Logging East Tennessee on the C&S RR

Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
that last picture is out of place,it is the near side of the far *****ula, the two bridges by the waterfall is narrow gasuge under construction, some of my rocks there too.

Bill Nelson
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Updating the info on the club layout

Thanks Bill for updating the pictures. As you can all see there is definitely a tendency toward mining and logging on our local club layout and nary a deezel in sight!!! I think the plot is working. Long live steam!!!!!

Dr Tom:thumb:
 

Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
They had an operating session on Saturday. I had a bunch of stuff I had to do, but I did take time to drop by and get some work done.

Dr. Tom started out dispatching, and I sat next to him to help confuse him, and worked on a bridge deck that will go on the passing siding in front of the Sawmill. I have the ties all on now, so as soon as I can get the rails spiked down , I can splice it in, and then my next project will be to put in sub roadbed for the sawmill complex.


Tom's not waiting. He got someone else to spell him @ dispatch, and fired up J.E.P. C.& L Co. # 34 a proto 2000 USRA 0-6-0 and made full log runs Going up the switchback to the camp, assembling log trains and running them to the halfway done passing siding @ Patterson, or into the nearby yard, which we have decieded will be where the trains get assembled, or delivered when the sawmill area is full up. Tom and I are going to try to set up the sawmill with a simple track plan, trying to make it friendly toward big trains, rather than being a switching puzzle ; so we can spend less time @ the mill and more time on the main, getting in every body elses way, which is , after all, what we are there for.


Bill Nelson
 

Sawdust

Member
Hi Bill

It's nice to hear from you, this place has been kind of dead lately. Looking forward to see what you have been up to. I posted some updated pics of my Mill project. I kind of feel like there going into the wind on this forum. Where is everybody at?.
 

Sawdust

Member
Sorry Bill & Doc got carried away wondering where all the people are at for got my comments. Everything looks great as always. Is that mine building the New River Mine? I took the features of that one & some others that I liked to get the design of my coal mine that I scratchbuilt. I haven't posted it yet. I am kind of wondering how many people are left. Great job on the recycling, that isn't easy to do. Kind of working backwards & upside down to make things work. Hope your having a good early summer!
 

Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
yes that is the New river mine.

I got that mine last summer, and started it. I didn't put the window in cause I couldn't get the mullions, which were cast into the clear window painted to my satisfaction.


The body of the mine made several trips to the club in the back of my suburban, while I tried to find the right place to shoehorn it in, enventualy it was re kitted by shifting lumber in the back of the suburban. it sat in a forelorn heap @ the club untill I collected the peices, and reasembled them.

I paint the insides of buildings with flat black spray paint, and I tried a rubbing alcahol/india ink stain on the windows. that gave good black definiution to the sides of the mullions, and when they were assembled on the building, with the black interion, the mullions have a fine appearance. I'm quite satisfied with the project.


Bill Nelson
 

Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
bridge deck!!

I got the rail spiked to that bridge deck, and have it loaded in the back of the Suburban. God willing and the creek don't rise, It can get installed @ Patterson and we will have a passing siding, that can double as the log dump, until we get the sawmill complex proper built.

Bill Nelson
 

Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
2-6-6-2

I got the Mantua 2-6-6-2 that I had lettered for the J.E.P. C & L Co. out and studied it.

Out of the box, this thing was a very poor running locomotive. Another member of our club bought one and it wouldn't run. he sent it back. and hasn't heard anything in months.


The first thing I noticed was it only has pick up on two tender wheels. Later while disassembling it to see what modification was practical, I found that the black lead from the motor, for the locomotive frame ground,was screwed to a painted surface of the frame.

The last time we had it running at the club, I had added extra axle wipers on the tender trucks, so it cot power from four wheels instead of two. that helped a lot, but we noticed it would stall sometimes, and if you pushed down on the headlight (mounted on the platform in front of the pistons for the front motor) it would go. The pilot and trailing truck have springs on them, and they had way too much tension on them. The lead truck spring was so strong it lifted the front two drive axles slightly off the rail. I trimmed down the springs, and it looks like the wheels touch the rail now.

I added some rail wipers on both sides of the locomotive, and added wheel wiper on the tender trucks, so the tender now picks up on all wheels., so hopefully the pick up issues are squared away. I hope Blair is @ the train club with his laptop set up with decoder pro, maybee we can fine tune this critter, and it won't have been a complete waste of money.


Bill Nelson
 

ytter_man

Member
I've been seriously considering one of those 2-6-6-2's for quite a while now, i'd like the un-tender'd tank version because of length restriction on my layout. Gotta keep up a little better speed-wise with the diesel guys at my local club heh.

I'll keep in mind the spring trimming (have seen in mentioned elsewhere too), any pics/advice on adding pickups to the drivers?
 

Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
so far

So far I have just added two Tomar track shoes. due to the short distance between the drivers I had to roll these up @ the ends some to fit them between the drivers.


these I just did the easy way, they are on the grounded side. I just pollished the paint off the cover plate under the screw, filed a C shaped slot in the phospher bronze shoe , losened the screw, tucked the shoue under the screw, and tightened it up.

