Singing track!

Martino

Martino

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A couple of weeks ago I plugged everything in, powered up the line and low and behold- a short! Couldn't find it despite my usual trouble shooting procedures. So decided to leave it till I ha more time.

Today, I checked all the connections and even made sure the the reverse loop modules were OK. Switched on and away we went. Ran the track cleaning machine around most of the line, operated most of the points. All was fine. Suddenly everything stopped. No power anywhere.

So isolated one part, and ensured no short. But nothing would work. Disconnected the reverse loops. Still nothing. Eventually got power everywhere, but then heard the track 'singing'. No locos on the track. Just a high pitched buzz. While trying to find out more. It all shut down again.

Decided to call it a day. When I've got more time over the end of the year break, I'll disconnect everything electrical and then start reconnecting until I find the problem.

I've never experienced 'singing track'!
 
Pure guesswork but is there any vegetation/roots which might be shorting out track or got into a control module?
I have not had 'singing track' but I have had fronds of vegetation invade the ballast and they were moist enough to cause the short.
 
Got any high voltage cables running under your land that might be "leaking" ? Remember a story over here that at a horse race meeting where a number of horses ware electrocuted in the grass parading enclosure because of that. One died due to a heart seizure.

Once had a mysterious short. Looked everywhere. Scratched my head. Then something just caught my eye - camoflaged by a brown sleeper was a rusty nail, 45 mm long (note the length). Must have been a bird rooting around found it and just dropped it in just the right orientation and place. Remember Donald Rumsfeld's thing about "Known unknowns, etc'". Max
 
I had a weird short that was the Aristo Track Screws shorting out on my Metal Bridge. Only happened when a Harz 2-10-2 went over it. Could be something similar if you use Aristo Track. Is worthwhile sectioning the layout somewhat so that you can Isolate the Area. Makes Trouble Shooting easier.

Oh how did I find my fault? Singing Track.
JonD
 
Sounds like a short of some description.. Vegetation, even moss growing across the track if damp..

On misty, moisty mornings you could hear a ghostly Voice of America from the barbed wire fence between the Daventry transmitter site and the gof course next door! :o

Your 'singing' could be the high current through your joints.. Only need a slight resistance to generate a bit of heat and make things 'fizz'..
 
I've had "singing" due to loose track joints on occasion, a quick crimp with big pliers sorts it out! If you've had shorts, you need to go around and examine carefully - there must be something amiss.
 
No 'singing' but I have a really depressing short on my branch line, that will have to wait until Spring to examine. I thought I was being clever, putting in half a dozen feeds from a 'bus' and thereby negating the risk of one wire becoming u/s, but there is a total short now and I will have to dig up everything, disconnect the lot and try to find it, though I am struggling to think how I can locate exactly where it has occurred. I suppose I will have to isolate every bit, which is a mission! Having before seen one of the blighters trying to make a nest under the track, top theory is that a mouse has chewed through a pair of wires, even though almost all of it is in some form of conduit, so I will start by checking the most likely spots. Ah the joys of outdoor modelling ::)
 
All good suggestions. Looks like an interesting time ahead.

Thanks everyone.

M
 
Point motor boxes full of ants and ants eggs. Many fried, but enough to cause short; or, applying power when motor choked with ants and unable to move, burned out and shorted coil .
 
maxi-model said:
Got any high voltage cables running under your land that might be "leaking" ? Remember a story over here that at a horse race meeting where a number of horses ware electrocuted in the grass parading enclosure because of that. One died due to a heart seizure.

Once had a mysterious short. Looked everywhere. Scratched my head. Then something just caught my eye - camoflaged by a brown sleeper was a rusty nail, 45 mm long (note the length). Must have been a bird rooting around found it and just dropped it in just the right orientation and place. Remember Donald Rumsfeld's thing about "Known unknowns, etc'". Max
Click to expand...

