Stupid Mistake 19-Invoking the wrath of the track gods

Pete Nolan Jan 26, 2005

  1. LongTrain

    LongTrain Passed away October 12, 2005 In Memoriam

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    Well, there is your problem, Pete! :eek:

    Certainly you know the domestic cat is decended from the ancient Egyptian Gods? [​IMG]

    I hate to think what it is going to cost you in jeweled collars, fresh fish and belly rubs to get your Tech 4 working again! [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
  2. Flash Blackman

    Flash Blackman TrainBoard Member

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    Pete:

    I have heard of this with the Tech 4 series. I put too many engines in a lash up and they would just stop running after an hour or so. After 15 minutes (cooling?) they would run just fine again. My current MRC 9000 does not do that. I think it is a characteristic of the Tech 4 design. Maybe others of the electronic forum would have an idea.
     
  3. Pete Nolan

    Pete Nolan TrainBoard Supporter

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    LT:

    My cats are wary. A train, after all, resembles a snake, while an engine resembles a mouse. The hunter instinct has no problems with mice, but snakes can be nasty.

    Flash:

    This has happened repeatedly with the Tech 4, with walk-around control. It happens even with a single engine. I think something inside gets overheated and shuts down.I usually just switch off the main power pack, then switch it back on--it seems to reset in a hurry. The indicator lights on the main power pack never vary when it shuts down, If there are three lit when I go to bed, there will be three lit in the morning, despite the fact that the engine(s) is stalled. I've given up trying to solve these type of problems. There are far more puzzling ones in DCC.
     
  4. LongTrain

    LongTrain Passed away October 12, 2005 In Memoriam

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    Hah - the lights are overheating! :eek:
     
  5. LongTrain

    LongTrain Passed away October 12, 2005 In Memoriam

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    Seriously, I have a Throttlemaster II in the silver metal case, and I think it is a 2400 or 2500. Mine has the momentum and brake switches. The other has all that fancy pulse stuff I don't need.

    I can run one O Scale loco, or a silly large number of N Scale locos with it.

    I've left it on for days before with no trips or any ill effects. I see them in nice used condition in the $20-$25 range now and then. Might be worth a look.

    Hey! I should buy another one so I have a "spare". That way, this one will last forever. [​IMG]
     
  6. Ed M

    Ed M Passed away May 2012 In Memoriam

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    When I was a lot younger I would have quickly dismissed the idea of "Track Gods". These days I'm not so sure of myself. And I sure don't want to do anything to tick them off.

    Do I really have to sacrifice a loco? I don't have that many. Well, okay, I have more than I need (ooops, wrong thread). How about some old brass track with fiber ties? Think that would do it?

    Regards
     
  7. Pete Nolan

    Pete Nolan TrainBoard Supporter

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    Ed,

    I've been sacrificing decoders lately, with my foolish assumption that they can go from full forward to full reverse, without a stop in between. But this may be a case of the decoder gods, who are far more mysterious than the track gods, putting their on brand of zzzzzzzzt! on my layout.

    To the track gods, I think this decoder offering is like serving peanuts with cocktails; I'm afraid they want the full feast.

    I'm trying to think of a way to immolate something in a way that would appease them.
     
  8. steamghost

    steamghost TrainBoard Member

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    Whoa, whoa, whoa!!! Here you're listing all your adventures and you're going to play with FIRE??? LOL!

    I tend to think it's gremlins, too. They're probably hiding under the layout and just need a Bachmann car thrown down there to play with. The ones to be appeased are probably the Low Humidity Gods. That could be done by putting one of those plaster burros with the cart you put flowers in on your front lawn. The Low Humidity Gods like a good laugh.

    Now as for the tumbleweeds, the Scenery Gods REALLY like you and are giving you tree material. Of course, then you have to deal with the God of Bugs Who Live in Tumbleweeds.

    Don't forget the garlic necklace, either.
    Alan
     
  9. Pete Nolan

    Pete Nolan TrainBoard Supporter

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    Yes, I have to play with fire about twice each year. But, because I'm afraid of fire (and lightning), I follow instructions.

    Wait a sec here: what instructions come with lightning? OK, I follow the guidelines of the fire department about fire.

    The track gods reside above my ceiling, and send gremlins from the underworld to wreak havoc. I've always been partial to those two words: "wreak havoc." Kind of a Nordic feel to them. Now, my underworld has at least five levels (decks 1, 2, 3; then decks 1.5 and 2.5), so the gremlins are probably trolls living under the bridges. I should scare my trains into staying in the center of my bridges by telling them about trolls--that if they wander towad the edge and derail, the trolls will get them.

