Am I the only nut in this hobby who has to deal with Murphy of Murphy's law. Now in my many decades of running trains, I'm getting rather tired of this fellow, Murphy. I rarely have a problem running trains when alone or with possibly just with one guest, but during an open house or when a new commercial video is being produced, everything that could go wrong does just that. I'll be running trains for a shooting, and a derailment or electical malfunction is inevitable. After the day's shooting or when visitors leave...........nary a problem, and actually everything then runs to almost perfection. I just had to convert 4 DCC turntables (Chris Moran) to analog as they failed during shootings. Actually I recommend doing this as the Walther's DCC 90' turntable...................well I hate to impugn any product, so lets say that analog and eyeball operation is more fun for me.
When Allen Keller was doing a shoot, I was able to trace problem to his very hot lighting as heat managed to warp some tracks, but still there were other problems like a main power supply blowing, and turnout motors being fried.
Does anyone have a theory how Murphy sneaks into the train room uninvited? If so, please do share.
Many thanks,
HZ
As a loner I'm not use to having people observe my operation of the trains. When I have guests, usually relatives, I invaribly fail to position turnouts correctly and have difficulty uncuoupling cars ruining my guest's experience.
No doubt, I'm tense without knowing it, which causes these errors.
Bob
Don't Ever Give Up
RR_MelMurphy has been looking over my shoulder for over 60 years.
Ditto (well almost sixty years).
Sometimes I just throw my hands in the air and have a good laugh— turn off the lights and go read a book (or visit the MR Forum).
Just be thankful it is only our model railroads. Murphy is known to hang around the BIG railroads, commercial aircraft and, yes, even NASA space craft. With a bit more at risk than a toasted motor or a few broken handrails
Have Fun! Ed
How do I get rid of Murphy?..
I don't. ..
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
I fired Murphy years ago by not believing in him.
You see behind every problem lays the cause eliminate the cause that already existed and he can't visit that's why I and other club members could run our trains for several hours a day for seven days during the County fair with zero issues.
The track warpage was cause by a careless mistake by placing those hot photo lights to close to the track. The other issues went unnoticed until the problems surface and could or would have happen at the next op session had Keller not shown up for a shoot..
OTOH those nasty gremlins could have been at play.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Send him back to Ireland.
FYI, my wife was born and raised in England and she tells me Murphy's law has nothing on Sod's law - she should know, being from the UK. Whatever Howards problems have been, hers were worse - I've heard them all from her.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Too put isimply YOU CAN';T, He is immortal and shows up any time he darn well wants' too.
caldreamer Too put isimply YOU CAN';T, He is immortal and shows up any time he darn well wants' too.
Bah! That's a humbug and a old wives tale since anything mechanical or electrical can fail any time without notice. Place a heat source near the track and it will warp.
99% of the time the modeler is the real Murphy because he/she forgets something or keeps putting off replacing a faulty switch machine that causes a issue.
BRAKIE99% of the time the modeler is the real Murphy because he/she forgets something or keeps putting off replacing a faulty switch machine that causes a issue.
Amen to that! What is being overlooked here is that Murphy is not the instigator of problems, he is only the predictor. What he is predicting, as Larry points out, is that model railroaders like other humans, tend to screw stuff up when under pressure either real or imagined.
I have the right to remain silent. By posting here I have given up that right and accept that anything I say can and will be used as evidence to critique me.
Call me crazy, but I like Murphy. He keeps me humbled and appreciative whenever I struggle to get something right and it finally works. Great for those who have a layout operating flawlessly the first time, but overcoming mistakes makes for great stories.
I tend to agree with Larry's take on Murphy, but if you subscribe to Murphy's existence, then he's the part of you that doesn't know quite as much as you thought you knew. If you're wise enough to realise that, Murphy becomes the part of you that makes you more knowledgeable about the subject on which he reared his ugly head.
Wayne
Who's Murphy?
I call Murphy gremlins and they hang around my shop 24/7. One case and point I can tell you about is when the curve in my tunnel kept derailing my locos. I changed the piece of track out that I thought was causing the problem but no such luck. So I got out my file and tried filing the piece of track a bit that I felt was causing the problem but still the engines derailed. I finally replaced the entire curve with flex track and so far so good. However, I'm sure that the gremlins are still there just waiting to foul something up for me when I let my guard down...
To those who say problems come from the builder, re-read the initial thread. Everything works to perfection and sometimes...and then some when I'm flying solo or just with one or two guests. I do feel as do others that there is some source or whatever that causes these problems, and there are literally hundreds of vistiors who will concur. I did not invent Murphy.
Howard ZaneI do feel as do others that there is some source or whatever that causes these problems, and there are literally hundreds of vistiors who will concur.
HZ,Stuff will fail on their own for many reasons to include putting off replacing a faulty switch motor or relay along with human error or lack of routine inspection and maintenance on cars,locomotives and layout as needed.
Murphy is nothing more then a convenient excuse we use for a normal mechanical or electrical problem or in my case forgetting to plug the power pack (a MRC Tech 6) in-I had been using a MRC CM 20 that had a master on/off switch..