I went out on the cable team to that job, uncapped private cables, no one knew they were still powed, years of lack of maintainance at the racecorse
 
Yes Phil, something makes me think point motors are involved.

I'm going to disconnect everything electrical, then see if the basic end-to-end runs. If it does, I'll move onto firming up the reverse loops, and then try point motors. On the other hand it could be moss!
 
i remember BR track repairers telling me some years ago that the ground surrounding the third rail is quite a few volts above 'ground'.
 
Over the past week or so, I diconnected the reverse loop modules, removed all the point motors and disconnected all but one of the track feeds leaving only one at one end. Still the singing.

Started isolating one section of track at a time, and took the opportunity to remake most of the track joints (I have massoth/TrainLi track joiners nearly everywhere, with a few AMS joiners in some places). I followed the short around the track and now have it isolated to one area where it runs over a particularly damp piece. I think that is where my problem lies. It looks like some under track vegetation has been doing what Stockers alludes to!

The good thing is that for nearly the whole length of the line - about 400' - I have better connectivity than I've ever had, with just one track feed! So, when the other feeds are connected we should really be 'cooking with gas' as my late father used to say.

I had plans to replace the damp area with a concrete viaduct anyway, so this will just bring that project forward.

Silver lining to this particular cloud looks to have been found!
 
Ha ha, made me smile. then I wondered - did you get that for Christmas. ;D
 
I run trains that pull a lot of current, and "electrically weak" connections will indeed "sing".

I have about 850' of track and purposfully made a number of isolated sections so that it there is a problem it can be isolated easily, basically if you have any point in your layout that can be fed from 2 (or more) locations, you can have a terrible time finding track problems.

Each power district only has one feeder and is 30 - 40 feet long, each end is connected with insulated joiners on both rails. Did this 10 years ago, and it has paid off in reliability and ease of troubleshooting.

If you are fixing a short now, why not add in the insulators as you go, you will have to isolate anyway.

Greg
 
Greg Elmassian said:
Each power district only has one feeder and is 30 - 40 feet long, each end is connected with insulated joiners on both rails. Did this 10 years ago, and it has paid off in reliability and ease of troubleshooting.

If you are fixing a short now, why not add in the insulators as you go, you will have to isolate anyway.

Greg
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That sounds like a good idea - thanks, consider it 'borrowed'.
 
Another good tip from the legendary Mr Elmassian!

I did track (no pun intended) the source of the singing down. Principally I reduced the number of feeds to one, then moved around the line sorting out a number of issues that I should have fixed earlier. The main culprit was a patch of moss and rotting wood under a damp area. That's been fixed and the run of line there is in the process of being raised and put on concrete.

The singing has stopped!

Good to have you here Greg.
 
ViaEstrecha said:
......... Ah the joys of outdoor modelling ::
Click to expand...

No no! - surely you mean ...... "Ah the joys of track powered modelling" ..... ;)

Maybe the time has come to grab the 'bull by the horns' - just like BR in the '60s when they went over to the more modern diesel power - and dump this old track power technology and embrace the 'new tech' LiPo battery power with 2.4 GHz R/C. .... :-\

Seriously though, When I read the title I really thought this thread was going to be about something completely different .....

I went over to our club recently to run my Rounhouse L&M with a few coaches on the 45 track and when it was circulating at a good speed I thought to myself that's odd - I don't remember the train making that much noise before - it was like an amplified reverberation through the baseboards of all the usual track noises.

However, after a half hour or so of thinking we would have to fit some kind of damping to the underside of the baseboards that were acting as sounding boards, the noise gradually settled down to how I remember it last year and the nickel silver rails had taken on a more polished look.

I did a quick diversion through a passing loop and sure enough, the increased noise was back, which kind of confirmed that the "singing" was due to a build up of oil, atmospheric dust, and corrosion on the rails.

Oh, and the big empty coaches probably didn't help - I must get on and fit out those interiors .... :)
 
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