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 Posted - February 18 2021 : 12:03:36 PM
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Okay after a 5+ year hiatus and a second child, I'm back! I'm 52 now, and we do have an adorable 10 month old little girl to add to the collection, along with my 9 1/2 year old boy.
I have the major basics for my train layout and am building my 1400 square foot layout over the next 2 years. I do, however, want the whole layout to be entirely DCC. I have 46 locomotives and less than 10 of them are DCC, along with several hundred rolling stock vehicles. Converting motors is not my strong point, so many of them sit, just DC.
Can anyone recommend someone who would be interested in some trades to convert? I do have some nice DC stock, a few duplicate engines or ones I picked up and am no longer interested in, as well as some rolling stock I have duplicates of or am no longer interested in.
Starting my Tyco and other favorites collection over again after 37 years.
My still in progress list of inventory and wantlist: tyconut.com
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Posted - February 18 2021 : 5:11:39 PM
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1400 square feet. Well, that sounds like the entire state of Rhode Island
in 1/87.
What sort of "trades" for conversion are you interested in? Plug and Play?
Conversion of motors is more a hassle than an impossibility. Converting
anything less than a high end locomotive is compounding the
variabilities of reliability with the variabilities of DCC would be like me
adding in a custom fiberglass pack exhaust and a turbo charger onto my
2007 Hyundai. It is not a useful equation.
If you have enough money for a 1400 square foot layout, you would be better served
by buying off the shelf DCC installed units.
There are a lot of DCC threads and forums out there, and I read them
occasionally to remind myself why I should not go into DCC. Lots and
lots of problems. Not to rain on your parade, but have you thought
about a test layout using DCC on like a 4x8 to get a feel for what you
are going to be dealing with?
I have some old Lenz Decoders, and a small Bachmann DCC power pack,
suitable for smaller layouts, and then an old MRC unit. I really should
put them up on eBay, probably way too small for what you are
considering, and by computer standards, old as the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Edited by - Chops124 on February 18 2021 5:14:41 PM
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Posted - February 18 2021 : 10:14:31 PM
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Remember I'm a Tyco Nut. I like Tyco. Need a Rock Island converted, I have a Disneyland (think 60s) steamer that needs converted, a few other Tyco/Mantua type steamers, etc. Some things I just can't buy DCC like the Disneyland. I've got a Varney Aerotrain I want to run on DCC. So some things just can't be bought off the shelf in DCC. I LOVE advertising trains - I have several of the Shoprite trains - those locomotives absolutely need to be converted to DCC, a Hershey's train, Gaines Gravy Train, 1776, Royal Blue, the whole shebang.
I have some neat stuff like a Lionel Freedom Train (I actually bought a Freedom Train in DCC so I would have the other for trade now), some typical inexpensive Tyco stock, some shells, some standard Tyco/Bachmann/Life-Like locos, etc.
I know EXACTLY what I'm going to be dealing with on DCC - have run enough of it to know I'm going to be doing that almost exclusively. I will likely have a single DC track (probably 8'x20' oval) for testing and occasionally running some shelf queens.
I literally have no problem with a DCC base if I can put a Tyco shell on it. One of my next purchases is going to be a 3D printer so I can 3D print some bases that I can "drop" say an Athearn base into that would fit Tyco/Bachmann/Life-Like shells. Whatever I have to do, I'm going to get my layout as much DCC as I can.
I'm also going to have a couple N and Z scale trains for some "forced perspective" in the layout. Thinking of a Z scale coal mine, "off in the distance" as it were. This isn't going to be just a 4x8 but 22x 62ish, 5 levels high. I have the ROOM but not the mechanical as far as the motors go.
I don't care how much DCC functions go into these - mostly sound, lights and motion, that's about it. I don't need to have twenty functions for anything I'm converting (except my original Rock Island 4301 - MAYBE add more because it's got room inside for stuff, but having sound & a front LED would be amazing on its own). I have a Digitrax Super Chief Xtra and don't care if they're all Digitrax decoders - just care if they WORK.
I would rather put the effort into the few that I HAVE to convert, and then I can get the rest with DCC ready to go. So - looking for someone who can do the conversions. May be onesie twosie or I may have to cough up something good or eventually cash.
