My
visit to Keighley on Saturday 17th was brief but good.
First
step was un-soldering the
white wire from the switch for the frog, which eliminated that as the short. 5
sleepers down, umpteen to go! I then connected the multi-meter to the siding rails
and proceeded to laboriously examine the insulation gap on each sleeper, in
turn. Any gap that looked as if there was the slightest chance of a short was
given a scrape with an old craft knife blade.
Eventually, about
halfway along the stretch of track, I found one sleeper where the gap
‘appeared’ to only be partially cut. Anyway, a few swift but careful cuts &
scrapes with the knife ensured a proper gap. Simultaneously the needle on the
multi-meter moved towards infinite resistance and a small cheer spread round
the room (well I and the two locals who were watching & assisting, anyway).
Further
probing with the multi-meter indicated there were no further shorts so I got
out the soldering iron (having remembered to bring my big one!), flux &
solder and prepared to connect Brookes sidings to their new buss bars
installed at my last visit.
I
started by moving the connections to the switches that move the point blades
and switch power for the frog from the main buss bars to the Brookes
sidings bars. Checking each connection in turn to make sure no new shorts had
been created. Then I moved on to connecting
the running rails to the buss bars but time & cold fingers prevented this
being completed so that will have to wait until next year.
Next
visit I will connect the rest of the droppers to the buss bars and look at
connecting Brookes sidings to the controller.
There
is a further thin copper wire that needs soldering to the side of a rail joint
on the main line.
Some
of the wires under the board are really too short, being pulled taught. So we
should perhaps think about extending them by a couple of inches to give a
little slack.
Finally,
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.
Sam.
No comments:
Post a Comment