There's a lot less time and expense to attach a coupler pocket to a car body instead of going through all of the complicated stuff shown above. You just drill mounting holes and screw it in, or you can attach it with contact cement if that's inconvenient, such as on cast zamac metal car floors, although such floors appear to have gone away back in the Jurassic.

Truck mounted couplers are guaranteed to give you bad operation if you back your train up much at all through switches. On long unit trains rolling continuously forward that the OP appears to have, it might not matter much. But with any kind of backup moves, which real railroads do all the time, truck mounted couplers push the truck to one side, the flanges are guaranteed to pick at and catch every possible molecule anywhere that could possibly derail a car.

I learned all of this 50 years ago as a young modeler beginning to get beyond loop operation and into switching, who still had a few cars from the original train set rolling on the layout. Once in a while, I will buy some "heritage" car from the distant modeling past on eBay. The first thing that happens on arrival is that those Talgo trucks come off and get replaced with state of the art trucks with metal RP25 or better flange wheels, and body mounted couplers. Those toy train trucks invariably have wheels with pizza cutter toy train flanges on the wheels that, coupled with the sideways back up pressure, will put your train on the ground every time. And half the time the holes in the journals are not shaped properly to accept contemporary wheels.

A jumper wire is normal to supply power from good rail to bad rail, past some power barrier like a bad rail joiner or a bad frog.

You can test it before installation simply by putting your engine on the bad section of track touching a wire on both the good end and the bad end.

Well, the first one is definitely an iron horse!

As I've said many times in the past, one of the big things was unfortunately omitted from sound value decoders was CV 113, the one that keeps the engine quiet when first powered up until moved, then shuts the sound off after a time interval selected by the user. The blower and air pump just keep whirring all the time when you first turn it on, very annoying when all your other engines are still quiet.

It occurred to me that you could solve this aggravation by turning down the volumes of the blower and the air pump.  It worked. CV 132 is the air pump volume. CV 134 is the blower volume. I turned both down to a value of five. You can barely hear them, but you know they're there and they're not overpowering everything else around it.

Try it out and report back.

Early Railroad memories, part three

Steam locomotives were a central focus of my pre-school developing attention span.  I remember them more than anything else in what I did not know was the very end of the closing act of the grand pageant of classic golden-era American railroading. Railroads went everywhere and did everything. They carried everything. Everyone rode trains.  There was a great mystique and aura  of romance about them. But it was not to last but another short couple of years.

We rarely passed the T&NO depot at any other time of the day than early to mid afternoon. But for some reason, one day my mother drove past there, with me in the car, in mid morning. Just to the east of the Corrine Street crossing was the western end of the depot passenger platform, with a water column for the steam engines on the passenger trains to top off the water tank during a station stop.  As we crossed of the track, on my side of the car, I could see the water column just topping off a Vanderbilt tender, the engine facing eastbound and the cylindrical tank rear of the tender being nearest to me. The fireman up on the tender deck was not being very careful, and water was splashing and spraying everywhere, and running all down the sides of the tender tank and onto the platform. I was looking into the sun, and all of this kinetic water action was catching the light and sparkling intensely, not unlike a natural waterfall, making quite an impression on a kid.

Many years later, when I started going to the depot on my own to watch the daily drama of No. 5 and No. 2 calling at the depot within a half-hour of each other, I saw a large metal plate set into the concrete of the platform down by Corinne Street and realized it was where the water column had been. Believe it or not, it is still there, certainly with an underground pipe leading from it to where the water tank had been... undoubtably still holding water that didn't quite make it to a locomotive.

In those days, you could not get a hamburger from some fast food place on every corner.  When my father decided we were going to have hamburgers for supper, the only place in town to get them was a joint called Johnny's down on Hopkins Street, one block west of Corinne Street, near the depot and right at the T&NO crossing and where Washington Street crossed Hopkins Street while paralleling the track.  One evening toward sundown my father drove to Johnny's to pick up supper, and parked facing west on Washington Street alongside Johnny's. Johnny's was a rundown bar, so he could not bring me inside with him, but rather left me in the car while he ran in.  This was very good for me because while he was in there an eastbound steam freight came stomping by and past in great glory.  I remember that silver smokebox front and centered headlight like it was yesterday.  I also recall this train having a cupola caboose, the last time I ever saw one on a mainline train since bay window cars were taking over.

