Motors burn out when there is voltage applied and the armature can't turn. The energy is instead used up by heating the motor brushes. Some older pulse power packs "rock" the motors to get them to move, applying a reverse current for part of the time, and this never stops. Most newer power packs fade out the pulses as the voltage increases, and are pretty safe (except for coreless pager style Nn3 and some brass motors).
Chaya, I was touched by your response and I do hope the experimental Lyme Disease treatment works. My dad was a mortician and I followed suit for a while and then moved over to hospital administration (which I enjoyed immensely). I set on a number of committees Infection Control being one of them. In both arenas we saw patients diagnosed with Lyme Disease. Medical advancements have improved the life expectancy and quality of life for those suffering from such. I feel optimistic about the treatment and wish you the best. You asked about, Pulse Power versus Momentum. They are distinctly different. The pulse power in the MRC transformers is refined... as much as possible. Still it has it's limitations. Pulse Power: Think of it as a boxer throwing bunches slow at first but then faster and faster but always delivering the same pound per pound punch. The electrical motor keeps getting a quick shot of power at the same current or voltage level... starting and stopping rapidly. Eventually this will wear on the motor, heating it up causing the wire in the windings to turn brittle and break. In essence it constantly sends out a full throttle impulse starting with shorter intervals, increasing in frequency until the engine is up to full power. At full power it continues to deliver the same punch. Along with... what Tony B. said. I had forgotten about the reversing action. Kind of like dynamic breaks on a real locomotive. Momentum: Is a highly refined transitorized signal that goes out on a similar impulse but starting with less voltage and increasing in voltage until the engine is up to full speed. Unlike, Pulse Power once the voltage reaches a constant it no longer continues to send an impulse. I watched with interest the evolution of the pulse power into the transitorized throttles. I owned a early pulse power and enjoyed the way it operated my older locomotives IE., Athearn's first HO Steamer and the first Super Geared F7's. These locomotives took a serious punch to get them going requiring more amps then todays locomotives. It was unreal. Today, I have a friend who owns a number of these older locomotives and the pulse power works well... in this application. However, when he brings out his new Bachmann Consolidations you can see them pulsing down the track. A funny little dance. One unit was throwing smoke from it's stack and I don't think he has a smoke unit in there. I brought him one of my transitorized throttles with momentum and they ran as smooth, as you could ever ask for. Sorry, I didn't mean for my previous post to be an affront to your post. Does that help? Edited add on: Just read some of the posts and I find myself in there with the rest of you. I too have a lot of "B" equipment. All kinds of freight cars, locomotives Ie., F7's, 4-8-4 Northerns, 2 DD40's (I had six and sent four of them to Pete...gladly!). The question is now what do we do? Better someone should have advised me to avoid them back when I purchased them...as if that would of worked. Oh well. Maybe I can help someone else avoid the same mistake. Got to try!
I feel your pain on the limited budget! I'll have a small chunk of money to spend at Christmas, then I'll be building my layout $10 at a time myself. On a side note Strasburg nut, guess where I'm going to visit at the end of december? Strasburg!!
Thanks, Rick. I've spent my entire adult life this way. I'm very nervous, hoping the treatment will work and worrying it won't. Your encouragement is sure appreciated! Thanks for the good laugh. :tb-biggrin:
Strasburg? That's just not fair!!!! I wanted so bad to visit Strasburg, when I lived in Ohio. Someday maybe! So have some fun for me. Do you need another $10.00, so I can count it as you having some fun for me?
Your Welcome! Chaya, Your welcome. Keep us advised. I'd like to know how you are doing and how well the treatment works?
YES! Yes, they interact very well. The only downside is the Kato, Accumate on some Atlas cars and one other do not stay together, separating and leaving the rest of the train sitting...looking silly. Or so goes the expression on my face. What? What? However, I did find a knuckle coupler that works and is terrible, obnoxious a real test of the will. They do not want to come apart, no way, the Unimate couplers. Gosh just try and get them apart...in love...maybe? I don't know. They stay coupled, or is it mated for life. Hunnn? Appearance? Oversized, big (out of scale) and butt ugly, they are. Got to get. Shower to take, trains to run and shopping...always shopping.
