New to model railroading


rdwarrior

New Member
I am the Rdwarrior from south Florida. Because of Covid-19 inactivity, I have renewed my early life interest in building my first layout at 83 yrs old. Things have drastically changed since my last foray into the hobby in my late teens ( whatever happened to the old brown mountain paper?), and I am trying to work with DCC and sound in my locomotives. I have read a lot, and watched Youtube videos getting used to everything new in this hobby.
I built a separate programming track, and have several new locos that I am changing the address on. I am starting with a Digitrax DCS-52 starter control to learn a little about DCC.
I have several new Bachman and Athearn Genesis locos and when changing the address, I loose the headlight capability. The horns, bell, startup sounds, ditch lights are all OK with the change, but I no longer have the headlights. I am using what Digitrax calls the Quick Setup in the menu to change address, and not yet understanding the changing of the CV's yet. I wasn't aware that other items in the menu would change by simply changing address.
I sure would appreciate any suggestions. I am not too technically inclined.
The learning process has been great so far, and I wish I had started up again a few years sooner. I am having a ball!
 
Good Morning Rdwarrior. Welcome aboard. I am unable to help you with DCC as I am still an old-fashioned DC operator. But there are many very knowledgeable DCC folks here who are always willing to help. You may need to be patient though, as many are not on board this weekend due to the holiday. Tell us more when you can, which railroad, your era, what scale etc.
 
Thanks Santafe, I realize the holiday will slow things down, but I am patient.
My layout is strictly freelance out of my head. No particular era, no particular railroad, however, I am trying to keep as many of the trains either Florida East Coast, or Amtrak because of my location. I am just "winging" it as I go along just to get used to everything again. I am testing out all the newer landscape items, and accessories to decide if many are better than the old methods. I am trying out the newer fiber optic lighting for my buildings, I am trying out the card stock structures, as well as the plastic. I found with a little imagination, you can create a nice little building out of card stock.
I am trying all the downloadable software for track layouts, and building structures.
My layout is pretty simple, and in HO scale. I learned fast that I am not an artist with the plaster strips creating mountains, so I just have a couple "cliffs" on it to create a small "pass" for the trains to go through. I will keep practicing with the mountains so I can have them and tunnels on my next layout.
Not too impressed with the flexible roadways by Busch and Walther. They look nice when down, but in our humid location, they tend to "shrink" and pull apart where I join them. The layout is in my garage, so I have to be aware of that humidity situation.
That's about it in a nutshell. Now I'm concentrating on the DCC, and my trains themselves, instead of the scenery. That will all come together later when my trains run the way I want them to.
 
rdwarrior: Just a Newbie question, are you turning the headlights back on by using the button "0"?

The Digitrax DCS-52 is a fine Command setup and up last many years of service.

Just a thought.

Greg
 
rdwarrior: Just a Newbie question, are you turning the headlights back on by using the button "0"?

The Digitrax DCS-52 is a fine Command setup and up last many years of service.

Just a thought.

Greg
Yes Greg, I am trying to use the "0" button to turn on the lights, but after I assign a new address to my loco, that button does nothing from then on.
 
I would try to reset the locomotive's decoder to factory settings, which will give the locomotive(s) the "03" address and see what happens. Then reprogram the unit's address.

Greg
 
I would try to reset the locomotive's decoder to factory settings, which will give the locomotive(s) the "03" address and see what happens. Then reprogram the unit's address.

Greg
I will give that a try. I thought about that previously, sort of like re-booting my computer. Everything worked when I got them, and the default was already a "3".
 
Hi rdwarrior....welcome to the forum, AND, the adventure of model railroading! I can relate to ya, may first go around with model trains was in the mid 60's, I was just a pre-teen then. I'm in HO, learning the DCC mode, modeling the Great Northern.
 
Good luck rdwarrior, I'm jumping back in at age 81.
Thanks Frank, When all the Covid mess started, I really got bored being at my house doing nothing. Someone told me I needed a hobby, and that got me started. Haven't done any of this since my teen years, and I can't get over how much has changed. I am learning something every day. My first layout is pretty simple, but as I learn, I will begin to rework it.
 



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