Ops Session Remediation Tasks

This week the job was to address some of the documented issues from the Operations Session last Sunday.  There were four locations where track power was compromised.  Three were fixed by Tuesday.  Upon looking at the timetable, three trains were just starting so they were backup up and the fast clock set back so they can restart at the next Operations Session which is probably on 20^th August.  While backing up one train, I had an issue with one wagon not taking a set of points.  I checked it out and its bogie screws must have been superglued many moons back and I could not adjust the tension.  So I got out the drill and tried to drill out the bogie screw.  I eventually did this and removed the bogie.  I pushed the existing screw into the louvre van, and inserted some styrene tube into the bogie screw hole.  I then used a new screw through the middle of the tube to secure the bogie.  I then retested the wagon being backed up through the points and this worked well.  I did not bother with the screw at the other end, as it seems to have a bit more play than the one I monstered with the drill.

During the Ops Session, one wagon, which is used as a spacer wagon to allow a Gas tanker to be positioned in its unloading compound with the loco staying outside the compound gates, had a KD coupler that was not moving well within its box.  So I removed that KD, and replaced it with a new KD.  It seems to track a lot better now.  Given that our Ops Session went for 3 hours and ran at 4:1 fastclock, I reset the fastclock time for the next session to start at 7:50am to give the crew some time to whistle out a couple of trains at 8:00am at the next session.  That is when two trains start off, and a couple others start soon after.  One train is still on the layout mid-way through its run. 

I also spent some time investigating the headsets again.  I could see where a wire was off back at the main connection point near the main amplifier where all the wire runs come together.  That took out a full run of headsets. No doubt someone brushed against this location and the wire gave way under stress.  I also found three more wires off, on individual headsets plug in points, no doubt due to the stress they are placed under plugging and unplugging headsets and pushing the push-to talk button by the crew during the Ops Session.  But I fixed all those, screwing one headset plug-in-panel down at a second point, and everything is up and running 100% again.  Just right for the next Ops Session.

The last power supply issue on the track is in Rocklea Yard.  I saved this until later in the week to fix.  It turned out that when I added narrow gauge/standard gauge crossover at Rocklea, I never tested the standard gauge trackage again.  I ran plenty of narrow gauge trains to test it, and they worked.  Now, in hindsight I see that the standard gauge tracks were getting power from the other side of the crossover.  So one rail was not powered at all.  So I jumpered the power around the crossover and standard gauge trains now run in Rocklea Sidings again.

I had been noticing for quite some time that my Power District 5, Acacia Ridge to South Brisbane was pulling 0.5 Amps with no activity on the section.  That said I had a few locos sitting there idle, and of course I run various LED lights (for a few staff sections) off the track bus.  I could not work out what was causing this.  However, on Wednesday I was playing with some cut out switches on my control panel and when I turned off the isolation switch from Power District 6, the Ammeter on Power District 5 turned off.  I immediately thought that when I installed the various dual gauge crossovers (from Dutton park to Fisherman Islands) now controlled by an auto reverser, I might have connected some sections of track between the two power districts.  The section after Dutton Park to Fisherman Islands is controlled by Power District 6.  A quick visual inspection and sure enough I was correct in my suspicions.  So I had to remove my auto-reverser feeds from Power District 6, and connect it to power district 5.  I also had to add an insulated joiner in one spot and I just dremelled the other rail on the boundary after Dutton Park on the narrow gauge track.  The two power districts are now back separate and trains are running well on the standard gauge.  I also found out that one wire to Power District 6's ammeter had come adrift.  So I resoldered that and now that is also working.

