The Atlas Shays are listed for 9.75 inch Radius. However in my testing back about two years ago I found that they would do much tighter if run at the slow scale speed a Shay ran at. Testing a number of locos at the time I settled on 8 inch as my minimum radius for all the tested equipment. The incline therefore and some of the future track is at 8 inch rad. with the maximum at 9.75. The Shays do fine on that 8 inch with no tendency to climb the rails or slow down any at all under load. Also the 44 tonners navigate that tight radius and the 70 tonner mechanism is under my Class A Climax locos and they also navigate the 8 inch. This evening tired of tinkering with the layout I went hunting small diesels to test run on the layout besides the 44 tonners. After a little lubing three SW-9s and one SW-8 ran around the lower main flawlessly then I switched them to the incline and the 8 inch radius curvature at the top. Navigated that fine also. One SW-9 is a basket case out of four of them and most likely will become a parts donor to keep the others alive since parts support from Walthers is zilch. The big center cab sitting in the photo will be scrapped also for parts as it is based on the LL SW chassis and is just not meeting my sense of esthetics now and again used for a parts donor. I also pulled out the lone Bmann FM and it also ran the lower main along with the blue RSC. Both of those will be confined to running the lower main. So as of now I have a fleet of small diesel power that consists of eight units that are running fine with 6 of them able to take the grades and tight radius. The RSC will probably be the only six axle diesel power on the Turtle Creek Central. Both the RSC and the FM16-44 also handled the 8 inch radius I am happy to say. All Bmann locos will have the crappy huge coupler replaced since they really don't couple with anything including each other. And for some reason when I rebuilt the RSC I got the motor turned around so it runs the reverse of the other stuff. So I have a bit of maintenance to keep me busy also. So here is the diesel power for the Turtle Creek Hog Wallow division. 100_4599-1 by John Moore posted Aug 1, 2015 at 9:33 PM Tomorrow I will probably start testing the small steam and take yet another break from the layout tinkering running some motive power instead.
Started testing the steam power for the Turtle Creek Island Railroad. All the locos tested had been previously tested to see if the would work on less than 9.75 inch radius and these are the ones that handled the 8 inch fine. Total of 12 steamers that will serve as power over the whole eventual full sized layout and a mix of rod and geared. The assortment consists of 2 Shays, 3 Class A Climax, 2 4-4-0s, 2 2-6-0s, 1 2- 8-0, 1 0-8 0, and a 2-6-6-0. Future plans are to add at least two more Shays when they come out and probably retire a couple of the rod locos. I have a couple more small steamers in my steam storage box but I will end up with too much power for a eventual point to point with a 30 plus foot run of a main. Testing some of these small light locos like the 2-6-0s and the 4-4-0s found places where I needed to apply a bright boy and do some cleaning. I also found at least one of the Peco ST-5 that I was having a problem with the wheel flanges and derailments. A slight adjustment on a point and deepening some of the frog flangeways solved the issue quickly. However the electrical system is performing well and now I need to turn my attention to cleaning the track better and making sure that the flangeways are all clear. Repairing the forestation which looks like a force five gale came through in some areas and getting the last scenic backdrop in place will occupy the next week or so. After that it will be chose the locos out of the batch that will run this portion of the layout and lube the others and place in storage. Then its on to selecting the cars that will populate the layout and checking each one for coupler adjustments, trip pin height, and truck swivel, or missing parts. Last pieces will be the Lexan or Plexiglass front piece and finally install the highway bridge. Steam roster photo. 100_4600-1 by John Moore posted Aug 2, 2015 at 1:43 PM
John, I believe some 160:1 foamer filmed your steam test run, because this video sure looks like your system. Pay attention after 2:00, then especially after 3:00 when 12(!) locomotives are operating as one.
