Allagash Mainline

In the first part of the interview, Joe asks Mike how long the mainline on the Allagash is. Mike says it's not relevant to him, he doesn't know. But I was curious anyway...

So, if the room length is accurately described as 58' inside the walls, here is the data:

Throttle Stop

I really like the 8 notch idea for the throttles, something I have pondered in the past. I am going to 3D print a simple disk with 8 de-dents and mount it to one of my digitrax throttles. I sourced a spring plunger that I think I can mount in the throttle knob.  It may take some fiddling or playing with the de-dent spacing but I think I can make this idea come to life. One question I have though is why put a hard stop on  the throttle knob vs just limiting the power to the motor at speed step 128.  I can't remember what CV does this off the top of my head, but I just set the top speed in Decoder pro and then match ends.  This way the operator can turn the knob its full amount but they only get what I define as top speed.  I think the value I set for the top speed would be around what would be considered step 42 of 128 if the power to the motor was not limited by this CV vale.  I guess if you don't have decoder pro this could be time consuming to setup.  Is anyone else interested in the 8 notch idea, if so I will start a thread on it.

I like the 8 notch idea

The 8-notch throttle is one of those things I've wondered why it hasn't already been done. I also think it would be easier to program the CVs rather than make a mechanical stop.  

If you can come up with a notched knob, it would seem that you could then program the CVs to match the notches.  

Randy

Well, that is just ridiculously cool!

I love that control stand throttle!  Very nice.  

Randy

So whats on the inside?

Looks like an NCE or MRC throttle, I'm not sure.  Anyway seriously cool.

Sound and other thoughts

My Fn3 steam locos are battery powered, DCC, sound and radio controlled. Talk about sound quality (4" speakers) and heft of rolling stock! You know you are pulling some tonnage when the benchwork vibrates as the train passes. Sound really adds to the experience but I fully agree the experience is better with the volume turned down. In HOn3 I have used a PBL Foreground radio sound system for years, long before sound in DCC was around. The quality of the sound system and it's variety, when coupled with the floor woofer is excellent, even by today's standards. But its DC. I have DCC sound equipped locos now and a couple on order and will convert to DCC upon their arrival. Bottom line for me was sound added so much to the experience that running a silent layout just never was satisfying again.So I stayed with my PBL system until DCC technology caught up with my scale. I fully agree with Mike's comments about running/operating while building the layout, fine tuning as you go and the good enough philosophy. I also agree with adding extra weight to cars above standards and have done so for a long time. In HOn3 (before Blackstone) non-brass cars (wood and plastic) were very light and inconsistent in weight and tended to track poorly. So I also used the auto store tire weights in each car to bring them up to the general equivalent of a "heavy" brass passenger car weight in an attempt to improve their running characteristics. It generally worked if the trucks of the era were up to snuff. I do add weight to Blackstone cars if I sense the car needs a little more heft to match others on the layout and have settled on Blackstone trucks and wheelsets as my layout standard. Increased car weight plus quality trucks has made a huge operating difference in HOn3. Just can't add too much weight that my little steamers can't pull. My prototype ran short trains anyway so that's usually not a problem.    

Throttle stopper photo

Here is a photo of one of my Digitrax UT4-R throttles equipped with the simple throttle stopper. I do this with styrene, super glued right to the throttle. You can spot it at around 11 o'clock on the dial. Works great! This, and my method for setting up and speed matching locos are explained thoroughly in Volume 3 of the Allagash ebook series, due out at the end of March.

In response to your question about max speed, etc, I use Soundtraxx pre-set speed curves and adjust the curves with CV 66 and CV95. What this throttle stopper does is limit the amount of range the operators have to work with. With proper programming, all eight notches are present within this narrow range, just like a real throttle. Real throttles don't have unlimited range, they have a relatively short "distance" between idle and notch 8. Having the entire dial is just too much IMO. You hit the stopper and the locomotive goes into notch 8, end of story. In a short time, you know where the various throttle positions are, and how to work the throttle prototypically within the narrow range.

Works very well. Precise control, more prototypical, and keeps the trains moving at realistic speeds, regardless of the experience level of the operator.

Beyond this, I don't see any reason to create actual notches. You don't want to jump from notch to notch because there are subtle speed changes on the dial between notches.

Mike Confalone

Thanks Bill!

Thanks for creating this thread Bill! The interview has churned up some pretty good discussion. And thanks for measuring the length of run. Now I know!

When I look at your version of the trackplan, it really highlights just how curvy the Androscoggin Sub. is. Little tangent track in sight.

MC

Makes sense

Mike,

Thanks for the breakdown.  The key word for me to understand was the 'distance' the knob moves.  A real throttle only swings through 60-90 or so degrees so limiting, the rotation makes sense and it makes it easier to control with one thumb and is more prototypical.  If I didn't have decoder pro and was using built in speed tables I would go the route you have with CV-66 and CV-95, forward and reverse trim.  You can set the max speed in each direction and match the speed in both directions say for example, if your loco's mechanism runs a bit faster in one direction.  Makes sense.  With Decoder pro you can set your own speed table really easy and use the final speed table setting to set max speed.  Then tune forward/reverse with cv-66 and cv-95.  I think I have been doing the same thing as you but just using decoder pro for the speed table,  but I still have the full turn of the throttle dial.  I really like the limiting the dial idea though, as the knob just rotates to far, especially when you have the speed restricted as I do.  I have to move it a lot for any change in speed and finding the sound notches is troublesome. (its to easy to go through 2 or 3 of them.  I am going to give this a try and see how it feels.  As for the notching I just figure how many speed steps in total I am using, usually 42.  Then divide by 8, thus I get 5.25 round down to the nearest number 5.  Then set the notching to change every 5 speed steps.  Works pretty good and sounds great with a 'good install', couldn't agree more.  I would love to see under the hood of the RS-3 in the video to see how the speaker is mounted, as this unit sounds great.  I am working on one right now and have just finished milling the frame.