What's New on the PRR Panhandle 2.0?

[chuck]

BPC's were clever devices but hard for a lot of people to get their head wrapped around the proper use. In most cases it was mentally easier to a) just get more PowerMasters/TPC's and dedicate each one to a specific block, or b) give up on block control and just run command only at fixed voltage on all the tracks. You still had "power districts" to do load balancing but that seemed easier to visualize/understand.

Even the old analog way (with multi pole switches) was confusing to a lot of hobbyists. They would get it backwards. Each independent block of track should only be tied to one power supply at a time not each power supply has a switch bank that lets you direct power to a block. The latter could have you connecting multiple supplies to a block which is a) not what you wanted and b) a really bad idea for multiple reasons.

Peter Riddle's old school "Wiring Your Lionel Layout" vols 1 and 2 did a pretty good job of explaining this. Books had a lot of real world examples and he did it in about 80-90 pages.

[G3750]

BPC's were clever devices but hard for a lot of people to get their head wrapped around the proper use. I most cases it was mentally easier to a) just get more PowerMasters/TPC's and dedicate each one to a specific block, or b) give up on block control and just run command only at fixed voltage on all the tracks. You still had "power districts" to do load balancing but that seemed easier to visualize/understand.

Even though I had done something similar in the past, I struggled with this for awhile. If I have a gripe about the Lionel documentation for TPC's and BPC's, it's that they tell you how to do something but not why you would want to do it or the implications / advantages of doing it. It's hard to make a decision without that understanding.

I still have quite a few Power House's for this layout, but that's more a function of its size. At least, that's my excuse. I ran Panhandle 1.0 with just 2 Power House 180s, but this version is 3x bigger. And it will probably see more trains in simultaneous service.

Even the old analog way (with multi pole switches) was confusing to a lot of hobbyists. They would get it backwards. Each independent block of track should only be tied to one power supply at a time not each power supply has a switch bank that lets you direct power to a block. The latter could have you connecting multiple supplies to a block which is a) not what you wanted and b) a really bad idea for multiple reasons.

Peter Riddle's old school "Wiring Your Lionel Layout" vols 1 and 2 did a pretty good job of explaining this. Books had a lot of real world examples and he did it in about 80-90 pages.

I have all three of Peter Riddle's books and they were excellent for their purpose. The original Panhandle 1.0 design was blocked conventionally. But in 2004 I decided I wanted to go with TMCC. And I wanted a way to shut off blocks (yards, really) so that I could park locomotives.

George

[Rufus T. Firefly]

It's hard to make a decision without that understanding.

Hasn't stopped Congress for decades.........

[G3750]

It's hard to make a decision without that understanding.

Hasn't stopped Congress for decades.........

Yeah and Congress is still the best legislative body money can buy.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

It's hard to make a decision without that understanding.

Hasn't stopped Congress for decades.........

Yeah and Congress is still the best legislative body money can buy.

Sadly true. I'd like to get better value for my money,

[G3750]

Rufus,

To get value for your money, you need to be a BIG donor.

George

[Rufus T. Firefly]

To get value for your money, you need to be a BIG donor.

No guarantees from that either.

I long for those days when there was nothing more reliable than a man whose loyalty could be bought for hard cash.

[G3750]

To get value for your money, you need to be a BIG donor.

No guarantees from that either.

I long for those days when there was nothing more reliable than a man whose loyalty could be bought for hard cash.

Yeah, I hate when it when the damned politicians won’t stay bought.

[G3750]

Minor correction to the text. The last Power House 180 (for the Staging Area) is connected to a TPC400 (or maybe the other TPC300) and hence to the same BPC. That permits me to shut off power to that yard. It also permits me to run conventionally in that yard, but that would be completely impractical for a yard designed to store command-equipped locomotives.

George

[G3750]

Updated 11/1/2017:

While I haven't posted here in awhile, I have been busy. I don't have a lot of tangible output, but I have been:

• Putting together a track / switch order to beat Ross Custom Switches' price increase.
• Examining the plans and making some size and construction decisions about the Open Hearth. The mill itself will be 36"wide x 68" long.
• Re-working the track plan to include the Open Hearth's:
  • Charging track (holds the small flat cars containing materials for charging the furnaces)
  • Charging machine track (I decided to use a GarGraves gantry crane track to construct this wide track); this is the machine that pushes materials into the open hearth furnaces.
  • Hot metal transfer track (bottle cars will use this to pour their loads into the transfer ladles)
  • Run-around track (per Chuck's suggestion). This will pass under the hot metal transfer track and through the Open Hearth.
  • Pouring track - where ingot cars with their loads will exit the Open Hearth

All of this was necessary to generate the Ross order and make sure that the remaining track orders are correct.

George

[rogruth]

George,
Will you be able to run this as a layout that will operate as the real mill did using operating sessions with others?
Will you be able to run this as a display type layout where trains, and other stuff, will move around without needing constant attention?
Or a combination of the above?
You may have answered this and I missed it.

[G3750]

George,
Will you be able to run this as a layout that will operate as the real mill did using operating sessions with others?
Will you be able to run this as a display type layout where trains, and other stuff, will move around without needing constant attention?
Or a combination of the above?
You may have answered this and I missed it.

Hi Roger,

I want to try running this layout using operating sessions with others, including mill operations with a switcher. Don't know about scheduling revolving around steel making, though.

And yes, I do want to run this as a display. As Neal Schorr put it "rail-fanning my own railroad".

So, yeah. I want to do both.

George

[rogruth]

Great! I hope someday there might be a video here to see.

[G3750]

Great! I hope someday there might be a video here to see.

Me, too.

George

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Great! I hope someday there might be a video here to see.

Me, too.

Who's going to direct? Who is writing the script? A cast of 1000's! And, a parade..........with clowns.