John J
Moderator
Foreman
Posts:498
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 | | 03/30/2008 8:17 AM |
| Ok Three simple catagories.
WHO STARTED WITH TRACK POWER AND WENT TO BATTERY ?
WHO STARTED RIGHT OFF WITH BATTERY POWER?
WHO STARTED RIGHT OFF WITH LIVE STEAM? | |
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hcampbell
1st Class Member
Connecticut USA
Brakeman
Posts:45
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| | 03/30/2008 8:40 AM |
| Started with battery (Original Bachman Big Haulers) then added live steam.
The old Big Haulers still put on a few miles each year, good for something running while doing yard work.
Harvey C.
SA1838 | | | |
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Greg Elmassian
1st Class Member
Carlsbad (San Diego), CA
Conductor
Posts:765
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| | 03/30/2008 8:44 AM |
| not me
not me
not me
Knew I would have lots of locos, and need to run longer than battery, and want remote control, and want it in even small locos with no room for battery. Went DCC and loving it.
Greg (ha ha ha) (there are other options than battery) | |
Be sure to visit my site, lots of technical tips and modifications, and you can search for topics and key words.
Click here for Greg's web site | |
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Fred
1st Class Member
Brakeman
Posts:33
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| | 03/30/2008 9:42 AM |
| | Started off in 1990 with the bachman Big Hauler battery trainset ($50 at TOYS R US) .Had gone to that store to purchase birthday presents for our son and had just finished reading an article in MR by Russ Larson on "garden railroading". Saw the trainset for $50 and said "what the heck" I'll give it a try. Being in HO for 30 years at the time I thought I knew what I was doing when in fact I knew nothing about outdoor railroading. I knew brass track was hard to keep clean in a basement so i thought outdoors it could only be worse so I went with 250 aluminum to replace the Bachman track (including the additional 100 pieces of plastic track I bought). Between the tight curves & sloping backyard I didn't have much luck with the Big Hauler (front trucks kept derailig as well) so I bought an Aristo FA & later a RS-3. The 250 wasn't working out too well (between the temp changes, kids in backyard & 100lb Retriever) so I changed over to 332 aluminum. Not knowing about railclamps, unable to solder the joints, track power wasn't working out too well so I then converted over to Aristo brass (still in the dark about advantage of railclamps). Eng's performed a lot better but still problems, purchased a bunch of railclamps and things got a lot better. Mainline was working ok, but the branch line was still aluminum & giving me problems. Read about RCS & battery operation, contacted Don Sweet and converted the 2 Aristo engs over & started enjoying the hobby. In the meantime though my son started in the hobby with a Lil Critter and NW-2 so maintaing track power became an issue again. Time has passed, he is off to college so the railroad is all mine again. I'm waiting on a Federal Grant (tax return) which will be used to convert the NW2 over to RCS with sound. The Critter will emain track powered & used on a 30' branch used to service a gravel pit. The rest of the railroad was changed from a dogbone to a longer point to loop mainline with a town at each end plus 2 more in between. Batery power allows for such nice operation. Bottom line is I rushed into things without proper research, wasted a lot of time & money in the process, therefore anybody just starting out, don't make the same mistake I made, take your time and do your homework to figure out what you really want & how you want to do it. I was on a small hobby budget and could be a lot farther ahead today if i had researched things out before rushing ahead. | | | |
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Semper Vaporo
1st Class Member
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Conductor
Posts:821
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| | 03/30/2008 9:50 AM |
| | Started in Live Steam... I have now dabbled in Live Diesel and built a battery car to hold 14 AAA batteries for a Charlie Brown and Lucy, "Peanuts" (tm) motorcycle (LGB) just to do something "different". | |
 C. T. McCullough
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
SA #37469
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sheepdog
1st Class Member
N.E. Hoosierland
Foreman
Posts:118
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| | 03/30/2008 10:23 AM |
| | Track power for one summer..... Nevermore. Battery. | |
I got down with my bad self....
Now I can't get up. | |
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fsfazekas
1st Class Member
Brakeman
Posts:25
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| | 03/30/2008 12:15 PM |
| Track power to battery/RC. No regrets, I never enjoyed reverse loop wiring, etc  | |
Enjoy....
Frank
The mains are offline, switching to batteries...
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Torby
1st Class Member
North Chicago 'burbs.
Engineer
Posts:1261
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| | 03/30/2008 1:44 PM |
| Track power then changed to R/C.
