What did you do on your layout today?

Working on my outside 3rd rail again..

A little paint and it will almost disappear!

I received an order for my MTH Chessie SD35 in July which is rated as 042 curves. I unboxed the new engine and discovered the engine had major difficulties in operating and running my track and curves.  

Derailing on a minor curve and I apologize for not knowing the diameter. The leading trucks would not make the curve and repeatedly derailed.
After several weeks I decided to make adjustments to the outside rail height and after several hours of testing decided this idea was not working.

Late last night I decided to lubricate the axles, gears, as well as connection where the truck attached to the frame.  I moved the track back to its original state.
I let the lubricants set and work overnight.
Today I tested the SD35 and the engine trucks successfully navigated the rails without derailing.  My newly purchased SD70 was derailing on the same curve as the SD35.   So I lubricated the SD70 as well in the same manner as the SD35.

My conclusion is that the manufacturers are not lubricating the newly made to order operating moving parts such as the gears and axels.  I find the operating manuals include lubrication of the newly purchased engines, but I failed to adhere to their recommendations and this has caused me lots of problems, time, and energy.  

@Seth Thomas posted:

I received an order for my MTH Chessie SD35 in July which is rated as 042 curves. I unboxed the new engine and discovered the engine had major difficulties in operating and running my track and curves.  

Derailing on a minor curve and I apologize for not knowing the diameter. The leading trucks would not make the curve and repeatedly derailed.
After several weeks I decided to make adjustments to the outside rail height and after several hours of testing decided this idea was not working.

Late last night I decided to lubricate the axles, gears, as well as connection where the truck attached to the frame.  I moved the track back to its original state.
I let the lubricants set and work overnight.
Today I tested the SD35 and the engine trucks successfully navigated the rails without derailing.  My newly purchased SD70 was derailing on the same curve as the SD35.   So I lubricated the SD70 as well in the same manner as the SD35.

My conclusion is that the manufacturers are not lubricating the newly made to order operating moving parts such as the gears and axels.  I find the operating manuals include lubrication of the newly purchased engines, but I failed to adhere to their recommendations and this has caused me lots of problems, time, and energy.  

I would have thought the engines would be lubricated including gearbox and test run at the factory, but learned this isn’t always so.  The manual says to lube before running, and I put light oil everywhere it is recommended.  Some of mine are used, but new in box; that is old but sat quite a while but not run.  

Your coke ovens look great!!

Most of my new MTH purchases come with a note saying the wheel bearings should be lubricated before running. I'll usually put them on the track to make sure they operate and then back into the box until the layout is ready to run trains again.

Its much too easy to just read posts and forget to post what's happening here on Twin Pines Rail Road.

As usual, too many balls in the air to focus on getting things done. I have not been super happy with one corner so after months of thought about the entire layout, the idea to add a removable backdrop popped into existence. Here it is partially complete.  The section is 9 inches deep 54 long and 7 feet high from the floor.  I may need to be able to increase access to the storage behind the panel from the current 24 inch width, hence the movable spec. Frame is 1x3s screwed together.  2 eye hooks "lock" the section into place.

Here is an image of the stone "drywall" wall I was working on several weeks ago. Multiple washes brought the stone to an old weathered look. The 10 foot section looks pretty good - IMO - its a nice technique for creating these type of structures.

The previous TPRR was in a tight space bounded by 3 walls. I found I really liked the illusion of having a back behind all the rails. Note: The 90 degree corner is the where the line of sky changes from grey to white. But the seam is 9 inches to the right. I will add heavy card stock to form a curved corner to better hide the transition.

@Seth Thomas posted:

I received an order for my MTH Chessie SD35 in July which is rated as 042 curves. I unboxed the new engine and discovered the engine had major difficulties in operating and running my track and curves.  

Derailing on a minor curve and I apologize for not knowing the diameter. The leading trucks would not make the curve and repeatedly derailed.
After several weeks I decided to make adjustments to the outside rail height and after several hours of testing decided this idea was not working.

Late last night I decided to lubricate the axles, gears, as well as connection where the truck attached to the frame.  I moved the track back to its original state.
I let the lubricants set and work overnight.
Today I tested the SD35 and the engine trucks successfully navigated the rails without derailing.  My newly purchased SD70 was derailing on the same curve as the SD35.   So I lubricated the SD70 as well in the same manner as the SD35.

My conclusion is that the manufacturers are not lubricating the newly made to order operating moving parts such as the gears and axels.  I find the operating manuals include lubrication of the newly purchased engines, but I failed to adhere to their recommendations and this has caused me lots of problems, time, and energy.  

