was going to post something “soon”, and soon came sooner than expected. I went to a model train show today, and having Kato’s new compact track on the brain after working on my Unitrack pages last night, couldn’t resist picking some up. I bought a CV1 “Compact Oval” set, along with two R150 switches and a small pack of 150mm (6”) curves. This builds an oval with a short-cut inner curve that fits snugly on one end of my coffee table, with plenty of room for the Kato power pack.
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Tags: DE10, Tram, Greenmax, Kato, Tomix, Tomytec, Unitrack

My plans to start installing decoders were somewhat upset when a large quantity of the ones I’d ordered turned out to be out-of-stock, and a box arrived containing only a couple of decoders and some wire. I actually have a number of decoders on hand, though not enough to do a full EMU the way I want, or all of the models I wanted to experiment with. So, while I could have made a start, instead I decided to spend some time working out my standard configuration settings for the Digitrax decoders. I’m going to have a number of these even if I don’t use the DZ125 wire-in decoders, since my Kato “DCC Friendly” models use Kato’s EM13, which is essentially a Digitrax FX3-Series decoder. And I have a few models with lightboard replacement Digitrax decoders.
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Tags: DCC, Kato, DE10, Digitrax, JMRI, Bachrus, DCS100, Zephyr, E233, Throttle

As noted last time, I’m going to (finally) install DCC decoders in some of my commuter (and other) trains that aren’t Kato “DCC Friendly” designs, meaning I have to use wire-in decoders. And since these are EMUs where the motor car is in the middle of the train, that means installing three decoders per train, a Motor Decoder and two “function-only” decoders for the cab cars.

But to start with, I need to set up my workspace since it’s been a while since the last decoder install, and the various elements had all moved off the bench to other uses. And the bench had filled up with important stuff (meaning junk I couldn’t stuff somewhere else), so I needed a better workspace. Besides, I’m going to want to sit down for this work, and the workbench is really better for standing work. Read More...

Tags: DCC, JMRI, Kato, DE10, Digitrax, Bachrus, Micro Ace, E231

I’ve written about my model freight trains before, but that was nearly two years ago, and I think it’s time for an update. This time I’m going to talk about the trains, as well as the locomotives. As usual, the focus of my collecting is the area around Tōkyō, and thus the trains found there are what I am writing about.

Freight locomotives in the Tōkyō area tend to be electric. There are exceptions: in addition to switching duties, the diesel-hydraulic DE10 can sometimes be found moving short trains. One example of this is the coal train I’ll describe further down below. But for the most part these trains are operating over lines already electrified for passenger trains, and so it makes more sense to use electric locomotives. Read More...

Tags: Kato, Tomix, Kawai, Freight, EH200, EH500, EF210, M250, EF65, EF66, Container, DE10

After assembling the first of my DCC protection and Occupancy Detection boards, I decided I wanted to test it and get some experience with using it. So I set up my loop of test track with insulated rail joiners separating it into two halves, and connected the feeder to outputs 1 and 2 of the BDL168, which correspond to RX4 A, detectors A & B. All of these are powered by PM42 section 1. For DCC, I used my Zephyr, and for the DC supply I used the 2 Amp, 12 Volt supply I plan to use for these systems (it’s the black box just above the Zephyr in the photo above). Powering it up, nothing went “Zap!”, which I count as a success.
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Tags: DCC, Administrivia, Digitrax, DE10, LocoNet, PM42, Zephyr

So, what is a “5 pole” motor, and why should I care if my models have one? And do they? That question occurred to me a few weeks back, and I’ve been doing a bit of reading since then. What I discovered was a mixture of fact and Internet lore of uncertain origin. I also discovered that some models do have “5 pole” motors, while others have “3 pole” ones. But oddly, at least in the case of Kato (and possibly also Micro Ace), the “3 pole” motors are the better ones. Or at least the newer ones, although I think they’re better too.
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Tags: DC, DCC, Kato, Micro Ace, E231, DE10

Kato’s DE10 freight locomotive isn’t new; they came out a year ago. But they promptly sold out, and I hadn’t been able to get one until just recently. There are two versions, a “warm region” model and a “cold region” model that adds circular windshield wipers and a small snowplow. Both versions operate in the Tōkyō region.
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Tags: Kato, DE10, Freight, DCC, Digitrax, MoW

My model railroad is primarily a passenger railroad. That’s not because there is no freight in Japan, or even in Tōkyō, but freight is definitely second to passenger service in a nation where most of the population lives close to ports, and trains have to compete with both trucks and ships. As a result, freight in Japan largely means containerized cargo and bulk products such as petroleum, although boxcars and other general-freight cars are still in use. Freight trains in Japan tend to be relatively short, often just a dozen or two cars, or even just a few.
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Tags: Kato, Freight, DE10, EF210, EH200, M250, Container