Post by trainman9 on Oct 6, 2024 15:02:16 GMT
Went to the Masonic Village and Elizabethtown Model RR club yesterday. What a very impressive RR club. They have represented everything from Z to G and everything in between. The workmanship was very impressive and I’d highly recommend going to one of their open houses.
The O gauge layout has over 1600 feet of track and spans several large rooms. One particular spectacular section was a huge mountain with a cog railroad, I think that’s what they are called, which was absolutely unbelievable. Other areas were devoted to S gauge AF, standard gauge and an overhead two track garden railway. They even had a two track trolley line under catenary.
One of the interesting things about the O gauge layout was the use of two CAB1L systems. They had two CAB1L bases connected to the two Z4000 power sources along with numerous Lionel and IC Controls components providing automatic control of the many engines constantly running on the layout. Someone spent a great deal of time setting up these electronics. They did a magnificent job. Everything was visible behind a clear plexiglas panel.
They had two CAB1L remotes in holders attached to the side of the layout, accessible to anyone, I thought this was a bad idea but no one messed with them. They were labled Lionel Engines and Switches and Accessories. Everything worked very well although one of the members I spoke with said it took a long time for them to get the system operating. They had to install a ground plane underneath the sections of the layout and even had a five foot antenna attached to a pole in the center of the main layout.
So, here is my question, I asked but no one seemed to know, why did they have two CAB1L bases connected to the layout. I always thought that regardless of the size of a layout you only need one command base. Why do they have two? I know you can have separate channels and perhaps that is what they did. Did having two bases cause some of their initial problems.
Anyway, if you get a chance to go to one of their open houses I would highly recommend it.
I’m going to reach out to my wife Dorothy’s friend who is a resident of the Masonic Village to see if sometime in the future I could go back when they are not having an open house so to better understand how they built this magnificent model railroad.
This model RR would make a great magazine story. I wonder if they have ever been featured in an article.
The O gauge layout has over 1600 feet of track and spans several large rooms. One particular spectacular section was a huge mountain with a cog railroad, I think that’s what they are called, which was absolutely unbelievable. Other areas were devoted to S gauge AF, standard gauge and an overhead two track garden railway. They even had a two track trolley line under catenary.
One of the interesting things about the O gauge layout was the use of two CAB1L systems. They had two CAB1L bases connected to the two Z4000 power sources along with numerous Lionel and IC Controls components providing automatic control of the many engines constantly running on the layout. Someone spent a great deal of time setting up these electronics. They did a magnificent job. Everything was visible behind a clear plexiglas panel.
They had two CAB1L remotes in holders attached to the side of the layout, accessible to anyone, I thought this was a bad idea but no one messed with them. They were labled Lionel Engines and Switches and Accessories. Everything worked very well although one of the members I spoke with said it took a long time for them to get the system operating. They had to install a ground plane underneath the sections of the layout and even had a five foot antenna attached to a pole in the center of the main layout.
So, here is my question, I asked but no one seemed to know, why did they have two CAB1L bases connected to the layout. I always thought that regardless of the size of a layout you only need one command base. Why do they have two? I know you can have separate channels and perhaps that is what they did. Did having two bases cause some of their initial problems.
Anyway, if you get a chance to go to one of their open houses I would highly recommend it.
I’m going to reach out to my wife Dorothy’s friend who is a resident of the Masonic Village to see if sometime in the future I could go back when they are not having an open house so to better understand how they built this magnificent model railroad.
This model RR would make a great magazine story. I wonder if they have ever been featured in an article.
