Coming back to the hobby-what's new in MR in the past 20 years?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
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I haven’t had a layout since the late 80s when I was a kid. The last loco I bought was probably a $25 Athearn GP35 that came with horn hook couplers standard.

A friend was showing me his new Athearn Genesis SD70MAC with DCC so I decided to break out my old circa 1989 Athearn (what they now apparently call the RTR line).

I also unearthed a ton of my old rolling stock dating back to the early 80s.

I’ve got all of my old Atlas snap track,my old Atlas control systems, as well as my venerable dual controller MRC power pack with pulse power.

Can I rebuild a new layout from this base of old locos,rolling stock and equipment? Is a lot of this stuff still standard? I figure I’m going to have to change couplers on all of my locos and rolling stock at bare minimum to be able to run newer equipment. Hopefully the electrical standards haven’t changed much.

Please feel free to point me to any good links for jumping back into the hobby after so many years!

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Depends what you want…Do you want to re-live what you had before or do you want the latest and greatest technology?

David B

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If it has brass rail, throw it away.

If it has horn and hook throw it away or install Kadee couplers.

On second thought… dont throw it away, use it to practice the nice weathering techniques possible today with the powders, paints, fluids etc.

If it has plastic wheels, retrofit with metal wheels.

Your power pack may still be good but today’s engines are mindful of power.

Read, read, and read forums of the different manufactors of engines. Blueline is not for full DCC, MRC does not do a good job with decoders, Digitrax, NCE makes good DCC systems.\

Finally dont trip over yourself to buy that 30 dollar engine on ebay that was new and retailing for 300 dollars last year. They are merely dumping these engines so to clear the way for the upcoming NEW DCC and SOUND engines soon to be released.

DCC = two wires instead of all that DC stuff. You will still need to insulate some and gaurd against reversing. But today’s gagets do all of that automatically.

Atlas, Kato, Proto are the current Locomotive kings in quality. Broadway has lost thier way but are struggling to reclaim some of thier lost glory and smaller engines like IHC soldier on with some tiny upgrades.

Some of this stuff happening today was the stuff of science fiction and fantasy 25 years ago.

Enjoy!

Oh by the way… the something you want to buy today is either back ordered for years or never to be produced again.

Example. One walthers barge kit. Retail about 50 dollars 5 years ago. Now out of production and sold on ebay for anywhere from 125 to 300 dollars cash. I know because I sold mine for 230 unbuilt. At a nice profit.

IF you see something you like at the hobby shop, BUY it RIGHT THAT DAY because it WILL NOT be there when you return to really buy it.

Finally but not least… the old venerable Blue Box kits so beloved by our Athearn is now produced in China. I have built several and they match the old USA kits in every way except for use of metal wheels and kad

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Welcome back, Mr. Van Winkle…may I call you “Rip”?? [;)]

Generally if you had good stuff in the eighties, it should be good now. I’ve still got a few HO engines from about 1988-90 that are still good. Atlas stuff was good then, although maybe not as detailed as now. Many Athearn and MDC (now owned by Athearn) cars are still in production, although painting on them is much better than it was in the eighties.

Athearn “blue box” engines aren’t too hard to convert if you plan to convert to DCC. There are even harnesses for the decoders designed to be used with Athearn engines.

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You have probably already noticed the, um, change in prices from 20 years ago! And it sounds like you have noted that the horn hook coupler has largely gone to its reward and knuckle couplers are now standard in HO. Many of us still switch over to Kadees however from the supplied knuckles

I would not compare Athearn blue box of 20 years ago to their ready to run line today. The handrails alone should show where the differences are. The paint schemes are improved. And they are not made in USA anymore.

I wouldn’t commit yourself to using the old track either particularly if it is brass. And if it is Code 100, think about the superior appearance of Code 83 (although Code 100 is still very reliable mechanically which is hardly unimportant, and can be made to look good).

Now is the time to decide if you are going DCC or not. I’d read up as much as you can on DCC. Don’t assume DC common rail = cheap, DCC = expensive, either. Copper wire and DPDT switches are not cheap! The handwriting is on the wall and DCC is clearly the prevailing way to go. How much more equipment do you think you want to buy? New engines will come DCC or DCC ready. I have to think wireless control will be the next big thing. As long as we are tethered to the layout we are only partly enjoying the experience.