Sorry if this is a double post--I didn't see my last post on TB. I guess my power pack doesn't use pulse power after all. My Bachmann Consolidation runs very smoothly with it, unlike your friend's power pack. My MRC Controlmaster 20 didn't come with a booklet, so I don't know. But there's a "Nudge" switch that is supposed to push your older engines a little when they start balking down. You run with it either on or off. I just always assumed it was pulse, but that must not be the case. (?) :tb-err: Wish they provided a little more information.
HEHE! Well, my wife and I visited there for the first time last December, a couple of days after Christmas I think. It was pretty darn cool! We went to the Railway Museum Of Pennsylvania, went for the train ride across the street from the museum, and did a few other things. I didn't get to see as much as I would have liked because I was having fluid issues and feet/legs were swelled up like a balloon. we only live about 2.5 hours from Lancaster, down here on the eastern shore of Maryland. Whatever you do, do not stay at the Hampton Inn... the bed felt like it was made of hardened steel. Save $100 and sleep on the pavement, it's softer, LOL There is some seriously good food up that way if you like to eat... Nice place to spend a day or two.
Your 50's layout sounds like a Midwestern pike to me. IMHO your first plan could be to make a timeline of events from 1950 to today. Only then can you decide if some road called PennCentral or Burlington Northern exists yet. At least you can avoid something called CSX or BNSF. You can make up a spreadsheet to figure what roadnames will exist. The PRR, for example, may makeup 1/2 of the fleet. Other cars can come from other roads. You may end up with a mix of PRR, NYC, CB&Q, MILW, C&NW, IC, etc. Now the fun part starts. Only buy cars that fit your time period & roadname. Where you will save money is by not getting newer out of era equipment. If you really must have a Galloping Goose, you will only need 1 & not a whole fleet of them. There's nothing wrong with getting some older A1G, Trix, Concor, MDC cars, converting them to run better with MTL trucks/couplers, then weathering them to make them look better. Don't ignore Bachmann or some LL products. Try to get just a few cars & a 10pak of trucks to convert with. Spreads the cost out over several years. I'd not worry at all about Atlas Accumates unless you plan to run Ntrak style long freight trains. Don't forget to use some Unimates too.
I starting back into the hobby in 1982 with an extremely limited train budget. The one thing that really helped back then was mail order... today it's the on-line shops. I remember buying the Atlas 40' gondolas, beer tank cars and 70 ton ore cars for $.99 each and shipping was only a couple of bucks. I quickly built a small fleet of inexpensive rolling stock. The locomotives... that has to be QUALITY first! It's no fun to have a string of cars that can't go anywhere due to bad motive power. There are still good choices available at reasonable prices. If you're buying a locomotive without being able to run it... choose a reputable LHS or on-line shop. Flea markets/Swap meets are pretty good... except... I've found that the 'vendors' are sometimes offering items at steep prices... and sometimes the engines don't run well (other peoples junk applies here). Make sure to test run before buying whenever possible... no refunds & no returns is typical of flea markets and swap meets.... and sometimes even on Ebay... that applies. Things are tough when getting into a hobby on a tight budget... lots of people do it and eventually sell-off the less detailed stuff and buy the higher-end products when the finances are in better order. There are opportunities to enjoy the hobby at different price points and the nice thing about the present state of N scale is that there is few 'really bad' items on the market. Unfortunately... no more $.99 cars though l
MRC Controlmaster 20 Chaya, May I suggest that was my fault. I didn't miss reading this in your previous post...just got sidetracked. The Controlmaster 20 is top of the line, a transistorized throttle with a "Momentum" switch built in (I think). The Nudge button is more like a refined capacitor being dumped. A type of pulse or impulse designed to turn over the electric motor. I had my eye on this unit and while building a N scale layout for a friend of mine, I talked him into buying the unit. He managed to fry it but that's another story. No fault of the Controlmaster 20. You can relax, you have a solid well built unit. If my memory serves me correctly this unit also has a "Memory" feature and allows you to add ports so you can use it like a walk around cab unit...correct? Also the controls for the unit are on a tether utilizing a type of phone jack...right? If you arent't aware of the "Memory feature" try this. Get your train rolling to speed and pull out the telephone jack. The train should continue rolling. Now put the jack back in and you should be able to resume control of the train. If you don't put the jack back in the train will eventually slow to a crawl and then stop. Yep, no "Pulse Power" coming out of that unit. Nothing but smooth running. You might be able to get a copy of the manual on line. I should probably try it first before making such a suggestion. Here you go http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/mrc/mrcaa444.htm and that's a yes on all of the above. I realize we are slightly off subject however this shared information will also benefit our Strasburg friend. If you aren't able to purchase DCC then purchase the next best analog DC on the market. I highly recommend the Controlmaster 20. Worth a look see.
