Elsewhere is up and running

Short found and corrected.. The turnout from the new yards to the run around needs a over center spring.
Tom and I ran some trains down to Elsewhere for Tuesday night. There are 3 branchline trains and 3 mainline trains as well as 3 mainline trains set up in Wellington.
After a trial period we will set up a night to ballast the Elsewhere yards, a lighter ballast will be used to highlight the through track.
Thanks for all the patience during the Elsewhere project.

See you Tuesday night .

Preserving 6069

Jim's article continues with the efforts to preserve 6069.

This engine was left to deteriorate until a group was organized to raise funds to keep it in as good a shape as they could with the dream that someday it might even be refired and brought to operating condition. For the present time their goal is to preserve it as much as possible as a fine example of Canadian Steam and of the craftsmanship of Canadian manufacturing.

Some previous work done to protect the engine has led to problems that need urgent attention. By the photo you may be able to see a heavy rubberized coating on the firebox and smoke box.  This is a thick rubber roofing material that was applied to keep moisture away from these areas but, unfortunately, weather cracking is allowing the exact opposite to happen and the moisture is seeping through and being trapped against the steel.

Vandals have done their worst and caused some irreparable damage.  The bell is cracked, the headlight was smashed, the seats were torn out as well as the usual spray paint work. As well as human damage, mother natures critters have found it to be a wonderful fortress in which to make their homes. The bell can never be repaired to make it sound right.  The glass and the bulb were able to be replaced but the reflector was an infusion of gold and glass that makes the cost prohibitive.  Happily the seats are ready to go back in, all the gauges have been rebuilt, the floor in the cab has been replaced and the removal of rust and paint on the tender is about half done.  The smoke box cover on the front had to be removed and the lower half replaced.  Nests and similar bedding had retained the moisture in there and caused rust perforation of the steel.

A few years back some of the linkage to the smaller cylinders was removed for repair and refurbishing. They were very happy to find that the cylinders moved very freely.  At the same time they discovered a very heavy weld repair on the chassis just by the front of the cylinders.  When they searched the records of this engine they discovered that it had been involved in a collision.  The photos showed heavy damage to the front end of 6069 and it appears that they just cut off the front end and welded on another one.  The weld on the chassis is about 1 1/2 inches wide and 3/8 inches thick.

The work being done is definitely a labour of love by persons who have a love and appreciation of the era of steam locomotives.  If you are in the area it is worth stopping to see a fine example of canadian steam power.

Engine 6069

Jim Long submitted this article which is very appropriate for our club as some of our members have this engine and run them at the club.

While putting in some time in Sarnia, I came across this classic steam locomotive on the edge of Confederation Park down by the river, just short of the Bridge to the USA.  I was fortunate enough to meet a gentleman who was unlocking the gate to go inside to work on the engine. Most model railroaders will recognize this engine from it's brass equivalent and the more common Resident's Choice version that was available a few years back numbered 6060. Although not a precise reproduction it is close enough to assume that it was modelled after this series of Canadian National Engines. Also since the only engines to escape the scrapper's torch are numbered 6069, 6065 in Saskatchewan,  I believe, and good old 6060 in British Columbia.  He believes that 6060 is still operational and was the only unit that was switched from coal to oil. I was invited to come inside the fence for a closer look and learn a little more about this engine and the efforts to preserve it.
Read more in the next post Preserving 6069.

Tuesday night at the Huff and Puff

As a half dozen operators struggled with the confines of the layout, I was under the layout attaching feeders as Mike soldered them on to the track. Because of space constraints only 2 people could work on the last of the wiring. By the end of the night we were ready for a trial. Glen's engine ran through the yard ladders just fine, but stalled at the switch to the run around. There seems to be a short in this area. I hope to get up there on Friday to investigate this problem.  The club members have decided to try out the new yard before we ballast it, to check for any problems. Hope its not the turnout.

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New Programming/Testing Track

Thanks go out to Joseph for taking on the job of moving the programming track from Elsewhere to our office/maintenance office. He used our testing track that was already in the office. By gapping the 2 coupler gauges and wiring it into our mainline in Wellington it can now be used to gauge couplers, measure the length of rolling stock (So they can be properly weighted), test engines, clean engine wheels(the alcohol soaked paper towel method), and programming. Moving the programming track also reduces congestion in the main aisle. Joseph also supplied the following programming procedure. 

Procedure for using the new programming track in the maintenance office.

The track has a three-position switch on it. This switch should always be in the centre, off, position when the track is not in use, or being used to check rolling stock.

