And it begins

Garden Railroading
1

For the past week i have been sitting on my deck anxiously awaiting my first train to arrive. Starring up the road like a little kid waiting for the ice cream truck. Finally yesterday it arrived (still waiting on track)so i opened it up was really pleased that i understood the mechanics of how this all worked and confident that i could master this RR stuff pretty well that is until it came to sound. I opened the tender to see what had to be added switched or bought to get the basic chuff sound to work (im not going for DCC just yet gonna start with basic track power) and found nothing no speaker no circuit board just wires to the pick ups and back up light .

So with a tear in my eye i got online and started looking to see what i had to buy to make this work. thats when it hit me" I have no idea what im looking at or for" found sound cards with speakers but didnt know what i needed.

So here I stand beaten down before i begin…not a good start.

Its a G scale bachmann spectrum 2-8-0 can anyone tell me what to look for and can you tell me in RR for dummies terms.

Thanx Ed

2

The 2-8-0 doesn’t come with sound from the factory, so you’re on your own. I did a GR Basics column on sound and control systems a while back. I forget when, but probably two or three years. Summarizing from that:

A few options:

Cheap - MyLocoSound, analog chuff, but sounds reasonable. Whistle is pretty good. Bell leaves a lot to be desired, but you can turn that off. The whistle triggers by closing a switch. Magnet reed switches would work, but you’d get a quick “toot” instead of a long whistle pattern.

Mid-range - Dallee, digital chuff, bell, and whistle, though it’s “monophonic,” so when you blow the whistle or ring the bell, the chuff drops away. Not noticeable on the whistle, but on the bell it can be. The whistle can be triggered by a magnet. For track power, I’d recommend getting the one that plays a random whistle pattern each time the switch is closed.

Mid-range - Soundtraxx Sierra (Long out of producton, but show up on ebay.) Digital sound for everything, and can play multiple sounds at once. The bell and whistle can be triggered by track voltage or magnetic triggers, and you can program their behavior to some extent.

High-end - Phoenix PB11. Yeah, it’s more than twice the price of the others, but it’s programmable, and can run off of track power and DCC should you decide to upgrade later, so you can recoup some of the cost then. Phoenix is arguably the gold standard for large scale sound systems.

In all of these cases, running off of track power, you’re going to need some kind of battery back-up for when the track voltage gets low. Dallee, Sierra, and Phoenix come with batteries (or at the least tell you how to wire them.

Dallee, Phoenix, and MyLocoSound all advertise in GR, and are very helpful over the phone or via e-mail if you have questions. Phoenix has an on-line library where you can listen to all their sounds. Dallee has dome digital recordings of their sounds, and may be able to e-mail you samples. You can hear MyLocoSound samples

3

thanx k strong for your answer thats what i wanted to know i thought about buying an old beat up tender off e-bay that had sound and parting it out. ill look on some of these sites

thanx again

Ed

4

Hi Grims[#welcome] to the garden railways[:)], I use pheonix sound, its not cheap but I think its the best and the service they give is a 110%. I run track power and have magnets in the track to trigger the sounds. I have chuff bell coal fill water fill all are controlled by reed switches under the tender. The chuff has 2 small round magnets on the back axcil of the tender it gives better chuff than linking it to the loco system. Hope this helps.

5

Thanx two tone while i would love to have the best of everything start up costs of buying everything to once has put a drain on the bank account. i have even gone so far as to eye ball my battery charger (12 volt 10 amp) and 110 volt rheostat and a polarity reversing switch i built for a controller to save some cash.

maybe im not wealthy enough for this hobbie but im gonna try a little at a time.bought enough rail and ties and joiners from switch crafters to make a loop around my pond and water fall but that will probably get boring real fast.gonna try bending my own rails.

time will tell but the journey is more than half the fun.

Ed

6

Add an inexpensive automotive fuse between the power supply and the track. Since you have 10 amps available, you really don’t want all that through a short circuit. I would start with a 3 amp fuse. The fuse holder and fuse are cheap, from any auto parts store.

You want to be sure your battery charger is just a simple transformer and a rectifier, no electronics, otherwise your scheme won’t work.

Regards, Greg

7

thanx greg i installed a fuse as you suggested did a quick static test and it worked great it also helps my charger can be turned down to two amps. the 110v dimer switch didnt work however so i might go with some sort of 24v variable speed control of some sort . just the control no power.

Ed

8

I have always maintained that Garden Railways need not be expensive. My own personal budget for my railway has had to under go a 50% increase this year -I now allot £15 per week to it, this is due to the Chancellor of the Exchequer raising the VAT rather than price increases… Take the viewpoint that: I want this -how do I make it happen? I am a scratch builder -this means that I make my models from junk and stuff that no-one needs. A little design ingenuity and hey presto - a loco. Everything that you need to build a railway can be found in your house. An anti gurgle valve for a washing machine becomes a boiler for a Shay. Scent bottle tops and bath bottle tops become steam and sand domes. “Modified” hair curlers become electrical control equipment for a diesel.

