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I got there about 11AM and found that folks were going about their jobs getting ready for the noon opening. Dan Schimmelman was putting together strings of cars for the riders and Jack Anderson was getting the food concession in shape. I met Joan Cebulla and Diane Dietel working on the T-shirts and other concession material and they were buzzing right along. I turned over my key for the concessions cabinet to Joan as it did not seem that I needed to have it anymore. I had walked up to turn on the signals power and was joined by Tom Prescott. He talked about the signals and I explained what they meant and how and why the various signals were like they were. We stopped to sit in the picnic area on the hill and after we spoke for a few minutes Tom mentioned that Tim Kirby was headed our way looking like he had a purpose in mind. Tim came up and asked if I could take pictures of the members on Sunday to update some of the old photos that we have of the membership. I said sure and then asked Tim to stand there and I took his photo then I took Tom's and as I walked back up to the depot I took pictures of everyone else that would stand still.
Tom Prescott worked on removing a "widowmaker" (a piece of a tree lodged in another tree that could fall at any moment) and soon Bob Pappa joined him and they successfully removed the large limb.
I got to the station area about a quarter to noon and brought up some radios and other supplies. Bill Schimmelman was already running with some private party folks and we knew that the track was open and ready for use. The inch line had no signs of activity and that was worrisome. They started to let folks come down to the waiting line area. I got started with my introduction and got folks feeling good. I explain the difference in the waiting lines and the trips that each one takes. I go over the rules and conduct expected and answer any questions. The group was expected to be smaller because the weather was expected to be rainy. Fortunately the rain held off and we had a good time. Dan Bissionnette joined the station crew and we had a good time with the passengers. Luckily the inch line started to come to life about 12:45 and the folks waiting for that ride were rewarded with a ride on Stewart's train. The hill trip is very picturesque and I am happy that people seem to enjoy the uniqueness of that trip.
During the day I got a chance for a break about 2PM and grabbed some chow from concessions. I bumped into Tommy Cebulla coming from the back side of the hill who reported that two more signals were malfunctioning. It is nice to have a light load day so I can get a chance to sit down and get off my feet. After going back up to the station Dan got his break and the trains we had running were able to keep the queue moving and people really enjoyed the fast turn around times for rides. They needed a conductor for a train on the inch line so I went over to help out. While we were going around the track, I noticed a signal that changed to green when it should not have so we have that signal to look at as well.
We actually emptied out the queue entirely and so I asked Dan if he wanted to run the station and I would head for the barn. He said it looked like we were not in need of two station people anymore so I headed out. I took a picture of John Hamre for the Roster on the WEB site and got my stuff then I left for the day. It was humid and hot so I really was looking forward to the trip home.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Wow - what a night of storms
We had a Friday night of very heavy storms in the area. Saturday morning we got started by going to a supply store to pick up some chain link ties for the new fencing project. When we got to the track it was about 9:30. We looked the place over and realized there was going to be downed branches on the tracks. The site is heavily forested and branches fall several times a month. Usually they are small enough to be removed easily as the trains cannot tolerate the branches or pine cones on the track. The other problem is that the ballast gets disturbed and either washes into the turnouts and fouls their operation or perhaps builds up on one side or the other of the track and the wheel flanges get to climbing the rails and you get a derailment. Ballast gets washed out from riverlets that form during the downpours which destabilizes the track as well.
We decided to use Doug's locomotives and made up a work train to survey the inch track. Stewart was there and advised us he was going up to Summit to check out the bridge. When he came down he said the mud sill was damaged and we should look at it closely as we went over. It was slow going as we made our way along the route with the debris removal necessary. We were checking signals to be ready for Sunday - our public run day. We looked over the bridge at Summit and to us it did not appear to be having a problem but we are not trackmen. We did find a tree leaning over the track from being blown over. All signals but one were working properly. We reported our findings to Stewart and others when we got back to the bottom of the hill.
Rich went back up to remove the malfunctioning signal and brought it back. We decided to inspect the inch tunnel to see exactly what we had to do to start the lighting project. We got some extension cord and utility lights and road back up the hill and inspected the tunnel interior. We discussed different approaches and got on the same page.
