Hello my Friends,
I am a first time poster. I am now retired and live on an island west of Seattle. For a long time I have been registered on this website but never had anything to post as I had very limited experience and limited understanding of the hobby. However I had a great admiration for those members on here, with their knowledge, dedication and preservation of the hobby.
I grew up in Cleveland and Buffalo and at times New York City. My father was a mid level bigshot with the NYCRR. My Grandfather was a locomotive engineer, who worked out of Buffalo his whole life. Always I will carry memories of riding in the locomotives, being babysat in the kitchen of dining cars, snowy nights departing Buffalo. To this day the sounds, smells and sights remain vivid, familiar, and very close. My earliest recollections will always be railroading in the late fifties all along the “Water Level Route”.
I have lived most of my adult life on the shores of Puget Sound, working first on the Bering Sea then as a contractor. All the time collecting cardboard boxes; Lionel, MTH, Atlas etc. whatever it took to keep preserving those memories. And the pile of cardboard boxes got higher and I was busy with work and all the Great Northwest offered, the dust on the boxes got deeper. As I became busier with my own business.
Recently retired I determined I needed to get rid of half the boxes, build a permanent layout, update and appreciate the remaining half of equipment. Years ago when I built a guest apartment in the daylight basement of our home I put aside a 14' x 24' room for this day. The room is fully sheet-rocked, painted, heated and carpeted. I installed many track lights on multiple circuits and a multi port exhaust system; in short the room is ready to go. I have some friends temporarily displaced and staying in the apartment during the pandemic, so construction of a layout will not start until Spring 2021.
Soon I will post my early and rough SCARM drawings, as well as a description including my 4track mainline. I'm learning SCARM at a frustratingly slow pace.
Today all my thoughts and considerations became interrupted when I realized MTH was going out of business. You see I have about 9 Steamers and diesels that are Lionel or Williams from the 90s that I assumed I would run in conventional mode, and about as many steamers and diesels with proto2.
So I always assumed since I already had 2 MTH Z-4000 transformers when the time to build came I would purchase a the latest control equipment (TIUs and AIUs etc) and setup to use a conventional/DCS arrangement. In the last few days that equipment seems scarce and even if I find it, what versions I should purchase?
I would appreciate any and all suggestions, I believe I will need 2 TIUs and 3 AIUs.to build a DCS layout. Maybe I need to sell off my MTH locos and consider Legacy? Or maybe I should wait and hope a new market replaces current scarce equipment with new availability? Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.
kevin
