Oops of the Day

So, the Oops of the Day is....  OK, I have 2 oops's (is that even a word?) - one from yesterday and one from today.  

Yesterday's one is that there is a trick or at least something to remember when making these Fast Tracks Points.  The sleepers you solder to, are copper clad on BOTH sides - no problem there.  

Yep, we all know to gap the copper on the top side so there are no short circuits between the rails AND we know that it doesn't matter on the bottom, as there is a layer of non-conductive fibreglass between it and the rails - no problem.   Remember that, it will come in handy later.

I had already made one point and therefore needed to test it.  So I figured I would whack some plywood up on the middle peninsula and set up a test environment since that peninsula would be the last to receive any track or scenery and I could still play trains around the wall without it being connected for quite some time.  So Test Area it has become.  I had 2 lengths of track to the left of this point and one to the right.  There was another on the left in case I wanted to test a point with the narrow gauge running on the other side of the track. I then clipped relevant bits together like my NCE PowerCab to power the DCC for it all, then the NCE RB02 Radio Base Station to act as my hub, then of course the NCE Radio ProCab to act as my walkabout handset to drive the locos with.

I screwed the point down so that I could add a Caboose Industries 5202S Point Lever to it to control the point throw during testing. I was now ready to roll and roll it did - worked like a treat.  Wagons were at first hand pushed and pulled at various speeds through the point in all directions.  Then locos were run through, then locos with wagons, and of course in both 12mm and 16.5mm track gauge.  All was good.

Then I decided - I can expand this little test empire, as I want proper testing and not having to add and remove wagons and such from the deck, I'd like to leave them up there - I therefore needed more track, MORE.  So I made another couple of points and I now have a yard to the right of the test point so as to hold rolling stock and locos.  Reason- well, testing will require a varied range of rolling stock and locos, so there are all sorts to be tested and of course I need them in QR (HOn3½ scale - 12mm gauge) and NSW (HO scale - 16.5mm gauge).  The test area is now 4.4 metres in length and will be able to test all formats of points I make in HO - dual gauge, single gauge (HO or HOn3½), ambidextrous gauge.  The N scale  test area will follow on the other side of the same peninsula.

Where's the Oops you say? OK, OK, I'll get to that now.  So when I added those 2 new points, I had to unscrew the first one and rearrange all the trackage.  I did the rearrangement and connected it all up and turned the DCC on - SHORT CIRCUIT detected !  Bugger, or words to that effect were heard inside the shed, many a time I do believe.

That's when the 2 hours of testing began. Multimeter in hand and away I went - testing everything I could.  Wagons came off, locos came off, track was disconnected the new points tested fine, the new track, fine.  But of course it COULDN'T be the first point... it was working fine before... So I thought I'd remove the first point and check it up real close - so I unscrewed it. Checked it and all was well, so screwed it back down.  It all worked fine !

So what had been the problem?  I thought it through and then the light bulb lit up, not the overload detector, but the brain.  Screws - they are metal.  The copper clad sleepers. Screw might just have touched both top and bottom copper cladding to meet in the ethereal world of Electricity?  This then caused a short between the rails via the bottom copper cladding on the sleeper. A bit of wiggling of the point against the screws showed another short, so theory proved.

Ha ! Issue found.  So to rectify the problem, I will in future gap the underneath of the relevant sleepers that get the screws on them or may develop some method to hold the point in place that doesn't need screws - some sort of clamp.

So with the gap on the top as per here, AND on the bottom - we don't look at bottoms out there do we?...

Before we go to my number two, get it?  hehehe. Here's the Test Track as of now.

The main 3 track yard is on the right and track held down here and there with some track pins, same as the 2 points.  So all permanent for now.

The left hand side of this 4.4 metre test area is a 2 track yard with a 3rd track sitting disconnected.  2 tracks are connected to the point and the 3rd is for if the point is a right hand point and not a left hand point.... yeh, might change and only have two here - the 3rd really isn't doing it, is it... Anyway, we move on.

Now, in between the point being tested on the left and the yard points on the right, is a Tillig Shift Track. This allows the narrow gauge track to move from one side of the main track to the other.  It is needed since I will be making both type of points - left hand running and right hand running dual gauge.

Depending on what type of points being tested will define whether to insert this Shift Track or not to make it all connect up.  Close up of the Shift Track.

Here is the overall test setup.  It may yet get bigger and become a sort of test point to point layout - no scenery, just more yard space...  MORE

Now enter Oops #2.

Some wagons started derailing on the test rig - some 12mm gauge wagons that is.  Yes, they were very light weight and the wheel spacing on the axles might have been very close to problematic also.  But they would almost derail every time. Hmmm. So on with the microscope eye set and I watched and watched as I pushed wagon after wagon through to see what the problem was.  

Eventually I saw the flange on a wheel hitting a pointy bit of rail.  So I checked the other points and yep the issue was present for some wagons on all of them.  

In the pic below, the pointy bit I am talking about is to the left of the ball point.  When traveling from left to right, there is no issue, but when travelling from right to left, the flange on a narrow gauge wagon can sometimes hit the pointy bit and the wagon jumps up and boing, Houston we have a problem.

I was about to totally blame all the wagons that were having this problem when I went and checked the points against the Fast Tracks jig - all good there - all bits needed were there and in place.  See - not caused by me, was it...

So one last thing - I actually then read the instructions for making dual gauge points. Whoever RTFM, I ask you, who?   Ahhh, the diagram shows a tiny Guard Rail in a certain position that was missing on all three of the points I had made.  OK, OK, someone can kick me in the pants (not you Scooter). So for the sake of a lousy 24mm of guard rail in the overall 1,925mm of rail used in making the point (yep, you use 2 metres of rail to make one dual gauge point). A mere 24 millimeters can cause issues.  It's small things that cause problems - like wagon couplers on your track - causes running problems.

The guard rail needs to go up against the curved rail above the ball point.

Here is what the little beastie looks like after being struck in PK's Railway Foundry - all 24mm of it...

So out with the 3 points, over to the soldering station and I made up the relevant missing piece of trouble and soldered them into place.  The ball point shows the missing piece now in position.

Then I reaffixed the points into their correct positions and TESTED AGAIN. All good now. Some wagons, yes, will need some wheel spacings on their axles adjusted, but the points are now functioning properly.  Oops #2 resolved.

Now to figure out a way to hold the point being tested, in position during testing, without using screws, as I will run out of timber to drill screw holes in after a while - remember, there are over a hundred and fifty points needing making.  And no, I cannot use the same set of screws each time, as each point could be a smidgeon different to the next.  Where is that padded cell I ordered online.......