Building the Pinnacle Creek Mining & Timber Co. RR

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I got Silverton's particulars and congratulations again.

Here are some pages that hold the answers. The Heisler is shown as a 3-truck loco at least on Page 10 and 11. Of this thread. It is now a 2-truck.

The shortened coal car is shown as recently at Pages 84 and 85 as full sized.

Interesting about the caboose. My idea was to have the smoke stack be the difficult to see 'difference.' I must admit that the window missing or there was easier to see and I never notice it. :o

Lastly concerning the thread. No one has asked me any questions since I asked for them. This is not "my" thread per se. It belongs to all who want to use it as a resource, or to simply get lost in the pages for awhile.

Finally I have one problem with my track work. It is a really tough one. Not as big as the remodel, but something that probably should be done.
More on that later. Thanks all, Jim:)
 
Jim, I have a question for all but you especially. You mentioned something when you were describing one of the contest prizes. You said about the diesel switcher that you might have to file away the flanges somewhat for Code 83.
On my first layout I used Atlas flex code 100 and Peco Insulfrog 100 turnouts and never had a problem at all with my locomotives stalling on the turnouts.
On my second and present layout, I used Atlas flex code 83 and used mostly Atlas code 83 turnouts. On these I am having problems with my engines stalling as they enter the turnout. I experimented one day and ran all my loco’s (mostly United Ma &Pa 2-8-0) through the turnouts and discovered some would stop and two of them had no problem at all.
At first my feeling was that it was the difference between Peco and Atlas turnouts, but I might have to rethink the problem as maybe a flange problem on the code 83 that I did not have with the code 100. That the flange raises the wheel just enough entering the turnout to break the electrical connection and therefore stalling the engines.
Any thoughts on this. - Chris
 
Chris, From my knowledge base, I would have to state that all turnouts are not created equal. I'm not a fan of mixing Peco or Atlas together. Track or turnouts. Sometimes frogs need to be filed down on either brand.

You mentioned some of your locos died upon entry. I'm not an electrical guru by any means, but the most popular reason for one loco and not its twin tends to be wheel gauge. An NMRA guage is easily procured as are othe track and wheel guages. In some case moving wheels in or out on an axle is very easy. Most of the time your two thumbs will do the job. Wheel guage would be my first check especially if any of these stopping locos have derailing issues. Also I like to put a small piece of lead glued to the top of the pilot trucks. This keeps the front wheels on the tracks and will give just small weight that could make a difference.

If the problem is electrical I've cured this same problem with 1500 grit dark wet/dry sandpaper and sanding every surface of my turnouts that can be touch by a wheel. This can be found at marine stores or hobby shops that deal in model flying planes and stuff like that. If these options are not available go to your local autobody repair place. They will probably give you a sheet.

Real electrical grognards will get into wiring all different parts of the turnouts an such. But such things are beyond my skill set. Hope this helps.

As for the little diesel. I'm betting this little guy is well over twenty years old. I don't know, but I'm guessing only Code 100 was available back then. It runs great on some Code 100 track I have, and bumps along on my Code 83. If you use it on Code 100 then no problem. I think it would be a very good track cleaning car. It probably has a prototypical top speed of 90mph. I don't see any issues with grinding down the flanges with a Dremel tool either. Jim :)
 


Jim, I appreciate the answers and I will try the sandpaper and see if that helps and also the weighted front trucks is a good idea. I also didn’t mention that my United Ma &Pa 2-8-0 as well as my Ken Kidder 2-6-0 Porter Mogul, both have smaller wheels and therefore I had the feeling that the wheels weren’t large enough for the Atlas turnout and lost connection at the frog as it entered the turnout. That they hit a dead spot. Which might be the case. But, it might also be the flange on the wheel is lifting the contact surface up and therefore does not make connection. Or something else.
 
