Major power problem... Help!!

[CoggesRailway]

Hi All,

My railway is very simple. Essentially a biggish loop (bad at measurments but it goes right round a typical suburban garden so not small) and i powered by an inherited 3A Gaugemaster analogue box. This has proved very effective so far including double heading heavy trains etc etc. It has one feed to the track as it passes through the garage.

Yesterday (in case this is relevant) I dug the veg patch which the line passes through and even though I tried to be careful earth found its way onto the track in various places. I scraped it away leaving the rail heads visible.

Today all locos I tried ran well on the half of loop nearest the input feed, but then slowed stuttured and stopped on the farthest part of the loop. Rails have been well cleaned recently as have wheels and skates of all locos.

Todays solution was to steam up and enjoy "proper" power but not a long term solution ;-)

Any ideas?

 

[Tony]

Hi could be that you have and maybe always had a break or bad connection on a fish plate somewhere but it didnt notice because the power came from both directions. It maybe that you have now distrubed another fish plate somewhere while digging and severed the connection, to find out place a loco on the dead part with power turned on and then with a peice of wire jump across every fish plate around the loop in turn untill hopefully the loco will as if by magic start running
Tony

 

[MR SPOCK]

[align=center]Sounds very much as tho the track has moved and the connections have , moved ,sprung, jumped, and the contacts are no longer in contact, it would only take one joint on one rail to stop everything, but two or more would be like finding a duff bulb on a christmas tree,

Feed from both ends, and if its a circle, feed from the middle of both ends!!

If you have a posh coach with lights ,crank the power supply to about half way, wheel it around till you find the where the lights go out, thats the dead zone,
[/align]

 

[minimans]

Well I think when you moved the track a bit to clear off the "Spoil" it disturbed one of the rail joints watch the train until it starts to stutter and check from there, one thing to remember with a simple loop if the trains stop or stutter then you have TWO problem area's Coz the current will feed from both direction's it must have two gaps to stop the current.............

 

[yb281]

I notice that you say you cleared the soil from the top of the rail head. It might be worth checking that there are no tiny clumps of soil or stones on top of the sleepers, especially where the rails join the sleepers (where the flanges will run). You may not have an electrical problem at all, it could just be that the spilt soil / stones are causing the wheels / pick-ups to lift off the rails VERY slightly, which will be enough to cause them to stutter.

I realise that this seems very simplistic, but it's a problem I've experienced myself ............ and the simplist solutions are usually the easiest to put right.

 

[GarryH]

For my comments I am assuming you know little about electric, so if I am teaching you to suck eggs I appologise.

I use a test meter, I have a couple but the one in the pic is very simple

cost £6.00. Bought at a railway show.
Just set it to the "V" (volt) setting, 20v should be good and probe both rails (one with black lead one with red.) Start nearest the power input and work your way round. If you find a sudden change that will be the joint with the major problem.

It's them worth changing the meter to the Ohms setting, say200k (the setting with a icon like the omega watch people) this will check the resistance across the joint, put one lead on the same rail either side of the joint an ideal joint will give a reading of 0 (zero) the higher the number the more resistance in the joint.

Writting this may make it sound difficult but trust me it is very simple.

 

[Dtsteam]

My guess is along the same lines as Mel's. I walk on my track and in damp weather I nearly always leave a film of crud on the railhead. Unless you really clean the rail, then you get a lot of stuttering. My quick fix is a spray bottle with diluted washing up liquid and vinegar - it usually washes the crud away. Its also handy after a steam run to cut through any oily residue.

I would also go along with Garry's note - I find my ancient Radio Shack analogue multimeter is absolutely indispensible for sorting out wiring faults.