@ScoutingDad posted:

Most of my new MTH purchases come with a note saying the wheel bearings should be lubricated before running. I'll usually put them on the track to make sure they operate and then back into the box until the layout is ready to run trains again.

Being on occasion , somewhat anal retentive , I usually begin preping a locomotive by fine sanding areas that are in contact with each other for movement , lubricating the areas and when necessary I install a spring with more tension. Finally I make some decent run time maybe about an hour or so before looking for other issues.

If some locomotives ( usually steamers ) continue to have some issues I will experiment with some track ' outside ' shimming as suggested one time by RSJB18 ( Bob ) on problem curves.

Good luck.                                                                                           Godspeed all.  

@Dallas Joseph posted:

Being on occasion , somewhat anal retentive , I usually begin preping a locomotive by fine sanding areas that are in contact with each other for movement , lubricating the areas and when necessary I install a spring with more tension. Finally I make some decent run time maybe about an hour or so before looking for other issues.

If some locomotives ( usually steamers ) continue to have some issues I will experiment with some track ' outside ' shimming as suggested one time by RSJB18 ( Bob ) on problem curves.

Good luck.                                                                                           Godspeed all.  

Also known as super-elevation........

@RSJB18 posted:

Also known as super-elevation........

Sorry.....not familiar with the tech terminology Prof. Bob.

Thank you sir.

@Dallas Joseph posted:

Sorry.....not familiar with the tech terminology Prof. Bob.

Thank you sir.

I'm just impressed that you recalled that I had posted about it.....it's been a while since I fixed my upper level. It was March of '22.

I'm pleased to announce that the Razorback Traction Co.  layout has had months of accumulated junk removed and is back in action, with some prewar varnish on the main line...    

Also pleased that my trusty DSLR still works after a nearly three month hiatus... 

Mitch

Little more done. Got the third rail up on both lines.

Dennis, that track looks terrific.

Morning guys looks like its going to be a little cooler weekend so I might get a little chance to get in the train room and get a wall framed up before I have to move things around!

@Dennis Holler Dennis that is just some Amazing track work! It must really get interesting when it comes to switches!

@Seth Thomas Seth so sorry you had to go through all that to find the problem, but I am also glad you were able to fix it! Nice little run!

@ScoutingDad Jeff the backdrop looks good, once you get the cardstock up you wont even be able to tell the difference in the corner! I really think your sheetrock brick wall turned out great!

@M. Mitchell Marmel Mitch sure is nice that you are able to get back to your trains and that everything seems to be moving again! Also welcome back!

Well guys the weekend it coming up and I know some of you will be going camping or something like that for the last big weekend of the summer. For those of us staying at home I hope you all find time to have fun with your layouts and trains!

Hi again fellas.   Another rainy day up here so I decided I’d take a break from scenery work and take some time and make some new molds of a car side that I’ve been working on.  
The finished model will represent one of the CPR “Kettle Valley “ baggage cars.   By making a rubber mold of the “wood” original,  I can cast in plastic resin as many copies as I’d like.  The two side pieces will be joined together to form one 70 foot car side.  The wood roof and floors are drying in rubber as we type.   These cars were very popular during the steam and early diesel era right through to the 1960’s.  Because the original wood sides were quite thin when the rubber mold was made , they don't require as much casting plastic, but when dry they are very solid pieces.  I kept a few older molds handy that I’ve made in the past of truck bolsters, barrels and various other details I can spread across the layout  to pour in the excess left over plastic before it hardens.  If I ran out of mixed resin for a pour and only a partial piece is started, this product allows a second pour to attach itself to the first dry pour with no “seams “.
My fleet of CPR wooden caboose’s are done in the identical process.   Here’s a couple photos of the “rough “ castings before trimming.  
.  

@mike g. posted:

@Dennis Holler Dennis that is just some Amazing track work! It must really get interesting when it comes to switches!

Thanks Mike, I have a couple that are mostly done, the chore is gonna be if I break down and set them up to be capable of either or 2 rail and outside third rail. I think I can do it will have to isolate the frog and stuff so it will be an experiment as usual!

@Dennis Holler posted:

Thanks Mike, I have a couple that are mostly done, the chore is gonna be if I break down and set them up to be capable of either or 2 rail and outside third rail. I think I can do it will have to isolate the frog and stuff so it will be an experiment as usual!

Thanks Dennis, I know it would be to much for me, but I sure am going to keep watching as your work just amazes me!

@mike g. posted:

Thanks Dennis, I know it would be to much for me, but I sure am going to keep watching as your work just amazes me!

