Railking Realtrax and Power supply. To keep or not...

The Z500 would make an excellent power supply for using Aux power on a DCS TIU, but it sounds like you are running conventional. If DCS is in your future I would definitely keep it for TIU power, or you could even power a small loop of track with it through the TIU. There is a controller available from MTH for your Z500 to operate conventionally. I don't know if it will work with the Lionel controller you pictured?

 

There is nothing wrong with RealTrax, but if Fastrack was your preferred track I would stay with that and sell the RealTrax is you no longer want it. You could put the proceeds toward more Fastrack.

 

The Remote commanders show up here on the for sale forum from time to time if you want to get that going again.

Thanks.

  Gives me some stuff to consider.  I've seen the Railking Z-500 controller and it looks pretty good,  The only one they seem to sell separately from the power supply is the Z-750 which seems to work best with a stronger power supply.  

 

By the way, what's TIU?

The Z controller they sell is for either the Z500 or Z750, I believe. I think it will work just fine with either one. If I was going to purchase a new one I would get the Z1000. I am not sure they sell the Z750 anymore, might be just the Z500 & Z1000? 

 

The TIU is the Track Interface Unit that comes with the full MTH Digital Command System. That is MTH's top of the line control system for running PS2 & PS3 engines in command mode. It's the full blown version of the Remote commander you had.

 

Depends what you have for sizes for Realtrax & Fastrack. If you have O-31 Realtrax curves & O-36 Fastrack curves and want a loop inside the Fastrack then get the 2 of each Fastrack Transition and Realtrax Adapter pieces as the O-31 Realtrax curves will fit inside the O-36 Fastrack curves whereas the O-31 Fastrack curves will not. Painter Tape over the Realtrax rails and light coats of gray paint until you get the Realtrax to blend in with the Fastrack. Let dry and remove tape. I did this in 2 areas on my layout (still in slow progress) due to lack of space on it. I don't have my track screwed down but instead have it all sitting on black foam  ( like Woodland Scenic Trackbed) with the foam glued to the plywood and the track glued to the top of the foam.  The Transition & Adapter pieces don't fit tight to each other so I just superglue them together.  Works for me okay.

Thanks RTR 12,

        I certainly am learning alot here.

 

Gary P,

      Good to know. I hadn't thought about the benefits of running a smaller loop inside the 0-36 Realtrack  Even if they don't connect, it'd be a pretty neat way to add some interest.  I just went ahead and ordered a NOS remote controller and IR lockout I found on Ebay.  at $24, it's a small price to pay for being able to make the loop functional.

Yes the O-31 Realtrax curves will fit inside Fastrack O-36 curves.  Fastrack curves are measured differently and O-31 Fastrack curves will NOT fit inside O-36 Fastrack curves. Even if you just wanted a siding for storage of rolling stock inside the Fastrack curves you just need the Fastrack Transition & Realtrax Adapter pieces to switch between track brands before the Realtrax curve pieces.

That's Great!

The Controller and lockout are on their way.  Don't have any switches or adaptors yet, but If everything works out I think we may have to have a separate Realtrax loop inside our Fastrack outer loop this year.