Category: Track

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.

The Original Plan

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.

Owen Sound Yard Throat
First Double Slip Switch
The Cross Over Just Past Where Station Will Be Is in the Upper Left Corner
Second Double Slip Switch

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.

The Curved Switch
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!!!

CNR K-3-a 5567 Fireman Side
CNR K-3-b 5588 Engineer Side

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 71st 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.