BANTRAK Newsletter

BANTRAK Newsletter
Volume 28, Issue 6
June 2015
The Engineer’s Cab
Paul Diley
Hello Fellow Bantrak Members,
We are now getting into the longest days of summer. It is a great time to get out and do some
railfanning. Photograph some passing rolling stock as well as that building you always wanted to
model. Or as in my case, check out the N&W 611 as she heads back out on the rails under her
own power. Vicky and I caught her a few weeks ago during a road trip and we plan to post some
video. Additionally, we have a few shots from our trip in this issue of the newsletter.
As for club news and updates we are not meeting in June as it father’s day weekend. There is a
show in Timonium that weekend if you looking for some inside train related activities to do with
dad. Speaking of meetings, we need a location for our July meeting. Please let me know ASAP if
you can host. We can even meet outside if we have cover. The August meeting will be held at
the Bedford show. The Bedford show is being coordinated by Martin. You should have received
a call for modules and for volunteers to transport club supplies, as we do not take the trailer to
this show. He also mentioned that we need to know
who took home club modules from the last show.
Reach out to either Martin or myself and let us know
what you have and if and when you need help sprucing it up. One last item, the picnic has been pushed to
September. So far we are still looking for a location.
The Engineer’s Cab …………………..1
Again volunteers are needed.
Train Spotting……….…………………..2
Happy modeling!
T-Trak News and show updates.3/4
National Train day…………………….5
Paul Diley
Summer flashback…………………....6
Diley trip / Membership….…….....7
DCC Corner……………………….….…..8
Bedford show Flyer..………………...9
Call Board / Calendar……….……....10
Inside this issue…
Next Month’s Meeting
Sunday, July 19th
Volume 28 Issue 6
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 April Timonium show
Volume 28 Issue 6
Page 2
East Penn’s 22nd Annual Model Trolley Meet :
Chris Hyland
Like all good model railroaders, I am a train addict.
seum, Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, Shade Gap Trolley, and some others including the Canadian National
Railway museum in Montreal. I haven't been to see any
of these museums. But I plan to Google them and plan
a vacation. Also there were a slew of book dealers. I
had to get my fix and there was plenty to choose from.
The other thing about these meets is the sheer amount
of information that you get to see that normally does
not show up at the larger railway shows.
And then they made me a judge. So this year’s
best models and layouts were left to me. The level of
modeling is as good as at an NMRA show. So I made
sure to do my best and the crowd seemed pleased. I
think I have been picked to do it again in two years. Oh
goodie! Bribes start now!!!!
We packed up and were out of the hall Saturday night. The next day, Sunday was layouts and trolley
chasing. The big moment was seeing a Septa PCCII
crossing the river not too far from ZOO tower. We saw
a few layouts including one with a operating cassette
system at my friend Bob Dietrick's house. Bob does the
Pittsburg Railways and on his HO layout there is not one
flat piece of right of way. Everything has a grade. Makes
it interesting for the operators and keeps you on your
toes.
So after all that excitement we closed the book
on another successful convention. We are looking forward to the next one in two years. A big shout out to
my pal Cliff Enz who helped us run the N scale layout.
Interested in East Penn? Here's a secret: Their N scale
module standards are T Trak (now who might have
done that). If you are interested in joining, membership
is only 15 bucks a year and this entitles you to hang out
with the rest of us Strangeo's.
As the trolley cars say: Ding Ding,
When not doing my thing with Ntrak or Ttrak, I am off
to the races either with East Penn running trolleys in
more than two other scales other than N scale (Hoe
and, horror of horrors On30, O scale to the lay person).
And sometimes I have to make a decision as to which of
the five different shows I am going to attend. The weekend of May 15th was no exception with Trolleys in
Downtown Philadelphia, Narrow gauge in the burbs at
Kimberton, a T Trak run at Bowie, and a British and
European Motorcycle show in Gaithersburg. So seeing
that Philly happens once every other year, off to the
trolley meet we went.
We hit the Philadelphia area Thursday afternoon to be able to make our visit to Nicholas Smith
(THE hobby shop for Philadelphia). All sorts of goodies
were to be had there. Set up for the meet was on Friday
with the show opening at 11.30am. As part of East
Penn, our part was setting up the N scale subway layout
and one of the N scale trolley layouts. We had the layout debugged and up and running by 10.30 am. We had
both a one table trolley layout and a very large multi
tabled subway layout.
The show is not one of your usual train shows.
