Kickstarting Group

Summer is always a busy time, and with the good weather, my thoughts turn to outside activities. It’s difficult to keep momentum on the railroad through July and August, and I can imagine arriving in September or October to find all my projects locked in a thick layer of moss. So the call for the […]

Replacing a Quadrant

Throwing the engine lead switch, there was an unusual “thunk” and then the lever moved a little too easily. Reaching underneath, I felt a new sharp edge rotating behind the fascia. A couple of the levers have needed replacement, but this was the first quadrant that broke. Fortunately I still have the drawing. The new […]

Throttle Back

One of the pieces that has been waiting on a bigger printer is a new back for my CVP wireless throttle. There was nothing wrong with the old back, except that it was attached to a throttle that would be found at some random place around the train room – kind of like the TV […]

Yes! It Failed!

Model railroad time for the past couple of weeks has gone toward learning to program the ESP32 that will drive the water tower’s functions. I found a good YouTube tutorial from Dave’s Garage that helped me get started with the typical blinking LED and a little serial port output. Then I found the stepper motor […]

Invasion of a New Hobby

Like just about every other hobby, with the possible exception of needlecraft, the electronics hobby is a subset of model railroading. I’m new to this part of the hobby, but fortunately I waited long enough that amazingly complex projects are within reach of people with nothing more than a winning attitude and access to the […]

Electrical Capitulation

Over on his blog, Modeling the SP, Tony Thompson maintains a thread he calls Electrical Wars. When I read these posts, as well as the accompanying Trackwork Wars, I immediately feel a sense of comradeship. We all struggle with short circuits and tight gauge, but not many do it quite so openly. I brought in […]

Switch Lock Proof of Concept

I struggled a little with the supports for the switch locks, but finally got an acceptable print. It went together exactly as expected, and with a cobbled-together key, it almost works. Certainly the idea of a magnetic lock seems to be workable; the only miss was the amount that the mechanism rotates given the key. […]

Refined Switch Lock Design

I’ve never had a ton of luck with Assembly views in OnShape. Until now. As I was idly rotating the design, as I so often do after building a 3D model, I started to wonder if the key will actually turn past the end of the lever, or if it will jam. And anyway, how […]

Switch Lock Designs

I had a couple of friends over to run trains over the last couple of weeks, and it made me realize that the whole operation needs to slow down even more. The chains that will retain the keepers and locks on the turnout controls have been dangling long enough. It’s time to get the locks. […]

Turnout controls installed just in time

With the Railway Modellers’ Meet descending on Pembroke next weekend, I have installed the turnout controls just in time. I still need to paint the rods on which the handles pivot, but that is cosmetic and might wait until after the guests have left. The controls almost meet my vision, but they need some gap […]