Jim got this engine for Randall in commemoration of the 150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad, and he ran it on the layout multiple times:

I had some issues with power pickup with this so I decided to toy a bit with it.
You can read the details on my train blog page.

The other day the back room had no power, while seemingly the rest of the layout had some. I don’t know if there are electrical schemas around -- I certainly don’t have any -- so I decided I’d document that and make a schema myself. Since I’m not an electrician, I need to look up how these folks draw their schemas first. In the meantime I compiled this:

Last week I spend most of the Sunday cleaning the Napa yard and its balloon track. The goal is to eventually be able to get a train out of the Napa yard and on the mainline. There’s still a number of challenges.

This Saturday, I did install a Frog Juicer Auto-reverser on the Napa balloon track. I simply put it in series with the reversing toggle, which means power can still be cut simply by using the “A power” 3-state toggle (yard, N, valley). Usage is thus simplified, one just needs to select the A or B push-buttons to align the entry turnout and the yard ladder.

I ran a train from Napa to Sultan to understand the various issues. I was running the TGV in MU with two opposite “head” units. That was sort of required as, although I spent a lot of time cleaning that track last week, it’s still kinda rough. It needs to see more usage before it gets smooth. A single engine will typically lose power at the most inconvenient places.

Let’s look at the track schematic on how to go from the yard to the mainline. The “normal forward” direction on the mainline (when operators run in a continuous loop) on this schema is from right to left:

This week I’ve changed from my regular “fix something that’s broken” schedule to deal with a long postponed task: cleaning the Napa yard so that it can be used. This yard has not been properly cleaned since 2015. I’ve somewhat asked others to take care of it and I didn’t get what I expected so I’m just doing it my way. I’m halfway done and to make the task more interesting I made a video:

An update on the automated mainline on the layout at Randall Museum, San Francisco: the UP passenger train now has two coach cars, and the freight train now has a Santa Fe F7A engine on the point. In the back of this picture one can see the special engine waiting May 10th to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the completion of the American Transcontinental Railroad.

Previously the automated freight train was pulled by the NYC 4-6-4 Hudson. This engine has worked flawlessly and superbly. It will likely return after a well deserved break.

Video of both automated mainline trains in action:

I’ve just completed recreating one of Mr. Perry’s hand-drawn schemas, this time explaining the power routing for block B322, which is the interchange track between the Mainline and the Branchline near Sonora:

Let’s look at what’s going on.

The Rapido RDC Santa Fe has been working nicely on the Branchline with the automation for a few weeks now:

Click on player above to play full video.

These are the latest Rapido RDC Santa Fe, numbers 191 and 192. I had to adjust the front plow as it was riding too close to the rails and actually binding on some flex track junctions. I also did their “break in”, and performed the LokSound “slow crawl” adjustment as well as adjust the volume.

For more history on these unique RDCs, please visit this site: http://atsf.railfan.net/atsfpres/dc191.html. They have a unique story and is quite worth reading and this site actually explains why both cars are looking different.

Description of Issue

Still having some small trouble running RDC ATSF on the Branchline. Two weeks ago I fixed a turnout issue and thought that would be the last of it. Now we have a dead spot, and I’m trying to address that.

RDC ATSF on the dead spot on the Branchline

Looking at it more closely, the track feeder is on the right; next to it on the left is a small 2 inch piece of track then the turnout. Power for the turnout rails comes from the track attached to it.

Tonight’s first attempt to run RDC ATSF 191/192 on the branchline started well. I ran the engine from the mainline to the branchline by using the interconnexion and that worked well. I reprogrammed the automation to use engine 191 instead of SP 10 and that worked flawlessly since they have the same running characteristics. Then the RDC derailed on the way back, consistently at the same location, and this is what I observed:

RDC ATSF 192 approaches Angels Camp station on the branchline.
The branchline features these complex dual-gauge turnout, being both standard gauge and narrow gauge.

Some engines or cars work well here, and some derail. Every. Single. Time. By looking at it more carefully, it’s painfully obvious the bottom point is broken in the turnout, and the top one has a small gap.

Courtesy of the nice folks from Rapido Trains Inc., I’ve experimented a bit with this on Saturday:

These are the latest Rapido RDC Santa Fe, numbers 191 and 192. A preliminary run worked fairly well -- I had to adjust the front plow as it was riding too close to the rails and actually binding on some flex track junctions. They need to run a bit more to be broken in, and I still need to do the LokSound “slow crawl” adjustment as well as adjust the volume.

I’m hoping they will be part of the daily automation in a couple weeks at most.

For more history on these unique RDCs, please visit this site: http://atsf.railfan.net/atsfpres/dc191.html. They have a unique story and is quite worth reading and this site actually explains why both cars are looking different.