I’d like a walkarond cab for DC. I’d like one that would connect to the DC terminals of my power pack. Then I could just leave the p-p at full power and use the cab to control speed and direction. Is anything like this sold anymore? MRC had one in the 70s, but I believe it used a rheostat for speed control, which I’d rather not have as I’ve heard they often cause a motor to stall when taking off, which I certainly don’t want.
Thanks[:)]
From plans in the 1973 February issue of Model Railroader I made my own.
I believe MRC still sells one.
They have sold during the years several handhelds.
One was just a rheostat , an overload protector and a reversing switch. Good rugged handheld. Used DC. Couldn’t control a can motor, however.
Second one was a full featured throttle. Reverse switch. Potentiometer for speed control, so it could also control can motors. A momemtum switch. A full function brake lever, with settings of off (no brake), coast, (steady speed no matter where throttle was set), Brake application, (steady slowdown to a stop). Quick stop, (alot faster), Emergency, (self descriptive). Used these for years. Still have 4 of them. A very good throttle. A good engineer could start his train under momentum, and by just using the brake lever, control his train completely. He wouldn’t even touch his speed control until he was thru for the night.
Last version used AC, and had a bridge circuit for converting that to DC for the track. a reversing switch and a momemtum-brake switch.
I think TZ is on the right track for you. Simple throttle set up cheap and easy to build. The same article was in Peter Thornes “Electronic Projects for Model Railroaders”
And a more recent article would be Al Turner’s $20 transistor throttle in the December 1986 issue of MR, using Radio Shack parts. [;)]
Could you give me the model number so I can be on the lookout for used throttles?
Check out the Astro Craft wireless,I have one and just love it,and was less than $100.00
and works great,I plane to get the more exspensive one for DCC in the neat future.
JIM
If you’re not intimidated by the thought of building your own electronic circuits, check out www.awrr.com and click on the link for “DC Throttles.”
I built the capacitor discharge circuit on this website for my switch machines, and am planning to build one of the turnout direction indicator circuits to go with it. I think the DC throttle circuits would be neat to build, too, but I don’t need them anymore since I switched to DCC [:)]
I’ll second that as a truly excellent choice. This unit, listed in Walthers under the name Crest Basic DC Train Engineer, with a list price of $75.00, is a wireless, radio controlled unit which works great and, with no wires to trip over or get entangled in, it’s a great advance over tethered walkaround throttles. I’ve had one for a couple of years now and could never go back to anything tethered again.
CNJ831
I use the DALLEE Yardmaster throttles and have been very pleased with their performance…they sell for about $79.00 and i have three of them…they have a 10’ teather cord and the train has good control especially at very slow speeds…the dallee system has to be connected to the A/C side of a power pack
( the D/C side cannot be used for anything else because ithe A/C will backfeed into the D/C side)…I hooked them up using a male and female MIC jacks that you can purchase from an electronic warehouse…chuck
here’s the addy: http://www.dallee.com/yardmaster.htm
here are the 4 prong jacks i use from parts express: http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=090-542
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=090-535
I have no experience with them, but I’ve seen others speak positively of GML throttles. I have them on my short list of possible future throttles for when my layout expands and I want more freedom than my MRC 260 offers.
http://www.thegmlenterprises.com/index.html
do I want the Basic Train engineer or the Train engineer. I don’t think I want basic, unless I could add another cab.
I have the train engineer from crest and it works great.You can have 10 receivers controlled from 1 transmitter.Each receiver controls 1 track,and if you have more than 1 train on that track they will be running at the same speed.
Gil
Years ago I made six of them for our model railroad club’s layout from an article published in Model Railroader January 1986 issue. It’s a memory walkaround throttle, meaning that you can start the train, bring it up to speed, unplug the control box and move it to another jack, all without the train stopping. I used a different controller socket setup to allow any controller into any jack and only have it control its assigned throttle.
There’s also a correction in the March 1986 issue for the wiring diagram.
I have used GML walk-around throttles for several years and have no problems at all.
They are very well made and come with a 5 yr. warranty.
You can either hook them up to the AC terminals on your power pack or buy a transformer from GML for a very low cost.
Check them out at www.thegmlenterprises.com
gtr
Walk around cabs w. plug-in capability were popular, but too few people would pay for them.
RIX had one for about $80.
GML has one for about $120. with good solid plugs (a weak spot).You want to include ‘memory’
These have been superceded by RF hand controls @ nearly twice the price.
I too having been using GML walk-around throttles for many years. Agree that they are well made and have been troublefree.
Cheers
Cliff
http://cliffordconceicao3310.fotopic.net/c328807.html
Evan;
I’ve sent you an e-mail.
I bought a Train Engineer Basic and have been very happy with it. I have two blocks on my layout now and it does just what I was looking for. We use the regular Train Engineers at the club I belong to and they are great too.
I use a MRC Cab Control 55 that I purchased off a LHS markdown table. It states on the outside it is transistorized. I opened it up to confirm that it uses a potentiometer. Runs can motors fine. Instead of using one of my packs for the power supply I used a nice sized supply from a paper shredder. Here is one from epay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ASSORTED-LOT-TRAINS-CONTROLLERS-PLASTICVILLE_W0QQitemZ6059426413QQcategoryZ11646QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Hope this helps
Jim