Eastern Tn logging on the DG CC & W RR 1928

Sawdust

Member
Hey Bill that's going to be a nice set of hoppers once your done. I think my old age causes me to like the whisker type couplers, much easier to install. I use a very small amount of the white Teflon powder in the box areas to lubricate the coupler, what do you use? I also like your viaduct, that will definitely be a nose bleed area for pics!
 

Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
I have traditionally used graphite for coupler lubrication. I once screwed up and used it to lubricate the slip joints on a shay line shaft, and the truck king pin screws on a brass 25 ton shay. I got strong very short duration shorts at each location. No harm was done at the line shaft, other than the extreme difficulty of cleaning out the graphite powder. It got into the threads of the insulated truck kingpin screw, and shorted out against the frame. the insulated truck screw was run into a tapped epoxy board, and the arcing burnt out the threads in the epoxy board.

I had to clean out the screw hole, lightly oil the truck king pin screw threads. put some epoxy in the hole and stick the screw in. when the epoxy had set the oil on the threads let me back the screw out, and have an effective repair that has lasted 35 years so far.

the graphite is an amazing lubricant, but you have to keep it way far away from any insulated joints, or there will be hell to pay.


Bill Nelson
 

Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
SML A-1 tchy flt frame.jpg tichey flat car frame details

I have put some of the details on one of the Tichy flat car frames. I I hav't done the brake piping, and probably won'. I just wanted to show how detailed these kits are.

bill nelson
 
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Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
SML tchy gon dets #1.jpg I am working on getting the stake pockets on. . These are so fine I have broken them cutting them off the sprue, and also picking them up with a pair of tweezers. One on this pick needs to be removed or replaced to get it straight. I finally figured out how to get some finer control of the flash and focus on this camera, and can now show the level of detail better.


I couldn't get the pockets on satisfactorily without the gon sides on. It is a good thing I want gons to haul pig iron out from Montgomery Furnace to the southern interchange.


Bill Nelson
 
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Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
SMLA-1  #21 n shps  th  prblm.jpg SMLA-1  #21 n shps a.jpg SMLA-1  #21 n shps tmp rep.jpg I was wanting to clear off my work bench. I had several locomotives in for minor repair. the only one that had not been addressed was my Gem 2-4-4-2, a locomotive that is close to 45 years old by my guess. It had lost a screw in its valve gear.


Naturally an exact fit was not available, but I found something that would keep parts from dragging on the ground as it ran; so it is ready to go up to the RR room, and clear off some space that I can fill up with some other ****, as I sort out the deep piles of stuff on my work bench.


Bill Nelson
 
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Doctor G

Well-Known Member
I was wanting to clear off my work bench. I had several locomotives in for minor repair. the only one that had not been addressed was my Gem 2-4-4-2, a locomotive that is close to 45 years old by my guess. It had lost a screw in its valve gear.


Naturally an exact fit was not available, but I found something that would keep parts from dragging on the ground as it ran; so it is ready to go up to the RR room, and clear off some space that I can fill up with some other ****, as I sort out the deep piles of stuff on my work bench.


Bill Nelson

That is such a neat locomotive. I have been studying three separate articles on how to build one of these in Large Scale. It can be done using LGB motor blocks and I am trying to begin the process of getting these together.

Tom
 

gbwdude

General Manager, W.R.Ry.
I was wanting to clear off my work bench. I had several locomotives in for minor repair. the only one that had not been addressed was my Gem 2-4-4-2, a locomotive that is close to 45 years old by my guess. It had lost a screw in its valve gear.


Naturally an exact fit was not available, but I found something that would keep parts from dragging on the ground as it ran; so it is ready to go up to the RR room, and clear off some space that I can fill up with some other ****, as I sort out the deep piles of stuff on my work bench.


Bill Nelson

Bill,

If worst comes to worst, you can look in my brass steamer's box in the parts bag to see if there's a part you can use in there. I know there's some small parts in there. Just don't take it off the lokie and all will be good.:mrgreen:

Tyler
 

Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
Thanks Tyler, but that screw threaded in. and that is the important part. If it is too long and contacts moving parts, I can shorten it, and I can file on the head to make it less visible, and paint it or chemically blacken it to make it disappear.

extra brass locomotive screws are an invaluable resource, and must be hoarded, and I will conserve yours, like I conserve mine.


Thanks for the offer though


Bill
 

Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
SML A-1 cr pnt shps.jpg car paint shops

I have gotten far enough with the three Tichy Train Group low side gons to do some basic painting. Wonder of wonders , it s above freezing, which makes spray paint cans much happier.