We are in the infancy of DCC controlled turnouts, couplers, and animated layout features but they are coming. IMHO I regard locomotive sound as a gimmick but I suspect I am a minority of one on that. I do think ambient noise however is not a gimmick and we will see/hear more of it: factories, traffic noise, chirping birds, kids at a playground, bubbling brooks, etc. I also predict we will be making more use of motion detectors to run those ambient sound systems. Some will detect the motion of we the operators, others will

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Time for me to play devil’s advocate, I see. [}:)]

I clean it and I use it. Do a search on this forum for the “Gleam” technique.

Using horn-hooks because that’s what I had. Am in process of replacing. Kadees are still better than the alternatives - that hasn’t changed, even if those alternatives sometimes look like flimsy plastic Kadees now.

Always a good idea. Of course, these proprietary powders co$t money, and the hardware-store materials still work well and cost little.

Possibly. But in the meantime the plastic ones will still roll.

And yesterday’s power packs were able to supply power. You may find that rheostat packs don’t give good control of a low-draw loco.

Haven’t gotten into DCC yet.

See above, and decide if you like saving money better than having the newest stuff, right?

[quote]
DCC = two wires instead of all that DC stuff. You will still need to insulate some and gaurd against reversing. But today’s gagets do all o

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I’m honestly pretty happy with what I remember. I don’t need the latest and greatest digital sound effects,and I’m still pretty happy manually switching stuff. As long as the engines respond smoothly at lower speeds and I have lights,I’m happy.

My main concern is being able to run my friend’s equipment on my line,and my old locos on his newer fancier setup (he’s building his own track,but I’m not sure what his electrical arrangements are).

Quality-wise my stock is all over the place. Some is good Roundhose or Athearn blue box,I have a decently motored Bachman Spectrum GP30 from about '91 or so that has good low speed performance. Some is ancient Life-Like stuff from toy train kits.

Mostly I want to create a fictional point to point line to replicate industries and trains I remember liking as a little kid (B&O/C&O/WM and Chessie System coal field traffic).

A few questions:

Can schedule 83 be run with schedule 100 or is there a slight height difference that is too great? I’ve got a fair number of switches,wyes,etc in what I believe is schedule 100 since I don’t think Atlas made anything else back in the late 80s.

Is coupler compatability an issue with all of these brands of couplers out there? From what I remember there were a few Kadee variants to accomodate retrofitting various makes of cars,but they were basically all couplable with one another.

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Since this is your first Post, I assume that, perhaps, you have not been using the Forums for very long. I assume that you are a subscriber to Model Railroader. Every issue of Model Railroader has a section called DCC Corner,whih caan be very helpful. Recently, they have added a separate Forum dealing strictly with DCC. Kalmbach Publishing produces a monthly DVD called Dream-Plan-Build ($24/DVD), which can be returned Post Paid, if you do not desire any particular DVD.

If you plan to post pictures, “Weekend Photo Fun” is a good place to Post photos to share, or for criitiques. Photos must first be downloaded onto our Host “Photobucket.com”. When you place a series of photos in “My Album”, you can click on the [IMG] option to save it on the clipboard “Word”. To post the photo on a given Thread, you click on Reply. A box will appear, with an Icon with W on it ,that you click. The lengthy code for the photo will then appear. You then click on “Insert” (in the lower left corner of the box). The code will transfer to the box of your Reply. You can then type in Text, before clicking on “Post”. Your photo will automatically be resized and will appear along with the text, as the last Post on the given Thread. You can always Edit any Post (to crrect typos, or add to the text. Nuff said for now. Keep Posting! Bob

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First off, [#welcome]

In answer to your questions, there is a height difference between C83 and C100. However, after you put the rail joiner on the C100, crimp it down flat and solder the C83 to the top of the railjoiner. Should come out just about right. (Hint: experimentation can be a good thing.)

The couplers are all compatible for the most part. I’m not too thrilled with the Accumate. They seem a little heavier than most of the

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Why would you not be able to?

