uN-Convention '99 was GREAT - No Bull!!!

The following links will take you to six pages of snapshots taken by the redoubtable Chester Freedenthal* over the three days (and then some!) of the uN-Convention...

* with a little help from his friends

(Be patient when loading these pages - there are a lot of pictures!)

Another Look at the uN-Convention

by Bernard Kempinski

The 1999 uNconvention in Richmond, VA is over and by all accounts it was a tremendous success. Hosted by RANTRAK, with helper service by NVNTRAK, the uNconvention featured two layouts with 290 modules as part of an expanded GATS show. Several reports have described the overall event and festivities including the action at the Henry Clay Inn in Ashland, one of the premier train watching locales on the east coast. This report focuses on the action on the layouts with emphasis on the DCC RF&P division.

>In an upstairs room 32 modules formed a loop for traditional NTRAK action. Downstairs, on the main floor were the remaining 262 modules arranged in one large layout comprising two divisions. The larger division encompassed 38 scale miles of NTRAK modules powered using Aristocraft radio throttles. The other division included 21 scale miles of oNeTRAK, TWIN TRAK, and standard NTRAK modules using Digitrax radio DCC.

Operating procedures were similar on both divisions but the DCC and dispatcher control made the DCC division more complicated.

The analog division had no dispatcher. Once trains left the yard they followed along on the red line watching signals that indicated block boundaries and polarity but not occupancy. Operators programmed their handheld throttle as they moved from block to block according to signs posted at each block boundary. See ourWireless Throttles for a complete description of how Aristo throttles work in an NTRAK set up

The DCC division was appropriately named the RF&P division since it linked Steve Trigg's mile plus long Alexandria yard with RANTRAK's nearly as big Acca yard in accordance with the real RF&P. Between yards were a series of 51 checkpoints (CPs) and twenty passing sidings. A dispatcher controlled bi-directional movement on this single and double tracked, unsignalled railroad using track warrants.

To run a train on the RF&P division, an operator reported to the central DCC power desk with one or more DCC equipped engines. The power desk reprogrammed the loco addresses to the train ID number. All engines in the consist received the same address to keep things simple. The operator specified the order of the engines would run and the power desk ensured that all the CVs were correct. A laptop computer with the PR-1 hardware and software made this an easy chore. Then the power desk issued the operator a Cobra radio and Digitrax DT-100R wireless throttle (Both Cobra Electronics and Digitrax provided equipment to the layout which worked wonderfully. Many thanks.)

The operator then reported to the yard master at either end of the layout and requested permission to set up a train. Train lengths were kept to six feet of less (about 15 cars) because most of the sidings were short. On occasion the dispatcher would allow a longer train to leave which really spiced things up. When set-up the yardmaster would give the crew permission to enter the yard throat. There the crew called the dispatcher for clearance to enter the main.

Dispatchers provided simplified verbal track warrants to the crews. Unlike the prototype, these crews did not have to write down and read back the track warrants. They proceeded according to the dispatchers instructions making meets and passes as directed. A run across the complete division took about one hour and twenty minutes. At times trains were running from one CP to another CP over two miles away at realistic track speeds. In my opinion that was really neat, and maybe unprecedented on a model railroad...

In addition to the radios, ZCOMM, a small telecommunications firm and member of NVNTRAK, provided telephone service linking most of the yards, CPs and dispatcher. The dispatcher was quite busy trying to keep up to 10 trains running at the same time. Radio chatter was intense and provided an additional element for train show spectators to watch and listen. Trains ran from Friday afternoon until 10PM., then nearly 18 hours on Saturday and 10 hours on Sunday. Whew!

It's hard to describe an event were nearly two hundred folks get together from around the world to build and operate a large and technically complex layout such as this. Folks from as far away as Australia, Switzerland and Canada attended.