Narrow Gauge Timetable Undergoes Fine Tuning

I spent quite a considerable amount of time this week working on the narrow gauge part of my  operating timetable.  So far there are 12 trains in this section of the timetable.  But with a very small amount of rolling stock on hand, 2 locos and 7 wagons, it is difficult planning what runs where and what gets picked up and returned by the various trains.  I have another loco on order (due soon) and 3 more wagons soon to be acquired when I catch up with a mate selling three curtain sided wagons.  But that is still not enough rollingstock.

I do have plans for another 2 locos and then two unit trains of 6 to 8 wagon consists of coal and grain wagons.  Luckily when I do run the narrow gauge section of the timetable, I usually have a mate who has plenty of narrow gauge wagons come along and populate the various sidings with more locos and trains.

As part of this mini solo ops session on Saturday and Sunday this weekend, I have found about 4 power jumper wires that needed to be soldered back up, and I also improved the running of trains through the Dutton Park dual gauge point.  There were two sections of dual gauge track where the third rail had come adrift and was under gauge, thus causing problems.  So I also soldered these back up and everything seems to be running better.  I also found a dual gauge set of splitter points where the standard gauge goes in one direction and the narrow gauge goes in the other direction, that I was powering the frog from a set of points, and when I threw a set of narrow gauge points, I did not throw another set of points that would have protected the narrow gauge movement, from a standard gauge train and also powered the frog of the splitter points for the narrow gauge movement.  I was wondering why a train was not moving across the points and just creating a short.  That was easily identified and I now have the solution, I just need to get access to the NCE mini panel located in Loco Pilly and plug my Procab controller into it to make a change to one input by adding another point to throw.  So the switch for the power routing will then work for the narrow gauge.

Another outcome of the two mini operations sessions I had with myself, is that I think I still need to make a couple more minor changes to the track plans for Fisherman Islands, Clapham Yard and also Acacia Ridge Yard.  Who knows it might be another 12 months, but I think the track laying will finally be complete.

So I have made quite a few changes to make for all of the narrow gauge timetable cards for the next operating session.  I will update them all tonight and print them out during the week, and put them into train sequence order.

This Friday and the following Monday my layout is available for attendees of the 2018 NMRA Convention to stop by for a layout visit.  I think there is about 17 or so layouts available for the attendees to check out and take a few photos or videos of.  I have a crew of regulars some retired and some not, coming over on the Friday to assist with the running of the layout.  We are also having an operating sessions on Monday and Friday, so it will be interesting as I will not have a full crew, so there will be many out of sequence trains in operation, and given the smallness of the crew, I will probably not run with North Coast Control.  I will perform that role while roaming around the shed, talking to operators, showing other visitors around and running my own trains.

So if you are attending the NMRA Convention, just give us a call and pop in.  You are all most welcome.  I will have tea and coffee available all day and also a cold drink in the fridge.