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Rehab My Railroad: Episode 5
Another informative and fun video-you guys rock.
3 Brat Grivno?? That is a good one. Brats are the greatest Wisconsin delicacy. Congrats Dr. Popp on the solution to the electrical issue, arch nemesis of a model railroads are electrical issues. Outside Chuck’s house, pretty green grass for January in Wisconsin, haha.
Chuck, as a big C&NW fan myself and Beloit WI native, what C&NW specific locations/buildings have you tried to replicate on your layout? Where do you get the most of your historical data for the C&NW?
Again, a quality product as always. How about a Drew’s Trackside Adventure based on an operating session on Chuck’s layout?
Okay, you guys are gettin’ crazier each episode! Love the new nicknames!! I hope that Chuck has more and more problems with his layout, I’d hate to see this series come to an end! (sorry Chuck)
I love these episodes because you are trouble shooting an actual layout and highlighting some common issues and then giving solutions. I am in the build stage of my new layout so watching carefully to avoid some of these issues. And nice to see that as you try to resole one issue, another gets in the way and next thing is the original issue still waits a resolution. My question though - since this is a DCC layout, is it still necessary to use power districts or could it run all on one? It is a large layout but is still somewhat compact. And do you have a reversing Y within the layout?
Where did Cody get the nick-name “Two Brat” from? I haven’t seen that before.
Great segment on trouble shooting electrical problems and creating a “non-planted” forest. The question is for Drew this time, was that a telephoto lens you were using to take pictures of the layout and why in such a small space?
Good episode. David excellent diagnostic procedures on the DCC. Also a long finish nail driven through a piece of 3" x 3" 1x3 with a small alligator clip crimped on the protruding pointed end of the nail makes a great third hand for soldering.
Mark
Hello all,
A couple of quick answers to questions today:
DCC Trouble shooting: Layout electrical problems can be insidious, and don’t congratulate us yet on the DCC solution. As a spoiler, we won’t get it resolved until episode 7, and the real fix didn’t come to the surface until just a couple of days ago, so we’re headed back to Chuck’s to film it soon. It’s worth the wait, so stay tuned! As with all electrical troubleshooting, for the best results, work slowly and methodically - changing only one thing at a time as you go.
DCC circuit breaker districts: Even if you have a small layout, if you’re planning on having more than one person running trains, it is a good idea to split it into isolated circuit breaker districts. On a layout that is all wired as one block, if one train derails and causes a short, the entire railroad shuts down - meaning everyones’ train stops where it is. With circuit breaker districts, as short in one should (normally) leave all of the others operational, which means everyone else can keep running trains.
2-Brat: When Chuck asked how many brats everyone wanted, Cody innocently enough asked for two (like most of the rest of the crew). Drew got ahold of the idea that “2-Brat Grivno” would be a good rapper name for Cody, and that set off the flurry of nick names for the crew that appears in the credits. Of course Cody surprised everyone that day by eating 3 instead of 2!
Green grass in January? Yes, thanks to global warming, Wisconsin stays green year round now - not! (It was -9 last week here with wind chills around -30!) As you may have guessed, we filmed all of the episodes during four weeks in the summer. The Ask Chuck segments are filmed two weeks before the new episode goes live, so we have time to collect your questions and then edit them into the show.
More rehab: We’re in the process of planning a new season of Rehab My Railroad, and at the moment the slate is wide ope
I was thinking a a quick, easy, and inexpensive solution to the dust problem you have to be having from an unfinished ceiling under an occupied space. Would be to put up some plastic sheeting. You could drop the lights. Put up the plastic. And put the lights back up in one day. It would solve the dust problem and you wouldn’t lose any ceiling height.
Hi Drew and Chuck,
many thanks for your reply on my question, and a BIG thank-you for “mugging me”, I can’t wait to receive my mug ! 
Keep up the great work you are all doing on Chuck’s layout. MR Video Plus is the true winner all round ! From a very happy English guy here in France, Nigel.
Terrific Video,
I think that it would be cool if you guys draw names at the end for the next season of Rehab My Railroad
Where can I get a track plan of Chuck Sable’s layout?
Chris, you can get the PDF of Chuck’s track plan by clicking on Episode 3 above. Looking in the black description box under the video for the downloadable PDF link. It is also on the MR Track Plan Database - just type Chuck Sable into the search field.
Enjoy!
David
These video episodes are a great supplement to the magazine. Watching you work on the railroad is very helpful compared to just reading on how to do it. I especially appreciated how you trouble-shooted the electrical issue with a short.
P.S. I especially liked Drew’s shirt - Seahawk green!
This was the most informative episode yet. I love the step by step instruction to diagnose the electrical problem. This is the type of information that is valuable to folks like myself.
Thank you
Hey all! This one really knocked it out of the ball park for me. I must admit that I am addicted to this series! It gets better each time. After many years in the hobby, I’m starting over. The new (5th) Pacific Crest Railway is almost a year old. Your series has become a “crystal ball” for me as I learn DCC. I said I wasn’t going to do it! But our local club, that I just joined, convinced me to step into the 21st Century. Your working out the DCC problem in this episode was awesome. I don’t have a clue what your were taking about; but, as my new friends at our club help to teach me this system and help me install it on the PC, I will be so much more “learned” with your help. Also, the jokes and goofing off, is really keeping it real. This is the most fun of hobbies. Keep proving it! All generations need to see it, here it, and feel it from …“our heros”.
Chuck’s layout looks great and I was wondering if some leaf bearing trees would help fill in between all the fir trees that were planted in this show. I’m not sure what the area being modeled looks like in real time but if it’s a little bit like New England where I live, leaf bearing makes a nice contrast to fir trees.
I am enjoying the series. Chuck’s layout seems similar to a number of basement and a few garage layouts I have seen with open ceiling, and that has presented lighting challenges to filming the layout. To me that emphasizes the need to “finish” a room before installing a layout. Not only does a ceiling reduce dust problems, but with some quality lighting can produce a layout that is well lit and easy to photograph. I suggest including the ceiling lighting design in the layout design. You won’t regret it.
These sessions on Chuck’s layout are the most interesting and informative video I have seen. They are well done, but not so well done as to appear contrived and artificial. Real people, doing real stuff - hard to beat that plan.
I will guess that the DCC issue involved common rail wiring, intentional or not I cannot say. Common rail wiring and circuit breakers that open only one side of the circuit are problematical.