Actually it is not Murphy. He doesn’t do electrical problems. It is gremlins. LOL. If the problem is cause by electrical devices then you should consider using power conditioners for your transformers and put lights on a separate circuit. I am not an electronics engineer but I know that the DCC signal is in the DC current in the rails. This could be affected by the AC power going into your DC transformers. Next time someone wants to plug in lights or other equipment tell them to run an extension cord from the kitchen or dinning room circuit instead of plugging in into the railroad room’s circuit. I work at a TV station and also have a home recording studio. Electrical devices and lights can cause video noise, and hum in the audio so they might mess with a DCC signal as well. Fluorescent lights are the worst. Cheap light dimmers are also notorious for hum and noise. Get high quality DMX dimmers if you are going to lower the lights. Many devices can also cause a ground loop, like laptop computers, monitors and amplifiers. Sometimes the problem is solved by using a ground lift. It is just a small power adapter for plugging a 3 prong cord into a 2 prong receptacle. Other times the only solution is don’t have it plugged in. At the station and in my home studio every rack has it’s own power conditioner. Some include an UPS for computer equipment while others are just a switch to turn off everything in the rack. Furman is the company that makes them. You can find them at Guitar Center or B&H Photo. I don't believe in gremlins. If you can recreate the problem then you can solve it. Figure out what changes when people are there and when they are not. Figure out what extra things are plugged in or turned on that you don't usually use while by yourself?
By embracing the suck. Murphy has no idea how to deal with nonchalance.
Robert
LINK to SNSR Blog
I Dropkick them!
Robert H. Shilling II
After I give Mr.Murphey a double dose of HC's Elexir, he doesn't care------come to think of it, neither do I.!
herrinchoker
ATSFGuyWho's Murphy?
.
Murphy is the author of Murphy's law which states "If anything can go wrong, it will."
So if you leave a solder joint less than perfect, it can go wrong, so it will.
There are many derivitives of Murphy's law, like "The odds of a dropped piece of toast landing grape jelly side down are directly proportional to the cost of the carpet."
Murphy's law is used in all kinds of important planning/strategy meetings. The basic principle is to figure out what can go wrong and then do everything that can be done to prevent it. Don't just hope it will not go wrong.
In my experiences with layout building, Murphy generally shows up in track work. There is just so much that can go wrong.
I have tried to get rid of him. Limited success.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I was helping out at an open house this past Saturday (8/19) and Murphy did indeed crash the party. The layout owner wanted me to oversee the running of trains while he schmoozed with the guests. Right off the bat, I discovered that the remote switch machines weren't working. Fortunately, the layout owner had simply forgotten to turn on the power to the switch machines. Throughout the rest of the day, frequent derailments plagued all who ran trains, and this on a layout that is operated regularly with various crews and few, if any, operating flaws. On one train that is used the same way nearly every session, a suddenly drooping (Kadee) air hose caused the entire coupler to be torn out of the rearmost passenger car when backed through a turnout. Why this coupler (which is never actually used) chose this day to come loose, I guess only Murphy can explain. Later in the day with a couple of other operators running trains, one of them managed to activate a turnout control which is taped over so it can't be activated. The result was a cornfield meet inside the helix! They managed to get the trains separated and the "don't touch" switch control back in place, but then managed to derail inside the helix anyway! Fortunately, Murphy didn't manage to do any permanent damage.
Hornblower
How do you get rid of Murphy, you don't. You just ignore him and let him think he has gotten the best of you.
Several years ago my son and I were putting a model togther and we came to a piece that just wouldn't fit. After many tries I suggested we call it a night and try the next night.
We did and my son picked up the part and it snapped into place on the first try.
So there, Mr Murphy.
hornblower I was helping out at an open house this past Saturday (8/19) and Murphy did indeed crash the party. The layout owner wanted me to oversee the running of trains while he schmoozed with the guests. Right off the bat, I discovered that the remote switch machines weren't working. Fortunately, the layout owner had simply forgotten to turn on the power to the switch machines. Throughout the rest of the day, frequent derailments plagued all who ran trains, and this on a layout that is operated regularly with various crews and few, if any, operating flaws. On one train that is used the same way nearly every session, a suddenly drooping (Kadee) air hose caused the entire coupler to be torn out of the rearmost passenger car when backed through a turnout. Why this coupler (which is never actually used) chose this day to come loose, I guess only Murphy can explain. Later in the day with a couple of other operators running trains, one of them managed to activate a turnout control which is taped over so it can't be activated. The result was a cornfield meet inside the helix! They managed to get the trains separated and the "don't touch" switch control back in place, but then managed to derail inside the helix anyway! Fortunately, Murphy didn't manage to do any permanent damage.
Sounds more like human error and negligence maintenance then Murphy.
As a example that drooping coupler was already there and nobody notice.It would have showed up at the next regular op session.. This is why frequent inspections is needed.
Murphy's Law cannot be avoided.
Ok, back to the layout.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
richg1998Murphy's Law cannot be avoided.
Murphy smurfy Yes,it can..
I don't believe in trash talk of making excuses using a old wives tale.
Everything happens for a reason due to many reasons from lack of maintenance to electrical or mechanical failure.A part gets old and worn its subject to fail at any time.
Not a big deal. He just wanted to start a conversation.
Most of us try to blame Murphy. lol
richg1998Most of us try to blame Murphy. lol Rich
Me too at one time until I realize I was the real Murphy so,I lean to fix problems before they cause embarrassing problems when a guest engineer dropped by.
The most embarrassing was forgetting to plug in the T-6 before giving my guest engineer the handheld throttle. After that embarrassment we had smooth trouble free switching.
Murphy can't be blamed for my own stupidity for forgetting to plug in the power.
You fold him up in a bed against the wall.
'
ROAR
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