Head For The Roundhouse Boys, They Can’t Corner You There!

This was an expression that my father would say to me. I’m not sure why. I have looked it up and I don’t know where he got it from but it always stuck with me, especially when building the GTR/CNR roundhouse that was in Owen Sound.

This installment is how the roundhouse is progressing.

The doors were made from Evergreen 1/16” scribed styrene sheet 0.020” thick. 1/16″ is 4 scale inches in S Scale. Evergreen S scale 1 x 8 and 1 x 10 strips were used for the inner bracing.

Of course the door sheathing had to be herring bone pattern. I firmly believe that the railway draftsmen designed them that way to frustrate modelers of the future. That said, I needed to cut the sheets at two opposing 45 degree angles to form the two directions that the boards went. 45 degrees looked about right.

***Styrene Scribed Sheet Cut at a 45 Degree Angle***

Since the doors were to be opened, I needed a front and back, both with herring bone sheathing. That meant for 6 doors, 12 pieces that theoretically would line up correctly both in front and back.

Using a modeler’s square, the door fronts and rears were carefully cut out from the styrene angled sheet. They needed a bit of truing up. Then the angled patterns were lined up for front and rear like a sandwich and were glued together.

***Door Sandwiches Showing Herring Bone Pattern***

The inside bracing was cut from the S Scale strip styrene, 1” x 10” for the outside frame and 1” x 8” for the cross pieces.

***The Inside of the Doors Showing the Bracing***

I wanted the doors to work so I needed to concoct some door hinges. They took a bit of effort and some adjustment in most cases. A friend sent me a photo of an Ontario Northland roundhouse with three different door styles! Luckily one matched the ones on the Owen Sound roundhouse so I based the hinges on that picture. I don’t know if it is a copyright picture but I will not take any chances by publishing it.

I used 1/16” round brass tubing for the shoulders and 1/8” square brass tubing for the brackets. Straight pins which are 0.020” in diameter and can also be soldered were used for the bolts.

First I drilled 0.020” holes in the square tubing close to one edge right through first using a centring drill then a 0.020” drill bit. Then I used my mini table saw to mill away one side of the undrilled square tubing to form a long ‘U’. Next, using my mini chop saw, I cut the square tubing to form little ‘U’ brackets both single and double. Six singles were needed for the outer posts and six doubles were needed for the two inner posts. These effectively made up housings for 18 hinges.

***Drilling out 1/8″ Square Brass Tubing***

I then cut the 1/16” brass tubing into 1/16” lengths that would fit inside the brackets.

***A Tray Showing the Hinge Brackets and Shoulders***

1/16” wide 0.016” strips were used to for the strapping that went across the doors. The 1/16” brass tubing needed to be secured in order to solder the brass strip to it. This was done by placing a pin into the tubing and clamping the shaft of the pin in a vice. The end of the strip was tinned with solder, the tubing had flux put on and a resistance soldering probe provided the heat. I tested the joint and sometimes, I had to add a bit more solder to make the joint stronger.

***Soldering the Strap to the Shoulder***

Here are the hinge components.

The roundhouse was placed on its end and weighed down. The hinges were glued to the posts at the centre and equidistant from the centre using Gorilla brand thick crazy glue. Once dry, one at a time, the doors were glued in place starting with the centre hinge using small clamps. It was a slow process and sometimes meant a do-over of the bracket or repositioning the 1/16” tubing on the strip. The second from the left door had an access door in it and I scribed that in before installing it.

Once the hinges were installed and I was satisfied how they worked, I cut the end of the straight pins off using a side cutter. The ends of the pins had crazy glue dabbed on so they would stay in place. Hopefully over time, the crazy glue will stay in place!

I used Archer HO rivets on the hinge straps because I have not been able to find S scale ones.

The left doors had a piece of 1” x 10” added to the front of their outer sides where they meet the right doors. This formed the lip that covered the opening made between the two doors when closed to keep wind and snow out. When looking carefully at the photos, I noticed in the pictures I studied what appears to be leather flaps at the bottom of the doors that would have covered the rails and ties once the doors were closed to keep the weather out. I decided not to add this feature because I could not figure out a material that would work well enough.

***Archer Rivets Added to Hinge Straps***

I am happy with the results.

