WHITE PAPER ON BLACK TRACK
I have had quite a few questions on how I operate with track power and
DCC outside so I have detailed my methods here.
This is a non technical explanation so I apologize to any metallurgists,
if I have not used the correct terms, or the spelling is incorrect..
I first would like to say like any house, or building you must build
on a good foundation and if you do a good job on your track it will give
good service.
All track is free floating on ballast like the real ones. OK except
the bridges and trestles.
All rail is code 250 aluminum.
All joints have Knolux compound put on them and then joined together
with homemade screw type rail joiners. The commercial ones will work too.
I have two loops of 600 to 700 feet each.
Each loop is fed with two wires like what are used on low voltage garden
lights that run back to the DCC units. (I originally fed this with speaker
wire for the first few years, but was told there was not enough draw allowed
through the wires)
About half of my track has been down for ten years, but I have only
been using DCC for the last two.
If I have not run a train for a month either during the winter or during
vacation, I can send a train out and It will electrically run the loops,
BUT because I live in the country and in a wooded area I use to walk around
and remove any stones, twigs or other trash on the track that has been
put there by small and larger animals, or just the wind.
For this reason "Leafer #1" was made.(see picture off of home page)
Leafer #1 now goes out pushed by an Aristicraft Critter and blows all
the leaves and other trash off. It will not blow off rocks or large
sticks so it stops and I need to go over and manually move them.
The track goes black on the top with aluminum oxide and I use to think
it needed to be cleaned off. I have since found that unlike the oxide that
forms on brass track aluminum oxide is a conductor or electricity and you
can run over it. I have also found that using Picco switches made of nickel
silver rail need a bit of cleaning. These are not the type of switch that
directs the power by the points, but are all live always.
This in fact may be the key to why I have not had the problem of conductivity
mentioned by others. I did not originally use aluminum by choice, but because
I could not afford brass. I also hand laid the first 400 ft, but that is
another story.
My track does however need cleaning because I do get bird dung and
when it rains we seem to have something now in the rain that interferes
with conductivity. It is not enough to stop the train unless you are at
a crawl.
For this reason my maintenance of way has a special they run weekly.
It is a matter of sending the special out for two laps around and the problem
is fixed, if there was any. It is actually kind of fun to have built and
use maintenance cars that work. My lead car has an un prototypical 3 "
paint roller that is pushed ahead of the locomotive with Go-Gone on it
and a Bachmann Gondola with a gyprock pad on the bottom in the center that
cleans up after it. The Gondolla is also used to carry the bulk Goo-Gone
and a spare roller. The car with the paint roller could be replaced with
a Centerline rail cleaner which is similar.
Maintenance Extra Doing the Weekly Rail Run
Frequently asked questions and answers
Q. Do you get a voltage using aluminum and nickel silver together?
A. Not enough that I have found to run a train on. In fact none.
Q. What about plastic wheels?
A. I believe they will put down black on the track that needs to be
cleaned off so I prefer to use all metal wheels. I also like the
clickety clack and the low center of gravity they
produce.
Q. Why do you uses Go-Gone and will anything else work?
A. I do not own shares is Go-Gone and I would suspect that other things
will work, but once I found one that did I stayed with it.
Q. What about live steam on your line?
A. It does not cause a problem other that I must send the maintenance
extra out to clean up after it. I have not yet been able to get the oil
out of the creek water the bridges pass over. Perhaps I should design a
live steam bib, like they have behind horses pulling tourist carriages
in large city's.
Q. What other advantages are there to DCC track power?
A. You can uses the track to run power to your building lights,
sound effects and animation throughout you layout. It is a close source
of power for any application without additional excavation.
Q. With DCC how many trains can you run with Digitrax on the same track?
A. The correct answer is 9999, but I have found my brain can only handle
three on the same track at the same time.
Q. How many locomotives can you MU with DCC?
A. I am not sure of the technically correct answer, but I am limited
to four mainly because of the amperage of track power available. When DCC
starts to have boosters greater than 10 amps you will be able to increase
this
If you have a question please send it to me and I will do my best to
answer it and add it to this list.
Contact me for Futher Information
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