With everything out there to run your rr like real is there clocks made with fast time to use on an ho layout?
jeff
Google " model railroad fast clock" without the quotes.
stanstrains.com sells clocks and has a free program you can download, so you can use your computer as a fast clock.
I thought most DCC unit comes with fast clock these days…
What is DCC?
I’m still waiting for some circuit guru to come up with a system to drive multiple digital LED displays at a chosen (preferably variable) fast clock speed. In addition to every control station, the system would ‘animate’ the time portion of those ubiquitous time-temperature displays that seem to be scattered all over even small towns.
What a Godsend that would be for a railroad running TTTO, or with scheduled passenger trains…
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Where have you been for the last 10 years??? DCC: Digtal Command Control. A digital/computerized system allowing direct control of multiple individual locos/trains (even on the same track).
Oh, you must mean the electronic garbage they forced down my throat, that I rip out of all my locos and throw away, so they will run right…
Digital fast clock with remote displays and programmable events …
[link]http://home.houston.rr.com/lrt/ffc.htm[/link]
Mark.
Logic Rail Technologies (http://home.houston.rr.com/lrt/index.htm) makes an adjustable fast clock that has up to 9 displays, although it won’t do the time-temperature lke you want. They also make a Loconet fast clock display for Digitrax users.
When I was a kid, I removed the hour hand from a clock, leaving the minute and second hands. These became the hour and minute hands on the clock for my layout.
GML Enterprises (http://www.thegmlenterprises.com/) offers both digital and analog (two hands on a round face) fast clocks. I regularly run on a couple of layouts that use them-- they’re very nice.
The referenced systems support, “Up to 9 displays.” This leaves me 2 short for panels (assuming that one display can serve 2 panels side by side) with none at all for scenic effects. No mention was made of a 24 hour display, which I need to match the prototype’s timetable.
Solution unsatisfactory.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with 24 hour 5:1 clock requirement.)
GML doesn’t make digital fast clocks any longer … haven’t for a number of years now. They claim there wasn’t enough demand for the digital version so they dropped it.
Mark.
The MRC system I use has a fast clock right in the throttle. You just toggle to the time function.
But since you rip all the electronic garbage out of your equipment, you have no use for this information.
I suppose you could open up the back of your cuckoo clock and inject the cuckoo with some steroids…[#dots]
Lee
As dude said about ripping out all that electronic garbage from his locos, how did he post on the forum with his non electric typewriter.
The poster who asked about fast clocks (srr90) is not the same one who made the comment about ripping the electronics out of his engines (BillD53A)
Retracted and re-directed. Thanks for the dope smack[B)]
So, if you are DCC inclined, yes, the MRC Prodigy Advance has a fast clock function built in, which can be set to different rates depending on your needs. I’m sure other DCC sets offer a similar feature.
Lee
You can download a free fastclock program here. (Only works on Windows computers, however.)
Now if I can just shoe-horn half a dozen monitors into my overhead valence and hook them up to a CPU, I’ll be all set !!! [sigh]
Mark.
Two commercial offerings:
http://www.thegmlenterprises.com/id19.html
http://home.earthlink.net/~mmmdodd/fastclok_index.html
Of course, you don’t need fast clocks for purposeful operations, unless you want them. Some people enjoy them and feel they add realism – others (like me) find they add unwelcome time pressure to switching and yard operations, which don’t scale like our always-too-short main lines.
Byron
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