Oh, you mean way back? Kid powered originally | |
 
Chicago Marathon You don't have to train or run, I'm taking care of that for you. | |
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Richard Smith
1st Class Member
Port Orford, Oregon
Foreman
Posts:317
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| | 03/30/2008 4:21 PM |
| Started with track power and Bachmann Big Hauler about 1987-8?
Always thought it would be neat to power lokies with batteries even years ago when I was in HO and On3. Of course batteries were too big and not advanced enough to make it happen then.
Went with wetcell batteries and Locolinc R/C with Phoenix Sound about 1996. Worked well but the small wetcells that could fit into my lokies only had limited run time. Still a great improvement over cleaning track however. I like locomotives to be self contained so trail cars weren't for me.
Converted to NiMH batteries about 2003 still with same old Locolinc R/C and Phoenix. Much improved run times perfect for my type of operation. | |
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Henson
1st Class Member
Northwest Arkansas
Brakeman
Posts:78
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| | 03/30/2008 5:55 PM |
| | Track to battery after the second year and couldn't be happier. | |
Henson Tittle
Ozark & Cherokee Central Railway
Lincoln Arkansas | |
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Robert
1st Class Member
Brakeman
Posts:66
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| | 03/31/2008 9:09 AM |
| Track power. Currently putting together one battery powered locomotive.
Robert | | | |
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markoles
1st Class Member
Lancaster, PA
Conductor
Posts:504
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| | 03/31/2008 9:35 AM |
| Started off in track power, stayed that way a long long time, got a live steamer, stuck with track power. Too many locos and train combinations, no desire to have the same battery car behind every loco. Went Stainless after second outdoor railroad made with brass track became too time consuming to be fun. Mark | |
Mark Oles
Millersvillanova Railroad, Lancaster, PA | |
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MarkLewis
1st Class Member
Mustang, OK
Foreman
Posts:165
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| | 03/31/2008 2:27 PM |
| None of the above. All track power and staying that way.
Mark | |
Mark Lewis
Mustang, OK
email: oktrains@oktrains.com
Don't anthropomorphize your trains. They hate that. | |
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jebouck
Spokane Valley Wa
Brakeman
Posts:47
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| | 03/31/2008 8:18 PM |
| Track power for 22 years.
Started in 1986.
Last year started the conversion of several units to Batt/RC.
Now battery power outside and track/batt inside.
jb | | | |
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Jerry Barnes
1st Class Member
Lexington, NE
Conductor
Posts:570
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| | 03/31/2008 8:28 PM |
| | I started with track power, then could not get the FA to run after about a year(bad wheels-factory defect I found out about later) so switched to battery. Then got into live steam. Recently I got the Burlington Zephyr and resurrected a loop of track power, but getting tired of cleaning track already,(NS code 250) so it may get the battery conversion soon. Jerry | |
Life is too short to take seriously. | |
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Dan Pierce
1st Class Member
South Eastern MA, USA
Foreman
Posts:219
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| | 04/01/2008 3:58 AM |
| | track power with R/C control from the start, no plans to change to anything else. | | | |
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Joe Johnson
1st Class Member
Hunt, Texas
Brakeman
Posts:40
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| | 04/01/2008 6:48 AM |
| | Track power to live steam. Still run track power occaisionally with no problem. A couple of swipes with a dry pole sander while I get the leaves and limbs off the track and I'm good to go. | |
Joe Johnson
Guadalupe Forks RR
Charter member of the Roundhouse Irregulars
SA #478 | |
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DennisB
southwestern Ontario
Brakeman
Posts:48
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| | 04/01/2008 8:24 AM |
| | Started with track power. Was always intrigued by battery power, but couldn't really afford the expense. | | | |
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Del Tapparo
1st Class Member
Fort Collins, Colorado
Foreman
Posts:132
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| | 04/01/2008 9:04 AM |
| I started with track power, like most. I still run track power, 9 years now. Track is never a problem (LGB brass w/ Split-Jaws), other than cleaning. It is the cheap locomotives that usually go south elelctrically. Then you convert them to battery power.
I love battery power for the ease of running. Just plop it down and away you go.
I still like track power for long term continuous running. For an open house, I typically run one loco on track power, running around the loop at a steady pace, while a Critter Control battery powered loco runs on the same loop, making station stops. | |
G-Scale Graphics
Custom Vinyl Lettering & Critter Controls
www.GScaleGraphics.net | |
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OzarkRR
1st Class Member
Brakeman
Posts:11
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| | 04/01/2008 9:19 AM |
| | Started with plain DC and then upgraded to DCC. I have no plans to ever change. Radio controled DCC gives me all the options and control I can use. | |
Warren Brown
Mountian Home, Arkansas | |
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