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 55
I have been working on the problem with the reversing loop around the Jasper yard for about a week without any real success. I did discover that a connecting section of track was not transmitting current/signal but the primary problem of a locomotive shorting out when entering or leaving the reversing loop after a particular sequence of previous moves was maddeningly difficult.
I had finally isolated the problem to the one loop and to a particular sequence of moves (most moves resulted in a perfectly functioning operation) but I was still no further ahead in understanding what was causing this. I was now almost positive that the actual wiring was okay. And I was having difficulty believing it could be either the mobile decoders (since I tried 3 different locomotives with the same result) or the reversing loop stationary decoder. But at that point I was running out of alternatives.
When all else fails, read. Thus I began reading one of my books on DCC ("Practical Guide to Digital Command Control" 2008, by Larry Puckett. In it he mentions in chapter 7 that he had difficulties when he had a mix of DCC and non-DCC switches on the mainline as the digital system was able to keep track of the status of the DCC switches but was unaware of the status of the manual switches. Bingo!
I went downstairs and reviewed the mainline switches that led up to the area of the reversing loop. They were all DCC controllable. BUT I had been operating them manually since that was easy to do. I then set these 3 switches using my handheld cab and ran a locomotive over the reversing loop. Perfect.
This was easily the most challenging problem I have faced so far. But I am now much wiser and have a deeper understanding of the relationship among the different DCC components.
I still need to retest both reversing loops but at the moment I am confident that they will be working fine.