Weekend Update 12/25/22

[bbussey]

I didn’t get as much done this past week as I’d like, but there was some progress. One task completed was the hidden New Haven engine-changeover loop track to get motive power from the westbound engine holding tracks to the eastbound engine holding tracks and visa versa without working through the maze of crossovers at the east end of the station tracks. It also turns the motive power around, which is most important with the electrics as the orientation always will have the raised pantographs in the rear.  The loop is split into five segments and there will be Arduino current detectors to note occupancy on the control panel. The third section is connected to a Frog Juicer to handle the reverse loop functionality. Initially I tried using Atlas insulated connectors but they don’t hold the track radius. So I soldered all the flex track sections together before forming to insure the radius held, then milled insulation plates out of copper-clad PCB and soldered them to sections of rail not at the joints. Cutting gaps with a Dremel finished isolating the sections.

[nkalanaga]

I did the same for the swing gate/bridge into the train room, except that I cut all the way through.

Build the gate, latch it in place, then lay the roadbed (wood) and track.  Finally cut through everything along the joint.  It's worked fine for over 20 years.

[delamaize]

So what did you do to it, Mike? My N scale Athearn Challengers can't pull much...
Thanks, Otto K.

I got close to 100 hours of fine tuning, tweaking, and fixing Athearns mistake. The short list? Added weight in a few strategic places. re-quartered all the drivers, reworked the traction tire grooves, and replaced the traction tires, designed a device to keep the tower gears from walking, and disengaging the worm, stripped and re-lubricated the entire mechanism.... There is more, but it got to a point where I stopped keeping track of what I was doing. It was a lot of trial and error.

It's absolute max right now is 60 + a caboose on flat and level, with broad corners, Like the outer main line on N-trak layouts. I usually run it between 40 and 50 at train shows, just to stay reliable, and to keep wheel slip to a minimum.

One method would be to pull it downgrade . One could enhance that with a section of track with all the trees and vertical things leaning at the same forward angle in the direction of train travel . Too much would change in image from wow to funny to silly , all the while the train was really easing down hill .

 
Not this one, I've turned this lemon into lemonade. It's been a lot of work, but it's worth it.

[chuck geiger]

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

[Dayliner]

(I assume Canadian roads had a similar rule)

Yes they did--which is why I stayed out of the train room on Christmas Day!   

[Jim Starbuck]

Here’s a short video of the TR2 set I finished a couple of weeks ago.

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Jim

[Cajonpassfan]

I got close to 100 hours of fine tuning, tweaking, and fixing Athearns mistake. The short list? Added weight in a few strategic places. re-quartered all the drivers, reworked the traction tire grooves, and replaced the traction tires, designed a device to keep the tower gears from walking, and disengaging the worm, stripped and re-lubricated the entire mechanism.... There is more, but it got to a point where I stopped keeping track of what I was doing. It was a lot of trial and error.

It's absolute max right now is 60 + a caboose on flat and level, with broad corners, Like the outer main line on N-trak layouts. I usually run it between 40 and 50 at train shows, just to stay reliable, and to keep wheel slip to a minimum.

Well my hat's off to you. I have four of these, and they run well, but the traction tires are a joke, they wear out and break at the drop of a hat. I bought replacement tires from Athearn; they charged me $10 for shipping four traction tires account they are so big and heavy Replacing them is a real PITA, requiring all the rods to come off the main drivers with no guarantee of lasting success. Frustrating...
I'll try adding weight, but fear more weight = more busted TT's.
Thanks, Otto K.

[tehachapifan]

Looks and sounds great, Jim!

[mandealco]

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

A classic movie Chuck.  I remember it from way too long ago.  Also, nice valance.
Cheers
Steve

[craigolio1]

Happy Christmas to all.

Tim--that track section looks even better with the grass tufts added--outstanding work (and this is something that's going inside your wall!).

Craig--those levelling gizmos are ingenious!

