Login
or
Register
Subscriber & Member Login
Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!
Login
Register
Home
»
Model Railroader
»
Forums
»
Layouts and layout building
»
Can't Things Ever Go Right?
Edit post
Edit your reply below.
Post Body
Enter your post below.
Hazmat - I feel the pain!..... <br /> <br />Selector and Rolleiman pretty much covered the next step extremely eloquently. A couple of further comments: <br /> <br />1. Rather than 'rolling a freight truck over the track ' take a look at Micromarks 'Track inspection car' (micromark.com, item # 40916) - If you have any clear plexiglass or the like and a couple of trucks you can of course make your own. In addition to 'the feel' it'll give you a beautiful visual appreciation of any irregularities and what's really happening. <br /> <br />2. My test loco is (the legendary?) Thomas - His eyes are now brite white LEDs and he has a reversing and a gyralite - decoder install practiice! More relevant, if I can persuade him to get round the layout I know my 'real' locos will also be ok. In fact, I don't even bother gettting them out of their boxes if Thomas can't handle it first! Using him, slowly, and observing what his 'truck' does highlights where my 'issues' are - and if he's got issues, experience now tells me that no matter how much I wish otherwise, my steamers are going to be the same - The objective (and I'm almost there on my current trackage!) is for him to get round the layout, slowly, with no interference from the old 0-5-0. Being so light weight, and watching for any 'headlight flashing' (ie, DCC signal loss) is really useful in isolating problems. <br /> <br />Hope it helps! <br /> <br />PS - One more thing - Rolleiman's 'radius template' and check is right on - I use ('cos I had it already) some Atlas sectionals in 18" and 22" radius (ie, soldering 3 pieces for the 18" and 4 for the 22" gives a 90degree template at that radius) - Laying that over your track work will, I'm pretty sure, prove enlightening - Just not always in a positive fashion :-) <br /> <br />Stick with it, heed the words of wisdom from everyone, and I guarantee you'll get things going right! <br /> <br />Good luck, <br />Ian
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag
Update Reply
Subscriber & Member Login
Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!
Login
Register
Users Online
There are no community member online
Search the Community
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Model Railroader Newsletter
See all
Sign up for our FREE e-newsletter
and get model railroad news in your inbox!
Sign up