Greeting Joe, good to hear from you again.
To answer your last question first. The signs are just balsa wood and pictures, no electronic attachments.
As for the layout, I re-tooled it back in November to upgrade the power output. I changed to 12 gauge main wire with 16 gauge feeders running to 18 different locations. I use Fastrack because it has those easy to use hookup locations under the belly of the track. Problem is, the prongs are so small you can only use a certain size electrical connector when making the attachment. 18 gauge is what they are truly designed to use, but I have a knack for making things work. 16 isn't heavy but 14 seemed to be pushing it. Anyway, the trunk line running all through the layout is 12 gauge wire and the feeders coming off the trunk are 16 gauge short runs, and I stress short. From the TIU to the screw board, my terminology not the manufacturers, is 12 gauge wire as well. I did a voltage test around the room on the outer track as well as used a volt meter to test as I went, and got an average of 19 volts pretty much everywhere on the track, main lines and staging tracks alike. The signal test seemed to 10 mostly with a 9 and 8 thrown in for good measure.
As for the power output, all three trains ran fine and responded immediately to commands, and I've had four trains going at once, using the ALL ENGINES feature, and up to last night, I've never had any residual issues after the fact. The problem seemed to start when I wanted to activate the inactive engines. I activated one without issue, then the other three kept sending me into "buffer mode?" As I mentioned, it went into perpetual read mode, as if to tell me it was looking for that engine, but it wasn't out there. What jumping from one screen to another did for it is still a mystery, but obviously as we are aware now, the fact the engine was suddenly on the active list, was not telling the whole story.
I'm going to try this again Sunday after my grandson leaves and I'll see what happens then. It may have been a weird anomaly that I am forced to suffer in life that never returns. The other day my transmission belt on my lawnmower slipped off the front pulley and based on the bar fight you have to go through to get it back on, even the guy who fixed it for me can't figure out how in the heck it came off to begin with. I've run three and four engines in the past, deactivating the unused engines for obvious reasons, and this poltergeist never appeared. But, I have a lengthy irritating fix for it if it happens again.
I'll run a signal test and see what I get a chance.
Thanks for the information, gives me something to go on
John
