Fleet Friday: TurboTrain 2.0

 It finally arrived!

After a long wait, Rapido's TurboTrain 2.0 is now on the layout and it was well worth the wait.  It came with a lot of goodies,

but the improved performance is the best thing of all.  

I know that the TurboTrain was long gone from the rails in 2006, but this iconic train couldn't be passed over.  I bought the first version on a whim when I saw it on sale on month in the Walthers sales flyer.  It was only a three-car set, and I spent several years after working on getting all of the intermediate cars to make a complete nine-car train.  It was just a cool looking train and an equally cool model.  The problem was, the model did not run really well, especially at slow speeds.  The updated Turbo is a noticeable improvement in running reliability.  ...even at speed step 1!

Along with running improvements, lighting and sound has benefited from the second version.  I appreciate that the sounds from the first run, including station announcements have returned.  I spent a Sunday afternoon running the Turbo, first with just the PDCs.  I wanted to see how the guidance arms do on the curves.  It was great to see that there we no problems.  I then made a 5-car train and ran that around the layout, and again it ran beautifully.  I need to add the traction tires before I run the full 9-car set.  I also need to find a spot to store a train that I've been told is about seven feet in length before running the whole thing.

My biggest problem now is what I should do with my old TurboTrain. 

Workbench Wednesday: PECO Flexi Loco Lift

     Christmas included the PECO Flexi Loco Lift kit.  It's an easy way to remove or place locomotives onto a layout without the risk of breaking delicate parts.  

    It is very easy to put together.  With a few screws to secure the width of the track and some plastic snaps to link two kits together, you are ready to move locomotives.  This kit can be used with a variety of scales.

    This device fits perfectly on track and a locomotive will roll onto the copper plates laying on the track.  Once the locomotive is stopped within the kit, you can close the plastic gates on each side to avoid it from falling out.  Finally, just lift and it's off the layout and ready to store some place safe.

    I am going to use it to move my CP 2816 Hudson steam locomotive.  However, it is longer than the double lift kit.  I ended up ordering one more (single) kit and attached it to the double kit.  Within 10 minutes, it was ready to go.

Fleet Friday: Get on the GO

     The layout welcomed an updated fleet of GO Transit cars this month.  Rapido released their second run of Bombardier Bilevel Commuter Cars.  I've been waiting their arrival for a long time.  The first release was a little too early for my 2006 layout, but two of the sets matches what would have been seen for the time period.  I also picked up a more modern Metrolinx set because I just wanted the set.

    These sets did not disappoint.  They have amazing detail on all sides of the cars.  I really appreciate all of the detail and color variations they have included on the roof detail.  

    One of the best features of these Rapido cars is the lighting features and ability to add sound.  The cab cars include headlights as well as red marker lights, and each coach has interior lighting to highlight all of the interior seat detail.  Lights can be controlled with the magnetic wand or DCC decoder.  I'll be installing ESU decoders in the cab cars.  The speakers are already installed in the cars (thanks Rapido).

    With the addition of these new BiLevels, it's time to retire most of the Athearn cars that have been running on my layout since I began focusing on modeling Toronto.  I bought my first set of Athearn GO cars probably in 2006 or 2007.  They have done a great job on the layout. One consist will stay on the layout until Rapido comes out with another run.  Right now, I need four different sets to run all of the commuter routes. 

One of the Athearn GO Transit consists leaving Mimico GO Station.

    I replaced the couplers in each car.  The Rapido couplers have improved over the years, but I use standard instead of scale couplers.  I like all of my couplers to be Kadee.  Eventually, I'll add the DCC decoders.  I plan to use ESU's 58219 decoders.  Nice job Rapido on these cars, I look forward to their moving passengers on the layout for years to come.

A new set of Rapido bilevel cars crossing the Don Valley Parkway and Don River heading to Toronto's Union Station

A new Rapido consist is preparing to leave Union Station in Toronto.

Wi-Fi Available

     One of my Christmas presents this year was a WifiTrax WFD-31 Interface.  It's a neat little piece of electronics that will provide Wi-Fi to control DCC equipped locomotives using a phone app or Wi-Fi connected throttle.  You don't need JMRI to use this.

    The package contains the circuit board, a couple screws, and directions for installation.  It does not come with a fascia plate.  The circuit board mimics and NCE UTP-CAT5 panel and as such, I could use a NCE fascia panel.   However, the LED on the WifiTrax board is a little bigger and I needed to drill a 5 mm hole in the fascia panel.

     Installation was a piece of cake.   One word of caution, make sure the cab address is set to a number that has not already been used.  The default address is 10.  Other than that, I connected a coil cord from an NCE panel to the WFD-31 and turned the layout on.  Done!

    The WFD-31 is really intended to take the place of a control panel.  My original plan was to remove the NEC control bus panel on my workbench and reconnect the CAT5 cables in the back to the WFD-31, but the WifiTrax was a just a few millimeters wider than the NCE board and I really didn't want the mess of sawing a wider hole.  It was just as easy to connect the coil cord from one panel to the other. 

A coil cord was plugged into the back of the NCE UTP-CAT5 control bus panel (upper right) into the back of the WifiTrax WFD-31 (lower left).  The coil cord in the front of the NEC panel is plugged into the USB Interface (upper left) used to connect to JMRI.

     Last thing I needed to do was connect to WifiTrax on my iPhone.  It was as going into my phone settings, disconnect from my house's Wi-Fi, and connect to WifiTrax.  This instantly appeared in my settings.  

    When I opened the WiThrottle app on my phone, it controlled my locomotive flawlessly (if you have an Android phone, you'd use the Engine Driver app).

VIA 915 being operated using WiThrottle

       Larry Pucket (The DCC Guy) did a great video providing an overview and installation of this product.  Here's a link to it if you're interested. Want Wireless Throttles for Your layout—Don’t Skip This Video (369).  Although I don't use my phone to control my layout often, I like the flexibility of having it available.

VIA 915 leaves Toronto Union Station using my iPhone thanks to WifiTrax's WFD-31.

On the Layout: The Lights of the City

 I spent a little bit of time adding more lights to structures on the layout.  This time the Dominion Public Building on Front Street got the Just Plug treatment.