BANTRAK Newsletter

BANTRAK Newsletter
Volume 28, Issue 5
May 2015
The Engineer’s Cab
Paul Diley
Hello Fellow Bantrak Members,
Let me start off by saying how much I appreciate all of the help from the folks that came to Timonium
to help set up and tear down the show. Tim was gracious enough to help me design the layout and he
worked with Martin to coordinate the OneTrack setup as well. As for our new location at the show, I
think I can speak for almost everyone when I say that it was less than ideal. We were stuffed in the far
corner of the cow palace. We had power issues, DCC was not playing nice and the Wii throttles were
never able to connect.
The next big show is in Bedford, Pa Martin will be taking the helm to coordinate this show. Then in
October we are back at the cow palace, for our fall show. Tim and Jack are running point on that show,
let’s hope for a better outcome than we had in April.
As I mentioned in the last issue, if you are working on any projects, take a few progress photos and jot
down some notes and send them to David Betz so you can share with the rest of us. I know he is looking
for rail fanning photos and website of the month suggestions as well.
One final note, we are meeting in Parkville again this
month. We have been lucky that Vicky has been able to
secure the rec. room at her job. We need volunteers to
host future meetings. Please let me know asap if you are
willing to host a meeting. We also need to plan the June
meeting.
The Engineer’s Cab …………………..1
Happy modeling!
Inside this issue…
Paul Diley
Train Spotting……….…………………..2
T-Trak News and show updates.3/4
Trams of Europe……………………..5/6
Conventions / Membership….…..7
DCC Corner……………………….….…..8
Bedford show Flyer..………………...9
Call Board / Calendar……….……....10
This Month’s Meeting
Sunday, May 17th
Volume 28 Issue 5
Page 1
Train Spotting:
This photo was taken March 5, 2015, and is of the juice train in Halethorpe
Photo by: Ryan Jones (submit your rail fanning photos here)
A few shots from the Timonium show
Volume 28 Issue 5
Page 2
April Timonium show:
Chris Hyland
over at Pasta Mistsa after the show.
Sunday was more of the same with a few less
gallon hat and boots.
people.
Every big show has it’s challenges. The T
So then it came time to tear down the layout
Trak crew got to the cow place on Friday to
on Sunday.
help with set up of BANTRAK’s part of the
I think that the Sons of the Pioneers could
show. When we arrived, we found total chaos
sum it up:
with the Brass show taking place. All of the
clubs had been moved around and a quarter
See them tumbling down
of the hall had been taken up by the show.
Pledging their love to the ground
Our new location was up against the back wall
Lonely but free I'll be found
of the hall, past everyone else. But we trudged
Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds
on. How bad could it be really. So T Trak set
itself up on three tables and the layout was up
Cares of the past are behind
and running by 2.30pm. We then took off and
Nowhere to go but I'll find
tried to avoid the double beltway traffic.
Just where the trail will wind
Saturday morning we arrived to run trains.
Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds
We suddenly realized that we had a larger
problem than we had expected. It was a "far
See you at the shows
piece" to the rest of the show. The path to the
rest of the halls was laid out by the steel posts
which now took on the look of stone cairns
like you see out in the desert to mark that you
are still on the trail and don't get lost.
Some one had started putting up signs that
read "layout 7 miles". That pretty much
summed up the feelings of everyone there.
The lack of public kind of showed. But what
the hell, we are there to run trains anyway. So
run we did.
We had a decent group of our own guys.
Cliff, Jeff, Christian, Matt Whiting, Mat
Chibbarro, The Hyland Clan, Leon, Tom Long,
and Matt G-L all showed up to run trains and
buy stuff from one another. We ran all sorts of
trains from CSX work trains to Nohabs pulling
BR MkI carriages. But I'll tell ya. It could get
pretty lonely out there on the trail.
Now your author did get a chance to go into
the brass show. It was interesting, but due to
the nature of brass these days, more like visiting a museum than actually going to buy
something.
We had our usual pizza and get together
-Chris
Pardon me, partners, while I get out my ten
Volume 28 Issue 5
Page 3
T-Trak News and Notes :
Chris Hyland
A
pril seemed busy but now here comes May! There a lot of events this month, lots of time to run trains,
