Subject:
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Re: Basic Train Electrical Questions
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.trains
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Date:
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Thu, 12 Dec 2002 18:59:36 GMT
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Viewed:
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1155 times
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> Also I now have a freight yard that take up approx. 160 square feet. When
> I get it hooked up to the town, should the "mainline" be run with a
> different controller then the yard? Or does this create certain problems?
Beginner. I have ~500 sq foot for Lego, and it goes through another 100 or so
to gain elevation...It covers 2.5 layers in the space, with a large staging
yard made of 4.5V track to store excess stock.
Seriously, it depends on how much you want to do non lego. I have converted
for the most part to DCC because of power & control issues. It is NOT the
cheapest way to go, but it does offer a bunch of choices with regards to
control. If your interest is in making several trains go on different loops,
then conventional (lego) controllers will work fine, or regular DC model train
power packs (just don't use too much throttle, or the train will go flying off
the curves). If you are interested in automation, there are several ways to go
about it. Dean Husby does it with mindstorms controlled relay track segments-
quite successful, running 3 trains on a loop at a time and so on, with a single
PB. There are at least 3 or 4 of us who are using DCC to run multiple trains
on a single track under control at all times...but, like I said, it gets
expensive, and is not a lego pure solution. (I have ~$1500 CDN worth of DCC
stuff now, and still need more decoders to put into the last few of my
motors...). DCC can also be used to automate control, but this is not
something I have done (I know it works, but I haven't invested much time in
something I am not too interested in at home on this...wait until I get to the
OO scale staging yards under the lego to do that one...)
> As you can see, I have NO IDEA, how all this works, so if any one can answer
> these questions (along with anything else you think I should know) or point
> me to a good web page or prior discussion of these issues. I'd GREATLY
> appreciate it!
There have been several discussions in .trains about it, perhaps seach for DCC,
Cab Control, Block Control, Automation... such like should dig up a fair number
of hits. Toms train page has info on converting motors to DCC (on sidebar),
and you should be able to figure out how to do basic soldering of wire & so on
from various model train web pages (no, I don't have links)
James P
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Basic Train Electrical Questions
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| Hi All, I've had a HUGE town display with train, monorail, etc.; but am now curious about some issues. For instance... How many motorized engines can be hooked together to maximize power, but not over-burden the controller? Can you hook up more than (...) (23 years ago, 12-Dec-02, to lugnet.trains)
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