08-14-2009, 07:07 AM
BR60103 Wrote:An addendum to Russ's thread in the New Academy.
Many years ago I read of one club's approach to derailments.
They had a number of slightly sticky markers. When a derailment happened, they put one marker beside the track and another on the end of the car that derailed. A car that accumulated 3 markers at one end was removed from service for investigation. Something similar for track, but I forget what (out of service?) I suppose the markers could be labelled so that a car that derails at the same place could be traced.
When I get repeated derailments, I first turn the offending car around, then the neighbouring car, then adjust position in the train.
I think a club needs something like that to mark troublesome rolling stock or possible track problems. I suspect an individual operating a layout at home may not need quite so much documentation. I personally would never turn a car around to "fix" a problem. My interest is entirely in industrial switching, and a car that won't operate reliably in any direction in any situation on a layout needs to be repaired or replaced.