That's right. I won't be able to roll engines over a nice, long distance like that until I've finished my medical treatment--and then construction will go fast because I will be cured!! --but I know the unit is able to do that. (My layout right now is only 1/5th the size it will eventually be). It will be eventually be a walk-in with a peninsula (two levels), so I'll really need that capability. I'll just have to install a few phone jacks around, and I'm good to go.
Looking at my stock of train equipment I have one more comment to add. Early on it may seem like locos and cars and track are the most important items. As you build your layout you begin to purchase scenery items, then structures and people and buildings and cars. All of that adds up. Over the years I always would spend a little money every week buying materials. If you stretch those purchases out over a year at say 20.00 per month, you end up with quite a bit of stuff for a layout. I now have everything I would ever need for a layout and am slowly building the layout. I haven't purchased any train stuff in half a year and I'm cranking away on it.
I'll tell you, after 20 years of experience with Model railroading. Most of it involving lessons I refuse to learn, the costs are still the most frustrating. My recommendation is to get one engine you like and enough cars to start out with and then devote your money to track and a good power pack. Resist the temptation to buy cars and engines. You don't have a place to run them anyway. Get the track, get it down, get up to the scenery stage. THEN start thinking about more cars. Do shop the swap meets. look for deals on structures. and remember the scenery can be cheap if you're willing and able to do it yourself.
Wow! Lots of great advice. Thanks everyone! With reading all this information and a lot of books on track planning and operations, I am seeing my layout taking shape in my mind. With all the cars I have already, about 20 rolling stock and about 6 engines (all purchased about 20 years ago and have those Rapido couplers), I want to convert them to the knuckle couplers (Accumate or Micro Trains????), but am still confused with all the brands out there (I'll figure it out), so I can have them ready to go when I build the layout. With that thought in mind, I am thinking I should get a hollow core door and some ez-track to test run the cars, once I convert them. Would anyone recommend doing this, or should I save the cash and put it toward the layout itself? I will not be building the layout until sometime in January. What have you done in the past to get ready?
I continue to be surprised by questions about manufacturers. I am interested in modeling a particular scene, prototype, era, place, industry. Some manufacturers are better quality than others (different standards of what constitutes quality for different folks of course) but what matters most for me is, does the model fit the picture I am trying to create. One or two unusual cars that really fit a prototype area and TELL A STORY are worth a little more...to ME, regardless of collector book value. One B&O wagon-top boxcar on a froeign railroad, for instance. Intermountain's Robeson Process Co. tankcar which handled paper-mill byproducts in New York State as an occasional shipment on an east-coast forest industry line which handles strings of skeleton logging flats and flat-deck bulkhead flatcars for bundled lumber and wallboard... So no, I don't stick to a particular manufacturer, and I don't buy many $22 freightcars. My freight car roster includes Atlas Trainman and Micro-Trains-Lines, Intermountainm Concor, 1970s "Atlas First Generation", Arnold Rapido, Minitrix and "Postage Stamp Trains", and "much, much more!" as the Vegomatic commercials used to say.
I'm with Grey One on this quality over quantity I keep chipping away at my project a bit at a time even if it will take me 10 years or so to complete my layout. I also prefer to buy new rather than secondhand mainly for the warranty as I am buying from overseas. Shaun
StrasburgNut, When it comes time to convert to knuckle couplers give a serious eye to Micro-Trains. They have proven to be the most reliable, hardy and durable couplers. I have 1% to2.5% grades on my main line and a 3% on my coal district. MT stays coupled while pulling up hill or downhill. I can't say that for the others. To get ready: If the door layout will be the base for your future layout then by all means get a circle of track and a #6 switch or two and run some trains. That will wet your appetite. Ultimately to get ready you need a plan. Start with the basic oval as already mentioned. Consider the type of bench work and then start buying the wood for it...one piece at a time if you have to. You are certainly getting a lot of good advice from everyone participating here. I would save this thread for future reference. Feel free to bring your questions here. Some of us old timers enjoy passing on some of the lessons learned at the school of hard knocks.
