Top Posts

 No tl;dr summary for this post.   Just that I was using Google tools to see which of my posts from 10 years ago got the most views.  "Most" here being a relative term.   None of my posts are aimed at a wide audience, but nevertheless a few posts got far more views than any of the others.

Tier 1:

1. A Degree in Curves.   (1/2010) Admit that this was my personal favorite.  Okay model railroading is a niche hobby.  Yes, it made the top 10 US hobbies list in the 1940s, but, well, 80 years ago, you know?   Amongst model railroaders a dissertation on curve radii is would appeal to only a small niche within that small niche.  But there's a lot to this topic, it's not covered well anywhere else, and I liked researching and writing this one.
   
2. Choosing N scale track: Flex Track and Switches.   (2/2010) I can see this being "popular" simply because it's one of the most common questions that keeps coming up amongst N scalers.  Amazingly most of this post is still accurate, despite it being from 2009.  But the prices - Peco is no longer crazy expensive.  I've added an update to the post explaining that.
3. Design influences 3rd layout.  (4/2009) I do NOT get why this was so high on the list.  None of the other "design influences" posts came close.  I did a search on web sites referencing my blog and came up with very few, so that didn't explain it.  My guess is that the fact that the layout was Märklin caused it to come up in a lot of searches.

Tier 2:

1. Switch Machine Standards.  (4/2010) The top post in this group received about 1/3 of the views of the posts in Tier 1, so consider that when comparing the two groups.  To me this post being "popular" makes sense - a lot of good detail in how to install a switch machine vertically.  Yes, a niche interest, but there is nothing else on-line that covers it.  The article I referenced in this post is no longer available on the internet.
2. Choosing N Scale Track: Overview.  (4/2009) This is the companion post, the prequel if you will, to #2 in Tier 1.  If that one attracted that many people then it's not a surprise that about one third of those people would click over to this one.
3. Frogs: Dead or Alive.  (4/2009) I actually thought this one might have been higher on the list.  At some point most N scale railroaders have to tackle this question (the exceptions being those N scalers who stick with Kato Unitrack or similar - which honestly is not a bad choice but is still the minority of N scale).  And so I thought this might come up a lot in searches.  But there are many web pages that hit this topic, so this post didn't come up that often.

Interestingly in the Blogspot history all of these posts in both tiers have shown interest in them steadily throughout the 10 years with occasional bursts of extra traffic.

None of these posts are about my outdoor layout.  But if I was to add a 3rd tier of posts to this list most of the 3rd tier posts would be about the outdoor layout.  However, the average views for the 3rd tier is about 1/5th the average view for Tier 2.

Track Cleaning Cars, Patience: Atlas (Tomix) Track cleaning car working with decoder

 This is a follow-on to this post from 2009.  tl;dr:

1. Patience is a virtue.  I tried installing an obsure Japanese decoder in an Atlas Track Cleaning Car (rebadged Tomix) in 2009 and failed so gave up.  I recently went through the entire process, including proving it worked on DC, and the decoder works great.  I clearly skipped steps when I first tried.
2. In the comments to that 2009 post ACT6006 track cleaner was recommended.  I never tried it but just ordered it.  ACT6006 may substitute for my current preferred cleaner, Mineral Spirits.
3. Got the CMX Track Cleaning car (mentioned in that 2009 post) working just fine with Mineral Spirits, and now with the Atlas Track Cleaning car working will be running short trains with the two cars over all tracks I'm supporting on a daily basis. 

Digitrax Frustrations: Known bugs in DS64 and DCS100

 tl;dr:

1. It's a good practice to read all Digitrax tech notes on their website for a given component before doing anything with it.  Tons of "this bug is feature" notes.
2. There is a known intermittent DS64 bug which on startup randomly switches some turnouts.  This has been known since it came out circa 15 years ago and no solution.  The configuration options to prevent this don't actually work.  (Later edit: possible solution found, see start of main text)
3. The only workaround is to create a "super route" that resets all turnouts to what you want their defaults to be.
4. You can't do the "super route" with a DCS100 or 2000 command station route because of an undocumented feature that they don't pass the routes via Loconet.
5. You can waste days messing around with crap like this.