I think John had 12 in his photo. Though I admit he had to split them into 2 strings. C'mon Ken, you gotta think small....LOL
I will most likely run a set of three geared locos for the incline and have a fourth setting in the yard if needed. One loco or two for through passenger and then the little 2-6-0s plus the one 2-8-0 running mainline freight. The rest will be in storage until the layout expands at some point down the line. I have the option to run all diesel also for a change up although it will be the little units shown in the last post. Since I currently have a continuous loop with the lower main, the big 6 foot long 3 track wide test track is almost surplus except for the bigger stuff. So most likely some of my GN and SP&S power will put in a guest appearance while I give it the once a year lube and run. I last performed that task just before the stroke hit me and looking at the date I put on each box then it has been two years since I last ran them. Also anything that doesn't run on at least a 9.75 will end up being surplus so I will eventually be culling some more of my power. More noise than would be allowed on my road, and not enough trees, plus too many folks, even if the ferries dumped off a bunch of flatland touristers from the mainland. I do like that Loewy theme one though does look like a theoretical NP A-6 I once did. I am currently running my homemade self propelled track cleaning car with a Masonite pad at a scale 160 mph around the track sans the body which is too big to fit through one tunnel portal. Deekus the Cat is about to lose her mind watching that mini meece scoot around the track at that high speed.
Spent the bit of time I had for the layout yesterday carefully cleaning out the flange ways on the grade crossings and the turnouts then checking all the track except the tunnel with a NMRA gauge to make sure everything was still in gauge. Then took an old toothbrush and scrubbed in between the rails and to the sides to dislodge any loose ballast or scenic material. Then took my little micro-vac and vacuumed out the turnouts and the track followed by my more powerful hand vac. Ran the brightboy over all the rail I could get to and then ran the self propelled track cleaner over everything for awhile. Looking at the horse corral up on the meadow at the resort found that the last Feline incursion did a little more damage that I had first observed. That etched metal fencing is more flimsy than I would wish for so some reinforcement will be in order. So I most likely will take some styrene rod and cut some more fence posts to sink into the terrain which should stiffen it up and keep it in line. Collected all my broken foliage in a small plastic bowl and at some point I will set about replanting some and replacing some. I ended up cutting one to many access ports in the last backdrop section to go on the right side so I have to patch one in before I finally get around to attaching the scene and mounting the backdrop. However it is the dog days of summer and I really don't feel like doing much except lay around like an old Bassett Hound so who knows when and if this week I will get to the remaining things. Don't even feel like running trains.
Thankfully the days seem to be flying by. Soon the temperatures will drop as well as the leaves. Then a lot of us will feel more like doing some modeling.
Yup...know what ya mean.... 90 degrees and humid. AC fubar in the Jeep. Just went and did grocery shopping for the month. loaded the cart going up and down the aisles... unloaded the cart onto the conveyor... reloaded the bags into the cart at checkout... unloaded cart into car at store... unload from the car...up the steps to the house... put everything away. Time for my 'Old Man' nap...
Atlas Selectors are just a piece of circuit board with traces on it and the slide switches make contact with the traces. There aren't any electronical components in them. The rivets visible on the outside in various places, however, connect input and output terminals to the board traces and can lose contact. I think I have about 12 of them from various incarnations and have had only one act up over the years. I was able to fix it by kind of kabonging it with a small hammer and a drift. I would think it would be a rare occurrence for a relatively new one to fail but it can happen. Doug
Went shopping yesterday at one of those big warehouse grocery places and the heat and humidity took its toll. Went shopping again this AM for a few things I could not get there and again just did not feel like much when I finally got home. The PM nap has become a semi requirement since one of the effects of stroke is getting tired easily. Hopefully that too will pass. However the Big Guy has become so used to the PM naps that he comes to get me if I am not on time. What ever went wrong did it after several days of use and when you eliminate everything else that was what remained. It went on the control panel new out of the package so it did not get banged around any. And all four blocks went dead not just one that I could work around. So it will end up eventually being opened up more out of curiosity than any attempt top fix it. The only thing my old tired body let me do today was fix the muck up on the last backdrop where I cut the tunnel access portal wrong. I had saved the cutouts to use for another project later so I just fitted them back in and duck taped the backside. Then I took front side that gets the backdrop and applied some drywall compound to fill in the cracks around the refitted piece.
Yup...thats why I moved outta the Valley in 1980 I found some pine trees to live under...LOL We are always at least 20 degress cooler up here on the mountain....
John, I didn't mean to make it sound like I was questioning your troubleshooting as, obviously, replacing the Selector fixed the problem. I was just saying it must be unusual for one to fail that early. Normally they are very reliable. Sometimes I don't write things quite like I want them to be interpreted. Doug
