"frustration and interruptions"

[Anonymous]

[:(!]My MRXR Friends,
I got a question for you.
My wife and I love modelrailroading. But it seems that every time we show off the layout and run some trains something always happens, like a derailment a short or no power to a main line, but all seems fine when no ones around [:(] Does this happen to anybody out there[?]
HELP YO' frustrated MRXR'ERS TrainsRMe & MRS TrainsRMe[:(!]

[Anonymous]

Whenever I want to find trouble spots in newly-laid track, I just invite someone to see the layout. [B)]

[Anonymous]

It's all because of some guy named Murphy...

[BRAKIE]

Well every layout has a community of Gremlins..They always come out and play when you have visitors..You see its their sworn duty to disrupt the layout during that time.[;)]

[novicerr]

Its all Murphy Browns fault

[Anonymous]

My layout has been operating flawlessly for several months but this weekend when two "forum friends" travel over 2200 miles to visit, it's going to go to pieces.

I don't know if it'll be my gremlins that will be playing or if they are bringing theirs, but I know that they will be here.

Last fall when we got a chance to go on a fall color trip we visited several "forum friends" and I took a lot of the TEXAS gremlins with me and left them in Nova Scotia.

Have a blessed day and remember SANTA FE ALL THE WAY
Bob

[JimValle]

Headaches and heartaches and all kinds of pain are all a part of a railroad train. The good and the bad and the great and the grand are all in the life of a railroad man. BUT
you can minimize the frustration by careful craftsmanship, buying quality equipment and making a real effort to fine tune track, locomotives and rolling stock. You need a track guage, a coupler height gauge ( you are using Kaydee coupler's arent you? ), good wheelsets ( metal is best ) and good quality lubricants like LaBelle Oil. If you live in an area with all four seasons some things need to be adjusted when the weather changes. The real railroads are doing maintenance work all the time and a model railroad is exactly the same.

[howmus]

This is a result of Fetridge's Law. Fetridge's Law states that nothing good will happen until it is no longer favorable to happen, and bad things will only happen at the most embarassing moment. This is why, when your car engine develops an annoying clunk that you know just isn't right, goes away as soon soon as you take it in to be repaired. This is why the plumbing leak that you can't fix disappears as soon as the plumber arrives, etc. Fetridge's Law is always applicable to Model Railroads, explaining the mysterious derailments, shorts, and power outages that appear only when guests are viewing your layout and then disappear completely as soon as they leave. This should not be confused with Smith's Law which states that if you are in a hurry, the light will turn red as you approach the intersection and conversly if you are not in a hurry, the light will turn green as soon as you come to a full stop. It is similar to Howard's Law which states that typos will magically appear only when you have already posted to a forrum. [:D]

[davekelly]

We all need to write our congresspeople and get that Fetridge Law repealed!!!

Also. This Murphy guy must have a lot of relatives as I got one of the clan living at my house.

[tatans]

IT"S THE LAW ! !

[selector]

I appreciate the humour. So far so good for me, but I have only showed it to one fo my daughters who lives across the country (she is visiting over Easter) and everyting went well. Of course, next time...

I now see the benefit of a dedicated, in-house, space for a layout. Even a corner of an open basement (my case) can be climate controlled to minimize track separations and bending due to humidity. Let's face it, most locos and rolling stock, if they respond at all to your command, will only experience difficulty due to switching or track errors...more specifically, to CHANGES in those items from the last time you had a successful operation!

Just some off-the cuff ruminating here, but humdity in the framing, plywood top, even the materials such as plaster used to anchor rock faces and adjcent road-bed will act as a wildcard and stack the odds against us.

[Train 284]

Yes it does seem to happen that way most of the time huh? I say just check you wiring again and make little adjustmants here and there.

Matt