Have been doing odds and ends and also ran some trains this morning.
There’s another thread about “design fatigue” … I can certainly relate. Now that I have the dimensions for the space in the new house, which is most likely still a ways off, I’ve been playing around with ideas. Going back-and-forth between folded dog bone and around the room plans. Have been leaning towards around the room but trying to avoid great big loops. Have been playing around with ideas for peninsulas to break it up. I’ll be posting some examples and asking for input at some point. But to that end…
SCARM vs Anyrail …. I have been using SCARM but decided to try Anyrail this past week. I like Anyrail much better. They both have comparable features but what I like about Anyrail better is the overall interface. It’s easier to find specific features and settings and adding/moving track is more intuitive. With Anyrail it’s much easier to grab track, scroll around the screen and select sections versus single pieces. That alone allowed me to build some test plans much more quickly than if I used SCARM. I’ll be posting some plans and thoughts about the new layout soon.
I had previously replaced the halogen bulbs in my MPC Amtrak passenger cars with LED bulbs. But, they were a cool blue white. They looked off and the lighting didn’t match the engine. I opted to order more bulbs that were a soft white and replaced the bright white bulbs. I had issues with the new bulbs immediately. They would flicker erratically even when the train was standing still. Some of them died right away. When I went to change them out, they were HOT. The other LED bulbs I but in ran cool but these new ones seemed to be a mess. I decided to remove all the lights for now until I figure out something else. I might consider something GunRunnerJohn mentioned about updating the lights with an LED strip and computer control. We’ll see …
Comparison…
The first picture with the square LEDs exposed are the bright right ones which worked really well. The second picture, ”Vehicode”, are the bulbs I did not like and did not work very well.
A couple short vids of today’s run session …
Passenger train overtaking the Erie freight waiting on a passing siding. You might notice that the passenger cars are running without the interior lighting for now.
Running them circles 😝
Bird’s eye view …
