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Welcome....

Before I take the trainboard down for this season, I set the camera up for a short ride around the mainline if you want to take it. Below the link is a photo of the layout put up for this Christmas, if you missed it in another link. Thanks for looking, hope you have fun. Greg
(No beverages served on the train during the trip...and I did not put up the vid where it ends with the Chessie camera car, getting ready to broadside the Amtrak!)

Take a ride.....
Train Ride

My 2011 Christmas Garden (more picts here... More pictures
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In early Dec there was a thread regarding blocking my layout for DCS. I used 2 blocks on the inner and 2 on the outer loop...w/ a Z1K powering each of the 4 TIU channels.

Some posted it was overkill, and I said since I was running 2 passengers and powering the switches with track power, plus running 2 to 3 more PS2 eninges on the inner loop, I did not want to take chances. One year I had a breaker keep tripping if I was not careful what I ran or when I hit a turnout.

Well, yesterday I took the one output from one of the TIU var ouputs and split it so it powered only the outer loop...both blocks. I ran both the Chessie steamer and the Genesis w/ all the lit passenger cars, and an SD9 w/ the one Z1K. All had smoke on. No breaker tripped. So, looks like I was wrong, I did not need all that power. I posted just for your info, maybe this should have gone to the DCS forum.

I also ran my 1947 GG1 on the loop after I set it to Var TR1...plus a PS2 engine and they worked perfectly together, w/ about 16 volts to the track. That DCS is something else. Also ran a couple of PS1's and one of Mike's that ran like the old PW...no sounds, just smoke and horn. Had to turn the smoke off, I thought the shop was burning down. Those engines will really pull a load it appears.

It will be a sad time when I take this down. Sorry, didn't mean to hijack my own thread! Greg
cngw;
Very nice ride, what camera do you use?
I would agree with your splitup of the sections and the power connected.
With the way you did it, nothing was pushing the limit, so you can run for hours without issues.
Running everything on one brick will work for a while, but it will eventually get hot and drop power.
quote:
Originally posted by Russell:
cngw; Very nice ride, what camera do you use?
I would agree with your splitup of the sections and the power connected.
With the way you did it, nothing was pushing the limit, so you can run for hours without issues. Running everything on one brick will work for a while, but it will eventually get hot and drop power.


Russell,

The camera is a cheap Panasonic that I bought before Circ City folded, that dates it. SDR-S10, takes an SD card, fun and easy to use. $100 on sale, I think.

Today I wanted to really test that single outer loop with only the 1 Z1K.

So I strung together the passengers (9 MTH lit units) and the freight 4 PW and 3 new MTH Premier cars, for a total of 16. Then, used 2 MU'd F3's w/ dummy, an SD9 and an SW9 with them, and pulled it around the outer loop for numerous pulls. Lotta smoke!

Decided since they were all PS2 and no PW engines on there, to sideline the other PS2 engines, and run from outer to inner and use the reversing loops.

Now, I did NOT expect the inner loops/breakers to trip with 2 Z1K on them and only the 4 engines, but would NOT have been surprised to see the outer loop fail at some point. It did not....all went well. I was amazed.

Tomorrow,I am going to see what it takes to pop that single breaker. Remember, all of my turnouts are track powered also.

Greg
(Oh, the breakers tripped a few times when I forgot to throw a switch the correct direction! Ever stand there pushing on the reverse on the remote to stop the engine before it T bones another one....... only to see you selected the wrong engine!? Dummy, and I don't mean the train.)
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