Saturday, January 4, 2014

Layout Update - #19

Modeling Operations in Winter Weather
As a “railroad” modeler, I am interested in how the real railroad handled various aspects of the operation of their railroad. I seldom see or hear about modeled snow plow trains. People build all kinds of maintenance-of-way equipment that sit static on their layouts or on a shelf, but do they model the operational aspect of this equipment. I have always thought that during the weather conditions in real life should reflect on the operation of the layout. If the area you model endures a severe winter storm that would be the time to limit traffic until the snow crews have had a chance to clear the line. Below is a photo of the plow that was used on the White Sulpher Springs & Yellowstone Park Railway. This line was a short branch line from the Milwaukee mainline at Ringling, Montana to White Sulpher Springs, Montana. It now resides at the Milwaukee Road Historical District in Harlowton, Montana.

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I purchased IHC’s Milwaukee snowplow as a starting point for my snowplow. You can find these at local shows or on eBay. A check of IHC’s website does not show it available for purchase from them. While this is not an exact representation of the one pictured above it would serve my purpose for a plow train.

Click on a photo for a close-up view.

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The first task to be completed was the removal of talgo style trucks and add a set of nice metal wheel trucks from Athearn. IHC uses a large diameter hole and pressure clip to keep the trucks attached. I filled-in the hole in the bolster with piece of spruce from scrap that I hand on hand. After the glue had dried, I drilled and tapped a new hole for a 2-56 screw. The new trucks attached easily and worked beautifully. As for the rear coupler, thankfully IHC had planned ahead and left a small diameter starter hole for adding a Kadee coupler box. I drilled and tapped a hole for another 2-56 hole and added a #5 for the back coupler. Again, another thanks to IHC for making this a simple task. The coupler matched perfectly with the coupler height gauge.

Click on a photo for a close-up view.

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A feature of these plows is the ability to add lighting to the headlight on the top of the plow blade. I considered adding a wiper blade system to the trucks to power the headlight from track power. This seemed like an extensive task for something that would only be used occasionally four months out of the year. I noticed that the simulated concrete weights in the back of the gondola appeared to be about the size as a AAA battery holder from Radio Shack. After a few quick measurements, it was a perfect fit. The only thing that needed to be modified was a weight removed from the bottom of the car to make enough clearance. I used a 1.4mm 1.5 volt lamp from Circuitron that I had in the parts box. Add a SPST switch to shut off the light and you're done.

Click on a photo for a close-up view.

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This project would not be complete without giving the plow some “character”. Using acrylics and chalk, I weathered the plow to show age and hard usage. I added only a little weathering to the the blade since that was probably better maintained then the rest of the plow.

Click on a photo for a close-up view.

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