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| CPH 16 back at Mount Windeatt |
In February 2012, I mentioned that the CPH had been withdrawn from service. It had never run well and I was not satisfied with the electrical pick up arrangements. At the time, I contemplated the purchase a new chassis and motor but other priorities intervened, as they do, and so the CPH just sat in the staging area.
Over the intervening 15 months, I have read a number of blog posts and articles about 'Stay Alive' or 'Keep Alive' capacitors being used as a way to overcome short term losses of power. From what I read, this seemed like a solution for my 30 Class tank locomotive and, to a lesser extent, my 50 Class. Despite having some additional pick-ups fitted, both still stall in particular locations on the Atlas points that I purchased back in the late 1990s.Yes, I could replace the points but that will be a major task probably causing a significant amount of damage to finished scenery. Hence attention has turned to the concept of the uninterrupted power supply.
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| The 'Stay Alive' is the blue object on the left |
Clearly when it comes to 'stay alives', size does matter!
Hi Phil
ReplyDeleteHave you considered or tried the TCS range of stay alive decoders? From all reports they are supposed to work very well but not cheap.
I am looking forward to the new TCS sound decoders that are almost here, they have stay alive as part of the decoder, also one has resistors built in for LED lighting. So far only steam is available in the initial stages.
I was given some Atlas points some time back, & they gave me huge headaches on the old layout, while I thought the were built ok, & in some ways better than Peco, that huge black blob of plastic frog gave headaches big time, if it was not stalling, or stopping loco's dead, it was causing derailments with many items of R/S, was an easy decision to not use them again. I felt the gap for flanges were too big.
If yours are the same or similar, I don't know if its possible or not to somehow removed the plastic frog, or somehow reduce in size & replace with actual rail, could work, but gee its not a task I would contemplate.
I would personally do a replacement with one of the troublesome points that has the least likely amount of scenery damage & see how that goes, Another problem I found with them when trying a simple replacement was not really possible as the turnout rail was shorter than the main rail meaning a need to be cutting into the other track, or sometimes the large radius points worked with a reduction in the rail leading into the points themselves.
Cheers
Col
Colin,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments.
I have tried the TCS range of decoders and have been impressed. My next step in this process will be to try one of their KAM range.as the next step in this trial but i'll probably focus on the 30 class.
I use code 83 track and the points have been ok except for the nonpowerd frog, as you mentioned. However, the frog is metal and can be powered. However, I didn't realise this until most of the track had been laid. I have powered one or two frogs but the bulk of the points remain as installed.
I have purchased two Peco code 83 points to replace the points in one specific location and I have also found that I will have to add so extra track to replace the whole footprint of the Atlas points
Phil
ReplyDeleteSorry I did not respond earlier to your question on MRNSW blog but I have been away.
The forms are now available on the blog and you can register as soon as you like.
Click on one of the forms to open them, then "save pic as" to your computer and print off what you need.
Thanks
Gary