It is what I would term a special interest show. The audience is not overly huge, but the information that you
get out of attending is well worth the price of admission. N scale is starting to make inroads on Traction
modeling and several manufacturers are starting to
produce traction stuff in this scale. And there were the
kind of companies that carry things that you would not
normally find or think that someone would produce. In
N scale there is a company that produces nice, affordable elevated girders for all sorts of scales including N.
It can be used for single to quad lines. At the time of
writing, his catalog seems to have been packed away,
-Chris
but I promise to put his contact info in the next issue.
One of the other products that I ran into was a group
that was making several different kinds of Philadelphia
Row houses (both false front and built up). These too
were rather inexpensive when compared with CMR's
Hampden row houses. The three story false fronts ran
about $7.00 so you could build up blocks of them and
not break the bank. The shop for these is called: DESIGNDYE on shapeways. He also builds a wonderful
model of downtown Philly that had streetcars above
and below ground with a subway underneath. The
whole layout was about the size of two N Trak Poffs.
The other thing that you run into at these
meets is all the different historical societies and books.
We had the usual suspects like Seashore Trolley mu-
Volume 28 Issue 6
Page 3
T-Trak News and Notes :
Chris Hyland
M
ay was a busy month for us. A few shows here and a convention there. New ideas for T Trak stuff rolling
down the gangway at super speed. As the weather gets better (hotter), there will be even more opportunities to
run. June will have street fests and farmers markets and Sykesvilles, oh my! To quote the band “The CARS
"Magic": Summer, turns me upside down, summer, summer, summer, it's like a merry go round.
The Monkeys with the typewriters have finally have handed me a script of Hamlet and it is really good.
Since the dawn of me doing T Trak there is something that we occasionally hear. "I can't". This is the: I can't possibly put together a module because I have no tools, I have no time, I have no wah wah wah, blah blah blah. Well
your days of using that excuse are OVER!!!. There are now two (Two) (2) companies that are turning out T Trak
kits. The first one on the block was T Trak kits (duhhh) and they are down in Texas. Website: www.T-Kits.com.
Their stuff is pretty good. Most average people can knock the thing together. Prices are decent. Just don't pick up
their weird wiring harnesses because we don't use them. Now they have competition from another Texas group.
A furnature group in Texas has founded Masterpiece Modules. Their website is www.Masterpiecemodules.com
Jeff Peck tuned me into these guys and Cliff Enz is working on several as we speak. If you have ever put
together Ikea furniture, this will be a snap and far, far easier. From what I have heard anyone can put one together and need only a hammer and glue. Heck, they even have a U Tube video showing assembly if you are feeling like a space cadet. Only thing missing are the leg bolts. Prices are very affordable and they will make whatever
you want. So you can do your bit and not have to invest in a shop like Norm Abrams from New Yankee Workshop.
And still keep all 10 digits and if you use the right glue, you could have that pretty proud feeling (or be giggling
hysterically, depends on your temperament). In T Trak we don't ask for you to be a master modeler. We just ask
ya to try. If things don't work out, the rec. center will still be hosting the 2 week pickup basketball/ lake canoe
scuttling class that you have always wanted to take. Now all I am waiting for is my corners to show up.
A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, an N Trak club had a problem. They were starting to expand.
They had all sorts of ideas in their heads of breaking out of the chariot race layout. But things were holding them
up. Then the president of that club, one Gil Brauch, said corners, that is the magic ingredient, the secret sauce,
the super zinger, because you can't have a layout without corners. So he went on a campaign on the greatness of
corners and why you needed them. Now in our T Trak group we have a finite amount of these guys. The Hyland
and Peck gang have some. So does Matt G-L and let’s face it, it is one of the key parts that Mat Chibbaro did for
Mt. Hubungi. But say that the Hylands are all eaten by a bear in Altoona, Matt G-L is climbing K2, Jeff and Christian get stuck in PA when the grill at the Conrail Historical Society explodes and wipes out the parking lot and Mat
C's twitter page is saying "wonderful day #BigfamilytriptoAsia". What to do?
Four corners makes a layout. Like the Spinal cord, the layout is just jelly without them. But look at what
you get if you build a set or a quad of them. You get to be higher up with some real chips in the game. What's
even better? You now have the beginnings of your home layout. Hook that up with a powerpack, and it makes
you a coordinator and on your way to "the Show. I just can't help you with the cool lines you use on the public, I’ll
leave that to you. But I always start out with “I’m just here to help the train club one set up at a time".