Next, I will finish the roof, the chimneys, and small shed attached to the right side.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

The Latest Duality

I have been doing two things at once on the layout, don’t we all? One is the building of a new Owen Sound roundhouse and working on the great rock wall of Wiarton. I am not going to bore you with how but only inform that things are progressing.

The old roundhouse was a partially built kit I bought from eBay. It came from the Building & Structure Co and was based on the Sargents Roundhouse on a Colorado narrow gauge line. Though it would have been long enough if my Pacifics were 100% to scale, it is not by 1/8″. Most model steam locomotives compromise because of the width of the flanges so the wheelbase on mine is longer by 1/8″. If you add the necessary distance between the tender for 38″ radii curves than the length of the Sergants roundhouse is not enough. It was also not tall enough in that the loco smoke stacks would hit the tops of the door openings. I considered modifying the kit but I decided it would be less work if I built another one around the kit using S Scale board and batten purchased from Mount Albert Scale lumber. The result does not have all the really cool interior boards and framing but it is expedient and functional. I don’t know yet whether the stalls retained the maintenance bays underneath the tracks. All major repairs were done in London, Stratford, or Palmerston depending on how difficult they were.

I decided to pin the roundhouse down so it could be removed. I have this thing about everything being removable for some reason. The nails and 0.020″ brass rod do work well and I am glad that I did it.

The roof was made in 0.060″ styrene sheet. Those 4 x 8 sheets I bought of that stuff are the gifts that keep on giving. The roof fits nice and snug. It is removable to facilitate when the inevitable derailment occurs when a loco is placed inside.

The doors have been built (you can see some to the right) but won’t be installed until I build some hinges. Of course I want them working. I have researched around and cannot find hinges that are small or correct enough so I am building all 18 of them from scratch.

The great rock wall of Wiarton is actually a northern part of what is called the Niagara Escarpment. It oversees the town and part of Colpoys bay where a lot of the rail action was in Wiarton. So, since the rail line paralleled it, I have a need to model it. It is only 12 feet long here and will have to be modelled on the backdrop behind Wiarton turntable as well.

I used a lot of rubber moulds that were lent to me by Jim Parker former owner of North York Hobbies. Thanks, Jim. What you see in these pics are the castings which were made from UltraCal 30 which is a tougher version of HydroCal. It is conveniently grey to boot. I tried plaster of Paris first but the medium was too soft and would crack when demoulded. The castings are mounted on Styrofoam sheet using “No More Nails”, industrial strength. The whole thing is attached to the backdrop using Velcro strips. It should be removeable, fingers crossed. The gaps in the rock face will be filled in with stiff UltraCal using a trowel and either moulds applied or a sculptur’s knife used while the material is still wet to blend things in. Most of the 50lb bag has been used. As usual, I am trying to capture the look and feel and not every aspect.

I would love to upload a prototype pic from the 1950’s to illustrate the escarpment but I am worried about copyright even though the pics are readily available on the web.

The next installment will be the DOORS for the roundhouse. I will try to light your fire with that one.

BTW, you might be a rivet counter if you count rivets!

The Last Tracks

Finally, after starting almost nine years ago, I can say that all the track work is completed. This is my first layout of any significance and I am very happy that I have reached this point. It took a lot of false starts, changing scenarios at least six times and changing from HO to S scale before this could be realized. At one point when I was in HO, I was extremely interested in modelling the division point on the CPR in MacTier, Ontario! And those of you who know me well know that I have always been an ardent CNR fan with CPR as just a side interest.

So without further ado, here is what it took to complete the track at Owen Sound.

To be honest, I had some trepidation because another turntable needed to be installed but unlike the one that was put in at Wiarton, this one had a small three stall engine shed with tracks inside.

I started by carefully drawing and redrawing where the centre of the turntable should go based on where the turntable lead was to be laid. Two switches had already been installed; one for the lead and the other for the service track that held the steam crane used to load coal into the tenders and for the hopper cars with coal and GS gondolas that took away the ashes. As you can see it was necessary to redraw a couple of times to get it right. Remember the adage, measure three times, cut once.

I added some bracing under where the turntable was to go and decided to put in the wiring as well so I would not have to crawl under once the turntable was put in. I glued down some foam board the same thickness as the cork roadbed to change how much styrene sheet I needed for the top of the turntable bridge. I used some photo binders to hold the foam board in place.

