Last week I finished up a passing siding on the Sn3 that is also used as a
run-around track for the Sn2, so it involved building an Sn3 turnout and two
Sn2/Sn3 "pointless" gauge separation turnouts. My plan this week was to cut
the gaps and wire it, and also finish up wiring some other track that was not
yet wired. I cut the gaps and started wiring, but ran out of red #22 hook-up
wire I use for drops (color coded red and black). So I ordered enough wire to
hopefully finish wiring my layout.
Carla wants me to work on the scenery at the bottom of the basement steps,
which requires building a logging branch, so I decided I should work toward
this goal while I'm waiting for my wire. So I decided to work on the incline
that is the start of this branch. I had recently come up with a redesign that
I like better and will have a more "normal" incline. After some research and
discussion on the modelloggers Yahoo list, I decided what I wanted as a model
of the incline engine without having another scratchbuilding project and
ordered some pieces from Wiseman Model Services. I realized that the incline
would require a bridge over the mainline and the switch where the main logging
branch and yard to the coal mine diverge. The mainline turnout was already
built and the ties were down for the next turnout. So building some of this
track before building the incline would be a good idea.
The layout in this area is at the edge of a to-be-built yard that also serves
the coal mine and bench work is a piece from a former layout that consists of
plywood with homasote sheet. The coal mine is a BTS kit I built a number of
years ago on its own base. The logging branch is supposed to actually run under
the tipple/mine shaft behind the loading tracks at a higher elevation. (The
kit had a retaining wall at this point. I cut the plywood and homasote
cookie-cutter style to ramp up the logging branch to a suitable elevation.
Then I realized I needed to cut back some Styrofoam that was used to hold up
the mine shaft behind the tipple for enough clearance for this track. Then the
miracle of the "earthquake" happened. Either the S scale workers used too much
scale dynamite or my arm hit the tipple, but the whole tipple was knocked off
its foundation in an instant. It needs some repair, but I was able to move the
whole tipple out of the way. Actually this makes things easier,
except for the tipple repairs. The tipple track are dual Sn3/Sn2 that had the
Sn2 on the wrong side so I had to redo it. So to make the story short, I wound
up tearing up all the other tracks on the tipple base and will relay them. I
suspect I saved myself time by not having the work around the tipple at the
expense of some repairs. I did get some more ties laid, but sometime soon I
need to stain some more ties and cut some more switch ties.
So somehow running out of wire resulted in me needing to stain ties and repair
a mine tipple.
Dave Heine
Easton, PA
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