A Few Simple Repairs

 Yesterday, for a brief shining instant, trains were running on the Nodaway Valley Railroad.

Yes, I finally got the final track wiring accomplished and then I ran some trains. I found a dead piece of track that needed feeders and a few turnouts that needed to be tuned up, but I was able to run a cleaning train around a few times.

I then broke out the Bachmann 4-8-4 locos. These are almost magical in their ability to find flaws in trackwork, and boy did they find them. A few of the issues were due to wheel guage, which was quickly fixed, but two (three) major issues were soon found to be a problem.

Due to my desire to have a turning Y for the narrow gauge, I created a stretch of dual gauge trackage approximately 5 feet long. This dual gauge trackage led eventually to the coal processing plant where it turned back into a standard gauge yard. Due to the placement, the main line was forced into a tighter curve, 12" where originally 15" was planned.

On the beginning of a hill.

So two model railroad no-no's in one short stretch of track.

I made the decision this morning to tear out the dual gauge and replace the Y with a narrow gauge turntable, which means I will have to purchase and modify another Peco N scale turntable for that end of the narrow gauge. This will allow me to broaden the standard gauge curve going into the coal plant (thus eliminating another future headache), which allows me to install the 15" curve on the main that I wanted in the first place.

Still on a hill, but at least the broader curve will be less of an issue.

In the process I will be eliminating a siding that I had installed for a joint train station for the standard and narrow gauge railroads, but I won't miss it. This gives me an additional opportunity to smooth the vertical transition more than it is, which eliminates another issue since the vertical transition was co-located with the beginning of the curve.

You can see why I had issues there.

While I'm at it, I am going to eliminate the two passing sidings on the hill. I had added them in as an afterthought, one on each incline, and the turnouts are problematic because of the vertical distance the throwbar actuator had to travel. 

The Northerns had problems with derailing their pony trucks on these turnouts, and since I don't really need them they can go away. This will also give me some room to put scenery on the wall next to the incline since there will only be one track instead of two.

I will re-test the mainline when these repairs are complete, and I'm expecting better results.