I shot the gons in the tan paint scheme, common to may DG,CC, &W RR freight cars. I also started to paint a Walther's caboose kit. I bought this kit for use on my RR, but I stuck couplers and trucks on it first, and tested it on my RR. It was one of those kits that was too correct . I decided I'd have to replace the entire underframe to get it to work on the Mountain division, so I took it to the club to test it there, and it did well, so I'm going to paint it up, and finish adding the details, and take it down to the club for use on the main line. we have enough cabeese for the J. E. Patterson Coal and Lumber company.

Time for me to go to sleep. I took the wheels off my farm truck yesterday, to haul the wheels in to town to get new tires, as all four were 12 years old, and the spare was 30 years old. the right rear tire hadn't been off in a very long time, and It took me forever to get it off, so I got less rest before going into work last night than I had planned. I should be able to pick up my wheels with the new tires on the way home from work tomorrow morning. I won't know how to act. I have had to deal with a flat tire every other time I have fired up my farm truck for years.


Bill
 
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Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
SML-A1  2-17crsps.jpg SML-A1  2-17crsps.jpg more car shops

doing some paint and Assembly. I got the Walther's caboose together, which will probably go to the club. I will test it on my RR, but last time I tried it it wasn't reliable there.

the box car is a Mantua 1860's car. for years I could not find wheels that would work in these trucks, so they got replaced routinely.


I turned a boatload of tichy train group wooden ore cars into HOn3 ore cars, so I has some extra Tichy wheels, and they fit just right. as a pluss, with the stock Mantua woodbeam truck with Tichy wheels the end beam is just the right height for a KD # 5 box
 
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Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
SMLA-1 brkn sw @ irn frnace.jpg SMLA-1 foam rcks #1.jpg SMLA-1 foam rcks #2.jpg SMLA-1 rnry trk trns #2.jpg SMLA-1 tnry trk trns #1.jpg SMLA-1tnery trks#1.jpg rainy day

It is a rainy day here along the Cumberland river, I have been up all night at work, and am trying to stay awake in order to sleep at night for once tonight. My wife is studying for her Pediatric Nurse Practitioner re-certification, it is too wet to work outside on the farm, so I have been up in the railroad room working on long neglected projects.

The first thing I did was to add some foam to the mountain scenery that will get carved around the Viaduct. while the glue was drying there I went to the Tannery, and fixed a pesky broken rail joint. The tannery track was pieced together from salvaged sections of hand laid track, some of it code 55, and some code 70. the track was used according to what fit, so there are some transitions from code 55 to code 70 that make no sense. One of those was broken. I fixed the broken rail, and added a short section of code 70, next to the forward siding that is on a bridge ,and a transition to the code 55 switch. Now cars stay on the track back there, and the tannery should be open for business.

while testing the Tichy train group low side gons, I found a switch near the iron furnace @ Montgomery Furnace had a broken solder joint at the frog that thoroughly messed up the switch. I have soldered it but , need to file out the flangeway, but the diverting route is working already, and it never has before. I was considering abandoning it. My luck the straight through rout won't work now.


I have also done some work on the narrow gauge return loop @ Georgia staging, but it is not photogenic.


Back to work! Maybe I can get more done before it is time to fire up my smoker, and grill some chickens!


Bill Nelson
 
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Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
SMLA_1 SS TT.jpg SMLA-1SSTTwd.jpg SMLA-1 CC TT.jpg SMLA-1 CC TT wd.jpg inspiration from elsewhere on Zealot!

over in the HO section on Zealot, there is a thread on turntables. that got the juices going and made me think that my turntables in Crooked Creek and Slouthside (Harlow) would look a lot better if I dirterized the sides of the Atlas turntable to help improve the illusion of there actually being a pit there. I did not run the dirt all the way to the edge, cause a photo Tyler posted over in the turntable thread had a mock ring rail on there, which looked really good; I wanted to leave room for a ring rail, and I want to keep scenic material out of the turntable's works.

here are some before and after photo's looking at the after photo's in Crooked creek, I'm thinking Crooked creek may be 18 years old, I should probably spike the rails on the unfinished turntable leads, and ballast the track around the turntable, Car shops, engine shops and such. More to do; but that area is going to look better and better. need to get cracking on finishing the roof to the engine house.. (the sawmill roof has been unfinished for more than a decade too).


