GP9u

"Now come on we need his head to turn with the direction of travel..." You mean like this? Remote Conductor's or Brakeman's view riding cars on my O scale short line. To be fair there's no scale figure hanging on the side of the car, just a camera and servo. But on the other hand you can play his role from anywhere on the planet. Pete

LOL Jason! Not sure what that makes me then, as your Ow5 disciple for almost 25 years... I'd bet you have more than a few gears or axle/wheel sets in your treasure trove. But if not, I must have a set somewhere. So if you and Martin get totally stuck, LMK and I'll dig it out and pop it in the post. Might take a while though, knowing Canada Post at the moment. Yes, I hope we can get to another March Meet soon. Pete

OK makes sense! Yes, Jason D. If not, then hopefully someone on here in the UK has a spare. Otherwise I think P&D used the same type, Jason D will know. Hopefully they have some stock left. Pete

Good to hear it runs well. You probably don't need a complete truck. If the jerk is once per wheel rev then it's likely a split axle gear - a common problem with these drives. Jason might have some spares. If the jerk is regular but more frequent it's more likely a split chain sprocket. Also try Jason. Pete

That chart bears out my experience. I wire the motors in series which roughly halves the current draw. I make sure my locos always get to wheel slip before stalling. FWIW I've never seen more than 1A per loco on my RRAmpmeters in use when wired in series. But as noted prior, I have no grades and only need to pull max 15 x 1lb cars per loco. l prefer to take the risk with "HO-sized-and current-rated" decoders because I want to cram the largest possible Tang Band speakers in the shell. But that's just me. Fortunately I've never had an LS Select or 5DCC HO-sized decoder fail in use with my Atlas dual motor drives. I suspect there's no such thing as too much decoder current capacity, so it's horses for courses and each to his/her own! Onward! Pete

Although not what seems to have happened this time, driving into the side of moving trains at grade crossings is more common in these days of universal distraction. Hence the addition of vertical yellow reflective decal stripes spaced out along the sides of tanks cars and some other freight cars. Pete

I used to use those NCE D408SRs with Soundtraxx DSX piggybacked before I went to Loksound a few years back. That NCE plug had 2 x Blue +ve, the white F0F, yellow F0R and green Aux 1. I think purple for Aux 2, and then maybe brown and some stripey ones for the higher Aux output -ves. Anyhoo, you're on the right track now... Pete

Quick update: Looks like Zimo MX 699 series does support F0F and F0R but it's called HLf and HLr. So if you connect the white wire that powers the front headlights to HLf and the yellow that powers the rear to HLr , you should get directional headlights that can also be turned on and off together with F0. Caveats: The F and R might be the other way around if your loco was set up to run long hood forward. The directional effect depends on Zimo Function settings. Pete

That's good you found the Blue wire is the +ve for Function/Aux outputs. That's NMRA spec at least. Now I think you have 2 sets of variables: Physical: What each of the other wires on that plug are connected to in the loco Logical: How the Zimo Function/Aux output effects and Function Map are set up (not sure what Zimo calls them) For 1, you could solve by connecting the Blue wire to the +ve Function terminal. Than you could try each of the other wires on the plug one by one connected to the Zimo F1 terminal, see if any other lights come on in the loco when you turn on F1, and note that. Once you know what they all do, you can choose to have any or all of them work on various Function outputs from the decoder. For 2, the convention for NA Diesel sound files among most decoder manufacturers for headlight is: F0F = White wire = front headlight F0R = Yellow wire = rear headlight Then with F0 on, the F&R headlights would be directional by default, but that can be changed in the decoder Function map of course. Maybe your loco was set to run long hood forward, so white is the front? Usually F1 is assigned to bell (latching), and F2 to horn (momentary) by default. But it seems Zimo has F1 mapped to a Function/Aux output so maybe they don't follow that F0F and F0R convention. Would you be able to share the default (or current settings) for the Zimo Function/Aux output effects and Function map table? That should make it a bit easier get it set up how you want once you know what each of the plug wires are connected to. Pete