Starting my Tyco and other favorites collection over again after 37 years.
My still in progress list of inventory and wantlist: tyconut.com
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Posted - February 18 2021 : 10:44:01 PM
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The whole trick to installing DCC is to isolate the motor from
the track. Considering how flimsy PT motors are, I wouldn’t
care to do it. Not worth the effort. Still, as you know,
one locomotive, at any given time, can be run as analog
along side the DCC units.
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Posted - February 19 2021 : 5:06:04 PM
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| I'm still stuck in the DC world with very many old generation DC locomotives. I've been looking into DCC. I notice that Digitracs seems to have "2 amp" decoders which translate into 1 amp or less continuous. TCS has decoders rated at 1.3 amps continuous. For me, I'm just tinkering; converting to DCC is part of the fun; but someone building your size layout... WOW! What fun! What's your life expectancy? (just kidding; no need to reveal)
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Posted - February 20 2021 : 1:35:20 PM
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I'm stuck in DC but the conversion is happening now! Hoping I've got 40+ years left since I've got 2 young kids. I'm going to have one DC dedicated track but when I get these going - WOW! I've been planning this specific layout since 2008 and I'm not getting any younger. One financial push and I will be able to devote 10-15 hours per weekend to this. I have most everything I need except a few sheets of plywood and some wire. It's going to be multi-level - going to plan it with layout software (want AnyRail but need to pony up the $59 for it), and forced perspective with some really neat stuff.
Starting my Tyco and other favorites collection over again after 37 years.
My still in progress list of inventory and wantlist: tyconut.com
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Posted - February 20 2021 : 4:35:20 PM
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That is one mega project. Do you have a specific era and/or region or road
you seek to model? Or like most of us, a generalist? As a model rail head,
I like everything from mule pulled trams to Santa Fe Chief. Anything on
rails and I have to stop and stare.
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Posted - February 21 2021 : 3:27:31 PM
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It's a fantasy line, but with basis in reality. Places I've been, details from my life. Going to have a Disneyland station (building from blueprints), Royals Stadium, billboards that fit gift cards I've collected over my life (wooden laser-cut billboards I made several years ago with a slot for the cards - can change them on a whim), Disneyland train, three circus trains, Aerotrain, all the Tyco stuff I ever loved, etc. Main room (18x13), circus room, The Old West, and several more. 8 room house. Some stuff will be scale, others will be forced perspective (N and Z scale items for "far away").
Basically things that could have existed from about 1976-1986, including older things that could have been around at that time. So generalist, but with history behind everything.
Starting my Tyco and other favorites collection over again after 37 years.
My still in progress list of inventory and wantlist: tyconut.com
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Posted - February 21 2021 : 8:38:17 PM
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The best kind. Almost always there is a personal connection to the
railroads we model. Makes it a form of folk art.
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Posted - February 22 2021 : 11:29:36 AM
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I don't need any help just a lot of money to pay for the 400 plus locomotives that need to be converted. For me at my age it is impossible.
frank
toptrain
" It's a Heck of a Day " !!!
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Posted - February 23 2021 : 10:48:15 PM
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Tyco Nut here's a link to a DCC MU I did many years ago. It still runs. I also did a PT DCC and a Switcher MU DCC conversion. The link to the PT doesnt have the pics I took, not sure what happened t those.
As far as the steamers they can be done too, better to can motor those. I've found the can motors that Mantua used in the conversion kits on eBay for around a $1.50, pull the gear from the old open frame motor and install on the can. I have 3 old Mantua mounts for the motors, after those I'll figure a way to mount and get the drive gear at the correct placement, I hope.
http://www.tycoforums.com/tyco/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=10742&SearchTerms=DCC
Edited by - eaglerock109 on February 23 2021 10:54:27 PM
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Posted - February 26 2021 : 09:55:12 AM
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Eaglerock - that looks like the Rock Island 4301 I have that I want to convert! Will try that.
Starting my Tyco and other favorites collection over again after 37 years.
My still in progress list of inventory and wantlist: tyconut.com
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Last Visit: March 14 2021
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