Track and electrical/DCC
Hard wiring a drop in board
I had purchased a used Athearn Dash 9 with a digitrax DS104k1 sound decoder drop in board some time ago and it has run ok. I needed to do some maintenance on the unit and took the opprtunity to replace the HARDWIRED LED with two 1.5V 15 milliamp bulbs, and also adding ditch lights. Why the LED was hard wired I assume is that it is not a drop in board for this model. My question is, I believe I DO NOT need to add resistors between the bulbs and the board as the circuit board takes care of reducing the voltage.
hex frog juicer
I have done a quick search of the forum archives but have not found an answer to this question. I have posted the question posted with Fast Tracks but think this forum might provide a faster answer.
Does the Hex Frog Juicer run on DC or DCC or both?
Thanks for any help
Art
track grade experience?
A question for modelers with more experience. I am contemplating an extreme mountain railroad. Common sense etc. says I should stick to about a 2% grade. But this is going to be a mountain road! What are the steepest grades any of you have successfully modeled? My mountain will be "N" scale, DCC, code 55, running passenger trains of about 8 cars with 2 engines, and short freight. A12 car coal train would be typical. To keep it interesting helpers will be needed for OPS.
Thanks
Steve
DCC decoder
I have an older DH121 Digitrax decoder that the headlight circuit no longer works. Is it possible it has a bad diode that can be replaced?
Weathered Track Colors
Joe - I posted this on your Siskiyou Web site, but thought I might as well post it here as well -
"Joe - backing up considerably to info you provided some time ago about coloring/weathering track -
You said you used PolyScale Roof Brown to color the sides of main line tracks. Yet in the photos you show, the main line seems to have a gray appearance, not brown.
Is this due to the way computers "interpret" colors or does the main line track have a gray appearance?"
Using MicroEngineering N-Scale Insulated Rail Joiners
I am having great difficulty using MicroEngineering N-Scale Code 55 insulated rail joiners. They do not have slots that will attach to the bottom of the rail. They just slip on and fall off just as easily. Is there a trick to using these things that I'm missing? Maybe a little CA would be the answer? Any suggestions are most welcome.
Doug
Do you know of a good buy on 100 pieces of Atlas cd 83
I hope I am not breaking any rules here. If I am I apologize. But I am looking for 100 pieces of cd 83 flex track. The best I have been able to find is $379 (but that is with tax and shipping...not bad).
Anyone know anything better?
Thanks Jim
Need advice on ties and spikes for HO scale
Hi,
I am going to be slapping down some HO track pretty soon. I want to order some supplies to get me going.
My plan is to work with code 70 mainline and code 55 for everything else. Even these small sizes are a bit of a comprimise. I will be making up a code 55 test track and running some of my friends stuff on it to see if I have problems. I know I will be relying heavily on the Bachman Spectrum 4-4-0 and 4-6-0 for my roster so those will have to clear the spike heads..
On to the questions..
Rail joiners
Guys, for my layout, at least initially, I will be mixing a combination of Walthers code 83 and Atlas code 83 track. I know some someone must have used this combination at one time or another. My question is which rail joiner to use? Or what modification might need to be made. The Atlas joiner seems rather large and loose fitting while the Walthers joiner is smaller and very tight fitting.
Switch Numbering standards
Do railroads have standard for numbering switches on mainline / siding / spurs?
I'm modeling Southern Pacific a brach line and would like to simulate the numbering that they would have use.
John
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