Perspectives from our Throttle Development Team

Throughout the first week of February, our WiFi Command System development team - comprised of Stuart Baker, Balazs Racz, and John Socha-Leialoha - spent more than a week working from the TCS shop in Blooming Glen, PA. The worked alongside our TCS staff to make great progress on the development of the Universal WiFi Throttles as well as the Command Station.

In the interview below, they share their perspectives on the upcoming systems and throttles, including thoughts on LCC, WiFi, ergonomics, protocols, and more.

The command station team also interacted with users throughout the week on various forum threads and shared their experiences. The week culminated in a testing session on Rich Murray's HO scale layout. Testing went very well, and we are now moving onto the final development stages. Keep an eye out for announcements as we finalize development and testing, enter production, and prepare for release. The Universal WiFi Throttles will be here before you know it!
 

Currently in production: NEW Keep-Alives®!

Those of you that visited us at the Amherst show got a firsthand look at our reintroduction of the KA1 and KA2 line of Keep-Alive® devices. 

Almost perfect for our N-scale faithful, the redesigned KA1 and KA2 Keep-Alive® modules are smaller than our existing KA3 and KA4, but still hold a powerful charge - enough to keep your HO and N scale locomotives running across dirty and faulty trackwork. 

The new devices are currently finishing their first production run and will be available soon. It won't be long now, so keep an eye out! 

See a clip of our announcement at Amherst here:

 

WOWSound-equipped Streamlined K4s Available now!

The Bachmann Streamlined K4 4-6-2 is flying off the shelves! This beautifully detailed model comes WOWSound-equipped and includes Audio Assist® for easy locomotive configuration and a Keep Alive® device for uninterrupted operation over dirty track! See detailed information below. Four road numbers are available, contact your local hobby retailer to place an order today!

Thanks for joining us at the Railway Hobby Show 2019!

A big THANK YOU to everyone that stopped by and visited us at the 2019 Railway Hobby Show! We had a really wonderful time!

Some highlights: 

The Clinic

TCS hosted a well-attended and well-received clinic on Friday afternoon, detailing the upcoming WiFi Command System, and Universal WiFi Throttle.

The Booth

Visitors had a great time using our new command system and throttles on the LCC layout at our booth. We had a ton of great questions and interested users. Development continues, so keep your ears open for a release date in the next few months! 

Our brand new smaller Keep-Alive® devices are making their way through production as of this recap, and will be available very soon! 

See a brief recap of some show stuff below:

Thanks again to all who attended, Mike and Barry for the opportunity to present a clinic, and the folks at the Railway Hobby Show who made it all happen. We'll see you next year!

Introducing: TCS High Bass WOWSpeaker

You haven’t heard WOWSound until you’ve heard it through our 28mm 4W High Bass WOWSpeaker! This speaker can deliver an unprecedented 4 watts of power, and showcases a mighty bass reflex that packs quite the sonic punch. Your layout will rumble and vibrate underneath your locos in prototypical fashion, and you might find yourself concerned that there's an actual locomotive roaming around somewhere in your house!

Bigger doesn’t always mean better, but in this case… well, it does. Measuring in at 13.5mm (0.53") thick (includes rubberized mounting gasket) this speaker is considerably taller than it’s round cousin, and that extra length is where the magic happens. This speaker is still 28mm (1.1") in diameter - exactly like our 28mm round speakers -  and will still fit within a 28mm speaker footprint. The larger speaker driver will easily handle any and all roaring, grumbling, wheezing, and horn blasting you can throw at it. The specially-designed aluminum cone allows for a greater bass response that produces deeper and richer sounds, closer to the prototype than ever!

The speaker comes with an adhesive mounting gasket, which allows for unrestricted movement of the cone after installation. The speaker should be installed with the gasket partially (not entirely) compressed. This gasket prevents provides a space in front of the speaker which allows the cone to fully deflect; this prevents distortion or other physical damage to the speaker cone, and ensures longer life within your model compared to similar speakers without a gasket which will make contact with whatever they are mounted against.

Here are some of the specs, for the audiophiles and otherwise sonically-inclined among us:

There's never been a better time to invest in your model railroad sound infrastructure - everyone is getting serious about sound quality across the hobby. With the response we've already received, these speakers very well might become the new standard companion for sound decoders. Partner the highest-quality sound in the industry with speakers that can do it justice!  Turn heads and tickle ears at the club this holiday season when you order your High Bass speakers today!