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.
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.
At <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.hotrak.ca">www.hotrak.ca</a><!-- w --> we use pink "phone message" notes to create a bad order for the car that is added to the car card sleeve. For trackwork, the note is usually left on the module where the problem arises, or given directly to the owner of said module if he's present.
Quote: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.
I agree with Russ... although turning the car and trying different placements within a consist is certainly a good start to troubleshooting.
Andrew
For me I want to investigate the possible causes of derailments by inspecting the car and track..I had zero tolerances for derailments on my past ISLs.Oddly I operated a N Scale Unitrack yard switching layout on my dining room table for several weeks and had zero derailments.
At the HO club I use the 2 strike rule for my cars..2 derailments and I remove the offending car until I can check it..At the N Scale club I simply take the offending car to the owner or place it on the RIP shelf and have a car repair notice wrote up.
How well does zero tolerance work?
During the County fair I had 1 "finger"* derailment and 1 break in two in 52 hours of operation.
*A "finger" derailment means a visitor's finger cause the derailment.
The turn around is a test to make sure that it isn't a neighbouring car causing the problem; a heavy car can force a lighter one off the tracks.