biggrin: Thanks guys! I think that was the cause of the pilot derailments, though I measured very carefully this morning and noticed the switch was no longer level side-to-side (it being in an area still not glued down, and raised). I'm wondering if one of the family touched it -- I shimmed it back to level, and can't force a derailment there. The mystery of observation car took a bit of detective work. It was always in one general area, though seemed to move around a bit. Running the train back and forth through the area, at speed, at crawl, I narrowed it down to a 45.5mm piece of track that connects the two diverging ends of a cross over, out in my "country" area (who knows what will really go there). Watching very very closely, I realized that all the cars were lifting on one side while going over this section of track, just those not on the end of a consist had something to keep them on the rail, and, for whatever reason, the Kato Daylight observation car seems a bit weighs a bit lighter than the CZ or UP car of the same style. The Daylight car would lift a bit, and sometimes run the flange on the rail, catching the guard going into the next turnout, hence the derailing. Other times it would slip back down. I double checked the unijoiners, to no effect. So, I pulled that track out, and put in a new 45mm piece. NO LIFTING / NO DERAILING! At whatever speed. Looking at the piece under magnification, there is clearly a deformation in the rail and the ties on that side, but only noticeable with magnification. Since I have some of these pieces new bought / some used, hard to say who what where or when, and clearly the Train Gods decided to highlight this to me during my "grand unveiling". But, at least this was found well before I "finished" that area of the layout, and switching out the section was simple.
Announcing a new addition! The JACALAR railroad is proud to announce its latest addition to the rail excursion experiences it provides. Having acquired a USRA 2-8-2 Heavy Mikado some months ago, the locomotive has been undergoing extensive refurbishment in our repair facilities, ensuring that it is fully operational and safe, while also restoring it to how it would look during use. Identified as Union Pacific #2708, this loco will be used primarily to pull a vintage Union Pacific passenger train, as one might have ridden on immediately following World War 1. Here, we see a profile picture of this proud locomotive: Sitting in front of our newer Union Pacific passenger train, we can see the contrast of the eras, as this older steam sits abreast with the newer diesels:
UP 2708 and Train -- Out for a ride Here, the JACALAR shows our newly commissioned locomotive passing around the back of our roundhouse, with the old warehouse district buildings across the tracks And here, the rest of the 2708's train pass the buildings and here, we see 2708 after crossing under the highway overpass, and pulling along the last warehouses in the city, before heading out on its cross country adventure
After staring at this for a while, I'm going to break out the Neolube and blacken those gears Reason on the coal load: even after changing the drawbar and cleaning all the wheels, I was continuing to have problems with smooth running with the Lenz Mini-Gold. So, I put in a Lenz PowerOne device, which provides continuous power. This works GREAT! I can take this guy around at speed step 1, crawling at 1 smph, or run at speed, with no problems. BUT, it is just a bit too big. I popped the load and put a hole up from the tender, but it sticks up still just a bit. I might try Tudor's method of fine mesh and kitty litter after cutting out the coal.
rick: Just raise the coal load on the tender with some styrene strips. You don't need nylon mesh on top.
Rick: Here's a photo of an old Kato Mikado with a raised coal load on that abandoned siding near the turntable. That's the only place on the layout where grass and weeds have been placed. When I did the decoder installation and speaker installed, in those days the decoder and speaker were too large for the space, so I raised the coal load using styrene strips to make room.
IIRC, I've never seen pics of a UP MacArthur with raised coal hopper sides on the tender, but it IS your railroad, so whatever works. Personally, the mesh method proposed by Tudor sounds good- or can you file that load down a bit to get it to fit?
BTW, I forgot to mention- nice weathering job on the steamer. And those building flats are very real-looking. Well done!
Thanks for the weathering and building flat compliments, I am quite pleased with the results of both. I went ahead and raised the load a bit, looks better than being slanted. There wasn't enough material to remove for clearance, the Power1 is just too big a capacitor. Since this is an "excursion" railroad, equipment might not always match the original prototype, no matter how labeled
Some new arrivals The JACALAR RR Excursion Co has been busy acquiring more powered stock. In addition to the previously shown SP GP38-2, they have also picked up a UP 38-2, finished restoring UP GP-20 #474, overhauled SF SD-26 #4636 and acquired two additional 2-8-2 Heavy Mikes (SP #3303 and, worn out from its cross country trip, PRR #2861). All the locomotive stock has gathered at the roundhouse to help welcome these newcomers.
Very. I have to stop now. One last purchase on its way (and a pre-order placed for AC12). Am going to take a hiatus on power and rolling stock, and work scenery when I can during the summer, hopefully without any more major purchases. Besides all the locos, I've also purchased a number of dwarf signals from Scale Models Division, along with additional SRC16s to run them. These are INCREDIBLE looking signals, Serge does a great job. I'm going to have to wait a little while, but I hope to get some of them in place by the end of June, to post photos.
For modeling Donner Pass, I was wondering how long this would take.. The AC-12 is going to become your instant favorite! I guarantee! (And I bet a second and third end up calling the JACALAR home eventually as well.)
Do the new Mike's already have decoders and/or TT drivers installed? If so, how does the TT driver end up comparing to the BFS attempt?
Nope - neither. They are first run Mikes, with the older style drivers (with the weird electrical pickup), so I may even need to update those, but will with just those, first. Decoders should be here early in the week.
Here are the new Mike's, out for a run in the sun. The PRR has a Lenz miniGold installed, and runs great. A couple of spots where it loses power, so I need to add some weight into the tender (if I put a fishing weight across the coal, runs fine). Still needs detailing. The SP is detailed, but still needs the decoder installed (it came detailed off the auction).
