June 1, 2021

GP40s 3001 and 3009 pull the CMX Clean Machine through the double crossover. Keeping 256 feet of mainline clean is a breeze using this pricey yet effective track cleaning car. Mineral spirits is used as it has a low dielectric constant and works well with the CMX Clean Machine.	Once the track is squeaky clean the locomotives pick up a 17 car consist in Anchorage. Part of the freight is Wasilla bound delivering consumer goods to Wal-Mart plus a pair of John Deere tractors for farmer Brown.	Rick and I continue to chase a ghost that exists in the RailPro system. Every now and then power cuts off to the locomotives for a few seconds. Rick places the LED testing car on point and we eat a good portion of the evening trying to create the problem.
Over the past week Rick reconnected the negative wires on SD70MAC #4011 thus fixing the faulty front headlight. He also looked into the functional problems with GP40 #3010, but is currently unable to resolve the slipping of the drive axle into the U joint sleeve.	Also over the past week Rick worked on this faulty passenger car. He filed the axle points smooth and then cleaned the inside faces of the truck frame with a pin vise and drill bit. The resultant effort produced a smooth rolling car. I truly admire Rick's skills!	Track foreman Max was once again caught sleeping on the job. When asked about his behavior he replied, "Being cute is a full time job. I need my beauty rest! If you want super powers then you'll need to feed me steak from here on out."

 

June 10, 2021

SD70MAC #4011 and the LED test car crossing the swing gate. Last week Rick fixed the headlight issue and it looks great tonight.	This video shows a silky smooth operation of GP40 #3010. How did Rick fix the slipping drive axle? He lubricated the bearings and motor which apparently took the strain off the drive shaft and its connection to the motor.	Rick and I are spending a happy evening running trains and looking for ghosts in RailPro. None were discovered. This video shows SD70MAC #4011 pulling the LED test car across the swing gate.
Here's a video of two SD70MACs MU'ed and pulling the LED test car.	Here's a video of two SD70MACs and an SD70 MU'ed and pulling the LED test car.	To end the evening Rick places his GoPro video camera on a flatcar and has a locomotive push it around the track. I love this video so much! It makes me want to work on scenery. This is a low resolution video (118MB) as the raw video is over half a gigabyte.
Track foreman Max catches some much needed z's. What do you think he is dreaming about? Steak? Fire hydrants? Slow moving cyclists? Or maybe riding The Dog Train.

 

June 23, 2021

On Monday June 14 David began painting the mountains on the inner scenery backdrop. It looked amazing! I thought this was the finished product, but David assured me he would make at least two more passes with additional colors.	Here is his first pass at Portage and the north end of TwentyMile.	He also did rudimentary passes on the inside of the inner scenery back. If you look in the very center you will see the outline of Sleeping Lady.
There was no train night on June 16 as we were gone on vacation. On Monday June 21 David returned to make his second pass of the mountains.	Here is his work at Portage.	Here is his work north of TwentyMile.
Rick again placed his GoPro video camera on a flatcar and had a locomotive push it around the track. This video is a lower resolution than the one done last week.	A wire had fallen down into the drive shaft and flange on SD70MAC #4011 which caused operational issues. Rick tracked down the problem and made the necessary fix.	SD70 #7002 had derailment issues. Rick found silver shafts (see white arrows) caught on the underside of the body frame. He cut and beveled these to allow free movement of the body frame.
Swing gate alignment has caused various derailments for a variety of reasons. Rick spent over eight hours designing and manufacturing modifications. At first he tried a lift gate using the above design. The resultant lift piece weighed 30 pounds which would be too heavy for me to remove. So he tried a modified swing gate concept. First, he removed the section of wood outlined in white.	The above photo shows the new L shaped receiver.	The gate mount was change so it is angled on its face and sides. This will provide a snug force fit.
The receiver and angled mount.	Rick was very committed to this project. He brought over his belt sander which enabled him to make exact changes in each of the surfaces.	Whenever changes are made there is a ripple down effect. In this case the east dead man switch needed to be relocated to accommodate the new swing gate.
Next, Rick ran all new track over the swing gate as well as at the east end.	Part of the new design included horizontal and vertical adjustment screws. Rick created custom threaded screws complete with turning lever.	Rick taps the threads for the holes for the adjustment screws. All that remains is the installation of a bar to secure the swing gate in place.

 

June 30, 2021

At five years old grandson Liam already has an amazing grasp of the RailPro system. After telling me the locomotive number he wishes to run (#1530) he retrieves the handheld controller, touches the "locomotive" icon, selects "1530" and turns the knob to give it power. He gives it more power to climb the hill, rings the bell when passing the yard and blows the horn when passing the depot and Dairy Queen. He does all this as he plays with various people, signs and buildings.	On Monday David popped in to add more mountains and land forms. He covered almost the entire section from the refinery to Alaska Marine Lines. He reminds me this in the first pass and there will be more colors and detail to come.	He added some snow to the image of Sleeping Lady as well as some new mountain detail.
Looking south at all the new mountains along the double track.	David took a cell phone photo of his new mountains with a few flat cars carrying containers.	During train night we worked on a few RailPro ghosts. Number 7002 pauses and restarts at three spots as show on the above video.

 

 

Feel free to contact me at john@alaskarails.org
Page created 9/4/17 and last updated 7/9/21