Puckdropper's Place weblog

Walthers GP9M decoder installation

These series of pictures show how to install a TCS T1 decoder in a HO scale Walthers Trainline GP9M locomotive. This inexpensive locomotive was produced before DCC gained popularity, so the decoder has to be hard wired.

The first step in the process is to remove the weight bar and motor. Be sure to mark the motor to remind yourself which terminal is which. There's no distinguishing marks on this motor to indicate which terminal is which.

Pic 1 - Marked Motor

Next, since the pick up wires are both black, I used some heat shrink tubing to indicate which ones pick up from the right-hand (respective to the front of the engine) rail. I verified this by placing the locomotive on a piece of track and measuring the resistance with an ohm meter. A reading of close to 0 ohms means the wires connect.

Pic 2 - Pickups and multimeter

I followed the directions as to which wire went where, placing heat shrink tubing on any solder joints. After everything was connected, I then thought about where the decoder would mount. Big mistake. I should have thought of that first, as my initial mounting point would not allow the shell to be replaced on the
locomotive.

Pic 3 - Connected Wiring

Pic 4 - Initial decoder placement

Pic 5 - Finished Installation, before shell is reinstalled

Notes:

1. All wire-to-wire solder joints were made using a "Western Union Splice." Simply overlap the exposed wire at the halfway point and twist the left wire around the right side, and the right wire around the left. This method makes a very smooth joint, allowing
heat shrink tubing to easily seal the joint.

2. Trim your wires, but leave at least an inch extra in case something goes wrong. I had a difficult time with making the motor power connection and wound up having to extend the orange wire.

3. These pictures have been submitted to TCS for use on their webpage. They're welcome to use them if they desire.

This post has been edited at 2008-01-28 19:34:04

My shoulder hurts, but at least my armpits are clean

I've been working on rewiring the layout... When I did the initial wiring, I used block wiring with a common wire. While that works well, my inevitable upgrade to DCC will be easier with both leads run back to the control panel.

So, dear reader, you're probably wondering what the subject's all about. Well, here's the thing: My terminal strip was installed behind the control panel, and I spent an hour or so under the layout moving wires around on it. The position I spent about half that time in was with my right hand raised above my head, and my nose facing my arm. Since I was also leaning on an under layout shelf, that started to make my shoulder hurt.

There's an important lesson to be learned in this, dear reader. When installing common wiring components, remember that eventually you'll have to work on them (that's the whole point of the terminal strip) and they should be mounted in such a way that working on them is easy on the body. If I had mounted my terminal strip on top of the control panel, and run the wires from underneath, I wouldn't be sitting here typing this post.

Some thoughts on wiring...

I keep messing with the wiring on my model railroad. It's not that it's bad, it's that it's not as portable as I'd like. When the railroad has to be moved, the wiring job isn't easy. Contrast this to Ntrak, where hundreds of modules can be connected together for just a single weekend. Each module, even those with the complex track plans, are connected and ready to go wiring wise in under 10 minutes a module.

A home layout, especially a block wired layout, presents different challenges, however. You no longer have a primary track bus to just snap together, you have wires for this track and that track. Even with as neat as I tried to be, I've still got a mess of wiring under the layout. As I go to redo it for the final time (I hope) I'm going to define and implement some conventions and standards.

Wires to the track will all trace back to a terminal strip on the module. They'll be a different color or style than wires that pass through the module. Wires that pass through a module will have PowerPole connectors on the ends, and since I don't have to worry about changing ends as a standards body does it, I can eliminate the two terminal strips per module required for the through bus.

Oh, did I mention in the next two years I expect to upgrade to DCC? This means heavier wire, which I have, and considering how the different blocks will tie together nicely. Does anyone make a European style distribution block?

As your layout gets more complex than a simple loop and siding, you need to sit down and seriously plan the wiring. If you're doing an incremental build, you still need to plan all the wiring first. This will save you many headaches later.

This post has been edited at 2008-01-09 06:19:15

The Benefit of Flux

I learned to solder at a very young age, and have kept doing so ever since. I've gone through a couple different soldering irons, but only last year discovered the benefits of using flux. For about $3 for a can, you can improve your soldering projects tremendously.

In soldering, heat transfer is key. If your don't get the joint heated properly, you'll never get a good solder connection. What the flux does is melt and transfer heat throughout your joint. When you touch the solder to this area, the solder will melt and transfer quickly and efficiently to where you want it. I've used flux on soldering rail joints, and other than perhaps cleaning the excess flux off, never had to do anything to the rail to run trains.

A little flux goes a long way, and be careful not to use too much. If soldering with an iron, you'll just wind up with a mess, but if soldering with a torch, that extra flux could burn and leave a nasty black residue.

