Installing DS-64 Stationary Decoders

Progress Report

Time for an update. I estimated I was about 60% through the wiring process on my last post. Now I am at about 50%.

I finally have all the components I need to finish the project. After scouring all of Ontario for some additional DS-64 stationary decoders I had to resort to ordering some online from Cincinnati. Fortunately I found a shop that had the four I needed on hand and could send them quickly. I am now up to 12 units, which is enough to get it all running the way I want.

It is much quicker to explain everything I am doing with video, so I made this update here. Its a bit long, but it explains in detail why I am using the method I am to operate the layout, which may seem complex and expensive, but in the end will offer the most flexible operation.

As of this morning, all the Tortoises have been connected to the DS-54’s. Next I will hook up the additional power routing relays, followed by programming the routes. Once programmed and tested, the DS-64’s will be mounted somewhere under the layout and all the wiring trimmed.

-T.

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About the Author:

I'm your host, Tim Warris, a product developer in Port Dover, Ontario. Since March of 2007 I have been documenting the construction of the former CNJ Bronx Terminal in HO scale. For my day job, I design track building tools for Fast Tracks, a small company I own and operate. Fast Tracks makes it fast and easy to hand lay your own trackwork. Stop by our website to learn more!

Tilt-Shift Video

Real or Model?

gottardo nord from fb1 visuals on Vimeo.

The pictures above are captures from this video. Shot through a tilt-shift lense, it creates the illusion of looking at a model by mimicking they way our eyes really see models(or anything close-up), with a limited focal range. This technique is as close as we can get to actually shrinking reality down to model size and it reveals a lot of interesting things. When I watch the video above I am stunned to see just how toy like it all looks, even though it is the real deal. The images look astonishingly like a brightly coloured N scale N-Trak module with very basic scenery and lots of plastic details, you know the ones, they all have ferris wheels on them. I’ll bet if there was a shot of an amusement park in this video it would be a dead ringer for all those modules.

I have long maintained that if we could magically expand HO scale models of scenes that we consider well done to full size, they would not look right. This supports my long held theory that much artistic license has to be taken when building a model railroad to make it look like a good model, not just a small version of the original. The proof? Just look at all those poorly build N-Trak modules you see at the train shows, they are the closest to the real thing. (sometimes….)

-T.

Posted by: Tim | 06-08-2009 | 08:06 AM
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