Mid September Update

I blinked and the summer was gone... June, July, and August all flew by at astonishing pace and now here we are in September. Over the past few weeks quite a few projects have been happening on the "Clair".

Project #1 - Rolling Stock Reliability Program 2014. 
Inspired my Mike Confalone's Allagash Story and Mike McNamara's car maintenance post I took a hard look at my fleet reliability and realized it was outright pathetic.... While I had made large progress at converting 100% of the operating fleet to Intermountain 33/36 metal wheelsets; what was operating hadn't been cleaned, plastic knuckles failed, and some truck bolsters just needed outright adjustment.

Gridlock...? Nope just cars and power that have completed RSRP awaiting movement to the storage cabinets.

Solution - R.S.R.P.  "The Program". Over the past two weeks I have been averaging 8 cars a day to go through a rigorous preventative maintenance program.
  #1 Clean wheelsets - use a cotton swap to apply alcohol to the tread of the wheel softening up the "gunk"
                -Once on I then use a dremel tool with brass wheel brush on the lowest setting.
                -Keeping friction on the axle as to not melt the truck or wheel I lightly clean the wheel which                           removes the buildup.
  #2 Ream out trucks for better rolling.
  #3 Replace plastic couplers with Kadee #5 - only exception is the shelf style coupler on Athearn tankcars.
                - Check coupler height with Kadee gauge and adjust with Kadee shims accordingly.
  #4 Truck Bolster Adjustment - allow only one truck use the "B" end or brake end to move on 3 point axis
                - A end truck is only allowed to swivel back and forth horizontally.
  #5 Fix any parts on car that either had come off or were loose.
  #6 Enter car into excel database for future preventative

So far 72 cars have been completed with another 40-50 to go.

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Locomotives are also going through a similar program at the rate of 1 or 2 a day which includes wheel cleaning using the TRIX HO brass wheel cleaner and repair of any detail parts that came off while operating. One item that will be added to the locomotive process will be Decoder programming to be speed match and operate locomotives of all brands together. The Allagash Story provides some great insight to consisting and locomotive CV parameters for realistic operation.

So far 6 of 27 locomotives have been completed.

The Clean line.... 1 MP15DC, 3 GP38-2s, 1 SD70ACe, and 1 3GS21B

Project #2 - Lift Out Section Improvements
After my last two operating sessions I realized and got operator feedback that I needed a way to better secure my lower level lift out piece, because there wasn't really one other than sheer luck....

Solutions.... Lock It Up. Using sliding bolt looks from the local home improvement store the lift out section now has three securement devices. There is a little play but not enough to send a passing train to the deep abyss below known as the floor.

Top Slide Lock - Will be hidden by BLMA shed once scenery is complete. This lock provides a tighter securement keep the tracks on the layout and lift out section aligned.

Bottom slide lock - one on each end, keeps it from falling to the floor.

Project #3 - Backdrop Install
Les at Sceniking has been great help working toward getting backdrops installed on the Clair. I started out with three kits which one I had already installed for the Saginaw River Crossing Scene. The other two I hadn't used yet were a hardwood forest and soybean fields. Sunday provided the opportunity to install both of them with relative ease and a lot of enjoyment. Making sure that your backdrop is already painted, glue stick and a good pair of craft scissors always make the process move by even quicker. There is alot of debate out there on backdrops - sky, no sky, photographic, painted, etc.... I decided to go with Sceniking printed backdrops over-layed on a latex painted backdrop. This means that I cut the sky out of the scene and I am greatly impressed with the results. Looking forward to purchasing more and getting the ones I have up fully blended into the scene.

Hardwood scene at Bay Yard - for all you familiar with HESR's Wenona Yard I think its a good comparison

Soybean field scene at east of Grays Lake - angle up view.

Same view closer in with MCIS 4571 (SD45-2) rolling by on the siding.

Angle down view - will scenic from backdrop up to tracks with Soybean crops.

Everyone have a great month - look for my next post toward the back end of the month.

GM

Warbonnet and A View

Things were quieter than normal on the "Clair" today due to Labor Day. On the flip side capital gangs were out in force taking advantage of uninterrupted track time (Early Sept post).

Warbonnet 

Two Q trains did operate through the terminal with the eastbound Q-GRPH-01 only setting out MCIS 3829 (GP38-2) and four cars. From the pictures I will let you guess the previous owner... 

The power desk took advantage of the quiet weekend to repo this unit over to Bay City after one of the SD40-2s assigned to road service here wound up heading to Mt. Pleasant's dead line.

A View

From the yard tower looking east.

From the DSF sand tower looking west.

Happy Labor Day everyone!

GM

Chicagoland Visit

This past week I was up in the Chicagoland area for work and had a little bit of free time one afternoon to make two model railroad stops.

Chicago style pizza, Italian beef sandwiches, and model trains...

White Sox game versus the Indians

Stop #1 Schaumburg, IL

     KATO USA

A couple weeks ago I found one of my older Kato SD40-2s to have a broken truck sideframe clip. Finally I got around to sending an email to KATO's customer service to see if a replacement part was available. They were great to work with and quick to respond. It happened that I was 10 miles from their headquarters so I decided to stop by and pick up the part.

Like their website states they do not have a operating layout but there is still some neat products on display in the front office. The address and hours are available on their website.

