As my railroad settles in—literally—I
have found several more roadbed anomalies.
A big part of this is that the “complete” railroad has gone through a
full year of seasons and with that changes in moisture levels. As we were re-staging the railroad in
September, we found a dramatic sag at the RR-West end of the future Noisy Creek
trestle. The pilot couplers on a pair of
SD40Rs dug right into the ties on the trestle.
I still do not understand why the many SD45s that have run past this
same point have not found the same fault, as they have the same frame,
wheelbase and bolster to coupler distances as the SD40R. Nonetheless, a severe sag was revealed. Needing to correct that sag, I also tackled a
couple of other nearby roadbed anomalies I had grown intolerant of.
Sag at the RR-West end of
Noisy Creek Trestle. The board on top of
the track represents a continuous grade extending down from the Cruzatte siding. The dip at the4 junction between trestle and
standard roadbed is depressed by more than a half inch as indicated by the
spacer between the track and the board.
Yikes!
The correction for this sag
involved removing the wall mountings for the three roadbed support brackets on
the right. They were then reattached to
the wall at new, higher, locations, beginning with the bracket on the right
that supports both standard roadbed and the trestle central spine.
Test train approaching the
remounted Noisy Creek Trestle support.
No more pilot coupler digging into ties!
The second area attacked was
a hump in the middle of Cruzatte. I
previously dealt with one further downhill.
This one was at the uphill end of the same eight-foot plywood roadbed panel. Chalk this one up to the rapid construction
needed in 2015 to complete the railroad for the NMRA National Convention in
Portland. Add in a year of seasons and the
hump had become an issue, particularly for long freight cars. Comparing roadbed issues I have had with
Cruzatte’s set of plywood panels with Wicopee’s complete spline construction
without issues, I can see I should have done the same roadbed at Cruzatte. I will soldier on with the current roadbed,
but continue to adjust it until I gain satisfaction.
Hump in the midst of
Cuzatte. Look at the area around the
plywood joint.
Correcting this hump required
sanding down most of the cork roadbed over the plywood subroadbed joint.
Success at Cruzatte.
The final bit of roadbed tweaking
was at the RR-West end of Salt Creek Trestle.
I had worked in this area before, but now a roadbed sag revealed itself
further up-grade. I fixed the sag by
applying vinyl spackling compound. This
was easily sanded to the desired grade—much faster and a better outcome than my
previous effort filling with glued-on sheets of balsa.
Roadbed sag illustrated by
the gap under the rule between about 12 and 26 inches on the rule (upper scale).
Track removed RR-West of Salt
Creek Trestle as part of the grade smoothing.
The test train is doing much
better through the approach to Salt Creek Trestle.
Although I have conducted
operations on my railroad for the past year and a half, I continue to adjust
both roadbed and track as I find issues.
This is a natural part of the settling in process for a model
railroad. I am now conducting tests with
the most demanding equipment—trailer flat cars.
They have a very long distance from truck bolster and king pin to
coupler face. Add their long length and
one has a device that finds the vertical imperfections in trackwork. Now is the time to clear these issues—before scenery!
At least you didn't jump ahead and scenic the whole thing.
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