O gauge Trains

[monaco75]

No Zach, it's still wrapped from when I bought it new in 94 I guess.

Two sets go up around the tree. Both from my two youngest kids first Christmas ( 21 & 22 years ago).

Great to hear a couple still go up. Not a Xmas tree without the train underneath or atleast not as fun... Should get the Mopar one out to enjoy! Maybe a little table in the corner of the garage?? LOL

I need to get some more track for under the tree. Used it all up on the layout.

Did you join the TCA? Guess I’ll see you in April at the big convention in York PA, lol? I remember seeing Elliot Welz at York several times, he was a respected restorer and master craftsman. Now get to work on that overhead catenary for those GG1s.

No I didn’t join....

We have The golden spike southeast division that puts on shows down here throughout the year. Mostly in Daytona, Tampa, Jacksonville, and Atlanta.

They are a decent show, and the only ones I’ve gone to before down here. Their shows usually fill up a big school gymnasium type size.

I was excited for this TCA show, thinking it would be a bigger show. In reality it was in a small rental office space... that was the big disappointment.. I’ll stick to the golden spike shows before doing a TCA show again...

 

[Samplingman]

Yeah, the division shows are usually small. I go to the Atlantic division a couple of times a year. You can go to York as a guest. Once you go York TCA, you will plan your life around it, lol.

 

[monaco75]

Got spoiled by my folks today with an early Xmas present. A beautiful new to me MTH premier New Haven FA-2.

A first MTH premier diesel for me. I love the dual smoke units in both A units! She’s a rolling dog machine in the room lol. Has an amazing horn as well! Am pretty tickled to have it.

A night run on the layout with all the modern equipment.



I may have to invest in a MTH DCS control system now. I have more modern MTH engines than Lionel. LOL

 

[78Brougham]

Train set up in Allentown...
Merchants Square Model Train Exhibit (Allentown) - 2019 All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos) - TripAdvisor

 

[monaco75]

Train set up in Allentown...
Merchants Square Model Train Exhibit (Allentown) - 2019 All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos) - TripAdvisor

that is a hell of a layout! A lot of work! Wish I had a space big enough for something like that. These damn cars keep taking up all that space in the garage..... LOL

 

[monaco75]

Spoiled myself to an early Xmas gift. Finally have a DCS system. Always wanted one when I was a kid, but it was out of my means financially. Plus I’ve always been a die hard Lionel guy. But!! Wish I had gotten this earlier for sure! Great being able to control both brands from the same system. Just got the converter cable to hook my TMCC base to the TIU.

It’s an older NOS set. Looks to be a second generation, with built in fuses in the ports. She was still new in the wrapper. Came with a VHS instructional tape lol. Pretty cool though. Nice eBay find.

Excuse the camera angle. Forgot the tilt the phone...

 

[stubs300]

These damn cars keep taking up all that space in the garage..... LOL

I just turned them into my train yard!

 

[Samplingman]

Spoiled myself to an early Xmas gift. Finally have a DCS system. Always wanted one when I was a kid, but it was out of my means financially. Plus I’ve always been a die hard Lionel guy. But!! Wish I had gotten this earlier for sure! Great being able to control both brands from the same system. Just got the converter cable to hook my TMCC base to the TIU.

It’s an older NOS set. Looks to be a second generation, with built in fuses in the ports. She was still new in the wrapper. Came with a VHS instructional tape lol. Pretty cool though. Nice eBay find.

View attachment 336535 View attachment 336536 View attachment 336537

Excuse the camera angle. Forgot the tilt the phone...

Cool! I remember a lot of guys paying good money to have their conventional Lionels converted to DCS when this system originally hit the shops.

 

[78Brougham]

Spoiled myself to an early Xmas gift. Finally have a DCS system. Always wanted one when I was a kid, but it was out of my means financially. Plus I’ve always been a die hard Lionel guy. But!! Wish I had gotten this earlier for sure! Great being able to control both brands from the same system. Just got the converter cable to hook my TMCC base to the TIU.

It’s an older NOS set. Looks to be a second generation, with built in fuses in the ports. She was still new in the wrapper. Came with a VHS instructional tape lol. Pretty cool though. Nice eBay find.

View attachment 336535 View attachment 336536 View attachment 336537

Excuse the camera angle. Forgot the tilt the phone...

Very Cool! Exact setup I have. Now all you need is the AIU so you can set up the switches and program routes! LOL

Very good book book called the DCS Companion if you don't have it already. Here is a link to some info.
FREE - TMCC & Legacy Information for MTH's Premium DCS Application!!

