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Agreed! Simple is best BUT I'll take complex if that's what it takes. After all, how much more complex can sound decoders get? If you can get a Tsunami sounding decent without having a personal CPU crash, a couple more CV's *probably* won't melt you down! :D By the way, a much more wordy...

An article on Tony's Train Exchange website got me thinking about this again. Another wishlist item hinted at above is exhaust sync: Why not allow functionality that maps the BEMF signal to an exhaust event? The gearing on a locomotive is a constant. It never changes. Therefore, the motor...

I'd be interested to know what the kits are models of.

:) Come down to Ohio - we still have a lot of those on Barns in various stages of preservation.

I was recently in Mt.Vernon, Ohio to attend my daughter's high school volleyball game and decided to venture downtown to check out the rail scene. I knew there was a B&O depot on the west side of town, but also came across a second depot on the south side, which I later learned was on...

Nice find! Thanks N Gauger.

You hit the nail on the head. I had a short talk with a co-worker about rail transit in general the other day and his observation was more or less the same as yours Mountain; that it, in short, wouldn't serve enough people and the places they wanted to go. If you look at today's cities...

Columbus, Ohio has a streetcar plan in the planning stages, but it's a hard sell. 1) the cost, 2) the relatively short run proposed and 3) Buses run the same route, so it is seen as redundant. I've visited SF many times, and agree that the streetcars are very handy - but even as a railfan, I'm...

Just to add a couple more comments, there are some decoder brands with unique features that will only work on systems by the same manufacturer. An example is Digitrax's "transponding" feature on some of their decoders which allows a Digitax command station to know where on the layout the train...

That makes sense; if I recall correctly, the article in which I read that was discussing the Pennsylvania hand firing their consolidations while they were the "big" road power. The combination of the relatively small firebox and low speeds would imply a modest horsepower output. The larger...

I found this on the N&W Historical Society mailing list - I would have never fathomed that steam engines would be used in the confines of a mine! Surprisingly, it wasn't terribly uncommon, especially in mines with very thick seams. (The Pocohontas coal field opened up by the N&W had seams well...

As a open source fan and user of JMRI, I say why pay? :) Matt

Going off topic a bit further here, but I was reading a recent thread on the N&W historical society mailing list quoting the Bluefield (WV) Daily Telegraph regarding N&W engine servicing improvements made in that city's yard in 1907. The improvements had to do with clustering the coal dock...

This is an interesting thread: I've taken sand houses for granted but hadn't given a lot of thought to how the raw sand bin was filled. According to Kalbach's "Locomotive Servicing Terminals", the sand was shipped bagged in boxcars, then transferred manually to the bin. A combination I never...

slekjr, you may appreciate the photos at gallery linked below since you've been to Morgan Run. I took these (excepting the cylinder boring) about 3 1/2 years ago while #33 was undergoing restoration. The visit was fascinating - but a lousy day weather wise; although that illustrates the need...

Not building quite yet. The site is still moving around, and there are still some open questions about the design (namely around how modern the building practices will be). Which paper was the article in? I'd like to read it if it's on line. Matt

I prefer to stay away from the big guys - there seems to be a critical mass at which point service declines. My current favorite is Craftsman's Model Railroad Supply (http://www.cmrrs.com/) if I don't go to the LHS. VERY punctual with replies to emails. They're also small, which indirectly...

And thanks for doing so! Nice photos, and nice trackwork.

Ahh, but the important question is what will happen to the OC Steam Program! Jerry Jacobson (current OC owner) will presumably keep possession, but I have no idea where the collection will be kept. Beyond being a steam buff, I have another horse in this race - my father is working on a...

Too bad the T's didn't come earlier. They were truly a finicky hot rod of a locomotive. The T-2, had there been one, would have addressed the most egregious problems, such as maintenance access to the cam boxes on the rear engine. There's been an interesting discussion in both the PRR and N&W...