Model Railroading > Livin' Large, tales of dispatchers and bubble gum

Our live steam meet this weekend was directed by a dispatcher in this tower in pic one.

Pic two is his panel which directed movements on the single track with sidings railroad.
One wonders if all dispatchers are required to have solitaire running in the background?

It may say Southern Pacific but this is Texas so those are T&NO F-units.

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My Cotton Belt ten-wheeler #669 made it as far as the turntable, shown here,  when the
throttle broke inside the steam dome.  After taking the dome apart we could see that the 
bronze part we needed had fallen inside the boiler and was resting on the
tubes.  We could see it but no way to get to it - no room for needle nose pliers and bronze will not
be attracted to a magnet.  Fortunately Trainorders.com member TomSTP
was there and directed me to run to the mini-mart down the road and get some chewing gum
with specific instructions to chew it good on the way back.  Once back I stuck the gum to the
end of a steel rod, poked it down inside the boiler and pressed it against the part, and easily lifted it
back out to daylight where we re-attached it and off I went down the track.

Later on, I was pulling riders (and Trainorders.com members) SSW and MKT103 and a bolt broke off
on the throttle handle and we were on the back of the property when these resourceful mates found
a piece of bailing wire by a fence.  I twisted it in the holes to hold everything back together and away we sped.

I was almost hoping something else would break that we could fix with duct tape, to complete the repair tri-fecta
of duct tape, bailing wire, and bubble gum.

Also, here is a short video of Trainorders.com member SSW with his steady hand on the throttle of my ten-wheeler.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/12/15 09:26 by WrongWayMurphy.

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Here's the Live Steamer formerly known as ArgyleEagle running his ten-wheeler with bailing wire throttle modification. Thanks again Shane, had a blast!

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If you can't fix it with duct tape, you have an electrical problem!

imrl Wrote:
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> If you can't fix it with duct tape, you have an
> electrical problem!

That's what electrical tape is for!

Nifty little tower you guys have there.Here is the signal box at my local live steamers here in Australia.
Regards,dK

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Are you sure that you  are not a  Rock Island hogger? wag216 (chuckle, chuckle!)

With all the things he breaks, Rock Island is a pretty good comparison.

Are those F units the ones which came from Train Mountain that used to be owned by a fellow with the last name of Nugent? Boyd at TM

BAB Wrote:
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> Are those F units the ones which came from Train
> Mountain that used to be owned by a fellow with
> the last name of Nugent? Boyd at TM

not to my knowledge, unless the fellow this guy got them from, got his from TM