Silver Sidelines

A few weeks back I posted somethoughts on the need for and the use of Capacitor Discharge Units (CDUs) with Peco solenoids. I reported that after some thirty years of model train operation I had now installed my first Capacitor Discharge Units. Under baseboard Gaugemaster Capacitor Discharge Unit At the time I did not see a great improvement in point operation. In a couple of cases the operation was worse after installing the CDU than previously with the power supplied directly from 16v auxiliary supply from my Gaugemaster DS controller. I suggested that the there was a problem with the quality of the push button momentary contact switches that I was using. Some of these switches had been in use for over thirty years on three different layouts. It was explained that without a CDU there was likely to be problems, not with operating the solenoids but with switching the current off after solenoid operation. Further that switching off larger currents as needed to operate two p...

I recently added my two-pennies-worth to an RMweb question about motorising Peco points. As a consequence and after some thirty years of playing with model trains I have now installed a couple of Capacitor Discharge Units (CDUs). What do I think? Well I have mixed feelings.  First some pictures (scanned images) going back in time to earlier layouts. Control panels with push buttons Bracken Ridge This was the Bracken Ridge layout from the early 1980s. I cannot remember but I don’t think model railways had heard of CDUs in the early 80s. Certainly I didn’t use a CDU and the Peco solenoids attached to my points were operated by momentary contact switches wired in parallel directly from the 16v auxiliary AC supply from my Hammant and Morgan controllers. Control panel Park View NB Hi-tech wire connectors to controller By the 1990s we had moved house and all the track, point motors and switches were reused in the new Park View layout. Again it never occurred to me...