2 Rail Layout Videos (2 rail only please!)

[rogruth]

Roger,

Thank you for the kind words. The beauty of O scale is there is room for decent sized speakers that produce superior sound at lower volumes. I’ve never heard an HO horn or whistle that didn’t sound like a toy!! The 2-6-6-2 has twin iPhone 4 speakers front and back as the QSI decoder is true stereo. One of the 2-8-2’s (the quieter chuff) has High Bass speakers front and back with QSI stereo and the other a single 3” speaker with a WowSound decoder. I find running everything at a lowish volume adds to the experience instead of over powering it.

Peter

YES! A wonderful example of realism, sound as it should be.
You may remember that I am a 3R person and I find the volume at which most 3 R locos are run to be very unrealistic.

[herronpeter]

I do, Roger and most 3 rail layouts I’ve seen remind me of last years Indy 500! What’s up with THAT!!

I remember going to a club in Glenn’s Falls that had HO, O and N scale layouts. Having been in 2 rail O scale I honesty thought the N scale layout was Z scale and the "normal sized" trains were flying around at break neck speeds! No wonder they have huge flanges!

Take care,

Peter

[Chris Webster]

Just stumbled upon a January 3, 2021 video of the Southeastern Florida O Scalers modular layout: GN H 7 at TCA show

[ke4tts]

Here is a new video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wibkM85fQ0 Chasing Daylight

[herronpeter]

Another great video, Jerry, thanks for posting and sharing with us! Tell us a little about the passenger train equipment, manufacturer decoder etc.......

Thanks,

Peter

[ke4tts]

Thanks for the kind words, Peter. As you can tell by the video, I haven't figured out how to keep things in good focus. I will work on that.

I assume that you are asking about the Daylight train. The locomotive is a GS-4 produced by Overland in the mid 1980s. The train is all Sunset 3rd Rail (2010) except the RPO which is PSC. I am looking forward to adding one of the SP home-built 3/4 dome cars to the train some time in the future. Sunset is doing those along with a new run of Daylight cars which they have said will be out late this year. That means probably spring or summer of 2022.

The decoder in the locomotive is a QSI Titan Magnum, unfortunately no longer available. I believe that the FX-DO decoder, as used in Sunset and
Atlas diesels, is still available from QSI. There are two speakers, one in the tender and one in the boiler. One of the advantages of the QSI decoders is that they have a stereo audio output, two independent audio channels. Sounds can be routed to either or both speakers using volume and balance controls for each sound. As far as I know, no other decoder has stereo audio output. The GS-4 is set up with both whistle and air horn as the real ones had.

More videos to come.

Jerry

[ke4tts]

Here are some links to more videos. These are of friends' layouts that I shot back in 2007, 2009, and 2010. Some of the folks on the forum may know Joe Scales and Jerry Guth. They have both been friends of mine for almost 50 years. I have their permission to post the videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vPfi8Wq1x8 Jerry Guth's SP Layout Part 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpliBYTS2P4 Jerry Guth's SP Layout Part 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KGdfQSgQyo Layout Tour - Jerry Guth's SP - Part 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1T1Mw1K6J0 Layout Tour - Jerry Guth's SP - Part 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBkLKeB_frw Joe Scales' Southern Rwy - Operations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hycypxX8yK0 Layout Tour - Joe Scales' Southern Rwy - Part 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8w5uRvwNPo Layout Tour - Joe Scales' Southern Rwy - Part 2

Jerry

[rogruth]

Thanks, Jerry, for posting these quite interesting railroads.
I will be watching for more.

[herronpeter]

Jerry,

All my steam locomotives have QSI Titan HO decoders in them. Any that had a stall amp draw over 2 we’re re-motored so I could use the HO version. I still think they’re the best decoder out there especially the stereo feature. Curious, do you program the magnum with their programmer? If so, are you able to use the programmer in Windows 10? If not a computer friend figured out how to load it into Win 10. PM me if you need more info. Haven’t had a chance to view the videos yet but thanks for posting them.

Peter

[ke4tts]

rogruth: Glad you enjoyed the videos. I don't have any more in the works right now but may start shooting a new one next week.

Peter: Yes, I use the Quantum Programmer and I do use it with Win 10. As you know, every time Win 10 updates, the Silabs drivers get squashed, requiring removal and re-installation using a special procedure. I have a Win 10 laptop dedicated to decoder programming (QSI software and JMRI) that never goes on-line. Since it is never connected to the internet there are no security issues and Microslop never screws it up with their updates. I would like to see your friend's procedure. It might work better than the one I use should I ever need to re-install the Silabs drivers.

All of my large steam locos have QSI Titan Magnum decoders, any loco large enough to have a speaker in the boiler in addition to a speaker in the tender. The small steam have SoundTraxx Tsunami 2 where the only speaker is in the tender . All of my locos have their original motors or an equivalent replacement (large Pittman) and so need the high current decoders (8 amp Magnum, 4 amp Tsunami). I was fortunate to be able to purchase the Magnums while they were still available. I have used a couple of the FX-DO decoders. They are not cheap - over $200. The only significant difference between the Magnum (hardware FX-LS) and the FX-DO is the pinout for the lighting functions. The sound files available are all for the FX-LS hardware so the programmer flags an incompatibility when a sound file load is attempted. An FX-LS sound file can be loaded into an FX-DO using the programmer and the output ports can be remapped using CV Manger. I can send you a chart that shows the remapping should you ever need it. Up to and including the new GP7/9s, Sunset used FX-DO decoders in their 2-rail locos with sound, including a couple of steam. Scott has said that subsequent releases will use ESU decoders.

Jerry

[ke4tts]

Here are links to two new videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIXBGAx3jjU A Day At Bealville - Part 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU5BWg5iJDo A Day At Bealville - Part 2

Jerry

[rogruth]

Jerry,
Beautiful layout and trains.
I am a 3 R person that likes trains of any size,
One thing that I really appreciate on the videos linked by you is that the sound is not overpowering
everything else as it usually does on most 3 R models..
I think I see and hear what the builder (s) of this layout want and IMHO that is for me (and others} to think we are seeing the real thing.

[gregj410]

I don’t know if this has been posted here before. Nice video of the SP Daylight

https://youtu.be/-mT2_pz1xr8

[up148]

Thanks for the post Greg, but bittersweet, as I see the photo of Roger at the top of the thread. RIP.

[J. S. Bach]

My thoughts exactly! We were going to get together a third time for a big photo-shoot but covid interposed itself right at that time so it never happened. His layout was one of the nicest (that includes two-rail, btw) that I have had the chance to visit. I just wish that I had taken photos the times that I did visit.