Murphy rears his ugly head yet again. Decided to finally get off my butt and get the wires hooked up to the selector switch permanently, especially before I installed the right side back drop section. So I trimmed and installed spade terminals where needed and said done. Now I had everything working several weeks ago and all the wires marked in fact a number were temporarily hooked up except for one wire. In fact the two earlier videos in this thread were with that temporary hook up and all was working fine. Said just for the heck of it I placed a loco on the track. No go. Okay check the loco with a 9 volt battery, fine no issues. With the power pack off put a 9 volt battery to the track and nothing. Okay maybe somewhere there is an extra drywall screw from the ones I used to mount the backdrops causing a dead short. Haven't found one yet. Nottafinga and dangnabbit. All wires disconnect from the terminal and selector switch still no run with a 9 volt. I isolated the front lower section of track that allows a run around of the station track and main. 9 volt battery runs the loco up and down that fine so the issue is in the lower main or tunnel I think. So I am going to take myself downstairs have a bite of lunch, read some, work on supper, and then come back up and isolate some track and test the upper main and the mine spur using the 9 volt again. If things run there with the 9 volt then I will know that the problem is somewhere in the lower main or lower main wiring. Plus I will slide the layout out away from the wall, turn on all the room lighting and get a flashlight and go over the tunnel track inch by inch. Fortunately all my wiring leads come off of the right side at the edge so they are fairly accessible to examine. Hmm did the felines stag a raid at some point that I was distracted and chew through a wire? That will require a close examination and is always a possibility. Has the selector switch assembly failed. And has the relatively new power pack failed, items to also be checked. Urge is strong to reach for the 3 pound hammer and take care of my frustrations, thus why I am going downstairs for awhile.
Not my type of luck. I did at least eliminate the power pack and an object grounding out the track in one move by putting the power pack leads directly on the lower main and cruising the main. So the problem is something with the supply wiring from the selector to the track. Either the selector went South or a bad spade terminal or track joiner connection. While I am messing with each wire I will be looking for the telltale signs of teeth marks. But the heck with it for now, I've got an apple/cherry pie in the oven, Delmonico potatoes to finish, and some fish filets to poach with dill. Corn of the cob and Tuscan Cantalope to finish off.
You missed it and it was good too. With the fresh baked apple/cherry pie still slightly warm to top it all off. Finally got the science of cooking for two down without having an excess left. Decided to let the layout wiring sit for the night and tomorrow maybe I will start with one wire at a time to figure out what is happening. Got the big things out of the way. power pack, locos, track. Leaves just the wire feeds to the sections of track to check and see if I managed to get something crossed somewhere. And I will do a simple check on the Atlas selector switch with a light bulb also tomorrow.
Hmm....have you noticed if your brain sends an instruction to the right hand and the left hand responds?
Does sending the instruction to the right hand and the left foot kicks something qualify? Setting here this morning contemplating my battle plan of the flowing electrons I noticed that the left tunnel is illuminated like it has a bank of floods. Oops forgot to paint the immediate interior area a basic dark color. So without much further ado I will dig into my artists' supplies and retrieve a long handled small brush and some paints and go at that tunnel that is being illuminated by the morning sun, something that I should have thought of before covering over the tunnel. Found also that I need to do some serious track cleaning. I have a residue on the track in places where I applied the spray Feline repellant. And yet another reason I also need to get another track cleaning car. The Atlas version I have is a fine machine but extremely limited on the tight radiuses and clearances on my layout. I have found a series of smaller cleaning cars based on 40 foot lengths that are both wet and dry cleaning and I just need to get off my butt and order a couple, along with a wheel cleaner.
After messing with wires and places where I spliced a wire to extend the length a light finally came on in the old grey matter. Go direct to the power pack terminals with the leads from the block. Ah look a locomotive is actually running on the upper main where before it would only run on a 9 volt battery. I think I finally found the issue. The Atlas #215 selector switch for whatever reason has decided it will no longer work. Can't get any power out of it using either the A or B cab function. So into the track box and another will be installed to see if that is the fix.
