A group from Moncton are coming over on Saturday for a day of operating. It should be a fun day and I’m sure I’ll have lots of stories for next week (as long as I take the time to post them).
I haven’t had much time to work on the layout but with the impending visit in mind I did take some time on the weekend to work on some electrical issues.
The track layout in Chappellton has changed many times since the layout was first constructed. I originally had feeder wires to just about every siding in the town. The feeders were disconnected to allow for rearranging the track and, although most of them were reattached, apparently I missed some. So I re-soldered feeders to the passenger track where we were seeing trains slow down for some “unexplained” reason. I also relocated some other unused feeder wires to the industrial area of Chappellton where we lost power completely during the last operating session. Hopefully that town will run much better on Saturday.
There was a short section of track in Stevenville, between two turnouts, where we were having issues with locos stalling. So I ran new feeder wires to that section. Unfortunately that did not resolve the issue. I discovered that the locos were actually losing power on the point rails of one of the turnouts. So I installed jumpers across the riveted section of the point rails and everything works fine now. However, I was not careful enough when I soldered the fine wires across the opening and actually soldered across the gap. This resulted in the joint being too stiff for the Z-spring wire I had installed in the turnout’s throw bar. I had to install a Caboose ground throw. It’s amazing how one simple thing can lead to so many jobs.
I also started wiring a series of plugs around the layout that will be used for accessory power. The plugs will be switched from a single location near the door using a lighted switch as a reminder that the power is on. Since wiring the lights in the passenger station in Chappellton I have left the wall wort power supply plugged in for days. Fortunately the bulbs do not get so hot that they melt the styrene on the street above.
There are a few more things I’d like to do before Saturday and precious little free time to do them. As long as we have operating instructions we’ll be good to go. The other things will just have to go undone.
Anyway, there will be more next week, I hope. Until then – don’t drive your trains while talking on a cell phone! It’s against the law now, you know. You should get a Bluetooth device.
Scott