Back off the hill we put the equipment away and Rich called Tommy to get some repair parts for the switch machines. We had two old-style motor assemblies with broken microswitches. When Tommy arrived we got the parts and I went over to replace the malfunctioning switch machine near the station and the trestle. Because of the modular approach that the swap out was fairly quick. I then cycled the motor and noticed the points did not move. After closer inspection I saw the points were too long and were binding on the rails so I told Don and he got a hacksaw and I went back to help him, We sawed off the points and then the turnout worked just like new. The high heat we have had lately has made the track expand and shift the geometry of some of the places and caused some problems.
Tommy gave me some microswitches to be able to fix the switch machines but told me that they need to be drilled to make them fit the assembly. I told Rich that we need to move the small drill press from the roundhouse to the Grelson Building to make it easier to do such things and he agreed.
We decided to use Doug's locomotives and made up a work train to survey the inch track. Stewart was there and advised us he was going up to Summit to check out the bridge. When he came down he said the mud sill was damaged and we should look at it closely as we went over. It was slow going as we made our way along the route with the debris removal necessary. We were checking signals to be ready for Sunday - our public run day. We looked over the bridge at Summit and to us it did not appear to be having a problem but we are not trackmen. We did find a tree leaning over the track from being blown over. All signals but one were working properly. We reported our findings to Stewart and others when we got back to the bottom of the hill.
Rich went back up to remove the malfunctioning signal and brought it back. We decided to inspect the inch tunnel to see exactly what we had to do to start the lighting project. We got some extension cord and utility lights and road back up the hill and inspected the tunnel interior. We discussed different approaches and got on the same page.
Back off the hill we put the equipment away and Rich called Tommy to get some repair parts for the switch machines. We had two old-style motor assemblies with broken microswitches. When Tommy arrived we got the parts and I went over to replace the malfunctioning switch machine near the station and the trestle. Because of the modular approach that the swap out was fairly quick. I then cycled the motor and noticed the points did not move. After closer inspection I saw the points were too long and were binding on the rails so I told Don and he got a hacksaw and I went back to help him, We sawed off the points and then the turnout worked just like new. The high heat we have had lately has made the track expand and shift the geometry of some of the places and caused some problems.
Tommy gave me some microswitches to be able to fix the switch machines but told me that they need to be drilled to make them fit the assembly. I told Rich that we need to move the small drill press from the roundhouse to the Grelson Building to make it easier to do such things and he agreed.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Saturday Repairs
Work day started about 9AM at the track. Rich and I arrived and we started looking into the power supply issue with the roundhouse turnouts. He reported that last Sunday he found the supply had shut down and he had attached a battery to power the area. After a short time he found that the battery had been drained and was very hot. This points to a short circuit so now our problem was finding it. Usually this is not difficult as when wires short they usually melt or burn the insulation in the vicinity of the short. Jack arrived and helped us check out the wires on the surface of the ground. We went over the wire several times and finally I found a spot that had a kink and had partially melted and that was the site of the short. Jack spliced a new piece of wire in at that point and Rich got the power supply installed and working again.
The roundhouse button still did not throw the turnout so I started looking into that matter. The pushbutton switch looked to be in good condition and seemed to be working OK so it meant that the problem was in the wiring between the button and the turnout controller box. Most of this wire was buried when Tommy installed the button. We checked at the turnout controller end of the wire and found that the pulse was not coming out of the cable. We could apply a pulse at the input terminals of the turnout controller and cycle the switch machine so the controller was working properly - it had to be in the wire. We visually inspected the wire and the only splice that was visible had no damage and when the wires were bared they changed the switch machine when connected. This meant the problem was between the splice and the button. So we dug up the wire and it was intact from the splice on top of the ground to the point it crossed under the rails to the button post. We debated chopping off the wire and putting a new one on to the post but we still wanted to find the actual site of the break. It turned out that under the rails there was another splice buried underground that had opened up. We then cutoff the wire and added a section of new cable to run from the button to the outside of the tracks and spliced it on. Now the button functions reliably and that should fix it for quite some time.
