Quote from: Santa Fe buff on June 25, 2009, 12:21:31 AM
How much voltage do those switches take in anyway?

Joshua

I don't know exactly how much but its whatever the accessory posts on a transformer put out.

I didn't know CSX is saving those, thats cool.

And some very interesting stories jward, your'e lucky to live there. Its weird to think that just 10 years ago, bright blue locomotives still criss-crossed the rails where I live. And the NYS&W still ran stack packs!

By the way, do you live near Eighty four? What a funny town name. I just heard that on Letterman.

Thanks everyone! Im going to try soldering the track to see if that will fix the problem.

I noticed that the box on my switch said dont hold the button down for more than a second. That would be my problem.

Thanks!
-PRR

Ah ok. Those are both very good ideas. I try both! I have never soldered joints though. How do I go about doing that?

And thanks for your prompt resposes.

I do eakest at the front. I use the strongest ones to push the others at the back.

This isn't very rare, but it was a first for me. I live in a slight valley with trees and mountains all around. When i drove accross the country, I got to see some of the flat land if the mid-west. When I visited Dyersville, Iowa, where I saw the baseball where they filmed Field of Dreams, me, my father, and my brother decided to see some of the local railroads. We followed the line that cut through the town into where there mas nothing but the open fields frim farms. We rode north, up a road that paralleled the tracks. The tracks were elevated on a mound above the the level of the road. At one point, the road went under the tracks and crossed to the other side. When dusk was approaching and the sun fell behind the horizon, we decided we had gone far enough, we hadn't seen anything. It was then we saw a light from in the distance. We qickly turned around because this train was booking it. When the train got to us, we sped up to match its speed at abput 55-60 mph. It was incredible. We oped the windows and let the roaring from the two Canadian CN locomotives enter the car. The best part was crossing right under the engines under the bridge. We chased the train into town and watched it go on into the distance at a crossing. The chase was 20 minutes, and was the best chase of my life.

Hi everyone! I haven't posted here in a while, nor have I had a chance to work on my layout. Now that schools out, I'm devoting some of my summer to finishing my layout.

Today I went to the train store and bought a whole bunch of track and scenery supplies. I bought some electric switches. One I got all set up then five minutes later, I noticed that it got all melted! Could anyone tell me what might have happened?

Also, my layout (N scale) is made with all flex track. I had a problem with that. One of the curves is too broad to make out of one 3 foot piece of flex track, therefore I have to have a joint mid-curve. This makes an angle in the joint where the train derails all the time. I tried changing the track and moving the joints but that just moved the problem to another spot. How could I make a joint in flex track joint in a curve nice and smooth?

I would do anything to live in a small house in the Pennsylvania countryside along the PRR main line. Somewhere in the transition era.

Ya know... my philosophy is that 50 years from now, rail fans will look back at 2000-2009 and say, man I wish I lived to see the trains then. So I try to live with the trains we have now. Some day they'll be gone and there's going to be different ones. And another thing, we need to save some of today's locomotives and rolling stock. We don't think much of them now but some day we'll look back and wish some of those trains had been saved.

A little fun fact:
Two shorts, a long, and a short, or dot dot dash dot, in Morse code is the letter Q. Back when steam ships went through port in England, the queen's ship always had right of way and they would blow the letter Q in Morse code on the horn to warn ships to move out of the way of the queen.
They still do that with trains. They have right of way so they use the same signal to warn the they are coming through.
I learned that while riding t Black Hills Central railroad in South Dakota. Right by M.t Rushmore.

-PRR

Thats sounds cool. what were you asking about warnings?

-PRR

Ok thanks!

-PRR

That sounds very nice. I'm riding in a roomette to Florida and I'm doing so because it is the closest thing to a Pullman section which is what I'd really like to ride.
I didn't know they show movies. That's cool!
How were the Superliner cars? I'm a NY Penn Station-goer and I've always wanted to ride in one.

Sounds cool!
-PRR

Ok thanks guys!
I'm looking for something that will work when I put the extension on my layout. Its going to have a yard and turntable. What will work for that? And you can control turnouts from the dcc remote or controller right?

Thanks!
-PRR

I know every other topic is about DCC but I still just don't get it. I know what it does but I don't know the difference between any of the systems. I asked at an N scale club and they recommended the Digitrax starter sets. I have a 3x6 one loop layout with three turnouts. So which of the three starter sets is right for me? And how does it compare to Bachmann's Dynamis system? And will any engine with a decoder work with any system? And how does the system get set up and how does it work when its up running?

Thanks!
-PRR

http://www.fra.dot.gov/us/content/1318
Heres some FRA info about that.
How was the Auto Train. I was planning on taking it to florida this spring but opted to take the Silver Meteor seeing that I wont need my car once I'm there. I've heard mixed reactions about the Auto Train. I know that it is the only train where you can smoke. Did that bother you?