This month has seen confirmation of order for the new control system and work on the revised schedules. I was away from home assiting family for a couple of weeks then I have been unwell so it has not been as productive as anticipated.
Control System Replacement
I have confirmed my order for NCE equipment with the Australian distributor Model Rail Road Craftsman Shop and delivery is anticipated to be late July or early August.
Revised Ops Sessions
Work on the new schedules for all trains has commenced. There are 135 different movements in the schedule which have had travel times updated due to improving the efficiency factor as outlined last month.
Below is an example of a schedule.
Each of these movments have an associated train graph which will be used a component of the overall operating session train graph. I have processed 26 so far so still a long way to go.....
Below is an example of a graph.
The previous Session 1 had 39 movements excluding those in the main yard this will reduce with the reduction of crews from 5 to 4.
What gets included in the new Session 1 is still to be decided.
This month I had my first Ops session after nearly two years but we had significant problems resulting in a new control system has been ordered. Changes to my operating strategy are proposed. I have been helping Rosslyn on the Sandgate & Southern and attended an Ops Session at Wayne's.
Hallett Cove Southern Ops Session
On Monday 17th May I ran session 4 again - the one that failed way back on 1st July 2019....
Wayne, John, Barry, Chris, Peter J and Alan joined me.
Being my first session in a long time I did not have any time to take photos as I was way too busy!
Well a number of faults appeared - half a dozen turnout failures, loco control problems and I discovered that my operators had forgotten lots of details, maybe the old saying "if you don't use it, you loose it!" has some meaning here.....
In the end I called time so a tidy end to operations did not happen so trains are all over the layout in various states' which means at some time in the future I will need to fix that.
We enjoyed afternoon tea following the session.
Recently there has been discussions that we are all getting older, take longer to do things and can't last as long as we did... This has resulted in a reassessment of my operations strategy as I have the longest sessions of any group member.
Control System Replacement
Despite all the work with the new booster the loss of control of locos in that power district have caused me to make a decision to replace my existing Roco system.
Whilst on the tour of USA, Canada and the UK back in 2016 it was clear that clubs and large layouts used one of two systems, NCE and Digitrax. I have had some exposure to Digitrax with Peter R from Traralgon in the past and I was lucky to meet Jim Scorse in Indianapolis at the NMRA Nationals.
I have decided on a NCE Procab Radio System with hammerhead
throttles. I will need four boosters, seven throttles a computer interface.
I will replace the separate MRC system which I use for accessories by adding a EB 1 Circuit Breaker to the command
station for those accessories.
There are supply issues worldwide at the moment so I will just have to wait my turn to get the components.
Future Ops Session Stragegy
Following on from fleeting discussion and comments within our group about operating sessions I decided to ask all my operators for feedback to four questions:
what you think an ideal session
length would be,
the % of time you would like to
be fully engaged in the session Vs downtime,
do you think I have the right
number of operators currently? Current crews are: Hornertown (2) and 4
running trains (1 or 2 per train),
any other things you think I
should consider.
I was very pleased with the level of response and in summary opinions offered were:
What you think an ideal session length would be.
Overwhelmingly a maximum of 2½ hrs
with a preference towards 2 hrs.
The % of time you would like to be fully engaged in the
session V’s downtime.
Everyone wants to be kept fairly busy
70% - 100% engagement whole session – most want 90%.
Do you think I have the right number of operators
currently? Current crews are: Hornertown (2) and 4 running trains (1 or 2
per train).
Most thought the current arrangement
works ok, however, there was a definite recommendation that any shunting job
should have an engineer and guard to reduce pressure on the operator and
achieve “more fun” as two heads are better than one with shunting
puzzles. Conversely some thought a maximum of six people.
The availability of operators will
probably limit the number of crews – so I will probably drop one crew so minimum
number of operators would be seven plus controller – total of 8.
Any other things you think I should consider.
Perhaps move to a system of job cards
similar to Wayne’s where all jobs apart from Yardmaster and local goods
taking most/all of the session such as the “Jimtown Turn,” are done by the next
available crew.
Train others to work the panel to
allow me to wander and assist like Wayne does – for those that remember like
when Derek was around….
Pull the plug based on maximum
operating time – same as Wayne’s.
Don’t like using JMRI tablets –
prefer throttles.
Stations have labels showing what
stations are East or West.
Turn outs in Hornertown yard be
numbered on the panel and ground – similar to Wayne’s.
So my grand plan will be
massaged to suit on-going needs and I will be making the following changes:
I will
aim for a session length close to 2¼ hrs so like Wayne’s arrive after 1:00
and commence running no later that 1:30 and conclude by 4:00.
All
shunting jobs will have two operators.
Reduce
number of crews from five to four.
The
“efficiency factor” used in calculating mainline running times will be
increased from 50% to 75% to reduce downtime.
Yardmaster
and local goods such as “Jimtown Turn” ill be predetermined and the
remainder will be take the next job system – like Wayne’s.
Realtime
clock will remain to keep to schedule which maintains order on the system.
So new schedules for all trains and changes to accommodate the timetable changes. The most time consuming will be the train graphs to ensure the schedules actually will work.
Sandgate & Southern
I have been assisting Rosslyn with wiring issues over the last couple of months in order to remove some gremlins that have been haunting her. She has removed the vast majority of the old 5 cab DC wiring as paert of the process.
