The Atlantic and Southern Build Thread Continued, Part 3

[GPdemayo]

We had a great time this morning.

I had Curt run the long Pennsy passenger train. He was much slower than even I run it.

Greg made his debut on the turntable and roundhouse tracks. He was in fact very good. However, I knew he did something due to the fact I came back in and the brakes on the Pennsy 2-8-2 were still smoking. And, he immediately confessed due to a guilty conscience.

I put the Judge through some turntable paces and we discovered the turntable wasn't switching polarity to the two outbound tracks.

I'll report back on this issue later after I get it fixed.

Tom

Darn...darn...darn. 

[ACL1504]

Well, once again I'm very far behind on the thread in relation to the progress updates. I have about 45 photos to get ya'll caught up. I had one electrical issue I couldn't solve for several days.

When the turntable was installed and the corresponding tracks were wired, all worked as planned except for two tracks. These are the two tracks on the upper right of the turntable and left of the roundhouse as viewed in the below photo.

These are the two outbound tracks.



Call it Murphy's Law or the story of the Blue Whale, either one, the loco would short coming off the turntable onto these two tracks. The polarity of these two tracks are the same as the others.

I spent several hours/days trying to figure it out and kept referring to my wiring as a possible source of the short. No solution I came up with worked.

More in a few.

[ACL1504]

I asked around and apparently this is a common problem with the Walther's DCC turntable.

Regardless, this common problem doesn't solve the issue.

Here is what I came up with to make it work.

These two outbound tracks are just under 4 feet in length.



I decided to treat them as individual reverse loops.

I used super glue and glued the ties to the plywood and the rail to the ties. I used the Dremel cut off disc to cut gaps into the rail. The super glued ties and rail didn't move at all while cutting.



I then unsoldered the wires from the common buss line and soldered them to the PSX-AR (auto reverse), same as the reverse loop that runs around the back of the roundhouse.

The two tracks now work perfectly. Why, because it's the Story of the Blue Whale. Murphy's Law started the problem and the Blue Whale explains it all.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Looking fantastic, Tom!

The track work is looking very impressive and the roundhouse amazing!  It sounds like you have a lot of fun as well.  As always, enjoying your continued progress.

Cheers, mark.

[ACL1504]

Looking fantastic, Tom!

The track work is looking very impressive and the roundhouse amazing!  It sounds like you have a lot of fun as well.  As always, enjoying your continued progress.

Cheers, mark.

Mark,

Thank you, I appreciate you stopping by and posting your comments. Thank you as well for following along on the adventure.

Yes, I'm certainly having a lot of fun in the progress.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Now that the electrical issue was is resolved, I plan to detail the roundhouse turntable areas.

I'll began the ballasting and will also highly detail the turntable pit, bridge and track.

I'll tape off the turntable pit and cover the center portion where the electrical contacts go. The concrete pit and sides will be sprayed with Floquil Aged Concrete.



More in a few.

[ACL1504]

The table rails and bridge girders need to be painted. Notice in the photo below, white shows where these pieces were cut from the plastic carriers.





These parts will be hand painted weathered black. Now, they look like some variation of grey green.

More in a few, Diet Pepsi time.

[ACL1504]

The plastic bridge tender's hut needs to go as well.



I'll deconstruct this hut and use it as a pattern to scratch build one from my scrap box.

I'll add more on this project tomorrow. I've actually done the scratch build already.


Thanks for following along.

[S&S RR]

Tom


The turn table and Roundhouse look great.  I will be following your thread when I install my Walthers turntable in the next couple of months. I hate electrical problems.

[ACL1504]

John,

Thank you. I've been having fun detailing the turntable pit and bridge.

Tom

[jbvb]

I built one of Walthers original 90' turntable kits years ago.  With my operators in mind, I have left the hut and power arch loose, and never applied the plastic railings.  Building stronger railings of wire is on the list.

[PRR Modeler]

Great job Tom. I'm glad you were able to figure out a work around and that it didn't require another PSX-AR.

[jimmillho]

Tom, You are becoming an Electrical Genius in addition to being a fantastic Modeler.

Jim

[ndwolf68]

Great gobs o' goose poop!    That's pretty impressive and your solution to the electrical problem is nothimg short of genius. Well done, sir! I'm still a track laying and dcc noob. Will certainly follow along.
R/,
Norm

[Jerry]

Looking great Tom.  Nice solution on the wiring of those two tracks.

Jerry