June 1, 2024
I discovered a short in Gerber Yard – all tracks! Let’s see, I changed the polarity of several of the live frogs in the 16 yard lead switches. A previously install switch had not had the frog wired and did that along with installing a new switch at the west end of Gerber. Two individual switches were changed to just one controller since they were a crossover.
After a week of searching for the problem, Tom Pearson came over and we started tracking it down. Cut all the yard tracks (11 in all) in half. East end was fine. Cut the west end in 1/2 again and isolated the short to the far west end of the yard. Turned out to be a little solder bridging the gap in the tie on the final switch installed at the far end of the yard. Normally I test each switch when built and then again when installing. Skipped this step with terrible results.
My short indication buzzer is still packed away so I purchased a continuity tester for $6 from Amazon. ALWAYS TEST AT EACH STEP!! REPEAT! Always test any time you make a single change. I know better. GRRRR!
