February 22

Friday February 22, 2008 5:05 am Lethbridge, Alberta

It is -6 C with a high forecast of +9 C. Sunrise 7:29 Sunset 18:00 Hours of daylight: 10:31

12:20 PM

A. Morning Musings

Today should be a continuation of yesterday: some work on the model train layout and a little recreational reading. Not too ambitious. I may feel like taking on more once I have the model trains working.

It would be nice if I could isolate the difficulty with the model trains. At the moment I am leaning toward a problem with the logic of the wiring. If I am right, this may mean some real adjustments to the track layout. Not a pleasant thought. I want to be absolutely sure I understand this before I make any changes.

This is a time for a fresh cup of coffee and a trip to the basement.

Learning Category	Planned Activities for Today	Time
Literature	Begin morning with a Rumi reading
Literature	Continue reading "Snow" by Orhan Pamuk	1 hr
Model Trains	Check operational running of train on the mainline routes	5 hr

B. Actual Learning Activities

8:00 am

Model Trains: I think I have finally determined the problem. Very tricky. The locomotive kept shorting out on a turnout. I was not sure if it was due to a wiring problem involving the reversing loops or a problem with the turnout. I tried changing the wiring a little but that didn't make any difference. However it did improve the overall situation by lengthening the length of the train that could be run over the trestle. So the change is still worthwhile even though it didn't solve my problem. I then tried exchanging the turnout and that didn't help either. I finally removed the turnout and replaced it with a piece of straight track. The locomotive then shorted out at the next turnout. Interesting. I ran the locomotive forward and back over the turnout with no problem, but when I ran it in one direction from the middle of the reversing loop I would consistently have a short at the first turnout after it left the reversing loop. This made no sense from the perspective of the logic of the wiring and the reversing loop. I was also sure that it wasn't the turnout as exchanging it made no difference, and these were turnouts that worked fine at other locations on the layout. I was definitely confused and was running out of ideas. I then noticed that the leading wheels on the back truck of the diesel were failing to follow the turnout setting. This was what was causing the short. Now the question was why were those wheels acting up when they didn't have problems anywhere else on the layout. I was looking at the track near the reversing loop when I happened to place my hand on the curved track in the middle of the reversing loop. There was a noticeable bump and I quickly saw that one of the rail joints was out by a little. Since this was on a curve it was enough to slightly shift the tracking of the leading wheels but not enough to really derail the unit. Then when these wheels met the next turnout they failed to follow the track and voila, a short. So the problem was not the wiring and not the turnout but simply a poor rail joint between two pieces of curved track that caused the wheels to track poorly when going over the joint in one direction. I still have to nail down some of the track again and then try testing this all over again, but I now have a reason for the problem and am confident that things will progress much more smoothly soon.

11:50 am

Finally. I have just completed three long runs along all of the mainline routes. The first trial was using diesel locomotive CN 6700 at a speed of 30 on the hand held control. No problems. The second trial was the same unit at a speed of 40. No problems. The third trial was units CN 6700 & CN 6708 at a speed of 40. No problems. This is what I was expecting about 4 days ago. It is a good feeling to have a positive correlation between reality and one's mind's eye. Now I am ready to try running a small consist of 4 freight cars.

8:00 PM

Here is my final comment for today: as near as I can tell, total success. I have run CN 6700 for two complete passages over all the mainline routes, the first at a speed of 30, the second at a speed of 40. No problems. I then ran CN 6700 & CN 6708 lashed together over all the mainline routes at a speed of 40. Once again, no problems.

I then created a consist of CN 6700 & CN 6708 pulling 4 cars (CN 210048 refrigerator, CN 524270 boxcar, CN 123411 gondola, CN 78213 caboose). I ran this train over all the mainline routes at a speed of 40 with no problems. This is the first fully operational run of a train over all of the mainline routes on my layout. I am delighted. I thought I was ready for this on Monday, but it took some serious problem solving in the face of data that wasn't making any sense to me before I finally realized what the real problem was. Now I hope to get on with some serious progress. I want to divide my time now between making improvements to my layout or cars and to running actual trains. The next step for improvements is to assemble a hand throw for one of the turnouts. The next step for the running of a train is to imagine a simple situation where I drop off a car at an appropriate location and/or pick up a car.

Here are a few images of a photo-shoot run after I had completed the operational run. Once again, no problems.


Leaving Coaldale West	CN 6700 & CN 6708

Crossing over the steel bridge	Close-up

Rounding the curve behind Jasper	Mainline behind Jasper

Rounding the curve behind Black Diamond	Mainline behind Distillery Row

Rounding the curve in front of Queenston	Close-up

Rounding the curve at Pine Ridge	Entering Coaldale East