Two Steps Forward and One Back

The new Stanton drive is in and supported by a styrene mount. Behind it is the old open-frame power truck which seemed to be causing the problem. The gear train between the wheels can be seen on the old truck

It has been over two months since my last posting but it has been a busy one for the family this year. Most of October and November was spent out of town on one trip or another (several railroad related). Right after Thanksgiving, I came down with a fairly bad cold or, perhaps, a flu strain. Of course, the normal holiday chaos was thrown in, too. In any case, I have been out of commission until recently.
     In my posting in May (http://sandcrr.blogspot.com/search/label/motor%20car), I described the new Hall-Scott motor car. It ran well until my first operating session, then it locked up and wouldn't move. It turned out the gear train on the power truck had gotten a few grains of ballast in it which locked up the works. That was cleaned out and a small shield made to prevent a future problem. The next operating session showed the car running all right then it started not to. A friend of mine, Keith Robinson, who specializes in decoder installations and I looked at it and determined that the old open-frame motor was emitting some kind of electromagnetic interference which affected the decoder. It was time to change the motor.
     A Stanton drive was ordered from Northwest Short Line and installed in the car. This required a new motor support bracket and some trimming of the drive unit. Now it is back on the road and running well, at least until the next operating session.