# Sometimes we forget how far this hobby has come



## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

I've been getting my outside layout up and running (translated that means fixing and installing the stuff that never got installed when I "completed" it years ago).

As I have been running trains while getting the bits and pieces of work done it occurred to me what a mixture of old and new "stuff" I am using.

The track is Aristo-Craft Stainless Steel (pretty new) and the turnouts are LGB Nickel Plated (also pretty new) with LGB turnout controls that are at least 10 years old. The current power supply is an old Bridgewerks Magnum 60T that I've never seen advertised or in a catalog and the controls are Aristo-Craft 1994 Train Engineer Transmitter and Receiver; Aristo-Craft 1996 Train Engineer Transmitter and Receiver and Aristo-Craft 2005 Train Engineer Transmitter and Receiver. The train is a fairly old US Stylized Stainz pulling 2 axle matching European styled coaches. 

What is important is that everything is still working and working very well with everything else. The mixture shows some of the many changes and new products that have been introduced over the years.

This does not even include the digital revolution whether it is MTS, DCC, DCS or the Revolution.

We owe a lot to the manufacturers both past and present for what they have made available to us.

How about everyone else? What sorts of old and new product mixtures are you running on your layouts?

Jerry


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## San Juan (Jan 3, 2008)

I guess the oldest pieces of equipment regularly run on our layout are LGB D&RGW coach #3080 and combine #3081 from 1984. The coach 3080 is now a business car (B1) and the combine 3081 was kitbashed into the Silver Vista. The old shell of the 3081 is used on an abandoned section of our layout. 


An LGB Mogul (C&S #6) from 1988 is the oldest locomotive we use. I have renumbered it as Rio Grande #345 and it's been converted to battery power, but the motor is still original and still runs like a fine clock. But the battery tech is lithium and the control is Airwire, both fairly new in this hobby.


So a good mix of old and new on our line.


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Love to run and run my 1970s LGB Stainz based locos. The Mercedes 220Ds of large scale.


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## kormsen (Oct 27, 2009)

from the first stainz, that was in a starterset, i got in '69 or '70, passing some playmobil and a Bachmann, to my "newest" a used LGB Otto, seven out of eight locos never had any problems. 
the 17 R1 and 2 R3 turnouts from LGB and playmo all work well. as does the brasstrack. - the curtainrail-track is no longer needed, since i bought some 400 feet of very cheap curves. 
a dozen of small transformer/regulators of different origen never let me down with my analogue block systems. 
over the years i got to the point, that the homebuilt rolling stock is as reliable as the factory-made stuff. 

how far has the hobby come for me? 
well, from making me happy on that first G-scale christmas it came to giving me happyness for over four decades.


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## stanman (Jan 4, 2008)

That's a very good observation, Jerry.

I'm afraid my mixture is of _old _and _older_!

_Old_: When I constructed the first part of my layout in late 1998, I immediately saw the benefit of digital control. The _only _system available for large scale at that time was LGB's MTS system; I think I was one of the very first users. Over these years I've listened to a lot of criticism of MTS and have been told that it's obsolete junk. But it does everything I need it to do so, other than upgrading to MTS II, I've stuck with it.

_Older_: I have a really old LGB rack loco, one with the leads from the track embedded in the motor block. Instead of tearing into this lovely loco to attempt to install an MTS decoder, I decided to make a portion of the layout DC so that I can run it as-is. I have installed sound in it, and I power the loco from the overhead catenary. That leaves the track connection available for powering the passenger car lighting at a constant level.


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## Cougar Rock Rail (Jan 2, 2008)

Interesting topic, Jerry. 

There are many ways in which this hobby has been advanced, and for me I would say the internet and it's ability to facilitate learning about new things has been one of the most important things for me. Without the internet I doubt if I would have ever learned about what a wonderful railroad the RhB is, about DCC, about all the amazing scratchbuilding that goes on around the world, all the unique manufacturers, hobbyists, garden railroads etc.
I guess it really allows one to discover and chase down new obsessions whatever they might be. On forums, for example, each of us contributes some incremental bit of knowledge that others can hopefully use and build upon. I think we are really on the cusp of a whole new era in this hobby--things like how quickly (and theoretically for less $$) prototypes can be designed & create via computer, to advances in battery & digital or even steam technology etc. So while the hobby has come a long way over the last 100 years, I think the next 10 will be quite dramatic too.

As far as mixing old and new, I guess my best example is my live steam Billy using a programmable microcontroller to control various operations on it, which is capable of running on the same track and at the same time as my MTSIII/Massoth digital trains. Any way you look at it, the hobby has indeed come a long way.








Keith


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## Madman (Jan 5, 2008)

I would have to agree with keith about the internet. While most of my progress, over the past nineteen years, has been by trial and error, the internet has opened my mind up to many new ways to look at and enjoy our hobby. At one time, I wouldn't even consider modelling European railways. Now, I am totally committed to a theme of that continent's railways and structures. Yes, I also believe that our hobby has advanced a great deal in the past two decades that I have been involved with it.


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## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

Posted By stanman on 26 Apr 2010 09:19 PM 
That's a very good observation, Jerry.

I'm afraid my mixture is of _old _and _older_!



Hi Stan,

Perhaps that is one of the best things about this hobby in that some of us are very happy running old and older while others may mix new, old and older - but they all work - usually together allowing for coupler variations and some size differences between brands.

By comparison look at computers over the same time period and how they developed with built in obsolescence:

Operating Systems: DOS - Windows - Vista etc. (often programs written for one do not work with others).

Hardware interfaces:

5 1/4" SSSD
5 1/4" DSSD
5 1/4" DSHD
3 1/2" DSDD
3 1/2" DSHD
Serial
Parallel
USB 1
USB 2
Firewire
PCMCIA
CD
DVD-
DVD+
I'm sure there are several I've missed including the many camera memory card types and the various modems.

My wife's laptop has nothing in the way of inputs beyond CD/DVD and USB. 

In effect we have multi-generational toy trains and model railroads that in many cases have outlived their creators.

Jerry


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