Test driving through PT !

The PT segment is coming together bit by bit. Finally all the electrical connections were made, the missing piece of track starting from the second switch was installed, feeders were connected on every length of track, all the frogs were polarized and all the green/grey feedback wires were connected to the wires heading to the new casette. On the left the Lenz BR 66 coupled with the TRIX cleaning car and a PIKO dining car (WR ge) are test driving the track - not a correct era assortment, but this car and only a couple (including the double one testing the temporarily fixed track on SR segment in the second photo) i've discovered to have the new kind of wheels compatible with the Tillig code .83 track. I was quite impressed with the electrical connectivity of the lighting system (normally the light would flicker as the car moves - due to loss of electrical contact made through the wheels and lack of any capacitor to overcome this, but this test was ok and the light was almost always on). Glitches with the wheels of the BR 66 were encountered while going in reverse through the second switch, but since it's quite a sharp one, this won't be done in real operating sessions. On the third switch the third big wheel used to go over the blade (when going straight through the switch, not crossing to the other line through the second switch), but a little bit of filling and slight bent of the blade reduced this to a minimum.

Ran into a few problems with the switch motors though, because sometimes, in a particular blade position, the Viessmann transformer used to power up everything would start to buzz, and measuring the current would show something like 90 mAmps, without anything being operated excepted the LZV100 digital station, that draws a 20mA current by default. The fault was traced in the end to the mechanical shoes on the 86112, that were touching another metal strip different than theirs (there's a good review and very good photos at http://www.modelrailforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=979 - the shoes are cleary visible in the third photo). Extra care must be taken with these, because by default some of them are too close to the next strip, causing shorts like the one i experienced. Care must be taken after the initial setup, when the little screws holding each pair of shoes together are placed back, because the pair has a tendancy to roll a bit. If the shoes are still too close, bending slightly (SLIGHTLY!) the shoe in the right direction will take care of that.

Another small problem, this time with the Tillig switches themselves, is that some tips of the switch blades, that go through the switch plate, are sometimes too small, and the blade has a tendency to "jump" out of the switch plate. After trying repeatedely to secure this tip of the 3rd switch, it came off, and kinda imagined the 20+ EURs that went up in smoke. Luckily i managed to solder the end, and next to it a soldered piece of wire, and now it works perfect. Sometimes the switch plate goes down in one side, and so blocks the switch from going in the other side. This happened in the same 3rd switch, and was fixed with a plastic bit from a tie strip, from those that hold the ties together.

The built-in metal connector holding the frog rails for the second switch wasn't firmly attached to the rails exiting the frog, so a bit of soldering was done there too to fix this.

Also painted about 9 tie strips, since they are urgently needed for the SR segment and for the double rail in front of the (future, to be) station. The last photos show the balcony where i do my airbushing (and drying) and my desk (the syringes in the picture, used to mix the exact amount of paints might lead one to the word "junkie").

And since I was already airbrushing, and remembering that the side of the track is just too shiny, I decided to try and airbrush the sides of a test rail and then mount the tie strip. Unfortunately this test failed, since the chairs (the little pieces that secure the track to the tie) would get rid of the colour when the track and tie strips are reunited. So the airbrushing will have to be done on the spot. Better get some masking tape...