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| Troops envy the conductor as he rides past. |
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| Replacement switch stand at Falmouth |
I replaced the three-way switch stand at Falmouth. During yesterday's op session I observed that the throw was not symmetrical. The stands are supposed to have symmetrical rotation in each direction. As I inspected it and operated it I realized that the axle, which acts as the pivot point for the throw rod had popped loose on one side of the stand. Thus the pivot axle was only supported on one side. So it was basically wiggling inside the switch stand. This created uneven rotation and a lot of slop. The easiest way to fix it was to replace it.
So I built a new switch stand with a much beefier pivot axle. I originally designed the switch stand throw rod to use a 0.010 pivot axle and a 0.032 in connection to the rails. But for this one, I drilled out the pivot holes to 0.025 inches to accept a beefier pivot rod. I also left a bit more of the pivots rods stand proud of the stand surface. That way if there is any deflection in the stand as the operators work it, it will be less likely to pop out.
I installed the new switch stand and it works like it is supposed to. So all is good. The old switch stand went in the junk pile by the engine terminal.
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| The new guard rail |
I also noticed that the switch leading to the engine service and turntable was missing one of its guard rails. I suppose that is a good sign that the switch operated well without the guard rail. But, I added it tonight so it should run more reliably in the future.
I have been working on my presentation for the RPM East 2023 in a few weeks. I took some new photos to freshen up my presentation. One is shown above.
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