Superior & Seattle Railroad Build (Volume 3) Started 7/27/19

[S&S RR]

Hey John:

It still looks great.

Karl

Karl


Thank you, my friend.

[S&S RR]

A short story:  Dedicated to Tom and the Judge. 




For those that follow both Tom's and my build threads we have had a few issues with chasing shorts in our layouts from time to time. So my Granddaughter is now two years old and the rule on the S&S RR is you can start running trains when you are two. She has been watching her two older brothers and she knew what to do with the throttle and that she need to touch the lights to make the turnouts work. She really liked making the lights on the control panels turn colors so she threw a number of turnouts while Papa wasn't looking and shorted out one of my power districts, much to my surprise.  I decided to let them run trains on another section of layout and figure out what happened latter.


So after what seemed like hours of testing, I couldn't find the problem. So I turned out the lights in the train room and looked for a spark. This will be the first thing I try the next time I have a short issue.  Here is what I found at the location of the spark.







Here is what the piece of wire looked like when I got it out of the turnout with tweezers.








I think the piece of wire could have been hanging out there for some time and wiggled just right to short the tracks when the turnout was thrown.


Anyway, the reason for the story was when looking for a short - turn out the lights and look for a spark "first".  It worked once.

[S&S RR]

From the pictures it looks like I have a little file work to do on the point of the frog.    I also have some hide it with ballast work to do with some wires.  This was in the Eagles Nest Yard which is the next area of the layout scheduled to be detailed and have the scenery finished.

[jbvb]

I have heard of modelers who run a car with a magnet glued underneath to pick up things like that.  In the days of open-frame permag motors, keeping bits of wire & steel filings out of the works was a big issue.

Regarding the switchpoint, a little tweak with needlenose to close the gap would help too.

[S&S RR]

I have heard of modelers who run a car with a magnet glued underneath to pick up things like that.  In the days of open-frame permag motors, keeping bits of wire & steel filings out of the works was a big issue.

Regarding the switchpoint, a little tweak with needlenose to close the gap would help too.

James


Yes, I agree,  the repair will require a little tweak with the needle nose pliers - it looks like it got bumped with something.


As for the magnet car it would help with this piece of wire, I have no idea where it came from, but I have a lot of copper wire pieces flying around the layout room which require a good vacuuming of the track work after a work session. Layout maintenance is just a fact of life. 

[postalkarl]

Hey John:

You are quite welcome. Keep the pic flowing.

Karl

[S&S RR]

Update: There is activity on all my workbenches right now.  The Sayles Mill build, the Brownsville Depot build, and the finish work on the Tucker & Cook build. I will be taking progress pictures again this week.  I'm also starting the finish scenery work in the Eagles Nest Yard. I'm rotating between the jobs - working on one until it's time to let the glue dry - and then moving on to the next job. This is the way I like to work but it keeps each individual build on the workbench a lot longer. I keep coming back to this mode of operation every time I try something new, so it must be what works for me. I will get the camera out in the next couple of days. Thank you for following along.

[S&S RR]

Here is what's going on with the Tucker & Cook build. Just getting started with the detailing - do you notice anything different?

[Keep It Rusty]

Wow.


That weathering is really tying it together now.

[tom.boyd.125]

John,
Looks like those parked steam engines in your terminal toned down everything...
Tommy

[ACL1504]

John,

The photo above is wonderful. Lots of steam soot!

Tom 

[S&S RR]

Wow.


That weathering is really tying it together now.

Craig


I'm trying to make it all look like it's part of a working railroad in the late 1940's.  Most of the models you see, coaling towers look like a coaling tower that has been in the sun and rain for 60 years without seeing any coal.  Do you think I'm getting it right?

[S&S RR]

John,
Looks like those parked steam engines in your terminal toned down everything...
Tommy

Yup - I hope I'm getting it right. Any suggestions?

[S&S RR]

John,

The photo above is wonderful. Lots of steam soot!

Tom 

Tom


I'm going for the working railroad look, rather than the abandoned for 60 years look - I hope I'm getting it right.


My only real experience is riding behind steam locomotives and having my wife say I look like I worked in a coal mine, at the end of the day.  As a number of members commented, the crew quarters right next to the coaling tower was not going to have a clean paint job.

[Keep It Rusty]

Do you think I'm getting it right?

I definitely think so.

As you say, it's all in the details, so once you've added all the people, scenery, trash piles, mini scenes etc... there will be no denying it's a working 1940's coal yard.