Daley Train Log
Page 31
Here is the comment I made on Tuesday (February 19):
The last two days with my model trains have been frustrating. The problem appears to be electrical, but at the moment I have no idea what is happening. Basically when I am only using my locomotive it travels the mainline track without any problem. But as soon as I add the B-unit (CN 6708) which is not powered (i.e. it is just a car to be pulled) I begin to have erratic behavior. Sometimes the train shorts out when going over a turnout and sometimes it shorts out when entering a reversing loop. At the moment I have not been able to spot the pattern, although I have replaced two turnouts that seemed to be where most of the problems occurred. The last run yesterday was just using CN 6700 and it went fine - no problems. I will now try adding CN 6708 and will keep detailed notes of what happens. Then I will remove CN 6708 and add one of my other cars and see what happens. I am looking for consistency as much as for anything. At the moment I am not sure if the problem is with the track or with my cars.
Here is the comment I made on Thursday (February 21):
The other obvious task is to return to my model trains and see if I can run a train on the mainline routes. My last two attempts were frustrating as I could not see a pattern to the electical shorts. My last session with just the locomotive CN 6700 was successful as I ran it over all the mainline routes without any problems. I will now begin slowly and see what happens when I try adding just unit CN 6708. If that is successful, I will try adding a few freight cars. I have every reason to hope that this will all work without any difficulties, but I also thought I was at that stage a couple of days ago and I was certainly wrong. I have replaced two turnouts and have yet to see if that has solved the problems.
Here is the comment that I made earlier today:
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.
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.
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Leaving Coaldale West |
CN 6700 & CN 6708 |
Crossing over the steel bridge |
Close-up |
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Rounding the curve behind Jasper |
Mainline behind Jasper |
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Rounding the curve behind Black Diamond |
Mainline behind Distillery Row |
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Rounding the curve in front of Queenston |
Close-up |
Rounding the curve at Pine Ridge |
Entering Coaldale East |