Introduction and very basic questions.


R

Raton Bob

New Member
Hello everyone. I have a bit of experience working with and around railroads and trains, and my son has taken a real liking to trains. The engineers and conductors down at the tracks know him by sight and always wave. :)

His current train is a couple of Thomas Trackmaster sets combined and spread over the entire floor. I expect he'll be ready for an electric train in a couple of years, that is if he stays interested.

My own model train experience is very limited. I had a 3-rail Marx set from the 70s that we ran around the Christmas tree every year. And I used to hang out with some older guys who had some serious 'real' train layouts. That was a long time ago though, and it seems the technology has advanced the hobby significantly since then.

Combining trains with my interest in computers would be a huge attraction - running the switches and engines from a PC program...

I'm way ahead of myself though, and have some questions that are probably so basic and/or silly that they aren't mentioned at any of the websites or FAQs I've been reading:

With modern track products, something like the Atlas Code 83, how are the tracks powered? Are there connectors? Soldering isn't necessary I hope...

How do the track pieces (Atlas Code 83 for example) connect to each other?

I've been playing with the RTS 7.0 and XTrkCad layout programs. By any chance has anyone created part libraries for the Thomas Trackmaster system?
 
Track is connected with metal "rail joiners", just a U shaped clip that slips over the bottom lip of the rails. Atlas makes pre-wired rail joiners (which I'm using on my current layout).
 
Trains and PC's

Welcome to the forum Bob. My other hobby beside model trains and golf is computer programming. So we have something in common. I've just begun setting up my upper deck to run by computer. Soldering track is way easier then everyone thinks. I'm going to do a thread on soldering soon. There are two other members who are also interested in using a PC so you can be the fourth. I'll let everyone else answer your questions on track etc. Glad to meet you.

NYC_George
 
Track is connected with metal "rail joiners", just a U shaped clip that slips over the bottom lip of the rails. Atlas makes pre-wired rail joiners (which I'm using on my current layout).
Click to expand...
Thanks. I figured it was something like that, or at least hoped it was something like that. The details weren't obvious from looking at track photos at the Atlas website though.

There are two other members who are also interested in using a PC so you can be the fourth.
Click to expand...
I'm not much at programming unless it's BASIC on the Commodore, so I'll be looking for something like a DCC system with a computer interface. I've seen some photos online of peoples' systems connected to computers, but it's hard to tell how much is commercially available and how much people have done themselves.

Thanks for the welcome!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.



Back
Top