Stop #2 Des Plaines, IL.

     Des Plaines Hobby

If you are ever up by O'Hare airport, take an hour and head up north a few miles to stop by this shop. They have a nice stock of products and a nice staff supporting Chicagoland modelers. Being I live in Texas it's hard to find Midwest paint schemes on the shelves but not when visiting here!

Picked up two Intermountain covered hoppers with CN/IC and CNIS reporting marks.

I found this IC car to have packaging damage so got a pretty good deal on it, will get it to the RIP sometime this month to repair.

Also picked up my first Fox Valley Models HO scale SOO 7 post boxcar in Tony Koester's Allegheny Midland. Very nicely done.

Note: opinions above of KATO USA and Des Plaines Hobbies are my own and not biased or persuaded by any monetary compensation or gifts.

Everyone have a great and safe Labor Day.

GM

Following the Sugar Turn

While work continues on the layout, I figured it was good to show one of the locals that defines operations.

L-BAUH "Sugar Turn"

Local Switcher Bay Yard to Upper Huron

Purpose of this local is to serve two customers at Upper Huron: Michigan Sugar and Saginaw Valley Co-generation.

Lets follow along for a normal days work.

L-BAUH-25

MCIS 4035 (EMD GP40X)

2 Loads 

  2 coal hoppers for Co-gen

2 MTY 

  1 Molasses tank car

  1 Beet Pulp covered hopper

  1 Shoving Platform

Departing Bay City - Bay Yard 

Heading under M-13

Passing the "Begin EDSE" DTC Block sign, the local has the road until reaching Upper Huron. 

Arriving at Upper Huron 

Rumbling across Main Street in a blur the local is no doubt on the move.
In the background you can see the east leg of the Upper Huron Wye.

Shoving platform MCIS 31 brings up the rear. Since the wye is currently out of service the turn heads east to Grays Lake and makes a run around then returns utilizing the west leg to access its customers. 

Working Customers

Making the run around move and returning to Upper Huron, the turn prepares to pull the outbound and then spot the inbound. 

Returning home at Upper Huron

Work events and air test complete the turn has shoved back onto the main and begins the journey west to Bay Yard.

Arriving at Bay City - Bay Yard

Sugar Turn arriving back - the 3rd trick yard job using a venerable EMD MP15DC (Y-BA03) idles in the foreground. 

Returning back to Bay Yard the local operated with a little more tonnage.

3 Loads

  1 Molasses tank car

  1 Beet Pulp covered hopper

  1 Sugar Airslide

3 MTY

   3 coal empties

The Y-BA03-25 will sort the cars for outbound movement later tonight. 

GM

Bay City Industrial Spur

The past week I have been working to rough in the industry and track arrangement for the Bay City Industrial Spur. Last night the final arrangement was made and decided on.

The area consists of two industries which are reached through four #4 turnouts and  a diamond crossing. One goal of this area was to not overdo the amount of trackwork or turnouts in the area - wanted it to feel "real". The area will be served by the Y-BA04 which also works the other two customers in Bay City.

Huron Milling

Inbound: Corn, Wheat

Outbound: Flour

Inspiration gathered from mills in Chelsea, MI, Frankenmuth, MI and Saginaw, TX. 

Huron Milling - flour mill on left and unload facility on right

Straight on view of Huron Milling

The unload facility is located in the foreground where the product will travel over the tracks to the silos adjacent to the mill. The mill itself is a kitbash of Walthers, DPM, and PVC pipe.

Fort Mackinaw Paper - Corrugated Div.

Inbound: Rolled Paper

Outbound: Recycled Paper

Facility hosts a double track inside arrangement that can hold 3 50' boxcars each. The roof will be removable to view interior which will have a balsa or plywood simulated dock level with the rail and truck docks.

Fort Mackinaw Corrugated and switch back for serving Huron Mill flour and unload tracks. 

 I hope to install the cork base and trackwork this week.

GM

Sunday Evening at Bay Yard

A little under the weather today, but enough time to post ops at Bay Yard.

MCIS 4035 (GP40X) idling on yard 6 - should be power for the L-BAUH operating tomorrow.

MCIS 153 (MP15DC) tucked away on yard 3. This unit is assigned to switching the yard. On Sundays there is only a 1st shift yard job to set up the yard for Monday.

MCIS 2101 (3GS21B) tied down on main 2 with traffic for Mondays Y-BA04-18. Mondays crew will go on duty and take these cars to Huron Milling and Fort Mackinaw Corrugated for an early morning switch. 

Until next time

GM

A Bridge Runs Over It

Last night I completed the two lane wide M-13 highway overpass that crosses the St. Clair Subdivision east of Bay Yard. While the bridge is meant to set a location geographically it is also designed to seperate scenes.

Looking west towards Bay Yard with lead on right and main on left. 

Construction was straight forward using Rix Products modern overpass parts and a sheet of .040 styrene for the bridge deck. 

To the right of the scene the track heads into the helix. With SuperTrees and this bridge I hope to conceal or take focus off the entrance to the helix. Left of the bridge is Bay Yard and Lakes Forest Products which is another focus point.

I still need to paint and weather the bridge which will come soon with the scene. Not bad for the first completed kitbash in over 2 years.

GM