Weekend Update for Aug. 2-5, 2024

[Paul S.]

Please update us what you've done on your model railroad this week/weekend. This weekly thread is intended for us to post snippets about our layout/project progress, rather than be a substitute for our layout-build or project threads. Think of this topic as a mini update on what you've accomplished during the week/weekend.
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So fellow RMRers, what have you been up to this week?

[JerryZ]

Held my SIXTH session since June 6th last night (session 87 since restarting sessions on 29-July-2016. Had a total of 16 individuals operating.

Still having an issue with scrambled decoders. I've had my fill of that, so today I finished a Sountraxx Tsunami 2 installation in my NP F7B. Going to have the A units done by Monday with the exception of the headlights, which I need resistors for (they are LED). This will at least clean up the consist for the NCL. Was able to replicate the problem today with five QSI locos in the helix, and a consist of three ESU Loksound Select equipped FAs, and one of them lost motor output. Either the QSI decoders don't play well with the ESU decoders, or, something with my helix is causing issues. Unless I have some sort of inductance occurring in the helix, I am at a loss to blame the helix wiring or protection. I have snubbers installed on that block, as well as a dedicated powershield.

I also programmed the trip points on three of my powershields to a higher value just to see if that lessens the problems I am having. I really need to get some scope data with the test I ran this AM.

One of the layout owners I operate with asked me if I was interested in doing a Red Devil coal loader. I told him I'd give it a try. Another gentlemen (Kerry D) was part of the discussion and used to do CAD for a living. Two days later, a STL file showed up, saving me a big pile of work. Printed in out on Thursday and Friday. It came out nice enough that Bill is going to put the Alpha on the layout. I have to print out another one for another member of the group. Very gratifying to do this quickly. And it wouldn't have happened like this without a great CAD file.




Regards,
Jerry

[Allen]

Nice looking coal loader Jerry.
Hope you get the decoder bug figured out, can't imagine how frustrating that must be.
I had some issues with some TCS decoders several years ago, about my hair out, and I ain't got much left.
Got away from TCS decoders and went with Digitrax (silent) and haven't the issues popup.

Turns out they are very susceptible to shorts and static shocks. A simple shock or short and they'd scramble their brains.
Luckily the fix was simple, power the system down and everything comes back, it's a just a hassle.

[LorenC]

I had been working on building my mountain on the right side of the layout. However, I then realized that I really needed to have the coal mine built first so that I could allocate the correct amount of space for it. Some two weeks later, I finally have it finished. I couldn't begin to imagine building the bigger one that Walthers offers.

Of course, I am not really finished, as I need to add both diffusing window film and lights. It will probably take around a dozen lights total for both the inside and outside.