Being the owner of an operating model railroad takes a lot of work! Especially when you’ve let things slide and the problems start piling up. Being the hardcore procrastinator that I am I’ve put off a lot of things for another day. That day has come for some of them.
I’ve been intending to add contact strips under my lift out for a long time, perhaps years. It’s always a nuisance to feed the wire that powers the rails on the lift out through the slot and then plug it in. The biggest problem I’ve had, besides remembering to the put the lift out in place “before” an operating session, is to remember to plug it in so it has power. About 5 minutes into an operating session I often hear someone saying “You forget to put the bridge in!” or about 10 or 15 minutes into the session, “There’s no power on the bridge!”. So today I added some brass contact strips to the framework under the bridge and some brass pins to the bottom side of the bridge so that as soon as the bridge is in place it has power. At least one of the recurring bridge problems has been solved.
I received a Proto 2000 0-8-0 switcher from my wife for Christmas. I installed a decoder in it this afternoon. I have had one of these little steam locos for about a year. They run very smoothly but without a lot of traction. I was hoping the second unit coupled to the first would be enough to get the Milk Train over “The Ridge”. After messing around for about 1/2 an hour getting them speed matched I coupled up to the Milk Train and headed for Derwin’s Drop. Unfortunately about 1/2 way up The Ridge they both started spinning. Gutless wonders! They will still need the Kenville switcher to help them over The Ridge.
I hope to get a power issue in Stevenville resolved this afternoon and fix a couple grade crossings in Kenville. Then it’s time to make sure all the freight cars are in the proper places, distribute the orders, and clean up!
If things aren’t too hectic this evening I’ll post some pictures this week sometime.
Later!
Scott