March is here. Oh how nicely that roles off the tongue. March. March, M-a-r-c-h. Spring is near, although that ole geezer winter is hanging on and laughing at our plight. Hopefully we laughed back by getting some projects done this weekend. Saturday I started on two GP38's for a full detail and paint job. I only got as far as the pilots when we had to make a quick trip to get groceries before the storm. By Sunday we had about 8 inches of white stuff on the ground and since Jared had games that day, we cleared out and made the trip. What normally takes about 35 minutes took us an hour and a half. Getting home by 1:00, I was then off to get the last batch of model airplanes ready for sale as I sell off more model airplane stuff. By the time I got home, I had about an hour of daylight left in which I added Cut levers and MU hoses to the two GP38's I had started the day before. No layout work this weekend. With the first train show of the year coming up soon, I'll need to switch gears and resume work on my T-Trak modules. March is a busy month for me. So how about you? How did you fare? Let us know what you got done. We'll come back again on Friday, March 6th and start the process all over again. Until then, have a great week and... ​High Greens!
Saturday Morning, I cleaned up the layout room and installed buss line for the curved end section of the layout. Sunday Morning, I completed wiring in that same section of the layout. I tested and found a short again. Two of my Shinohara turnouts had the points separated from the closure rails. It didn't occur to me that there was a metal contact strip underneath that joined closure and point rails. Once the contact strips were removed, everything was fine again. Of course, I figured that out after I had cut 4 feeders I thought were culprits.
Yesterday evening I finally worked up the gumption to convert one of my Atlas/Kato BCR C425s to DCC. It was a lot simpler than I expected. Don't know why I was worried. Still need to finish off the lighting, but the 9 pin is installed and it works with a basic chip. Somewhere I have an MRC 244 sound chip...which is wrong, but better than an EMD and a rectangular speaker to stuff in there. Having the 9pin installed will make it a dream though.
The main project is continuing on the grade crossings: This is an Oregon Rail Supply crossbucks-and-flashers model from a kit. It's wired to a Rob Paisley circuit for detection and flasher output. I've got one side of the detectors wired, so I can watch as the train approaches, the lights flash and then go out once the last car leaves the crossing. It's pretty neat, but for now it only works in daylight. I have some infrared LEDs, but I've got to figure out how to mount them so they'll work with the between-the-rails detectors, or perhaps get the detectors to work across the rails. I did some cleanup work, too. I installed a fuse on the accessory lighting bus in the new Phase 3 of the layout to protect the power supply, and I added a toggle switch to control power to the grade crossing circuits. Once again, I took apart the tender on one of my steamers to fix the loose rear truck. This time, I made some improvements on the truck mount so the truck will stay centered and the coupler will be at the right height.
