Unintended Consequences Of Updating My JMRI Decoder Roster

My current project of bringing my JMRI DecoderPro roster up to date is proving larger than I expected, but there have been good side benefits. First, I'm finding locos I'd even forgotten I had, which is inevitable with a lifetime collection, I guess. Another is I'm building a to-do list of locos I haven't yet converted to DCC. A third is that I've been finding back-burner projects that are fun to finish.

One of these is a pair of Atlas Guilford high hood GP40s that must date from well before 2010, which as far as I can tell is the last time they produced the dual-mode decoders that convert the loco to DCC by moving a jumper on the PC board. It looks like I had every intention of moving the jumpers on these when I started converting to DCC in 2012, but I never got around to it. It was a trivial task, and I programmed them and added them to my JMRI roster.

But then I noted that Pan Am was still running GP40s in the Guilford scheme when CSX took over Pan Am early this month, and in fact CSX is still running those locos. So I undertook another small project I'd had in mind and added yellow conspicuity stripes to these locos. Checking photos, I found that both MEC 370 and MEC 378, the prototypes for the Atlas locos, got these stripes before they could have been painted Pan Am blue, if they ever were,so I went ahead and added Smokebox Graphics self-adhesive stripes to the sills.

And I went a step further: it turns out that CSX has added a pair of trains, M426 and M427, that run from the CSX Boston line onto former Pan Am trackage and into Maine. However, these trains must have CSX 400 series AC44s in the lead, since they're the only locos that have the MBTA CETC train control system. (My not necessarily correct impression is that Pan Am has been otherwise exempt from PTC.) As it happened, I also have a Roundouse AC44 in the CSX 400 series that I'd already installed a decoder in. So I was able to put together a more or less prototypical and up-tp-date CSX/Pan Am train.

The model CSX 424 needs a white cab roof and PTC antennas. The signal bridge in the photo is on its last legs -- it's an old NJ Internationial plastic kit that has somehow survived 25 years or so but is due for replacement.

Updating My JMRI Decoder Pro Roster

Over the years, I've used several means of keeping track of my DCC installations. I started with just an MS WordPad file listing loco number, decoder brand and type, and any special CV settings. When I started with JMRI DecoderPro and an NCE PowerCab, I used the NCE onnection to the USB port on my desktop to read each decoder into the roster file, which was pretty easy provided I remembered to do it. But when I upgraded my NCE installation to an SB5 with the PowerCab morphing into a ProCab, I could no longer use the program track to communicate with JMRI, since the JMRI connection was to the layout bus running from the SB5, not the former PowerCab.

So I more or less went back to the WordPad manual file, except I frequently forgot to update entries for new locos, new installs, or changed CVs. Finally I decided my best option was to go back, manually compare the JMRI roster entries with the WordPad file, and fill in other gaps as I discovered them. In effect, this project was to review and update a complete roster of my lifetime loco collection, not a trivial task. I also decided to add a photo in the DecoderPro roster file for each entry. Thus each entry will soon have a photo section that looks like this:

Ever since I got a digital camera, I've had the intent of taking at least one photo of every loco in my collection, but as with the case of roster entries, this has frequently fallen through the cracks. But in recent days I've been catching up. Here are some examples:

I Figured Out How To Make The Rix Kadee Uncoupler Work

Although I use the Kadee 308 under the track uncoupling magnet, the 309 electromagnetic uncoupler, and the 322 between the rails uncoupler at various places on the layout, there are always places I need to uncouple cars where magnets haven't been installed. A lot of guys use bamboo skewers or similar devices to uncouple Kadees manually, but my problem is that at my age, my hands shake, and aiming a skewer between two coupled Kadees is a bit too much of a stretch for me.

I've tried the Rix 628-0014 Uncoupling Tool in the past, but for whatever reason, I haven't been able to get it to work for me until very recently. There are instructions in the package, but maybe I haven't been reading them right, or maybe my body English just needed a different approach. Here's how I got it to work.

First, the instructions more or less gave me the idea you had to hold onto the flat handle of the tool the whole time you used it. The core of my approach wound up being to locate it correctly, straddling the rails between the cars, and letting it stand alone without the need to hold it. It works just fine this way:

The secret, at least for me, involved using it with the flat handle on the side of the car away from me. (All the Rix photos for whatever reason show the handle on the side facing the user.) This may have encouraged me to keep holding on to the handle, when I discovered the secret, at least for me, is to let go of the handle once I have the tool in position, straddling the rails and touching the outside of each rail.

At that point, the action of the two magnets on the tool pulls the Kadee coupler loops aside and uncouples the cars with little trouble. I should note that I use only Kadees or their metal clones from other makers, not the plastic ones from Bachmann, Atlas, Accurail, or Athearn/Horizon.

The Rix instructions refer to a "two handed" procedure, but as far as I can see, you basically just need one hand to position the tool using the flat handle -- and then you let the thing go and do its work. You then use the throttle to move the locomotive and pull the cars apart. No need for two hands at any point.

I don't understand why it took me so long to figure this out, but I'm happy now!

Railfan Expedition

On Thursday, I made a railfan expedition to the Pepper Avenue overpass at UP's West Colton Yard and Cajon Pass for the first time in about a year. I was half expecting to see something new, but what was surprising was how many things I saw that were old. Below is KCS 4545, a well-aged AC44CW that's at least 20 years old. I wonder if it will ever last long enough to get post-merger paint.

A newer KCS SD70ACe on a BNSF intermodal at Cajon. It'll be sad to see that paint scheme go.

The big surprise was three BNSF warbonnets within a short period of time:

Finally, leading the consist that had KCS 4018 above was BNSF 9265, an SD70ACe that's really unusual on Cajon Pass. These seem to get in only if they're cycling down to the diesel shop in Commerce.