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Post by bnsf971 on Aug 26, 2012 4:05:09 GMT -8
Good morning. I'm off to the air show in a few minutes. Yesterday was extremely breezy, so there wasn't a whole lot of flying done.
Of course, in the grand tradition of Murphy, they are having an air show and a tennis tournament within a half mile of each other. Chaos and confusion are the order of the day as far as driving to there and parking. Tennis people are being herded to the air show, and vice-versa. Neither of these things are in what I would consider the better part of town, either.
Anyway, have a good week.
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Post by rhpd42002 on Aug 26, 2012 11:31:15 GMT -8
Sounds like an intersting time for a lotta folks, today, Terry!!  LD & Adam took me out for breakfast today and we did some scouting at Lowe's for a "birthday/Christmas" present for me. We ended up getting a fire pit to put on the back porch and a used, Jack Daniels, 1/2 whiskey barrel for LD to use for plants, next year. We looked at tool boxes to see what I might want for the bed of my pickup truck as the future "present". Fortunately I had a quiet day yesterday and quite a nice visit with 3 friends who rode their motorcycles up to visit, over lunch, at the restaurant. Probably have another 6 day work week on tap, but I'm always hopeful. I plan to get out back for bit and run a train or two. Still no energy to start any projects on the layout and there's a pre-season Panthers game on at 8:00 tonight. No rain today and it looks as if the storm track into the Gulf, will lessen our chances for rains on Tue/Wed. |
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Post by rhpd42002 on Aug 27, 2012 16:46:28 GMT -8
Good evening once agaon to all the Forum Folks. Been another crazy, busy Monday at work. Been home long enough to unwind, change out of the uniform and make a light supper for both LD & I. Have to pick Adam up at 10:00. Been making him drive every chance I get, so he can take his drivers test sometime in September. I did manage to get out back for a while last night and run a couple trains. It's looking like I'm going to have to tear down several of my Atlas, MP-15DC's to see if there needs to be some lubing, electrical pickup cleaning or ?? I have 2 that are bucking & jerking like another unit started doing a few months ago. Oddly, the unit that 1st exhibited those signs ran fairly well last night, after sitting on a storage shelf for a few months. I don't know, nor do I get it. I've not ever seen anyone else post anything about those units with the issues I'm begining to experience with them. A bit frustrating, to say the least. They do get run a good bit, but....... It's not a lot of fun to deal with loco issues after having to deal with people issues all day. Hope that one and all had a good day. |
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Post by calzephyr on Aug 28, 2012 7:34:32 GMT -8
Good evening once agaon to all the Forum Folks. Been another crazy, busy Monday at work. Been home long enough to unwind, change out of the uniform and make a light supper for both LD & I. Have to pick Adam up at 10:00. Been making him drive every chance I get, so he can take his drivers test sometime in September. I did manage to get out back for a while last night and run a couple trains. It's looking like I'm going to have to tear down several of my Atlas, MP-15DC's to see if there needs to be some lubing, electrical pickup cleaning or ?? I have 2 that are bucking & jerking like another unit started doing a few months ago. Oddly, the unit that 1st exhibited those signs ran fairly well last night, after sitting on a storage shelf for a few months. I don't know, nor do I get it. I've not ever seen anyone else post anything about those units with the issues I'm begining to experience with them. A bit frustrating, to say the least. They do get run a good bit, but....... It's not a lot of fun to deal with loco issues after having to deal with people issues all day. Hope that one and all had a good day. Let us know what you find with those Atlas units. They normally run very well. Larry |
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Post by rhpd42002 on Aug 28, 2012 15:15:38 GMT -8
Larry, I must agree, they normally run quite well. I've only had this issue with 1 non-sound unit and 1 sound unit. (I have a total of 10 of them) Sunday night the issue became a good bit pronounced with 2 more sound units. I then pulled the sound unit that had been giving me trouble off the storage shelf and it didn't exhibit the behaviour! It's been on the shelf for at least 2 or more months. I'm confused, to say the least. It's a jerking/surging issue that I can't figure out how/why it started or what might be causing it. I need time, which is in short supply, in order to look at them in depth.  Still having long, crazy days at work. Been raining since 2:00, this afternoon. More on tap for tonight and into tomorrow. The grass is already needing mowing. Going to be thick and tall again. Only good thing is we're not using $$$ to water the plants. About the only useful thing I've gotten done today is mailing my Mother's birthday card. |
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Post by calzephyr on Aug 29, 2012 7:24:20 GMT -8
Larry, I must agree, they normally run quite well. I've only had this issue with 1 non-sound unit and 1 sound unit. (I have a total of 10 of them) Sunday night the issue became a good bit pronounced with 2 more sound units. I then pulled the sound unit that had been giving me trouble off the storage shelf and it didn't exhibit the behaviour! It's been on the shelf for at least 2 or more months. I'm confused, to say the least. It's a jerking/surging issue that I can't figure out how/why it started or what might be causing it. I need time, which is in short supply, in order to look at them in depth. Still having long, crazy days at work. Been raining since 2:00, this afternoon. More on tap for tonight and into tomorrow. The grass is already needing mowing. Going to be thick and tall again. Only good thing is we're not using $$$ to water the plants. About the only useful thing I've gotten done today is mailing my Mother's birthday card. The problem is a puzzle since the unit that was on the shelve without any maintenance ran OK again?? I was thinking dirty wheels or contacts for the wheels but the unit that was on the shelve healed could not have healed itself! Be sure you share the solution as this one might help us to know more about maintenance of the units. Thanks Larry |
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Post by bnsf971 on Aug 29, 2012 8:39:47 GMT -8
I have had a problem in the past with engines starting and stopping independently of the DCC throttle I was using, and it turned out there was another throttle that was holding the addresses in memory, causing conflicts, such as slowing down and stopping, not responding to commands, and occasionally even reversing direction.
