Mark's MT Railroads: Total Re-org and CMRM Part 1

Howdy readers – today’s long post details a lot of work done in the Train Room over the past few days, and Part 1 of my visit to the CMRM.

I devoted nearly 12 hours to the Train Room this week, and while most of the changes will be invisible to guests, it was an extremely fruitful week! I’ll start with the layout…

I set up the CTA 4-car “L” set on Track 3. From reading the manual, I decided to try out a fun feature that allows me to program the train to stop automatically at a set of stations that I decide. To program the train, I use the “whistle/horn” and “bell” buttons on the transformer. However, the Lionel ZW transformer I’ve been using to power the set since March 2014 is about 70 years old and doesn’t have these buttons. A ZW transformer has a whistle lever, but this doesn’t work that well for programming purposes. To get around this, Lionel manufactured separate buttons that can be wired between the transformer and the track to provide whistle/horn and bell functionality to any transformer. I had been using these separate buttons, but there are a few drawbacks. One, a ZW controls four trains, meaning I would need 8 buttons (4 trains x 2 buttons each) to get full sound capabilities on each track. Two, these buttons are about $20 each, and I have 3, so it would be kind of expensive to get an entire set for a ZW transformer. Three, I use some rather beefy 10 or 12 gauge wire to power the layout, but these buttons use tiny 18 gauge wire, so when the buttons are used, the power flow is decreased significantly. Four, since bringing the remainder of the collection back from Illinois, I now have my full complement of transformers available to me, some of which have built-in whistle/horn and bell functionality.

So, I decided to make a big change in the layout power supply configuration. I swapped out the 250W Lionel ZW transformer with two 270W MRC transformers. This improves things significantly, and solves the whole whistle/horn and bell button issue. It also means that 2 tracks get to share 270W instead of 4 tracks sharing 250W, so train performance will improve overall. The MRC transformers are controlled by wired remotes. These remotes provide some handy added functionality as well – they have a “brake” button that smoothly slows down the train, and a “stop” button to be used in case of a problem that immediately kills power to both tracks. While I prefer operating a ZW to a wired remote, I am so far pleased with the results.

Anyway, back to the “L” cars… After hooking up the MRC transformers, I began programming the CTA set to stop at specific spots on the track and announce specific stations in an order of my choosing. I followed the manual, and after several attempts I got the train programmed. Even with buttons for the horn and bell functions, it is difficult to get the timing just right. When the train is running, I can send it a command to enter “auto mode”, and it will run and stop indefinitely without any prompting from me. It’s a neat feature for an “L” train!

I set up The Canadian on Track 4, which consists of 3 F3 locomotives and 6 streamlined passenger cars. For more details on this train, please see my December 5, 2013 blog post. This is the first time I’ve run this set in Montana, and it looks really sharp. And now I can operate the horn and bell a lot more effectively with the MRC transformer.

I ran all four trains and found that the extra-long CNW Trainmaster will bump trains on Track 3 when it is rolling on Track 2. So, I’ll just run 3 trains at a time, which is fine and slightly less noisy. Also, I discovered that CP Coach 111 has a low magnet on one of its couplers that occasionally strikes a track joint on the west side of Track 4, which needs some fixing. Later in the week, I opened up CP Coach 111 to check for problems with the truck. While I didn’t see any problems, I was pleasantly surprised by the car’s construction. I’ve never had need to open one of MTH’s passenger cars, but they are well built, especially compared to earlier car designs from other manufacturers. I ran the car with the low magnet at the rear and didn’t have any problems after 10 loops.

In preparation for the Christmas season, I set up the O-scale nativity set that my wife gave me. It looks pretty good with some rocks in the background. It is a neat feature that helps us remember what Christmas is all about!

Also in “above layout” news, I’ve hung up two more artifacts: a PRR can and an MRL crossing post license. I’ve also had some correspondence with the MTH Service Dept regarding the NP 0-6-0 sound problem. I also gave the room a good dusting. Last night I vacuumed the floor and some surfaces.

Now for “under layout” news… I spent a lot of Saturday sorting and organizing all of the non-train tubs. Meaning, the scenery, figures, vehicles, track, transformers, accessories, buildings, electronics, non-O-gauge trains, and a plethora of other items were removed and then replaced into new homes for storage. I found a few things I had been missing, and threw out some un-needed boxes and miscellany. Another big project was the completion of my “every train needs a box” initiative, which started and ended on Saturday. I have four specially designed padded corrugated boxes made for storing/transporting O gauge trains. These boxes now contain all of my trains that don’t have their original box anymore, and each box has a category: Post War Engines, Post War Freight, Modern Engines, and Modern Rolling Stock. After sorting everything, I reorganized the under-table area and the locomotive closet. The under-table area is now in a “U”-shaped storage formation, with the tubs/boxes that I access most often in front and on top. The tubs at the bottom of the locomotive closet contain items that I most likely will not need to access until the layout of the future is being built.

To help keep track of which “train box” contains which train, I’ve added a Location column to my inventory spreadsheet, so I can quickly see where a train is located in the train room. For example, if the field shows “TB1”, then I know that it is located in “Train Box 1”.

And now, back to Colorado...

On the second Saturday of our trip, my wife attended a shopping event in Loveland, CO, and I headed to Greeley. The Colorado Model Railroad Museum is located there in a 15,000 sqft steel building. I had a delightful visit! The museum contains a very large HO layout, a Thomas-themed O gauge layout, a wooden trainset for little kids, a real caboose, a Lionel collection, a large collection of railroadania, and a gift shop. I was there for about 3 hours, but easily could have spent the entire day. There were folks of all ages there to visit, and there were over a dozen staff members or volunteers onsite as well. I took a lot of pictures and video, and got some good ideas for layout details, as well as building construction ideas. I also purchased a Lionel Yule Marble flat car to commemorate the trip, and serve as a birthday present to myself in a few months J

The full-size caboose is a restored Colorado & Southern (CB&Q) rear-cupola wooden model. It sits on rails and ties inside the building. The interior is open for inspection, and is fully outfitted with authentic, period details (including the linens on the bed).

The O gauge layout, although rather small, is very impressive. It is basically a maze of interconnected track loops, and is covered with modern and historic operating accessories. There are 6 trains on the track, which consist of a Thomas-style locomotive and a caboose. There are buttons all around the perimeter of the layout which activate the multitude of accessories, and control the whistle sounds on the locomotives as well. The most impressive part of the layout is the control system, which is housed in a large set of processors on the wall. The system insures that the trains do not run into each other using a rather complicated set of blocking. The trains also run very fast, so they look sort of like a swarm of bees zipping in every direction when in motion.

The Lionel collection consists of about 200 Post War pieces in a glass display case. They also have some Post War transformers, accessories, and advertising on display.

The railroadania collection is spread throughout the entire facility, and consists of nearly 1,000 artifacts ranging from full-size semaphores to vintage time schedules. If time allowed, I would have spent more time studying these items. Highlights include a collection of 40 Pullman seat cloths from various railroads, over 100 time schedules from various railroads in a custom-built wooden rack, which visitors can read, railroad signage and uniforms, one of the most complete railroad lantern collections I’ve ever seen, 100’s of railroad switch keys in a glass case, and a pair of seats from a MRR Olympian Hiawatha passenger car. Wow!

The gift shop had mostly touristy items. However, there were a few custom model railroad cars for sale (including the Yule Marble car I purchased), and several DVD’s produced in house about layout construction and scenery. These looked pretty interesting!

But, the unopposed star of the museum is the massive HO layout, which I will talk about next week in the Thanksgiving post! Until then, have a jolly time, and keep all of your rails shiny ~