One other major issue with the layout is that I think I am getting low voltage from my power transformer to the DCC control system.  So I bit the bullet and ordered a new 24V DC 6 Amp bruiser from eBay on Monday.  It arrived on Thursday.  Documentation says that the maximum DC voltage that the DCC system can take it 24V.  So that is why I did it.  The original one, which is now about 16 or 17 years old, was only putting out 15.3V AC when it was supposed to put out 16V.  I think when it is under load, it drops its voltage further as well.  My layout pulls between 1.5 and 1.7 Amps before we start the Ops Sessions with about 70 locos sitting on the track, various auto reversers, truck loads of DS64’s point controllers, many QSnap point controllers and lots of LED lights for my 15 sections of Staff machines, as well as three Arduinos also running various lights also powered from the track bus.  When we operate, I can get up to 3.5 Amps easy showing on my layout Ammeter.  So the original DCC output was measured at 13.3V before I changed power supplies.  Given that I use at least one level of Ammeters on the track output, the actual power to the track for the trains is way less than 13.3V.  It is near 11V.  With the new power supply, it still measured 13.3V.  Not good, as this means that the power level is being set up the PowerPro circuitry.  So I will have to open up the PowerPro and adjust the voltage pot in the command station so it puts out about 15V to the track. 

I am also looking at purchasing another DCC Booster which will also need a separate 24V DC 6 Amp power supply.  This will allow me to spread my DCC workload onto two Boosters.  It will mean that I need to do some basic rewiring to my NCE EB1’s but that is an easy task. 

Saturday Morning a few of us went over to the future AR Convention location and had a scout around.  We worked out that we can up the numbers in a certain room where our hands on clinics are being held.  So that is a good outcome as many are already booked out. Today I went to a local Buy and Sell and I struck gold.  I [picked up a Trainorama 44 for $50.  However, it did not run.  But I removed the supplied motherboard and when I apply power directly to the motor leads, it does run.  So I will rewire another motherboard into it and see if I can get it running.  I will need to put a new shell onto it.  Now I just need to find one.  I also picked up an old CPH Silvermaz railmotor partly assembled for $25.  This had a spud included.  I have since discovered out that the Spud works, I cut the side traces, and now I have isolated the wheels from the motor (so it has been made DCC ready) and I have connected it to the railmotor.  I just need to find a decoder to put into it, and then I can complete the model, and I will have another powered CPH.  I might then run a 3 car CPH set on my layout.

Pre Ops Session and the Ops Session

I went for a walk later than usual on Monday and on the way out I saw a metal contraption on the footpath outside a neighbour's house.  It is kerbside cleanup this week in out suburb.  On the way home, I thought I would give it a closer check out.  I thought it was some sort of cage, but it was one of those kitchen tidy things, with 7 slide out caged trays.  I already have two smaller ones in the shed.  One is used by operating crew to put their gear in when they attend - jumpers, keys, throttles boxes, etc.  Well I grabbed it and carried it about 150m home.  It was in the shed later in the morning and permanently positioned in the early afternoon.  I found a place just next to the others.  Although this one is quite a bit higher that the others, I was able to fit it in.

I went for another walk on Tuesday morning, and blow me down, I came across a house in the other direction that had two of these kitchen tidy things fitted with 4 trays.  So I continued my walk, but cut it short in case someone had the same idea as me, or the guys were coming that day to throw everything in the back of the garbage truck.  But I got there first and then took these two kitchen tidy things and carried them home about 180m and placed them in the shed.  Again they have a place and are also ready for use.

On Tuesday morning, I braced under the layout under Cassino Loco with an additional leg.  I then carried in a 8’ x 10" sleeper and laid it between my ladder at Cassino (where the branch to Old Cassino comes off) to some wood laid across the 4 tracks at the northern end of Cassino Yard.  I then got up on top and started working on the point at Dutton Park on the top deck.  Before removing the old point, I decided to realign the old point motor and gave it a test.  It was working.  I added the Peco accessory switch to the top of the point motor and it world not work again.  So I removed the accessory switch and I thought that I would look at alternate methods of controlling the light above the point to advise crew which way the point is set.  While up there the narrow gauge point was checked and it was working well.  Again while I was atop the mountain, I added quite a few track tacks to the narrow gauge and standard gauge track to assist with re-alignment.  I then ran two locos – a standard gauge one and a narrow gauge one through the points in both directions on both routes and they seem to be running quite well.  So at this stage, I thought I got out of this dilemma quite easy. 