Try purging all the throttles and the command station, and see if the problems go away.
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Post by rhpd42002 on Aug 29, 2012 15:38:07 GMT -8
Good evening to all the Forum Folks. Been another day of little of worth accomplished. A good thing though, we got a new Part-time officer sworn today and are working on the paperwork of another. Again, they are all full-time Sheriff's Deputies, but the larger the "pool", the better the chances of getting someone to work the weekends! Still no train time since the frustrating Sunday of more loco issues. Had more rain again this morning, but it finally stopped around 10:00 a.m. LD & I made our reservations for our vacation trip to Illinois in October. LD got a "deal" for about $10.00 less per night over last year when she called. The rooms have a fridge & microwave now. Didn't have them last year, but we knew they were upgrading the rooms. Larry & Terry, The sound unit was not shopped nor was any maintenance performed on it before I stuck it on the track to see if it was going to continue the "odd" behaviour. I'm very puzzled. I keep my track cleaned regularly and I also clean my loco wheels. As far as purging, tell me if you think this would be necessary. When I run any trains, I almost always use my DT-400 throttle, but once in a very great while, I do use one of my 2, UT-2 throttles. In any case, when I am done running a loco, I always dispatch it from the throttle I'm using, to include shutting off the headlights, etc, so that I have nothing in the system's "memory". I have no stored consists, etc. in my system, either. Should I still purge the system? |
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Post by bnsf971 on Aug 29, 2012 17:02:19 GMT -8
Should I still purge the system? It won't hurt anything. I remember Digitrax runs an occasional purging routine, it's possible your original problem child got purged while off the layout. It's too bad you're kind of far away, I could always bring along a couple of my MP15's and one of my Digitrax systems, and maybe figure out if the problem is with the locomotives or the system, or the layout itself. |
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Post by bnsf971 on Aug 31, 2012 3:15:00 GMT -8
Good morning. Just thought I would post something to get all the spam off the front page.
What is everybody doing for Labor Day?
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Post by fr8kar on Aug 31, 2012 3:50:55 GMT -8
Unfortunately, I will be working this weekend, but I will be off Monday. Hopefully I will get to spend some time with the family.
BTW, I have never purged my Zephyr. Is that something I should do regularly?
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Post by bnsf971 on Aug 31, 2012 8:25:19 GMT -8
Unfortunately, I will be working this weekend, but I will be off Monday. Hopefully I will get to spend some time with the family. BTW, I have never purged my Zephyr. Is that something I should do regularly? You can do it, it takes about 30 seconds. Push "prog", then "sw", then "36" or "39", depending on your Zephyr, push "c/wr", then push "exit". It will turn off, then on, with all addresses cleared and all consists deleted. If you have an addess caught in a consist, it will clear it out. |
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Post by dti406 on Aug 31, 2012 9:12:02 GMT -8
Good afternoon from sunny and hot Northeast Ohio.
Not much going on here, but bowling starts tonight and I do have to go into my second job and summarize the payroll hours for the pay period ending Saturday.
We have an air show going on in Cleveland, but I was spoiled when I lived in Anchorage in that it was FREE and right now I can't afford to go to the one here what with being out of work for two years and having to catch up with a lot of bills, etc.