 

[monaco75]

Cool! I remember a lot of guys paying good money to have their conventional Lionels converted to DCS when this system originally hit the shops.

I couldn’t bring myself to do that! They have to stay as they were made lol, but I do see the draw. It does have 2 variable voltage ports, where you can just use the tiu as a pass through, and still use the transformer for powering them. Or just power up the transformer, and control track voltage through the remote. That’s how I’m using it atm on the upper deck, and inner 027 line.

Very Cool! Exact setup I have. Now all you need is the AIU so you can set up the switches and program routes! LOL

Very good book book called the DCS Companion if you don't have it already. Here is a link to some info.
FREE - TMCC & Legacy Information for MTH's Premium DCS Application!!

sweet! I’ll check it out. There deff seems to be a lot more to this system than there is with the Tmcc stuff. Lots of learning ahead of me.

I’m gonna take it up to the train shop with me, and have him update it via the computer. It has its original software installed from 2002. Been a few updates since then lol.

 

[monaco75]

I got a little kick out of this...

the Protosound 2 and 3 engines do data logging, and keep track of things such as scale miles (odometer) and such. Programs as these are visible through the DCS handheld.

When we were getting the used New Haven FA the other week, Tony (my “local” train shop owner in Daytona) was informing me that it had a bit of miles on it, being it was an old engine, but had been serviced and a great runner, etc. I was looking it up tonight, and it has 869.4 miles on it.

My protosound 3 M1A steamer has 893 miles on it.

I got my old U.P. ALCO up and running, that I’ve had since a kid. Had to look. Obviously never had a way of looking before. This old beast has 3,973.5 miles on it! HA! High mileage SOB! LOL Makes me wonder if 869 is “high mileage” can’t imagine what 4000 is.

 

[monaco75]

Some running yesterday



A Smokey night run!

 

[78Brougham]

That is 'Bad ***!' So cool at night too! A Zero C and That annoying Greta would be screaming at you with all that smoke
Great work!

 

[70bigblockdodge]

Wow, almost 4000 mi that seems like a hell of a lot for a electric scale locomotive.
I had a couple of HO locomotives that were my favorites and wore the motor out on one and the drive gears on the other.

 

[monaco75]

Wow, almost 4000 mi that seems like a hell of a lot for a electric scale locomotive.
I had a couple of HO locomotives that were my favorites and wore the motor out on one and the drive gears on the other.

She keeps chugging along. Had to have the rear motor replaced once. Not because of the motor itself, but the tach tape got messed up on it. Only repair it’s ever had.

I wish I could see the miles on the old stuff. I’m sure they would have plenty of stories.

 

[monaco75]

The beast is finally back from train shop jail!! Took 5 months, but was worth the wait! I sent the Empire State express out for a Protosound 3 upgrade. Damn did they do a good job. She sounds and runs great. Synchronized chuffing with the smoke unit, correct chuffs per revolution, the works! Now we have DCS to really enjoy her.

She’s an older unit, from ‘96. But she has all the modern bells and whistles. Prolly my highest end model I have.



Here’s what she was like originally. Quite a difference.



A little running time today.

 

[Big_John]

So... I had to figure it out... LOL

3973 scale miles is just under 83 real miles. If your track was about 40 feet, that would be 11,000 laps around.

I'm impressed.

 

[stubs300]

With a controller, it's so cool when you can get them to start at a crawl. Just makes it so more realistic.

So... I had to figure it out... LOL
3973 scale miles is just under 83 real miles. If your track was about 40 feet, that would be 11,000 laps around.
I'm impressed.

I had a model train to scale MPH site but it's now gone. Thanks for helping me clean house!
This is always a good watch if y'all haven't seen it? People will talk.

 

[monaco75]

So... I had to figure it out... LOL

3973 scale miles is just under 83 real miles. If your track was about 40 feet, that would be 11,000 laps around.

I'm impressed.

That’s pretty cool! Quite a ways for that little engine!

With a controller, it's so cool when you can get them to start at a crawl. Just makes it so more realistic.

I had a model train to scale MPH site but it's now gone. Thanks for helping me clean house!
This is always a good watch if y'all haven't seen it? People will talk.

I wish the postwar stuff could tell me how far it’s traveled!

I’ve seen that one on Facebook once or twice. Cool little clip. I could only imagine the consequences that setup found our floor lol.

 

[stubs300]

That’s pretty cool! Quite a ways for that little engine!
I’ve seen that one on Facebook once or twice. Cool little clip. I could only imagine the consequences that setup found our floor lol.

Here's the layout for that movie, I don't know where I found it? The scene when the 2320 joins the 2 freighters is in the top right corner.