Silly question time

Classic Toy Trains Forum
1

[D)] Lets say A person…( Like me ) Has an MTH engine with the works for sound & that same person also has a MTH Z4000 transformer with the program buttons. Why is it I would have to go thru so many steps to put the chug back into my engines chugging down the track. I find I spend more time talking to my trains than the engines do at the station stops. [banghead]

This is the way I think it should run.

If you want to hear the station talk & it is program number 18 then you hit the program button & go to number 18. Push select & wow!!! it works. This would work out even better if the program numbers on the transformer would go that low & not start at 50.

I don’t know but I am not one to sit & go back & forth with the throttle A few times & wait & listen for the clink’s & clank’s. I got this to have it work & to well… Play with my trains darn it!!!. How hard would it be to but in the instruction books that come with them that if you own an MTH transformer with the program buttons & you want a certain feature of your engine to work you simply just do what I described above.

I am thinking this is the one & only big reason I don’t like the electronic items that are available out there. I like things simple. That would be why most all of our trains are from the 60’s on back. You can’t get much easier than them. [:D]

If any one has a simple solution to getting my sounds to work please let me know. I would like to hear the chugging along. Unless I can get my flyer to chug loud enough to cover for the rest of the trains.

Thank you for you time.

Take care.

2

Ed W,

Do you have just the Z4000? I have a Z1000 with DCS and have one MTH steam loc with all the bells and whistle so to say and am using the DCS handheld remote to control it. The DCS unit may help you out for sound and speed control, its price is around $300.00 or more.

Lee F.

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Nope no DCS. Never looked at them. How hard are they to operate? Can you actually plug in program numbers to pick & chose what you want to have happen for sounds ? Is this something that will work for any manufacture of toy trains. What dose a good working used one run ? Remember I like things simple.

Thank you & take care.

4

DCS won’t fix this anymore than your Z-4000 will.

The display is showing the current program settings for your loco. I believe that 50 has to do with dirctional locking? Check the owners manual to see what code 50 is. There is another code that will reverse/clear this (e.g. 51 or 52?). You can’t do a feature 18 (aka reset) until you clear the current state. PS-1 engines use what is called a “state” machine for feature programming. You have to be carefull when you power them up. They are in “program mode” until the system does it’s ding/donging for normal startup, usually 2-3 seconds? If any voltage swings or DC spikes are detected by the processor, the loco thinks you are trying to program it. It doesn’t matter if it’s just noise or commands issued to another train on the layout, the loco will accept these as instructions. Since this is usually accidental or garbage, it usually screws up the engine. Things get much worse if you have a weak battery in the loco.

5

I gotta admit, there are alot of features built into the MTH…thus raises the question…do you really need more capabilites than the space shuttle has to run Model (Toy) Trains?

I guess if you run prototypical, its a great thing. Me, like alot of people, like it simpler than that. I am just now going into TMCC. Its quick to learn easy to operate and the engines work as advertised. Straight forward and no nonsense. Yes I have run MTH many times, and yes I have worked on them as well. That clank clink business is for the birds. More than once during the past Christmas Season, I have had customers with VERY expensive MTH equipment, come in all upset because the thing is all locked up and can’t run during Christmas. Very sad. No Lionel problems…kinda makes you think

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This all leads me to what I have said in my post.

I agree. The roots of toy trains are suppose to be a kids toy & for some relaxing enjoyment (Eas of operation ) Why but so many feature on them that you have to have a degree in rocket science to use them. If I could take all of the MTH I have & stream line them this is what I would do. [:)]

1, Have the forward neutral revers operate just like any other.

2, Leave the smoke going, If you don’t want it turn it off.

3, leave the chugging on. If you don’t want it flip a switch

4, Leave the bell & whistle alone those I can actually work with my buttons.

They all have volume control so easy to use why not everything else ?

How hard would that be ? I think kids both young & old but young at heart would have much more fun playing with their trains. [angel]

If you wanted the extras then buy them separate or have them added on later.

What good do program buttons due if you can’t use them the way you think you should be able to. Get rid of the black select button & but a button on it for the chug.

I think all manufactures should ask kids what they would like in a engine & go from there.

Heck I think most of us would want the same thing anyway.

If any one knows how to do this let me know. I love my pre & post war Lionel just for this reason. Remember this K.I.S.S.= Keep it simple stupid. I wounder in if the makers read any of this ?

Well I will get of my soap box now. Sorry for that. But my son wanted to hear the chug come from the engine, That is what started this whole thing.

Thank you for yo

7

I remember when MTH introduced the PS-1 engines- I got as far learning how they cycle in direction and that was it. And they I really got into trouble when I bought my Z-4000 and put an engine into program mode- I had to take it back to the dealer for him to show me how it works. I bought four PS-1 engines and called it quits for MTH.

I actually had quite a number of TMCC engines before I got my TMCC set up- the learning curve on that system wasn’t bad at all. It may be simple, but the KISS principle is definitely prefered, as I want to run trains instead of spending all day programming electronic devices.
As I became more comfortable with TMCC I learned that there are some subtle ways to make the trains run better (stall function), and that it takes a bit of use to make those PITA Odyssey engines lash up together. I’m quite satisfied with TMCC, but I’m planning to get into DCS this year, since most of the bugs have been worked out it and MTH now has scale-wheeled engines available.

Geno

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Not a silly question!

This sort of nonsense is why I refuse to go the command control route (that and the hundreds of extra dollars for no extra trains!). I cannot possibly having to plug trains into computers and otherwise seriously over-complicating them and the layout for an end product of so little practical value.

9

I don’t think these issues still exist with PS 2.0, but it seems like what works for one person might run like crap for someone else. There are just too many variables.

I have DCS, and DCS is great, especially if you have a small layout like I do. I do not have to remove the train from the track by hand to turn the volume and smoke level up and down. That keeps my consist from rolling down all of my inclines! There are so many good things about DCS. I now have control over every feature. I can turn down some of the sounds that I don’t like while turning others up louder. I can change chuff rates. I can have click-clack sounds when I reach 30 MPH. I can turn on Doppler effect, which changes the pitch and volume of the sounds as the train moves to the back of the layout. I can play a start up sound, a particular cab chatter, or any part of what is already recorded. I can also record up to 3 minutes of my own audio. I can use the remote as a microphone and make my own announcements, or switch the input to play the TV’s audio, radio or CD recorded music through the train. I can turn off the headlight. I can set all of my PS 2.0 trains to start up, and start rolling simutaneously and travel at the same speed, all on the same track, inches apart from one another. I can record over an hour of operations, including starting, stopping, playing sounds, turning smoke on, switching tracks, firing couplers, so I can sit back and watch the trains do al of that on their own, without having to control all of it all of the time. That helps when I have to keep a hand on the kid. DCS opened up a bunch of operating options that I didn’t have before I got it. Best of all, I can turn it all of and run it conventional. MTH included all of this on a $275 starter set. If I had a PS 1.0 that I really liked, I would upgrade it just to get al

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This is exactly why I buy Lionel engines with Conventional Sound. I can start it up from a dead stop and it chugs. I can blow the whistle or bell just by hitting one button. It works and sounds great. I have nothing against the computerized stuff… but I would rather leave it to the amateur programmers out there…

The options are out there… just stop buying the computerized stuff unless you want to spend a lot of time programming!

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Here is a picture (by David Vergun) of the inside of my Rail-King big boy. If you look closely, you might be able to see the E-unit mounted behind the rear motor. It’s not hard to fix the modern stuff to work like the old stuff. I even found a guy who bought the computer out of it and one out of my “big blow” GTEL.

Click image to view full size.