Command 2000 Modifications
BUILDING TETHERED WALKAROUNDS

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Use one or two of these simple tethered walkaround throttles with your modified Command 2000 The throttles are easy to make.  The photos below show the rear and front of a throttle built into a 1"x2"x4" plastic case.  A 10,000 ohm potentiometer (10k pot) is located in the centre of the case and fitted with a knob numbered 0 to 10.  A linear 10k pot will give a speed curve much like the slide control in the command station.  Optionally, a logarithmic 10k pot will extend the low speeds over the first half turn of the knob.  Some operators hate the logarithmic pots because they give a dead feel to the locomotive.  Personally, I like the improvement in control at switching speeds.  Fortunately, the throttles are cheap and easy to make, so you can make extras to please everybody.   The red and black wires of a length of four wire flat, flexible telephone cable are connected to the centre and counter clockwise terminals of the pot (in the photo, the black wire goes to the counter clockwise terminal.)  Located above the pot is a membrane type push button switch, held in with hot melt glue.  Membrane switches are low bounce and make contact only once each time they are pressed.  I salvaged a pile of them from a used VCR bought at a garage sale for $5.  An alternative that I have not tried personally but Russ Widom tells me works well is to use an ordinary push button with a 4.7 µf capacitor wired across it.  Just be sure that the negative lead of the capacitor is connected to the ground (common return) side of the push button.  These push buttons and capacitors are available from Radio Shack.  The second pair of wires from the telephone cable are connected to the push button.  At the other end of the cable, the pair of wires from the pot connects to the ring and tip of a miniature stereo phone plug labelled "speed" and the pair of wires from the push button connects to the ring and tip of a similar plug labelled "direction".  These plugs can be plugged into speed jack #2 and direction jack #2 to make this a #2 throttle or they can be plugged into jacks #3 to make it a #3 throttle. Noticeably missing from these throttles are light and accessory buttons.  I use simple decoders with no accessory function, so we really do not need the accessory buttons.  Lights on switchers we leave turned on all the time as an easy check on direction when they are stopped.  Standard practice on my layout is to turn switcher lights on at the command station when we power up.  If your operation demands more buttons, you will have to add more phone jacks to your command station, add more push buttons to your walkarounds, and use cables with more wires in them.  These additions will be no more difficult than the modifications already performed. VISIT  THE OTHER PAGES IN THIS SERIES Modifying MRC Walkarounds  An easy modification of your MRC Command 2000 Walkaround throttles will allow them to be used in pairs without interfering with one another Modifying the Command Station   Some simple changes to the command station allow you to use two additional walkaround throttles. Building Memory Walkarounds  Use two of these with your command station, modified or not, to replace the memory walkarounds supplied by MRC. Cords and Cables  Some guidance on extension cords and installing throttle stations.  Return to DCC index page