As I deal with the recycle from the house -I often ask myself -what can I make from this?

regards

ralph

9

@ cabbage I am doing much the same thing. years of modeling in RC planes,boats,scale ships not to mention designing machines I think i might be able to get trough this alright im just afraid of what I dont know…hence all my stupid questions here where im sure many readers read my questions and roll there eyes[%-)].

On a lighter note even though I own my house and all the land there appear to be sections of my yard i dont own evidently anything designated “garden” apparently is not mine so like the real RR of old i will have to negotiate land rights to expand my RR and seeing how the land owner lives with me I know first hand how underhanded and ruthless she can be and this land owner also controls some of the RR financing this is going to be a long hard road to be sure and I fear the honey do list will be growing soon.[;)]

10

another dumb question is there an plastic friendly oil you can buy at the local hardware store rather than a hobbies store as the nearest one is 100 mi from me

11

I’ve read on another site that “Mobil 1 Synthetic Oil” is plastic compatable.

I haven’t tried it, but it sounds reasonable.

from the Mobil website:

_"_It is fully compatible with the elastomeric materials from which all automotive seals and gaskets are made."

12

In one of the Aristo-Craft Forums a few years ago, Aristo recommended “CRC 2-26” plastic safe lubricant found in the electrical department of “Home Depot”. I’ve used it ever since.

13

thanx so much guys thats a big help it was either find something close by or order online

thanx again

Ed

14

Notice the Mobil 1 people said “elastomeric” stuff, the stretchy stuff that oil seals are made from. It does not say styrene and or who knows what your latest loco is made from.

I know people who have used it with no problem.

The CRC stuff is not a general purpose lubricant, it’s more of a contact cleaner and anti-corrosion spray.

For the small amount you use, I would buy a quality oil guaranteed to be plastic safe in your hobby.

You might want to read this to see if it’s useful:

http://www.elmassian.com/trains/lubrication

Greg

15

OK well that stinks but thanx for the warning

Ed

16

ok another question…(boy you guys are gonna get tired of me real quick) is there a standard rail size that most companys use i have gone with code 250 for a more realistic look and i would like to buy some used switches and track for a station siding but a lot of sellers give the company that makes it but no code.

i just dont want to buy something and find out its code 332 and not be able to use it.

Thanx again

Ed

17

It is all well and good saying “The rail used on my track is 250 thou high”… Well so is all of mine -but the crucial thing is the profile of it. My PECO SM32 trackwork is 32mm gauge and “Vignoles” or “Flat bottomed” rail . The Gauge ‘3’ track is 63.5mm gauge “Bullhead” rail. But both are 250 thous high…

As for a, “more realistic look” -that is in the eye of the beholder(!)

I grew up with sleepers made of corrugated steel rollings and a gauge of 3 feet 6 inches with sleeper spacings of between 18 and 32 inches apart (depending on how many were available). Several people have decried me for the “sloppy” look of my trackwork.

I assure you it looks better than the original…

regards

ralph

18

ummm…ok now im confused (only due to my lack of knowledge) I didnt know there were so many different types of track i guess i better stick with what I bought trough switch-crafters but their switches are so expensive. I guess my station siding will have to wait until i learn some more.

thanx cabbage

Ed

19

It also means that you have to ask yourself “what is expensive”? All of my 32mm track is commercial and I love it. The Gauge ‘3’ stuff is all hand made (by me) and I also love it!!! Currently I am assembling another set of right hand points (switches in US) -something swore I would never have to do again… If I had paid an additional £30 I could have bought a ready made one rather than assembling a kit of parts at £60. Do I get a better end result -probably not! But, on the other hand I do get rather more enjoyment than I would out of simply opening a flat box…

Have a look here.

http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.co.uk/g3track.html

I know it relates to a different gauge -but everything there is applicable to 32 and 45mm gauges and you get the style and type of track you want.

regards

ralph

20

Thanx ralph

all those figures are a little intimidating but i get the gist

i would love to see some pics of your lay out because i think i might have you beat in ugliness…lol

well i started laying my track around my pond and as most of the loop is elevated and i wanted to get it up and running i decided to go with decking and 2x4s figure i can be constructing a trestle while i enjoy my RR.

I took every 2 or 3 6 ft. sections as i got done bending them and tested them on the deck with the loco and cars to make sure spacing of the rails was close (im sure there will be more tweaking) .

I didnt realize how popular this RR was going to be people have been stopping watching I dont know whos more exited me or them. but its a small town (pop. of about 300) and not much go’s on here.