[Paul Norton]

I want it all, and I want it now!

- A PnP socket for an R/C receiver or DCC decoder in all the major manufacturer’s locomotives. The only reason I gutted locomotives previously and built my own sockets was because I could not get the promised range out the 75 MHz receiver. That new receiver and decoder appear to have that problem solved.
- A factory mounted speaker and plug-in wiring for a sound board.
- Sound boards that plug in. No need to solder for power, battery charging, triggering sounds, etc.
- Constant intensity, directional, LED lighting. I can live with out the Christmas tree classification lights. White lenses would do fine.
- I don’t smoke, but don’t mind the new A-C unit as it is easy to remove if I need the space.
- A location, fastener, plug, charging plug and switch for an on-board lithium-ion battery pack.
- Plug in MU cables. Nice to have with a brand new locomotive so you can run it with a power car right out of the box. But once the receiver and battery are installed, they could be removed and only used when the battery pack needs re-charging or a trailing battery car is needed to extend run time.
- Receivers and decoders that don’t release magic smoke when you hook them up to USA Trains lighting circuits.

 

[Paul Norton]

I anxious to try the AirWire transmitter, QSI Gwire receiver and QSI Aristo-Magnum decoder with sound because it is Plug and Play and I can use it with battery power. But track power; no thank you! Been there, done that, and didn’t enjoy it all.

I had a large scale track powered layout in the basement almost twenty years ago. Slow moving locomotives would falter or stall on the points when switching. Switched to battery power and never had a problem since running at any speed, over anything inside or out, on brass or aluminum track.

I had a dead flat On30 layout with Digitrax DCC for two years and had the same problem even with nickel-silver track. Changed the 30 switch throws to Tortoise switch machines and powered frogs at great expense, and it was only good for a while. Within a year there spots on the layout where the locomotive would stall even on straight track and always in place you couldn’t reach with the track cleaning eraser.

I have operated on a lots of Lilliputian scale layouts with track power and DCC. It’s always the same. When a locomotive would stall in a switch, BEEP! BEEP! the base station would shut the whole layout down stranding everyone. If you stopped on a switch and changed directions, BEEP! BEEP! the base station would shut the whole layout down stranding everyone. DErail a lococomotive or car, BEEP! BEEP! the base station would shut the whole layout down stranding everyone BEEP! BEEP! track powered DCC.

When you mentioned there are two things you have to know about DCC, I though to myself yes, how much do I ask for this piece of BEEP BEEP, and where do I find a sucker to buy it. The Lilliputian scales have to put up with it because they can’t run battery power, but we don’t.

 

[Paul Norton]

My apologies gentlemen! I must be getting cranky from too much painting. Fortunately the walls are all done, so now I just have to paint the floors, baseboards and trim. Then I can put my train shop back together.

 

[Paul Norton]

I am sorry gentlemen, but there are a couple of remarks that I need to address.

My cranky post was a result of your “Paul you need to go DCC!!!” comment on page 1. As you are well aware our club abandoned track power back in the early ‘90s and will NEVER go back. And I bet if you ask around there are a lot of people that feel the same way.



Your remark “I'm not shilling for any manufacturer, and I'm not using any free stuff from one.” is way out of line. My description of the installation of the new Train Engineer was not a sales pitch, but a factual description of the installation in my GP-40. It was posted here, even though I knew I would have to take a lot of flack from you, because it is new and a lot of people would be interested in finding out as much about as they can. It is no more a sales pitch than you lengthy thread on the new QSI USA Trains socket.

In your thread you stated, “I have never asked for any free stuff” and neither did I. In my post I stated “I was very surprised when UPS showed up at my door with it.” The difference between the two the threads are that no one dismembered the QSI post trying to pick fault with the product. We all know you have a big hate on for Aristo-Craft and we know why. Give a rest! It’s getting real stale.

As for DCC, I am going to try it, but with battery power. I mentioned about purchasing the components in several different threads.



As a matter of fact I began the QSI installation in my GP-40 a number of months back and started writing an article about it for our web site. But when I was received the new TE to test, I put it aside as many others have already covered AirWire/QSI installations, and I knew people would be more interested in something new.

http://ovgrs.editme.com/Geep40w