Great comments in this thread! A couple of thoughts based on my experiences with the Atlas dual-motor drive: I have ended up removing the Atlas board completely and starting over. I have had no issues running HO LS Select and now LS5 DCC decoders with the motors wired in series. But my layout has no grades and I only need to pull 15 x 1lb cars max per loco. You can use the Nix Trains Decoder Buddy as the Prof said with HO-sized 21-pin decoders in this case. With the motors wired in series series you will get lower power consumption, smoother running but slower overall speeds. But if one motor's truck loses traction it will spin up taking all the power and the loco will stop. if you have grades on your layout or need to pull longer trains then you would likely be better off leaving the motors wired in parallel. You will get more pulling power and a higher speed range, and if one motor's truck loses traction it won't stop the loco. But if you go this route I would got for a higher-current rating decoder such as the Loksound 5 DCC "L" to be safe. One issue you might have with the Atlas dual motor drive is starting off and very slow running. If there's a slight mismatch between the motors, the decoder may not be able to smooth them out perfectly at low speeds. Unfortunately the Atlas motors are low quality and have a lot of end float, plus there's quite a lot of backlash in the drivetrain gears. Here's a video of an Atlas dual-motor drive wired in series, speed matched and consisted with (but not coupled to) a single coreless motor drive for comparison. Both have LS5 DCC decoders. You'll see that the dual motor drive isn't as smooth first of all but cleans up after about speed step 3. Not too bad! Pete

And (not quite on topic but I can't help it) here's an ex-CP gon now apparently owned by a US media mogul's little-known short line that I found at Leaside, Toronto in 1999:

Here's a slightly customized version of that warning that caught my eye at ONR North Bay in 2001. Has a little more impact

Liam, you're going to have a lot of fun with this, no matter which scale you choose! I'm biased as you'll see, but I have to throw my hat in the ring for O scale 2-rail as a consideration. I've found there's a decent amount of modern-era equipment to be had new and used. I chose to model a freelance short line to allow more flexibility with my favourite Diesels. DCC and sound make for a decent experience of up-close switching action if that's of interest. Here's a quick clip to give you a sense of the up-close experience in O scale (turn up your sub-woofer)! https://youtu.be/PKpRUME7lJM Budget-wise, used O scale locos and cars can cost about as much as new HO equipment, and you won't need as much equipment. Check out my YouTube channel for more O scale action. Everything you see here goes around 36" radius curves and switches. https://www.youtube.com/user/GP9um/videos None of the large industries on my layout are over 10 real feet long, or 2 ft deep. With up to 8 designated spots per industry, each can take an hour to switch with a 2-man crew (local or remote). A couple of those industries and a 2 or 3-track yard or interchange and you'd easily have 2-hour operating sessions. Plus you'd only need 3-4 locos and maybe 30-40 cars to make each session a bit different switching-wise. O scale track and switches are available new and used, and again you won't need as much as you would in HO or N. Hopefully food for thought at least... Pete

I think this will be a lot of fun to operate! Might a diamond be an alternative to the switchback? I think you could keep it all to the right of the "B" section joint. Diamonds can impart a bit of a North American Railroad-y feel imho. Pete

The biggest difference I noticed about real-world weathering when I moved to Canada is the amount of paint fading of RR equipment. Second biggest is graffiti. And as you go south into the US, the fading and graffiti increase. We're about on the same Latitude as Nice and Florence here in Southern Ontario so you can really feel the sun on your face even at -35C in February. And paint reacts accordingly. CP Action Red that's still on the odd SD40-2 today gets called "Action Salmon" now by some because of the chalky faded look. As well Corporate Identity and branding don't seem to matter as much to railways here livery-wise. There's more rust on older equipment I think partly because the paint fades, wears and peels off more quickly. In the roller-bearing era, there's not as much oil and grease evident, but I'm sure there was a lot more prior to that, even worse in the steam era no doubt. Pete

