|
To: "oermsignal" Subject: Orange Empire Railway Museum Signals Update - 3/22/2004 This email is our new regular update about signals work (installation, maintenance and restoration) at the Orange Empire Railway Museum and is a collaborative effort -- the information for this e-news issue was provided by Gene Cranston.. If you have information that would be of interest to others, please email it to me and we'll include it in our next newsletter. If you would like to be removed from this mailing list, please email me. Likewise, if you know someone who would like to be added to this list, please have them email me. If you've received duplicate copies of this email, please contact me and let me know your preferred email address. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WOW ! ! ! Saturday we pulled in the cable to allow connection of signal 2038 (Barn 4 Lead approach signal). Gene had thought that we would have to use wire pulling lubricant and more than one day to get the cable pulled. We started at about 10am and finished at around 3pm with an hour and a half out for lunch. Gene's glad we listened to our wire pulling experts, Ray and Bob Hirth. First the cable from the west platform across the tracks to the signal was installed and then the cable up the west platform to the Alpine case. The work party consisted of Allen Holliday, Gary See, Bob Hirth, Ray Hirth, Mike Carpenter, Dave Morgan, Darrel Woodward, Paul Khoury, and Gene Cranston. Also helping were the Hirth girls, Stephanie and Melanie. Darrel installed an updated Searchlight mechanism in the 2038 signal case which had been modified with a "red, lunar, yellow" lens set rather than the normal "red, yellow, green" set. Soon this signal will be fully operational once we get the new cable connected in the Alpine case. Afterward we all took a train ride to Perris. On our return we learned that there were problems with the Mapes Gates. Gene had left one gate blocked, but the principle problem is that the little 332 streetcar is too light to operate the track circuits well. We tried readjusting the track circuits, but the north circuit will probably have to be replaced and some form of trap or loss of shunt circuit added. The poor shunting of the 331 streetcar was the reason we added the loss of shunt circuits on the Alpine main line track circuits and that was with very bright rail. 332 is an identical car. In this case it is simpler and more positive to use a trap circuit. Gene has drawn up a trap circuit with a relay which will pick up and drop the XR relay when either track circuit first drops (it picks up from the TU circuit control). The trap relay will drop when the car crosses the island which allows the XR to pick up as soon as the car is off of the island (a 250 ohm resistor is in series between the relay negative control and N10 -- when the XSR control picks up the negative control of the trap resistor goes to B10 releasing it.). To cover the intermittent contact as the car recedes, Gene plans to use a very long delay on the XSR relay. There is no existing circuit other than the island to use to cancel the trap relay so the long delay on the XSR will have to do the job. Gene will be bench testing this first to make sure it works as intended before adding it to the actual crossing. Next Saturday (March 27) will be our regular monthly meeting and work day. Be sure to bring any problems you have encountered in your study and be prepared to continue on various projects. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For additional OERM Signals information, visit the signals website at: http://gsee.sdf-us.org/signals. Question or comments regarding OERM Signals should be directed to the Signals Superintendent Gene Cranston. |