Ok… Here is a question for you all of the people who have been in the hobby since the early eighties…
I just got a bunch of my Grandfather’s trains that he had for many years which include a:K-4, Berkshire, K-5, E-6 and a few other diesels. My grandfather was playing around with some sort of train system I think from PFM. I remember the big thing was sound but I am not sure if Command and Control was included. The control console was about a foot to 14" long, about 8 inches wide and 8 inches tall. My grandfather would have to install a system in the engine which included a speaker in the tender. One of the engines I got is installed with this system. I don’t know where the Command Console is anymore but I remember they were getting in to this system around the 1984-1986 Timeframe…
What does anybody know about this system… Is this a pre-form of DCC? Can I use them on a straight DC layout?
The PFM system was a ‘Sound System’ not any type of command control. The throttle in that big silver case was just a good DC throttle. The sound was quite good. There may have been someone that offered an integrated solutiion using the PFM sound system, but I am unaware of it. In the early 60’s, GE had a system out called Astrac??? Later the home-built CTC16 system became available in the 80’s.
The club I was in in the early 80s had CTC-16. When you ordered a decoder, you got a small PC board and a bag of components. You had to have good soldering skills not to fry the decoder IC chip when you were putting it together. Same for the command station, except big PC boards and lots of components. You needed some good test equipment to be sure you had assembled it right. If assembled correctly, it ran well for the times. It certainly got me hooked on the comcept of command control.
Yes, the PFM sound system was jus DC control with superimposed sounds that played from the speaker in the loco. Very GOOD sounds since most of them were actual recordings - literally - the system used an 8-track tape player (I think up to 3 of them IIRC) for some of the sounds. It had a genuine analog playable whistle, there was a lever you pulled down to sound the whistle. Even the latest sound decoders fall a bit short of the standard set by the PFM system, but they have the advanatge that with DCC the entire sound system is inside the loco, not just the speaker, and you can have a dozen locos each making different sounds all on the same track.
The GE Astrac was the first commercial command control system. Reading about that in Sutton’s “The Complete Book of Model Railroading” (this is not the same as the Robert Schleicher book of the same title - published in two volumes) is what hooked me on the concept. I have the set of Model Railroader magazines with the CTC-16 and then later the CTC-16E articles - right before the DCC standard was ratified I was collecting components to build a CTC-16 system for my layout. Ended up having to tear down my layout and not build another one until a few years ago - - this time I went DCC.
PFM’s Sound system was pure DC with (analog) sound transmitted via the rails, and not DCC. Sound recordings were stored on continuous tape loops with a now expired popular cartridge format that pre-dated cassettes. Since Speakers picked up sound from the rails using a capacitor to pass AC , The DC track power required extra filtration to elimiate 60 cycle hum. Solid State versions with Digitized chips improved reliability, but not the the original’s high cost. Popularity of hum-producing ‘Pulse’ power (to nudge balky engines) - DCC’s ability to produce sound has taken over the Market. Digitized DC versions of the PFM System were built by Throttle Up (now Soundtraxx) and PBL, but are no longer in production. Perhaps, when 2 channel Stereo can be used, an Analog ‘woofer’ can be added to the Digital mix. Cost will be the determining factor. Getting low bass is expensive, as is a 30’ air column. Soundtraxx already has an analogue system waiting in the wings using ‘Surround Sound’ Theater-in-the home systems. Whats holding it back? - the current cost of 'Theater-in-the-home Systems. As for your granfather PFM system, parts are no longer made, and magnetic tape crumbles with age. You have the equivalent of a Packard automobile. If you are not a mechanical genius, or engineer with a shop who can ‘make his own’, I’d suggest selling it for parts on Ebay.
Everyone is close. I own several of these systems. The continuous tapes are cassette format, but the tape inside has a loop in it. They are quadraphonic or “quarter track” tapes, if you prefer, as they have four channels one for each separate sound. Hence a three tape machine can have twelve different sounds.
I think that is poor advice. These units still come available on e-bay from time to time. I think they are well worth the price that they go for. The hard part is that there are actually four different versions of the PFM sound system. The original sound system, the Mark Two, the Sound System Two (this is the one with three tape drives), and the Mini-Sound (this on has a single tape drive). The original and mark two have an electronic bell that is really bad (hence the bell was moved to tape). There are at least two individuals here in the USA that still repair and service them (and one in Japan). If the unit is one that uses the tapes, then the tapes are still available, and I have enve seen an electronic tape simulators replacements for them. Depending on condition, a Mark II unit will go for $50-$75, a sound system II will run $100-$250 (I paid $550 for a NIB one about 3 years ago), and a mini-sound will be $75-150 depending on the condition. I have never owned one of the original units so I cannot make any statements about it. Some day the digital stuff will catch up with this, but I doubt they will be as much fun to play with
I have a freind that has a PFM system that is in need of service and can not find anyone to service them. If you can get me the contact info for these people, I will let my freind know. Thanks a bunch in advance.