Tonight nothing special, just Tacos and homemade fries. But Sunday breakfast will be pancakes, that are made with cornmeal not flour, real butter, Maple syrup, hickory smoked bacon, and soft scrambled eggs. Sunday dinner will be my Wife's fried chicken that I will kill for. It was the Atlas selector switch that was the issue. And it isn't the one that they did a recall on so I don't know the where or why it went South. Back to running trains once I hook up the common wires permanently. Had three locos siting at either side of the station, control by the power blocks or the Peco turnouts routing power, and a fourth loco running the main and weaving around the threes on the bypass at the station. Day four has come and almost passed without a feline on the main strolling along. However I did find some previous tree and fence damage I had not detected before, Nottafinga!! When I finally wrap this up I am going to have to go back and do some minor reforestation in between my klutziness and feline damage.
John, before you replace the selector, use your voltmeter to test the output of each selector leg with the power supply feeding the common input. I suspect you may have crossed a reconnection after crimping on the spade lugs, rather than the selector failing out of the clear blue. Just trying to save you the heartburn of replacing the selector only to find that trouble still exists. OOPS...you posted while I was having diarrhea of the fingers. Glad to hear you're a happy camper once again, at least with Hog Waller. I realize the felines are another matter all together, and totally out of your control.
It was a definite on the selector switch since I had all the wires loose and was testing them in pairs. All four of the leads from that switch were dead for again unknown reasons while the pairs of wires direct to the power pack and to the track worked like a charm. 2nd selector switch worked like a charm. I am now curious as to what in that switch failed after only a few uses. Wonder if there is any type of little diode or whatsits name in there that just gave up the ghost. I took my senior nap this afternoon and dared to leave to door to the train room open, and everybody left it alone. Big Guy was napping with me until he heard the post person and rushed downstairs to attack and defend the house from the evil bill deliverer. Got the common wires all connected now and still running as intended. Now I can finally go on to other things. I think the end backdrop has been the biggest deterrent to the incursions since it has become more difficult to access. And now with the wiring permanently connected on the right end I can install that backdrop and deny one more route of entry. I still don't know what effect the repellant has had other than to make cleaning the track in places necessary. Early years of dry gray meatloaf and baloney sandwiches, plus years of existing on green eggs and ham in a can, or Lima beans with ham and a inch of grease on the top courtesy of Uncle Sam, and then the later civilian career with a lot of missed meals has contributed to my appreciation of good chow in my later years. A good book and good food are top of my list along with stimulating conversation with my Missus. Model railroading falls somewhere behind all that and other things on my list.
PIE! Yum! And just today my niece asked if I wanted some homemade apple pie! Duh!!! Railroaders and pie go together like bees n honey! Glad the electrical issue got fixed, frustrating to go through but feels great to solve!
Still wondering what went wrong so a dissection is probably in order and it will join that Peco ST-5 turnout that caused me issues and I still don't know why. Been running the 44 tonners around the layout to Deekus the Cat's enjoyment. That is until she figured out the best place to sit was by the end turnout access ports. Figured it would not take her long to figure it out so I had a plan C in readiness for that. The pieces of Masonite cut out to create the access ports are now back in place as flaps that can be raised or removed entirely. Round 6 to me. Score is now cats four me two. Have to do some flangeway cleaning at the grade crossings which should not be much. Found that the Bmann S-4 will not play well with the other locos. Have tried it in a power lashup and as a pusher, and as the lead loco with the others as pushers. So it will see use as a single loco on the main if used at all unless I get another S-4 to team it with. The Shays and the 44 tonners run together well although one 44 tonner is slated for a check of the wheel spacing since it will occasionally experience a hiccup on the top of the incline where the other doesn't. And while I am tweaking the rest of the layout I am going to start testing the remaining few small diesels that will run on the layout then move on to the small rod type steamers.
Your dinner menus remind me of HeeHaw. Hey grandpa, what's for supper. Slow roasted possum smothered in onions and mushrooms with cornbread and cracklins, and juicy peach cobbler with homemade vanilla ice cream, Yum,yum. On another note, do the shays handle the smaller curves? Trey