and lots of time to try new stuff out. All the rolling stock that was bought this winter will finally hit the rails.
Outside events will become more prominent. Projects (yes, those ones) will hopefully get sent down to the
foundry so that the little elves can hammer out stuff to improve what we have going on. Yes, this May will
have something for everyone. And that is just the T-Trak stuff. If by the end of the month are saying “hey, I
never got to run trains”, you weren’t trying hard enough. So the future looks bright where all else seems
recently to be going crazy.
This time of the year has also been one of historical times. It has been the 70th anniversary of VE day and
the 40th anniversary of fall of Saigon. Down here in MOCO suburbia, the Hyland Clan has been catching all
the negative highlights coming from the city. We have constantly had our fellow club members from the city
and county constantly in our thoughts as well as friends from B&O and BSM as well. We hope that you and
your loved ones are safe.
We have been listening to the reporters, who tell us that Baltimore is not just broke, but it is busted. But is
it really? Yes, it probably needs some super glue to put it back together. And a hell of a lot of axle grease.
People’s feelings will be hurt. People are hurting from business being damaged and shut down. It looks like
the 1960's riots. The law enforcement community still comes to work, even though they know they are
hated by parts of the community. But we feel that like when the Great Fire burned the city to the ground in
1904, Baltimore will rise up stronger than before. In the 1980's I felt safer as a kid in the Charm City than my
own DC where we called it “the Murder Capital of America”. I feel that this too will pass. And even now, as I
strap on my green club shirt to go run trains this weekend, we are not just train runners, but ambassadors
of the city. This makes me more proud than ever to be a member of BALTIMORE AREA N TRAK. And by doing this we can show them that like what is going on in the town now, Baltimore has many different faces.
Not only are there Camden Yards and the Inner harbor, but the Walters, Baltimore Street car museum, the
B&O roundhouse, Museum of Industry, Fells Point and many other things. That’s why we in DC are always
so jealous at our northern neighbor.
Keep your heads high Hon and lets run some T-Trak!
-Chris Hyland
April Gaithersburg:
Chris Hyland
This April 19th was the first Gaithersburg event for us for the year. It occurred for the first time on a
Sunday. We had a decent crowd and fair weather.
Set up was at 9am and we were up and running before the museum was. We ran a large loop with
modules supplied by Matt G-L, Jeff, Leon and the Hyland Clan. Members in attendance consisted of Jeff
and Christian Peck, Cliff, Leon, Matt G-L, and Mat Chibbaro, Matt Whiting, and the Hylands. We ran
plenty of trains. We also saw plenty of trains with stuff from CSX and AMTRAK. New at the museum
was the B&O RDC car which has finally opened to the public. We ran trains until 1 PM and then scooted
out of there. We are looking forward to this years events at the station.
-Chris
Volume 28 Issue 5
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Trams of Europe:
Jack Walsh
Jack has shared a few shots from last summer’s trip to Europe.
Volume 28 Issue 5
Page 5
Trams of Europe:
Jack Walsh
Continued from page 4
Volume 28 Issue 5
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Conventions: The NMRA 2015 National Convention
The NMRA 2015 National Convention
Portland, Oregon, August 23 - 29, 2015
Have an idea for
new/updated
web content?
Contact the
Webmaster with
your ideas!
BANTRAK Membership
Please contact Al about becoming a member.
Al Palewicz, Membership
BANTRAK does a significant amount of charitable activity,
although we rarely think of it that way because we get pleasure out of it. When you think about it, that is as it should be
with all giving from the heart.
What is our charitable activity? Our major participation is in
the B&O Museum’s (which is a charitable organization) Annual Festival of Trains. Our display has been a major draw for
people to come to the Museum for many years, both recent
and in the past. There are plenty more examples, this is just
one.
Please contact Treasurer Alan Del Gaudio for more information regarding your membership status and roster questions
or contact Al Palewicz with general questions.
Volume 28 Issue 5
Club Member Benefits