Also, while I was waiting in the car, I spotted a yellow-painted metal device on top of a rail of a spur track across the street. I later learned this was called a "derail," a device designed to prevent a runaway car from rolling onto the main.  Of course, when we got home, I had to have such a thing on my Lionel track.  I got a piece of yellow modeling clay, pressed it all around the rail, and it was the best looking derail I ever saw.

There's still more T&NO steam, then I'll get to the MP.

Maybe call the shows promoter?

Terry , I seem to recall that you are in what used to be Flat River, Illinois. You really need to look into the Missouri – Illinois railroad. It was the Missouri pacific subsidiary that fit right into the type of scenes I described in this whole series. Pieces of it still exist.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri–Illinois_Railroad

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSefnPhsMkgI9TvBrO13Dk9rqdt7qhJX95t_g&s

Part 8 - A trip down the Midland Western (using DCC) - wrap-up

You have to look very hard today to find anyone interested in branchline model railroading, especially modeling such railroading in the entirely steam era. I know, I've looked. I only know of one other guy on the entire Gulf Coast who is. If you're looking for heavy, exciting mainline action, it's not for you.  But, as far as fitting relatively realistic operation onto a small model railroad, you're never going to get a Big Boy or the Super Chief looking very realistic on a 4 x 8 layout, or even anything a good bit bigger.

 You can, however, create a reasonable facsimile of small time railroading in such spaces.  But it is not the first choice of almost everyone entering model railroading.

First of all, small time railroading just does not have the kinetic appeal of the big time operations. Secondly, many, if not most, old-fashioned short lines and branchlines are long, long gone today, so there is no first-hand witness to these operations anymore, although there is somewhat of a resurgence in modern short lines that often are the result of local businesses purchasing a soon to be abandoned branch to retain rail service at their facility.  Personally, I don't find the same appeal in these modern operations as I do in the short lines and branches of 75 years ago with steam power, outdated rundown equipment, and weed grown track.  But that's just me. I was lucky to be raised in a town with not one, but two branchlines, both very fine prototypes to model. And they are both gone today.  If there's anyone interested in modern short line modeling, I'd like to hear about it. Thirdly, the few people I've ever known that have re-created short line and branch line operations have been model railroading a very long time, and have matured into more realistic aspirations about their space available. Or, like me, were witness to these now-disappeared operations. On small layouts with sharp curves and switches, small steam engines like 10 wheelers and consolidations just look a heck of a lot better and more realistic than  giant modern excursion-era steam and full-length passenger cars.

Part of my motivation to detail a typical train trip on my layout was to show that very realistic operations can be duplicated on a small layout.  You don't even need a loop of track.  I have a 50 foot long point-to-point main line with two terminals and two intermediate communities. That's longer than some layouts, but a whole lot shorter than many larger ones where prototypical operations are typically conducted.

Prototype operations have a lot more detail than is needed to merely make a model train roll, but if you have knowledge of what the prototype really does, you can incorporate some parts of it into your own operation.  My own experiences working on an operational steam locomotive 40 years ago are invaluable, but this knowledge can be found online.  Advanced DCC decoders like the tsunami2–2 have multiple functions that give you a gateway to some of the prototypical functions of a steam locomotive.  Cylinder cocks, wheel slip, coupler crash, Johnson bar are only some of them. There are others I still need to educate myself how to use, such as dynamic digital exhaust, and engine/train braking. 

Plus, knowledge of rules of the road is good to have.  I have a friend who is a retired SP engineer who unsuccessfully (and regrettably for me) tried to get me to go to work for the Southern Pacific almost 50 years ago.  Many long conversations with him gave me much great insight, as well as model railroaders who had railroad experience.  Rulebooks are good to have if you can get through them.  The ones I had for the Houston Division of the SP were like a mid-sized city telephone directory.

Obviously, not everyone is going to dig this deep into actual railroading to simply operate their train and relax.  You can always do that. Before I retired, nothing relaxed me from the workday more than doing simple switching moves for an hour or so on the layout, with a TV show going in the background. But if you choose, you can immerse yourself and completely lose yourself in prototypical operations.

I hope my little series has provided enjoyment for a few people in their model railroad journey. Comments are welcome.

