NTS&B Phase 5 Outside 2 loops control panel finished

Finally a little progress.  The control panel for the switch tracks, uncoupler / remote control track above the power station, and accessory overrides are all connected.  Still have all of the accessory local controls, lights, remaining uncloupler / remote control tracks, and the control panel for the inner and raised loops to do.  I also have to build and paint 2 new power stations and mount the #91 breakers to match the rest of the power stations.  The 2 shelves currently under the fall area are just temporary ones I had available for use. Still have a long way to go on the fall electrical, then I can start the scenery.

NTS&B Phase 5-3424 Track Activator Shorting Problems

From about January 1 to early February, I mainly worked on the track work and rolling stock to get everything running dependably. I had a variety of places where trains would derail, or intermittently short out causing the #91 breakers to trip. One of the biggest problems was caused by the Lionel 3424 Operating Brakeman Car activators.

The 3424 Operating Brakeman Car was one of my favorite operating cars when I was a kid (last week).  It featured a brakeman gingerly standing on top of the box car who had to duck whenever a tunnel or low overpass was approached (PHOTO 1), then stand back up and go back to work when he was out of danger (PHOTO 2).  He was ‘warned’ by a ‘Tell Tale’ Low Bridge Signal.  See youtube video below PHOTO 2 for short movie of operation.

PHOTO 1

PHOTO 2

The car was operated by a solenoid inside the car. It received power from a roller on the track center rail, and ground via a special shoe (PHOTO 3) when it made contact with an activator assembly embedded in the track (PHOTO 4).The slot in the shoe was narrower than the operating shoes on other cars, to prevent the car from activating on uncoupler / remote control tracks and OTC (Operating Track Control) lockons. The activator assembly also held the signal pole.  The assembly had separate activators for 0-27 and 0 Track (taller) which were semi-permanently attached to the assembly by bending the tabs on the activators.  Although the car operated very well, the car would sometimes miss a signal, so the man did not always stay in sync with the signals and you couldn’t depend on the man clearing a low tunnel.

PHOTO 3

PHOTO 4

I have 3 tunnels where I plan on running these cars, so I had to have 3 sets of actuators.  After I installed them, I discovered that many lighted cars and engines would short out when passing over either of 2 sets of them.  The distance between the sides on the actuators was narrow enough that the wide center power pickup rollers on many of my pieces would short on the sides of the actuators (PHOTO 5).  The third set of actuators I had was made differently, and had each side on top curved and expanded out an additional 1/16 inch to make additional clearance (PHOTO 6).

PHOTO 5 

PHOTO 6

After doing some research, it appears that Lionel delivered a new design with the curved top starting with the Monon Operating Brakeman Car (6-19811) in 1990, which was also used on the Delaware & Hudson (6-19815–1992) and B & O Sentinel (6-36760–2002) Operating Brakeman Cars.  Luckily I was able to purchase 2 modern sets on E-Bay to replace the post war ones I had.  I may have been able to modify my existing ones by simply bending them out and putting a top bend in to make them perpendicular again, but I was afraid they would then be too short to consistently make contact with the shoes.

Now everything would run OK through the activators except one of my 2020 Turbines.  One of them had extra wide rollers that still shorted on the new activators.  This time, President Les came to the rescue with a set of new design 2020 rollers that had tapered sides (Photo 7), so now everything seems to be running great..

PHOTO 7