We have been installing the CD units I made for her about two years ago as well.
Things are progressing and Rosslyn will have a shakedown run again soon.
Ops Session at Wayne's
I along with Murray, Ross, Don, John and Des attended the session. We all had a fun time and enjoyed the session.
Don at Valley Junction
John at Lowood Crossing
Don and Des at Dunkleigh Towers
Ross, Don & Wayne discussing boggie movement issues
Ross at Red Rock
Wayne has decided to limit the total number attending his operating sessions so he has introduced a roster system to ensure everyone gets their fair share of sessions. I am 3rd reserve for the second session this month so looks like I won't be there...
There has been quite a lot of activities this month recommissioning the layout is substantially complete. In addition I did some maintenance on my MT4's, have been working on the grade crossing project for Dazzy Jay, attended three Ops Session at Wayne's and my Granddaughters run some trains.
Recommissioning
Loco LeMaistre and Huntington have been cleaned in the same manner as the decks. Once agin thanks must go to Peter J who came to help.
There are a number of turnout issues mainly around solenoids to be addressed. I found the AWOL paperwork in a box packed by the insurance contractors. I forgot I asked the session operators to make notes on the failure 18 months ago so the paperwork has written notes on it!. I need to recreate it soon.
The following locos needed attention on the workbench as they failed to operate. Wheel and pickup cleaning and some rewriting of decoder settings from DecoderPro seems these measures have addressed the issues.
I have a new issue with the control system relating to my shunt locos in Huntington - they don't want to respond to the throttle - they are all small diesels however the mainline larger locos work fine - perplexing.
MT4 Maintenance
When I was cleaning the wheels ready to reprogram them I remembered an issue we encountered many times was the pony trucks not tracking properly and occaisionally derailing. Fellow modelers have weighted the pony trucks on their locos and solved the problem so I took the opportunity to wrap some thin rosin core soler around the pony truck axles to add a small amount of weight. We will see if it has made a difference in the next operating session where they are scheduled to run.
Dazzy's Grade Crossing
I indicated last month that I was building a grade crossing for Dazzy. I have completed the code for the cossing lights which works fine.
Well the circuit I proposed to use for detection failed as I could not get reliable detection with the required 30cm gap between the IR LED and Photo diode. I changed the circuit to use a photo transistor an cranked up the IR output of the high capacity IR LED's I sourced from RS Components - see circuit diagram below. This worked first time but in later trials I deemed it not to be reliable enough.
Bench Power Supply set at 5V
IR LED (In tube LHS) and Phototransistor (in tube RHS)
Ruler Match for 30cm
Well I went looking and read about modifying the standard robot IR avoidance module as described by Rob Paisley here. Now I owe Uncle Larry and apology - on MRR Show 202 I said my solution was better - wrong! I just didn't realise what Rob Paisley had documented as a solution using the same technology that Uncle Larry has suggested and I have on hand.
Normally the sensor is used to detect using reflected IR however in this instance we need to detect when the IR beam is broken.
Benchtesting IR LED on LHS and Sensor on RHS.
After a bit of tweaking of the sensor sensitivity resistor it worked like a charm using a remote IR LED.
I modified te code I had written and incorpoated Dr Geoff Bunza's "RR_Crossing_Bell_FreeRun_PB" published by MRH Magazine back in December 2016.
Detector modules and sound modules added
Placing the detector modules about 40cm from a normal capacity IR LED things work ok. See the circuit diagram & video of operation below.
Ops Sessions
This month I attended three sessions, one at Peter J's and te other two at Wayne's.
ENGVR
I attended along with Chris, Peter S, Rosslyn & Wayne
Rosslyn at Marysville
Wayne at Cedar Junction with Rosslyn looking on
Peter S at Marysville
Chris & Peter J at Glenbrook
Chris and Me at Grass Valley
Wayne and Rosslyn at Cedar Junction with Peter S looking on
Wayne uncoupling at Reid river
Chris & Peter J in the crew room - Nevada City to the right
Peter S at Eureka
Afterwards we enjoyed some of Mary's home made cake and other snacks along with a welcome drink.
Wayne's
I was lucky enough to attend two sessions this month and enjoyed both of them.
14 April
I attended along with Alan, Des, Don, Hugh and John at Wayne's and I was yardmaster at Dunkleigh Towers for the first half before getting to run some mainline trains.
Alan and Hugh at Forrest Gully and John at Lowood Crossing
Wayne and Don in serious discussion
Me at Dunkleigh Towers
Des and Wayne at Red Rock
Don, John, Hugh and Alan all at Lowood Crossing
Des at Valley Junction
Alan at Lowood Crossing
Des, Hugh and John
Don, Alan & Wayne
22 April
Barry, Chris, Des, Rosslyn and I joined Wayne for the session.
I had two Yardmaster jobs firstly Valley Junction followed by Lowood Crossing. The schedule was "easy going" so a non stressful great operating session for me.
Afterwards we enjoyed afternoon tea as usual.
Barry at Mulga Ridge
Chris & Des at Red Rock with Wayne watching on
Rosslyn at Forrest Gully
Rosslyn, Des and Chris at Red Rock
Barry at Lowood Crossing
Wayne - "Supervising"
Granddaughters Visit
Well after many requests to "run trains" in the last 18 months I was finally able to allow it due to the recommissioning work.
