We're in transition

I agree, things have been lean because we're in a time of transitioning from old in-studio content to getting spun up with a good assortment of virtually recorded content. It's taking us some time to make the transition, since it includes lots of new skills and equipment.

I'm expecting things to get rolling pretty good by the April-May time frame.

We have a brand new highly skilled person coming on board as of April and he will be producing one in-depth segment per month for TMTV. Topics will include Arduinos, 3D printing, as well as the more usual modeling how-to segments.

We also expect to have several really beefy new virtual segments in the can by late April for Backshop Clinic and DCC Decoded. And we have a number of new virtual Notch8 sessions in the planning stages.

So hang in there while we make this major transition. It's been tough to not be able to visit layouts or to bring guests in studio to shoot segments.

We're working to have each QAT session kick off with some TMTV previews (so you know what's coming) and include some meaty tips up front. We're getting more pre-session questions now, so we can prepare a mini-clinic as an answer. 

Then what's left will be open Q&A. So if you watch the first half hour, that's going to be a lot of meat -- that's where we're headed. Watch the front of the QAT recording this month and you will see what I mean. The flapping lips will be in the last half hour and you can tune that out if you prefer.

Flapping lips

In the flapping lip segment of the two recent TMTV QAT shows Joe provided helpful answers to the questions asked. I would like to hear more flapping lips join in the conversation as there is a wealth of model railroading knowledge in this community, so please join in ask a question bring your knowledge to the table and help us all be better model railroaders.

Bill

Also let’s not squander the access of MRH QAT

TMTV content matching MRH / MRH RE is deliberate

Is more RLAD coming?

I really liked the first few. It does look like it takes a lot of work to put it all together and edit though, but the hard parts are the most valuable... the tables, charts, diagrams, etc.

More Run like a Dream episodes?

Yes, but I've been concentrating on getting the new virtual TMTV content production spun up, so RLAD has been on a hiatus pending getting that all going.

The next RLAD segment will be all about grades and I've been thinking about how I want to present that. I'm hoping to get more RLAD segments going again this summer.

One of my theories is that different vendors' track railhead profile actually can affect loco traction, so I want to test that out with some grades and different vendors' track and see if the theory actually holds true. Whether it proves true or not -- I want to report my findings in the TrainMasters TV RLAD segment on grades.

Railhead profiles!

I foresee this being a VERY interesting subject!  I will be following it closely!  I also wonder how the RP-25 consistency between manufactures!

Live shows/feeds are the future.

Real time shows are great. YouTube and others are gaining popularity with the advent of software such as OBS and Streamyard. Incredible content can be created and saved/shared for later publications. I am looking forward to a better timed live TMTV for myself. I would really of liked to have Rick J. answer my questions about the Cricut in real time. 

This will get better and grow. The overall content will get a boost when the My Layout productions start ramping up.  I’m looking forward to the first few episodes to see what works and how best to put my layout on TMTV. 

Rail Profiles

That sounds really interesting. It's been discussed within Free-Mo, as to how to join different manufacturer's track between modules. I'd also be interested as to how it affects electrical pick-up for DCC.

Grades and car weighting

Joe -- When you do your RLAD video on grades, one topic worth discussing is the interaction among grades, locomotive types and train lengths, and car weighting.  After over-weighting quite a few of my freight cars, I found that they no longer worked well on my new layout, which has steeper (2.5%) long grades than my previous layout.  An A-B-A set of Stewart/Kato F-units has no trouble pulling a fairly long train, even with the heavily weighted cars, but my steamers (2-8-2, 0-8-0, 2-6-6-6, etc.) tended to struggle (even after applying Bullfrog Snot).  So I had to pick two out of three:  long heavy grades, steam locomotives, and/or over-weighted cars.  The grades and locomotives won, and I removed the excess weight from the roughly 30 cars where I had added it.

-- Steve

Covid Happens

I think we can chuck this all up to Covid for now. 

I do feel some of the older videos that I continue to go back to over and over are what brought me to the channel and I hope down the line we get more of that. It does feel that TMTV was moving away from that before RONA. 

The older video of layout tours with in depth owner interviews etc. I know for now those are going to be tweaked due to covid but lets hope over time TMTV gets back to the way it was

Yes layout tours

That test series would be of interest

I have postulated that some of the outliers in my grade & train length tests have to do with the wheel deforming to give more contact surface.  There are references that support a wheel deformation because of material youngs modulous.  Which can increase the contact surface.  If true, the obvious question is why don't we tailor both surfaces to maximize the contact surface.  That is essentially what your implying in your charts.  Of the two, the least noticeable would be the wheel.  Should be some very worth while results.  Great for TMTV or an article.  It would be a game changer.  We are leaving a lot of motor capacity on the table with what we have now. 

On the track profile

On the track profile question,  keep in mind as people clean track etc.  how long does the profile over the top of the head stay curved before it flattens out?  So a section of track that might have a nice dome profile, after a few years of service will be flat,  At what point do we bring in the scale rail grinders and reprofile the track...

Reassuring

Joe,

Thank you for spelling out what is planned for TMTV.  Sounds great and I will be looking forward to it.

Rail/wheel deformation??? Wear??

Hi all,

I think that the deformation of rails and wheel at the contact point may be a bit of a red herring. Engineering wise - If you look at the weight of our model locomotives, they are nowhere near heavy enough to create a high enough stress (Force/Area of contact) to go close to the values needed to cause micro-deformation at the point of contact for the materials being used, If you look at real railways, where such micro-deformation can and does occur at the rail wheel interface, the forces involved are several orders of magnitude greater - at least 100x, maybe even> 1000x greater)

As for rail wear - For most home layouts that are operated sporadically at even weekly intervals for only a few hours at a time, you are unlikely to wear the rail profile. You are probably more likely to mechanically wear out multiple locomotives before you have track wear profiles that are bad enough to cause operational problems.

