Author Topic: Introduce Yourself...  (Read 83506 times)

bb1701e

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Re: Introduce Yourself...
« Reply #240 on: January 06, 2023, 08:34:19 AM »
Hi my name is Brian, I'm prior Navy (submarines) and prior Law Enforcement, I live in Florida and am building my first G scale garden layout. I recently acquired a slightly used RailPro starter system and am looking at their receivers now. Figured I'd best find a forum for all the common issues that I'm sure to bump into.  Just started scanning the forums and see lots of great information already!
Don't worry about the world coming to an end, it's already tomorrow in Australia.

William Kovacs

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Re: Introduce Yourself...
« Reply #241 on: February 01, 2023, 08:03:11 AM »
Modeling my own road (BLG Railroad) in G scale. Have about 800 ft of stainless steel track and use battery power.  Have been using Airwire for years and decided to try RailPro.

Brentman

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Re: Introduce Yourself...
« Reply #242 on: February 23, 2023, 11:21:37 PM »
My name is Brent Hutchinson, and I'm an architect residing in MD.  I'm interested in creating a model railroad set in late 19-teens West Virginia.  I'm thinking of a historically-based "what-if" freelanced railroad based on the West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh and Western Maryland route between Thomas and Hendricks WV.  I'm envisioning heavy coal trains hauled by multiple Consolidations, Mallets, and Decapods up steep 3%+ Blackwater Canyon grades with plenty of curves and mountainous scenery.  Sidings serving local businesses, coke ovens, coal mines and tanneries.  A rail yard with a turntable and engine house to serve as the home base for the operation.  Pacific's and 4-4-0's and 4-6-0's providing some local freight, daily light passenger, and seasonal tourist service.  Logging operations with more steep creek-side grades with switchbacks and curving track operated by a couple of Shays, a Climax and maybe a Heisler to bring the virgin timber out of the woods to the saw mill.  Small towns, company housing, and logging camps.  Interesting locomotives, interesting industries, and interesting geography and history.  Lots of opportunities for creating a miniature world with a purpose.

I had a plywood express when I was a teenager, with brass flex track, cork road bed, and a diagonal reversing loop, so I have some experience with constructing and wiring a layout and cleaning track.  About 10-15 years ago I purchased 16 or so Bachmann Spectrum engines over a few months, to include the models mentioned above.  Some are DCC On-board, but I think most are not.  The intention was to start on a layout at that time, but then life got in the way.  I test drove a few of them on a Bachmann EZ track oval I put together for my son for Christmas one year when he was young.  Other than that, the engines have remained in their boxes.

I've been thinking about beginning to construct a layout, and started doing some online research over the past month or so to see what's out there now - how things have changed...  I figured if I want to have multiple engines pulling coal trains, I would need to have a DCC system.  So, I thought the first place to start would be to determine which system I wanted to go with.  After researching options online including Digitrax and NCE, I wasn't too impressed with the throttles or the CV programming.  I discovered Dead Rail and am interested in that to reduce the amount of wiring needed and eliminate relying on clean track track to deliver the power - if it can be done without starting a fire.  I decided that I would purchase a Digitrax Zephyr just to get started with something, not spend a lot of money doing it, and see if I could get a DCC engine to run on that oval and experience the benefits of DCC; but when I went to my local hobby store to buy it, the store was closed (despite the hours listed on their website that indicated they should have been open).

That turned out to be a good thing, because afterwards I came across KPack and his videos on YouTube demonstrating this RailPro radio system and how easy it is to set up and operate.  The controller looks to be comfortably-sized with a digital screen that's easy to read and a real knob to control the train and make selections.  Programming CV's is not required.  I especially like the consisting features and the way the engines communicate real time to work together - without having to program anything other than specifying the engines in the consist.  It looks like my dream of having multiple 2-8-0's at the front of the train, a couple of mid-train helpers, and a Mallet pushing the hoppers from the rear may not only be possible, but easy to do.  Apparently, I can even try RailPro without having to purchase a handheld controller which will reduce the cost of getting started and allow me to experiment to see if it's right for me.  I haven't even mentioned all of the realistic operation and sound options that the system offers.  So here I am at the RPUG forum.

