More thoughts on loco frames

The next locomotives will be built from something like a kit. The frames will be etched in two layers, and that means there are opportunities to make extensions between the frames as well as outside them. Between the frames, I will place temporary spacers to keep all aligned while the mechanism is under development. These […]

Cutting my losses on #10

Happy Easter! What is the AAR-approved method for tying giant Easter eggs down anyway? You’ll note in the cover photo that I still haven’t put #10’s tender back together. After the recent Battle of Pembroke Hill, I drove this little train into town. To say it was a success would be overstating matters significantly. Despite […]

Tuning an ESU LokSound Decoder

An unanticipated consequence of replacing #10’s decoder was that performance would degrade. It says right on the box that your locomotive needs to work flawlessly before you go installing decoders, but still, a certain amount of back EMF compensation is known to smooth out the occasional foible. The old Zimo decoder worked fantastic right out […]

Debugging #10

It seems to be two steps forward, one step back on #10. No sooner had I fixed the quartering issue that had popped up, than I discovered that the engine truck weight was dragging and catching on guard rails. After I resolved that, I triumphantly placed the engine on the track. Where it sat. Silently. […]

In situ quartering tool

I mentioned earlier that #10 was operating with a bit of a limp due to an out of quarter driver. As it takes about 30-45 minutes to disassemble or reassemble the locomotive, and every time I risk breaking something or knocking paint off, I thought I’d have a go at quartering the driver without disassembling […]

Feedwater power connection resolved

It took three tries, and there is still room for improvement, but I did manage to reconnect the tender electrically to the engine. Essentially, I made a very small connector, and soldered it to the end of the wire, then replaced the old wire completely. The small connector is a piece of brass rod about […]

Problems with feedwater connections for power

#10 has split-frame power collection. This means I had a choice of locations to connect the decoder and pick up power. To keep non-prototypical connections between engine and tender to a minimum, I decided to connect the tender electrically with the feedwater hoses. On the engine, the pipes are solid wire, with tiny collars soldered […]

Weighty matters for #10

It’s been a couple of quiet weeks here from a railroading perspective. We have had a ton of meetings with the community association that have kept me very busy. Still, I have managed to scrape out a few minutes here and there to tackle the weights for #10. I think I’m pretty much there, although […]

Testing the new decoder

It’s been a busy week for the Gourley household. Between community association events, work and helping my friend Scott with his layout, I have been out every evening. That left scant energy for my own trains. So this morning, while the kids were having their screen time, I carved out a little time to start […]

Rewiring #10

This evening, I finally found time to test out the super-thin motor leads for #10. It looks like they should work. First I installed the motor, and verified that there were no shorts between the frames and either lead. The most likely failure here would have been at the gearbox flange, where the tissue paper […]