We got out the inch F7s and some riding cars to check out the signals on the inch track. There was a lot of debris from the storms the other day so we had to stop quite a few times to remove pine cones and branches from the track. Even so we derailed six or seven times on the trip. The storms had moved some of the ballast rock and caused the wheels to climb up and over the rails here and there. We found a bad turnout as well up by Summit. We reported the bad turnout to Dan Akins so they can get it repaired before next weekend.
Richard started work on the turnout controller just before the long bridge by the station on the inch line. It does not signal the track selected correctly. It turns out that the microswitch used to detect the position of the turnout via a cam was broken. The lever that touches the motor cam broke off the switch body and was lying on the bottom of the case. There is no easy fix for this and the backup motor assembly had a switch with the same problem. Rich will talk to Tommy and see if he can supply either the assembly or another switch for the broken ones.
The roundhouse button still did not throw the turnout so I started looking into that matter. The pushbutton switch looked to be in good condition and seemed to be working OK so it meant that the problem was in the wiring between the button and the turnout controller box. Most of this wire was buried when Tommy installed the button. We checked at the turnout controller end of the wire and found that the pulse was not coming out of the cable. We could apply a pulse at the input terminals of the turnout controller and cycle the switch machine so the controller was working properly - it had to be in the wire. We visually inspected the wire and the only splice that was visible had no damage and when the wires were bared they changed the switch machine when connected. This meant the problem was between the splice and the button. So we dug up the wire and it was intact from the splice on top of the ground to the point it crossed under the rails to the button post. We debated chopping off the wire and putting a new one on to the post but we still wanted to find the actual site of the break. It turned out that under the rails there was another splice buried underground that had opened up. We then cutoff the wire and added a section of new cable to run from the button to the outside of the tracks and spliced it on. Now the button functions reliably and that should fix it for quite some time.
We got out the inch F7s and some riding cars to check out the signals on the inch track. There was a lot of debris from the storms the other day so we had to stop quite a few times to remove pine cones and branches from the track. Even so we derailed six or seven times on the trip. The storms had moved some of the ballast rock and caused the wheels to climb up and over the rails here and there. We found a bad turnout as well up by Summit. We reported the bad turnout to Dan Akins so they can get it repaired before next weekend.
Richard started work on the turnout controller just before the long bridge by the station on the inch line. It does not signal the track selected correctly. It turns out that the microswitch used to detect the position of the turnout via a cam was broken. The lever that touches the motor cam broke off the switch body and was lying on the bottom of the case. There is no easy fix for this and the backup motor assembly had a switch with the same problem. Rich will talk to Tommy and see if he can supply either the assembly or another switch for the broken ones.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Another day with rain
Although it had rained earlier, it was between showers. Rich, Bob Bump and I arrived about 9AM and opened up. I haven't seen Bob for a while so it was good to get back together again. He lamented that he had a steam engine that he had been working on for about 30 years and the boiler had a serious problem. He had jobbed that part out and it could only be fixed with a new boiler. He currently runs a diesel and has apparently given up on the steamer.
I reversed the lowboy head on the roundhouse lead so it points in the correct directions. I had put it on backwards last time I worked on it so it was showing a red aspect for divergent in the wrong direction. The box was dry so the new rubber seals on the screw heads are working to keep out the rain. It had rained overnight last night and the ground was still damp but we were between rains. Rich was going to substitute the power supply for the turnouts by the roundhouse as he noticed the green had a faint glow when the divergent color was on. Since I had speculated about the power supply voltage exceeding the PIV of the LED was causing a leakage current that created a loop in the LEDs, we wanted to see if lowering the supply voltage to 12V from the 16V that the current supply was delivering would cure the problem. We checked a couple of power supplies that we had at the track but we came up short. The supply Rich wanted to use which had a built-in timer turned out to be 12V AC not DC so it would not just interchange. Jack arrived and we split up the jobs that were possible for us. Jack would install the new semaphore on the 1 inch line and Bob and I would start measuring various distances to deliver a more accurate site map. Rich went off to town to get a new power supply.
