October Update

                            

This month I have a achieved quite a few things that included: Car Card Racks, Job Cards, Hornertown Shunt Instructions, Maintenance, Ops Sessions, Tasks completed & scheduled.

Car Card Racks Modification

During the Ops Session on 15th Denis suggested it would be much easier to read the waybills if the industry within the town was able to be read without having to lift the card from the rack.

I am trailing a modification and if it works, I will permanently fix in it place. 

Thanks for the suggestion, Denis.  I look forward to further feedback.

Job Card Update

I discovered an issue on the Build Jimtown Turn & Build Flintston Local Hornertown Jobs whilst mentoring at the Ops Session on 28 September.

This had implications for every session as the Flintston local runs every session.

Job Cards for all sessions have been updated and revised editions uploaded to my website for reference.

Hornertown Shunts

I am in the process of updating all of the shunt movements undertaken in the Hornertown Yard.

This month I have updated:

• Sweep Yard to Staging
• Build - Flintston Local
• Build - Jimtown Turn
• Build - Huntington Local
• Build - LeMaistre Local
• Build - Express Goods East
• Build - Express Goods West
• Industrial Shunt East

Remaining are:

• Industrial Shunt West
• Huntington & LeMaistre Locals’ Movements
• Build - Oil

Here is a link to the web page.

Maintenance

Two additional power units needed attention following the 15th October Ops Session.

SP Railcar 446

During the Ops Session the decoder lost its way deciding not to respond to any commands and decided "I will just go forward at low speed"!  The railcar had to be physically removed from the rails.  When tested a week later it was still "going forward at low speed".  So off to the workshop!

I have rewritten the decoder settings using DecoderPro and it is back in operation and has been returned to the layout for use in the next session.

Locos GP40-2 7602

I have been still getting derailments of the same bogie in the helix! I asked Don to take a look for me whilst I was doing some work on his JMRI computers.

Here is a photo of what he found the left wire was short and trapped....

Here is a photo after the fix...

The loco was tested over the track with common derailments and functioned flawlessly. It is rostered to run next session when the ultimate test will be undertaken!

Thanks for the help, Don.

Loco AC-4 4123

The rear coupler is "sticky" - it is still on the maintenance list!

Loco 5600

Making grinding noises and seems to be fighting other locos in the consist - it is also on the maintenance list!

My Ops Sessions

I hosted two sessions using the latest strategy since my last update.

Monday 29th September

I forgot the Rouges gallery photo prior to commencement.  Barry, Denis, Graham, Peter S & Wayne came unfortunately Don could not attend at the last minute.

Barry on the Control Panel

Graham @ Hornertown Local Passenger

Denis shunting @ Flintston

Wayne shunting @ Jimtown

Peter S at LeMaistre Loco

Wayne shunting @ Adamsville

Peter S shunting @ Hornertown Wayne at Jimtown

Graham shunting @ Huntington

We enjoyed some afternoon tea afterwards

Wednesday 15th October

Alex, Denis, Graham, Paul & Wayne came for the session. 

Barry was unable to attend so I was left to do the control panel and mentor and had no time for photos of operations.  We had some fun.  Some operators tried new things, and some went well and some not so well - we never stop learning!

L>R Denis, Wayne, Graham, Peter J & Paul

We enjoyed some afternoon tea afterwards

Operations EVNGR

On 20th October Wayne, Denis and I joined Peter J for an ops session.  Peter has introduced waybills which compliment his train order sheets, and I thought that made shunting movements easier to plan.  We had a quite a few electrical gremlins which detracted from having a great session, but we had some fun.

Denis & Peter at Marysville

Wayne at Cedar Junction

Denis at Eureka and Peter at Marysville

Denis shunting Eureka

I shunted Grass Valley and had wagons ready for the next two locals

Tasks Completed in last 30 days 

Scheduled Tasks for next 90 days

That's it for now so until next time.....

-ooOOOoo-

September Update

                           

This month I have a achieved few things that included: New Operator, NMRA Meeting, Maintenance, Ops Sessions, Tasks completed & scheduled.

New Operator

I welcome Paul to the team.  Graham introduced me to Paul who he has known for many years.  Paul attended a induction session a few weeks back and came along for his first Ops Session on 17th.

Paul

Welcome to the team Paul!

NMRA Meeting

I attended the September meeting held at Palo's the group was smaller than usual but we had a good meeting; Peter J chaired the meeting.  Palo is getting closer to doing significant work on his layout. We enjoyed a lovely afternoon tea.

Maintenance

Four locos needed attention following the 1st September Ops Session.

Locos GP40-2's 7600 & 7602

I have been getting derailments of the trailing loco rear most bogie in the helix and this time I think I found the problem.  I observed that the glad hand of the Kadee coupler on the first wagon behind the real loco was jammed up hard against the snowplow of the loco.  The cars are weighted and the pressure on the loco.  I fitted long shank whisker couplers to both locos.  I hope this fixes the issue - I did check the axle against the NMRA Gauge and they were fine.

Loco AC-4 4123

The rear coupler is "sticky" - it is on the maintenance list!

Loco 5600

Making grinding noises and seems to be fighting other locos in the consist - it is also on the maintenance list!

My Ops Sessions

I hosted two sessions this month using the latest strategy.

Monday 1st

Denis, John, Peter J, Peter S, Wayne & later Barry came for the session.  The first hour and three quarters went well then, we had some issues two cornfield meets, confusion on yard work in Hornertown & I made a scheduling error.  Well, I decided as we were close to the end of the session to pull the plug and go for afternoon tea.

I spend an hour or two a week later tidying up ready for the next session.

L>R Wayne, Denis, Peter J, Peter S & John

Peter trying to rerail articulated locos after a cornfield meet in hidden staging.

Crib Time

Barry at the Control Panel

We enjoyed some afternoon tea afterwards

17th September

Denis, Graham, John, Paul & Peter J joined me for the session.  In Barry's absence I was on the Control Panel for the session and managed to get most things done correctly.  We had a good session and completed 95+% of the movements and had fun.

L>R Denis, Me, Paul, Graham & John

L>R Denis, Peter J, Paul, Graham & John

Graham working Hornertown Yard for the first time

Afterwards we enjoyed afternoon tea unfortunately Denis had to leave beforehand,

Operations EVNGR

On 25th August I attended an Ops Session at Peter J's along with Barry, Denis, Peter S and Wayne.  Peter J had a new running schedule for us to try and we recorded times to undertake movements to assist Peter in fine tuning.

There were a few electrical issues and the short wheelbase diesel loco lost connectivity at times - I have since given Peter J a couple of keep-alive's along with the instructions on how to fit.

Afterwards we enjoyed Mary's afternoon tea!

Tasks Completed in last 30 days 

Scheduled Tasks for next 90 days

That's it for now so until next time.....

-ooOOOoo-