For testing a power unit, set the switch to Power. This is a feed from the upper track on the layout, so naturally will only work when the track is powered. You can then test your power unit with your throttle as though it was on the track. When finished, set the toggle switch back to the centre position. (Note, use the switch in the Power setting to clean engine wheels).

For programming a power unit, set the switch to Prog. This takes a feed directly from the command module. On a throttle that can program plug the throttle into the loconet, then press the Program button ONCE, and ONLY once. This enables programming on the programming track. The throttle will display pg (PG?) in the screen. This stands for Page mode programming. If the Program button is pressed more than once, then programming is switched to the main track and all power units on it will be programmed the same. If the screen does not show pg at the start, then don't do any programming unless you are confident that you know what you are doing. When you are finished programming your unit, press the Exit key and set the switch back to the centre position

Tuesday night at the Huff and Puff

Joseph reports that the programming track in the office is up and running.
As running continues on some of the layout so does construction at Elsewhere.  The control box (that turned power on and off to each siding in the old Elsewhere yard) was removed . This led to the discovery that these sidings had been wired with a common red and various colours, from the off on switches, to the other rail, e.g.. blue to 1, green to another etc. So we decided to leave this system in tact, sort of, for the east, turntable  end, yard. A new black and white bus was run and all the various colours of wires were joined to it. The west end yard will have black and red feeders only. About half of the feeders are in place and all the short spacer tracks used to space out the turnout ladders, were soldered to their adjoining tracks.

Tuesday night at the Huff and Puff

As some members operated on a truncated layout (missing Elsewhere) 4 or 5 of us continued the reconstruction of Elsewhere. The east yard has all the trackwork installed and as the yard tracks were not touched, all the feeders are intact. The new turnouts will need feeders. The east end ladder of the west yard needed 1 inch spacer tracks added between the turnouts to make room for the throw bars. All of the trackwork is in place at this end of the west yard and has small areas of ballast glued down to hold it all in place. The west end ladder of the west yard is laid out and it's arrangement was approved by the group. All of the west yard will need new feeders.
Once the west yard is in place and glued in place the entire area will be tested by running groups of cars through all the turnouts. Then feeders will be added. When ballasted I hope we can use a different colour on the through track to differentiate it from the yard tracks. We were able to make all of the yard tracks 6 1/2 feet long or longer. This will set our maximum train length. Train consists will remain intact in Elsewhere with their cards. Mainline trains will be broken down in Wellington, Branchline trains will have to be routed to Wellington, as a through train, to exchange their cars, they could switch Herons Landing on their way, or not.

Access Changes at the Layout

Last Tuesday evening when leaving, Jim Long volunteered to go through to the main entrance upon locking the rest of us out at our usual entrance. I was parked between two Voyageur buses near the main entrance, saw a black pickup truck stop at the entrance and heard Jim talking to the driver who turned out to be the black security chap. Jim called me to come over and the security chap advised us that the main entrance door lock would be changed because Voyageur drivers were leaving it open but that he would see that we got a key.

Fast forward to last Friday afternoon when I arrived at 1 pm to find that my key no longer worked the main entrance lock.  At that point, a Voyageur driver was exiting and opened the door for me and I did my usual walk through the lower area to let Tom in and block our usual entrance door open. Some time later, after Jim Long arrived, I left him and Tom and headed for the front office area to see about a key for the new lock. As I entered the Voyageur area, I was stopped by the manager and clearly told it was a no trespass zone as they had rented the area. I countered that we were also renters and had been passing through the area for the better part of 4 years. I said I was headed to see Bill about the matter and she said she would be talking to him as well. I met a chap up front who heard me out and called Bill on the intercom to come meet with me. Very shortly, Mark appeared and traded my key for a "temporary" key to the new main entrance lock. He also said it would be necessary to go up the stairs inside the main entrance and across the second floor to our layout and then go down to our entrance to let people in. He is planning to have a lock put on our entrance in the near future which will make things more convenient than ever for us. I ran into Bill himself as I left on Friday and he confirmed the key in our door plans. He wanted to know how things are going and seemed [acted] surprised when I mentioned the recent rumours. He has just finished rebuilding another Nuffield tractor and had a 1931 Model AA truck underway. 

Since all this affects the keyholder only, continue to show up at our usual door. 

Tuesday night at the Huff and Puff, work night.

Not a lot of members out for work night, but we forged ahead. The bulk of our attention was focused on Elsewhere. Turnouts were positioned so everyone had a chance to comment on there positioning. We did stretch out the shortest yard tracks to 66 inches which equates to 9 cars and a caboose. The program track was removed and the lower yard throat was laid. Not a bad start.