We measured starting in the Lawson/Grelson area and wound up measuring track from the 1 1/2 inch track approaching the road crossing and finished up the 1 inch station area. It is amazing what two guys can sketch and measure with a 200 foot tape in an hour or so.
Rich came back and we joined him after he put the new supply in. I had added a steering diode in the switch machine box to the green LED lead and that had fixed the problem. We will try shorting out the new diodes to see if the reduced voltage has, in fact, cured the "bleeding" problem.
Next job was to go up on the 1" line and repair the section of wire that was cooked by the fire. We spliced in a new section about 15 feet long to replace the damaged section. Jack finished working on installing the new semaphore and box. It started raining but I went down and got my drill to punch a few holes in the track on the 1 1/2" line near our power terminal. We have a block that starts about 20 feet from the semaphore with the track in between "dead". I am going to add it to the block by a couple of jumpers and a new run-around wire past the turnout. This should give us a better sensing of the occupancy of he block. We have to move the semaphore a few feet as well but this is to be expected. After drilling the holes for the run-around the rain started coming down harder so we decided to call it a day.
I reversed the lowboy head on the roundhouse lead so it points in the correct directions. I had put it on backwards last time I worked on it so it was showing a red aspect for divergent in the wrong direction. The box was dry so the new rubber seals on the screw heads are working to keep out the rain. It had rained overnight last night and the ground was still damp but we were between rains. Rich was going to substitute the power supply for the turnouts by the roundhouse as he noticed the green had a faint glow when the divergent color was on. Since I had speculated about the power supply voltage exceeding the PIV of the LED was causing a leakage current that created a loop in the LEDs, we wanted to see if lowering the supply voltage to 12V from the 16V that the current supply was delivering would cure the problem. We checked a couple of power supplies that we had at the track but we came up short. The supply Rich wanted to use which had a built-in timer turned out to be 12V AC not DC so it would not just interchange. Jack arrived and we split up the jobs that were possible for us. Jack would install the new semaphore on the 1 inch line and Bob and I would start measuring various distances to deliver a more accurate site map. Rich went off to town to get a new power supply.
We measured starting in the Lawson/Grelson area and wound up measuring track from the 1 1/2 inch track approaching the road crossing and finished up the 1 inch station area. It is amazing what two guys can sketch and measure with a 200 foot tape in an hour or so.
Rich came back and we joined him after he put the new supply in. I had added a steering diode in the switch machine box to the green LED lead and that had fixed the problem. We will try shorting out the new diodes to see if the reduced voltage has, in fact, cured the "bleeding" problem.
Next job was to go up on the 1" line and repair the section of wire that was cooked by the fire. We spliced in a new section about 15 feet long to replace the damaged section. Jack finished working on installing the new semaphore and box. It started raining but I went down and got my drill to punch a few holes in the track on the 1 1/2" line near our power terminal. We have a block that starts about 20 feet from the semaphore with the track in between "dead". I am going to add it to the block by a couple of jumpers and a new run-around wire past the turnout. This should give us a better sensing of the occupancy of he block. We have to move the semaphore a few feet as well but this is to be expected. After drilling the holes for the run-around the rain started coming down harder so we decided to call it a day.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Current Work
About 9 days ago, Dan Bissionnette asked me to look at creating a web site for the club. I have been experimenting with some web site creating software. He mentioned a few ideas of what he wanted and the package should enable them. I can also write some HTML (HyperText Markup Language) code if needed so I think it is possible to have a site in a few weeks. So far, I have created a site that has much of the information on our existing site - history and track plan as well as a photo gallery and visual roster (which will be restricted to members only) as well as an archive of SCRR publications. I have some code for a calendar that I have downloaded but the software package has a calendar as well but I do not have the full package yet, it's in the mail. I would like for someone else to manage the calendar but we will see. Also blogs can be incorporated so I hope I can stimulate others to start writing them.
What I envision is a dynamic site that members will come to for information about what is happening at the track at least weekly. I hope the board members will start blogging about what they see are issues and members start commenting on how they feel about issues so the club will be more democratic. I hope the President will start a blog and tell the members what the board is doing and each department head will start sharing what is going on in their areas. I am not trying to take away the function of the newsletters but to augment them with a better picture of what is going on.
