Hi all,
Hope everyone is doing well and getting ready to reboot/restart op's this fall. I know I am, covid has given me a good 12 months to tackle a big project of removing the main duck under into the layout. After getting congresses approval to take over the laundry room with the one stipulation that a half bath must be built as part of the right-of-way acquisition. Once all documents were signed we started to the demo project of 10ft of the layout and started to erect walls and get the tile work done.
We also gained one coal mine called Canejo Mine #4 and the ability to model Crooked Creek bridge nice 180ft HO Scale Bridge!
Also on the docket was getting the plates and hardware replaced on the 1966 installed cTc machine. Some ask why is it gray? In the later years of the US&S machines production they were battle ship gray! I also wanted a bit of a difference from the standard that everyone models. So when you think about railroading in the 1960s - 1980's railroads were cash strapped! So, one way of installing cTc to simplify track work was to use coded track circuits it cut down on the needed pole line wire. So with that bit of solution provided to railroads that was used by the MILW and DTSL we went with that type of solution.
Also, many machines at 15 - 20 years of daily service show signs of "operator" added notes. So when design the plates we left a Lock off and some other details so we could use the red Dyno Labels to make it like our desire to weather the layout to give it a used look. I showed the applied dyno labels to a few now retired dispatcher / tower operator friends of mine and they were like oh ya that is just like they used to look!!!
Here is a view of plate #4 the East end of cTc on the layout. June 1986 the machine was installed August of 1966 after a 2 year project to cTc the railroad from MP44.3 to MP83.2.
All levers and lamps are original hardware all but 15 code buttons are original as well. I am Slowly finding more code buttons goal is to get all but 3 of them original.
Everyone have a great summer,
Mike