You are too kind!!

Denis, Woah, nice work on the 3rd rail! What size rail  is your  third rail?
I also used rail joiners for my catenary with code 100 rail inverted.
nice to see these outside rail locos have a layout to run! Strong work there Denis!

@Leroof posted:

Denis, Woah, nice work on the 3rd rail! What size rail  is your  third rail?
I also used rail joiners for my catenary with code 100 rail inverted.
nice to see these outside rail locos have a layout to run! Strong work there Denis!

I also used code 100  ns rail for the 3rd rail and American Flyer S rail for the running rails. Fun fun fun

Not quite the layout itself, but the layout room.  These are the new shelves I've installed (another set going in later this weekend).  I completely filled up the train racks on the other three walls with prewar and post war and still have a lot of modern to put up.

The outside wall of the basement was lined with the plastic shelving from Home Depot but I felt I could use the top shelf for display.  I didn't want to just put several rows where nothing could be seen so i searched for something with stacked shelfs.  I found these in an online search and then found that they were available for order from Home Depot at a fairly reasonable price.

I laid plywood on top of the plastic shelves since they are a little warped and I wanted a level surface.  The shelves are three rows and lighted.  They are sold as shelves to store liquor bottles in a bar.  The top two rows are 4 inches apart.  The bottom row is only two inches high so I put 2x4s on top of the plywood to raise the height of the first shelf.  This let me add a row directly onto the plywood surface (covered in black contact paper) so I have four elevated rows, each about 4 inches high.  To keep the trains from rolling or sliding off, I laid down track on the shelves, although the track isn't screwed down it seems to hold in place well.

The shelves come in 30, 40, and 60 inch lengths so I used 2 60s, a 30, and a 40 to make up the 16 feet in each section of the basement.

I'm still playing with the lighting but so far I think the violet works best to enhance the black of the steam engines.

The next set of shelves at the other end of the basement will be to display the modern diesels in my collection.

@lionelflyer those shelves make for a first rate display!  Nice job!

Today my oldest son Ryan cut 7 feet off of my table so it can be relocated to another room. It's truly a train wreck but I'm looking forward to the rebuild.

@Mark Boyce posted:

@lionelflyer those shelves make for a first rate display!  Nice job!

Here's a link to the items at Home Depot.  This is for the 40 inch shelf but they also have 60" and 30" available

https://www.homedepot.com/p/VE...40RFAVHOV1/325863808

@lionelflyer posted:

Here's a link to the items at Home Depot.  This is for the 40 inch shelf but they also have 60" and 30" available

https://www.homedepot.com/p/VE...40RFAVHOV1/325863808

Thank you for the link!

@Dave Ripp. posted:

Today my oldest son Ryan cut 7 feet off of my table so it can be relocated to another room. It's truly a train wreck but I'm looking forward to the rebuild.

oh to have a son who is young and agile to help with such tasks.  What a straight cut he made!  I’ll be watching how the train wreck becomes a great work in progress!

Looks like you guys are hard at it working on your layouts.  Glad to see that.  Not much activity usually happens till the summer season turns away.  Keep at it , the results will pay off in the fun you’ll have running trains around in the future.  Trust me I know the feeling well .   I took a break and ran a few trains around tonight.  Here’s a similar train seen before but in a different scenario.  We view an Eastbound struggling up grade with only one unit loading.  We’re at the East Portal  of the Connaught Tunnel watching the “8720 East “ working hard upgrade.  The  trailing unit , the “8738 “ must have died on the west side of the valley and left the crew rocking back-and-forth in their seats hoping not to stall in the tunnel.   The track will crest within half a mile of our location.  Then the engineer will throttle down from power mode and go into dynamic brake mode finally bringing the train to rest at the crew change location of Golden located a few miles ahead.  The out going crew will be delayed leaving till some relief power can be dropped off  before they can carry on eastward.   Oh the joys of railroading !   ( Due to the trains slow speed,  I’ve only included a short clip ).

I have the CP switcher and calf heading off the mountain after hooking up to a stranded passenger car.

Really liking your video Myles .    Fantastic scenery sir.       I certainly can see why you can't wait to get back to running the trains.

Thank you for sharing .

@myles posted:

Thanks Dallas Joseph, glad you enjoyed the clip.   I like to have fun and set the scene and mode for the location pictures.
   Great to see the “ cow calf “ lash up.  I’m behind in product variety and availability and didn’t realize there was a pair produced.   I noticed the mine structure behind the locos.  Looks fantastic !  I love the natural weathered appearance.  Is this a kit production and still available ?  Sometimes we spot interesting pieces like locos, rolling stock or structures in photos only to discover they’ve been sold out or out of production for several years.  
   Keep up the great work !

Little more done. Painted third rail and fitting the big section up so I can start one the next one.

Made forward progress with the north-side upper turnaround loop. The track crew grumbled a little bit about having to work on Labor Day but liked the O.T. pay !
Rich in WV

Going to have to figure out signaling as well. Love these old Walthers signals!!

@trestleking posted:

Made forward progress with the north-side upper turnaround loop. The track crew grumbled a little bit about having to work on Labor Day but liked the O.T. pay !
Rich in WV

Very cool!

@trestleking posted:

Made forward progress with the north-side upper turnaround loop. The track crew grumbled a little bit about having to work on Labor Day but liked the O.T. pay !
Rich in WV

Looks great, Rich!

@Dennis Holler posted:

Going to have to figure out signaling as well. Love these old Walthers signals!!

The track looks great Dennis!

@myles posted:

Thanks Dallas Joseph, glad you enjoyed the clip.   I like to have fun and set the scene and mode for the location pictures.
   Great to see the “ cow calf “ lash up.  I’m behind in product variety and availability and didn’t realize there was a pair produced.   I noticed the mine structure behind the locos.  Looks fantastic !  I love the natural weathered appearance.  Is this a kit production and still available ?  Sometimes we spot interesting pieces like locos, rolling stock or structures in photos only to discover they’ve been sold out or out of production for several years.  
   Keep up the great work !

Hey Myles                                                                                         the ' cow ' is an MTH ps2 model # 30-2812-1.  The calf was not actually part of the two but quite some time later I found it used on the bay.

Sorry that I dont have any number or official commpany name for the mine structure.  The mine structure was a gift long ago.   No idea any helpful info except that it was a wooden stick built kit.  I've looked on ebay for wood kits but I couldn't find this one on the many offerings available there.

   I remember that I  had changed it from the instruction sheet from an L shape to a straight front to satisfy the only room I had in that area.  Also gave it a little more height.

@Mark Boyce posted:

The track looks great Dennis!

Thank you Mark!

@Dennis Holler- The track and 3rd rail look great. I like the nails, worked like a charm. Can't wait to see the next section.

@trestleking- Looks good Rich. Although I can't call layout work "work".....

@myles- Great story and run by. If I could make one suggestion, please turn your phone 90 degrees and take videos in horizontal format.
Just ask Rich.

As for me, I cleaned a section of track on the front of the layout. A couple sidings that don't see much more than a engine or car backing in. Engines kept stalling.... To say that there was some serious mud coming off the scotchbrite pad would be an understatement.
Organized the bench and put all the ERR parts away, sorted the Lionel and MTH parts that were floating around too.

Bob

Today I was working on getting the 2 sections 13 feet & 7 feet moved to the other side of the basement. With all the stuff to move switching sides even with the table on wheels presented a challenge. The 7-foot cut off had to be moved after the 13 foot & wouldn't fit between a post and the other layout. For the new design it needed to go around and behind it. After an hour 1/2 of failed twists and turns I gave up and cut off the bump out on the 7-foot section. I was the finally ready to spin the other table to the front when I had a small catastrophe. Because I was in a bind for space when switching rooms, I put all my engines under one side of the table. Whie moving it, a wheel got caught on a little debris from my deconstruction of the other piece and I pushed too hard and collapsed the base. I didn't think it was possible, but lesson learned. My son Ryan is going to pick up some 2x6's and we're going to jack it up and build an unbreakable base.

@Dave Ripp. posted:

Today I was working on getting the 2 sections 13 feet & 7 feet moved to the other side of the basement. With all the stuff to move switching sides even with the table on wheels presented a challenge. The 7-foot cut off had to be moved after the 13 foot & wouldn't fit between a post and the other layout. For the new design it needed to go around and behind it. After an hour 1/2 of failed twists and turns I gave up and cut off the bump out on the 7-foot section. I was the finally ready to spin the other table to the front when I had a small catastrophe. Because I was in a bind for space when switching rooms, I put all my engines under one side of the table. Whie moving it, a wheel got caught on a little debris from my deconstruction of the other piece and I pushed too hard and collapsed the base. I didn't think it was possible, but lesson learned. My son Ryan is going to pick up some 2x6's and we're going to jack it up and build an unbreakable base.

At least they are all in boxes Dave. Could have been worse. Good luck with the rest of the move/ reorg.

Bob

Dave, quite an ordeal.  I’m glad you had the foresight to box up all the engines