    Of course, if I really want to get the trolls active, I can always break out my soldering gun, and solder everything without expansion joints. That gets them hip-hopping active.
     
  10. traingeekboy

    traingeekboy TrainBoard Member

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    ooohhh sacrificing fiber tie brass track now thats an idea. LOL

    I may have to sprinkle some green dyed sawdust on my next layout just for good measure.
     
  11. watash

    watash Passed away March 7, 2010 TrainBoard Supporter In Memoriam

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    My selenium rectifier power pack is still putting out the full 15 amps it was designed for back in 1938. It has always pulled as many of the open frame motors as we put on it (9) at a time, with no problems, and none of the engines have ever stalled from the circuit breaker popping open.

    It is full wave 12volt DC, and rheostat speed control running HO now days.

    I am not having the fun you guys are enjoying, so what am I doing wrong?
     
  12. Trainforfun

    Trainforfun TrainBoard Member

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    Pete ,
    Let me assure you that Track Gods are universal at least international , they hit anywhere without any preference , well I think .
    We should try to run backward a very long train at the same time just to see where they will hit first : at your place or mine ...

    They hit better when the train room is full of visitors . The Track Gods knows very well all the Murphy's law .
     
  13. Pete Nolan

    Pete Nolan TrainBoard Supporter

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    Indeed! Yesterday I had a few hours free, and decided to clear the tracks and run a 60-car freight, testing my new guardrail. The train ran without a hitch for over an hour as I worked on repairing Accumates. About 3 PM a bunch of family and friends showed up for a work session on a patent application. No sooner had my wife led them into the train room than tick-tick-tick . . . the last 55 cars of the train pancaked at the entrance to a long bridge!

    The trolls under the bridge did their mischief again.
     
  14. LongTrain

    LongTrain Passed away October 12, 2005 In Memoriam

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    Sounds like the big, brown Scintilla Master Pack Senior that I had at the beginning of my HO days, around 1953. I still have it, and it still works. Still have my Mantua Little Six, too, BTW..... :eek:

    Prior to that, we did our test running on a piece of fibre tie flex track carefully placed on the front fender, using the 6v battery of my Dad's 1950 Chevy Bel Air (that's right, the first one, a 2-door hardtop coupe' with the wheel pants and the 3-piece back window - It was the Bee's Knees.) :rolleyes:
     
  15. Pete Nolan

    Pete Nolan TrainBoard Supporter

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    I was looking for whom I've granted the two Stupid Mistake numbers, and this thread showed up. I think I granted only two numbers, to Nelson B. and Hemi. I granted Fothergill an Honory Stupid Mistake, but did not assign a number.
     
  16. Pete Nolan

    Pete Nolan TrainBoard Supporter

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    Update two years later:

    The Track Gods have been relatively kind to me this past year. Most of the reason was that I was photographing the layout, so only good-running diesels have been running. That didn't mean I didn't fall through a harbor a year ago, or drop a light on a bridge.

    But newer members might not have seen this two year old post, so I bump it up for their reading.

    I see that Bob Morris is having trouble with short vertical dips in his track, so I know the Track Gods are still active. They are capricious, as any model railroader knows.

    So, any stories for members?
     
  17. Midnight Railroader

    Midnight Railroader TrainBoard Member

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    Also a bad idea:
    "What could go wrong?"
     
  18. Pete Nolan

    Pete Nolan TrainBoard Supporter

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    And the Train Gods would smile, and wait . . . and wait . . .

    I'll bet that, during the NMRA regional convention here in late May, that a train that has run flawlessly for three years, will derail. Or that my A/C will conk out on an unseasonably hot day and buckle the track. Or . . .

    Ah, why add fuel to their fire?
     
  19. gunner

    gunner TrainBoard Member

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    Pete,

    I turn out the lights, light a grimey black candle and rattle a mason jar of chicken bones in the train room for 13 seconds 13 times before every operating session. I then extinguish the flame with a paper fan made from a printout of this thread. It really works!

    Bob
     
  20. Calzephyr

    Calzephyr TrainBoard Supporter

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    Bob...

    You seem to be well versed in the 'Santeria Rituals':we-biggrin:... but... don't forget to have the coconut shells ready to toss; and, make sure you light that candle with one of those 'special cigars' after blowing smoke rings in the room to ward off the evil train gods.:we-twitcy:
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 3, 2008

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