Model Train Journal

The toilet in #829 was sloshing so much that I suspect sitting on it while the train was in motion would leave you with a wet bottom.

At the end of the line we got to watch the crew turn the locomotive for the return trip to Grand Junction Station.


The turntable won't turn if the locomotive is not centered. One of the train crew members asked the crowd, "How is the engineer going to know when the locomotive is centered on the turntable?" No one knew so he explained how the engineer centered it as we watched the secret of the turntable being performed.

Looks pretty festive, Wayne. How many miles is the out-and-back excursion?

Finally got around to flocking the terrain square:



Apologies for the blurry top shot before the flock was applied. You'll note that I used a "lozenge" style scheme on the base prior to applying the ground foam. I did this to break up the look a bit should the beige undercoat show through the foam.

I used a coat of dilute PVA for the flock; I brushed this on, then the foam applied using a coarse strainer. A bit of paper underneath to catch the excess foam which was returned to the bin. I still have a ways to go, including some play with static grass in select areas.

For those of you that may have done this before, is there a fixative that should be sprayed on the ground foam after application?

healey36 wrote:Looks pretty festive, Wayne. How many miles is the out-and-back excursion?

6 miles. There is another 50 mile trip but we wanted to watch the turn table action the short trip offered.

A 50-mile jaunt would be fun. I presume that would take a few hours.

I'm looking forward to a ride behind WMSR 1309 (former C&O H-6 Mallet 1309) sometime in 2022. While the restoration process was a multi-year debacle from a front-office/management perspective, in the end they proved all the naysayers wrong. Some forty-five years ago, I spent a lot of time watching the last of the WM's AlphaJets descend that track on their way into Cumberland. Never would have occurred to me that someday I'd get a crack at seeing a 2-6-6-2 Mallet on the ascent.



Hat's off to WMSR, Allegheny County, State of Maryland, and the thousands of individual donors that dug deep to fund this project.

healey36 wrote:I'm looking forward to a ride behind WMSR 1309 (former C&O H-6 Mallet 1309) sometime in 2022.

Hat's off to WMSR, Allegheny County, State of Maryland, and the thousands of individual donors that dug deep to fund this project.

Which is better, 2-6-6-2 or 4-12-2?


I am trying to imagine the sound of a compound locomotive.

The UP 9000 4-12-2 (simple 3 cylinder) sounds like, "CHOO-choo-coo... CHOO-choo-coo..."

The M1 2-6-6-2 and later L1/L2 2-8-8-2 Mallets could operate over the steep grades and tight curves of the WM’s route up and over the Blue Ridge east of Hagerstown. I’m thinking something like that 4-12-2 would have had severe problems.

Wayne, having heard Gresley-geared locos they have a very regular beat of six per revolution. You can go to any number of vids of Gresley three-cylinder Pacifics in the UK to get an idea; like a trumpet player practicing triplets saying "dudicka-dudicka-dudicka"; very regular in spacing. They're set at 120 degrees apart and, if you can hear more than just the slightest of what people call the "Gresley Beat", especially if the regularity is not there, the gear needs reset or rebuilt. In good nick the beat is very subtle.

There is a recording of a UP 4-12-2 out there that used to be available on an LP, captured in the mid '50s, that sounds in shocking condition so cannot be taken as what one should sound like. Several had a Walschaerts gear rather than Gresley; I'd have to look them up to see how they were timed but might be different. I believe it was John Proffit who made several recordings of them; we are fortunate to have them now, but bear in mind these were made at the end of their lives so the maintenance of the gear (and whose gear was on a particular loco) has some bearing.

The sound from a mallet-compound is the sound from the low-pressure cylinders exhausting to atmosphere, which makes sense when you think about it. The exhaust from the high-pressure cylinders remains captured as its delivered to the low pressure cylinders so no drama there.

Here's a scuffed up photo of #951, the first of the nine M1 2-6-6-2 Mallets built by Baldwin for the WM:



#951 was delivered in June, 1909, with eight more arriving over the next 30 months. C&O #1309 was built some 40 years later, so not much comparability.

Not sure of the photo location, but I suspect Hagerstown. I think this photo was in a pile I got from Ray Hicks back in the mid-1970s when he lived here in Westminster.

sarge wrote:Wayne, having heard Gresley-geared locos they have a very regular beat of six per revolution.

There is a recording of a UP 4-12-2 out there that used to be available on an LP, captured in the mid '50s, that sounds in shocking condition so cannot be taken as what one should sound like.

The sound from a mallet-compound is the sound from the low-pressure cylinders exhausting to atmosphere, which makes sense when you think about it. The exhaust from the high-pressure cylinders remains captured as its delivered to the low pressure cylinders so no drama there.

Thank you for the input Sarge.

Hmm, I was hoping for the sound of chaos. Oh well, still an impressively powerful locomotive.


The center cylinder on the UP 4-12-2 is mounted upside down, higher than the outer cylinders and at an angle, so that the main rod clears the first axel. I think the unusual mounting is what makes the unusual sound. Here is a video of one CHOO-choo-chooing as it leaves the yard.=> https://youtu.be/8YhtAYraQc0

When I road the Roaring Camp train the engine was a small three cylinder shay. I sounded just like you said.

healey36 wrote:A 50-mile jaunt would be fun. I presume that would take a few hours.

I'm looking forward to a ride behind WMSR 1309 (former C&O H-6 Mallet 1309) sometime in 2022. While the restoration process was a multi-year debacle from a front-office/management perspective, in the end they proved all the naysayers wrong. Some forty-five years ago, I spent a lot of time watching the last of the WM's AlphaJets descend that track on their way into Cumberland. Never would have occurred to me that someday I'd get a crack at seeing a 2-6-6-2 Mallet on the ascent.



Hat's off to WMSR, Allegheny County, State of Maryland, and the thousands of individual donors that dug deep to fund this project.

Will that Mallet fit on the turntable in Cumberland?

Same question I’ve been asking. WMSR says it will, but it’s hard to believe, especially considering the Consolidation with its big tender was a tight fit.

The Google machine says the turntable at Frostburg is 100 ft. in length. It says 1309 is, wait for it, 99.7 ft. long.

healey36 wrote:Same question I’ve been asking. WMSR says it will, but it’s hard to believe, especially considering the Consolidation with its big tender was a tight fit.

The Google machine says the turntable at Frostburg is 100 ft. in length. It says 1309 is, wait for it, 99.7 ft. long.

Oh boy! Someone better be paying attention

Wow, what a cool set of locomotive photos!

George

It gets a little more comfy when you remember the overall length number really doesn't matter that much. It's the wheelbase number that tells the tale. The wheelbase according to the C&O diagram book is 88' 6-3/4".

So long as the edges of the pit are cleared back to accommodate any overhang, and the support rollers are in decent nick since the centre of mass might not be able to be (tacitly, anyway) placed at the point of rotation, there's playroom.