Help! Short circuits

[Les Coleman]

OMG, 0 gauge small layout under construction was running well. Tonight added a foot of new siding and it worked and a loco ran on it. Then a short occurred, for no obvious reason. Removed the new track and tested it on the multimeter - no problems. But left it off and tried again. Still persistent short traced to the second baseboard, but where? Looked underneath and no obvious touching wires. Gave up at 10.00 pm and came in from the shed grumpy, because I like to leave things positive at the end of an evening. More tracing tomorrow and if nothing obvious, will have to start dismantling track until I locate it. If this sounds familiar, please tell me what you would do. Many thanks.

 

[Jordan or Plymouth Mad]

How is the track constructed? I once got a short because I hadn't gapped the pcb tiebar on a switch (turnout/point) I'd made. I'vd heard of track pins bridging the gap on pcb ties (sleepers) too.

 

[Les Coleman]

It's hand made Jordan. Soldered and gapped PCB sleeper every 4th sleeper. I will check the gaps tomorrow. I fell foul of the track pin bridging problem a few days ago. Will check that too. Thanks for your suggestions. Things might be clearer in the morning, they often are. Tomorrow is another day!

 

[Les Coleman]

Things did get clearer this morning. It was the stupidest of errors and the simplest solution. I had two wires as an alternative power feed point sticking out of the end of the second board. I must have moved the layout slightly last night and they touched, and stayed touched. Sorry about the drama last night and thank you again Jordan.