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Okay!! I'll talk about what we never talk about but what a lot of people want to hear. Yes, with three main lines parallel for over 400 hundred feet, what happens on one track usually affects the adjacent, maybe both adjacent tracks. Normally there are 210 cars out there with 23 locomotives; thats a total of 966 axles or 1932 metal wheels or....1932 things that could go wrong, LOL!! Although the layout is not computerized or DCC, there is a signal logic that detects the current draw from either the locomotives or resistance equipped last car of the consist; thus protecting the rear end of any train that stops, is stalled, or a locomotive derails. There are glitches in the 30 plus signal blocks and "sail throughs" will result in a rear ended train. Bigger problems happen when cars derail, either accidentally or due to juvenile terroristic activities. Most probable accidental causes are screws that vibrate loose. Parted trains usually are the result of a lost knuckle spring. Out of gauge cars and mismatched Kadees are rare. Locomotives on the other hand get out of gauge more often. One Kato, BNSF 5601 derails every time at the same place, coming out of a superelevated curve. I've spent two days, doing everything, until I broke the bottom clip. Kato hasn't received AC44 parts yet, so the unit is sidelined unless I loan MSI one from my personal stash. The biggest crashes you ask....usually its the little Metra that will derail and wipe out the three adjoining mains in the process. Last week the little grain elevator back-n-forth fouled the B main, the derailed cars took out the C, the impact pushed the horizontal hoppers into a passing Amtrak. Wipeout!! Metra hasn't done that for months now, its cars all ride on those expensive IM roller bearing wheelsets, and the Walthers F40 body sits on an A Line repowering chassis. David Harrison
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