Model Railway
a. Layout
b. Locomotives
c. Cars
d. Operating
e. Summaries
Railfan
Photos
Daley Train Log
Page 61
My goal today was to run the passenger train on the inner mainline track. Simple enough.
Uh-oh. I have an unexpected problem. Two of the tunnel portals are too narrow. I never noticed this until now as they were wide enough for the freight cars. But two of the portals are on a curved section of track and the passenger coaches are almost twice as long as the freight cars. This means that on a corner the middle of the car tends to cut the corner and in these two cases it rubs against the wall of the portal and derails. This is not a simple problem as I will have to remove the barriers in order to cut a wider opening. But it will have to be done if I want to run the passenger cars on the inner mainline, which I do.
Now that I am thinking carpentry, this may be a good opportunity to try to build a solid, easily-removed, duck-under structure. I am getting tired of always having to crawl under the duck-under each time I enter or leave the room. This would be a better project during the summer months when the garage is warm or when I could work out-doors. It is -7 C at the moment and there is a light snow falling. I will back the car out of the garage and then set up the saw for a little cutting.
Definitely a situation of one step forward and two steps back. But I continue to sense that I am almost finished with these types of minor adjustments.
The carpentry is proceeding quite well. I have the new duck-under almost finished. All that is required is to attach the bridge abutments to the duck-under and re-lay the track. This turned out to be much easier than I first expected.