Tam Valley Replacements

[BCR751]

I am so sorry to hear about Duncan's illness and the pending demise of Tam Valley Depot. I thought I had finally found the perfect system to use with my N-Scale layout.  I managed to get about half of the layout done and now this.  What are N-Scalers going to use as replacements for the really good Tam Valley products?  So far, I haven't seen anything that comes close.

Doug

[C855B]

OH NO! I had not heard until you posted this, Doug. I feel for Dr. McRee and his family; this is tragic for them.

I, too, felt that TVD was the perfect system for my layout and invested heavily in TVD products, and was planning to buy much more. The LocoNet-based system plus great support for servos made a huge difference in making my large installation possible. I have enough on-hand to handle planned construction through mid-2022, but beyond that, am obviously going to research other systems or even develop something comparable around Arduino or Raspberry Pi.

The components shortage will eventually recede, but Dr. McRee's health situation is clearly dire and we all wish him the best.

[Jim Costello]

Fortunately the Frog juicers, circuit breaker and booster  systems will still be available. It's the servo system which is being discontinued.

I also felt the system was best for me, particularly the servos operating my hand made turnouts . The servo mounting bracket footprint was what sold us
over the larger Tortise unit.
I am also using all his products like the reversers, circuit breakers and boosters. The two button single crossover fascia controller he built for us  years ago
was no effort for him and solved a issue we had at the time.

Being a longtime  retailer of his products 'down under' and having met him personally,I have already expressed my hopes to him that someone will continue with
this line of servo control and more importantly he can overcome this hideous health issue.

Jim   NHRHTA L#082
Modelling the NH down under

[C855B]

In the groups.io TVM forum, Robin Becker, developer of the servo firmware, said that this news was too sudden to have developed a plan at this moment, but to rest assured that he expected there to be a future for the product line once everyone got their bearings and the component shortage was mitigated.

Essentially, stand by.

[BCR751]

Well, that is certainly encouraging news.  I'm using the servos along with the odd singlet and mostly the Octo III's.  I find them a breeze to work with and I also really like the small footprint.  Hopefully, we'll get some more good news once Robin has a chance to digest all of this.

Doug

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Oh man, ******** heart breaking.

I never used their stuff, but I admire what they've done, and feel terrible for the whole family there.

[CRL]

That is terrible news about Duncan… screw the product issue. I planned on using his servo controllers but I’ll figure out something else.

Prayers for Duncan and his family.

[John]

Not sure if this is old news or not -

News

Duncan just found out that he has stage IV lung cancer (no he never smoked) and is retiring immediately to spend time building his layout.  The rest of the family are going to still make Frog Juicers; Mono, Dual, Hex; Circuit Breakers and DCC Boosters.  All other products are discontinued.  Between Duncan leaving and the parts shortage it is too much to keep them going.

More parts out of stock - simply cannot buy the parts and the ditributor doesn't know when more will arrive!  This is an unprecendented shortage.  But if we don't have the parts we can't make it!  Singlets, SwitchWrights, Micro Singlet, Turtle, Servo reversers, No Buzz, Fascia controller Reverser all out of stock.

We are very sad to annouce the passing of our wonderful and valued employee Jack Eiermann due to COVID19.  If you ordered something from us you can be sure he had hand in making and shipping it.  Jack was with us for 12 years and we considered him a member of the family. Here is a link to his obituary.

International shortage of electronic parts is impacting us severely - please be patient.

COVID-19 Issues - We are open and shipping during this emergency.  We have had to suspend production of several items due to lack of manpower including assembled swith machines. Because of stay at home orders in California the crew are working at different locations which slows things down.  Stay safe and thank you for supporting us in this time!

[C855B]

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=52592.0

[glakedylan]

so sorry to hear this re: Duncan
T&Ps and sure hope he can continue his own modeling


"C" sucks


sincerely
Gary

[C855B]

Positive reports on the Tam Valley front...

Dr. McRee's treatment regimen is showing promising results. Keep him in your T&P.

Frog Juicers, DCC boosters and circuit breakers remain in production. http://www.tamvalleydepot.com

Robin Becker, the designer of the QuadLN_S servo controller, has assumed production and support of this product and expansion boards. New site is https://quadln.n3ix.com/. A test production run "went to press" on 10/27 and he expects to have new boards available very soon.

Personally, the last bit of news was a huge relief. My MRR's electronics are entirely based on the QuadLN_S, and I was not looking forward to managing different "Phase 1" and "Phase 2" control systems, the latter requiring much more homebrew effort. Tip o' the hat to Robin for saving my cookies.

[Wolf N Works]

2nd big thanks out to Robin

Also that is great news to hear for Duncan

[CRL]

Very good news.