Christmas Repairs

Merry Christmas readers!

Last Thursday I was running the CNW 0-8-0 around the Christmas tree at work, and soon discovered smoke coming out of the tender. I took the engine home and opened the tender. It had a very pungent smell of burnt electronics. I inspected the circuit board, but aside from one spark I couldn’t tell what the problem was. The engine will power up in neutral with smoke, whistle, and light effects, but it will not shift into forward or reverse. I contacted MTH service via email.

I also checked on the status of the NP 0-6-0 issue with MTH service, as they hadn’t responded for a month. They advised that the engine would have to be serviced professionally.

On a more successful note, I disassembled the #2035 steam locomotive and cleaned the motor and brushes. I also lubricated the gears, as they are much easier to access with the shell removed. It took over an hour to put it back together due to the rods and smoke puffing mechanism. I used a kitchen tie to force the tender’s rear coupler closed, as it kept opening randomly. The locomotive now runs (more) smoothly now. I also repositioned the electrical cables that were running under the Library tree track.

On Friday I brought CNW GP7 1518 to work to run under the tree, replacing the CNW 0-8-0 which is out of service (see above.)

On Tuesday I added Priority, Difficulty, and Cost columns to the "Engine House" (repair) spreadsheet. Currently, the two steam switchers (CNW & NP) are the top priority, and it may be less expensive to purchase new units instead of repairing, due to their age and the computer-related problems they are experiencing.

Other Engine House items for Q1 2016 include the Electroliner (get motors in sync, troubleshoot the speaker, and reattach the windows), the CSS Interurban (adjust cowcatcher), the RI Denver Rocket (oil the squeaky wheels), the PW Searchlight Car (replace the non-original light housing). the PW #2037 locomotive (return it to operational status), and the two REA Baggage Cars (install 3-rail trucks).

I hope you have a wonderful celebration of Christmas, and keep those rails silvery shiny!

Interior of the MTH 0-8-0 tender

Interior of the 65-year-old #2035

The Lionel Repair Guide has specific schematics for most Post War trains, including #2035

#2035’s motor and brushes prior to cleaning

CNW GP7 #1518 takes the stage under the Christmas tree at my office

Postwar Christmas Train

Merry merry to you all – I hope your celebration preparations are going well. 

This week I placed the multitude of Lionel train ornaments on the tree in the library, and set up a Postwar train underneath it. I use Lionel FasTrack for on-carpet setups – it works slick, and is a lot easier on the fingers than traditional tubular track. The train is headed by 2-6-4 #2035, which is supposed to emulate a Pennsylvania Railroad K4 Pacific. The main external distinguishing feature is the position of the headlight, at the top of the boiler rather than in the middle, which was a feature used on a lot of PRR locomotives. Internally, the 2035 is unique in that it is the only PW K4 produced that includes Magnetraction technology. This engine was made in 1950-1951. The tender has a functional air whistle, which makes a lot of racket, but is fun to activate. The locomotive functions very smoothly in reverse, but is having some problems when moving forward. I believe this can be fixed by doing a bit of basic maintenance, which I will try to achieve before Christmas. The rolling stock consists of two #6462 black NYC gondolas, a #6656 yellow Lionel Lines stock car, a #6456 LV hopper car, and a #6357 Lionel Lines caboose. It’s all powered by a Lionel LW 125W transformer, which may be the most recently manufactured item on display (aside from the track). Regardless, a very similar setup could have been seen under countless Christmas trees in 1955. Despite the age of the equipment, it still instills childlike wonder and fun, thanks to the timeless magic of trains at Christmastime.

Have a great week, and a very Merry Christmas, and shiny tracks under your tree ~

Now over 50 train ornaments on the tree

The Postwar Christmas Train

Christmas Trains are Coming...

Season’s Greetings readers ~

This week featured a nice variety of railroading escapades.

On Saturday I spotted Pennsylvania Power & Light locomotive 2102 in the downtown Billings yard. This is an SW1001 switcher, originally built for the Reading Railroad back in 1973. It has a unique paint scheme, and it was interesting to see it here in Montana.

On Monday I got to watch a MOW crew using a burro crane. One of MRL's self-powered cranes was moving along the mainline near my office, and it was rigged with an electromagnet attachment. It would stop every 20 feet or so and pick up a piece of old rail, and dump it into a gondola. It was interesting, and rather loud, to observe.

