It was such a wonderful day in Cape Town yesterday. Lovely hot weather, with cyclists out training for the cycle tour next week, people going to the beach, children swimming in the pool at home, and a game of rugby on at the Newlands Stadium in the evening.
Joe and Terry, two of my Marklin colleagues, came over and we set up a little layout outside, under the thatch roof shade around the pool area, to enjoy some trains.
Actually, I wanted to see in action a system that I shall be using for my next layout. A combination of Delta and Analog. I come from a long background in analog trains (about 40 years of Marklin) but I did purchase a Delta Starter Set (ICE2) and another Delta train and I converted my DB103 to Delta a few years ago. I wanted to see how well the system would work with Delta in the Catenary and Analog on the Ground Pickup, and then be able to flick a switch and have Analog in the Catenary and Delta in the Ground Pickup.
Using this system, I will be able to have two sets of 5 trains running. One set would be made up of 4 Delta locomotives running from Catenary and 1 (or more) running Analog from Ground Pickup, and then flick the switch to have 4 Delta locomotives from Ground Pickup and 1 (or more) running from Analog from Catenary. Of course, using signalling system, several Analog locomotives can be scheduled to keep the layout busy anyway.
Fortunately, the system described above worked exactly as expected. Joe and Terry and I enjoyed switching between the systems for Catenary and Ground Pickup and between the locomotives, and even though it was just a little layout, we could have great fun with the concept.
Of course, having Delta in the Catenary and another Delta in the Ground Pickup would allow 8 trains to be run simultaneously with individual train control, but that’s another story …
I have attached some pictures here so you can see the enjoyable day we had yesterday.
Terry and Joe getting to grips with the layout :
You can see the old Analog Transformer and the Delta transformers side by side.
Note the Borsig, the DA800, the F800 and the Crocodile lurking in the box with the panto's showing :
One other item which I wanted to check was how well the old Analog locomotives would run on the new C Track. They all seemed to cope absolutely well enough, except for 3014 the Class 01 097 and the F800 which seemed to struggle a bit on the C Track Curved Points. I was delighted that my DA800 and 3005 locomotives ran well on C Track, and even the 3039 Electric locomotive seemed to be fine, although without the traction tyre at the back, it sent the 3039 into a bumpy ride over the new C Track. The CM800 locomotive had no problems, neither did the 3003 locomotives, but my old 3080 Diesel Shunter was not too happy. I think the wheel flanges of the older locomotives are slightly wider than the newer locomotives, hence the bumpy ride as it goes over the sleepers.
Joe and Terry and I enjoyed the day, and next time it’s back to Joe to see how his wiring and scenery development has progressed on his home layout.
Regards,
John