I went with the Walthers HO scale 130’ turntable which is larger than what was really there in scale feet but I felt that I needed the extra length so accommodate an F7A/B unit set. I believe that the original was about 75 feet and this one is 95 feet. However, it will be able to deal with the F7 set when it is used for the Christmas train.

I placed the pit in and made marks as to where the lead track and track one for the shed should go. I am not going into detail as to how the deck for the bridge was modified and the S scale track put in place as that was done in an earlier installment called “Converting an Sn42 Turntable to S Standard Scale”. Suffice it to say that the deck is only one piece of 0.060” styrene sheet because of raising the pit using the foam core. It was way less complicated.

The lead track was put in place and the temporary train shed was lined up. It is temporary because it is not tall enough and could have a bit more width and length to it. I thought I was smart in buying a partially built Sn3 roundhouse that is close in size but close only matters in horseshoes. Those Sn3 locos must be tiny! Some risers were attached using double sided tape so for now it can be used. I might modify this engine shed and but it might be easier to scratch build another based on this one. It does look pretty cool as a stand in and did help me to line up tracks 1, 2 and 3.

If you are wondering why the locos are facing inwards, it is because the smoke vents were only at one end of the shed and the locos are facing where they would be. When the locos would come in from their runs, they would back onto the turntable, be turned 180 degrees, back out to be re-fueled, then onto the turntable again to be put to rest overnight in the train shed in their respective stall. There were always four locomotives overnighting in Owen Sound. One would not be in the shed. It was usually the first one out for train 172, the Toronto passenger train which would leave around 5 am.

I am not certain if there were inspection pits in the stalls because all maintenance was done in either Palmerston or the home base of the locos, either London or Stratford, Ontario. The only loco that stayed in Owen Sound was the one assigned to the Wiarton mixed and that really was a Palmerston loco on loan for the week. Every Sunday, the Wiarton mixed loco would run down on the southbound way freight to be serviced at Palmerston. The northbound way freight would bring the replacement, another Mogul or a 10 wheeler.

Here is a picture of 5611 come in from a passenger run and having been turned. It has backed off the turntable and is being re-fueled for the night. The steam crane is a temporary placement. It will be replaced by a Backwoods Miniatures brass kit of a steam crane on trucks which is pretty close to what was actually there. However for now, it will be good enough with a coat of black paint, some re-rigging and a new smoke stack.

Now I can relax and enjoy the layout, performing almost the same operations that the CNR did on the Owen Sound and Wiarton subdivisions that lasted for three quarters of a century. There were two southbound passenger trains, two northbound passenger trains, southbound and northbound way freights, the Wiarton mixed and grain extras to keep up enough operation interest. The golden spike ceremony will be when all the scenery (including ash pits and turntable detailing), the general detailing and buildings are complete. I will try to keep updating with things that are not redundant. Cheers!

North American Bent Chair Company/RCA Plant in Owen Sound Finale

After looking at photos and some overhead drawings, I discovered that I had laid the spur for the freight sheds too far away from the station siding. I needed to move it closer to the station siding which I did. The track centres are now 2 and half inches away instead of 5 inches. This makes room for the freight houses, bunkhouse and tool sheds between the road and the track. When I studied the drawing for the station, I learned that these buildings were actually backing onto First Ave West and not how I had interpreted the drawings in Ian Wilson’s book, Steam Over Palmerston. Because the road, which was concrete, has to be wide enough to look real, the buildings will have to be narrowed. Selective compression has become my friend.

The road was made from 0.060” sheet styrene and 0.0100” x 0.0100” strip styrene was used for the curb. I painted the road Floquil Cement. It looks like wet cement so I will eventually tone it down by weathering it. All in good time. Ground fill was added between the road and a sidewalk placed at the south end.

The windows were glued in place with thin ACC and once dried, clear plastic sheet was cut to size for the window panes which were glued in place using canopy glue. The blinds were cut from brown construction paper and glued to the backs of the windows once again using canopy glue.

