Trackwork wars: Part 16

When last we visited this unwelcome topic (unwelcome to me, anyway), I had torn out both of the curved switches in the lead into Santa Rosalia, and Jim Providenza came over to help install a pair of new ones in their place. That was great, but we soon discovered that the first of the Peco switches into town also needed to be replaced. So I tore it out, and some nearby trackage. The state of play at that point is shown on the repeat photo below. The story is at: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2025/09/trackwork-wars-part-15.html . 

My first step was to install a new Peco switch, along with some replacement trackage where a foot or so of the lead to the team track had been removed. The new track is shown below (compare photo above), along with the still-unsoldered feeder wire with the yellow insulation. 

I was about to solder some of the new rail joints, when it occurred to me that continuing work on the switches that were installed earlier might need adjustment of location, so I put off doing that. Then Jim Providenza came over again, with complete toolbox, to see how we could make things move ahead. I really appreciate Jim’s help with trackwork that I’m not as good at as I used to be. He of course brought his Santa Cruz Northern coffee mug. 

Most of the new switches work fine, but there continues to be a dip in the overall track. To see if it could be made better, Jim used pieces of an old Athearn kit box to shim up the track. This surprised me in that it actually did help. Here is how it looked with the cardboard from the box underneath.

This seemed to improve enough of the problems that we called it a day. I went back and soldered the feeders and some more of the track joints, inserted ties where they were missing between sections, and started painting the rail. I still use my long-time choice for this paint, Floquil Roof Brown, as I think it gives the right dark brown commonly seen on rail in the world. Then dirt “ballast” will be added. 

More testing needed, but the track  is coming back into service, and needs to be gotten ready for the next operating session. Hopefully we will have all this trackage back in full service by then!

Tony Thompson