My friend owns an antique store and I thought it would be fun to set up a small display in the window for Christmas. The initial setup went OK and so far its been pretty effective at attracting people walking down the street. (Fun to see)
The Basic Setup is"
- A postwar 681 Turbine with 3 cars and a lighted caboose
- 036 Fastrack Oval from the Polar Express set
- CW80 Transformer (I was afraid to use any of my PW transformers in her shop, don't want to burn the place down)
- Whistle shed powered from track and triggered by the insulated track
- Nutcracker Automatic Gateman triggered by a 153 IR and powered by the AUX post on the CW80
- Train runs for 30 minutes on then 30 minutes off tor total run time of 3 hours per day (using a plug timer)
The first day went pretty good but we started seeing problems yesterday that I am tying to solve.
- The area the display is in gets fairly warm (glass on 3 sides) seems the heat melted 60 years worth of grease and dropped it on the tracks. Going to clean it today, but how often should I lube the engine and where/what should I apply
- Had trouble with the CW80 yesterday (imagine that) where the AUX side was powered by the variable side seemed dead. It seemed that the transformer went into Thermal shutdown but only on one side. Does the CW80 shut down if it gets too warm. I may bout a large giftbox with the back open around it to shield from the sun
- Is the Gateman setup putting too much of a load on the CW80. The Gateman is modern, not a PW one, its abut 2 years old
- Any other suggestions? I already have a list of things to do next year, but this was a throw together for this season
Thanks for any input, I am hoping to post some pics of it soon as well as some pictures of the people stopping to look at it. As I am, watching it I keep thinking maybe Joshua Lionel Cowen's Idea of a moving product display was a good idea. Wondering of I can expand this idea next season to a few other shops
