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    Electricity for the Novice Model Railroader
    Electricity for the Novice Model Railroader
    Electricity for the Novice Model Railroader
    Ebook96 pages1 hour

    Electricity for the Novice Model Railroader

    By James Kelly, Jr

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    About this ebook

    “Electricity for the Novice Model Railroader“ is an introductory guide to electricity as use for model railroading. It starts with a comparison of water systems to electrical systems and progresses to basic troubleshooting of a power bus. A quick lesson of why and how we use Ohm’s law to calculate voltage drops and resistor sizing strengthens the reader’s knowledge of how we control power in out train wiring.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJames Kelly, Jr
    Release dateApr 22, 2020
    ISBN9780463152072
    Electricity for the Novice Model Railroader
    Author

    James Kelly, Jr

    I started my electronic / electrical training at Westport High School's 2 year vocational training course followed by 8 months of military electronics training. Later I completed a 4 year DOE approved electrical apprenticeship, an AA degree in Liberal Arts and 1 year toward my Computer Science degree.I'm married and about to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary with my loving wife Lydia. We have 3 sons, 7 Grandchildren and 2 Great Grandchildren, I'm currently retired and working full time on my model railroad and as a member of the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) I'm pursuing my Master Model Railroader certificate (MMR)I hope life has been half as good to you as it has been to me. I'm a very happy, content and complete man.

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      Book preview

      Electricity for the Novice Model Railroader - James Kelly, Jr

      Electricity for the Novice Model Railroader

      By James Kelly

      Copyright 2020 James Kelly

      Smashwords Edition

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you’d like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite eBook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thanks for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Introduction

      Chapter 1: Electricity for the Novice Railroad modeler

      Chapter 2: Ohm’s Law

      Chapter 3: The Magic Smoke (Applying Ohm’s Law)

      Chapter 4: Series and Parallel Circuits

      Chapter 5: Magnetism and Model Trains

      Transformers

      Solenoids:

      Relays:

      Chapter 6: Motors

      Chapter 7: Track as an Electrical Circuit

      Physical properties:

      Rail to wheel connections:

      Track Maintenance:

      Rail Joiners:

      Chapter 8: Power Bus

      Basic Bus Design:

      Chapter 9: Power Districts

      Engine Yard:

      East & West Yard:

      DCC Bus:

      Gaps:

      District Phasing:

      Chapter 10: Block Detection

      Chapter 11: Troubleshooting

      General:

      Construction:

      Track and Power Bus:

      The 2-Step Process:

      Chapter 12: Conclusion

      Introduction:

      I got my first train for Christmas at the age of eleven. It was a Lionel military train with the blue US-44 missile launching engine, a rocket carrier, hospital car, exploding box car and a caboose. It ran around the tree in a small circle and I was the happiest kid in the world!

      My step-dad seemed to be as captivated by it as I was and soon this little circle was to become a 12’ by 22’ layout. With strict instructions, from my step-dad Don’t touch it unless I’m with you. This layout grew and grew and soon had almost every accessory Lionel had built. Rivers with working lift and draw bridges, transfer table, elevated track and wired switches. We even automated the movement of the Lionel Cape Canaveral Rocket Launcher.

      But the times I remember the most were the nights we spent trying to automate running more than one train at a time on the same track. These were the days before DCC and we used things like pressure sensors and thermo relays to get the job done. At age thirteen I had to find a diplomatic way of guiding my step-dad as he tried to design the block logic. Questions like, What would happen if you moved that wire over here? seemed to be the best way to get my ideas implemented.

      Since then I’ve spent my life making a living maintaining and helping to design control systems and I hope my natural love for the subject comes through in this booklet in simple easy to understand terms. The idea is not to make you a confident do-it-yourself-er, though it made encourage you to try, but to help remove the fog of fear so often encountered by many people as soon as you mention the word electricity.

      I recommend reading each chapter in one setting, not for complete mastery but just to get the feel of what is being discussed. Then go back and re-read the chapter stopping to contemplate paragraphs or sentences for a deeper understanding.

      Chapter 1: Electricity for the Novice Railroad modeler

      Let’s go from the known Water to the unknown Electricity

      Or

      The visible to the invisible

      But first let’s refresh our memories of some facts we learned in High School.

      The law of Conservation of Energy states:

      Energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it can only be transformed from one form to another.

      So what does that mean for us? Simply put, we may be starting with electricity but we use controlled methods to convert it to other forms that provide us with the desired action. It may be to move the wheels on an engine, sound a horn, blow smoke, throw a switch or light an LED. We do all these things with electricity and yet our understanding of how it works remains a mystery for many of us.

      The goal of this booklet is not to make us experts as to the how it’s done, but to give us a layman’s understanding of how it works for us and to remove the fog so often associated with electricity. Perhaps this series will encourage some of you to dig deeper into the field, but the goal is to make most of you comfortable with a high level overview of what electricity does

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