At times like these one realises just who your friends really are!

The latest to write David, has almost hit my nail on the head!

After a long time of cursing, kicking the cat, verbally abusing all and sundry and generally making myself hugely unpopular, I took myaself off the the Village Harvest Supper, mixed with more good friends and started analysing rather than  getting hot under the collar!

My layout is in a third of my ex-workshop and the walls and roof are double skinned with insulation and give a nice snug place to work, apart, that is, from the floor!  That is single skin with a gap of 2 inches underneath resting on concrete.  We have had some rather damp weather recently?

I think it is damp that is causing my problems?

My wife is off on a holiday this next week so I will try again while my time is not being recorded! (You know what I mean?)

Peter.

Quote from: Espantrainfan on October 17, 2015, 11:07:25 PM
Hi Peter,

Sorry to hear about your problems.  I know how you feel.  Two steps forward and two back for me.  Finally got my track all laid and wired up.  Point motors and switches fitted.  Decided to have a break from that side of it and do some scenic work.  Got one and a bit of a board covered in some nice moorland and a station and then we had a horrific hail storm and I kid you not some of them were as big as tennis balls.  Found that they had damaged lots of stuff around the house, garden and outbuildings and the car I was about to part exchange.  At least it wasn't the new car.  Didn't go into my trainroom for a few days but when I did found that the hailstones had made lots of holes in the corrugated fibre board  roof letting in lots of rain.  Most of it on the new scenery but lots of other places.  Some of the track had lifted because the PVA had softened and where the droppers were soldered to the rail I had lost electrical continuity.  Don't know why the rain caused that when the PVA hadn't.  Anyway working through the problems and testing as I go along I decided to use my new GF Class 70 to test.  I had run it in as recommended and then fitted a decoder and everything seemed alright.  Now I'm using it in the main layout I find that it runs a little intermittently.  It stops for no apparent reason and when it is at rest the lights are not always on and they go on and off when running.  Checked the pick ups and found they seemed to be okay but adjusted them upwards slightly anyway.  Looked at where they contact the body and found there was lots of oil covering it and the bogies.  Cleaned loads off and then tested and it was a little better.  As was said above it may improve with more running.
So you are not alone Peter so please don't throw the towel in.  I get frustrated sometimes but usually find if I find something else to do, sound off a bit and get some advice (on the forum!) then go back to the problem it doesn't feel half as bad even if you don't solve the problem.  My last but one bee in the bonnet was I was going to bin all my Peco track and go for Kato as I couldn't get it to lay or join properly.  Then the Yorkshire in me thought about all the money I'd waste and how expensive Kato track was and that thought was put to bed.  Anyway I don't like to be beaten by inanimate objects.
Stick with it.  Even if no one else did you will get some help and probably a solution just because you are the guy you are.

kind regards

Dave

David, my problems are infinitesimally small in comparison!

You have my deepest sympathies, nothing worse than building something using all your emotions then having it all undone!

I sincerely hope that you get your dream back in the race soon!

Peter,

Peter I don't know if this will apply to an English shed, but my layout is in the garage where the car stll gets parked, and I put carpet down on the concrete floor abd it made a huge difference in comfort.

Maybe just some carpet? 

George

Quote from: petercharlesfagg on October 18, 2015, 10:38:19 AM
I think it is damp that is causing my problems?

Might be an idea to get yourself a hygrometer, calibrate it, then see what reading it gives at track level. If the reading is high, or fluctuates a lot, you might need to install a dehumidifier. Here in The Hague, in a downstairs apartment built in the early 20th century with no central heating, I need to have one running all the time to keep the damp to manageable proportions.

It's when you talk to exhibitors at shows that the whole 'interior climate' matter really does affect good running, so I hope this could be the end of your troubles in that respect, Peter.

As I mentioned many threads ago I used our old bedroom carpet in my garage where my layout it..whilst its not damp it definately gets cold in the winter and I have a couple of electric heaters on the go...best thing about the carpet is not crawling on concrete to fix anything under the board!

Glad to hear your towel is back where it belongs, Peter. It sounds frustrating, but I'm sure you'll get there with it. I have no practical advice, but i can keep my fingers crossed if you think that'll help?

Peter,

Thank you for your good wishes and I am pleased that things are looking a little better for you.  I had a couple of those christal type dehumidifiers in my train room before the hailstorm but increased it to four afterwards and everything is now drying out nicely.  The train room was half of a concrete block built garage which was converted to a stable and then my train room.  I have tiled the floor but probably should have insulated under the tiles.  If you can get some polystyrene sheets under the floor between the joists this is a cheap and fairly effective way of insulating the floor.  In the UK I stuck one inch thick sheets to the inside of my garage door and it made a big difference.  Good luck with it anyway and keep us informed.  The answer to your woes may help many of us!

kind regards

David

Good luck and hope that both Peter and David resolve their problems!

Never give up! Never surrender!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8NyviD3PR8



Dave G