The plank, sitting on wood at the far end and sitting on a ladder run at this end.

Another shot from the other side of the ladder

Wednesday I had a brainwave about the accessory switch.  I connected up a second point motor just with an accessory switch to the same point controller outputs.  My plan was to fire the push buttons and change the point as well as the indicator lights above the layout.  This was working.  So on Thursday I changed tack and wanted to make permanent the test I did on the previous day.  I jumpered the new point motor back to the original point motor and then when tested, both point motors would not throw together.  When they had separate wires from the point controller, they worked.  This must be an issue with voltage drop through the wire and the higher power requirements at the end of the wire run. I did some test runs around the rest of the layout.  This is doing my head in.  So I removed the jumpered wires and then the point motor at Dutton Park would not throw.  I adjusted the location of the point motor ever so slightly and eventually got the point motor working again.  So I think the end result will be either I add a new DCC snap point motor controller (e.g. QSNAP) to throw the point motor that just changes the LED indicator, or acquire a Switch8 and control the LED lights directly from that.

While standing up on the plank, this is Dutton Park Junction.  The troublesome point motor is the one on the left and the Peco switch is next to it.  The 12mm point motor in thw bottom middle work and the Peco switch works.

I put this all down to a bad joke and then proceeded to run my track cleaning train from Grafton Loco to Clapham Yard.  It also did a deviation from Cassino through to Lismore on the Murwillumbah Branch.  It ran through all the tracks at these locations.

Friday’s preparation included testing all the consists and single locos that were listed in the timetable cards for the first 40 trains.  I also had to clean the North Coast Controller’s desk.  A rather big job given what was stashed on it.  I have discovered some low voltage sections in Grafton Yard.  Some tracks are showing lower voltage than other tracks.  This has me perplexed.  I also found a track with no power in Loco Pilly.  When I came up from the shed, the heavens opened for about an hour.  Apparently some people got really bad hail.

NMRA meeting day was Saturday and I went down to Sparkles house for most of the meeting, before I had to leave early to attend a 40th Birthday party for a nephew.  But we did have a couple of great presentations while I was at the meeting.

My place was the last place on an "Ops till you drop" weekend.  Two people from Melbourne, Mark and LLoyd attended a layout on Friday night, two on Saturday and were here today.  My layout session was also attended by a few of the regular crew, some who were there on Friday and Saturday.  Well there were some issues.  I think my power supply is on the way out.  It is putting out low voltage and it is affecting my Ops Sessions.  We had a couple of sections of track with now power.  We had a loco playing up.  We also had a couple of derailments.  But people enjoyed themselves, and we put Geoff into North Coast Control, and 3 hours and he did a sterling job at his first attempt.  But the headsets worked until a wire came off back at the source, and a whole string of plug in points went down.  I think someone bumped into the connection.  We completed 24 trains, and a couple were almost home.  We did run pretty well on time, although some trains were early and some were about an hour late.

This week I will fix all the issues identified and everything will be ready for an Ops Session just prior to the NMRA Convention in August.

Free-Mo Module Work

Monday was spent cutting cut up the remaining name tags for the fascias and placing them were they will go on the layout.  I also made the second length of fencing for the 90mm end cap model.  I painted a few lengths of guard rail for the NMRA modules silver for the metal guard rails and set them aside to dry.

Tuesday was a slow day.  I was looking at how I could get access to the most remote location in the shed to replace a section of track and move a point motor from above ground to under the track attached to the Peco point.  I am looking at building a platform for me to get up to the point.  I did some testing of some replacement point motors and one point motor will not throw in one direction, but another throws in both.   So that point and point motor are odds on in replacing the troublesome point at Dutton Park.  Ideally this needs to occur before next Sunday as I have an Operations Session planned.

