MikeC, I turned loose one of the new cars that I have purchased. I set it on top of the incline and let it go. Let me tell you, for a 2% incline that thing just took off and I had to scurry around to the other end and stop it before it crashed off the end of the track. I stopped the first one just inches from that point.

If it goes up as easy as it goes down the loco's should have no problem at all. :doublethumb

Wayne

Yes Wayne they do run well, I know. Even on the gentle ups and downs on my layout they take off. Can be annoying at times - I sometimes have to chock the wheels of loose stock. Either that or derail 'em.

 Mike

Just like the real thing Mike!

Amazing how just adding track has made so much difference Wayne - your progress is very impressive.

Wayne

It's looking really good, I am sure that when you run your first loco, it will run around like a dream. what is that wagon that you have used to test the track. That track bed that you have used looks like a very good product, think we might use that as well. have you ordered a loco yet or are you keeping us all in suspense.

Wayne it is looking great i think you should be plugging in your controller and testing the track with your SD40 seriously i would do that because sometimes that shows up faults and potential problems that you would not notice pushing a truck around.

It will all run fine with the track connectors as its new track so no need to worry about feeders and buses to do testing.

cheers Brian

[user=285]Alan[/user] wrote:

It's looking really good, I am sure that when you run your first loco, it will run around like a dream. what is that wagon that you have used to test the track. That track bed that you have used looks like a very good product, think we might use that as well. have you ordered a loco yet or are you keeping us all in suspense.

Alan, the wagon is a Santa Fe 56' Center-Flow Hopper.

The track bed is working out just fine. I have had issues with bonding down the track to it though. I tried PVA (White) glue and it worked in places and others it didn't. Where I bonded down several ties in succession it worked fine, but if I just put it under one it did not hold. The other problem with the PVA was drying time, way too long for my patience. That slowed down dramatically the laying of the track. So I switched to a low temp hot melt glue. It took a while to get used to how much to put down, but it works great and doesn't let go. It does eat into the track bed slightly though, but I'm quite sure the ballast will cover it all up just fine.

Keep in mind that I have put the super elevation on all of my curves, and the inside rail on the curves is where the PVA did not hold. The inside rail wants to flex up to be level with the high outside rail. I weighted it all down but either I should have put more glue on more ties, or the glue won't hold under that force.

As for the Loco, yep I have bought one, but have not even taken it out of the box as yet. It's a GP40 Diesel by Bachmann, DCC Chessie. I will be taking pictures of it and the cars hopefully next week once all the lower level track is down.

Brian,
I know I should be hooking up some wires and trying it out, but…..maybe it's just butterflies in the stomach? (In order to do that I must do some soldering to make the initial connection.)

Wayne

[user=22]Wayne Williams[/user] wrote:

As for the Loco, yep I have bought one, but have not even taken it out of the box as yet. It's a GP40 Diesel by Bachmann, DCC Chessie. I will be taking pictures of it and the cars hopefully next week once all the lower level track is down.

Wayne

I thought that was the loco that you had purchased, it really is a great little runner, and with all the track and lengths of running that you will have it will be even better, just to find out, how much did you pay for yours in Dollars, mine was £23.00, decoder fitted, and on that point are you going down the NCE Dcc controller way.

You will be very happy with that choice of first loco, I am sure that we can buy better but for a first US HO loco, we have both made a good choice.

 

Alan,
The Loco was $50.00 and is DCC with a 28 step decoder (no sound). Maybe not the very best but it will do just fine from my point of view. I wanted DCC and something fairly low cost so if I screwed up something major while learning it would not cost me an arm and a leg. I have also purchased the NCE Power Cab as an entry level system that hopefully will last me many years before I need to upgrade.

All I did was laugh when you posted your picture of the GP40, I had just purchased mine that same day, so I decided to wait it out awhile before "showing" mine!

I agree! We both made a good choice!

Wayne

Well just caught up on your thread and i must say you are doing well, soon be testing a few loco's mate. Look forward to the video's when you do. I take it you will be running the wires from under the baseboards and soldered onto the side of the track? when you are ready.

Phill

Phill, i think it would be wiser for me to run the wires on top next to the tracks. I will also have at least one maybe two under the baseboard top so I can use it if need be. It's the soldering to the sides of the track that is giving me hesitation.

Video's? Thats right up there with soldering!  :shock:  :shock:  :shock:

Wayne

I'm sure that the NCE will last you many years, and you will really enjoy running the loco as a DCC the difference is huge.

:wow  :Happy    :doublethumb     :cheers

At 2:01 pm on the 3rd of December 2008 the South Shore Line official opened up it's tracks for rail service, although limited duty at this time. Work on the railway began on October 17th, just under seven weeks later  the first sound of an engine was heard.


1 hour and ten minutes later all activity on the rails ceased and I and took these pictures.

The GP40 Chessie System Diesel Locomotive! Running DCC with the NCE Power Cab, 2 amp system.


Here is the inaugural train headed to Chicago.


And from the other side!


Never thought this day would get here!
 

:Happy    :Happy     :Happy

Wayne

:doublethumb:doublethumb:doublethumb:doublethumb

Wayne

:pathead:Happy:Happy:Happy:Happy:cool:

Well done Wayne operations open on the south shore line .

Plenty of testing needed now to ensure all the track does not have any nastys.

Wayne soldering dropper wires to your track is quite easy.

You have brand new track so all you need is some good multicore dont buy crap stuff.

You wont need flux or any other cleaning fluids for the track a basic soldering iron will do.

Tin your dropper wires first that will help that means apply solder to the wire ends first before you try and solder it to the track.

Practise a few times on a gash bit of track untill you get the knack

cheers Brian

There was one other item that I was going to say, but forgot in all the excitement.

During the initial 1 hour and ten minutes of running, including seven minutes of pushing the three cars backwards around the loop, and during the entire time not one derailment occurred!

I did find one rail join that needed attention and it's already fixed. I even ran the outer loop, (as far as it would go) for one pass without an issue, though it was not very fast because there is about a three foot gap in the rail.

Wayne

Wahay :Happy another B&O loco on YMR (albeit a Chessie System one :roll:), now if we can just encourage Les to get that big blue beastie back on his layout we could have a B&O revolution on here :cool:.

Great feeling though Wayne, running your first loco, takes a lot of besting;-)

Congratulations, Wayne. That would have been a great seven minutes
 Nice loco too.

Mike

Wayne, it is a nice feeling when one gets to run for the first time on a layout. Good job.

 

 

 YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS :doublethumb:doublethumb:doublethumb