 It could be that a little piece of old dried lubricant might be jammed up between one or two of the teeth of the axle gear.  Or even a little particle of ballast. When the weight is off of the engine, the gear drops down in vertical slack just enough so that the worm gear misses it, and smooth rotation occurs. When the engines weight pushes the gear back up a little bit, enough for the worm to be hitting whatever is lodged between the teeth, we get interference. This seems like the most logical problem to me.

I believe I can fix this, but I'll have to take the bottom retainer plate off and take the drivers out of the frame. Then go around and with a wood toothpick clean between every tooth on the axle gear. This may or may not fix the problem, but it seems like the most logical place to start.

Anyone have any comments about this?

My friend has one of the high boiler 10 wheelers that Bachmann discontinued many long years ago. This one had not run in years, 10 or 12 at least.

I provided a full service lubrication on all rods with light oil and on the driver gear with some Labella light grease, very small applications of each. Plus, a droplet of oil on each axle bearing.

Running forward, performance is perfect, smooth as silk and purring like a kitten. In reverse, performance is smooth, but there is an intermittent snag that cannot be predicted when it will happen. It is, however, always at the same point of the driver revolution. Sometimes it catches hard enough to stop the engine .

The only thing is, though, when you block the engine up to spin the wheels in reverse in traditional time-tested run-in method, the snag disappears. The wheel spin, just as smoothly and perfectly when blocked up as when running forward.

I know for certain that the problem is between the driver axle gear and the worm gear. Some type of axle slack is allowing it to be pushed up too firmly into the worm gear when the engines weight  pushes it up. I am very reluctant to disassemble this engine to look at this problem head on. 

Has anyone else ever had this happen before? If so, what did you do about it? Please report. This engine is nowhere to be found used anywhere anymore, so we can't replace it. Besides, it is a beautifully done custom decal job.

Part 7 - A trip down the Midland Western (using DCC) - on into Thunder Grove

Note:  all DCC references are for operation with an NCE pro cab running steam engines with tsunami 2–2 decoders.

The Midland Western is a subsidiary of the Gulf Coast Lines, operated by both the Missouri Pacific and the Frisco.  The year is 1940.

While the two brakemen walk the train length in preparation for departure from Donna Pass, checking the couplers and the air hose connections, the engineer is on the ground walking around the engine, oiling around all the valve, gear and rods. The fireman is in the cab, rebuilding the fire and building up a head of steam for the last few miles. The cross-compound air pump is busily thumping away, building the air, brake line pressure up to service level.

Once all the checking of everything is complete, the brakemen return to their assigned locations and the engineer climbs up into the cab.  He opens the cylinder cocks (F4) and sounds two shorts on the ATSF six chime whistle to announce departure. The engine slowly begins to roll forward, and after 10 seconds, the hogger closes the cylinder cocks (F4.) As the engine rolls over some wet leaves, the drivers slightly slip (F19.) The train approaches a gravel road grade crossing, and the hogger sounds the appropriate warning on the six chime - two longs, short, and a long.

Thunder Grove is only 8 miles to the west, and the downgrade trip does not require the Johnson bar to be notched all the way back  (F5, 3 taps). As the train approaches town, the track begins a long, slow turn to the south. The hogger blows a single long blast on the six chime, announcing approach to the station which is actually the Midland Western general office building, a converted former two-story wood frame house painted in standard railroad yellow with brown trim.

The train smoothly drifts to a stop with the caboose in front of the office building, and the passengers hurriedly jump down from the caboose and run to Hattie's Hotel and Bar, next door to the office building, for liquid refreshment after bouncing around in the caboose for 20 miles over the poorly maintained weedy Midland Western track. While the brakemen are unloading the LCL freight from the side door caboose, the engine uncouples from the train,  and pulls up past the southernmost switch on the Midland Western.  It then backs up around the train on the run around track to pick up the caboose and shove it down to the southern end of the single yard track, since there is no luxury of a caboose track in Thunder Grove.

With this final task done, the the road crew is relieved by a yard crew that has been waiting at the office building. They will sort the cars in the yard and switch the several railroad customers and Frisco, interchange in Thunder Grove. It has taken almost 8 hours to get the train over the 20 miles of Midland Western track, so the crew also heads to Hattie's, where over liquid refreshment they will tell and retell yet another time the stories and legends of the Midland Western ... the dramatic downgrade runaway from Donna Pass, and particularly the great Midland Tragedy of generations ago.

It was mostly about layout surface to start with.

Same height as adjacent.  Long wheelbase drivers will sag into the hole and raise the other end of the wheelbase off the rail, causing the same loss of contact as if the frog is too high.

