Yeap! Agreed. I just had to vent here. I've already walked away from this project for several long periods so that I would be fresh on each. I figured that these cars are expensive and should get my full talent. I just have too much to do and at times, it takes away the fun.
I installed a poly fuse in the + line from the truck with the bad wheel. I can only guess that the fuse was tripped, and didn't provide a dead short when tested on the bench. As soon as the car was put onto the track, the shorted axle killed my whole layout. I took it back to the bench and this time before applying power, I used my meter to check for shorts. There was a dead short between both wheels. How did it work when tested then? Something's touching somewhere and I figured that some wire must have created a short inside while assembling the car. By blind luck, I just had the car sitting perfectly to observe that two axles on the one truck had black insulators, and one did not. But I checked the axles direction as I assembled it?
I must have seen that the wheels on the frame wiring side didn't have insulators and must have concluded that it was installed the correct way. I didn't inspect the other side of the axles until there was this track problem. I just can't take stuff for granted and I keep failing this test.
I do get satisfaction when I run my trains. I hate to do stuff halfway. I wanted roller bearings at each axle's ends. I wanted LED lights that don't flicker, don't draw too much, and don't get hot. I wanted cars that look and perform good. Have you ever run a train or two for company and it seems like everything goes wrong at once? I strive to make the trains dependable.
