Rail Tests

Happy Titanic Launch Day to all~

This week involved testing and adjustments to the track. The four loops are now numbered, with the inmost loop called #1, and the outer loop as #4. Testing involves placing the longest available piece of rolling stock that can handle the loop's turning radius on the track. I similar piece of rolling stock (usually a long passenger car) is placed on the adjacent loop. These two cars are then run around both loops in tandem to see if they come into contact with each other where the tracks curve. If they hit each other, one or both loops need to be adjusted (moving the entire loop, or making the loop larger or smaller by adding/removing straight tracks), or a "length limit" must be imposed on the loop to insure cars do not bump while in service.

Loops 1 and 2 have a maximum curve of O31. Loop 3 is O42, and loop 4 is O72.  The outer two loops can handle 18" cars at the same time, but that is the limit. 15" cars on loop 2 will bump cars on loop 3, so 13.5" is going to be the limit for this one.  All of the loops can physically handle the longest cars possible for their radius, but this may mean that a train cannot run on the adjacent loop. For example, the 21" C&NW bi-level cars can run on loop 4, but that would mean a train cannot be running on loop 3 at the same time.

This is somewhat limiting, but I'm okay with it - there are lots of tracks crammed into a relatively small space, so limits are inevitable. For the tests, I used cars from the Northern Pacific Vista Dome North Coast Limited set, the Union Pacific American View coach, a variety of recently-arrived freight cars (mostly tank cars), and the Montana Rail Link and Chicago & North Western Geeps for motive power.

Despite all of the tests, trains will need to be tested on a per-run basis before going into service. I'm sure real railroads do that too.

Train Room guests this week included Andrew, Edgar, and Darren

Edgar sees model trains for the first time

I made a few stops to Central Hobbies to pick up half tracks to make needed adjustments during the testing phase. I was able to spend some time speaking with the owner and train-master Al, and it was great to talk about O-gauge railroading with someone who knew what I was talking about! I may be able to help out with model train repair work in the future - I may not be an expert, but some experience is better than none.

I continued work on the train collection assessment project for Cal. This week was spent mostly on the computer, filling in record details and speculating on potential buyers for all, or for pieces of, the collection.

On Monday night, a real-train collision occurred a few blocks east of my office. Four hopper cars filled with barley rolled away from a switch crew and collided with a westbound locomotive. The lead barley car derailed after hitting the locomotive. The main line was closed from 9 p.m. Monday to 4 a.m. Tuesday, while mechanical engineers and operating officials from Montana Rail Link responded to the scene. Investigations are continuing. (details retrived from the Billings Gazette)

I took a look at the scene on Wednesday, which was mostly cleared up. The MRL crane unit was onsite, along with the impacted hopper car and the grain recovery equipment. There were just a few small piles of barley scattered near the track. Based on the impressions in the damaged hopper, it looks like the set of 4 cars snuck onto the main line, and the WB train hit the last hopper head-on. It looks like the "face" of the front locomotive is imprinted into the end of the hopper. The above information from the newspaper makes it sound like the hopper car hit the engine, but most likely the engine hit the hopper!

Keep your rails shiny~

Couplers aren't supposed to be pointed in that direction...