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).