# Play Time



## Madman (Aug 22, 2020)

I've been rather busy with the renovation of D2's house, since May. That coupled with an extraordinary hot summer, left little incentive to play with my garden railway. However, the work at my daughter's house is in the beginning stages of winding down, yeah right. So as the weather has turned more comfortable and I have a few more hours to myself, I've run some trains.

Operating smoke generators in the garden are somewhat of a PITA. But I may have found a solution. Since my trains run on battery power and I like to let them run for an hour or two as I relax in the gazebo. 

So I fitted battery powered generators in two locos. The voltage I run my trains on doesn't heat the elements so in one of the locos I fitted a 12 volt smoke generator, a 12 volt Li-on battery pack and a miniature receiver. I can turn the smoke on and off from my chair. 

The Stainz has an 18 volt generator and is powered by two 9 volt batteries. This loco has a simple on/off switch.


----------



## Lehigh74 (Sep 25, 2015)

Looks like the tornado didn't hit your place too bad. Just left you with a blanket of pine needles.

BTW, the garden railway and trains look very nice.


----------



## Madman (Aug 22, 2020)

Lehigh74 said:


> Looks like the tornado didn't hit your place too bad. Just left you with a blanket of pine needles.
> 
> BTW, the garden railway and trains look very nice.


Fortunately, we were on the edge of the tornado. We lost some large tree limbs but no damage to our house. Not a half mile away a woman was killed in her home by a falling tree. Thats where the real damage started. I am still in awe of the way the tornado tore homes apart and lifted trees out of the ground, not to mention leaving most trees without tops. And only a few hundred feet away, no damage at all.


----------



## Gramps (Feb 28, 2016)

Very nice!


----------



## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

Please excuse my ignorance of garden RRs, but since yours are run on batteries, how do you control starting and stopping, sounds, actions, etc?. Very nice setup you have!


----------



## Madman (Aug 22, 2020)

Fire21 said:


> Please excuse my ignorance of garden RRs, but since yours are run on batteries, how do you control starting and stopping, sounds, actions, etc?. Very nice setup you have!


Have a look at Del Tapparo's site. He is a retired aerospace engineer. He's made some pretty neat stuff. I switched to battery power about ten years ago. I use his rail boss system. I also have some Critter Controls mounted in trolleys.









G-Scale Graphics


Custom Vinyl Lettering and Electronics for Garden Railroading



www.gscalegraphics.net


----------

