Cracks at KPSL

 As noted in previous post, the crack between Sections 2 & 3 of the Knowledge Park Shortline needs a little attention.  Made some effort today with poster board, spackling, paint, ground foam, and a few ties.  Could not get the diluted white glue bottle open so painted on some super strength hair "spray" and used a plastic spoon to distribute some "grass".  May want to come back with diluted white glue at some point and also need to insert the warehouse spur rails into the connectors.  But the layout was left with all trains running!

Before (but with wet white glue on fence)

During (with poster board being installe)

After

In action

N Scale Maintenance!

Wow, N Scale is REALLY small.  Lots of water under the bridge and over the dam since the last post.  Significant issues with what must have been a short in the two new sections.  The two straight tracks for the two new sections are now working pretty well.  Disconnected the two tracks from each other, totally, which may have helped.  But to make things "look" like they are connected, installed a straight section between two turnouts just short of the turnouts.  Also, installed a short portion of "chain-link" fence to connect between Sections 2 and 3.

Two "before" shots -- may have to do a little filling of the cracks at some point.

Have to look close at this "after" photo to see the fence just to the right of the partition.

OMG

 Oh my gosh, this guy does great work!  So, while the green loco ran well for a little while, it has slowed down again.  More repairs.  But check this out:

The third section of the Knowledge Park Shortline Railway is complete!

This will finish the model of Knowledge Park as it was in 1953 plus a major portion of downtown Rock Hill, SC.  I wondered why Jim had so many cars on this section of the layout when he had mentioned how tedious it is to make and paint the vehicles.  He explained that it was afternoon shift change and the cars were leaving and entering the too-small parking lot!!

We removed lower display case doors, sliding side glass doors, and unbolted/unscrewed top before the section arrived.  When the movers got there, they helped us pull the end glass out of the frame.

Surprisingly, the section fit well with even a few inches left over.  The "T" shaped layout has a slightly angle bottom of T which might have over lapped the closest right corner in photo.  But we even scooted the whole shebang over a bit to the right!

Sometimes you can get more help than you need and things get slowed down.  . .

Just kidding.  The layout is designed to attract attention and get folks interested in what was "high tech" formerly.

Finished display is outstanding, but operations still have a bug or two to work out.  Street lights and building lighting came right up.  But, there's a bug in the controls for the railroad -- something is generating a short.  Troubleshooting and wire chasing to come.

Shop for Repair

 Hoping to get all locomotives into action at the Rock Hill Museum of Commerce and Industry, but a couple are creating some problems!

The little EMD SW seemed to have come with a whining sound while operating:

Micro-Trains said it shouldn't be whining, so it was shipped out for inspection and repairs!?

The RS2 seemed to hesitate -- even sometimes stop -- as it approached the rear of the smaller loop.  Tried disassembly and cleaning of trucks and some contact points to no avail.  Contacted Walthers and got some good advice from Dan Thomson as well as some input from various Internet sources.  He recommended 

http://www.spookshow.net/loco/llrs2.html

So, disassembled again and this time checked out the contacts for the ends of the trucks:

Dan suggested filing the center tops of these where they make contact with a copper ribbon.  Maybe cleaning and filing helped.  Seemed to be running:

Last ditch effort might be to "spring" these same pieces inward to hold the trucks more tightly. . . . 

The Nest

 OK, so stopped by today to try to improve rat's nest a little with zip ties.  Maybe there's an improvement; maybe not much.  

The green Southern RS1/2 loco was stalled entering the tunnel.  Cleaned wheels on paper towel with alcohol but didn't do too much.  Swapped with little Southern SW. . .  switcher.  No problem up until leaving.

Making a Rat's Nest

 As the time nears for the installation of the 3rd Phase of the Knowledge Park Shortline Railroad, we hope, some adjustments needed to be made.  The control box on the side of Phase 2 was going to prevent Phase 3 from fitting in the display case.

With some effort, rewiring, and sliding of the first two Phases, maybe Phase 3 will fit.

A template of Phase 3 can be seen in the photo, above, with Phase 2 and the template slid to the near side of the display case.  Due to the angle of White Street, the near right corner (not seen in photo) was just inside the far side of the display case!  Easier to rewire than rebuild the case -- and much less expensive with "free" labor.  Note, also, the Rock Hill Station sign and Station "blueprint" have been mounted on wall -- more to come.

