Diesel locos
IAIS's West End - Sitting still can be fun
As many of us adjust to the Coronavirus and its accompanying "social distancing", e.g. working from home, avoiding crowds, etc., I thought I'd post a reminder that occasionally taking a break and sitting still - whether we're talking about us as layout owners or the prototype equipment we model - can be positive too.
plug in decoder problem
Hello, I have been installing decoders for customers here in Illinois for more than 10 years, but I recently came upon a bad issue.
Customer had Proto 1000 Subway car with an 8 pin DCC plug on the lighting board. I removed the factory jumper plug and installed an NCE 8 pin plug in decoder (N14SRP). Had this decoder on hand and was new.
Programmed on program track, using Decoder Pro, put on main line and in about 10 seconds 1 of the diodes for the bridge rectifier burned up big time.
Walthers Mainline SD70ACE ditch lights
Hello everyone, I am in need of some help. I model a contemporary CSX line in HO scale. I got a Walthers Mainline SD70ACE with ESU sound and DCC recently. The ditch lights are sort of dim, but that's not an uncommon problem according to what I've read. That is not the problem though. I do not really understand CVs yet. I am a DCC beginner, and I have an NCE power cab, an NCE USB interface, and JMRI on my computer. I understand how to change CVs but do not understand them very well. I want to make the ditch lights flash when the horn is sounded.
Switching the Ready-Mixed Plant on the Stockyard Industrial Lead
I created a video that displays a very basic operation on my small switching HO Scale layout, serving one of my busiest customers. Usually, the local job switches all customers on the Stockyard Lead industrial spur in one session or day shift for the crew. However, sometimes my shortline will work only one customer if there is enough work involved. In this example, a transfer has brought in some cars for the Ready-Mixed plant and the customer would like to receive them quickly to keep up production for a big job.
What's on your workbench? March 2020
It might not look like much, in fact it may look a little odd, but this will be the first locomotive I've installed ditch lights on. Here the SMD LED's are fished through the shell, and they've been wired to the DecoderBuddy (one of the very early ones).
The ditch light mounts are Details West DL-229 parts, currently having the canopy glue holding the lenses in drying. 
Running the Union Pacific Transfer at South Omaha
I thought you might enjoy watching a transfer run on my layout. This is the Union Pacific transfer, which exchanges cars to my shortline at South Omaha and is based on the prototype. The era is the early 1990s.
New ProtoThrottle Faceplate Color?
As we prepare for the next run of ProtoThrottle faceplates, we are considering another special run color. Would anyone be interested in an olive green faceplate? The photos below show how this olive green color would look relative to the standard grey/blue faceplates, in some different lighting conditions. We will still keep the standard grey/blue and probably do another set of black plates. These would be in addition to that.
Please let us know your thoughts, either way.
Thanks,
Michael
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