Cisco Bridges: a new layout concept

[Bendtracker1]

Looks awesome Scott!
I've been following along and it's great to see the bridge come alive with traffic.

[Baronjutter]

I know what you mean about destroying railings.  I've managed to destroy every last bridge railing on my entire layout while I work on it.  Going to hold off putting on new ones until I'm a lot more done on the heavy scenery work.

[Scottl]

Thanks everyone. 

I'll leave the details off for now.  The etched handrails bend if you even look at them funny, so they remain on the fret and squirreled away, along with the suspended walkways. 

My package of code 40 rail arrived so I can now do the guard rail on the bridge.  I also still have one pesky derailment point that needs some experimentation- in the middle of a piece of flex track. 

[Smike]

Even unfinished, this is very hawt.   

DFF

Yup, and when finished the only question will be which magazing cover is this going on?

[davefoxx]

Scott,

I recently had the same problem with a new piece of Atlas Code 55 flextrack.  Make sure that the rail is seated in the spikes correctly.  In my case, it was like a 2" or 3" spot of the "loose" rail was rolled out of the spikes tightening the gauge.  A little pressure straight down snapped it right back into place without spike damage.  If this is not the source of your problem, check the gauge and also look for flash against the inside of the rails.

Hope this helps,
DFF

[Scottl]

Thanks for the suggestion Dave.  I had not thought of that, and the flex is recycled from the previous iteration of my layout. 

[Scottl]

I checked the track and it is secure in the ties, gauge is fine, and the joints along that stretch are smooth and unkinked. 

The derailment only occurs with the first car of the train and it seems that the track radius tightens up there, perhaps as low as 14-15".  Could it be a curve issue causing the derailment?  It does not seem to happen with trains travelling the opposite direction.

The derailment is occurring with several different locomotives coupled to a Kato Maxi-I loaded with containers.  The tightening of the curvature sends the couplers off to the side quite a bit, but subsequent couplings in the train seem to navigate the curve without any issues.

It would be a bit of a challenge to change this curve, to say the least.  Any suggestions?  Thanks in advance.

[Scottl]

Some more experimenting has left me wondering if the mix of a body mount locomotive and a truck mount coupler on the car are the root of the problem.  I can switch out cars and some derail, some don't. 

[Baronjutter]

I had this exact problem.  Had an 12" radius curve that started with a 15" or so radius easement.  On a few of my loco's the first car would get pulled at the start of the curve as the loco turned but the cars were still going straight, and the body mounted loco coupler would yank the next car off.  The next car happened to be kato double stacks!

There's 2 options to fix this.  The first is to try long-shank couplers for the problem locos, but this means potentially having to long-shank every future loco that has this problem with the curve.  The other option is to add more of an easement to the curve.  I found by reducing the main radius of the curve to 11 or even 10" but using that extra space for a more gentle easement it solved the problem.  I only had to ease the curve up a tiny bit for it to remedy its self, and according to my plans that easement was 15".  You're probably having the exact same problem I am, so just ease up that curve if possible.

Our trains can handle very tight curves,  but it's the transition from straight to curved that can derail them.


PS
Another problem I had was with a single kato double stack unit.  There was a tiny tiny bit of flashing or something on the underside of the car that was adding a tiny bit of extra friction to the trucks when pulled into tighter radius curved.  I filed it down and rubbed the area with a pencil and they ran flawlessly after that. 

[GaryHinshaw]

I too believe it is most likely a coupler/curvature issue, probably related to loco coupler overhang.  Can you take a top down shot of the loco couplers at the spot where you are having problems?  It's likely that they are hanging out quite a bit, while the short (and light) Maxi-I car with it's truck mounted couplers is not.

You might try to make yourself a cheap sweep-stick style of gauge sized to the radius of the main curve in that area, then run it through the offending area to get a better sense of how tight it is.  It can be surprising how easy it is to get a tight curve without noticing it.  (That's why I used templates and sweep sticks for TBC track laying.)

[Scottl]

I think you are right, it is a coupler swing issue.  I grabbed a quick cell shot and you can see how much swing there is.  I think it actually tightens up further.



I will make up some curve templates as Gary suggests and I think I will re-lay this section to increase the radius.  The bridge is a fixed anchor to this curve, so I'll have to take out more of the scenery along the edge of the backdrop to make room for the track.  It will be tight, but I can't have this happening.

[Jeff AKA St0rm]

If you replace the Loco coupler with a MT it will fix your problem. The Kato coupler on the loco is stiffer and because of the high center of gravity on the stack car and lack of weight over the wheels it through the first car off the track. I would try a MT coupler first i am sure it will work fine. I had the same problem and the MT fixed it. Also had a problem with the Kato coal porters had to change the lead truck on the string of cars to MT and it worked as well.

[Scottl]

Thanks that is a good suggestion.  The Kato couplers are not very functional anyway, so this is a good reason to make the change.

I relaid the track tonight and increased the radius of this spot quite a bit.  Hopefully that should solve the problem.

[Scottl]

Not much progress this week.  I fixed the derailment spot by broadening the radius a bit and replacement couplers for the Kato units are in the mail.  Meanwhile, I've been painting and finishing containers to bring my fleet up to more modern standards.  I've made use of some custom decals (thanks Peteski!) and the nice decals from C-rail in the UK.  They are 1:150 but look fine-strangely the 1:160 Microscale Genstar decals seem to large...  So far I have about 16 in various states of decal application, including details like the door hardware.  The paint shop has been busy.

I have brought another train out of storage, this time a sulphur unit train from the gas plants of Alberta and destined for the west coast and steel plants in Japan.  Headed by two zebra cowl units, my fleet of NARC gondola's is great to watch roll by.  In the video the sulphur loads cools their heals as a hot intermodal rolls ahead through Lytton and Cisco bridge enroute to Vancouver.

Thanks for following.

[nscalemike]

I really like how this has come together and looking forward to you making more scenery progress.  Also, like seeing all that CN stuff.  I think I had seen before many of those are a kitbash or kit locos, or are they all off the shelf?

Keep up the good work,
Mike