Loose Ends

Company is coming over for dinner before long and The Wife has offered a tour of the barn as part of the entertainment!!  That presents a couple of issues since the barn houses the train layout.  For one, it probably should be running so track and locomotive wheels need cleaning.  For another, something a bit more prototypical than sliding the throws on the turnouts would be good -- I just happen to have six ground throws!  And, for another thing, the layout probably ought to be vacuumed a bit and dusted.

Fortunately, the granddaughters had given me a track cleaning pad and holder as a gift.  I pulled out some 70% isopropyl alcohol, wet the pad, and wiped it around the tracks.  Yep, there was a good bit of crud on the tracks:

That got the switcher running around most of the layout without a hitch.  Then I wet an edge of a paper towel and ran the front wheels and then the rear wheels of both the switcher and the F-cab locomotive over the towel a few times.  A little use of the "eraser" and some fine sandpaper and the switcher was running around all of the track at a setting of 1 or 2.  The F-unit needed about a 4 setting to not hesitate, but we can work with that.

The ground throws were not as easy to install as anticipated.  Seems the model, 202S by Caboose Industries, doesn't attach directly to Atlas turnouts, but I either didn't get or have lost any adaptors.  Rather than spend the time to go across town to the hobby shop, I just took out the Dremel tool with a cut-off wheel and removed some of the throw bar (or whatever it is called).  To connect to the ground throw, I drilled a small hole (my drill bit set number about #60 which didn't match up with Caboose Industries' 0.055 inches recommendation, but it worked).  Two small brads (used elsewhere to attach track to the layout) and we were in business:

Well, not quite in business, yet.  The downward-facing pin on the ground throw protruded into the cork bed material.  But, a small grinding burr on the Dremel and enough cork was removed to allow the throw to moved full length.  Well, yes, I did cut small pieces of cork bed to place under the throws -- turned upside down so the angle on the edge would fit the similar angle on the track bed.

I can count six turnouts with throws.  Wouldn't you know it, there's ONE more turnout left.

Oh well, looks like another trip to the hobby shop after all.

Now, with all that work completed and visions of dusting and vacuuming the layout before the dinner get-together, some way of protecting the layout from future "contamination" seemed like a good idea.  So, four piece of corner molding about 2 feet long were screwed in around layout and a roughly 5" X 5" block of wood with a 3/4" hole in the middle for a 2-foot dowel provided a center support.  A large sheet of plastic, and the protection is in place.  Looks like a clean piece of plastic would be a good idea!

Maybe I can use the two uprights on the rear of the layout for a 1/8" hardboard backdrop holder.

For the sake of catching up on other work on the layout, I did install wood "timber" grade crossings a week or so ago.  I just happen to have some "black" stain I used on a pair of Adirondack chairs left over, so the timbers got a grayish stain.  To get the timbers to fit, the outside pieces had to be ground at a bit of an angle (to allow for the molded in spikes on the ties).  Then I glued them with some Woodland Scenics Scenic Accent Glue.  It seems to be working OK, but I may need to go back and use glue that is a bit more permanent -- let's wait until we add ballast. . . .