Adding a DCC Meter, And Related Topics
Although I wrote about the power panel previously, there were a couple of things left undone. I was missing one of the ammeters for the lighting power (the store I get them from had run out), and I’d misplaced one of my LNRP LocoNet Repeater panels, so I’d substituted a UP5 panel I took off the old HO layout. Also, I’d realized that my portable RRampMeter DCC volt/amp meter was useful, but wiring it into the system when I wanted to check something was a real nuisance. Over the summer I bought or found the missing bits, and finally decided to order a new RRampMeter (the version without the nice case) to mount as a permanent part of the circuitry (I’m keeping my other meter--the one with the case--for workbench and other testing uses). So it’s a good time to summarize what the panel does, and talk about the new meter a bit.
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Old and New: Japan’s Joyful Trains
13 October 2010 02:11 Filed in: Prototype,Model Trains
One of the defining characteristics of Japanese Trains, and of Japan in general, is a mania for newness. When Japan National Railways was broken up, one of the first actions of the newly-formed Japan Rail East was to begin planning a new model of commuter/suburban train with a design lifespan of just 15 years, quite short for an electric train. The reason was to lower construction and operations costs, compared with the existing trains that were due for replacement and very labor-intensive to operate and maintain. But it also had a PR dimension, in that JRE needed to shake off the public perception that JNR had as being out-of-touch with its passengers, and a new fleet of trains without the two or three decades of wear their then-current trains had was a good way to do that, by catering to the perception that “new” equated to “improved”. That effort was successful, and while most of that first generation of “15 year” trains (the 209 Series) are still in service, they’re gradually being replaced by the new generation of E231/E233/E531 commuter and suburban trains which form the bulk of my collection (and which, to be fair, do represent a substantial improvement over the 1960’s technology JNR had been using, in both comfort and economy).
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A Busy Day
06 October 2010 00:50 Filed in: Model Trains,Operation
It was a busy day in the village overlooking the Sumida River. A steady parade of trains rolled by on the embankment: commuter trains bringing workers to the city, resort trains taking vacationers away, and freights carrying commodities to and from the ports on Tōkyō Bay. But then, all days are busy on the railroads of Tōkyō.
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Car Lighting Power Protection and September 2010 Status
There isn’t much status to give for this month, as the only major layout event was finally completing the Rapid/Shinkansen loop and running DCC trains (a major milestone, but one I’ve already covered). But this month also marks the one-year anniversary of when I first started keeping this record (I didn’t actually get it online until November, but I was making offline entries and writing down design information from September 2009), and it’s worth a short look back on the year.
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