Finally, the last 2 power stations have been built and installed. One is for the outside 2 loops, and the other is for the inside and raised loops. Here is what they look like.
Freshly built stations. Middle shelf height is different on outside 2 loops station than other stations
Outside 2 loops. Middle shelf set up so can reach accessory transformers more easily,
since they are controlling a variety of Lionel accessories that will need constant adjusting.
The controls on my old crane and coal loaded had the same size issues as the modern ones. Therefore, I needed a second flip down shelf near the 2 accessories. The cables on both accessories had also dried up, so I had to rewire both of them. I also added a connector under the layout for each of them, for easy removal for maintenance.
Picture with shelf closed.
Picture with shelf open showing Coal Loader and Crane Controls.
I needed somewhere to mount the extra tall controls for the cranes and coal loaders. I finally decided to mount them on a flip down panel. The one for the modern crane and coal loader on the side for the outer 2 loops controls is now complete. The actual shelves were completed a couple weeks ago. I had to replace belts and grease on both units to get them to work, since they haven't been run since 1998. I got them working today, and finished mounting the controls to the shelf. The shelves will normally be closed to keep them out of the way. The shelf flips down when needed to operate the equipment, and sticks out about 4 inches. For open houses, the shelf will be closed so little hands will not be playing with them.
Picture with shelf closed
Picture with shelf open showing Coal Loader, Uncoupler, and Crane Controls
The inside loop and raised loop track power switches, accessory switches and switch track control have been installed. The raised loop siding does not have a separate control switch. Instead it is controlled by the Inside Left throttle lever of the ZW. The green track power control for the inside loop has 2 switches for the outside siding, and 2 for the inside siding. The extra switch on the outside siding controls the stop and go feature of the passenger station. The extra switch on the inside siding selects inside or outside right ZW controls for the steep down grade in the helix. It was intended to be able to run a conventional engine, but the kinks have not been worked out yet. For now, engines with cruise control are used, and both switches select the outside right ZW handle.
Most accessories and uncoupling tracks for outside 2 loops wired in.Still have modern crane and coal loader to do, but have to repair them first. Here is what some of them look like:
Gateman, unloader track by Sawmill, .Sawmill, and Drum loader switches
Switch Tower, Diesel Horn, Marx Crossing Bell, Oil Well
Finally a little progress. The control panel for the switch tracks, uncoupler / remote control track above the power station, and accessory overrides are all connected. Still have all of the accessory local controls, lights, remaining uncloupler / remote control tracks, and the control panel for the inner and raised loops to do. I also have to build and paint 2 new power stations and mount the #91 breakers to match the rest of the power stations. The 2 shelves currently under the fall area are just temporary ones I had available for use. Still have a long way to go on the fall electrical, then I can start the scenery.
From about January 1 to early February, I mainly worked on the track work and rolling stock to get everything running dependably. I had a variety of places where trains would derail, or intermittently short out causing the #91 breakers to trip. One of the biggest problems was caused by the Lionel 3424 Operating Brakeman Car activators.
The 3424 Operating Brakeman Car was one of my
favorite operating cars when I was a kid (last week). It featured a brakeman gingerly standing on
top of the box car who had to duck whenever a tunnel or low overpass was
approached (PHOTO 1), then stand back up and go back to work when he was out of
danger (PHOTO 2). He was ‘warned’ by a
‘Tell Tale’ Low Bridge Signal. See youtube video below PHOTO 2 for short
movie of operation.
PHOTO 1
PHOTO 2
The car was operated by a solenoid inside the car. It
received power from a roller on the track center rail, and ground via a special
shoe (PHOTO 3) when it made contact with an activator assembly embedded in the
track (PHOTO 4).The slot in the shoe was narrower than the
operating shoes on other cars, to prevent the car from activating on uncoupler
/ remote control tracks and OTC (Operating Track Control) lockons. The activator
assembly also held the signal pole. The assembly had separate activators for 0-27
and 0 Track (taller) which were semi-permanently attached to the assembly by
bending the tabs on the activators.
Although the car operated very well, the car would sometimes miss a
signal, so the man did not always stay in sync with the signals and you couldn’t
depend on the man clearing a low tunnel.
PHOTO 3
PHOTO 4
I have 3 tunnels where I plan on running these cars, so I
had to have 3 sets of actuators. After I
installed them, I discovered that many lighted cars and engines would short out
when passing over either of 2 sets of them.
The distance between the sides on the actuators was narrow enough that
the wide center power pickup rollers on many of my pieces would short on the
sides of the actuators (PHOTO 5). The
third set of actuators I had was made differently, and had each side on top curved
and expanded out an additional 1/16 inch to make additional clearance (PHOTO 6).
PHOTO 5
PHOTO 6
After doing some research, it
appears that Lionel delivered a new design with the curved top starting with the Monon Operating
Brakeman Car (6-19811) in 1990, which was also used on the Delaware & Hudson (6-19815–1992) and B & O Sentinel (6-36760–2002) Operating Brakeman
Cars. Luckily I was able to purchase 2
modern sets on E-Bay to replace the post war ones I had. I may have been able to modify my existing ones by simply bending them out and putting a top bend in to make them perpendicular again, but I was afraid they would then be too short to consistentlymake contact with the shoes.
Now everything would run OK
through the activators except one of my 2020 Turbines. One of them had extra wide rollers that still
shorted on the new activators. This
time, President Les came to the rescue with a set of new design 2020 rollers
that had tapered sides (Photo 7), so now everything seems to be running great..
Another year has passed, and the layout has progressed a little this year. The new 8x10 Autumn area is up and running, but still has many track problems to work out, control panels to wire, and accessories to hook up. As expected, not much has been done since the Piedmont Pilgrimage, due to getting ready for the holidays. We did a recent trip to Disney to see the lights. Here are a few pictures. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Hollywood Studios
Hollywood Studios Osmond Family Lights (This is the last year they will be there)
Hollywood Studios Osmond Family Lights-Mickey Mouse
Hollywood Studios Osmond Family Lights
Epcot-Sir Donald Duck
Epcot-Morocco-Celebration
Epcot-Norway-Sidrid & Julenissen Mischievous Christmas Gnome Story
Epcot-Italy-LaBefana Kind Hearted Witch Story
Magic Kingdom-Light Parade-Tinker Bell
SAM Shortline Railroad, Cordele Ga-Kathy and Santa
My sixth Piedmont Pilgrimage turned out to be just as enjoyable as my
other ones. I had 3 full time 'helpers' (Roger & Sherry, and Bob P) ,
and a couple club members came over.
All told, we had 75 people including ourselves, which is another record. Fortunately they were spread fairly evenly over the 4 hour period, so it didn't seem to be overly crowded. The weather was cold and rainy, which may have helped attendance. I did find out that I beat out a couple very nice HO and O gauge detailed layouts this year.
As usual, the weeks before, I worked my tail off trying to get last
minute finishing touches in, mainly on the fall area and raised section.. I am still having track issues, but managed to get a couple trains that would run on each loop reliably (I thought).
During the open house, I kept having problems on 2 tracks in the new area, and finally found 2 diesels that worked great. We did not have any problems after that, until after we closed. Then I laid down the Polar Express on top of the helix because I was controlling the wrong train with the remote.
From what I could tell, everyone seemed to have a good time. I know I sure did. Here's what the layout looked like the day before the Pilgrimage.
