Switchthrows II

After installing all the switchthrows, and doing a little scenicking in the Irwin Yard, I discovered  that even thought the Caboose Industries swtichthrows are not to scale, and their black ... you could easily overlook them. I remembered reading somewhere long ago that someone painted the handles white. So I did that and really liked how they stood out against the background. After further consideration, I decided to paint the "turned" side red so that an operator could quickly scan the tracks and see if any of the switches were thrown the wrong way. I'm pretty pleased with the overall effect.

Bachmann GP-7

Micromark has been advertising a Bachmann GP-7 for almost 50% off retail. Now I'll admit, I was intrigue. They had it lettered for the Pennsy, it looked very nice in the photo and amazingly came ready for DCC. I did manage to add a DCC controller to my S-1 and F-3A but I'm still not confortable soldering a $20 electrical card! I mentioned the GP-7 to Lisa enough times that she finaly said, "Why don't you buy it already?"

Well, I was not really angling for permission but it was my way of debating with myself. Would it be worth $45? Would it run poorly and I would forever be disappointed? And while I was a locomotive roster and stage through trains for my locals to skirt around, was now the right time to start building the collection? Well, I took the plunge.

And wished I had bought two! I took it out of the box, dropped it on the track and it ran immediately on address 03. I did not even have to replace the couplers with Kadee #5s (my coupler standard) - just back it up to a string of cars, CLICK and pull forward. Sweet! Smooth, very smooth. Took me a while to work though the Digitrax manual on how to program the address to the locomotive number (8805) but then I was good to go.

In fact, it runs better than the S-1 ... a lot better. The S-1 is irritating me. I wonder if I bouched the CVs? Hmmm. Time to go back downstairs.

Pleasant finds

Occasionally, I travel for my business and I usually try to find local hobby stores. Most of the time, they are too far away to visit given that I usually work until 6 PM or later. There are some places that look very interesting but are too far away - again because of my late work hours.
On a recent trip to Orange County, CA, I found a wonderful little shop called The Train Crossings ... and even more wonderful people working there. They were very helpful and had a tremendous stock for their size. I could only spend a few minutes browsing and I forgot my wish list but I did manage to find a couple items to bring back to the Irwin district.

Check out their website at http://www.thetraincrossing.com.

Switchthrows

Some time ago I decided that I wanted to use the Caboose Industries instead of switch machines because I liked the idea of pausing the train, taking the time to manually switch the track. I found an excellent article some time ago that showed an excellent way to install the throw rod and make it look realistic. I installed about 10 or so of the devices over a couple weeks but gave up because (1) it was a bit tedious and (2) I needed more Caboose Industries 202S switch throws.

A couple weeks back I finally bought the last 5 that I needed (perfect 5 pack order). Yesterday I decided part of my problem was using too thin wire (I think it's .025" but it may be smaller) so I got some .032" from the hardware store and last night started installing the remaining devices. Well, first I had to repair 2 or 3 that had fallen apart but I got on a roll and ... ta da! ... installed all 28 by the end of the night. One I had to glue the connecting rod (I *love* super glue) and I let it sit over night but today all the switch throws are installed.

I painted all the stands white to help them show up against the background and I think I might add a red target when it's thrown counter to normal .. so when the normal is straight and it's set to curve.

What's next?

The Beginning

Like most folks with a career and family, I try to make time for my favorite hobby - model railroading. However, demands from the office, activities with the kids, and sometimes just not really motivated to head to the basement, I spend more time thinking about trains than running trains. So ... I thought I would create a blog to collect some of my ideas, plans, steps and missteps.

I got started in model railroading when I was probably 11 or 12 years old. My dad built an HO railroad for my that slid under my twin bed. Extremely clever design, unfortunately we did not know the difference between brass rail and nickel silver so everytime I pulled it out, I had to clean the track. Naturally, it spent more time under the bed than pulled out and running.

When I was in high school, I moved the layout to the basement and added a small yard. Now I could sort trains and have a purpose. I began to get interested in operations - although I did not really grasp much of what I was reading, I was still fascinated that there was more to model railroading than running trains. I was hooked once I read Bruce Chubb's How To Operate Your Model Railroad. (Side note: it was a picture of one of the control panels on his layout that convinced me I wanted to be an electical engineer ... all the way until my junior year of college when Penn State disabused me of that notion!)

That started my quest to build the perfect layout ....