Surfliner
I appreciate the pep talk. Thank you. It's just that sometimes when I try to make a point, people get pricked with the pin. What I was trying to say gets lost in the translation. But with your encouragement, I want to update my odyssey.
I bought Barry's book. I have read "a lot" of Barry's book. I don't read well. I'm not dyslexic but my eyes wander as if they have this uncontrollable need to get to the good stuff and I miss out on all the explanation needed to understand the "good stuff". But I forced my eyes to stay on message and I learned a great deal. Here's what I think I learned.
Powering my entire layout using the brick through the Fixed 1 IN channel doesn't appear to be a good idea because Barry never mentions that approach. Closest he comes is the barrel jacked Z plugs of varying varieties that attach to the jack on the TIU designed for auxiliary powering of the TIU. Every page mentions using a transformer of some sort. Not complaining but this is an observation, not a critique.
I have no clue how I am going to power those switch track separately. He drives home the need to make sure those motors are not powered through the TIU. He shows us how to wire the switch to utilize the aux side and remove the jumper. My layout is on the floor, not a table. My wiring choices are limited to say the least. When you have four on one side, four on the other, five at the top and four at the bottom, your ability to run wire across the floor, under the track to a centrally located transformer, an 80 watt Lionel, hooked to a 24 location terminal block, makes for a spider web of foot traffic problems.
I finally understand what home run/star wiring means. Thanks to a Lionel service video I know what common bus wiring means. The DCS manual, the one that came with the package, states clearly not to use common bus wiring. Anyone want to field why?
Barry's book mentions Fastrack switches, but instructs more toward Realtrax wired track. I have Fastrack. I don't think I have the ability to use those specifically designed track pieces with the light bulbs on them. I'll look and see if Lionel sells something like that in my catalog. Fastrack as you know has connection points under the track. So any instruction on how to translate his well explained method of wiring different points using fastrack would be helpful. His diagram clearly shows Realtrax being used.
Barry if you're reading this i'm not complaining, I'm just explaining what I saw and what I read. Your book is gold. Thank you.
One final observation and this is where my "just wanted to make sure" question comes in. Lashups. Read it as close to the brain as I was able too. Read the part on testing your engines to make sure they won't fight one-another when they are working in tandem. Read how to set one up. Never saw one statement that read, "couple your engines together". Did my wandering eyes I mentioned earlier get me in trouble here?
