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jonblakeney
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Hi Roy,Ho is the gauge I run. It was your railway that inspired me to have a go . ;) I first spotted your clips on youtube,then stumbled across this forum and decided to follow in your footsteps.

Im only using a power cab at the moment ,I wonder if it will be powerfull enough to run the large oval outside ,Im tipping I will have to get a SB5 booster before to long ?

Jon

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Can't give you any advise whether the power cab will be able to power the whole length of run you have. I know my 5amp pro cab has no trouble with my long length of run. If you do decide to upgrade go for a radio cab, they're just made for garden railways.

Don't forget to cover the rails to protect from the sun in summer and from parrots . Yes Peco Streamline is made for outdoors but ONLY in temperate climes.

The NCE dealer in Blacktown told me I'd need several boosters for my railway. But it really depends on how many locos you intend to have in action at once, ie moving. He told me that with 8 locos moving I'd need boosters. However I'm only a human with two arms and one brain. If I was an octopus or a spider then yes 8 locos moving at once is possible. He may have had dollar signs in his eyes in thinking how many extra radio throttles (at that time $300 each) he could persuade me to buy.

Roy.

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I'm using a PowerCab, and did wonder if it would be enough to run a garden railway. So far it's been fine.

My current run is about 30 metres with the PowerCab in the middle. Occasionally I have seen a slight drop off in speed towards the ends of the layout, I think that was when I had a couple of track bonds missing.

I don't think it's the power you need to worry about, it's the voltage that is an issue on long runs.

Power, or more specifically current, determines how many locos you can have in motion at once.

All locos run on the same voltage (PowerCab is 13.8V or 12V depending on the supplied transformer) each loco draws current (and Power = Voltage * Current). Modern locos don't pull much current, collective wisdom says 0.5amps, but I think that's playing it very safe, my experience says 0.25amps is more like it. The PowerCab is rated at 2amps, which is 4 locos of 0.5 amp draw or 8 of 0.25amp. SB5 (5 amps) takes that to 10 or 20 locos. As Roy points out, you need a lot of arms to control that number of trains.

So as I said, it's about voltage. And the voltage drops because of resistance. The Silver Nickel in track is actually an alloy of copper and it's a very good conductor, it's the connections between your lengths of rail that are the issue. Fish plates are lovely conductors to start off with but usless long term. You need to bond your track, or use a bus cable to ensure that the 13ish volts your PowerCab puts on to the track is still 13V 10 or 20 metres away.

There's lots on bonding and buses elsewhere on the form, just do a search.

Start with your PowerCab, I expect you will be fine.

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Hi Chris, :D 30 metres with a power cab is good news,my length of main line is going to be around a box of Peco track to start with, mabe a little, more time will tell.

As my track bed is not up yet I won't be measuring it till completion.I supose in the end the final length of track will be determined by how many posts I am prepared to mow around ,lol.

Jon.

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  • 4 weeks later...

 

jonblakeney said:

 Hi track gang, :lol: I will be doing a bit more work on the cross supports today,30 degree heat here in Sydney so beer will be needed to keep the workers happy (me) :roll:

Stay tuned for some photo's this after noon.

 

Not only is he showing off but not even a sighting of the beer either.

Probably only 4X anyway as they can't spell PI** :lol:

Ian

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It all seems very promising, Jon. I'm looking forward to seeing what your trackbed will be like (and hoping it will have some graceful curves, not just straight sections). Can't recall what you have treated the posts with, but I hope it's enough to deter the white ants. And like everyone, I'm looking forward to seeing the track going down and some trains running - and will be fascinated to see what rolling stock you have. All the very best as you keep us posted about the contruction.

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Today is the day when the first two lengths of track bed have gone down, ;) I will lay the plywood on these frames soon.

Stay tuned ,lots more to come.

PS: The lumber for the track bed (brown) is a product called Lumber Lab Ekodeck,made of45% plantation grown bamboo,48%recycled HDPE from used plastic bottles 7% UV stabilisers, colourents and anti-mould agents. :o

The cross braces(green/blue) are structural pine treated for termites :D

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