Vital Signs

As of today, the major electrical work on the Davenport is finished.

This tiny locomotive now sports 12 NiCd batteries, an ELITE throttle by RCS, and a Phoenix P5 sound system, as well as a P5T interface board, and all of the requisite wiring to make them all work, under the tiny hood.

The power switch is under the rear frame of the locomotive, as is the radio receiver. The small speaker will fit in front, between the frames. The charging jack will go in the rear cab wall, and be disguised by a sand box / cab seat on the inside, and either a sand fill or a handbrake on the outside. I'll go more into the cosmetic details next time, when I have photos to show how they're progressing... the big news TODAY is that other than connecting the headlights, the electrical work on this locomotive is FINISHED!

The first trial fitting of the various components was not especially encouraging (and, I'm told led to indigestion in some quarters!) There seemed to be no way to fit everything in ... and more wire than a local telephone exchange!



I found the best way to overcome the "octopus" the project seemed to be swallowed by was to remove all of the extra wires from the Phoenix and P5T ... there are several extra wires pinned into the plugs that aren't needed for what I'm doing here. I also shortened up harnesses where possible, and then connected what was left in neat, organized bundles. With the battery pack modified from its standard 4-4-4 arrangement to a top row of 4, a middle row of 5, and a bottom row of 3 cells, I found I had room for all of the electronics on top (including the Phoenix P5 at the extreme rear of the hood, vertically,) and sufficient clearance for the worm and gears underneath. With the battery secured to the right hand side of the hood, there was a space along the left that accomodated the P5T, and all of the bundled wires, as well as the volume switch. With the "Octopus" gone, everything finally fit in a functional, if crowded, way.



Much better! The programming port can be removed by unplugging it from the board once the board has been programmed ... which I did (though not before taking the photo above, apparently.) All that was left was a full scale test ... and I'm happy to report everything started up and ran like a charm... both sound and motor. The speaker in the above photo is a full size Phoenix speaker, and I used it just for testing -- the actual speaker is much smaller and will fit between the front frames, and ahead of the power block.

Now to finish up, there's still lots of cosmetic work to do, as well as final re-assembly, and cleaning up all the debris and marks that a major surgery like this always leaves ...

But today, it's alive! ALLLIIIIVE!

Getting There (Much like the Tortoise...)

No photos yet... but for folks looking for progress, there is progress!

The electronics are almost finished. The locomotive now has an RCS ELITE throttle, Phoenix P5 sound card, a P5T interface, radio receiver, charging jack and power switch all installed. I'm waiting for a speaker for the Phoenix to be delivered. The hood and the lid are both on the frame, and taped in place while the RTV that holds the battery pack in place sets up; this is somewhat delicate, as everything fits, but only just. The new headlight and horns are ready to go, the rear headlight has been fabricated, and once I have some styrene and brass in hand (and some JB Weld!) I'll be able to finish things up. Oh, and I'll need to charge the battery ...

Stay tuned. I expect more, and photos soon.

Fully Apart

In an effort to keep this series in order, today's update shows the fully stripped down frame of the Davenport.

You can see the cavity in which the motor mounts; there are two "D" shaped brackets on the motor that allow it to be screwed into the bottom of the large metal "hump" that takes up the center of the cab area. Removing the one at the non shaft end allows the motor to come completely out. And, any earlier questions about the frame are answered; the black and gray areas are all one piece and the "hump" is an integral part. The whole frame is metal, by the way, which makes gluing and drilling a little different from what you might be used to on a plastic locomotive! Here also you can see the bottom end of the power truck, consisting of the gearbox and axles. It's held to the bottom of the deck by four standoffs that are cast into the floor, and when removed has a strange strong resemblance to an HO power truck (only much larger.) Now, the trick will be to get all of the various components arranged and mounted, and the wires between them run, and organized. It looks like the power switch and radio receiver will go under the cab between the frame rails, and the speaker will go up front under the frame just below the factory supplied speaker grille (which has beene removed.) Everything else has fit under the hood, and the standard rear charging / aux power jack will be concealed on the fireman's side of the cab, and will resemble a sand fill and sand box with a seat on top. I plan to redo the engineer's side of the cab somewhat, as I'm not thrilled with the size or position of the factory control surfaces. We even have an engineer enroute from Hawaii to take charge of things once the unit is operational (thanks Richard!) although I suspect he may have to be temporarily assigned to K-27 duty ... and it may be hard to get him to step down to the little 10 tonner after that!

