Layout
Track Plan
DCC
Structures
Scenery
Railroad
Locomotives
Rolling Stock
Maintenance
Layout
Track Plan
DCC
Structures
Scenery
Railroad
Locomotives
Rolling Stock
Maintenance
Daley Train Log
Page 37
I finally got around to cleaning ALL of the track in the Coaldale Yard. I then began running diesel switcher CN 7984, an S4 switcher on the track to see if there were any problems.
Photo from database
Here are 3 photos that I took while running CN 7985 in the Coaldale Yard:
The short answer is yes, there was a problem. But not the kind I was expecting. The unit traversed a number of tracks without any problems but then it suddenly simply stopped and shut down. That caught me off guard. Why?
It took me a few minutes to realize that when I finalized the track layout in the Yard a few months ago I made a couple of "minor" changes as I realized that the tracks were too close together. One of these changes involved setting up an end-around capability so a locomotive could come into a section of the Yard nose first, drop off the cars, and then switch over to an adjoining track and reverse out of the section. Great idea.
But, I now realize, this also created a reversing loop situation. As a result the locomotive totally shorted out as soon as it entered this part of the layout.
However there is also good news. I had an extra "reversing loop module" (a small electronic component that could sense a possible short and change the polarity of the section in a fraction of a second) as a result of changing my layout in a different part of the layout. I doubted that I would ever use this module - now I need it. I will install this during my next session.