* Here's a few photos from the 2023 East Penn Traction Club "26th National Model Trolley Meet" at the Allentown Fairgrounds May 19-20, 2023.
* The 1st 5 photos (that's me in the orange shirt in the 1st photo) show my little MidwestTractionHub.com layout, that uses an NCE DCC 'Programmable Model Train Controller' (aka NCE Mini-Panel) to automatically operate THREE, 3-rail O-gauge MTH PCCs on 1 small loop -- using NO blocks and one Z-Stuff infrared detector. (All MTH 'Proto-3' locos {made since about 2011} can operate on DCC as well as MTH's proprietary DCS system.)
Youtube Video #834 https://youtu.be/_4jDeyx9xYU tries to explain how this system works.
* I used two 4' long x 40" wide sheets of 3/8 plywood, placed on top of the standard 8' x 30" wide office tables they use at these shows, to get enough width for the MTH 31" diameter Realtrax.
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FYI #1: My display was the only 3-rail display. All the other displays were 2-rail SCALE, with most layouts having their cars powered from that intricate overhead trolley wire. It just boggles my mind that all these people are talented enough to build this intricate overhead trolley wire systems.
FYI #2: There are about a dozen MORE PHOTOS by a gentleman named Ray Steffens in the private Facebook group named "Model Trolleys, Cable Cars and Trams" at https://www.facebook.com/groups/815247201849534 .
FYI #3: DCC AT THE MEET:
Almost all of these scale displays -- except 3 -- were powered by DC I believe. The HO layout next to mine was running Bachman DCC, one of the O-scale layouts was running Digitrax, and another of the O-scale layouts was running ESU DCC I believe.
I observed NO proprietary control systems being used.
