A very quiet hobby month again in September. I held an operating session, travelled from Southern Cross Station in Melbourne to Sale & Back staying with Peter R who just happened to be sick, and I brought it home with me.
Operations Session 5 September
Well, the session did go better but I found I put myself under too much pressure and was constantly busy and I have decided that I need to further streamline what I expect to get out of a session.
I did have a scheduling mistake which caused a couple of issues in the main yard and feedback suggests that I need to provide additional information for the yardmaster and assistant at Hornertown.
The next session is scheduled for November, so I have a few weeks to get my act together.
Thanks to Don for the videos and photos.
Wayne - Yardmaster at Hornertown
Yardmaster Wayne issuing instruction to Dennis
Ross and Rosslyn at Flintston
Me showing Dennis how to interpret the hidden staging cameras
Peter J at Huntington with Barry
Shunting at Stanvac
John Shunting at Jimtown
Ross and Barry at LeMaistre Loco
Here is a short video of some trains moving...
Southern Cross Station
I rode in a Velocity set from Southern Cross Station, Melbourne to Sale to see Peter R.
We had an invitation to visit Bill Black but unfortunately Peter wasn't well, so we didn't leave Sale for the whole week. It would have been nice to catch up with Bill again, but the moons did not align this time.
A very quiet hobby month in August due to my wife and I travelling to Darwin on "The Ghan" and spending a week in Darwin and other family commitments. I did however get some more planning for Session 2 done and I attended an operations session at Picardy.
The Ghan
Kaye & I travelled to Darwin on the Ghan in Platinum Service stopping at Marla, Alice Springs, Katherine along the way. We had a nice experience with exquisite food and excellent wines. We stayed on for another six nights too.
Katherine
Darwin Terminal
New Session 2 - Version 4
The concept plan has been done and the traingraph prepared ready for critical review.
Once the critical review has been completed I will develop all the other paperwork.
Ops Sessions
On 1 August I attended Ross's along with Barry Chris and Rosslyn and we ran his Picardy layout. Ros is gradually introducing some structured operational elements which increases operating satisfaction for me. I can report we had fun and enjoyed afternoon tea afterwards.
Ross directing operations
Barry having crib while operating Adelaide
Chris and Rosslyn operating Yarrara
Rosslyn working Yarrara and Chris Birkenhead
Here is a short video of aome of what we operated.
The activities during July did not go to plan, I was unable to complete the planning for the ops session so it has to be deferred. I conducted some more maintenance, continued with the planning for the operating changes in main yard, renamed the tracks in the classification area, reset the operations strategy, developed Session 1 Version 4, had my Granddaughters stay and hosted a Trainmasters TV session.
Maintenance
QSI V7 decoders seem to be playing up..... Two sets of locos had issues.
Ore Consist
The consist decided not to run properly resulting in cancellation of an ore train. The Proto 2000 F7A 6315, F7B 8215 & F7A 6320 consist all with QSi V7 Decoders decided that they would only move very slowly even at speed step 28 and pull virtually no load!
After removal from the layout and being taken to the workshop for attention one of them had to be factory reset before any CV changes would be accepted. They all initially would not respond to being "programmed on the main" so I resorted my Sprog III and the programming track to implement changes.
One by one they were put on the dyno and speed steps reset using DecoderPro to get matched performance again. Both forward and reverse were matched as the set operates in both directions between the mine and steelworks.
The acceleration & braking adjustment was completed on the layout, and then the fun of tweaking each loco began.
SP Passenger Consist
I have a consist of two Atlas Fairbanks Morse Train Master Phase 1b's. One Atlas with QSI V7 Sound Decoder and the other is non sound with a ESU LokPilot V3 DCC Decoder. During testing they would be running then suddenly stop after throwing the circuit breaker then restart after a second or two. This was a mystery and was happening in more than one power district. I took them to the workshop and put them on the dyno and they worked flawlessly and were both within tolerance of the speed curve.
Given other QSI V7 decoders have been "giving issues" I factory reset the decoder and did a total rewrite of all CV's using Decoderpro, Now the cut out problem seems to have disappeared and despite an hour or so of test running the glitch seems to have gone.
Not sure why these QSI decoders over time keep playing up!
Troublesome Coaches
For some reason the SP passenger coaches have been troublesome ever since purchased. I have encountered our of gauge wheel sets, fouling bogies and incorrect coupler alignment. I thought I would try using some draw bars in lieu of couplers firstly in evergreen plastic as a proof of concept then fashioned from brass strip.
The plastic ones worked well.
The brass ones are still to be "finessed" but the biggest issue seems to be sticky swivelling of the bogies. Well, I've been tinkering with these for a few years but haven't cracked great operation yet!
Control Panel Update
The Classification Tracks and car card boxes have been renamed consistent with the current changes to the way the Hornertown Yard operates.
Hornertown Yard Ops
I produced some more process maps and shared them with the current operators.
I reported last month that things didn’t go how I expected so I have made a division of duties in the main yard whereby the assistant yardmaster, still being under control of the yardmaster, but operating independently, should now eventuate.
A new strategy has been devised for my next session.
Now I will have to start planning for Session 2 V4!
Granddaughters Visit
During the school holidays our two granddaughters came to stay for a few days and wanted to run some trains...
Ops Sessions
My Ops Session was cancelled, Wayne decided to address a problem area resulting in changes to his layout which will return to service in September. I had family commitments and medical stuff that caused me to miss Chris's sessions, so I didn't get to any ops sessions this month.
Trainmasters TV
In lieu of my cancelled Ops Session I offered a session and Peter S and Dennis attended. We had a pleasant afternoon with some nice Shiraz, soft drinks and nibbles.
