The Damascus, Gaithersburg,

& Mount Airy Railroad Lines Layout

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Welcome to the Damascus, Gaithersburg, & Mount Airy Railroad Lines (known as the Damascus Line)!

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My O gauge layout consists of two loops. It was first constructed in early 2011 and began with the inner loop, which was originally a loop of RealTrax from my MTH 30-4208-1 Pennsylvania 4-6-0 Steam Freight Ready-To-Run set; it was controlled by the DCS Remote Commander set that also came with this set. The inner loop was powered by a 50-watt Z-500 power supply from the same set. Next, the outer loop was constructed and tested about a year later. Like the inner loop, the outer one is also RealTrax and was controlled by the inexpensive Remote Commander set. In Christmas of 2012, however, the inner loop of RealTrax was replaced by a loop of Lionel FasTrack in favor of my Lionel Polar Express O Gauge set. The Remote Commander set and the Z-500 were also replaced by the 80-watt CW-80 transformer that came with the Polar Express set. In February of 2015, I replaced the Z-500 with the more powerful MTH 100-watt Z-1000 power supply for safer and more reliable operation of the outer loop. 

 

In late May of 2015, I installed the MTH Digital Command System (known as DCS) for more advanced functionality on my layout. It consists of the DCS handheld remote and the Track Interface Unit (TIU). As a result, my Remote Commander set was disconnected. The TIU has four channels. Two are "Fixed Voltage", which is used for running not only MTH DCS-equipped engines but also Lionel engines equipped with Trainmaster Command Control (TMCC) or LEGACY. The other two are "Variable Voltage", which is used primarily for non-command (conventional) engines. I use one fixed channel for command control on the outer loop and one variable channel for conventional operation on the inner loop. The MTH Z-1000 is connected to the fixed channel while the Lionel CW-80 is connected to the variable channel. So far, I have one command-controlled loop and one conventional loop. Currently, all of my MTH engines are equipped with DCS while all of my Lionel engines (except one) are conventional, including motorized units. As of 2021, I now have at least one command-controlled LionChief Plus 2.0 engine in my Lionel fleet. In case you're curious, I don't have any TMCC or LEGACY engines at present. But if I want to run TMCC and LEGACY engines, I would get a Lionel LEGACY Control System to run them while still using my MTH DCS system to run DCS and conventional engines. In July of 2015, I replaced one straight section of Lionel FasTrack with the Lionel operating track section to unload operating cars like the log car and the coal dump car. I use a controller that came with the track section. 

 

In Fall 2015, MTH released its official DCS mobile app and the Wi-Fi module to allow train operation with smartphones or tablets. For that activity, I used my Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone (with Android OS) that I purchased in late August of that same year. The Wi-Fi Interface Unit (WIU) was installed during Christmas of 2015. Although it allows users to run trains without the DCS handheld, I personally prefer keeping the remote because I don't want to break up the original DCS set. As of late July 2020, my Galaxy S6 was replaced by the Samsung Galaxy A71 5G smartphone with the same mobile operating system.

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Here are the organized details below.

 

Table Dimensions: Approximately 7 feet long & 6 feet wide

 

Power:

 

Outer loop - MTH 40-1000A 100-Watt Z-1000 Transformer Power Supply (formerly 50-Watt Z-500 Power Supply from MTH 30-4208-1 Pennsylvania 4-6-0 Steam Freight R-T-R Set)

 

Inner loop - 80-Watt CW-80 Transformer from Lionel 6-31960 Polar Express O Gauge Set 

 

Control:

 

MTH 50-1001 DCS Remote Control Set (formerly DCS Remote Commander Set from MTH R-T-R Set for outer loop & 80-Watt CW-80 Transformer for inner loop)

 

Track:

 

Outer loop - MTH RealTrax

 

Inner loop - Lionel FasTrack from Lionel 6-31960 Polar Express O Gauge Set (formerly RealTrax from MTH R-T-R Set)

 

Minimum Curve: O-36 (inner loop)

 

Maximum Curve: O-42 (outer loop)

 

Accessory: Lionel 6-12054 Operating Track Section controlled by its included controller.

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WiFi: 50-1034 DCS Wi-Fi Module