Even if not sagging enough to do that, a sag in a frog will make rolling cars hop up-and-down, looking ridiculous and not very realistic.  I know, I've done it, and had to replace the switch, a very expensive education in several dimensions.

The only Bachmann switches that don't have have metal frogs are the very sharp, less than no. 4 ones intended to fit into an 18 inch radius curve. They are almost as sharp as street car track curves. I got rid of all of mine on the main layout quite a while back and went to no.6 switches. I still have a couple on a very small layout at our other house and wish I could get rid of them but they're only thing that work in the small place they are.

Early Railroad memories, part two

I did not know until I had been gone for many long years what a great railroad town my hometown was in the early 1950s. The Texas and New Orleans was the big mainline presence while the Missouri Pacific was a branchline terminus tucked into nooks and crannies around the northwest edge of town. But, in addition to all of that, the Texas and New Orleans was the eastern terminus of two branchlines that ranged south out of town. In many ways, the town was like a railroad hub.

The easiest place for me as a child to see the railroad was the T&NO, with streets paralleling it on one or both sides the whole way through town, plus about six blocks of double track street running in the eastern end.  The freight house and passenger depot were pretty much in the middle of the T&NO complex.  Across the main line from these was a wye that led south into the two branchlines. In the middle of the wye was a little engine service area where several small steam engines that ran the branchline were kept.  A large black water tank was there too.

My mother passed this locomotive service area almost every day in the car driving on errands. And I would be in the car with her. I was between four and six years old but I remember that place as clear as if it were yesterday.  The water tank was right by the gravel street we drove on, dripping water all the time with puddles all around the bottom of it.  All of the Texas and New Orleans steam engines were oil-fired, so an oil service tank car was always shoved up to the end of a siding in the service area.

 The engine service area had a number of tall pine trees around it, and I remember several engines sitting up in the trees with steam up, one being overfired because you could see the fire flashing and flaring between the spokes on the last set of drivers, very dramatic and scary for a little kid. Going west on that street, you went around a little lumberyard, and then the street returned to trackside with the tie ends being almost right up in the street gravel.  One time a locomotive was sitting on that section of track as we passed within five or six feet of it. Water was pouring out of the injection overflow and puddling into the street. I remembered that when we got home. I got on my tricycle and carried a garden watering can, pouring out water as I pedaled down the driveway.

They were several other places to see the T&NO.  They will come next.

Early Railroad memories, part one

I can't remember a time ever when I wasn't aware of trains.  When I was born in 1948, both the Texas and New Orleans main line and the the Missouri Pacific branch lin in my hometown were 100% steam powered.  The Southern Pacific's prime passenger train passing through our town, the Sunset Limited, was still all heavyweight cars and steam powered, as were the several other local T&NO passenger trains on the schedule in those days.

We were the same distance from both, about a half mile or so maybe, and I could hear those high-pitched screaming steam whistles all the time, unable to tell which Railroad it was, because they both had the same whistles.  One great memory I have of the whistles was on one incredibly hot summer afternoon, with the sun being an obscure orange disc in the humidity-heavy hazy sky, hearing an unbelievably lonesome whistle scream, faintly drifting in and out on the wind from the northeast, which meant that the Missouri Pacific was on its way out of town up to the main line 50 miles north.

No one had any air-conditioning in those days, and we were no exception. The nights were almost unbearably hot. We had a giant 4' diameter attic fan that thumped all night long trying to get a breeze through the windows, but really didn't do much good.  I remember lying there sweating in the middle of the night and hearing what I learned later what was a deep – toned six chime whistle on the T&NO, undoubtedly pulling eastbound No.6 through.

When I was about four, my mother enrolled me into some little preschool on the other side of the railroad from us. It was a block and a half south of the T&NO, and a half block south of an eastbound Missouri pacific line, both running in paved streets.  That was unfortunate for me because the freight trains were pretty frequent, and I'd go wild going running out to the street to watch them pass. I remember very clearly the screaming five chime whistles squalling to the east as the steam engine came into town, and I would be like a rocket, trying to get to where I could see it.  I learned later that the engines were all 2–8-2's  and 2–10-2's.  I'd usually be able to manage to get a quick look at the valve gear churning on those engines before the teacher had me by the collar, dragging me back into the classroom.

That's enough for now.  Models came a little later.