Wiring before rewiring from UNDER the display case.

Wiring after rewiring UNDER the display case.  Sure do hope the former high school robotics team members do NOT see this rat's nest of wiring -- they were instructed to ensure the wiring on the robot was run neatly.  Maybe tomorrow a few zip ties will help this.

With all this rewiring, it was amazing that almost everything worked.  And, it might have worked immediately if #9 wire had been placed in the #9 position the first time!  Like this:

In the meantime, the Railroad's Conductor was opening up the far end of the layout for easier view of downtown and doing some landscape decorations.

Note blue wall above, but no blue wall in photo below.  Just like the far end, adjusting some of the backdrop that worked in a garage has opened the layout to view from more angles.

And, as of this am, all three locos were hauling freight:

Locomotive Repair Shop

Brought the RS-1/2 and the RS-11 back to the "shop" from Knowledge Park Shortline.  RS-2 needed oiling, maybe; RS-11 was derailing at a turnout, sporadically.

Pulled the cab and walkway off; separated the halves to remove trucks.  

One truck had a side frame that looked like it had been overheated or melted with glue.  Don't know how it would have gotten hot enough to melt the plastic, but it didn't matter.  The same truck showed a wheel set a bit out of alignment (bottom left in photo).

Fortunately, Atlas happens to have a full truck assembly for $5.20 plus a lot more for shipping!  Will replace the whole thing.

Took the green RS-2 apart and oiled worm gear shaft/bearing, and other gear shafts and axles.  Might help, might not.

Took the RS-2 back to KP Shortline and got three locos running again.  RS-2 didn't seem to have the same problem with the turnout.

But, limit switches for the third train had some sort of glitch.  Since the same sort of setup will be used for a second siding when Section 3 of layout is completed, borrowed the limit switch electronics from that siding for current siding.  Will need to check out the electronics and see what's up.

Hoping we're good for now with locos.

Now THREE!!?!

CEO of Knowledge Park Shortline obtained a Switcher for the layout.  We'll call it an EMD SW-7 although it is probably an SW-1500 produced after 1953.  From a distance you cannot tell the difference.

Using the switcher, we got three trains running at the same time.

And a video from another angle.

When the Project Manager completes Section 3, we'll add one more locomotive.  In the meantime, the Alco RS-11 broke down and the RS-1/2 needs oiling. . . .  Always something to do on the railroad.

Interesting that a Celanese tank car was available from Little Choo Choo in Spencer, NC.  That's my former employer so we had to pick up THAT tanker:

Two Trains at Once!

Well, back to the Knowledge Park Shortline.  The plan is to have two trains circling around Section 1 of the N scale layout -- around downtown Rock Hill -- as well as two trains running back and forth the whole length of Sections 2 and 3, combined.  Since Section 3 is not completed, for the time being there is only one train on Section 2.  It runs to one end, triggers a limit switch, waits about 45 seconds, and reverses path to another limit switch.  The "large loop" around downtown RH is operational, but limited to short train for the moment.  Both active trains can be seen with sharp eyes!  Currently, they are set on "Dr. Pepper" time:  10, 2, and 4!!!!

The second downtown loop has had a couple of wires severed so is not operational until SOMEone crawls underneath the layout to replace the wires. . . .

In addition to the KP Shortline, representing Rock Hill in 1953, additional area history is noted by a display of the Anderson automobile and buggy just across the hallway from the KP Shortline.  In about 1920, Rock Hill was the "Detroit of the South" making high end cars in 5 or 6 colors -- not just black.

The automobile factory was the successor of the Anderson Buggy works.

 

Attaching the Foam

Having demonstrated the layout/track "concept", it was time to do some permanent work.  So, an edge of Watson Bayou was cut out of the pink foam along with a circular aeration pond.  Then applied foamboard glue to the backside and placed on top of bench.  Needed to remove bolts holding one leg to corner of bench to allow luaun and pink foam to rest against 1X4" frame!  Used a few clamps to hold foamboard in place while glue dried.

Appears like either foam or frame is not square/straight . . . probably frame.  May just take a little sanding or a "hot knife" to even things just this side of Watson Bayou!

Laying Track?

Well, maybe not laying track, but just checking things out to see if they will fit.  Looks like there's enough track and the switches fit pretty well.