Once all the windows and blinds were done, the panels were glued to the aluminum frame using water based contact cement. A faux partial roof made of black foam core was glued on though it can’t really be seen in these pictures. The extensions across the roof of the two southern crowns were glued in place. The northern crown with the column of two windows did not get these extensions for some reason. The finished building flat was gingerly placed on the layout. My first attempt was not careful enough and two panels did crack because I pushed on the middle of the panels instead of in between where the uprights to the frame were. This shows how brittle this casting material is. I would use a plastic based resin if I ever do something like this again. I could not fix them in place and I had to remove the cracked ones using a heat gun and replaced them with two extras that I had cast. I was more careful the next attempt.

Different panel styles are featured here.

I will not be modelling the outbuildings that were in front because of space considerations.

Other than some finishing touches here and there like perhaps the RCA sign, it’s done and I won’t be touching it unless absolutely necessary!

This has taken a lot more time that I thought when I started out but it is necessary. I suppose I could have painted the building on the backdrop…nah, too hard.

Next up…the Owen Sound turntable.

The North American Bent Chair Company/RCA Building in Owen Sound

I am going to preface this entry with an observation I have made about most of the projects I do. Once I get into a project, it invariably happens that a pause is needed and more preparation be made before any advancement towards the completion of said project. I wonder if anyone else has had this experience.

These past eight months I have pretty much only been working on one thing, the backdrop and building flats for Owen Sound. One of the most iconic buildings was the North American Bent Chair Company just across the road from the GTR/CNR roundhouse. It was very long and three stories high. Established 1894 then after a fire rebuilt in 1899, it was turned over to RCA in 1945 where RCA would build the wooden cabinets for its radios, TV’s, Hi-Fi’s etc. Unfortunately, it was torn down in 1980 before I became interested in Owen Sound.

This is the only complete photo that I have been able to find from the National Archives. I have other close up angled photos I gleaned from the Grey Roots Museum and Archives online pages that have really helped. I have joined them to support them. After studying the photos over and over, I decided that there were 22 panels with 9 windows, 1 wider panel with 12 windows, 1 narrower panel with 6 windows and one narrower panel with 2 centred windows and a large access door, so 25 panels in all. Three of the panels had ‘crowns’ and which stood out from the others.

I looked at various S scale buildings that I could modify but to no avail. Simon Parent told me that Willie Monaghan uses HO Design Preservation Models for his large buildings so I decided to try them. I managed to come up with a pattern for a 9 windowed panel, longer pilasters and made two rubber molds. I also included the windows in the molds. The other non-standard panels were cut and spliced the same way that the pattern was.

Original Panel is at the top left, Modified Ones Below

I used a water based resin to cast which is really easy to use and clean up but unfortunately very brittle. A person is supposed to use a special fiber glass to reinforce the casting but the sales person said that since the castings were so thin that the fiber glass would not be necessary. He was wrong but I persevered anyway.

Because I decided to do a partial side on the south end of the building, I cut a 9 panel casting vertically so that it has only 3 windows. There are 221 windows in all. I did do about 15 more castings than needed due to cracking and possible replacement if broken. The pilasters had wood stir sticks placed in the mold after the resin was painted in. That way when they were de-molded, they did not break. I learned that the hard way.

The panel castings were sprayed a matt gray colour and custom mixed acrylic brick coloured paint was dry brushed over the faces of the brickwork.

I decided I needed a frame to mount the panels and pilasters on. At first I tried square plastic tubing. It was too flexible and I feared that any flexing that much would crack the castings. So, I decided on using half inch aluminum ‘L’ girder which would nicely avoid being seen through the windows. I bought three 8’ lengths of it at RONA+ and used my modelling chop saw to cut the uprights. Holes were drilled for number 6 metal screws and 90 degree brackets to hold everything together. The frame is almost 8 feet long. There is a foam board base that it is on which gives it height over the soon to be concrete road way with curbs. The frame is held in place at the bottom with a 1” screw into brass tubing at either end. There is also some Velcro attached to the frame and backdrop so that it does not topple over. The tape is in place to keep the Sculptamold from sticking to the frame. Did I mention that I wanted it removable?

***The Aluminum Frame with a Styrene Road in Front***

Here is a mockup of how it will look. It is almost 8 feet long!

Next…adding the windows, glazing, curtains and installation.

Bridge Improvements

After looking at a video that showed the bridge over the Potawatomi River, I decided that the model that I built and posted earlier needed some improvement. This is especially true since an operator can see the track in the bridge.

