Pittsburgh Ind Hi-Railers ZWL Break in -Running Session.

Great looking layout. Thanks for sharing.

Good morning Patrick, Looked like a great time.

Your layout is one of the finest layout's I've ever seen. The size of it is just the type I want to build when I purchase my new home in year's to come. It's one of my favorite layouts on the forum, just incredible. Thanks for sharing.

P.S. Patrick I would love to see a video with the camera mounted on a flat car going around your whole layout. I'm sure it would be a really fun ride.

Thanks, Alex

Wish I could have made it last night.  Been working late getting ready for our annual ISO surveillance audit.

Did you run any conventional stuff (this would be a big bonus with the club)?

Can't wait for the setup this weekend in Monroeville.  I need some train time...

Andy

Andy,

   You definitely missed a real nice evening at Patrick's house, don't remember running any Conventionals that night, but we did have a couple real nice DCS Mon Switches pulling some serious passenger cars.

PCRR/Dave

Ditto that.  Can never get enough pics of your layout, Patrick.  The high-angle shots in this latest set of photos really show some terrific views of the entire layout.  

David

Keep the pictures coming Patrick, one of the best layouts on the forum.

Jack

Patrick how much is a 2013 family season pass to your basement? Is it worth getting if we only come over 3 times a year or does it pay for itself by that point.

That really is mouth-dropping, beautiful, Patrick H. Your consistent artistic expression throughout everything is inspiring, imbuing the whole layout with a unity that makes everything look very real, indeed. I'll be pouring over every photo for quite a while. You know how to play, man! Thanks for the privilege of the peek here. It's nice to see somebody from my hometown area having such a good ol' time of it with trains. To me, the whole layout looks and feels like Pennsylvania.

Frank M.

Patrick’s layout is simply breathtaking, as is his beautiful home. Pictures give you a hint of what it is, but cannot convey the magnitude, extent of detail, and overall impression as when it is seeing in person.

There may be a few, very few, model railroaders that have the willpower and posses the skills necessary to attempt to build an empire similar to Patrick’s. But I am sure that none exist that could do it in the approximately two years that took Patrick to complete his unique masterpiece. He has paid careful attention to every corner, flat surface, hill, rock, structure, turnout signal, etc., and has made it look ‘real’.

My wife Judy and I had the distinct privilege of being Patrick’s and his wife’s guests last year, and it was an experience to cherish.

 Thank you for sharing, Patrick!

Alex

Man oh man Patrick do I love that layout!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unbelievable detail and all in two years or so!  WOW!  Joe

Patrick,

Your layout is the best that I ever saw.

Patrick

Were you using Powerhouse 180 bricks? Since you are now using the ZW-L, will you be selling the old bricks? If so, I would like to buy some of them.

Thanks

Nick

We always have a super time running trains passing the BS and eating great food. I am a conventional guy but I did not take a train to run. Get home from work at 6 them I spent about 45 min with the wife and out the door. Next time I will take something to run.

That ZWL has me thinking about selling my 2 Z4000s and getting one.

I dont have a layout at home to run my big steamers so it is very nice Patrik has us over to play trains.

Best home layout !!!! amazing how fast you got it to come together!!

Very cool. Thanks for all the photos. I'll second the request for some videos. Especially of the modified steamers with all that smoke!!!

I see a whole lot of potential there for a great magazine feature and probably a video segment as well!  Very fine work!

I was there and there were 5 trains running two were long passenger ( lighted).Some doubled headed trains. Read the post on the New ZWL  there are pictures of Patricks old control set up and of the new one. Patrik would be able to explain how this New ZWL can do it.

 Like This : The BEAST 10 AMPs Individiual Channel distribution.

Sean,

The answer to your question . If you read the post  about the New ZW L  , I had 4 mainlines divided into 8 blocks with 1 brick on each block. I was seriously concerned that the new ZWL wouldnt handle it. Now each of the 4 mainlines is on 1 Leg or TR of the ZWL. Mentioned in the thread, tested we could not overload it with the 30 passenger cars and 14 smoke units going.

So is 1 ZWL  enough. I dont know depends on what is your enough.

It is for me.  I use completely seperate wiring and transformers for anything not connected to the track to avoid signal issues.So I saved 2 bricks and 2 powermasters for the town lights and whatever power for switches etc..

Thanks, Dave.  Running PS2/3 engines in conventional was what I was thinking, considering the ZW-L's capability to run conventional via Legacy.  It would be ideal for the club, since we don't need most of the DCS features when we are running a display.  One of these would allow us to run everything via Legacy!

In any case, I know what transformer I will be buying when I build my permanent layout.

Andy

Some folks will choose to run more than one ZW-L simply because they "can" rather than because it's what they "need".  Think back to Lionel's wonderful 1949 showroom layout in Manhattan.  That  puppy was "only" 16x32, and was basically composed of concentric loops.  But I'll never forget the WOW factor when I saw a picture featuring an entire bank of ZW's at the helm.  That was the 1940's toy train version of the starship Enterprise.    Amazing!

Patrick, you need at least one more ZW-L for the effect!!!  

David

Sean,

   No over hype, if you have 2 of these new ZW-L transformers I doubt you will ever need anything else.  Patrick engineers like me however, and uses different transformers for anything not connected to the tracks for running trains.  Remember however these ZW-L transformers are not in-expensive.  Patrick was very patient with everyone as we got use to running his trains, the ZW-L was a lot more powerful than I expected, and he was not kidding about wrecking trains, thru out the night, as we tested the ZW-L's power.     

PCRR/Dave

I'm not one to give praise, when it's not really merited; just to make someone feel good.

Patrick, your layout is superb; far superior to anything I've seen before; including, the big club layouts.

My compliments.

Rick