I've moved topside with my Lake Cowichan project--the first three turnouts are installed, as is the track along the back.  This is a connection to the CN's Cowichan sub--not strictly prototypical, but based on a late 1970s proposald

@Dayliner  ,   Tell me more about this proposal in the 70’s. Any idea where the interchange would have occurred? There wasn’t anywhere near Lake Cowichan where the two lines met at grade, I don’t think anyway.

[PiperguyUMD]

Visiting family in PA so not a lot of physical work taking place on the modules. I did take today to make a run to Mainline Hobbies and to do a recon mission in Western Maryland 

[cv_acr]

If you're working on the railroad, remember Rule G!

(I assume Canadian roads had a similar rule)

It's even the same number/designation in the old Canadian UCOR.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

This year's holiday has been very low key, but it did afford me the opportunity to get out and do some research in York.

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But the most exciting photo I took, a good example of how to handle 83 on the backdrop.
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[Dayliner]

@Dayliner  ,   Tell me more about this proposal in the 70’s. Any idea where the interchange would have occurred? There wasn’t anywhere near Lake Cowichan where the two lines met at grade, I don’t think anyway.

By the mid-1970's there was little traffic left on the CN Cowichan sub, apart from the terminal traffic around Victoria.  There was a proposal for the E&N to take over what little business remained (mainly the BCFP mill at Youbou), and to accomplish this, it would have been necessary to build a connection between the E&N and the CNR somewhere in the Cowichan Valley.

R.A. Fisk & Associates and Thurber Consultants Ltd were retained to study the options for connecting the two railways, and the report, "Tidewater and Cowichan Subdivisions Abandonment Study", was submitted in June 1979.  Somewhere I have a copy of the report, but all I have to hand at the moment are my summary notes.  Four possible connections were proposed: (1) Koksilah (behind Top Shelf Feeds), m 38.5 E&N Victoria sub to m 4.1 CN Tidewater sub, 0.6 miles; (2) Chanlog, m 13.2 E&N Lake Cowichan sub to m 70.1 CN Cowichan sub, 1.9 miles; (3) Kwassin Lake Rd, m 15.2 E&N Lake Cowichan sub to m 71.9 CN Cowichan sub, 1.4 miles including a bridge across the Cowichan River; and (4) Lake Cowichan, m 17.7 E&N Lake Cowichan sub to m 73.6 CN Cowichan sub, 0.5 miles including trestle across Lake Cowichan.  One of the problems in making such a connection was that at the two places where the lines were adjacent (Koksilah and Lake Cowichan), there was a grade separation between them.  The Lake Cowichan connection would have left the E&N alignment just east of the station, passing under the CN (or more likely, through the site of the former embankment), cross the river/lake (not sure which it really is at that point) on a new trestle, and picked up the CN alignment on the north shore (I assume).

If I remember correctly, the Lake Cowichan option was one of the more expensive even though it was of the shortest length, probably due to the trestlework required, but probably would have been the preferred option if the project had gone ahead, because it would have minimized the amount of duplicate trackage.

On my layout, I have assumed that option (4) was chosen, but that CN continued to serve the Youbou mill via trackage rights from Victoria.  This gives me another job on the layout, and a chance to run Rapido's GMD1s.  I have designated the connecting switch at m 17.7 as the new "Lake Cowichan" , where CN trains to Youbou will diverge.  No room, sadly, for trestle or E&N station building, but at least the track schematic is right.

[Spruslayer]

After running out of patience waiting for ESU to release the Loksound Kato wide body decoder i decided to put a Nano and 2 Soundtrax Mini Cube 3 speakers in my Kato E5 Silver Streak Zephyr.Upon discovering how little room there is for anything but the factory board some major surgery was needed.I will mount the 2 speakers in the bottom inside the fuel tank.I hopeing after removing the metel for the decoder and the speakers i wont have any traction or derailment issues,i dont think i will as this was a very heavy loco and it will be pulling only the five cars that came in the set
In other devolopments we find Hilda and her best friend walking the rails after picking some wild raspberrys.