Originally I had just placed some flex track in the bridge and though it served its purpose quite well, it did not look complete.

I took the bridge out and replaced the track with full span stained railway ties which I glued in with Gorilla brand ACC. Next I laid in some rail and looked at it.

***New Ties Glued in and Rails Placed***

Because the bridge is plastic and the plate under the ties is brass, there was no way I could spike the ties down. I was simply going to glue the rails down then I remembered tie plates. A one point I had some of Simon Parent’s excellent etched phosphor bronze tie plates but of course I could not find them anywhere. I contacted Simon and he still had some so I ordered a number of sheets know that I would probably need them for the turntables. They come on a full sheet and need to be cut out. First however, you have to spray some 3M 77 glue on the back, let it dry, then cut them from the fret and bend the tabs which fit over the ties. The tie plates have fine spike heads etched into them. You slide them on the rail and the spike heads keep them on the rail. Position the tie plates so that when the rail is put in place over the ties that they slip over the ties. This is a bit finicky but eventually it gets done. Patience is a virtue here.

***Tie Plates Slid Onto Rail and Tools of the Trade***

Then after the rails/ties are gauged and installed, you heat the top of the rails with a soldering iron tip that has the solder cleaned off. This melts the spray glue and fasten the tie plates to the tops of the ties and secure the track to the ties.

After the ballast is applied, I will add the guard rails. There were 3 of them for some reason. Next up doing the Owen Sound RCA building.

The Wiring of Kennedy & Sons

In the last post, I spoke about having 97.235% of the track installed but I did not finish the wiring at the Kennedy and Sons Foundry spurs. I don’t believe I have posted about how I wired up the switch machines on the lower level. This post is probably old news for some but for others it might prove useful.

I use Tortoise Switch Machines on the lower level. The upper level used a servo system. Both have their strengths and weaknesses.

Before I added the wiring, I planned out the fascia, where the track diagram, switches, and LED’s would go. I used white 0.060” plastic sheet cut into strips for the all the lower fascia. I don’t have to paint it and it brightens up the layout. The track plan was penciled in. Holes were drilled for the screws that attached the fascia to the side of the benchwork and where the switches and the LED’s were to go. I used a 1/8” drill that was slightly under for the 3mm LED’s and ¼” bit for the switches.

I clamped the fascia to the side of the benchwork and used it as a template to drill holes in the front of the benchwork where the LED’s and switches would go. I used a ¼” bit for the LED’s and 5/8” spade for the switches. The red and black wires are for the DCC signal and the Grey and Purple wires are the power for the switch machines.

I wired up all the track using suitcase connectors to run feeds from the DCC bus to each rail. Then I soldered some of the rail joiners so that there would be no dead spots, like the short pieces of rail isolated from the frog.

I use ¼” colored tape to show the routes. Red is for sidings or sub main, blue is for industrial spurs or sidings. Green is for the main. I cut out the holes using a number 11 Exacto blade.

***The Fascia/Panel With Taped Routes***

Tortoise machines have a printed circuit edge card that you can solder wire leads to control direction, route power to the frog and add LED’s to show direction. In the past I found that it is difficult to solder these wires on and keep them from either breaking off or having the foil on the edge card heat to the point of it coming off. Online, I found an edge card connector that I could solder the leads to and plug it into the edge card. It worked well. I don’t remember where I bought them but Barret Hill does have them that you can screw your leads into. They would have been easier but I found out about those after I had purchased these. The Tortoise instruction sheet gives these contacts numbers. I devised a standard wiring system that used Grey on 1, Black on 2, Red on 3, Blue on 4 and Purple on 8. The purple and grey power the switch machine, the red and black are for the DCC signals and the blue is for the frog.

I wire up the LED’s beforehand. That way they are ready to attach to the switches. The switches are also wired using grey and purple with black wire used as the cross over. Usually they are wired in series with the gray wire.

I used 0.060” square plates that have holes drilled out to attach the switch machines to the underside of the layout. I spent a day making 30 of them just in case of failure or having to replace any. On the left is the template and on the right one that is ready to use with a slot filed out. These squares were glued to the underside of the Styrofoam using water based contact cement lining up the slot with the slot in the Styrofoam where the switch is on the top. I used ¼” number 4 sheet metal screws to attach the switch machine to the plate. I have to admit that out of 24 switch machines, perhaps only a quarter lined up well the first time. I would find this out once everything was installed and the switch motor could only close the points successfully one way. Sometimes I could simply re-drill the holes and move the machine over but once or twice I actually had to scrape the plate off and remount or replace it. Some did look kind of like Swiss cheese. Also, I substituted 0.032” piano wire for the 0.020” wire that they include. I found that their wire was not stiff enough to move the points reliably. This was due to the distance that the wire had to travel up to the hole in the throw bar. Sometimes I also put a piece of 1/16” tubing on the wire to add more stiffness. They all work successfully.

***Switch Machine Mounting Plate Template and Mounting Plate***

The fascia was mounted after everything worked. I really like the LED’s showing the routing. This is a walk around, follow your train layout so you have to be on location if you are to throw a turnout. It is as if you are the brakeman having to sometimes stop the train to change the switch by hand instead of a central control panel. In some ways, it’s more realistic but in some ways a bit of a pain to have to get exactly where you have to be before the train gets there if you don’t feel like stopping the train to make the route correct. I may add more LED’s on the main yard panels but for now this is enough and “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. My three S Scale Workshop modules are stored under this section of the layout on carts. That is the wetlands module peaking out. They roll out easily when the have to be displayed at shows.

On my first test run, I used my Overland CNR S2 switcher and of course found that the points on the straight turnout needed adjusting. FastTracks makes great fixtures but I find I usually need to tweak my turnouts once they are in place. Out came the soldering gun and the offending point was corrected. The scratch built curved turnout required adjustment as well once I tried to run my Simon Parent-built Ten Wheeler 1324 through, which by the way is an excellent loco. Now, everything seems to run through there. According to Ian Wilson, these spurs were no man’s land for anything but a Mogul or switchers because of the radius. My Pacifics will take the radius but I am still happy with the results.

In a couple of weeks, I will be meeting with the curator of the Owen Sound rail museum to collect some data. I am hopeful that I will have enough information to paint and detail the backdrop. Then perhaps I can put in the turntable. Until then, I will work on other things that need doing.

Finally Something to Report

Hi Everyone,

First of all, I am sorry about the delay in posting again. It has taken me a long time to get anything done worthy enough to report and that is why I am only posting now.

I have finished all the track work on the layout save the leads to Owen Sound turntable and the installation of the turntable itself. Before I can add these, I have to do the Owen Sound backdrop and building flats because they will not be easily accessible once the turntable is installed.

This effort required one 3 way switch, two double slip switches and one curved switch built in place. I think I am finally getting the hang of building switches. All the wiring is in and the fascia is finished. So far, I have had to only make a handful of adjustments to ensure proper tracking.

As usual, what looks good on paper, does always not work out well in practice. I had to deviate a bit from this plan due to some interference with a support bracket for Park Head and some of the cross braces under the bench work. The yard ended up curving a bit which is more like the prototype. I also replaced the three way switch at the bottom with a right hand and then a left hand switch.

***The Cross Over*** **Just Past Where Station Will Be** ***Is in the Upper Left Corner***

I had to build a curved switch in place to get into William Kennedy and Sons Foundry spurs. I test all my switches using American Models scale wheelsets, Code 110 wheelsets and P64 wheelsets. I adjust the frog and guard rails to accommodate all three which have different profiles and standards. Shown in the photo below is a truck equipped with P64 wheelsets.

***William Kennedy & Sons Foundry Spurs***

There will be a lot of brick industrial buildings in this area. I have been looking at some of the flea markets for suitable used brick factories in HO. So far, I have found one. Hopefully, I can find more.

I used 0.060″ sheet styrene to make the fascia much like I did in the upper level. All lower level switches are powered by Tortoise switch machines. I used different colour 3mm LED’s to show the switch position relative to the track diagram. Green is for the Main, Red is for the Sidings, Blue is for the Spurs, Orange is for the Cross Over and Yellow is for the Locomotive Service Tracks.

***The Fascia Where the Cross Over and Second Double Slip Is***

I also finished custom building these two CNR Pacifics for customers. I have gotten slower at building anything and they took way more time than any I have done before. I am now planning to pour all the free time I have into concentrating on the layout. These are the last custom builds I do ever!!!

I can’t guarantee when the next entry will as I have to wait until I do a backdrop in Owen Sound before I put in the turntable because once in, the background will be hard to access easily. This would be behind Owen Sound station and the RCA plant. I am not sure what was there. I am planning to look up some sources and hope that I can simulate this with a commercial product.

Until next time,

Andy Malette

Fascinating Moments

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who has spent time reading this blog. Your comments make it worthwhile.

I use DCC or Digital Command Control to run the trains on my model railway. DCC relies on a number of things to keep it working properly but mostly it is keeping the two signals coming from the command station that connect to the rails from interfering with one another, in other words, causing a short circuit. Wire is used to carry the signals to the rails. In most cases, the signal carriers are differentiated by colour coding them using black and red wire. So I call them the black signal and the red signal for simplicity sake.

On the eve of November 17, 2023, I was working late on my model railroad. I wanted to have a new section of the railroad running to show my granddaughter who was coming over for my 71^st birthday the next day. It was about 11:30pm and I had just finished installing and wiring up 4 switch machines in the north part of Owen Sound main yard when some strange things started to occur. While testing the newly finished tracks, I tried to run some diesels to the next semi-powered sections. The first was an Overland GP38-2 which backed down nicely to the team track which was powered. When I tried to run it forward, it just spun its wheels. So, I shoved it forward until it gained traction and ran. I repeated the process and at the same spot, it spun its wheels until I moved it forward by hand again. I figured that it was a problem with the diesel’s gauging. I tried an S Helper Service NW2 and it was fine. So, I ran the NW2 through the newly finished turnouts and decided to try another track. I switched the switch so that the loco would go down the track beside the track where the GP38-2 had the issue. When the loco crossed over to the next section, there was a short circuit. I could tell because my circuit breakers have flashing LED’s connected to them and they come on when a short occurs. I moved the NW2 back and tried it running it again and got the same results. Using the DCC Specialties RRampMeter, I checked to see what was going on. It read that the next switch had the short. It was strange because the switch though mounted was not wired up in any way, only the trailing tracks which were wired correctly. According to the meter, the track that was supposed to be powered by the black signal was fine but the track that was supposed to be powered by the red signal had the black signal as well. Thus the wheels of the loco would bridge red to black causing the short. I checked and rechecked the gapping of the PCB ties using a multi meter and they were fine. The frog section of the switch was totally insulated/isolated. But, the short still occurred. The switch was spiked down to its ties using a Kadee Rail Spiker and I thought that maybe an errant spike was causing a problem but there were none to be seen or had even using a magnet to do a sweep. I re-gapped the gaps. I checked the gaps for continuity but everything tested fine. I checked to see if any signal was leaking from the sides of the PC ties. Everything tested fine. I rebooted the system. Isolating the parts of the switch, everything tested fine but the short was still displaying between the rails once I used the meter. I decided to vacuum the switch just in case there was an errant spike I could not see. Still the short persisted. Then a bit later, after I decided to call it quits for the night, I tried the track once again. The short went away ON ITS OWN!

***The Two Areas Where There Were Issues***

The NW2 happily passed through the switch AND the GP38-2 no longer spun its wheels on the other section of track.

I don’t believe in ghosts but the only thing that these test locos had in common was that their owners had passed away, one recently and the other about 10 years ago. These were dead men’s locos. As yet, I have no scientific explanation. Fascinating, as Spock would say.

At any rate, if I can remember to do so, I will toast fallen Model Railroaders on November 17 at the witching hour.

Park Head Station is Done!

After about 3 years, Park Head Station and out buildings are done! Here is a picture of the completed station which was built by splicing together two Bachmann On30 passenger cars to get the correct length. I cut out the original windows and Jamie Bothwell kindly laser cut some window opening strips for me out of styrene. I added all the frames and dividers using different Evergreen styrene S scale strips. The ‘A’ frame was built up the same way using Evergreen S scale strip styrene. I am happy with the result.

The station is in the condition that it would have been 1949/50, no peeling paint. Eventually, I will weather it and all the other buildings. I tend to do things in batches so when it’s time for switch stands or telegraph poles and other details, they will be added to the entire layout at the same time.