ESU LOK Programmer

Hi folks - well the world sure has changed since my last post approx. 2.5 weeks ago. The Coronovirus pandemic has turned this into a scary time for sure. Although Canada (and Nova Scotia in particular) have implemented many changes to try and keep the virus spread in check, the news doesn't seem to be getting any better and authorities have recommended to people to stay at home except for essential trips which my wife and I are following . If there is any small bright light to all this, for me personally it has allowed more modeling time. I received a package this week from Yankee Dabbler - a New Jersey shop that specials in DCC. I visited their booth back in January at the Big e Show in Springfield, Mass and bought several items. I was impressed with the amount of stock they had and their professionalism and so decided to do a mail order through them. One of the items that I ordered is the ESU Lok Programmer ESU Lok Progammer . Although I have been using a Digitrax PR3 with JMRI for the last couple of years, I have come to realize that there is a vast number of modelers that use ESU decoders, as well as manufacturer who are using ESU brand sound decoders as standard equipment in newly released locomotives. I have decided that in order to offer comprehensive DCC installation and programming services (See my 13 Feb 2020 post) that I would need to have the ability to be able to load and program sound files to ESU decoders. In order to do this  it is necessary to have this programmer ( cant be done with PR3). As well I also have the ESU decoder tester which can be connected directly to the programmer for seamlessly programming and testing ESU decoders before installing - which is a great idea. I have started to watch a few videos on the ESU site http://www.esu.eu/en/start/  to become better familiar with the Lok Programmer. Once I feel comfortable, I will report back with an update on this new addition. Stay well everyone. Till next time

ESU Lok Programmer

ESU Decoder Tester

More decoder work

Morning folks. This past week, I completed another small dcc project that was on my list for a bit. I have a On30 Davenport gas electric locomotive that I bought when I first got into On30 approx. 9 years ago. It is a very small locomotive ( see picture below) and although it came from Bachmann DCC equipped, it had what I would consider a bottom of the line decoder - so that along with the very short wheel base meant that the locomotive had poor low speed control and stalled on any unpowered turnouts or small areas of dirty track. Overall I was disappointed with the way it ran and so therefore it didn't see much run time either on my home On30 layout or at the train shows where my On30 group set up their modules. After doing some research on line, I decided to purchase a TCS KAM4 LED decoder  https://tcsdcc.com/1479. This decoder has a built in keep alive and "should" fit under the hood of the locomotive. The decoder comes in a couple of different styles - because this locomotive comes with an LED headlight, AND because I decided to hard wire it place (removing the Bachmann circuit board), I decided on the version of this decoder shown in the link above. Others have used the NON LED version that is available with an NMRA 8 pin plug and plugged it into the 8 pin plug on the Bachmann circuit board, but I read that it was an extremely tight fit so I decided to go with removing the circuit board and hardwiring. I simply removed the circuit board, trimmed off the plastic retaining clips ( which left a smooth plastic piece sitting above the motor and used a double sided piece of tape to mount the new TCS decoder on it. The decoder was then wired up to the existing wires. The decoder comes with a few extra function control wires, which I covered the ends with Kapton tape to prevent any chance of shorts. The wires where then bundled up and taped to the top of the new decoder. The hood was then put back in place and everything buttoned up. I am still fine tuning the programming, but all I can say is what a difference in performance - where before I had to run the locomotive at least at 50% throttle to get it to be able to cross an unpowered frog ( where it would lurch through) , I can now creep through the very same turnout with out stalling. As well the slow speed performance is vastly improved. If you have a short wheelbase locomotive with stalling issues, I recommend investigating a decoder with a keep alive option. Till next time....

Bachmann On30 Davenport Gas-Electric

Original Decoder Plugged into Bachmann circuit board

New TCS KAM4 LED decoder in place ready to go

Freight Car Friday

Hi folks. Todays freight car in the spotlight is a Bachmann On30 Tank Car. These cars were just an extension of Bachmann's On30 flat car with a tank added on the top. Admittedly, when I first got these, I thought the were a bit "toy like" in appearance with the glossy plastic and such , but with a small amount of effort, it is easy to transform the model into a respectable piece of rolling stock. One of the fellows in our On30 group did a weathering job for me  and once I got the model back, I went to work on it. First I took the tank off and added a Banta laser cut wood floor deck and stained it with a couple of light coats of India ink and alcohol. I then filed down the plastic tank supports. This was necessary as once the laser cut wood deck was added, the tie down metal straps that go around the tank to secure it to the deck, would no longer fit because of the small increase in height of the deck floor. Once the tank was back in place, I used large sized ( tie sized) strip wood to encircle the base of the tank. The wood was scribed with a razor saw to create grain and then once again, I  used India ink and alcohol to stain these beams. As a final touch, I drilled small holes in the beams to accept the bolt ends of Grandt Line  NBW castings that I painted a aged rust color. These were held in place with a small drop of glue. I have several of these On30 tank cars that I did in the same manner. I think they turned out well. Till next time......

Modified On30 tank car