Two additional workshops in our on-going locomotive battery conversion and remote control operation series were conducted in September. Bernie Meister walked us through two separate installations of the Train Engineer Revolution system he has personally completed. At the conclusion of that online course, the group collectively agreed it was time to see these systems perform side-by-side, in person.
The group later convened at the Cascade Peak & Buena Vista Railway to watch, listen and learn about ten separate and very different battery, control and sound configurations. Everyone had a lot of fun learning about all the possibilities. Watch our Resources section for helpful links and references. Future workshops, both online and in-person, in this continuing series are forthcoming.
The Cascade Peak & Buena Vista Railway hosted the CCCGRS battery conversion, wireless control workshop. The long, open area allowed participants to “test” the transmission range of various wireless throttles (Michelle Edwards, image).Phil Keys converted this White Pass locomotive (Bachmann ten-wheeler (4-6-0)) and tender from track to battery power using a G-Scale Graphics RailBoss Plus control board and a Phoenix P8 sound board. This older RailBoss card uses the R/C model airplane controller transmitter pictured and a small R/C receiver. Controls are throttle, forward/reverse, momentum on/off, bell and whistle (Michelle Edwards, image).David Hayes provided a demonstration of his two battery-powered locomotives. The LGB forney and LGB Unitah mallet pull trailing cars fitted with an Airwire control module, Phoenix P8 soundboard, and Tenergy Li-ion batteries. The Airwire wireless throttle (transmitter) in Dave’s right hand controls both locomotives (Michelle Edwards, image).Phil Keys displays the interior of a locomotive tender that uses a small BlueRail control card controlled by a smartphone app. Also shown are a speaker that is not currently connected and a homemade battery pack with a protection board. The battery pack consists of five 18650 Li-Ion cells connected in series. Each cell produces 3.7 vdc for a total pack voltage of 18.5 vdc. (Michelle Edwards, image).Who is that masked man? Our outdoor workshop allowed participants to demonstrate ten different battery powered, wireless controlled configurations while maintaining a comfortable distance (Michelle Edwards, image).