I've purchased thousands of acres of untouched valuable forest and coal lands for next to nothing; I ran for and was elected to the state legislature to ensure that I was granted a charter to build the road, mine the coal and cut the timber; I've talked my political cronies into investing in the venture, organized my corporation and issued stock; I've surveyed the first miles of the road from the Potomac River into the previously inaccessible heart of the Appalachian Mountains; I've hired the companies to build the bridge across the Potomac to make the connection with the B&O; I've purchased the materials and equipment and have hired the foremen and crews to start grading the road and laying the track; I've placed my orders and negotiated with the various engine building companies to manufacture 16 steam locomotives.  I am now ready to start building my railroad empire to exploit the natural resources of early 20-century West Virginia and become fabulously wealthy!  Errrrrr, what I mean to say is that I am now ready to bring the previously inaccessible communities of rural West Virginia into the 20th Century by providing transportation, industry, and jobs!
Where do I start?

JRad

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Re: Introduce Yourself...
« Reply #243 on: February 24, 2023, 10:00:34 AM »
Hi Brent - Welcome to the RPUG!

What scale are you building in?  Deadrail becomes a lot easier in the larger scales.

You mentioned..

It looks like my dream of having multiple 2-8-0's at the front of the train, a couple of mid-train helpers, and a Mallet pushing the hoppers from the rear may not only be possible, but easy to do.

Yes this is definitely possible, but in the larger scales can offer some challenges. I run 1:20.3 scale or Fn3 on gauge 1 track both indoors and in the garden. Some folks refer to everything that runs on Gauge 1 as "G" scale.

In my scale I find range can be an issue with consisting.  If I try and run a long train with pushers on the rear, occasionally the head end can't communicate to the tail end which then causes a problem. I am talking about trains around 20 foot long in the real world.

In the smaller scales this is less of a problem, and if running exclusively indoors, use of repeaters can help to eliminate the problem. The PWR-56 power supply has a built-in repeater function.
« Last Edit: February 24, 2023, 10:02:41 AM by JRad »

Brentman

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Re: Introduce Yourself...
« Reply #244 on: February 24, 2023, 04:46:33 PM »
JRad - Thank you for your response.  All that and it looks like I failed to mention that the engines I purchased are in HO scale, and I plan on an indoor layout.

JRad

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Re: Introduce Yourself...
« Reply #245 on: February 25, 2023, 01:49:33 PM »
Should work fine for you then. If it's a large layout you may need a repeater or two even if running dead rail.

So far, ring has failed to come out with a repeater only device. The PWR-56 isn't needed in a dead rail situation to power the system, but it is the only choice for a repeater.  Some dealers will sell you one without the external power supply which may not be needed if you have an alternate source to power it. In my case, that alternate source would be a battery.

Hammer

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Re: Introduce Yourself...
« Reply #246 on: March 25, 2023, 08:28:27 PM »
I have an  aristrocraft RS-3 and USAT GP7/9 for like 15yrs and finally getting to build my railroad... some patience there.  My name is John Hammer and I live in CT, but I'm from western new york. I am a Licensed Landscape Architect in a couple states and also a rail fan so this is a natural fit.  Built a couple of 400' layouts at my moms, she moved.... thus the second one.... but they were live rail run and I'm going dead rail, done with power in tracks. I operate HO track powered DCC at Silk City Model RR at Time Machine Hobby in Manchester CT now for 15yrs or so, it's one of if not the largest layouts in New England, I'm on the board.

Anyway, my grr will be a tinny 100' loop, I'm just trying to put trains in my gardens for ambiance, I do prototypical work orders at Silk City every 2 weeks for my realism fix LOL.

Really need help with the ring setup, specifically, haven't found good youtube videos on what all the wires from the LM-4 harness do.  I don't understand how you get the blue wire to turn on lights for example.

