Alastair Mair

It might look ok, but whilst we got the track wiring sorted to operate the Shincliffe Castle board (in the bottom picture) via the control panel (third picture) the track laying on that board is dubious - a test train was run on the tracks but snagged on the platform ends, as the track is too close. This further piqued my curiosity about their origin, as this board at least (we've not tested the other one yet) couldn't have run trains :-(

A modelling friend was alerted to the availability of some N gauge layout boards through a mutual friend, which we have now collected. We have two boards, both circa 6' long and maybe 18" wide, each with a staion - one called Shincliffe Castle and the other called Neville's Cross, both of which are real locations in/near Durham. Does any one happen to know anything about them? It looks like they may well have been destined to be exhibited but at some point abandoned - there is a maroon LMS name plate "Shincliffe Castle" on the Neville's Cross board.

Nigel, I didn’t explain that the reason I changed the setting on the Lenz LZV100 was because I thought I had inadvertently changed it when using the handset flipping between running my diesels and changing points (not looking at what I was doing). I set it to the default value as advised in the manual (16V = C7=50, then 32). I have since lowered this so I get 12.4V on my programming track, but I only get 11.2V on my layout (but no flashing light at all). We had a meeting of my N gauge Society group this week, and a very experienced modeller acquaintance explained that I had something that was “drawing” power off, and told me that the problem will be one of three things - reversers, frog juicers, or point blade connections. I built my layout in sections, but it is now all fixed down, so I have two challenges in tracking the problem down - any work I have to do is from below, lying on my back, and because I built it so the boards won’t be lifted, I have track that runs continuously across board joins, so can’t readily or easily isolate sections. Ho hum !!!! Nigel and RFS, I am aware that the total length of my track is approaching the limit for the scale, but while I was designing it I did consult with Peco Technical Department, who thought it probably should be OK without any boosters; I get consistent voltage readings across all parts, so I think I am OK .... so far, that is, until I decide to add more track, which I’m reliably told will happen at some point in my modelling life !!!!

Apologies again from this newbie modeller - I seem to remember reading somewhere when planning my layout build that one could lay a circle of track to a particular length on which you could time locos running on it to assist setting “realistic” scale speed setting on the loco chip, but I can’t seem to find it again. Can anyone point me in the right direction, please?

The system was in the same state this morning when I resumed the problem finding, but I was able to find a few detached track droppers to re-solder one one board adjacent to my lifting section, including one to one of my reversing loops, and one frog juicer under the board. I also removed 4 Cobalt IP Digital motors - they had not retained their address, and when I contacted DCC Concepts they acknowledged there was a problem with some of the motors produced in 2018 (I bought theseearly 2019) and asked me to send them so they can repair them. When I reconnected the track I found that the diesels, and after a bit of research found that I could increase the output from the system using CV7 on the Lenz unit, which I did, and it's now working a treat. Thank you anyway to RFS and Nigelcliffe for your thoughts - they did help my analysis of what might be wrong....

The Lenz system itself must be ok because it works fine on my programming track. Nothing (I can see) is on the track, and I've hoovered all round it. I have only a little ballasting so far, and that has been down for weeks, and I have run trains quite happily in the past. The track has worked fine previously in both DC and DCC without the lifting section, and indeed it worked in DC and DCC with it down with a temporararily laid track while I was in "design" mode. I'm using N-gauge Peco Code 55 track and turnouts. I have droppers on every section. I have a separate track bus to the points power. I wired the track following advice from Peco (they marked up my track plan to show power feeds, isolators, etc., and as it has all worked before I am confident it isn't any basic wiring issue, or problem with inadequate capacity on the bus. I have used Guagemaster DCC80's for the frogs, I have 2 reverse loops on the track controlled by Tam Valley Hex Juicers, and I have used DCC Concepts Terminators on the end of my two track bus spurs. It is housed in a 14' x 8' shed, plan attached. After I had built the lifting section I tested it both in isolation and in situ, using a Guagemaster DC control with an unchipped diesel to sort out any gremlins from that latest work, and then with the lifting section down I ran more tests on other parts of the track quite happily. I was running my tests in DC as I didn't want to accidentally damage a DCC chipped diesel (as I advised at the start, I am a novice) ! This all ran fine at "normal" power, no shorts detected. I ran out of time before I could test all the track, and it is only since I came back to resume testing yesterday (with the lifting section raised) that I've had the problems. The Guagemaster DC control shares the same symptoms as the Lenz e.g. low power to track, then eventually goes to "red". I am not an electrical expert, but it seems like something is initially "resisting" getting full power to the track, which then builds build up over a short time. I have hoovered all round the track, so the only thing I can think of is some loose connection under the boards, but could it still be a stray piece of debris causing the problem on the track?

Unfortunately it happens even if I am not running the train :-( .... Only about 100m of track to check then !!! The bit of the layout I am running on hasn't really changed. Apart from wiring in the "approaches" to the lifting section (there are four tracks crossing) I haven't (knowingly) changed anything... And I haven't put the lifting section in place ...

I am a newbie modeller, so please excuse the probably stupid question(s). I have built a DCC layout that I have been using a borrrowed Lenz LZV100 as the controller. I have been able to use the controller successfully to run chipped diesels and to change points. However, after some recent construction work in making a lifting section, I now have some issues when trying to run again..... a) when I run a diesel it runs on my layout slowly ( it runs OK on my programming track ) b) after a short while - varying between 30 seconds and 2 minutes, the LZV100 system goes into an error mode eg light flashing slowly, requiring a reset, which then is ok for the same sort of period of time, then the flashing reccurs. My thoughts are that it can't be a short, as it doesn't happen straight away, but I haven't any electircal knowledge to support this. Anyone got any suggestions.