Joseph was having trouble with his engine stalling on both of these turnouts. So we took his 6 axle diesel off and put my 4 axle diesel on the track. It ran through them just fine, must be the 6 axle diesel causing a short, Right? Bring in Jim to investigate the problem. The 6 axle diesel was set on the track and as Jim watched, it ran through with no stalling (who says there are no railroad gremlins). Well maybe with the cut of rolling stock attached, the drag might effect it, Sure! OK it Stalled! Our group does not like metal wheels, especially when mounted on metal trucks (we are working to remove all the metal trucks and wheels, if you have any spares bring them in.). As it happens the cut of rolling stock had 3 combinations of these. All 3 were removed and the smaller train rolled right through. Adding them back in to the consist 1 at a time isolated a gondola with metal wheels and trucks. As Jim rolled it through the turnouts, it shorted out the system, in fact you could see sparks flying (that's why I call him Sparky) Further investigation also showed the wheels had too small of a diameter causing the bottom part of the truck frames to periodically touch the rail head, into the repair shop it goes. I wounder how many times this car has caused shorting problems that were blamed on turnouts, in the Past?
If we take the time to investigate problems like this maybe we can chase the gremlins away.
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