Chris, No problem. A small piece of lead on top of the front trucks is a longtime cure for 'jumpy' trucks. Lead tape from the local golf shop is what I use. Lead, unfortunately, is being 'phased out' it seems and his harder to find these days. Jim:)
 
HOexplorer said:
Chris, No problem. A small piece of lead on top of the front trucks is a longtime cure for 'jumpy' trucks. Lead tape from the local golf shop is what I use. Lead, unfortunately, is being 'phased out' it seems and his harder to find these days. Jim:)
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Could have done with that info when I was about 7 or 8 Jim. The "O" guage Hornby 4-4-2 clockwork loco I had then would fly off the rails at the turnouts and land on the floor, drivers spinning furiously (crook governer the main cause).
 
HOexplorer said:
toot, Lead on the pilot trucks has been around longer than you or me. Missed you at the latest contest? Jim:)
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Haven't run any steam since the early 1950's Hornby "Dublo" and the deep flanges probably kept them on the track. They say we should learn something new every day.

Never got past the hoppers on the tipple on the contest, powers of observation had taken a holiday.
 
Jim, I do have a question about making the caspia trees. I haven’t started yet, but I do read and reread your article on making them, just to be more familiar with it. Anyway, you say start ½” from the top and then down ½” and rotate 90 degrees.
Then you say, “succeeding holes are drilled in closer pairs, maybe a 1/4" separating each other, but always at 45 degrees under the previous drilling degree turn”. I get that part, but what is the distance you go down and the distance between the “pairs of holes”? Do you drop down ½” or ¾” or 1” between the “pairs of holes”, going down the trunk? You make very realistic trees, and I would like to do the same. - Chris
 


Chris, I think your prizes should arrive tomorrow.

About the trees: Trees tend to be more sparse near the top 20%. Because the tree is also narrowing I simply put one hole through the top half inch and turn the tree 90 degress and drill though it again. Below that I put new hole in after turning the tree 45 degrees each through hole. This is so the holes are not all lined up. Basically after the top two holes I'm drilling the next holes close together not a half inch apart like the top of the tree. Does that make sense??:eek: Jim:D
 
Here is a photo I took yesterday. This spot on the layout has become a favorite for me. Important news about the PCM&T Co. layout on the way. Jim :)
telethruthetrees_zps25d9241e.jpg
Photo gone missing. Thank you photobucket. Jim 12/27/17
 
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Thanks Bill, I certainly appreciate your comments.

Toot, The CFO around here says forget it! So the PCM&T is safe for awhile.:eek:

I keep saying that the current layout is the last one, but I can't seem to convince myself. Building is in my blood and I can't stop thinking about the 'next one.' Jim :confused:
 
Thank you Jim, The “Grand Prize Package” came yesterday and I have never seen such excellent packaging. It was professional. I will treasure these for a long time. I can tell you put a lot of time and creativity in the flat car/ workcar conversion that you did. It automatically jumped to the top of the list of cars that I own. The switcher will also become a useful engine around the layout and I probably will have to trim down the wheel flanges for my code 83. Just as a side note, I made some changes to the straight looking stream, put kind of an “S” curve effect in it, and it does look much better. Thanks again – Chris.
 
HOexplorer said:
Thanks Bill, I certainly appreciate your comments.

Toot, The CFO around here says forget it! So the PCM&T is safe for awhile.:eek:

I keep saying that the current layout is the last one, but I can't seem to convince myself. Building is in my blood and I can't stop thinking about the 'next one.' Jim :confused:
Click to expand...

You'll have to sit around looking miserable Jim, also find ways to get in under the CFO's feet. ;)
 
Chris, I happy to hear it. Enjoy.

Toot, I'll work something out I'm sure.

PCM&T news: Looks like I'm going to get into a track tuning project. I have a place where the track goes from level to about a 2 degree downgrade. It looks wrong, and depending on with cars go over it I get the odd uncoupling issue. More later.

First I have a DCC issue I'm having trouble solving. ??? Jim:)
 


While looking through an old copy of Railroad Model Craftsman, I came across this really neat looking logging caboose. Thought maybe it might be something you could be interested in. I hope your track problem is working out. - Chris
 
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