I’m certain I have as much fun with my non-scale, non-digital control, heavily-altered, DC current controlled 027 trains. I have NEVER had to send one away for any repair. My control system is ingenious in its simplicity: place hand on transformer and turn dial! Amazing… the trains run every time. No complaints*, no calls to the service department. Long live my non-scale K-Line S-2’s, the greastest loco they ever made. Long live my Lionel MPC stuff.
brianel027
Correct you are!! I have felt that way a very long time. It is nice not to be alone.
Imagine yourself as an enthusiastic newcomer who is just exploring the diverse leisure pastime possibilities in model railroading. Then imagine that in the process of your “investigations,” you come across the various boards and forums relating to three-rail O gauge model railroading.
You read threads about manufacturers suing other manufacturers; confusing threads about multiple control systems, both real and imagined; pricing that is all over the board (including blowouts); and threads from brand-loyal hobbyists who are constantly at each other’s throats.
Most people who take up a hobby–any hobby–do so as a means of escaping, at least for a time, the turmoil that confronts them in their “real” lives. If what’s happening in O gauge these days is not enough to convince a newcomer to explore some other area in the hobby, I don’t know what would be.
I don’t have to imagine it, Allan. I am a newcomer. The negativity and the turmoil associated with the lawsuits and the loyalties aren’t pleasant, but they are part of the mix. I’ve learned a lot in the short time I’ve been visiting the online forums, but perhaps one of the greatest lessons I’ve learned is how to filter out some of this clutter and make decisions based on what really matters. Brand against brand isn’t nearly enough to make me leave a hobby. Poor product across the board, on the other hand - that would be. But that isn’t the case either. I was in a train store the other day and would have loved to go nuts with my credit card. Everywhere I looked, there were great things I wanted to purchase.
Lionel and K-Line each make great products. I hope both companies will be around for a long time to come.
There’s an in joke in there somewhere that I don’t understand. I had a Lionel 0-4-0 Switcher that seemed to come from the factory with Forward and three neutrals. I kept it around for about twenty years to remind me not to buy Lionel. About a year ago, I got energetic and disassembled and trouble shot it. Seems the power transistor that was supposed to control reverse did not have enough current capacity and had blown out the first time the electronic e-unit tried to put it in reverse. I replaced the power transistors with a matched pair that had about double the current capacity of the originals, and it has been working like a trojan ever since. You would think Lionel could have done that twenty years ago when I first called them. Or better yet, you would think they could spring for transistors with sufficient current capacity to handle the design load in the first place. Arrogant bunch.
Allan, you should take your own advice. Your postings all relate to the “end of the hobby”. How about being positive? There are alot of wonderful things about this hobby. If you can’t be positive then you should consider yourself part of the problem.
Funny Skyray… they’re only the greasiest if I’m eating a burger while handling them. [:D]
Seriously, there’s no joke in there. Yes David I do remove the circuit board e-units and find the performance of the locos is vastly improved on straight DC current. The locos run as if they were on speed control… very smooth even on tight 027 curves. The slow down on these curves is very dramatically reduced! The engines also run more quietly with far less “growl.” K-Line has had the traction tires all over the place in no one set uniform manner. I remove all traction tires and then readhere them one at a time with 3M Carpet Tape. If one works, I leave it at that. Usually a total of two will do it. Having traction tires on opposites sides of the same identical motorized truck contributes to cause some of the growl noise, especially on tight curves under load.
I guess I stumbled into this removing the circuit board e-unit by accident. I talked to a couple of parts guys and was chatting about e-units. They recommended I try a Lionel one in place of the K-Line one, but I found this did not improve noise levels or operation. So I wired a loco without the board, and tried DC current - and was impressed enough to go with it.
I use off board sound, so there is no problem. I prefer the economics of off board sound. Plus the horns on many of the lower end locos from anyone leave a lot to be desired. I’ve made my own diesel horns which sound far better.
I run the layout on DC current now, and though there are minor drawbacks, the improvements make them worthwhile. One or two of my MPC locos tend to lurch a little because of the slower reaction of the mechanical e-unit. But I compensate for that by turning up the power slowly, giving the loco (e-unit) a chance to fully engage. I have enough blocks on my layout so running multiple units is still possible. And running engines together is a sinch.
I saw the K-Line S-2 is the greatest loco made (knowing full well it real
I’m really interested about the wiring for DC current, as i have a few engines i don’t want to upgrade to TMCC but would like ot run on a floor layout for fun. How do youdo it? is there a book aviable for it?
THanks BIll
Well, I suppose I could adopt a head-in-the-sand approach, but that’s not my style. I believe the record will show that I offer praise, support, and encouragement where I feel it’s appropriate, and I also can be critical when I feel that criticism is warranted. After all, isn’t discussion and varying points of view, seen from different perspectives, what a forum is all about? I’ve been in this hobby a good many years–probably longer than most here–and even have some years of being involved on the industry side of the hobby. I don’t particularly like what I see these days in terms of the direction things are heading, and I would be remiss if I simply stood by and watched without speaking up when I believe it is warranted.
And just for the record: I have NEVER predicted–here or anywhere else–“the end of the hobby.” I have stated, in no uncertain terms, that I think the O gauge segment, in particular, is following a path these days that does not bode well for the future GROWTH of that niche (which does not imply its demise). The hobby itself will be around for far longer than anyone who visits this forum, regardless of their age, but at the rate it’s going, it likely will become a shadow of what it has been in recent years. That’s not something I want to see happen, but the writing is on the wall. If I’m wrong about this, then please do come back in 2015–or perhaps as early as 2010–and remind me how off-target I was. I will then freely and happily admit that I was completely wrong.