Yep, there are still a few Multimarks here and there. Not many left now. Since then there's been plain Action Red, then the new red (which was warmer like SOO Line Candy Apple red), with CP Rail System, CP Rail Dual-flags, just CP Rail. And currently the newest red which is a tad more orange again. This has the new Canadian Pacific font with the beaver logo to start with, then just the lettering as the 3M reflective vinyl beaver logo was too costly (or so I've read). The car mix varies a lot by region. Here in Southern Ontario, we have a lot of auto-related traffic. Maybe 50-100 Multis (Auto-racks) and a mix of Hycube box cars, mostly 60ft, in an auto parts train. As well a lot of grain hoppers in season, plus tanks cars of HFCS (corn syrup), oil, acid, Chlorine etc. Then bulkhead flats of lumber (timber). There are still quite a lot of 50ft box cars around such as Railbox, paper cars etc. Some regular gons or old coal gons for scrap metal and coil gons of new steel. As well some reefers for OJ and food products. There's more car variety on the shortlines vs CP and CN. Out west you'll see more unit trains of grain, potash, oil, sulphur, forest products, some coal still. You do see more CP cars on CP and CN on CN, but in the modern era, you can see reporting marks from all over, and a lot of leased cars. Pete

Welcome to the entrance to a fairly deep rabbit hole... I stood there about 25 years ago, and dived in when I started modelling modern CP. Here's a book that helped me understand North American railways: https://www.amazon.com/Railroad-What-Does/dp/0911382046 And here's an excellent and comprehensive guide to current Canadian railways: https://www.bytownrailwaysociety.ca/index.php/sales-desk/canadian-trackside-guide There are several RR picture sites with great Canadian content, here's an example: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locoList.aspx?id=CP And for something different that you don't find in England, modern shortlines in Southern Ontario: http://www.osrinc.ca/ https://www.gwrr.com/railroads/north_america/goderichexeter_railway#m_tab-one-panel My current modelling is based on these, but in O scale not Z. These can give you an excuse to model cabooses as shoving platforms if you prefer modern equipment. By the way, if your GP38 has "zebra stripes" and a red/orange cab, it's probably CN not CP. You can likely find it on the rrpicturearchives site above. Have fun! Pete

Current EDT is 5 hours behind current UK time most of the time. You just have to watch out for the DST changes which used to happen on the same day but are now different: UK: Last Sunday March, Last Sunday October US/Canada: Second Sunday March, First Sunday November Pete

I had one of those Protocraft upgraded Tsunami 1s and it worked great in an Atlas China drive GP35 for several years. I did add a TCS KA to it also and no issues on my old Digitrax system with 8A boosters (before I started using coreless motors)! But that Pittman can draw a lot more current than an Atlas dual-motor drive for sure. I just noticed a thread on the NCE-DCC group that might shed some light: https://groups.io/g/NCE-DCC/topic/trip_current_for_a_powercab/74262809?p=,,,50,0,0,0::recentpostdate%2Fsticky,,,50,2,0,74262809 As you say, you have everything else sorted, so maybe try a Maxon RE25 118751 or similar next. Btw I was pleasantly surprised that used Pittman 8514 motors are still in demand and I was able to sell mine for about half the cost of a surplus Maxon. Pete

Jordan, a couple of observations if I may: Is that Tsunami a v1 with the 3.5A add-on module? If the decoder can handle 3.5A but the DCC booster can't deliver that, maybe the booster's Voltage drops off as it tries to deliver more current. The booster might not shut down like it would for a short because it's seeing a gradual rise in current draw, not a spike (boiling frog syndrome!). That drop off could make the DCC signal degrade to the point where the decoder can't read it any more so it doesn't know what to do, even if the DC running option is turned off. So, two things I would do next: 1) purchase a RRAmpmeter and 2) add keep-alives to all your DCC decoders to cure the "fussiness". The Amp meter is very useful in O scale where we have to gamble with motors of unknown performance and potentially large current draw a lot more than in HO or N. It can also measure DCC track voltage quite accurately which is very helpful in testing. https://tonystrains.com/news/rrampmeter-by-dcc-specialties/ Over time I've found that adding keep-alives is only way I can enable multi-hour ops sessions with no LED flickering or sound dropouts ever. This goes hand-in-hand with feeders to all track sections and DCC-friendly turnouts, no exceptions! Some good info here: https://sites.google.com/site/markgurries/home/decoders/keep-alive-compatibility Connection info for various decoder types here: http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/mainnorth/alive.htm Tedious work but a one-time fix and well worth the effort imho. Pete

