are simply dots, indicating a pause or a shift in content. I use them all the time when I'm including photos interspersed between blocks of text, but certainly wasn't trying to drive you crazy.I also use them when I include a quote, to indicate that I've edited it to just the portion which I wish to address.
Yes! My back is driving me nuts again! The small progress that I had two weeks ago after the IMS treatment has been replaced by severe spasms when I try to move around, and now I can't lay down without using pain killers.
To say that I am bugged right now would be a huge understatement.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
doctorwayneTom, the . at the end of a sentence is a period, while these....are simply dots, indicating a pause or a shift in content.
I ocassionally use the ellipsis ... pause.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellipsis
Lately, though, I have had a preference for the old printer's "em-dash" by holding the Alt key and entering 0151— or 0150 for an en dash, on the numeric keypad.
Once you get used to the convention — the em-dash can dress up a run-on sentence nicely. The en-dash makes a nice looking "minus" sign for electrical convention, too.
Now, about those ampersands that mess up the HTML protocol (here and Flickr are two places I see the problem often occur) can get annoying, too.
Cheers, Ed
doctorwayne tstage Folks who place periods in their subject lines... Tom, the . at the end of a sentence is a period, while these....are simply dots, indicating a pause or a shift in content. I use them all the time when I'm including photos interspersed between blocks of text, but certainly wasn't trying to drive you crazy.I also use them when I include a quote, to indicate that I've edited it to just the portion which I wish to address. Wayne
Wayne,
Not in the text field; in the subject title field - e.g. like the heading of a newspaper article or name of a book. A title is a title; it should not have a period at the end. A question mark or exclamation point? - Yes. A period? - No.
But...small potatos in the whole sceme of things.
gmpullman Now, about those ampersands that mess up the HTML protocol (here and Flickr are two places I see the problem often occur) can get annoying, too. Cheers, Ed
Totally agree, Ed. And if quotation marks are in the subject title and the OP goes back and edits it, it really makes a mess of the title. I try to fix them if I find them on the forum.
Tom
tstageA title is a title; it should not have a period at the end.
I agree, Tom. The title is not considered a complete sentence.
I have noticed a precedent, though. Many signs I have seen in photos from the late 1800s to maybe 1920s seem to have many superfluous periods painted on them. I wonder how that practice came about?
hon30critter Yes! My back is driving me nuts again! The small progress that I had two weeks ago after the IMS treatment has been replaced by severe spasms when I try to move around, and now I can't lay down without using pain killers. To say that I am bugged right now would be a huge understatement. Dave
Ah, Dave - I feel for you. I had severe back spasms 30 years ago and it was VERY humbling. I literally had to crawl to the bathroom. And just getting out of bed was a 5-min. ordeal.
tstage Wayne, Not in the text field; in the subject title field - e.g. like the heading of a newspaper article or name of a book. A title is a title; it should not have a period at the end. A question mark or exclamation point? - Yes. A period? - No....
Ah, yes, I understand now, and agree completely.
After I had written my original reply, the thought occurred to me that I often use the dots as the "pregnant pause", just before delivering a photo.
Yes!
Our computer printer ran out of colored ink.
The ink cartridge cost more than the price of a new printer.
York1 John
NHTX steemtrayn rrebell steemtrayn We can have this... this... a but we can't have this... You aren't going to like this but just saw one a week or so ago. Looked at it because I admired the work but didn't need it Brass, right? I have an A-B-A set, factory painted from Oriental, but I'm waiting for someone to mass produce them in plastic. The excuses I get don't make sense to me, when those other limited interest units are being made. (Which, by the way, is a good thing.)
steemtrayn rrebell steemtrayn We can have this... this... a but we can't have this... You aren't going to like this but just saw one a week or so ago. Looked at it because I admired the work but didn't need it Brass, right? I have an A-B-A set, factory painted from Oriental, but I'm waiting for someone to mass produce them in plastic. The excuses I get don't make sense to me, when those other limited interest units are being made. (Which, by the way, is a good thing.)
The problem here includes the fact that we DID have BP-20s, via the Miracle Castings shells, and for all these years no one has re-offered them or something like them. Which is really all that is required for many of us enthusiasts who can't spring for a fleet of Oriental masterpieces at thousands a set...
(I bought an Alco Models set with great enthusiasm when they came out in the '70s and had to use the then-cutting-edge-in-MR Clouser epoxy casting methods to make another shell for the A-B-A set ... problem is that by the time you get through the drive replacement, chassis weighting and everything else needed you have eliminated any collector v and done much of the work even a crude but accurately-dimensioned shell and frame set would entail ...
Speaking of stuff I’d like in plastic, when can we get a decent Alco C415, some good railroads used those! What about a GE P30CH? Loads of 70s modelers would buy those!