I also have been messing with the switches in Montgomery furnace, and the two switches that lead to the iron furnace are much improved, so it looks like the train service to the iron furnace will be be much more reliable . Now I have to decide, does Montgomery furnace need it's own switcher, or can that duty be pawned off of the mill switcher over in Crooked Creek, possibly the busiest crew on the line already, but Montgomery Furnace is just a spit down the track, and it is just going to get 1-3 coal hopper, and 1-2 gons a day.

it is exiting to get stuff done on the RR. I need to get up to Rigemont with a multimeter and try to figure out why the narrow gauge track to the log reload shorts . Something to do with a narrow gauge/ standard gauge crossing, and a dual gauge stub switch I'm sure. I'm hoping it is something simple like a closed rail gap.


Bill Nelson
 
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gbwdude

General Manager, W.R.Ry.
I'm glad I could inspire you Bill, I've had that idea for a while and I'm glad Atlas read my mind. That's a major change from before and after and looks excellent! Now to only collect rights to the aid of design...

Tyler
 

Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
I had always planned to dirterize the pits, you just king of gave me a push start, reminding me that it is ten years later, and I haven't done it yet.


Bill
 

Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
inspired by the dirterization

after dirterizing the turntable"pit", It is much more notiveable that the engine house/shops, car shops, and other turntable leads in Crooked Creek have not been ballasted, while all other track has been, even the dead end spur that will either be a rip track or a team track, that hasn't had one of it's code 55 rails spiked in place yet.


I have a big bag of details for this area that has yet to be painted and installed also. I also need to figure out how I'm going to make the hinges for the six pairs of double doors for the engine house.


this has been a case of rolling inspiration, but before I do anything else I need to test the recently fixed tracks by the tannery and the iron furnace, to see if they really work.



Bill Nelson
 

Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
SMLA-1 MF S -1.jpg SMLA-1 MF S -2.jpg SMLA-1 MF S -3.jpg Meanwhile in Montgomery Furnace

Just uphill of Crooked creek, at the base of Iron Mountain proper , Is Montgomery Furnace. Montgomery furnace took the place of the infamous Bumpass Modules .

The bumpass modules were a great sucess as a 2 x 6 foot portable switching layout , but the cramped and complicated track plan was near impossible with the larger trains associated with the larger layout.


In replacing Bumpass with Montgomery furnace I went minimalist , and just built with four switches. I probably over did it, and should have included a passing siding, but I didn't. The simplicity thing did not make for reliable operation. two of the switches were built on a curve and I messed up the geometry some how. the lower switch off the main worked well on the main side, but had frequent problems on the diverging route. the other switch that went next to the twin furnaces on the straight route, and to an abandoned furnace on the diverging route, didn't work well in either direction. I had worked on it several times without improving it, and was considering abandoning the diverging route.

Fortunately my experience diagnosing and fixing the new switches I built at the Sawmill area at the club must have paid off, as I made a fith attempt to fix both switches, and fixed both of them in about 15 minutes, after the previous 6 hours of work had been futile.

so now I can get gondolas to the twin furnaces without derailment. also the track to the old abandoned furnace on the other side of other side of the creek . That track doesn't have a real purpose yet. Montgomery furnace is very close to Crooked Creek, I may use it as a rip track, or for storing Mow equipment, as a caboose track , also if it works well enough, It could be used as a hole, to tuck a train into, in case a meet in Montgomery furnace is needed.


This is a big deal, iron operations will be possible, as soon as I fix a busted solder joint on the frog of the switch at the iron reload, and a disconnected wire under Montgomery Furnace .

Maybe the track working here will be a catalist for me to get to work here. the old bellows house is just a foam core mock up, it needs to be covered with wood, as does the coal elevator by the coke ovens. I need to build a derelict water wheel, and a shed on the side of the to house the steam powered bellows equipment. I also need a trestle with tram tracks to bring limestone and coke to the charging deck. I have to re evaluate this ans I was going to use Grant line Koppel ore cars that don't seem to be available now. I am considering using Big City Hobbies Hon30 equipment . I will want to buy some of that stuff sometime anyway, the old mini-trains equipment that these are based on I once made a good tiny HON3 0-4-0 buy pushing the wheels out some .

I need to build a bridge from the elevator side of the track up to the furnace. I will have to cut a lot of wood, and stain it with oil paint stain to match the furnace, that will take some experimentation. the Iron furnace needs some decking at the charging level, some tram trackage with turntables, and a roof above the charging deck. all in all a lot of work for this huge scratchbuild project.


Bill Nelson
 
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Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
also in Montgomery Furnace

looking at the photo, you can see that the track to the abandoned furnace on the other side of the creek, is missing one rail. Now that the switch works, I will need to spike down the other code 55 rail, to get that entire siding usable.


Bill Nelson
 
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