After the cold

I have my cold weather issues finally taken care of. Since some of them were in Orrington I took that down time to make the changes that I have been wanting to do. There is now a cross over to help running around the train. Most trains stopping here will not have to switch on the main.

I made the storage track stub ended and moved some turnouts so you don't have to move boxcars to get to the other end of the plant.

And classy new laser etched control panel. Thanks to Bill Raymond for the help.

Chuck

Cold weather issues



The weekend session in the cold weather proved to be a challenge. The cold weather caused a bit of damage that was not found in time. We were able to work our way through the session, but as an owner a bit stressful.

There were issues in Rigby, Brunswick, Orrington and the helix to Saint Albans. The Brunswick and Rigby issues are fixed. Orringtone issues are cobbled together, but I figured that I already had changes to the track plan in mind, so time to fix it. Parts on order.

The helix will be tougher. It will either have to be removed to be fixed or come up with a new idea. Trying to figure that out now.

Remember……Model Railroading is fun.

Trials and Tribulations

I'm getting laser cut control panels for all of my panels. One of my operators has a laser cutting machine and is willing to do the job. I sent him three files. Two for new panels and 1 as a redo because things have changed. Of course last minute after sending the files I discovered that my CAD drawings for the holes I cut before were wrong. I always cut them the right size but they would be wrong for a laser machine. 

Then I decide to get the one panel for Rigby ready with everything up to the door of the panel. So all day yesterday I made cables and ran wires into the panel itself. It should be ready when I get that panel back.

This morning I turned on the layout and could tell right away there was a problem. Turned everything off and started looking around and to make a long story short my voltage regulator was putting out double voltage and fried one of my I/O boards. This happened once before so I already had a spare voltage regulator. The last time I had two fried boards. For some reason it always gets the closet one two the power supply. Got everything changed out and all is fine again.

Since I was already under the layout I took some time to shorten all of the lengthy wires in Bath and Brunswick North. Bath was completed, but when I got to Brunswick the first Tortoise wire I shorten had a problem. The person that done it originally crossed there of the eight wires. I had to find the right TSM and remove it to straighten them up on the tortoise end. Luckily it was the closest to the aisle.

Needless to say I spent way more time working than I thought I would have liked to.

Yes I sometimes work on the railroad

The yardmasters and dispatcher should be happier now. I connected the yard lead on the north side of Brunswick to the mainline. I also added signals and an extra block. I'm sure I will have to modify another block to get it as correct as I can. It meant re-wiring the yard lead and turntable track to be on the right block. Now there is an extra escape/approach if needed.

This wasn't my first choice of options, but it was the easiest.

Scenery coming for the loop

The loop over Rigby is now covered. It will be either a small town or a farm.

Rigby Work

With some help from Kenny Mann, I got 10 of 11 tortoises installed in Rigby. Most of them has been tested. Some minor adjustments will be needed but I'm close to getting this done.

Upper Fascia complete

About 85' of fascia installed on the upper level. This makes the upper level fascia complete. I also got a lot of plaster down in the single loop above Rigby.