Not much help with DCC as our club only uses DC although I would like for them to go to DCC as an alternate power source.
Rick J
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Post by calzephyr on Aug 31, 2012 12:42:57 GMT -8
I went out this morning to catch the Redding local Turn come south into Roseville since it has the 9900 and other standard rebuilt SD59MX units on the train. I like the looks of the standard model since they are newly rebuilt SD60M models which were some of my favorite diesels of the later era. These newly rebuilt units are only used in California from what I know about them. They replaced the SD40-2's we had around here for this type of service. Larry  |
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Post by rhpd42002 on Aug 31, 2012 15:50:18 GMT -8
We're back the low 90's with high humidities, still, but now it's been over 36 hours with no rain. May try to mow the thick grass early in the morning, as I have to take Adam to work late morning then LD & I are going to Wilmington to take care of a few things. Might stop by Books A Million and see if there are any RR/Model RR mags worth picking up.
Been another frustrating work week, but at least I have the whole weekend off, for a change. Our personnel situation is still out of whack. I have to advertise for another officer to replace the new hire, who is now staying on as a part-time person. He hasn't been able to work but 2 weeks from the date of hire due to no fault of his own.
I may get to the trains tomorrow and purge my system. The other locos I've been running seem to be doing fine, but I'll try them again tomorrow, too. A kato NW-2, some BLI sound/non-sound SW-7/NW-2's.
Larry, good pic with the 9900 sandwiched between those SD60M's.
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Post by bnsf971 on Aug 31, 2012 16:54:26 GMT -8
Been another frustrating work week, but at least I have the whole weekend off, for a change. A full moon weekend off is a good thing...  |
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Post by calzephyr on Aug 31, 2012 17:04:03 GMT -8
We're back the low 90's with high humidities, still, but now it's been over 36 hours with no rain. May try to mow the thick grass early in the morning, as I have to take Adam to work late morning then LD & I are going to Wilmington to take care of a few things. Might stop by Books A Million and see if there are any RR/Model RR mags worth picking up. Been another frustrating work week, but at least I have the whole weekend off, for a change. Our personnel situation is still out of whack. I have to advertise for another officer to replace the new hire, who is now staying on as a part-time person. He hasn't been able to work but 2 weeks from the date of hire due to no fault of his own. I may get to the trains tomorrow and purge my system. The other locos I've been running seem to be doing fine, but I'll try them again tomorrow, too. A kato NW-2, some BLI sound/non-sound SW-7/NW-2's. Larry, good pic with the 9900 sandwiched between those SD60M's. Mike Thanks. The light this morning was great. Our temperature today and tomorrow is about 80 so we are really having a great summer. All of the units are rebuilt and are designated as SD59MX units since they have the new 710 12 Cylinder motor and computer controls. They really do look nice to me with those flaired radiators that were installed durning the rebuild process. The 9900 with the experimental scrubber type exhaust is extremely quiet and when it was moving around the yard one day as a lone unit, you could barely hear any exhaust sound. Mostly the sound of the motor internal sounds is all that I noticed. I am interested in the GE version of the Tier 4 that was announced last week to see it it has more exhaust sound than this unit. Larry |
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Post by KIM on Sept 1, 2012 10:27:25 GMT -8
Hey everybody. I'm still alive, but life has been very busy lately. The most I've done model railroad-wise was to put some things in the model room. I've still got some outside work to do yet, but I'll soon be back to the most important room in the house.
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Post by fr8kar on Sept 1, 2012 13:43:32 GMT -8
Unfortunately, I will be working this weekend, but I will be off Monday. Hopefully I will get to spend some time with the family. BTW, I have never purged my Zephyr. Is that something I should do regularly? You can do it, it takes about 30 seconds. Push "prog", then "sw", then "36" or "39", depending on your Zephyr, push "c/wr", then push "exit". It will turn off, then on, with all addresses cleared and all consists deleted. If you have an addess caught in a consist, it will clear it out. Thanks, I will give that a try. I'm sure there are some orphaned consists in there somewhere. |
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Post by bnsf971 on Sept 1, 2012 15:20:51 GMT -8
You can do it, it takes about 30 seconds. Push "prog", then "sw", then "36" or "39", depending on your Zephyr, push "c/wr", then push "exit". It will turn off, then on, with all addresses cleared and all consists deleted. If you have an addess caught in a consist, it will clear it out. Thanks, I will give that a try. I'm sure there are some orphaned consists in there somewhere. Yes, that's what I think (hope?) is wrong with Mike's system. |
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