This week I set up a little Christmas tree in our office, and I brought in the CNW 0-8-0 set to run underneath it. I also assisted a coworker with troubleshooting one of his Lionel locomotives. He was having trouble getting the whistle to operate, and we determined that the transformer he was using didn't have sufficient power output. Anyway, my little freight train looks nice around the tree :)

And, I unpacked my fleet of Lionel Christmas ornaments, which will get to hang on a tree at our house.

Keep those Christmas rails shiny ~

PPL 2102, with its nifty paint scheme

MRL burro crane loading up some rails with a big "BANG!"

Christmas tree and train at work

Lots of Lionel ornaments to put up this year at home!

Roundhouse, CRM, and Cross Bucks

Welcome to the end of October, readers! As I advised earlier, I'll be providing some railroad-related details from our trip to Denver ~

After having lunch in Cheyenne we stopped by the historic Union Pacific Depot. Well, actually we went to the not-so-historic parking lot of the Depot. Amber checked on my surgery recovery progress, and I was able to stand and look at the Union Pacific roundhouse. There were no parked trains obstructing the view, so we were there at an opportune time. The roundhouse is only open to visitors once a year during Depot Days in May of each year. But, as a ferroequinologist, it was fun just to be on site. For those of you that don't know the significance of this, the UP roundhouse in Cheyenne is home to the railroad's operational historic locomotives. Here, the engines receive restoration, maintenance, and protection from the elements. The steam locomotives that reside here are Northern #844, Challenger #3985 and newcomer Big Boy #4014. There are also vintage diesel locomotives and passenger cars that get stored/serviced here. While crossing over the train yard bridge, I spotted an E or F unit still bearing the CNW livery. I hope to visit the inside of the roundhouse during Depot Days someday!

On a Tuesday afternoon, we visited the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden. Staff were busy decorating the campus for the Polar Express events, which will take place over the next few months. Our reason for visiting, however, was the garden railroad display. We spent an hour with Alan Olson, the chairman of the Denver Garden Railroad Society, who graciously provided information, ideas, and answers about starting a garden railroad from scratch. We discussed track, plants, grades, buildings, rolling stock, electronics, weather, wildlife, track plans and more. We will continue to use Alan as a resource as we get closer to construction of the garden railroad in our backyard in Billings. Some useful ideas from Alan included: a kidney-bean shaped track plan with scenery obstructions to provide interest, battery-powered locomotives, the use of thyme as ground-cover, using drip-irrigation, running trains in the snow, tracks at waist height, and track structure that can support a human's weight. We stayed with Alan until the museum closed, and picked up a copy of Garden Railways Magazine on the way out.

Back in Billings, I was able to paint the lettering on my Do-It-Yourself cross bucks for display in the backyard!

Until next week, keep those rails shiny!

Myself and the Cheyenne roundhouse

View of Cheyenne's historic depot

Bridges and water feature on the CRM garden railroad

Elevated section of the garden railroad

Photo showcasing track, structures, rocks, plants, and seating along the garden railroad

Multilevel features on the garden railroad

Alan draws some sample track plans while I look on

Time for Christmas! Usually visitors see the words "Colorado Railroad Museum - Delay Junction" on this building.

This dead tree is a great spot for giant Christmas ornaments at the museum

DIY cross bucks in process

Catch Up

Howdy - this post will give some brief details about my railroading exploits over the past year, when this blog was on hiatus. And of course, there are spiffy pics at the bottom!

July 2014
-Took some photos of individual trains while changing out the roster.
-Trains on track included the CNW Doodlebugs, Lionel Lines Columbia-class 2-4-2 Postwar steamer "trying" to pull the Rock Island Denver Rocket, Rock Island Northern 4-8-4 with a reefer freight, and Illinois Central GP9 with a caboose train.
-Repair work on the CNS&M Electroliner. One motor was failing to run, putting a lot of pressure on the second motor. I deemed that either the motor was bad, or that I did not have the tools/skills to repair. I send the Electroliner to Illinois to await repair in Michigan.
-On a hot day I photographed track repair equipment at work near the Billings Depot.
-I won my first game of Ticket to Ride.
-Set up the new roster: Track 1 - CBQ GP7 and small freight, Track 2 - CNW F7 and freight, Track 3 - Trackside Construction set headed by MP-15, Track 4 - Frisco Mikado 2-8-2 and freight