That would be a good idea regardless. But nothing says you could just take a few cars with one type of hook on one side and the other type on the other end.

The NMRA electrical standards for DC trains have not changed since 1984 and that was not significant.

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I found the biggest change after my break (I put the hobby down, mostly down, from 1983 to about 2000) was DCC, but you already knew that. Along with it has come realistic operation schemes and layout designs. Its all very cool.

I think the internet is another huge change. There is so many articles and inspiring layout web sites on the web as well as research tools… its really invigorated my enjoyment of the hobby. Just being able to research the actual track of my prototype using google earth is tremendous.

The quality of the products, at least for my n-scale stuff, seems much higher.

Work with what you have but don’t be married to it. Make use of what you can update and don’t be afraid to put stuff aside that is just going to frustrate. Most important, enjoy the hobby!

As for code 83 to 100… that can be done with a piece of code 83 shimmed up to the code 100 at the transition point from what I understand.

Chris

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Just a word of caution: If you purchase some new locomotives with can motors, do not use the power pack’s pulse power, because this can destroy them. The new motors like pure, smooth DC power.

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Ebay…Great for finding things You wont find at Your LHS “Local Hobby Shop”

Built up’s… Structures that are already assembled detailed and weathered,only for really lazy model railroaders IMO.

More More More!! Loco’s,Rolling stock,structures,scenery,tools,anything You need to build a quality layout.

DCC… This ain’t Dear old Dad’s railroad…DC is going the way of the dodo bird.

Welcome back!!! Enjoy the hobby!!!

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c:

Not true. A can motor is just that: a motor in a can. There was never any more issue with /can/ motors and pulse power than there was with open-frame motors and pulse power. The issue was with “micro” coreless motors, and even that seems to me to be more a matter of dire warning than bad experience.

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Just a note from an oldie (modelling since 1971)…20-25 years ago, all models (engines, freight cars, passenger cars) came with “NMRA” horn-hook couplers. That doesn’t mean people used them that way, Kadees were the standard then as now, and probably 99% of people who had been modelling for more than a year or two used Kadee’s…it’s just that you had to install them yourself. It wasn’t until Kadee’s patent expired and cheaper copy versions appeared that it became feasible to have models come with Kadee-type couplers direct from the factory. [:)]

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BTW not sure why last post was in odd typeface, but seems to be OK now. [%-)]

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I came back to the hobby about 3 years ago, with boxes of trains from the early 1960’s.

Track - I had lots of old brass track. I still have it, but it’s in a box in the garage. Have you been watching the “You might be a model railroader…” thread? Yup, that’s me. I can’t throw it away. I did, however, salvage the Atlas switch machines, which still work on the Atlas snap-switches made today.

Engines - Not much luck here. Out of a dozen, I ended up with one that runs on my layout. 2 others have been converted to dummies and get dragged around occasionally. The rest? Well, there’s this box in the garage…

Couplers - Change them all to Kadees. That’s my one “old stuff” rule - it doesn’t go on the layout until it has Kadees on it. It’s also a “new stuff” rule. Cars and engines that come with “bargain brand” knuckle couplers make a trip to the workbench for Kadees before they ever see my tracks.

Power - I went to DCC very early. I use the old power packs to drive structure lights, turnouts, etc.

Rolling Stock - I’ve converted about half of my old rolling stock, so most of the cars on my layout are pretty old. The rest are waiting to be converted. My problem is space for them, so I’m in no hurry. There are already too many cars in my yard. I swap the couplers, of course, but I’ve kept most of the plastic wheels. I run short trains, so the rolling-resistance issue isn’t really important to me.

Structures - I’ve put a few of the old ones on my layout, after some painting and weathering. I’ve thrown away some of the cardboard ones that were so warped and water-stained that they would never be acceptable. The rest, well, did I mention that box…

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Cell Phones are new in the last 20 years. Perhaps you know someone who has one?[:D]

Heres an HO cellphone tower for your layout…

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Built up structures are not for lazy people.

Ok… maybe…

I find them conveient especially if I dont have to go through the kit process with results less than expected.

Anyone thinks Im lazy should consider the 6 months factory building that is STILL not complete yet. If ever.