What's New on the PRR Panhandle Division?

[G3750]

YES!!!!!

Braxton is a large part of the impetus for seeing the Panhandle through. Parts of it are daunting and might never be finished to the state I want them, but his happiness pushes me on. And he doesn't care about fidelity to the prototype, that's my own problem, er obsession.

He is a real character, too. Passing through Strasburg, PA you encounter many Amish horse-drawn buggies. Invariably, his response was "I ride that horse".

His father told me that afterwards, Braxton couldn't stop talking about "choo-choo's".

So my work here is done.

Well, close to it, anyway. I've just got to keep pushing forward. Nothing will happen this week, but next week beckons. So on we go.

George

[healey36]

You need to go into hyper-mode, man...that kid will be driving before you know it!

[G3750]

You need to go into hyper-mode, man...that kid will be driving before you know it!

I know, I know.

The plan is to get the bridge installed and be running trains BEFORE Christmas. I don't know how practical that is going to be as the big dependency is the painting of 2 backdrops, but there it is.

I am pushing hard for that to happen. I will have the river module in shape in time.

George

[G3750]

Updated 11/28/2015:

In keeping with the guidance to "measure twice and cut once", I measured the distance from roadbed top to (existing) river module surface on each side of the bridge. The western side is higher by 1/4". This is not a huge difference but we will have to lower the western side. We have already lowered the eastern side and worked out the elevation kinks in that roadbed, so we do not want to mess with it. This will be a little tricky, as we will need to decide if we are going to decouple the support for the Hidden Passing Siding from that of the mainline or simply maintain the elevation of the Hidden Passing Siding separately.

Hopefully, the photo below shows some of the intricacy of the operation.

W_Rebuild_07_.JPG (40.4 KiB) Viewed 3235 times

My artist friend made significant progress on Backdrop #1. She managed to rough out the landscape forms and sky. In her next session, she will work on adding detail and adjusting the tint of the sky. The unpainted area on the right side of the backdrop will be covered by the styrofoam mountain.

W_Rebuild_06_.JPG (28.5 KiB) Viewed 3235 times

More when I know it.

George

[G3750]

Updated 11/29/2015:

Ever have an epiphany? One of those insights that comes to you in a flash?

Well, I just did regarding the support at western end of the bridge. In the previous post, I had discovered that the western end of the bridge was 1/4" higher from the river than the eastern end. We had already done work on the roadbed at the eastern end and raising it by 1/4" was out of the question. At that point, my choices all looked pretty bad. They were:

1. Split the subroadbed at the back of the layout into two pieces - 1 track for the hidden passing siding and 1 track for the northern bridge track. Each part would have a slightly different height and require its own riser. That promised to be major work and require the Hidden Passing Siding track work to be redone.

2. Lower the entire western end of the layout (just before it met the bridge) by 1/4". That would create a low spot on all 3 tracks.

The epiphany: I will keep the bridge and both supports at their current heights. To accomplish this I will:

• Use the slightly taller bridge pier (by 1/8") at the western end.
• Place a shim under the western pier to raise it the required height.

This should prove easier and save significant effort without endangering previous work.

George

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Ever have an epiphany?

Usually results in a visit to the ER.......

[G3750]

Ever have an epiphany?

Usually results in a visit to the ER.......

Not this time. I think I dodged that bullet.

Your tag line isn't directed at me, is it? I haven't seen you in a dress, but I doubt it's pretty.

George

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Ever have an epiphany?

Usually results in a visit to the ER.......

Not this time. I think I dodged that bullet.

Lucky......

Your tag line isn't directed at me, is it? I haven't seen you in a dress, but I doubt it's pretty.

No, and most probably correct.

[G3750]

Updated 11/30/2015:

Worked on the western (Steubenville) anchor point for the bridge tonight.

Photo 1 shows the riser installed on the opposite side of cleat. Note the "Rube Goldberg" spacer at the bottom. That couldn't be helped as the cleat was attached to the sub-roadbed and not movable (unless I wanted to rip up the passing siding again). Kids, don't try this at home.

W_Rebuild_08_.JPG (40.7 KiB) Viewed 3187 times

The second photo shows both risers installed and supporting the western anchor point. The sub-roadbed has been leveled and the top of the Vinylbed roadbed rests precisely 16 and 3/16" above the top of the river module.

W_Rebuild_09_.JPG (43.66 KiB) Viewed 3183 times

In the third photo, I have clamped in place the cleat that will support the bridge anchor point. I will need to remove it and cut it to be precisely 7" in length.

W_Rebuild_10_.JPG (41.09 KiB) Viewed 3183 times

Here's how it would look from the top if the sub-roadbed weren't in the way.

End Abutments v004-1.jpg (115.69 KiB) Viewed 3186 times

And here's how it will look from the side.

End Abutments v004-2.jpg (88.34 KiB) Viewed 3182 times

Of course, none of the bridge abutment parts are in place yet.

George

[G3750]

Updated 12/2/2015:

Nothing photogenic, but I did work on a few things this evening:

• Once again checked the height measurements for the river module.
• Cut a 1"x4" board for the back of the new river module.
• Adjusted the height of the Hidden Passing Siding and tested it using the PRR M1a. Tested it forwards & backwards - passed!
• Started installing an additional ground plane above the yard lead to the Hidden Storage Yard (but below the Hidden Passing Siding). This will run all the way out to the Weirton Steel Yard to assist with a few low signal areas.
• Picked up some additional paint yesterday for the artist.

George

[rogruth]

George,

Have you put any rolling stock behind the loco when trying those areas?

[G3750]

George,

Have you put any rolling stock behind the loco when trying those areas?

No, I haven't. Should I be doing that?

My concern has been the close-to-scale pilot on the M1a. In the past, primarily due to low spots, it would contact the center rail and short out the engine. I also saw that with other "foreign" power. What should I be concerned about with rolling stock?

Thanks, Roger.

George

[rogruth]

Don't really know but I have a loco that will make it anywhere on my layout
but with some cars behind it, in this case 3 or more, strange things happen.
They are inconsistent and only happen with this loco, a Williams PRR S2.
Non-derail switches derail. The pilot wheels derail. the trailing truck derails.
All of these things will NOT happen at once. Usually only one thing will happen
but it will be consistent that day. The next time it will work just great.
Remember I said it was inconsistent and it is the only loco I have that has
these problems. Never a problem when run without cars.
I think, it is possessed.

[G3750]

Don't really know but I have a loco that will make it anywhere on my layout
but with some cars behind it, in this case 3 or more, strange things happen.
They are inconsistent and only happen with this loco, a Williams PRR S2.
Non-derail switches derail. The pilot wheels derail. the trailing truck derails.
All of these things will NOT happen at once. Usually only one thing will happen
but it will be consistent that day. The next time it will work just great.
Remember I said it was inconsistent and it is the only loco I have that has
these problems. Never a problem when run without cars.
I think, it is possessed.

Hmm. That is strange. Is it the same set of cars? quantity? arrangement? Does the weight of the cars cause the locomotive to ride light on the front axles?

In the past, I have run some fairly long trains behind locomotives on that Hidden Passing Siding - 9-10 cars. No reason I couldn't try that again just for grins.

George

[G3750]

Updated 12/03/2015:

Didn't get a lot done last night. However, I did continue the installation of the ground plane wire under the Hidden Passing Siding. I also managed to organize some of the remaining work into sessions. Making it bite-sized versus a huge list works a little better.

George