This month has seen things happening on Power, Structures, SSD Failure, Sounds, Fallen Log Railway, Maintenance, Ops Sessions, Tasks completed & scheduled.

Accessory Power

When I constructed the layout, I ran an18V AC accessory feed to every control panel location which resulted in numerous 12V DC and 5V DC circuit boards.

I have now decided I need as heavier duty 12V DC and 5V DC circuits to drive accessories. I will connect them to the power supplies I installed back in 2022.

I have decided to use 12 Gauge wire to reduce the voltage drop over the 10-15 meter runs.

I purchased some Dual Row 6 Positions 600V 15A Screw Terminal Block Terminal Barrier Strips that have been preassembled and terminal lugs for various gauge wires.

The backbone wiring runs will be the next step, I have asked for some help from my operators as I can't do anywhere as much as I used to. Paul & Peter S have offered to help me, for which I am very grateful.

Sounds

I have made modules for Daveyston, Flintston, Iron Hill and Jimtown Farm.

The sound file for Flintston was prepared ages ago but the mix for Daveyston and Iron Hill are still to be put together in Audacity from free sound downloads.

The will be installed following the accessory power circuits being installed.

Iron Hill Sounds

I reported last month on farm sounds I am also going to install conveyor and ore loading sounds to operate when an ore train is being loaded. I am going to use an Arduino controlled module the same as I made for Peter J.

I needed to hide the Ultrasonic detector so I bought a trackside models tractor shed to cover the detector and it will be placed behind the loading bins.

Some photos of the build...

Proposed location

I think I might ask Peter J if he can put some "age" on the wood!!

Ramp for Flintston Engineering

Another trackside kit for this.

JMRI Laptop SSD Failure

I had been doing my usual things with my laptop went away for a while and returned to the screen below

After entering the correct code, the laptop announced to me it could not self-repair.

I took it to the IT guys I have been using for a couple of decades for diagnosis. They reinstalled Windows then the laptop destroyed itself again so I was told we don't know yet whether it is the SSD or the motherboard!

After further diagnosis it turned out the SSD had failed. Part of the operating system and user data was gone... Thank God for my regular backups of every PC to my server!

The only thing I lost that caused grief was my local JMRI configuration preference file (got overwritten with the new software install - my error) so none of my scripts or panels would load/run. These control power to my 13 staging tracks, other circuits and NCE clock startup! I had forgotten how to set it up so took some research before I could get it all functioning again. I think I will screenshot the start up page in JMRI preferences to remind me should I ever suffer the same fate!

Maintenance

There was just one issue addressed since my last update.

Loco

During Session #84 Loco 5333 on the Oil Train was acting up. It was jerky and not running nicely in consist with 5334 & 5365.

The loco was removed from the consist and the layout for maintenance.

Upon inspection there was a small amount of build-up in the wheels and fluff on the rear face of the wheels. Both were cleaned and electro lube applied, placed on the layout and test run with no issues found.

It was placed back in service and included in the consist, tested and all back to normal.

Fallen Log Railway

Wayne and I were invited to Dazzy Jay's Fallen Log Railway to chat about setting up operations. Daz is an operator on our layouts whenever his shiftwork allows. After a tour and an overview of Train Controller Configuration we spent around an hour talking about how to develop and test a strategy. I will follow with interest how he gets along.

Daz is the owner of Model Railroad Techniques YouTube Channel and has a Facebook page too.

Ops Sessions

I intended to host Session #85 but I was unwell leading to cancel it but I did attend Wayne's since my last update.

HCS 6th July - Session #85

Cancelled due to illness.

Wayne's

Barry, Denis and Peter S joined me on 23rd where we had fun, found some scheduling issues that will challenge Wayne to fix up! There was plenty of crib time as Lowood Crossing had not returned to service, so a number of movements were cancelled.