Well, on the one hand, ya got yer Teslas, with the AC. On the other, ya got yer boy Edisons with the DC. Thomas Edison believed that DC was the American Current, like Washington, D.C. Tesla, thank God, prevailed.
Old Flyer uses more current than any new trains, NuFlyer or otherwise. Current is not voltage, but even there, many newer trains, especially American Models, have upper voltage limits. One of the current suckers on Old Flyer is the reverse solenoid. It is always electrically engaged and always burning up current. Another amp user is the on board lighting, especially those big passenger car bulbs. If you plan to run a little Atlantic around pulling three box cars and an unlit caboose, you will be fine with a G Gauge power pack. If you plan to run a pair of double motored PA's pulling 10 lit passenger cars, ol' G won't get you out of the station. A 30B could manage it if you ran it's output through a sizeable full wave rectifier. If you feel you need a filtered, smooooooth DC, drop a polarized (and go plus to plus, OK?) capacitor across the rectifier output. Use a big one. Use two! You can wire in a switch that will take them out of the circuit when you want momentum pulses. Here's the problem. The monster you created will be lying in wait to fry your new trains because in DC, the 30B can crank even more volts! Oh, what to do? One option is to install voltage regulators on your new equipment. They just won't let in anything over their limit (give or take the posted tolerance.) Another option is to leave it alone, operate in AC and not worry about it :-} The third option is to seriously consider some kind of command control system. In AC you have Lionel TMCC and the MTH systems. And then there is DCC. Do your homework and you will find the pluses and minuses (a DC joke) of each. The main advantage to ALL of them is: power is a constant. You set it and . . . FORGET IT! Each engine only takes what it needs to operate. Look at it like this: Suppose you needed to use your dishwasher. You call up the power company and tell them you are ready to start washing dishes. They have an index card that tells them that the machine you own operates at 460 volts, draws 8 amps, and uses a 3 Phase AC motor. So they switch over to that power and give you 1 hour to get the job done. Of course, nobody else can have anything on unless it fits those specifications, so bulbs start popping all over the neighborhood. A better way would be to provide a standard power source. Manufacturers build appliances to conform to the voltage. The power is always available at any current up to the maximum carrying capacity of the household service. The appliances use what they need. The second example is the way command systems work. The first example is how toy train transformers traditionally control layouts. If you are a nostalgia buff who wants his trains to operate like they used to (It was good enough in 1952 and it's good enough now!) then cab command is not for you. But, if you are considering a switch to DC, think some more about the problem. DC doesn't buy you much. DCC (and the Big L and MTH controls) adds another dimension of train fun. Chris Zizzo S-Trains list sponsor: http://www.americanflyertrains.com All the Flyer you desire...books and accessories too! To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list send a note to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
