Don't panic. Try process of elimination.

Arnold,

Why yes! I had probably 65% of my modest layout ripped up once, only to find a pretty well-melted, foil wrapped Lindt chocolate ball sitting across the rails!!! That was back when I had 027 track and it kind of settled right in like it belonged...LOL. I had a picture of it once upon a time.

I was actually more curious about what caused a copper oil line to have a pinhole.....or was a pin-hole leak at a fitting? Copper oil lines should be seamless tubing. I have a 30+ YO oil tank in my crawl space. I would have to disassemble my entire train room if it ever leaks. So far, nary a stain!

Looking forward to the second problem! Broken music stand?? LOL

Well, this is a regular occurrence for me. I'm running trains, and one stops. More than 9 times out of 10, it's user error. Sometimes, the wiring is just too complicated for me to remember. But I stop and think, and when I throw the right switches, the trains run. The other one in ten times, it's something to do with my DZ-1008 relays interacting with DZ-1000 switch machines. I'm still learning how to manage those.

Arnold, you did one of the most important things that someone can do when troubleshooting, in my close to 50 years of working in the broadcasting arena.  You didn't jump to the conclusion that the most outlandish problem occurred.  You investigated and logically isolated the problem.  You would not believe the times that experienced people immediately jump to hardest fix instead of just looking at what is happening. 

I seldom post things here but I felt the need to weigh in on your comments.  I always enjoy your thought provoking questions and outlook on things here.

Keep things simple.  They'll work more reliably for the long haul.

Scott

@endless tracks posted:

I was actually more curious about what caused a copper oil line to have a pinhole.....or was a pin-hole leak at a fitting? Copper oil lines should be seamless tubing. I have a 30+ YO oil tank in my crawl space. I would have to disassemble my entire train room if it ever leaks. So far, nary a stain!

Looking forward to the second problem! Broken music stand?? LOL

Endless Tracks,

My copper oil line was the original when the house was built around 1957, so it was about 65 years old. I never actually saw the pinhole leak but the initial technician saw it immediately, and I never bothered to ask him to show it to me. He turned off a faucet on or  near the fuel oil tank and arranged for other workmen to replace the copper oil line.

Wow, Arnold! I'd say that's a good life, during which a number of things may cause degradation. Is the tank that old as well, or replaced along the way?

There was a lot of bad copper installed in the late 70's, but I believe it was mostly water lines that had defective seams.

I don't fear seeing my oil line being 65, as at my present ago of 70, it's highly unlikely....

I enjoy your posts here and always click on the questions you pose!

Arnold,

I'm getting a bit off topic here but have you considered just putting in an electric heat pump to replace oil?

FYI...I've had a pinhole leak in a copper waterpipe when our house was about 20 years old.

Now, I will share the 2nd recent layout problem.

This morning I lost power on a passing siding where I had a locomotive parked on my layout.

My panic was much less this time, and I immediately began the process of elimination.

That passing siding is connected with wires to an Atlas Heavy Duty O Gauge Connector which, in turn, is connected with wires to a TIU and a  Z4000 transformer.

What was most concerning was the possibility that the cause of the problem might be the TIU, DCS or Z4000. However, using the process of elimination, I found out that trains ran fine everywhere on the layout except for the above-mentioned passing siding and 2 other sidings wired to the same above-mentioned Atlas Heavy Duty Connector.

The cause of the problem was a loose wire providing power to that Atlas Connector. Again, the solution turned out to be simple: I soldered the loose wire to the Atlas Connector. Now, locomotives on those 3 sidings run fine.

I know model railroaders that were so meticulous in the way they constructed their layouts using the best products that money can buy (Gargraves or Atlas track, Ross switches, etc.), that they never have the kind of problems I've described and if they have one derailment in a decade, that's a lot.

I don't pretend to be such a meticulous modeler, and I suspect that there are numerous hobbyists like me, who periodically have problems with their layouts that initially seem like Herculean tasks to solve.

IMO, I was lucky this time.

There may come a time (though I sure hope not) when I will have a Herculean task to do in order to solve a serious problem on my layout. I wonder if I will be up to the task if it happens.

In the meantime, I will try not to panic too much, and use the process of elimination hoping that I will stumble upon the correct diagnosis and have an economical and easy fix.

Maybe these periodic layout problems will continue to stimulate my brain and help me ward off Alzheimers and dementia in the autumn of my years. That would make the problems more than worth while. Arnold

A number of years ago, the Lehigh Valley Hirailers were setting up for a weekend run. On purpose, we try to never have exactly the same layout. In this case, besides changing the order of the modules, we also had two new ones. When we connected everything together and powered up, we had a dead short on one of the tracks. Of course, the new modules were the immediate suspects. We looked at them thoroughly , but could see nothing wrong. Even so, we isolated them. But the problem persisted. So we proceeded to break the layout in half and test each half. The half with the problem was split further until we got down to two modules. These were two of the original modules in the layout. Close inspection revealed that the stranded wire in the harness had broken and crossed over to the ground! This was the last thing we expected! This goes to show that even the most reliable item can have problems.

Chris

LVHR