Post by steeve on Jun 23, 2019 22:42:16 GMT 1
I started of with a pair of "last orders" Hornby clockwork O sets, this was all sold off at some bring'n buy without me being told though I did have Tri-ang OO on the go at the time, both used to be laid out on the floor as permitted.
We moved when I was 11 and in my teens I put up a round-the-wall Peco flex layout (code 100). I was at that time drooling over american HO, Rivarossi being the primary locomotive source. A shift of home in my twenties lost the railway room though I still collected and test ran back on simple loops. When I later had a house of my own there was a "spare" room but since family intended to visit me I kept the smaller stuff mainly boxed away with select items in display cases, though to be pedantic I had a made a separate small 009 layout in my teens which just about survived the two moves. Since my house had a pool with a paved perimeter the simplest thing to do was throw down an oval of LGB and grab some of the then newly appearing cheapish electric powered oriental production G items followed by a couple of live steam in proper g1 (albeit with oversized rails, I went for LGB track for strength and known rate of deterioration, looking back I should have grabbed the Aristocraft stainless track for a far better overall look if not exactly g1 scale).
As mentioned and shown elsewhere I have a similar loop round the pool at the current house with a totally unrealistic "last century" "international steamtown" OO/Ho layout building very slowly. [to which end I'd still appreciate pointers to sheets of fibreboard {sundeala}. The locals only seem to have small overpriced bits intended for notice boards, what I really want is a batch of ten or so full 8x4 sheets of the type that has one side prepainted white] To be equally pedantic I do keep a loop of O so that I can test run repairs for others, though I do not so far collect locos in that gauge.
So I started off with keys. When we got a Minic motorway set it appeared with a Tri-ang transformer. Dad might have been thinking ahead as it had the usual triple outputs and the first Tri-ang set (the "big" set with both "polly" and the 4-4-0) followed a year later. I have to say that this little transformer held up really well, driving up to four x-04 motors and being thoroughly abused with Meccano and other loads. When we had moved the proprietor of the local model shop suggested that I would get better output for my Rivarossi double-headers (with quad Seuthe to power) with a (2nd gen) H&M Safety Minor variable transformer {Mr. Rene le Huquet, a veritable fount of modelling advice}. As the round the wall layout took shape I went for three "momentum" chopper controllers [SEC Digitol Gemini, which worked well], fed by three pairs of open transformers [obtained from the justly famous K. R. Whiston, would that they had continued], I still have the control board somewhere (now located, as you will see I never got round to painting on the tramlines. You ought to be able to gather the twin track main line and main station). The H&M continued giving its maximum when running the LGB loop. I avoided the early digital offerings, for which I am grateful, and it was only when I got the MTH dealership that I took a real interest. I am of the opinion that their DCS system is technically superior to DCC, though there is a real limitation in that (as far as I am aware) there is no separate Ho sized DCS decoder kit on offer. Obviously MTH produce Ho locomotives with all the usual DCS bells and whistles, powered couplers and pantographs etcetera and their PS3 decoder works under normal analogue dc or DCS or DCC as you wish so, if they offer a loco you like, they have the control options covered (the 3-rail Ho decoder can cope with Motorola/Marklin)
So when I can I operate under DCS sections and revert to plain dc (which can be done via the MTH TIU with a trivial addition) when running the analogue locomotives (plus those DCC that cope with analogue). I do have a small Digitrax controller but this is just for testing DCC installations. Incidentally although the DCS handset is fairly user friendly and allows "walk around" I much prefer driving the TIU from the computer which I can then operate from the keyboard, mouse, touchscreen or Raildriver controls albeit from a fixed position. Although the MTH hand controller is fairly functional, with easy selection of sound effects, coupler unlatching, lights on and off and suchlike having dedicated buttons I am not a particular fan of their "unending" motion roll/press main selector. It would be unfair to single out MTH for this, there are many others that offer worse ergonomics and a a feeble selection of dedicated buttons. What I have yet to see is a hand controller that can cope simultaneously with increasing the speed of one train whilst slowing another, perhaps operating the bell and/or whistle/horn of a third and at the same time switching turnouts. If anyone knows of a walk-around control that offers this (without being in the form of a Raildriver epoxied to a laptop computer) then please let me know, I am a potential customer.