The exception here may be the plastic frog area on some of the turnouts if you have plastic frogs. (Yes, I've seen it done when our club ran a "rail grinder" type track cleaner. Yes, we successfully cleaned the track, but when stuff started to fall off on the turnouts some months after we started using it, there wasn't much of the plastic frog area remaining. The plastic frog area was way softer than the nickel-silver rails). I have heard of model rails needing replacement - but these instances are commercial operations that are in use every day for multiple hours at a time.

The worst case of track wear I know of was a interleaved spiral with about 24" radius on both up and  downgrades that was in a hobbyshop display, The train rain 8 hours/day, 6 days/week. The inside railhead on the outside rail was worn back to the rail web after 3 months. The average life of a loco on this layout hauling a 3 boxcar load was about 6 months at best.  

When I visited Miniatur Wonderland at Hamburg in 2018, they were relaying some of the orignal trackwork after several years service. Yes you can wear your track out, but it requires an awful lot of train running or some special circumstances (see Case 1 at  Bar Room Problems).   

For a home layout, I think it is more likely that the owner will "tear-it-out" before the owner can "wear-it-out",

To be clear

You did not read what I said,  I’m talking about people rubbing bright boys over the tracks for cleaning etc.  at no point did I say anything about trains deforming the trail heads.
 

I did but..

Hey Az,

that was someone else discussing something else for TMTV - like why some locos appear to be significantly outperforming others in a drag test on a grade. I suspect that the enhanced performance is due more to the design of mechanism rather than micro-deformation of the track under the locomotive wheels.

Real bogie locomotives have a problem with the leading axle of each bogie "unloading" and slipping as power is applied. I suspect that the same thing happens with our model locomotives. Once that leading axle slips, then you'll immediately loose traction on the rest of the axles. Our models don't lay sand or have "smart" anti-wheelslip capabilities built into each axle, as do prototype modern high-performance locomotives.      

if anyone wants to have a go at their railheads with Brite Boys or similar, then have at it. You are going to expend a great deal of elbow grease for a minimal wear effect on the railhead. There is a whole lot of other stuff that can to be done on a model railroad before you expend the amount of time with a BriteBoy to wear away enough of the railhead to cause derailment problems. As God said "Not in my lifetime"  

Brite Boys etc are one of the more mild "railgrinders" when compared to a hardened steel mill-cut file. However if you are going to attack the rail head with a self-propelled model railgrinder "track cleaner" that had contra-rotating hardened knurled "cleaning wheels", well that's a very different kettle of fish than Brite Boys or similar.  Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. But it seemed like such an "easy way" to clean the rails at the time...     

La Mesa

Joe, you should talk to La Mesa Model Railroad Club about their weighting and grade system, as they have a very strict system for reducing wear and tear on their locomotives, some of which are expensive models of SP and Santa Fe steam.

Joe, you should talk to La

Are you talking about their rolling stock standards? I covered that extensively in my Run like a Dream ROLLING STOCK book.

Here’s a link to their standards ...
https://www.opsig.org/files/resources/CARREG08.pdf

Or are you referring to something specifically regarding locomotives?

I was talking about the value

of the test, and thus the TMTV feature.  First off don't mistake load for stress.  Deformation is driven by stress.  Yes it is likely much smaller than a real loco.  However, what we have is a small cross section that actually contacts the track, So if you increased the contact area by 50% of this small contact surface, then you have increased the potential force by most of that.  As Joe's pics indicate, the track shape may be contributing a significant amount.  In my tests where the only thing that is changed is the wheel sets, I am seeing large train length increases for different wheel materials.  I have repeated it several times with different engines and at different engine weights.  The actual magnitudes have varied some, but the ranking does not.  Implicit is a change in contact surface or surface roughness.  

I would find that kind of examination interesting, but it may only be me.

Grades

I was referring to grades. I haven't read the books, only watched the videos so I might be behind on what you're doing with RLAD. I've read about their practices in other publications (blogs, videos, etc). 

Factors involving grades

I didn't quite fully develop that thought, but I was thinking about grades, and how they affect the tractive effort, of which car weighting is one component, but curvature (like avoiding the helix from hell) and pulling power of the locomotives are factors as well. La Mesa takes it a step further and thinking about the longevity of their locomotives, since they can run them quite a bit over a significant distance, much more so than many home layouts.

Lots of variables for traction in a model locomotive and train

Joe (and Larry of Z'Ville), this topic has a ton of variables that are going to affect results.  As Larry said, contact stress is only part of the equation.  It occurred to me that the specific alloy content of the rail may affect it's friction factor.  Some years ago I had access to a hand-held PMI device (Positive Metal Identification) and checked Micro Engineering and Atlas rails, with a noticeable difference outside the standard error of the device.  So all nickel silver is not born the same.  I have to think the same is true of wheels, and the plating applied.  To evaluate rail head shape would seem to require equal alloy and surface finish of rail and wheels.  (I'm retired now, but some cool vocabulary from the past like 'Single-Factorial Design Of Experiments' just floated up.  Sorry.  I won't do that again....)  Texture of the rails and wheel surface will matter.  Dirt will matter.  Any lubricants drizzling down from the drive system will matter. But if all this can be figured out, we will all be better for it.