Just got all my parts to conver the RS3 and GP7/9 today from Robbie at RLD.

Jdiesel1319

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Re: Introduce Yourself...
« Reply #247 on: June 24, 2023, 06:32:51 PM »
My name is Josh. I’ve had mor trains for years. Just got rail pro and growing my fleet of radio controlled locomotives. I’m here for more info about rail pro. Also to lean how to install it in scaletrains locos and make everything work, as well as other locos. Still learning the button set up as well, if anyone has any tips or tricks or videos on this that would be great! Thanks!

G8B4Life

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Re: Introduce Yourself...
« Reply #248 on: June 25, 2023, 08:26:40 AM »
Welcome to the group Josh,

Normally I wouldn't answer questions directly in this thread but as there's no way to split your post in two and so we can move the question to it's own topic I will.

The User guides board has one guide on buttons but it's about what they mean and what they are for, not how to set them up.

You've already discovered KPacks videos. They are the best that I know of. If I recall correctly he did one about buttons and setting them up.

- Tim
« Last Edit: June 25, 2023, 08:29:16 AM by G8B4Life »

FoamerGene

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Re: Introduce Yourself...
« Reply #249 on: July 06, 2023, 06:00:33 PM »
Hi all.  I'm almost jumping out of my skin in anticipation of what RailPro is going to do for me.  I've been dreaming about building my own layout for about 75 years and I'm finally doing it!  By job history, I'm a computer/electrical engineer, so when I saw the feedback logic built into AM-1b and HC-2 I got pretty excited.  Much of my work experience involved computer control of electric utility systems.  Needless to say, there is a lot of control and feedback in those systems and RailPro incorporates a lot of how I would do things.  Soon I'll be posting an idea/question on the thread labeled "TurnOut Feedback signals to AM-1b".  Hurray!
« Last Edit: July 06, 2023, 06:35:53 PM by FoamerGene »

hotrodf1

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Re: Introduce Yourself...
« Reply #250 on: September 09, 2023, 07:51:27 AM »
Hey all,

Jeremy Moen here in SW Indiana. I'm a facilities engineer by trade.  Was into the hobby a long while ago in the early 90's and then went to college, got married, had kids, etc.  My oldest son has taken an interest in model railroading when we visited a really neat hotel museum (with a nice HO layout based on the town's history) in Dickson TN while on vacation.  Still had my old 4 x 12 layout from an Atlas book but then we've decided to expand it a little now too, something my former self would have been thrilled with!  I've found that I still like trains too, haha.

Anyway so was ready to go DCC and decided that railpro would be better for our use.  I've got the starter kit, and 3 loco modules so far.  Installed the first in a Walthers SD70Mac.  Haven't run it any further than a temp test track, but it moves at least.  So I'm on the way. 

Glad to have a resource like this site to help with any learning / concerns / issues along the way.  Cheers!
Jeremy Moen
HO scale

BillG

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Re: Introduce Yourself...
« Reply #251 on: September 29, 2023, 12:04:43 PM »
Hi.  Name is  BillG  Looking for a place I can get information on o scale battery powered with railpro. I am not sure on how to navigate through this forum yet.
   So I do hope to find my way and seek out ways to do conversions . Hope I can participate with you all.

Palib01

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Re: Introduce Yourself...
« Reply #252 on: November 17, 2023, 10:55:45 AM »
New member, residing in NE OH, Lake Co. Was a HO model RR'er as a teen, then off the the USMC and USN.  Finally settled, semi-retired and have a 32x14 basement room to get back to it.  PRR fan, and looking forward to using Rail Pro to run trains versus learning computer coding!
Thanks!

turtlehopper81

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  • Trent
Re: Introduce Yourself...
« Reply #253 on: March 22, 2024, 05:33:56 PM »
my name is Trent Comer, I'm a Station Technician for the City's two television stations. I have many hobbies such as rollercoasters, backyard pond, collecting slot machines and  arcade games and HO trains. I am building my first HO layout and will be using RailPro. Looking  forward meeting new train  friends.