I don't feel as if I've made a whole lot of progress this week, but looking back I guess I have. All mainline track is laid except for the last piece of flex to connect with west end Phillipsburg/Allentown staging. All tortoises are installed, all feeders have been placed & those midway thru Andover Jct have been connected. The west yard lead at Warwick has been installed, all slide switches in Maybrook have linkages, except 2, frogs at the west end of Maybrook have been wired. I hope to get the rest of the feeders connected tomorrow & hope to put the mainline in service to the end of track at the entrance to west end staging. West end staging will be deferred for a week or so until I get some surplus twin coil switch machines, since I've given up on Atlas under the table machines. I'll keep using the ones I've already installed, but won't be installing any more.
The time is getting closer & closer for near full scale test sessions! As of today I'm 2 weeks shy of 5 months since construction started. I don't think I'll be able to initiate near full scale test sessions by the 6 month anniversary, but I think I won't miss it by much.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Progress Continues
Well, it's been more than 2 weeks since the last update & the L&HR has continued to progress. Since then I took a week off from work & basically worked full time on the RR. Between that & evenings & last weekend & with the help of Steven Johnson & Marcus Neubacher, I've wrapped all the feeders from the feeder frenzy of a couple of weeks ago & all track is in service to the west end of Sparta Jct. Tortoises have been installed through the west end of Sparta Jct & have been tested and are in service through the east end of Sparta Jct. Track has been laid to the east end of Andover Jct & track and roadbed have been acquired to complete the mainline into west end staging (Phillipsburg/Allentown). All bus wire has been pulled through west end staging. additional loconet cable & 6 throttle jacks have been installed, thanx to the generosity of CRI&P management. slide switches & linkages have been installed in Maybrook and along the mainline. I think my focus at this point will be to complete the mainline & west end staging. Once that's complete I can begin some operations testing.
Beyond the construction progress, the big news is that test trains have run successfully from Maybrook to Sparta Jct & return. Last Saturday I ran the first west bound revenue freight from Maybrook to Sparta Jct, & after delivery of the loconet cable & 6 throttle jacks, Steven Johnson ran the first east bound revenue freight from Sparta Jct to Maybrook. Last Sunday Marcus came to help with slide switch installation. Before starting on that project, he ran a "stress test" westbound freight. 2 C420s departed Maybrook with 24 cars, stopping at Warwick to set off 5 underweight cars & pick up 11 fully weighted cars, making a 30 car train, all fully weighted, plus caboose. I'm pleased to report that 2 C420s made it all the way from Warwick to Franklin (almost a continuous grade at about 1% to DeKays & about 1.75% from DeKays to Hamburg before easing off to Franklin), although it was a very close call in some locations, particularly when the train was stretched thru turnback curves between DeKays & Hamburg. Nevertheless, expert train handling by Marcus got the job done; very impressive! In any event, since I'm planning 25 car max trains, I now feel confident that 2 C420s can handle that train length. Since the other L&HR road power will be Atlas Classic RS3s, & a pair of Atlas CNJ SD35s, both of which I know to be good pullers, I'm confident that all L&HR trains can operate over the road with 2 units.
Beyond the construction progress, the big news is that test trains have run successfully from Maybrook to Sparta Jct & return. Last Saturday I ran the first west bound revenue freight from Maybrook to Sparta Jct, & after delivery of the loconet cable & 6 throttle jacks, Steven Johnson ran the first east bound revenue freight from Sparta Jct to Maybrook. Last Sunday Marcus came to help with slide switch installation. Before starting on that project, he ran a "stress test" westbound freight. 2 C420s departed Maybrook with 24 cars, stopping at Warwick to set off 5 underweight cars & pick up 11 fully weighted cars, making a 30 car train, all fully weighted, plus caboose. I'm pleased to report that 2 C420s made it all the way from Warwick to Franklin (almost a continuous grade at about 1% to DeKays & about 1.75% from DeKays to Hamburg before easing off to Franklin), although it was a very close call in some locations, particularly when the train was stretched thru turnback curves between DeKays & Hamburg. Nevertheless, expert train handling by Marcus got the job done; very impressive! In any event, since I'm planning 25 car max trains, I now feel confident that 2 C420s can handle that train length. Since the other L&HR road power will be Atlas Classic RS3s, & a pair of Atlas CNJ SD35s, both of which I know to be good pullers, I'm confident that all L&HR trains can operate over the road with 2 units.
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