August 2014
-Saw a wacky-looking ballast recycling machine near the Depot.
-Also at the Depot, a special MRL train pulling a mix of modern and heavyweight passenger cars was parked for a day.
-Repaired Postwar #2034 to working order

September 2014
-My bride gave me a beautiful piece of artwork - a hand painted historic map of the Montana Railroad
-A string of nine BNSF locomotives came through Billings
-My folks were in town and visited the train layout
-While traveling, saw two enormous new MRL EMD SD70ACe locomotives followed by two little SW switcher locomotives in an EB train

October 2014
-Set up a model logging train at work as part of a "north woods" Halloween theme

November 2014
-Set up the new roster: Track 1 - LL 2-4-2 and small freight, Track 2 NP 0-6-0 and logging train, Track 3 - CNW GP7 #1518 and reefer freight, Track 4 - complete Vista Dome North Coast Limited passenger train (chasing its own tail)
-Decided to sell the K-Line Milwaukee Road GP7, as it is not a scale locomotive

December 2014
-Set up Christmas tree on the layout, with train ornaments
-Set up permanent Christmas lights under the layout for storage illumination
-Hosted family on Christmas day in the train room
-Set up CNW 0-8-0 freight around Christmas tree in the library room
-Prepared train tickets for visitors to the train room, and stamped them upon admission

No activity for a few months

April 2015
-Set up the new roster: Track 1 - green Brill trolley, Track 2 - CNW 0-8-0 and ore car train, Track 3 - GN 2-8-2 and mixed freight, Track 4 - CNW F7's and bi-level passenger train with the UP American View.
-Took various photos of the roster

May 2015
-Got to see a Lionel Smithsonian-edition NYC 20th Century Limited set at an auction in Lewistown. Only 500 of these were produced.
-At the auction, bought: ZW transformer, mint BA&P freight tag, numerous railroad paperwork items (majority from 1893), several railroad maps, framed painting of an NYC steam train, a heavy box of railroad spikes, and a large 1961 Burlington wall map of its western US tracks

June 2015
-Set up the new roster: Track 1 - CNW Doodlebugs, Track 2 - IC GP9 and caboose train, Track 3 - RI GP9 and CNW GP7 #1518 with the CNW Minnesota and Black Hills Express heavyweight passenger train, Track 4 - CNW 4-6-2 with a hopper car train
-Put all of the trains away in preparation for the remainder of railroad items to arrive from IL
-At the end of June, we set out for Illinois, and the rest you know! Now we're caught up, and keeping those rails shiny ~

CNW Doodlebugs take a ride on Track 4

A fast reefer freight heads around Track 4, pulled by the RI Northern

Electroliner under repair

Removing old, and installing new ties on MRL tracks by the Depot

First time playing, first time winning - Ticket to Ride

CBQ GP7, CNW F7, Trackside MP15, and Frisco Mikado all pulling freights

Special MRL passenger train at the Depot

Wacky looking ballast machine in Billings

Postwar 2034 undergoing repairs

Example of O27 vs O steam locomotives in action

Hand painted map of the Montana Railroad

9 locos at once

2 big locos and 2 small ones

Halloween at work

NP 0-6-0 pulls a log train

The Vista Dome North Coast Limited chases its own tail, while the 2034 zips around Track 1

Christmas time in the Train Room

Under-table illumination

Special Christmas tickets for the Train Room

My nephew enjoys the CNW 0-8-0 circling a Christmas tree

A trolley, the CNW 0-8-0, the GN 2-8-2, and the CNW F7's are all featured in Spring 2015

The switcher and the road engine at night

The illuminated 21" CNW Bilevels

The trolley takes a night trip

Busy day on the layout

A steel caboose follows the ore train

One of 500 Lionel Smithsonian NYC 20th Century Limited sets

Hat is a wee bit small for me

CNW Pacific #2903 pulls a long row of hopper cars

RI and CNW geeps team up to pull a heavyweight passenger train

Doodlebugs and cabeese