You can cut razor slits in index cards and hold them against your work, then airbrush rust color along the slits. Proximity determines the amount of color that makes it through the slits and the shape of your cuts determines the size and distribution of the streaks. You can turn the cards upside down for a different result. Label the cards in terms you'll recognize i.e. hevay rust, box car roofs, light rust etc, once you have an assortment you like.

You can wet brush iron acetate onto rivets, hand rails, door latches, etc.

Rich,

I almost advised nickelanddime to contact you off site for a good book referral on the subject. You always seem to have good instructional resources.

Craig

TrainBrain, If you've never affixed track with adhesives or worked with foam, how did you arrive at your post of July 13?


Craig

Most people who use cork use sheet cork for their yards and other low areas. I used cork roadbed in mine simply because I got it cheaply. It was no problem filling in the low areas between tracks.

If you are really interested in realism, why not avoid EZ Track altogether? The small industrial yard on my private line has recessed permanent magnets and the track is affixed directly to the extruded foam. They work well.

Craig

QuoteIf you glue the track down, any maintenance will be a disaster.

I agree. But glue and adhesive caulk are not quite the same thing. Adhesive caulk is applied in a very thin layer. I can remove a 3' length of flex track, set in caulk, with a long-bladed utility knife in about 30 seconds and recycle the track with ease.

QuoteThe normal heat/cooling cycles will cause displacement of the risers.

I affix my risers directly to sheets of extruded foam that are mounted to a sturdy base composed of underlayment and lumber.

Craig

I have Woodland Scenics foam risers and inclines on my 11x7x18 and just under 100 yards of flex track. I didn't use any track nails. The suggestions above for using adhesive caulk to affix your flex track are well offered. My cork is affixed to the foam with adhesive caulk and the track is affixed to the cork with adhesive caulk. I also have track affixed directly to extruded foam in places. No nails.

My 12 year old took a class at school called Keyboarding. She texts her friends in web-speak, partly to be expeditious (those little keypads are not very user friendly) and partly because of the culture. When she's typing a message intended for an adult audience she types in Standard English. Try it.

I'm sure Gene meant to write that your message was so convoluted that he took you for a non-birth English speaker. I don't think he was being sarcastic when he wrote that. I had a similar impression, particularly given the location of your dollar signs.

What's derailing,  the lead truck or the drivers or both? Does the front truck swivel easily? Are the wheel sets gauged? What exists at the derailing locations?

Craig

Sheldon,

I, too, might reword a few entries in this thread if I were so inclined/enabled. I think simply stating that the fields are reversed, resulting in a reversal of motor torque, would suffice for the casual reader.

I can recall experimenting with a motor and a drill in my misspent youth. I put the shaft of the motor in the drill's chuck and used the motor as a generator, just to see if I could get an arc.

Craig

Sheldon,

I'm a retired electrician (though I actually just came home from an electrical side job) so I know a bit about the "current" subject. I'm also certified in HVAC and my mechanical background is extensive. I guess, as you said, it's all in one's perspective as to how one approaches this subject.

Rich,

Don't give it a second thought. I can't knock a fellow electrician who also happens to be a fellow gardener.

Craig

Sheldon,

I've just done some brief web searches which produced, among other things,  the following information:

" The rolling locomotive wheels turn the motor armatures, and if the motor fields are now excited, the motors will act as generators. For a given direction of travel, current flow through the motor armatures during braking will be opposite to that during motoring. Therefore, the motor exerts torque in a direction that is opposite from the rolling direction."

And also:

"The armature is then short circuited or a current-limiting resistor placed across the armature terminals while the field coils remain energized. In either case, armature current reverses, armature torque reverses, and the motor tries to reverse. The speed in the forward direction rapidly decreases as does the voltage generated in the armature."

Sources:
machinedesign.com
wikipedia.org

I haven't found any publications that contradict my perception of how dynamic braking works. I'll look around a bit more tomorrow.

Rich,

I agree that much of what's been said is accurate, particularly where regenerative braking is concerned. There's also quite a bit of potentially-misleading phraseology. The sentences "the power generated goes into that resistor grid, and is consumed" and "overloading any mechanical contrivance would have the same results"  both strike me as contrary to my understanding of the principals of dynamic braking, which is as follows:

The motors aren't overloaded during dynamic braking.  Braking is achieved because torque is reversed and the armature attempts to run in the opposite direction that the wheels are spinning. The purpose of the resistors is to provide a means of dealing with what happens when the motor's field coils remain energized while the armature current is reversed. The resistors are current-limiting devices with heat sinks. The value of the resistor bank applied across the armature terminals helps to determine the rate of braking. The main difference between a locomotive under power and a locomotive under brake is the current across the armature of the motor. It either works with or against the intended movement of the locomotive.

Comments anyone?

Rich,

I read your post and I know you are well versed in electricity. I was confused by your post though, and it initially seemed to mostly speak to regenerative braking, i.e.

Quote"When the traction motors are thrown into "generator" mode, the power generated goes into that resistor grid, and is consumed, producing heat; hence the fans used for that purpose.  Simply put, it goes no where else."

I admit I inadvertently lumped your response into the "regenerative braking" category at first glance.

It is my understanding that dynamic braking occurs when the electric motors are powered in such a way that the armatures produce torque in the reverse direction that the wheels are turning, thereby offering physical resistance. The banks of resistors absorb the load created and dissipate the energy through heat, as in a rheostat. Several respondents suggested that power generated was going into the resistors. I don't know how accurate that is. The banks of resistors aren't acting as capacitors for power generated, they serve as protection for the load produced when power is applied to the armature windings opposite that of the motor windings. Right?
You wrote:

Quote"When the switches are thrown, the system again reverts into motor loads, the generator(s) supply them, and the accelleration process is again activated."

Correct me if I'm wrong, please, but again it is my understanding that the motor is loaded during braking, just in such a way that torque on the armature is counter to that of the wheels and the physical resistance is caused by the strength of the motor's magnetic field. And when the switches are thrown, the motor is powered in such a way as to work with the rotation of the wheels.

Comments?

Craig

The joiners are crimped into place so removing them without destroying them would be tricky. You can buy a pack of loose joiners for about 2 bucks and simply replace them.

The material is thin; there's a good chance you could open the ends of the joiners in question with a pin or wire nail.

Good luck.