Update to 0.6.1

Version 0.6.1
-----------

1. Fixed error in admin edit/delete page where wrong identifier was used.
2. Fixed error where name field is not filled in and the software rejects the post.
3. Fixed error where any unfilled in form values on postcomment.php complain the subject is blank.
4. Form values on postcomment.php do not blank out after errors.
5. Move included header file so no output occurs before redirect code in postcomment.php

It seems things don't go so well when you forget what you've tested. I think everything works now, if not, well, there's always 0.6.2.

This post has been edited at 2007-05-24 04:39:23

Laying Track Outdoors - Leveling and Ballasting

Leveling

After an unsatisfactory job with laying the track the first time, I took up the track (a loop around a gazebo) and started leveling the base out. I found that by mounding more gravel where the track had laid, in an area just a little taller than 3/4" and about the size of what fell off my shovel, I could tamp this down and get it level. Testing for level was done by using a piece of straight track in the straights and curves for curves. If I put the level on it, and it read level side-to-side, I went on. If not, I adjusted the gravel until it was level side-to-side. The track does not need to be level up and down (in the direction of movement), but MUST be level side-to-side.

Here's a tip: Use a piece of track and a quality combination square with level. Take the ruler section part off (and save the parts ;-)) and use just the head. This will sit nicely on sections of track you use to test for level.

Ballasting

Once the base was level, and the track installed again, I ballasted. I placed shovelfuls of the rock on top of the ties and tried to get it to sit down into the ties. I tried running a locomotive over the track to encourage the rock to settle, and that didn't work. The locomotive derailed before it got anywhere.

I then tried bringing out the snow plow. It's 80 degrees out, and the plow is working... Only on a model railroad, eh? Well, the plow succeded in pushing the bulk of the gravel out of the way that would interfere with the locomotive, but derailed several times itself. The track still didn't LOOK good, though.

After these failures, I decided to try the spray nozzle on the garden hose. This worked really well. By aiming the spray of water towards the rails (to push the rock away from it), I was able to convince the gravel to settle down into the area between the ties and blow most of the extra off. The track now looks decent, and is firmly held in place with the ballast.

Laying Track Outdoors - Posted to rec.models.railroad on May 16, 2007

It all started with an $8 purchase for a bunch of train stuff at a garage sale... Soon, I had a piece of track for my G-gauge locomotive as test track, and plans for a loop outside. To make a long story short, I'm skipping right to the laying track part.

Laying track for an outdoor railroad is a lot more prep work than that of an indoor layout. For an indoor layout, one merely has to attach track to a flat-ish surface and connect power. (Nitpick: Yes, quality track laying is much more difficult.) For an outdoor layout, "flat" is something that must be created. My simple loop of track required taking dirt out of the garden to level some of the worst spots, and tamping it all down.

Since things will grow in flat empty dirt, step two involves laying down a weed barrier and putting gravel on top of it. In my impatience to get trains running, I had laid track on top of the dirt and added the gravel later. I think this was a mistake. What I should have done was put the gravel down first, tamped it all down level, and then laid track. (G gauge track needs to be level side-to-side. Grades are fine, but you'll run into trouble with some equipment if it's not level side-to-side.)

If it's dry tomorrow (rained today) and I have the time, I'm looking at taking up the track, compacting the gravel underneath and leveling it side-to-side, and relaying it. It's a lot of work, but I think it's worth it.

Note: I posted this to rec.models.railroad on May 16, 2007.
Google Groups Archive

Update to 0.6!

Version 0.6
-----------

1. Status is shown by making "Log in" and "Log out" change accordingly.
2. Bug with magic quotes appears to be eliminated. Apparently some of the regression testing introduced a unstable combination of escaped text.
3. Fixed bug where new category names when posting would not be recognized. "new" would be displayed in its place.
4. Registration page now requires password to be confirmed before registration.
5. DB password is no longer hard coded in page code.
6. Administrator has access to new user admin functions.
7. New Feature! User Administration.
8. New Feature! Password Changing!
9. New Feature! Unregistration! (Indicates the user has unregistered in the comments.)
10. Admin post page now has the first category checked by default.
11. New Feature! Anonymous comments!
12. Settings are now kept in the database, rather than a settings file.
13. New Feature! Users can view past postings of comments.
14. Logged in users now no longer have a name field displayed. (If they changed the name field to something different previously, it would not show up in the "view comments I've posted" option.)
15. Blank usernames and passwords are not allowed. Registration and login pages should reflect this change.
16. Admins can change blog colors.

This post has been edited at 2007-05-21 05:15:29

Track rework

Track rework

The Garden Railway (TGR) has been taken up with the intent of reworking the ground underneath and properly ballasting the track. The rails are currently in storage, while unfavorable weather keeps track crews from working. Track supervisor Puckdropper hopes the rain will end soon so he can get the ground work finished.

Plow Finished

For immediate release--Puckdropper's Place announced that the snow plow they've been working on has been finished. If it snows this winter after the track rework has finished, The Garden Railway will be ready to clear the line.

Providing the power to clear the line will be a new Aristo-Craft RS3. If necessary, TGR will have the assistance of "the owner's touch" which is a big hand from the sky.