The miracle of JMRI

tl;dr version:

1. JMRI = Java Model Railroad Interface (jmri.org)
2. It's open source, free, software that runs on any operating system and talks to your DCC system.  Programming decoders (mobile and stationary) and running your layout.  Active user group will answer your questions.
3. You'll need to pay for hardware to connect between the computer running JMRI and your DCC system.  Many options exist - you need to research.
4. I use it for all decoder programming.  I'll never go back to using a Digitrax throttle.  It's a lot of work, but, damn, once you get it all working it's so freaking smooth and easy.

WiFi control! Digitrax LNWI & WiThrottle

Short summary:

1. Using WiFi for train control is new in the last 11 years, works great and is the way to go.
2. Digitrax LNWI module is inexpensive and provides a dedicated WiFi network for 4 devices (phones, tablets) to control trains and the layout.  It's actually very easy to install and run.
3. You can buy a WiFi throttle device, but easier is an app for your phone or tablet.  
4. Digitrax biggest weak point - the user interface - becomes a non-issue for layout running with a WiFi throttle.  Also makes moot the problems with Digitrax radio throttles.
5. Cons: WiFi interference possible, phones can't be on cell network when being used as throttles.  See main text for solutions.

Track cleaning revisited

 The tl;dr version is this:

1. Mineral Spirits is the best bet for track cleaning fluid
2. An abrasive like a Bright Boy is said to be bad due to creating micro-abrasions, which can hurt conductivity as it causes gunk to build up.  But if you've neglected your track for 10+ years there may be zones where you need an abrasive material to get rid of rust or similar just to get it to work.

Starting up again I knew I was in for a major cleaning job.  I'd neglected the layout for 10 years, often it was used for storage so stuff got spilled.  It was all kinds of dirty.  I tested 3 types of cleaning fluid on 3 parallel tracks for a 12 foot distance.  I used several locomotives, all which had been opened out of the case for the first time and had newly installed decoders (and which had been confirmed to run well using a separate, fully clean, test track).

Mineral Spirits is recommended by many prominent model railroaders.   Denatured Alcohol is the main cleaning fluid that the Colorado Model Railroad Museum in Greeley, CO, uses.  (A great place - a future post about it is warranted.)  Isopropyl Alcohol was my mainstay since the 1970s - both 70% and 91% versions.

Well, the Isopropyl Alcohol lost the test badly.   Probably fine for a frequent light clean of an already clean track.  The other two both did great.  So, I started with the Denatured Alcohol because the CMRM has very smart people.  But they also have great ventilation.  I don't in winter.  The next day in that room my eyes watered badly and I had to air the place out despite the freezing temps.  So Denatured Alcohol was disqualified, leaving Mineral Spirits.  I may do Denatured Alcohol again in the summer when the windows are open.

Even after my first cleaning there were bad spots on the track and some track areas showed visible rust and just would not clean no matter how much scrubbing was done. The Bright Boy tool, something I bought decades ago but used rarely, followed by more cleaning with mineral spirits, solved most of the remaining cleaning problems.  But even then a new unexpected behavior occurred: Locomotives would run just fine over track but in some spots wouldn't notice DCC commands to, for example, stop moving or turn off lights.  More repeat cleaning would solve that, but I then had to retest all of the track I thought was clean to detect those DCC-fuzzy spots.

Restart #2

Very sadly, a few short weeks after my last post a major family tragedy occurred.  Our, sweet, wonderful 22-year old daughter passed away suddenly and unexpectedly of an undiagnosed heart condition.  There are no words.  A kinder person has never walked on earth.

Last year was very difficult for us, but youngest daughter and her boyfriend encouraged me to get back into the model train hobby as a mental health tool, and I've made good progress.

Things have changed.  We'll be moving from this house in the next couple of years - we'd planned to retire here.  I'm going to rebuild the N scale layout to be modular for movement to a new house.  

As I worked to re-gain familiarity with my N scale stuff after what was a 10 year break I found my old technical blog posts incredibly helpful.  I'll keep future posts short and on technical topics, with the primary audience being my future self.