To lock or not to lock

When it comes to turnout controls, one of the questions that has impeded progress is whether or not they should be locked. There were really two questions at play: are switches in yards locked, and if so, when did the practice start? Secretly, I was hoping that like headlights in daytime, this was one of […]

Percy and the Myriad Supports

Now that I’ve added all the supports onto the body shell for 2543, I wonder if it was such a good idea to try to print the whole thing in one big piece? Probably not, but won’t it be fun if it works out?

Percy and the Broken Promise

When I started this project, the great thing about Percy was that I could work on the engine without being tempted to turn it into a Canada Atlantic prototype. Well, now that I have a working engine, it seems a shame not to put it to work! But, even I can’t imagine Percy banging Troublesome […]

Fascia gets a makeover

inspired by the Tim Warris’s amazing Bronx Terminal layout, I tried to copy his idea of rivets on the fascia. Unfortunately, I didn’t embrace them the way he did, and so my “rivets” are too sparse and small and just look like, well, #8 Round Head Robertson screws, which of course they are. I’m about […]

Percy and the couplers

Excited by the prospect of having a working engine, even if it doesn’t look like anything that ran on the Canada Atlantic, I printed a copy of Percy’s original running board, and mated it up with some Accumate Coupler lids from my folder of standard 3D designs. Bachmann had glued the cylinders on with CA, […]

Turnout controls ready to print

Eight years! I am amazed to learn that I started pecking away at the fascia-mounted turnout control problem eight years ago. Well, this week marks the conclusion of the design phase, as I finally have a version I believe will be robust and easy to install. This is a minor improvement over the Mark II […]

Percy’s new main rods

Percy’s new main rods follow the same pattern as the connecting rods, with keys holding the rods in place, rather than nuts. I re-used the original crossheads. These have a plain plate to hold the rod in place on its pin and also to keep the crosshead on its guides. Filing off the end of […]

Percy crosses the chasm

That gap. It doesn’t look so dangerous, but once I installed phosphor-bronze wipers to pick up current, the fine wire would find the tiny gap between rail heads and launch poor under-weight Percy into the sky. Sometimes with disastrous effect. Finally, with Percy’s split chassis assembled, and a few sharp corners filed away so they […]

Percy and the Split Axles

We’re coming to the home stretch of Percy’s story. After months of experiments, I have finally landed on a plan for Percy’s wheels that should work more permanently than the plans I had for #622 or #10. It was time to put it to the test, and so, I turned up some tyres, assembled some […]

Learning from Percy

Every month, the North Shore model railroaders get together, lately via Zoom, and share some recent projects. I’ve offered to do a quick presentation on what I’ve learned from Percy. I’ve put it up here should anyone be interested.