Years ago I came across a quote from John Armstrong on why he used stud contact on certain parts of the layout. My memory says it was to enable two locos to operate independently on the same stretch of track for some switching purposes ( pre DCC) but I could be mistaken. Can't find it in any of the reference material I have. Anyone remember it and can point me to the source material?
cheers
BobC
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John used stud rail on a short largely hidden mine branch. In that way he could run it independent of trains on the outside 3rd rail main line. The branch line locomotives were a coupled pair of Atlas-Roco 3 axel MDT switchers. In addition to stud rail (brads down the track centerline) the mine branch featured a hidden vertical switch so that cuts of loaded and empty ore cars could be exchanged with stub ended staging tracks on different levels. If there was a published article on this innovative operation it would likely have been in MR as to the best of my knowledge his many books and articles were all in Kalmbach publications. You might want to try a search on their site.
@Keystoned Ed posted:John used stud rail on a short largely hidden mine branch. In that way he could run it independent of trains on the outside 3rd rail main line. The branch line locomotives were a coupled pair of Atlas-Roco 3 axel MDT switchers. In addition to stud rail (brads down the track centerline) the mine branch featured a hidden vertical switch so that cuts of loaded and empty ore cars could be exchanged with stub ended staging tracks on different levels. If there was a published article on this innovative operation it would likely have been in MR as to the best of my knowledge his many books and articles were all in Kalmbach publications. You might want to try a search on their site.
Or the N.M.R.A. magazine article index.
The July 1996 issue of Model Railroader covers Armstrong's addition of the ore operation, but doesn't cover the process of adding the stud contacts or locomotive modifications.
It does cover the "vertical turnout," though.
Rusty
Thanks guys, I have the AK video and the 71 and 96 MR articles still in my possession but many other mags have gone to recycling over the years. The source of the info might just have to remain a mystery. It may well have been in a magazine I had on loan too.
thanks
BobC
The definitive stud rail was done right here on OGR. The guy did beautiful work, then discovered it was way cheaper and easier to go 2-rail. All of the above will be cured soon with battery/RC. All of the difficult work has been done for some time; we await only Lionel to discover it.
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