Hi Jordan, I've been using Maxon RE25 118751 as a direct replacement for the Pittman 85xx series. The torque is comparable for about 80% reduction in current draw. I got mine surplus from Micro-Locomotion but no longer an option as the proprietor Eldon Shirey sadly passed a couple of years back. These motors are available online as surplus. Sometimes they have been relabelled if they were originally sold with a gearhead or other adapter. See pics. I just bash a short length of 4mm OD brass tube onto each end of the shaft to fit the ID of the P&D/Weaver couplings. See also the MP15 AC chassis "test bed" pic with the Maxon RE25 in place of the original Pittman. The overall length is about the same, OD a bit smaller. This allows room for the HO decoder on top, leaving room in the shell for a Tang Band 1931s speaker. These motors are smooth and quiet with some tuning of the Loksound motor control CVs. I use HO-sized LS decoders with them and have no issues at all in the last 5 years. Pete

Jordan, I think Jason and jack are on the right track. (I'm a poet but I didn't know it) I have a few questions for you: What's your track voltage set at? And does the Pittman have a "1" or a "2" as the third digit in the model number on the label such as 8514 or 8524? Also is the Loksound "L" a LS5 or a V4 or a Select? And what gauge wire is your track bus and feeders? Lastly, I assume you don't have any cracked sprockets in the drive, i.e. it's smooth running with no jerks or jams? If the track Voltage drops below about 14V under max load at furthest distance from the booster I've found you can have loss of control issues with NCE and Loksound (not sure about Tsunami). The older Pittman XX1X motors have poor magnets and can draw a lot of current as they get older, spiking up to 8A under load. The XX2X models have better magnets and are a lot more efficient. Also you need to make sure you have DC conversion and Railcom off in the decoder as DC on will allow runaways if the DCC signal stops but power is still present, and Railcom can interfere with some DCC systems. I hope there's something here that helps! FWIW I sold off all my Pittman motors and replaced with Maxon coreless. Way more efficient and I get to use HO-sized decoders leaving room for much larger speakers. ' Pete

The LS models of the last 2 generations are: Previous: LS Select and V4. The V4 series has access to the sound files where you can make and edit your own sounds as well as the OEM sounds. The Select series doesn't have that access but has the rest of the features. The "L" verion of both is a higher-current version than the regular HO variants, and the "XL" is the highest current offering. There was also a cut down version of the Select - the "LS Essentials", which didn't have all the Select features, that was used in a few low-cost HO locos. The current series is Loksound 5 (they dropped the V) and it only comes with full sound file access like the old V4s. There's no LS5 "Select" equivalent. There are two main variants: LS5 DCC which supports DCC only and is aimed at the NA and Oz markets. Then there's the LS5 series for the EU and other markets which supports multiple protocols such as M4, Selectrix, Motorola etc. as well as more automated braking features. The LS5 DCC version now matches the NMRA standard for CV3 and CV4 so it has four times the "inertia" and "coasting" than the multi-protocol LS5. As well the LS5 DCC now supports the 3-step speed table by including CV6 as well as CV2 and CV5, which the Selects and V4s didn't. So a Loksound Select "L" is a medium duty Select suitable for O scale locos. A Loksound Essentials is a "HO-sized" cut down Select. Clear as mud! Pete

That's great you got it fixed! I am hopeless at doing this by CVs in my head the way the Prof can in the blink of an eye! Plus my setup gets you bright in direction of travel and dim (adjustable at least) on the other end which I don't think is quite what you wanted anyway. But if you have PC at all, you can still use the free LP software and download and open the same soundfile that's in the decoder from the ESU website. Then you can make the changes in the LP screens and choose "Show changed CVs" to get a list of what CVs you need to change manually with your throttle. Pete

I should have added that to be sure you're changing the right CVs you can open the actual soundfile in use in the free Lokprogrammer software. Then if you don't have the LP device, once you've made the changes you need, choose "Show changed CVs" to get a list of what CVs you need to change manually. Pete