Now we go to a why we do one of the things that we do. Call it the buddy system. I was asked recently
why do we ask to have a minimum of at least 2 people at a event, hopefully 3. This should be obvious. When one
is doing the one legged dance looking at the local spot-a-pot sitting just a few yards away. Well as George C. Scott
said in Patton "you know what to do!"All of our rules are there for a reason. Being a coordinator is fun, but it
does take work. And always get your after action reports in. It doesn't have to be novel, just who was there,
when it was and what you did.
So hope to see you guys under a tent somewhere coming up. And remember if you have a funnel cake or
a fried Twinkie at an event, the summer heat bakes out half of the calories.
See you at the show
-Chris
Volume 28 Issue 6
Page 4
National Train Day:
Jeff Peck
For the last 6 years, Amtrak has designated the 2nd Saturday in May as National Train
Day. So, Ed and Patrick, Frances and Leon, Jim, Cliff, Christian and I set up a 3 table layout on
the grounds of the museum. CSX and Amtrak provided the full scale entertainment, including a
locomotive and baggage car being towed back to Amtrak’s shops to repair damage incurred in
a mishap down south a few weeks ago. A few hyped-up kids aside, the show went very well…
We also managed to
do a little rail fanning
while were there!
Volume 28 Issue 6
Page 5
Summer Flashback to 2014 B&O show:
Al Potter
Volume 28 Issue 6
Page 6
The Diley Road Trip
A few shots from our stop at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke Va.
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 6
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
Programming track outputs: Ops Mode vs. Service Mode programming
Mode, it is unlikely since each decoder must be specifically addressed to be programmed.
Most Digitrax decoders have ops
ming on the layout using Track A and B and using a mode programming capability and all current Digitrax
command stations can send ops mode programming
dedicated programming track using Pgm A & B.
commands.
Is there a difference in voltage, packets, protocol
The DT40x series throttle can perform Ops
between the two?
Mode programming, while the UT4 series utility throttle cannot.
Many decoders do not allow changes to CV01, the 2
Programming Track
digit address or CVs 17 & 18, the 4 digit address.
In these cases, changes of the address must be made
Broadcast programming, also called service mode prowith
service mode programming on
gramming, uses a programming track.
a programming track.
In operation, because Ops Mode is being done on an
The programming track is electrically separate from
the rest of the railroad, and is connected to the "PROG active railroad, the voltages will be normal Track A and
Track B voltages, depending upon the scale.
A" and "PROG B" terminals of your DCS100/200 or
Flashes of programming data will be within
Zephyr (Xtra) command station.
One major advantage to a programming track is that these limits.
There are apparently no other differences between
many systems can read-back the Configuration Varithe programming protocols.
ables (CV's) that are in the mobile decoder.
Digitrax has several command stations that are able
to read-back these values.
The outputs of the PROG A and PROG B terminals
normally have no voltage present and cannot run
trains; when actually programming, there are flashes of
voltage up to around 12 Volts.
Digitrax decoders commonly use a service mode programming called Paged Mode Programming.
There are other forms of broadcast programming, such
as physical register mode and direct mode; neither are
commonly used with Digitrax systems and Digitrax decoders.
Q: What is the difference between program-
Email the editor and suggest a DCC topic !!!
A:
Operations Mode Programming
Ops Mode, also called Programming on the Main by
some, allows for the programming of mobile decoders
while they are on an operating layout.
For example, this method is useful for speed matching
locomotives in an MU set (multiple units operating
from one master address).
There are also some decoders that can only
be programming in Ops Mode.
While it is possible to create mayhem when using Ops
For more helpful hints please visit the Digitrax webpage, click here.
Volume 28 Issue 6
Page 8
Volume 28 Issue 6
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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
Event
Location
contact
Type
June 14
Gaithersburg
Oldtown
See Chris
Chris Hyland
T-Trak
June 19-21
Great Scale Show
Timonium
Chris Hyland
T-Trak
June 21
No Meeting
Father’s Day
Paul Diley
July 11-12
Greenberg Show
Fieldtrip (Pittsburgh)
Chris Hyland
T-Trak
July 19
TBD
Paul Diley
Meeting
July 24-25
Club Meeting
Lycoming Narrowgauge
Fieldtrip
Chris Hyland
T-Trak
July 31– Aug. 2
Greenberg Show
Timonium
Chris Hyland
T-Trak
Aug, 22-23
Bedford Show
Bedford PA
Martin
Show
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 6
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