Sharing of your knowledge
(railroading & modeling)
with others of similar interests

Access to railroading and
modeling knowledge of
other members

National exposure and recognition of your endeavors
in modeling

Hands on activities:
Club modules - track, wiring and scenery. Raffle layout - track and scenery
Page 7
DCC Corner: Exploring Digital Command Control
Broadway Limited Locomotive Shuts Down Zephyr
Q:I have a Broadway Limited Import diesel locomotive equipped with factory DCC and
Sound.
The “flickering zeros” are an indication that the Zephyr
has shut down because of excess power consumption.
Dividing your railroad up into power districts and adding boosters with their own power supply may help.
Email the editor and suggest a DCC topic !!!
Every time I turn on my Digitrax Zephyr DCS50
the engine starts to short out.
Part of the problem has been that the BLI locomotives
initially draw a great deal of current; this is especially
true with their earlier locomotives.
It begins to slow down and then jerks a little
Later locomotives have partially solved this problem by
changes in their design and changing to smaller capaciand sometimes it stops completely.
tors in the locomotive.
One of our editorial team has a PRR T-1, which does
My Zephyr shows a line of flickering zeros
cause Zephyr to shut down, resulting in the "flickering
across the dial and the engine decoder numzeros".
ber even flickers on and off at times.
It is our understanding that there is a chip replacement for this locomotive, and others, which helps deal
I have checked all terminal connections and
with the power consumption issues of these locomofor foreign matter on the track but have not
tives.
had any success in solving the problem.
We contacted BLI and were advised that the replacement is available from a designated vendor of the
I have taken all cars off the track to make sure sound unit’s manufacturer, QSi.
There also is an experimental work-around being apthere was no metal tracks or metal wheels
plied
by some modelers that uses an automotive light
shorting it out.
bulb to help buffer the initial inrush current, but we
have not tested this extensively.
I can run three DCC engines without sound on
We would be remiss if we did not point our that our
the same track at the same time and everyDH165 series Plug ‘N Play Decoders with SoundBug
thing works as it should.
Socket were designed to address the high current consumption issues of sound decoders.
The Zephyr does not flicker at all.
There are four different DH165-series DCC decoders
for locos by Atlas, Athearn, Intermountain, Life Like and
I have a 6 1/2 X 12ft layout.
others that were originally factory equipped with QSI
Sound 1.0 Amp, 6 Functions.
I have several feeders hooked to the track
The SFX004 SoundBug plugs into these decoders; it
comes with generic diesel and steam locomotive
about 4 feet apart.
sounds, and can also be customized with your own
Do you have any suggestion as to what is wrong? sounds.
A: From what you've said, we don't see that you're
doing anything wrong; you're doing everything right.
In this particular case, it appears that the BLI locomotive is drawing more current than the Zephyr can supply.
For more helpful hints please visit the Digitrax webpage, click here.
Volume 28 Issue 5
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Volume 28 Issue 5
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BANTRAK Call Board
Activities & Events of Bantrak Club Members
Home Layout/Module Work Sessions
(ongoing) For Information Contact: Alan Del Gaudio, Eric Payne, Ed Kapusinski,
Paul Diley
BANTRAK 2015 Calendar
This is a listing of all BANTRAK Monthly Meetings, Field Trips, 1-Trak and T-
Date
May 17
Event
Location
contact
Type
The Quall Run Assisted Living, 9900 Walther Blvd,
Parkville, MD 21234.
Paul Diley
Meeting
See Chris
Chris Hyland
T-Trak
See Chris
Chris Hyland
T-Trak
June 14
Club Meeting
S&P Tower Redeye
Special
Gaithersburg
Oldtown
June 19-21
Great Scale Show
Timonium
Chris Hyland
T-Trak
June 21
Club Meeting
Fieldtrip ???
Paul Diley
Meeting
July 11-12
Fieldtrip (Pittsburgh)
Chris Hyland
T-Trak
July 24-25
Greenberg Show
Lycoming Narrowgauge
Fieldtrip
Chris Hyland
T-Trak
July 31– Aug. 2
Greenberg Show
Timonium
Chris Hyland
T-Trak
June 7
BANTRAK was founded in 1983 as the Greater Baltimore N-Scale Associates. Begun as a “round robin” group to
share skills and experiences, we have expanded our focus to include participation in many diverse activities to
promote model railroading in general and N-Scale model railroading in particular. Activities include participation
in local, regional and national shows, meets and conventions. BANTRAK membership includes membership in the
national NTRAK organization.
The BANTRAK Newsletter is the official publication of Baltimore Area N-TRAK (BANTRAK), Inc.
This is your newsletter! Please send articles, photos, and suggestions to newsletter@bantrak.net
Editor: David B. Betz
Volume 28 Issue 5
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