Hindsight 20/20 14.0 - Saturday, December 10

After a little hiatus - and, literally, back by popular demand - the virtual clinic juggernaut that is Hindsight 20/20 will be next held Saturday December 10th, from 11:30 - 6:00.

As you can see from the schedule, and typical of a Hindsight agenda, there's a real treasure trove of clinic offerings - four on each side of a 45 minute break, for a total of 8 great clinics - covering a wide range of modeling subjects. Unless somebody agrees to swap with me, right after the break at 3:15p yours truly will be covering an attempt to adapt prototype operations to a prototype-based layout.

Best of all, all of this wonderfulness is free - you just need to sign up here.  Of course, though there's no charge, it isn't truly "free." It definitely costs the organizers actual coin, in addition to their time. So there's a tip jar if you feel so inclined and want to see these events continue.

So make plans now to join us for a fun day where you don't have to get in your car or a plane, travel long distances, and get a hotel room to see a great slate of model railroad clinics. Heck, you don't even have to leave your living room couch. Bunny slippers optional - just be sure to have a nice beverage on-hand. I recommend hot cocoa in keeping with the season...

 Hope to see you on the 10th!

Friday Fun: AutoReverser Fix & Hindsight 20/20 Returns!

What a difference a week makes. 

Last Friday, I'd about reached the limit of my patience with a reversing section located between Middletown and Wethersfield. It's kind of a big deal since that section is also where the flagship train of the layout ("The Valley Local", natch) is staged at the beginning of my ops sessions. If the polarity of the gaps at the Wethersfield end of the reversing section are aligned, then the train will enter the scene nice and smooth. But when it gets to Middletown and starts switching in the yard, it inevitably will cross the Middletown end of the reversing section - where it will short.

So I need that section to, um, reverse. I discovered it's easy enough to wire in a DPDT switch and just switch the polarity manually - and I was resigned to that solution as of last weekend - but it would be super nice if it would just happen automatically. Anyway, if you want more background/detail on the problem, check out this post.

I tried another PSRev (thanks Randy), as well as a Digitrax AR-1 (thanks Pete), and even a bare-bones MRC autoreverser (thanks Bill), and Every Single Time, I'd get a short when the loco would try to cross the gaps. THEN, Alex Wood (one of the members of the Valley Local Facebook Group) offered to let me try one of his PSX-AR units.

Problem solved(?!)

Could it really have been this easy?! And why?!

The short answer (excuse the pun) is that I don't really know, but I'm not going to question it (I will, however, just keep this temporarily hooked up while I run (quite) a few sessions with it...). Other than this PSX-AR unit, the only change I made was to have the reverser get its power directly from the booster, rather than getting its power from an adjacent, circuit-breaker-protected, power district. But all the other reversers I tried were direct-wired as well. Weird.

The longer answer is based on a little speculation: I suspect the ultimate issue had little/nothing to do with trip current, but with trip speed. Apparently, my PSRev - and the other reversers I tried - may not be switching the polarity fast enough to keep the circuit breaker on the adjacent track from sensing a short and tripping. The trip timing on the PSRev isn't adjustable, but it is on the PSX circuit breakers. Unfortunately, only one of my circuit breakers has the newer software that allows adjustment.

The PSX-AR, by default (and perhaps since it's the reversing unit companion to the PSX circuit breaker product), must switch the polarity faster than the circuit breakers.

At least that's our theory. Like I said - I'll just keep things wired temporarily while I put everything through multiple, thorough, tests. But for now, I am a VERY happy model railroader. Many thanks, again, to all of you who weighed in with help & advice.

Friday Fun, indeed! But WAIT! There's MORE!

I just got an email from my buddy Jim Dufour that, after a summer hiatus, Hindsight 20/20 is back! I'll let him tell you all about it:

The fellows behind the Hindsight 20/20 virtual RPMs have lined up a nice pair of upcoming events that will feature yet another array of interesting clinics.

First up is a single, mid-week clinic on Wednesday, September 22nd to be given by Hunter Hughson on Penn Central's fleet of EMD SW1200s. Who doesn't love end-cab switchers?!?
The timing of Hunter's clinic alongside Rapido's recent release of the SW1200 in HO scale is no coincidence.

You can sign up for Hunter's clinic on the Speedwitch web site here. And yes, it's FREE!

Hindsight 20/20 “Wednesdays” – September 22, 2021, 8:00-9:00 PM Eastern Daylight time

(click on the image to enlarge)

http://speedwitchmedia.com/ product/hindsight-20-20- wednesday-september-22-2021/

Next up is a full day of FREE clinics on Saturday, October 2nd. This is a great line-up!
For sign-up and clinic information go here.

(click on image to enlarge)

Hindsight 20/20 10.0 – October 2, 2021, 12:00 – 8:00 PM Eastern time

http://speedwitchmedia.com/ product/hindsight-20-20-10-0- registration/

Do yourself and all of us a favor and SIGN UP EARLY! It helps everyone concerned and doesn't commit you to anything.

As always, attendance is free (!!!) but tips to cover overhead and to thank the presenters are indeed welcome and can by made via paypal.com to this email address:  <nationalscalecar@gmail.com>

Please take good care,
Jim

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Thanks Jim! You certainly made this Friday even more fun! I hope many of you will take advantage of what Ted Culotta & Co. are offering - and remember, they're not recorded so this is your only chance to see these great clinics. Hope to see you there!

Friday Fun: MRH & NMRA-X Presentation

Happy Friday! Just a quick post to highlight a couple of fun things for this week's edition of Friday Fun!

First, my buddy Dean (way over in Calgary, Alberta, Canada(!)) gave me a heads up that The Valley Local was mentioned in the latest issue of Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine. I've had a few articles published over at MRH, and I occasionally post on their forum as well.

MRH July 2020, p. 28

They have a section in their magazine where they pick from the forum and my "Backed Up at the Backdrop" post got featured. Of course, since you follow this blog, you pretty much saw this already here - but it's cool to see it in MRH too!

And I definitely want to mention again that the NMRA-X is running its virtual national convention all this week. In fact, tomorrow (Saturday 7/18) is the last day - and I'll be presenting at High Noon!

Each of the days of the convention has a theme, and tomorrow's theme is model railroad operations. As it happens, I'll be doing a presentation on how I do ops on the Valley Line. I hope you'll have a chance to tune in, but if you can't cuz you're mowing the grass or washing the car, don't worry. This clinic - like all of the NMRA-X presentations - will be recorded and available for later viewing at your convenience.

So whether you're able to tune in live (when you can ask questions which hopefully I can answer :^) or if you choose to watch later, I hope you'll get a good sense of prototype operations. Even better if you have some information or tips that will help me refine my approach.

No matter what you're doing this weekend, whether down in the basement, in the train room, or sitting in your favorite chair, I hope it includes some time enjoying this great hobby. And maybe I'll "see" you sometime tomorrow!