These rail wipers work very well, but they can cut tractive effort if there are too many of them or they arn't well adjusted.

To make one that is insulated you get some of those KD pastic screws. drill and tap a hole in the cover plate, and screw on a little piece of PC board, which you file down the epoxey side to reduce thickness. you solder the shoe and a fine wire to the PC board, and you are set.

That is what I'll do to this animal next if what I've done so far isn't satisfactory. the way the front and rear frames have different polarity, you could run the wire from an insulated wiper to the opposite frame, and tuck the bare conductor under a cover plate screw.

Bill Nelson
 

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Doctor G

Well-Known Member
It's nice to hear from you, this place has been kind of dead lately. Looking forward to see what you have been up to. I posted some updated pics of my Mill project. I kind of feel like there going into the wind on this forum. Where is everybody at?.

Hey Sawdust,

Just been admiring your sawmill and I am very impressed. Hopefully my Buddy Bill and I will get things moving on the large HO sawmill we want to build at the local RR club. Thanks for the inpiration.

I will lug camera to the club tonight and try to get some pictures. Bill will provide useful and coloful commentary.

Sorry I have been a way from the site a bit. My wife and I moved away from the cabin in the "sticks" (hence the C&S was put to rest) and have spent a lot of time getting in to our new digs and not on the Internet.

I now live 2 minutes away from RR club and hope to have a Large Scale layout in the backyard as well as continue to work on the On30 Haitian Sugar train "mini" upstairs and the HO logging empire down the street at the club. I am "multi-guaging."

Peace, Doc Tom
 

Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
stuff

The 2-6-6-2 was greatly improved, but still needs work. It was very weak I'm not sure if it was the lead and trailing truck springs or the wipers.

I found some much finer phospor bronze wire, and may completly re do the truck wipers, and re do the rail sliders to the insulated side. It will take some study. In any case I believe I screwed up buying this locomotive, by the time I add the cost of the bad sounding MRC sound decoder to the locomotive I'm 50-60 $ away from the cost of another Proto 2000 USRA 0-6-0, which runs beter , has better detailing, sounds better, and can handle the bad track and poor electrical conditions @ the club flawlessly.


Bill Nelson
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
The 2-6-6-2 was greatly improved, but still needs work. It was very weak I'm not sure if it was the lead and trailing truck springs or the wipers.

I found some much finer phospor bronze wire, and may completly re do the truck wipers, and re do the rail sliders to the insulated side. It will take some study. In any case I believe I screwed up buying this locomotive, by the time I add the cost of the bad sounding MRC sound decoder to the locomotive I'm 50-60 $ away from the cost of another Proto 2000 USRA 0-6-0, which runs beter , has better detailing, sounds better, and can handle the bad track and poor electrical conditions @ the club flawlessly.


Bill Nelson

Hey Bill,

I feel your pain. Reminds me of all the trys I had with the HO Bachmann three truck Shay on the old C&S. Never could get it to do right and stay on those sharp 15" and 18" curves.

Hope you can manage a repair that works good for you.
Dr TOm
 

sumpter250

multiscale modelbuilder
What I found with the Mantua 2-6-6-2, was:
It needed a can motor.
It needed universal drive couplings, vice the flex tube.
It got metal wheels in the pilot, and trailing trucks (for increased electrical pickup......mine was a tank type loco)

Mine finally got a tender added, but haven't wired it in yet. When that is done, I should have no problems with electrical. The cab, and saddle tank are from MDC, the tender is also an MDC kit.
 

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Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
Yours must be an old one, mine has a can motor, flywheels, and universals out of the box. I kind of miss the old kit days, it was easierer I think to make your modifications as you built it, than to dissasemble and reassemble and make mods.


Cleaning up I found some finer phosper bronze wipers, so I'm going to re do my truck wipers with the finer wire, which should cause less drag, and try to build some insulated wipers for the front and rear articulated sections, that hopefully won't decrease the tractive effort as much as the sliders do.


Bill Nelson
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
What I found with the Mantua 2-6-6-2, was:
It needed a can motor.
It needed universal drive couplings, vice the flex tube.
It got metal wheels in the pilot, and trailing trucks (for increased electrical pickup......mine was a tank type loco)

Mine finally got a tender added, but haven't wired it in yet. When that is done, I should have no problems with electrical. The cab, and saddle tank are from MDC, the tender is also an MDC kit.
Hi Sumpter,

That is a really nice picture. Beautiful engine!!!!
Doc Tom:wave:
 

sumpter250

multiscale modelbuilder
Bill,
mine has a can motor, flywheels, and universals out of the box.
When Model Power bought Mantua, they said they were going to make some improvements, sounds like they tried.

Doc Tom,
That is a really nice picture. Beautiful engine!!!!
Thanks! It was a fun conversion, runs well, and yes it does look good!:mrgreen:

On the older 2-6-6-2s, electrical pickup was, if I remember correctly, right side drivers on the lead engine, and left side drivers on the main engine. I added right side pilot wheel, and left side trailing wheel, and it presently runs with those, "basically axle to frame" pickups.
 
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