|
To: "oermsignal" Subject: Orange Empire Railway Museum Signals Update - 5/25/2004 This email is our semi-regular update about signals work (installation, maintenance and restoration) at the Orange Empire Railway Museum and is a collaborative effort. 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 receive duplicate copies of this email, please contact me and let me know your preferred email address. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This past weekend (May 22/23) was our fourth weekend of the month work activity. Those present were Gene, Mike, Allen, Ron, Gary, Dave Morgan, Paul Orton, Paul Khoury, Bob and Ray Hirth. Signal Garden: Work continued on the new dwarf footing poured last month -- the concrete foundation forms were removed and the dwarf was mounted on the pedestal. The dwarf's H2 searchlight mechanism still needs to be installed and the wiring completed. To complete the cable trenching from the dwarf to the new crossing gate location, the gate mechanism which had been placed there temporarily had to be moved. Again Zeke and the crane moved it to a new spot behind the house. A minor disaster struck during the trenching where existing conduits to the Garden signals were accidentally severed -- a temporary repair was made -- a permanent repair will be made next month. The needed conduits are now installed including a run to the location of the future Flasher Signal. The footing for the crossing gate was dug and partially-framed on Saturday followed by further framing and the pouring of 15 bags (90#) of concrete on Sunday. The push-button post and conduit was also installed. We still need to needle gun and sand blast the banjo signal -- after that we can install it in concrete in the already dug hole. Hopefully this can occur soon before the heat of summer descends on Perris. The Cox Bell is still inoperative due to a failure of the bell controller. The FET driver seems to have failed again. Troubleshooting showed that the mechanism is sticking but otherwise all electrical measurements did not indicate any obvious abnormalities. We are unsure whether the mechanical problems could have caused a sustained load on the circuit and therefore it's subsequent failure or some other circumstances that are as yet unclear. More work is still needed. Weeding of the garden was also performed --- a big thanks to Joyce O'Connor and Don Robinson. Signal Theory Training: On Saturday afternoon, Gene once again presented a class on railroad signal theory focusing on the need for good cutover testing by describing the stick circuits feeding the block signals near the station and the new 2038 signal circuit. A summary of the training is being prepared. 11th St. Crossing: If you remember from our previous emails, the 11th St public grade crossing has been false alarming (usually at night). After disconnecting the impedance bond (which was no longer needed) at 11th St, the crossing "seemed" to be working better and no longer intermittently starting with no trains present. But Gene continued to notice some odd marks on the chart recorder tape which led him to believe a subtle problem still existed. Further investigation has now revealed that the power supply/battery voltage feeding the audio track circuit receiver at the north case was "slightly" low. Gene has adjusted the power supply output a little higher and everything appears OK at this time. Most likely the problems were caused by a combination of both the impedance bond load and the low supply voltage. Gene will be adding another battery cell at the installation in the near future ... and of course continuing to monitor the crossing. Miscellaneous Notes: Mike Carpenter continued work on the crank telephone system overhead wiring which is giving him problems between the bookstore and the machine shop. The Hirth's have completed the installation of new conduit between the battery box and the equipment case at the Mapes Crossing North Transmitter location -- next the new wire will be pulled in. This was needed due to deterioration of the direct buried wiring now in place. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For additional OERM Signals information, visit the signals website at: http://gsee.sdf-us.org/signals. Previous editions of these email newsletters are at: http://gsee.sdf-us.org/signals/enews/enews.html . Questions or comments regarding OERM Signals should be directed to the Signals Superintendent Gene Cranston. |