Among others, I looked at the Assinboine Valley Railroad site and got a few ideas from them. I especially liked their photo gallery. They have photos from every trip they have taken and it is interesting to see just what they have done. They also post videos to YouTube which helps make the hobby visible to others.
With a blank canvas it is easy to imagine just what is possible. The trick is to figure out what to make public and what to restrict to members only. There is a cornucopia of possibilities but I need input from many members about their interests and concerns. I have taken the first step of surveying the members on privacy issues by sending out a E-mail to the membership list.
What I envision is a dynamic site that members will come to for information about what is happening at the track at least weekly. I hope the board members will start blogging about what they see are issues and members start commenting on how they feel about issues so the club will be more democratic. I hope the President will start a blog and tell the members what the board is doing and each department head will start sharing what is going on in their areas. I am not trying to take away the function of the newsletters but to augment them with a better picture of what is going on.
Among others, I looked at the Assinboine Valley Railroad site and got a few ideas from them. I especially liked their photo gallery. They have photos from every trip they have taken and it is interesting to see just what they have done. They also post videos to YouTube which helps make the hobby visible to others.
With a blank canvas it is easy to imagine just what is possible. The trick is to figure out what to make public and what to restrict to members only. There is a cornucopia of possibilities but I need input from many members about their interests and concerns. I have taken the first step of surveying the members on privacy issues by sending out a E-mail to the membership list.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Saturday Fire, Electrical and Cleanup While It Rained
We opened the main buildings up and did some miscellaneous stuff then we went to the roundhouse and got out a locomotive then up to the car barn and got out some cars. We met Jack and after discussing the fire last weekend, then we went up to peruse the area. Apparently a steamer had let a few embers fly on the one-inch and they caught the brush on fire near the track. Folks responded with the extinguishers and got it put out but it burned perhaps 100 square feet of ground cover before it was out. It scorched one of our cables for the signal system so we wanted to repair it as soon as possible which we had every intention of doing, until the rain started coming down fairly regularly. We decided to park the train in a tunnel and walk down off the hill and eat lunch.
After lunch - there is still some of Whit's cobbler left..., we decided to do stuff in the roundhouse and the Grelson building. Rich went off to the roundhouse and I started in the Grelson building cleaning up stuff on the benches and sorting things. Whatever we do, please do not purchase any half-inch metallic conduit fittings until you check our stock supply. Other than putting like things together and labeling what is possible to label it is a difficult task to organize the stuff. We lack storage bins and shelves for storage bins. Trying to separate hardware and bring some order to the chaos is what I am trying to do. People need to put things back where they find them and check out the stock before buying more hardware.
We have to paint the tunnel lamp covers so that is a task for the next week or two. We found out that there is no way to tell if our distributed AC power panels are working so we decided to add a tunnel light assembly to the three remote power panels we have around the property. I suggested we monitor the DC supplies at those locations as well which is difficult to do because all the three are paralleled. I suggested a large rectifier diode in series with the output of each supply should isolate each unit enough to allow a lamp to indicate if the supply is working or not.
After lunch - there is still some of Whit's cobbler left..., we decided to do stuff in the roundhouse and the Grelson building. Rich went off to the roundhouse and I started in the Grelson building cleaning up stuff on the benches and sorting things. Whatever we do, please do not purchase any half-inch metallic conduit fittings until you check our stock supply. Other than putting like things together and labeling what is possible to label it is a difficult task to organize the stuff. We lack storage bins and shelves for storage bins. Trying to separate hardware and bring some order to the chaos is what I am trying to do. People need to put things back where they find them and check out the stock before buying more hardware.
We have to paint the tunnel lamp covers so that is a task for the next week or two. We found out that there is no way to tell if our distributed AC power panels are working so we decided to add a tunnel light assembly to the three remote power panels we have around the property. I suggested we monitor the DC supplies at those locations as well which is difficult to do because all the three are paralleled. I suggested a large rectifier diode in series with the output of each supply should isolate each unit enough to allow a lamp to indicate if the supply is working or not.
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