May need a small amount of work to avoid areas of tight turns, but looks "do-able".  Note the comparison to the drawing on front, right.  A little worry about scale of buildings versus "floor space" lingers, but a bit of compression seems to be acceptable when modeling an area.  Besides, as always, this will be representative and not exacting.

Next step:  glue pink foam to table top.  Oops, maybe cut our Watson Bayou -- middle, left side where track bends into layout.  Also, maybe the settling basin (circle at far end).

The Bay Line?

Put together a bit of a table for 2X8' extension of the Blacktop Crossing in hopes of developing a connecting railway that serviced Panama City, FL, paper mill -- The Bay Line.

Used legs from moving the Knowledge Park Shortline to its new display home for the table.  The legs plus a little lauan plywood and the pink foam (1") should make a reasonable foundation.  May have to add a couple of cross braces, but will wait to attach more permanently to the existing layout -- just to see if things stiffen up a bit.

The legs had adjustments for height, so lining up the connection should be pretty straightforward.  Did have to "hollow out" some of the connecting side to allow for the heads of a couple of carriage bolts!

Had thought there were two 8' 1X4's left over from another project.  One 8-footer ended up being more like 6 feet. . . .  Just pieced it together with other scraps. Added cross supports roughly at 2-foot distances.

Next, transfer the track plan to the pink foam and rough out some track to see if it will work. . . .

Handcar

What?!  Maybe something for the Blacktop Crossing and not KP Shortline?!  How's this for a model of a handcar that has seen some use?

Don't know where it will go on the layout, but a friend had two kits and gave me one.  What's a guy to do?  Put it together but found my plastic glue was aging.  Did the best with what I had. . . .

Let there Be Light

 Added about a foot of lead to the street light that wasn't working.  That did the trick -- long enough to put a couple of wire nuts on wires underneath.  Maybe a little bit of work is needed where the hole was enlarged to feed the wire through, but that's no big deal.  First light on the right of White Street. . . .

Even got the Cotton Factory owner to do a little scenicking.  Adding a few trees and flowers in a couple of spots.

Gives a bit of a finished or purposeful look to the far end!

Got a little daring and added a box car and caboose. . . .

Adjustments on the Plateau

 A couple of details to address while resting on the "plateau".  

The display case builders had left a piece of a wedge under the Knowledge Park Shortline Railroad layout which was a bit of an eyesore. A little flat black paint did the trick (before and after):

Remembered that some Haint Blue paint was left over from the Southern Dynasty dollhouse finally completed for a granddaughter -- Haint Blue is supposed to scare away anything that might haunt (haint) your house, so you paint the ceilings of the porches Haint Blue.  Anyway, that shade of blue came pretty close to the sky blue on Section I's modified Oakland Avenue corner.  Painted the top of the wall from tan to Haint Blue!

One of the street lights was not working (first one on cemetery side of White Street).  Could not work with the extremely small wire under that table, so pulled the street light out and brought it home to add leads.

A Plateau. . . of Sorts

 Good progress with Knowledge Park Shortline; might just be a plateau to rest on for a while.

Flat black small control box to help blend in and not stand out:

A couple of trees for the triangular corner:

Lower panel on large control box for protection; needed a small slot for the electrical cord:

Some track cleaning, retrieval of locomotive that works with limit switches from layout builder and connection of Section 2 to a timer (set for Dr. Pepper time, 10, 2, and 4) and we can watch it run every 45 seconds or so (oops, 2 minute movie is too large to upload so some of the 45 second "wait time" has been removed).

A little rest and we'll tackle the two loops in downtown section!

The Distraction

 OK, one reason progress on paper mill section has been slow is the distraction caused by quick notice to move Knowledge Park Shortline to its display case.  Got the notice last Friday, removed legs and disconnected two sections and some wires on Monday, moved the two sections yesterday, and did some detail work today.

Pretty pleased with progress; yet to finish cleaning track and locomotive wheels and some details of scenicking.

Door bell transformers being used for lighting on the "downtown" section were "blowing out" previously.  Our Electrical Engineering "consultant" recommended beefier replacement transformer.  That's why some wiring was disconnected until new transformers arrived.  Crawled into base of cabinet today to connect transformers.  Tried hard to label wires to help reconnections.  EE consultant recommended using wire nuts.  Done:

All lights are working; time will tell if new transformers were good choice: