The Atlantic and Southern Build Thread Continued, Part 3

[Bruce Oberleitner]

Thanks Tom. 
I am looking at doing some new sections of railroad after I recover from some nagging illnesses.  Your roads look amazing and simple to build and I want to give them a try.  My problem is that in Boise ID sometimes finding RR supplies can be a challenge when your best hobby store for RR stuff is Micheals.

Hopefully their will be some details coming soon on my evil projects in the works.  I have two on the bench that I am trying to wrap up for next month's NMRA modeling contest here in Boise.  I plan on posting threads on these projects after the contest.  Add oddly, one is in O scale!

Cousin Brucie,

I know you've been having some heath issues and I wish there was something I could do to help other than offer Diet Pepsi's.

Our local hobby shop is dropping a few lines of products. They say the companies are closing the doors and it is hard for them to keep stuff in stock when they can't get what they need. Of course, this trickles down to the consumer as well.

I'm relying more and more on the internet for stuff although I know it doesn't help the local hobby shop. I have to get what I need no matter where.

I'll be starting the roads in a few days.

Tom

Thank you Tom,
Diet Pepsi and prayers are always cheerfully accept around here!  I've been trying to get to the modeling bench each day for a little help in coping with everything that's come my way this year. Right now the big problem is finding a set of meds that work and don't give me major side effects.  When they find the right bunch, I think things will get a lot better.  In the mean time I have outlined a bunch of RR projects to work on so it should keep me busy for a while.  Some might even show up in Salt Lake for the NMRA National convention next year if all goes according to plan.

[Erieman]

On the outside track I used Arizona Rock ballast. I used it here, on the island area, but experienced an issue with the ballast "floating" after the matte medium/glue was applied.

I didn't experience this at all with the rest of the layout. Here is what I'm referring to. You can see the ballast has floated and dried on the ties and up against the rails.

Not to bad in the next two photos.







More in a few.

Tom,


That is very interesting. I have not seen that happen with any of Arizona rock ballast, that is why i recommended it to you. Any thoughts? Could the Matte Medium / glue mix have somehow gone bad. I am just guessing, but would be glad to contact them and ask them your their thoughts. Let me know. Do you still have a lot of their ballast left?


Frank / Erieman

[ACL1504]

Thank you Tom,
Diet Pepsi and prayers are always cheerfully accept around here!  I've been trying to get to the modeling bench each day for a little help in coping with everything that's come my way this year. Right now the big problem is finding a set of meds that work and don't give me major side effects.  When they find the right bunch, I think things will get a lot better.  In the mean time I have outlined a bunch of RR projects to work on so it should keep me busy for a while.  Some might even show up in Salt Lake for the NMRA National convention next year if all goes according to plan.

Bruce,

Not a problem. Getting the meds correct is the best place to start. I really hate taking any kind of meds as the side effects are more scary than the reason to be taking them in the first place.

In the mean time I'll continue to take my daily dose of Diet Pepsi!


Tom

[ACL1504]

On the outside track I used Arizona Rock ballast. I used it here, on the island area, but experienced an issue with the ballast "floating" after the matte medium/glue was applied.

I didn't experience this at all with the rest of the layout. Here is what I'm referring to. You can see the ballast has floated and dried on the ties and up against the rails.

Not to bad in the next two photos.







More in a few.

Tom,


That is very interesting. I have not seen that happen with any of Arizona rock ballast, that is why i recommended it to you. Any thoughts? Could the Matte Medium / glue mix have somehow gone bad. I am just guessing, but would be glad to contact them and ask them your their thoughts. Let me know. Do you still have a lot of their ballast left?


Frank / Erieman

Frank,

Thanks for checking in on the thread. You've heard the expression. "It isn't the bow and arrow, but the indian." Well, I think it was how I applied the glue.

I realized after the post I used a large pipette to apply the matte medium. The pressure of squirting the medium on the ballast pushed it up over the ties and against the rails.

On the other ballast, meaning the ballast on the rest of the second level, I used a spray bottle to add the medium.

Tom

[jrmueller]

Good afternoon. Home from pt session cardiologist this afternoon maybe some bench time. I am trying to finish up multiple small buildings. Have a good rest of the day. Jim

[ReadingBob]

This past weekend I had the opportunity to show off/run my new Atlas, Central New Jersey, Alco HH660 on the center aisle of the A&S.  In the process it uncovered a couple of places where feeder wires need to attached to some short sections of track.  It just now occurred to me that it's likely these never showed up for Tom and the Judge prior to this because most of their engines are equipped with the "Stay Alive" type decoders so they would have plenty of power to waltz right over any dead sections of track.  The Atlas loco doesn't have that so it's good for detecting spots which might be dead when the switches aren't aligned properly.    

[ACL1504]

Good afternoon. Home from pt session cardiologist this afternoon maybe some bench time. I am trying to finish up multiple small buildings. Have a good rest of the day. Jim

Jim,

Hope all is well after the Cardiologist visit. Was it just routine or something else?

Tom

[ACL1504]

This past weekend I had the opportunity to show off/run my new Atlas, Central New Jersey, Alco HH660 on the center aisle of the A&S.  In the process it uncovered a couple of places where feeder wires need to attached to some short sections of track.  It just now occurred to me that it's likely these never showed up for Tom and the Judge prior to this because most of their engines are equipped with the "Stay Alive" type decoders so they would have plenty of power to waltz right over any dead sections of track.  The Atlas loco doesn't have that so it's good for detecting spots which might be dead when the switches aren't aligned properly.   

Bob,

That little switcher was nice. Ran well also. Just so you know all the feeders have been added where needed.

You are probably correct in that the WOW decoders and keep alives covered the problem of the three inch dead zone between the turnouts.

Tom

[ACL1504]

As Bob mentioned, we found some dead zones in the turntable roundhouse area. All of the locomotives operating on the A&S RR have TCS WOW sound installed. Each of these also have the KA, keep alive capacitor.

So, the A&S RR never had a loco stall. That is until a leased CNJ Alco came to visit. The Alco has DCC but not the KA feature.

I also discovered I was inadvertently cutting power to the reverse loop via one of the PECO turnouts.

The reverse loop around and behind the turntable roundhouse area has one PECO turnout in the reverse loop. My PECO turnouts are also power routed turnouts. Meaning when the turnout is thrown one way, it cuts power the other way or route.

Referring to the photo below, the turnout is the one that controls the sand pit track. When the turnout is thrown for the sand pit siding, the reverse loop power is totally lost.



To correct this issue, a set of track feeders were soldered to the north end of the turnout. Problem solved.

More in a few.

[ACL1504]

Another area was the very short length of track between the turnouts controlling the two out bound turntable tracks and the track leaving the reverse loop.

In the photo below, the length between the two ballasted turnouts has no power if either one to them is thrown to a diverging route.



All the track here was weathered and ballasted. I used a Dremel round brush on the cordless drill to remove the paint from the rail. Once soldered, the solder and rail was repainted and weathered.

[PRR Modeler]

Great to see you posting on this thread again Tom.

[GPdemayo]

Hey Tom.....wasn't Bobs' new loco a hoot.....the diesel made a bunch of fun noise. 

[BandOGuy]

Hey Tom.....wasn't Bobs' new loco a hoot.....the diesel made a bunch of fun noise. 

Yeah, but how FAST was it?

[GPdemayo]

Hey Tom.....wasn't Bobs' new loco a hoot.....the diesel made a bunch of fun noise. 

Yeah, but how FAST was it?

Really sloooooooowwwww! 

[ACL1504]

Great to see you posting on this thread again Tom.

Curt,

Nice to be back. The Jenson kit bash is taking longer than I planned. Still having lots of fun though.

Tom