Signal Bridge Project Update

In February I wrote about the idea of using a single track version of the signal bridge on the Southern Railway mainline in Cornelia to disguise the screen porch/ladder yard's train portal.






























This project recently made some progress! I found an LGB/Model Power traffic light/signal on ebay for a few dollars that is very close to the style of the one used by the Southern.

























































But when it arrived I was was disappointed to find the bulbs were cheap screw-ins with color flaking off and two of them blown. Rather than launch a hunt for obscure colored bulbs, I replaced all three with low voltage DC LEDs that I had on hand. At the same time I also replaced the feed wires that connected the signal to the included four position switch (all three colors plus "off"), replacing the ridiculously flimsy wires with solid 18 gauge stranded wire and plenty of heat shrink tubing, color coded to match the plastic wire cover with the lamp colors. At the same time I added a connector for a 9 volt battery and spade connectors, allowing E-Z power upgrades in the future. Finally, I shortened the brass tube that supports the signal by about half in order to more closely resemble the geometry of the one in used by the Southern.

With this overhaul the lamps in this signal will last forever, while allowing the convenience of low voltage DC wiring!































































Future Control Plans
While initially the four way control switch will be mounted in a box at the foot of the signal bridge, in the future I would like to separate the circuits such that the yellow and red lamps are controlled separately by two position toggle switches as follows:

The red lamp's switch would be mechanically linked to the track switch that controls access between the Arrival track and the Southern Railway's interchange track (found under the baggage car in the photo below). A train working the interchange fouls the 90 degree crossing that is directly outside the porch portal, so the signal would appropriately report immediate danger in the red position.

The green and yellow lamps will be controlled by the track switch that dictates whether a train continues around the Arrival track or crosses straight over the diamond and into the ladder yard (to the left of the observation car in the photo). If the switch is set for a train departing the porch to proceed up the line the signal will display green, yellow when set for the Arrival track.































Of course, I have no idea just exactly how to carry out the mechanical linkage between the Aristocraft track switch machine and an outdoor-grade toggle switch, but the idea and functionality of these lamps as a working signal makes the project too good not to continue chewing on!

Two New Structures Erected

I found this birdhouse and bird feeder in the garden shed and mounted them on 1/2" black pipe atop the southern-most pair of posts.




















Since the bird feeder is too inconveniently located to use for that purpose, I took out the plastic seed holder and simply left it open. It will be interesting to see how (or if!) the birds will use this little structure. I'd like to find or make a long bench to run down the middle of it to make it look more like a passenger waiting area.


The birdhouse required a bit of modification since it was originally designed to be suspended from a hook and thus featured a loose bottom. After making a fixed bottom from some scrap material I painted it with primer, then my wife painted the house with the same yellow paint as our house. I finished it up by painting the corners and eaves white to also match the trim on our residence.

Let's go play in the yard!

I'm really looking forward to being able to actually run trains in the foreseeable future!

Some guys like to turn on the trains and watch them run a loop. That's fun too, but what gets me going with is the feeling of being the engineer - the fun of driving the little locomotives from stop to stop.

Part of the goal in Cornelia was thus to cram in as many elements as possible of a working rail yard so that I could then have the fun of running the little Aristocraft 0-4-0 switcher through the process of sorting cars, making up trains and breaking down incoming trains according to the operations.

With a piece of track stolen from the other end of the line I was able to complete the caboose track, which showed how close I am to having a proper yard in place:



















The three freight cars at the far left are on the departure track, where outgoing trains are assembled. There is enough capacity in this track to make outgoing trains of 6-8 cars.

The adjacent track with the bobber caboose is the caboose track - a convenient place to add or drop a caboose at either end of the run.

The passenger train is parked on the southern terminus of the TFRR's mainline - the arrival track.

The future location of the run-around track is noted with those 1x2's running adjacent to the arrival track.

And at the right rear you see a reefer car parked on the interchange track with the Southern Railway, which represents the TFRR's connection to the wider world. From the standpoint of operating the railroad, that interchange is a magical source of incoming loads of freight, coal, fuel, empty cars and anything else not produced on the line of the TFRR. The interchange is an equally magical point of departure for anything produced or grown on the TFRR line that may not otherwise have a logical destination in the neighboring towns.

In the next, longer view you can see the 0-4-0 on the yard lead in the forward right corner. The yard lead is the bit of track necessary for a locomotive to have enough room to pull far enough forward that it and a couple of cars can clear the switches that, in our case, lead to either the run-around track or the interchange track.

The yard lead turned out to be deep enough that it might be possible to model the very tip of it as a single-car capacity freight dock and warehouse. There were several warehouses located around all sides of this wye there in Cornelia, so it would be historically sound. Always tempting to be able to add another source/destination for traffic on the line!





















Looking through the door you can see the ladder yard, the other element typical to any rail yard. The ladder yard is a place to sort and store cars while waiting to be connected to the next train heading the right direction.

Ours will be consolidated with the last common yard feature - engine servicing - as the ends of the two tracks to the farthest left will feature a model of the TFRR's two stall engine house. Out of view at the far right are the single car sidings with operations potential as fuel track and a "Repair in Place" (RIP) maintenance track.























If you embiggen the photo by clicking on it you can see the effort to suggest the street crossing at E. Chattahoochee Street/Martin Luther King Jr. Drive has made a little progress! After the basic shapes were cut out of an old scrap of tongue and groove siding, I cut grooves in them with a razor saw to suggest the long timbers in an old-timey wood plank road crossing. I used an Exacto knife to whittle out joints between the timbers, also taking out some corners and breaking up the too-straight grooves made by the razor saw. Finally, I tapped a nail punch with a hammer into the wood at the ends of my "planks". After I darkened the grooves up with a pencil the whole effect is relatively convincing from the requisite 10 feet.

Here's a picturesque inside view of the ladder yard and the yard lead. Note that in the gap between the oak tree and the reddish roof is dogwood exploding with beautiful white blossoms.





















All aboard!

View from the Porch

#1 Arrival Track Complete!

Last weekend we got another couple days of warm weather, so I was able to complete #1 Arrival track, including the connections with the 90 degree crossing into the porch and all of the related switches!






















You can see a real-life photo of #1 Arrival in this 1936 postcard I recently found on ebay - the track right behind the row of baggage carts. The tracks in the foreground are the Southern Railway mainline and the depot house track. Note the Cornelia apple monument at the edge of the postcard on the right.



















Back on my version of the TFRR, you can see I also added a switch to the Departure track - the tangent that runs along the fence at the far left. This will allow addition of a caboose track, which is a little parking area for cabooses that allows them to be easily added to outgoing trains or detached from incoming trains.





















At that point I ran out of track, so completion of #2 Arrival track and the caboose track will have to wait a bit longer...