Wednesday I was turbot charged.  I filled out my application to attend the upcoming Brisbane Model Railway Show and sent it off.  I also applied for a NMRA Sanction to attend that event.  I made up a stamp from the corner of the wife’s kitchen sponge (she still hasn’t worked that out yet) and I tested it by stamping it on a jam bottle lid, sprayed with a rust brown paint.  I stamped the back of a piece of styrene.  That turned out so good, I stamped the front of that styrene that had the shape of a wagon side on it.  Being so excited about how that looked, I then bit the bullet and stamped the inside and outside of my QR HO open wagon, using the same method.  I was very impressed with the outcome.  I also started writing up my Model competition entry form describing how I built it and what I did to it.  I sent off a couple of photos to some mates to get their opinion of the rust application on my HO wagon and the response was very positive.  Then I decided to sit back have a beer and get ready for the State of Origin on TV.  We Won.  A great end to a very productive day.

Thursday and Friday I had drinking appointments.  Saturday and Sunday was spent at the Pine Rivers Model Train Show.  A fantastic weekend.  I was working on fixing up and installing a bridge on one of the NMRA’s HO Free-Mo modules.  I also cut up and stained some roadway made from Balsa.  I added the few sections of guard rail to the module.  I realised that I did not prepare enough.  So I grabbed some more on Saturday night from the shed and took them to the show today and added them.  They are not yet painted.  I also added some timber split post fencing.  I also cut up and drilled some holes in some 0.060” styrene ‘I’ beam for them to be painted at a later date and made into fence posts.  While talking to quite a number of members of the public, they were very interested in our half completed modules on display.  They asked many questions and you could see their eye light up when you told them a secret or two about how to do some of the tasks in layout building.  This is very satifying.  I also added a few purchases to my kit bag while at the exhibition.  I was able to grab some QR railmotor bogie sideframes designed by Guy and printed by Luke.  Very nice.

While at the exhibition, I also had my QR HO wagon and my standard gauge AKFX rail carrying wagon assessed by a Contest judge.  I scored reasonably well on the HO but my assessor refused to give me any score on my AKFX as I did not have any under floor brake detail.  This is hidden behind a fishbelly underframe.  Hence my reason for not installing it.  Later on, I had a talk to Arthur (another assessor) and he had a differing opinion on to the requirement for underfloor detail, especially if it is hidden.  So guess what?  I will now try and scrounge up some brake components and fit them to the wagon.  I have plenty of other things to do with my time.

Lighting Progress, and One Model Down

Monday’s task was to complete the wiring for the street lights at Lismore.  I wired in a power supply and connected them up.  Perfect!  I then went on a bit of a tour to identify where I needed more signage on the fascia and then worked out what I would add.  So that was then printed off, ready to glue on the fascia, but not yet done.  I realised that I needed to spend some time working on my semi-trailer travelling on the Summerland Way.  I was dreading this, due to the initially perceived difficulty.

Never put off to tomorrow what you can do today.  So on Tuesday morning I went down and added some bluetack around the 0402 LEDs that are positioned behind the headlights on the prime mover.  I adjusted this so no light escaped, and then drilled holes in the baseboard for the wires from the 0402 LEDs to make their way back to the power supply and the panel switch.  A test and it worked like a charm.  This model sat on the layout for a couple of years, and was so much simpler than I expected.  

In this shot, the street lights are on, the tail lights on the car are lit, and the semi is coming the other way with its headlights on.  The lights in the cattle loading yard are also lit.

