TT Scale. The Ideal Scale.

thanks for the info guys, i have my old mrc 1300 which works just fine with my small starter set. i am still waiting on a shipment of advanced model track and a couple of wagons to expand my set , hope fully soon as its getting a little boring watching it goe around a small circle. eventually i will look into dcc decoders as i have the mrc prodigy advanced that i used for my ho and s layouts.

Even though I haven't had a proper layout yet, I've been using the original Piko FZ1 Power unit, which is looking a bit worse for wear, along with a an old Flieshmann controller which is actually quite nifty as it's quite small and therefore I enjoy using it on my bench. Then i've got an old hornby controller that even though a bit rusty on the outside is still operating...

jmass wrote:any good books out there on these european diesels .

I myself like this book, lots of info (of course in German), but the technical data should be easy to read.
You could buy it on the german Ebay website:

http://cgi.ebay.de/DB-Fahrzeuge-Michael ... 1e60928581

This book is strictly for Loco`s, but they also have a coach and goods wagon version as well.
The small pocket version is great to have on you if you travel in Europe to identify what you looking at.

Another Web site for german locomotives and others is http://www.worldrailfans.info/Articles/ ... tock.shtml
thesite is well worth browsing. it does not appear to be updated since 2003

Don't you mind if I talk about the theme of this thread? ))) I think, the best power supply for any layout is the one for PC's. It has 12V, 5V, 3.3V, -5V, -12V, so you can easily make any voltage you need: 24V 17V 12V 10V 8.3V 5V and 3.3V
If you use only 12V for your layout you will have about 20A on it. It let you easily run about 5 to 10 trains at the same time. You just needs the switcher (controller) from an old railroad power supply or just buy one in radioshack or some shop like this =)

The idea of the computer power supply is interesting. I did not know that you can get -5 and -12V on it. I can see a couple of isues with that for analogue setup - you still need a rheostat/controller, there is no short-circuit protection (none that I am aware of), no automatic load control. It is possible to pick up an MRC 200, 220, or 260 control on eBay for the price of a decent (not too noisy) computer power supply. For digital, however, it might work well, if the fan is not too noisy.

I think that it would be easier with the older pc power supplies, as they come with a switch as to being switched through a motherboard...

1) There is a shortcut protection in all PC's power supplies. I have a "SuperPower" ("Qori") one. It's a cheap chineese one and it has a shortcut protection. But you should better buy a CoolerMaster or Thermaltake one If you are afraid of the risk of a shortcut/

2) There are a lot of silence (without a cooler) PC's power supplies. You can choose any cooler you like (IMHO the best one is Scythe Gentle Typhoon)

3) There is no difference between old ( AT) and new ( ATX ) power supplies. You can easily power it up shortcuting the green and black wires. Switching it on through motherboard makes the same.

I will post a pinout (I think this is the right word) of a PC power supply.

Here is a pinout of an "old" power supply:
http://materinki.narod.ru/images/at-shem.gif

And the "new" one:
http://materinki.narod.ru/images/atx-shem.gif