I realised that I had found some brass wagon steps on Monday morning and I have no idea where I put them for safe keeping.  So that was another distraction in my modelling day on Tuesday.  So I went for a look, and eventually found them sitting in the wagon that they were to be attached to.  Next task is to add some stirrups and steps to the rail carrying wagon for the upcoming August NMRA modelling comp, so I can then paint it and get on with its build.  However, before I could do that, another more detailed look at the photos that I had, revealed that there was a lip under the bottom of the wagon sides.  I did not have this, so two lengths of 0.010” x 0.060” styrene were added above and below the wagon sides.  Last task was to work out how to add the uncoupling rods to each end of the wagon.  

I was also able to show off my layout lighting progress to the boss, and wouldn’t you know it, Shelton the Photographer had stopped working.  It was traced back to a wire coming off the track.  So this was easily fixed.  I think it was a mixture of the cold weather and the work being undertaken above this area with the lighting occurring at Kyogle.  I was resting various tools, drills, soldering irons etc. on top of this track at Lismore.  Note to self.  Do not do that!

Normally on a Tuesday Night when we don’t go to someone’s place, we all get onto the NMRA’s Discord channel for a chat.  It is amazing what we all do there.  While showing some photos of the rail carrying wagon to the guys, and asking if anyone has any AN decals.  It dawned on me that PK has some magic software – Photoshop – that will take a photo from an angle and make it 90 degrees straight on.  I tossed him two photos and he returned serve with his adjusted images, and I now do not need decals, as I can just print out his adjusted photo image on paper (well I could do it on decal paper as well) and attach those images to my rail carrying wagon.  We will see how this goes.  

On Wednesday I added the coupler lift bars to my rail carrying wagon and also added all the door hinges to the wagon, even though the doors had been removed.  I was also attracted by a new shiny distraction.  I was looking at building a small scene on a 90mm PVC end cap for the NMRA convention.  I had come up with two entries to submit.  But upon re-reading the rules, I'm only allowed one entry.  So one idea has been tossed.  I purchased a 90mm end cap from Bunnings and I constructed the main part of the model.  This was completed on Wednesday. 

The plan was to paint both the model, and the rail carrying wagon on Thursday.  But I motorised the model instead.  But I did complete the painting of the rail carrying wagon.  I then took out the yellow paint and touched up the model in the appropriate places.  I also added a few of the prints that PK created to the wagon.  It looked passable.  I decided to reprint the photos but this time in a better quality print format.  I think what resulted, once applied to the wagon has changed its end colour and currently looks really good.

On Friday I went looking for the various forms for the NMRA model comp and started to fill them in.  I will ask someone to review my forms this coming weekend.

A group of us went to Paul’s place on Saturday to continue work on some corner modules.  We ended up with one module basically with scatter on it.  One module has been painted a basic colour all over on top of the plaster and it is ready for scatters to be applied.  The other two modules have been plastered over most of them, and should be ready for painting and scatters next time we do some work on them.

Sunday I treated myself with a visit to a small model train show at Birkdale.  I got there just after opening, and it was quite a busy show.  Lots of people were there which I had a natter to.  Some nice layouts, nice displays, and some shops.  When I got home after lunch, I started working on ways to create a print of the numbers for my QR 2050 Railmotor model. This could be in lieu of doing a decal.  I think I have done so, but I am unsure if the size is correct as yet.  That is next week’s job to print out and test fit and check colouring.  But one thing that I did discover, is that there are photos of QR 2057 railmotor both with and without a blue QR worm decal on the side.  Given that I cannot seem to get a blue QR worm decal of the appropriate size, I may have solved my problem.  I will now probably not apply one to these to the railmotor sides, as I have documentary proof.

This coming week, I will continue to work on my 90mm PVC end cap challenge model and work on my Railmotor and QR HO wagon.  Maybe by Friday model number two will be completed.

Next weekend is the RMCQ exhibition at the South Pine Sports Complex at Brendale.  I will be working on the NMRA stand fixing a scratch built timber road over rail bridge’s railings and building some new bents for it.  I’m sure I will have lots of other things to build while working on the stand.  Come and say Hi.