Stay tuned ... there's more coming!

Crossing the Rubicon

After lengthy discussion with Dave Goodson, I've decided that Slate Creek #2 will be converted to Battery Power and Radio Control (by RCS) here in the Slate Creek shops. Dave will be chief technical advisor, and will hopefully prevent me from blowing anything up along the way!

Here's what the Davenport looks like with the top off the hood, and the Bachmann circuit board removed. There are three plugs on the circuit board; one for the headlight, one for the power IN from the track, and one for the power OUT to the motor. Removing these, and four screws, and we can see what's underneath.

The large silver object is actually a stack of eleven metal plates that are notched to allow space for the worm gear and the gear it drives on the gearbox, which is attached from underneath as part of the truck. The front of the plates have a roundish bite taken out of them, which corresponds with the round speaker mounting underneath; you could put a small speaker here, and half of it would have a grille to the outside, underneath the engine, between the frames.

Removing the weights we can finally see all the way to the bottom of the hood space. Note the gear oil all over the place, and the channels that the motor wires pass through to get to the motor. This gives you an idea of the space we're going to have to work with to install batteries, radio receiver, throttle, and sound equipment. Needless to say, some creativity is on the horizon ....

To properly arrange everything, though, the rest of the locomotive needs to come apart, so we can see what space there is to work with, and what other obstacles may present themselves. The cab is held on by two screws at the front, and an odd arrangement of two screws that hold tabs in place that mate with locking tabs on the back of the cab... removing the screws, one can remove the plastic "pins" and the locking tabs can slide upward. There are four screws that hold the hood in place. That leaves us with the bare frame of the locomotive. Now you can see the "grey area" that appears as the cab floor and the surrounding black painted area that makes up the rest of the deck. While the sides of the "frame" are screwed on from underneath, the deck itself is a single massive cast piece that includes the "grey area" and the large domed "hump" that would presumably represent a huge transmission on a gas-mechanical loco like this one. The motor is actually accessed from underneath; removing the power truck (from the primary gears down, it comes away in one piece) exposes the plate through which one has access to the two brackets that hold the motor in place. (I haven't removed the truck yet, so while you can see the motor access "hatch" you'll have to wait for the next installment to see inside!)

So the plan is, now, to tackle the following laundry list:

1.) The battery/radio control/sound gear is in transit... when it arrives I will need to find a way to fit it all inside the locomotive.

2.) My new headlights have arrived, and are much more like what I had in mind for this locomotive. I will add the headlight, modify the hood to accomodate them, install one in the rear cab wall, modify and install the horns and locate a bell, and decal the locomotive all while it's apart. Oh, and I plan to move the grabiron standoffs from their unusual placement on the radiator to either side of the radiator as they should be ... and I may make a grille guard for the radiator itself.

3.) The seat in the cab bugs me. It appears to be too small for most of the 1:20 people I've met, though that tiny Sherman Pippin found in some of the earlier Bachmann locos might be comfortable. So, I'm going to rework the controls and seat along the lines of a "Big-n-Tall" accomodation ... anyone who thinks I may have a personal stake in that approach ... I have no comment at all as to whether I'm thinking of a 1:20.myself in that cab when I think this way!

4.) At that point it'll be time to reassemble and test. Stay tuned for that, and everything in between!

New Motive Power

The big brown truck brought what will soon be Slate Creek Railway #2 today. It's a Bachmann 1:20.3 Davenport (Gas-Mechanical) and there are a lot of really great things about it. The frame appears to be made entirely of metal, and it's quite heavy for its size. That said, it's kind of odd that the grabiron supports are located ON the radiator instead of on either side, and the seating in the cab might accomodate a third grader, but any large crew members (like the SCRY founder, for example) are going to require some other arrangement. The headlight is just ... well, huge... so I'll have to find a better one for up front, and fabricate one for the back as well ... and I suspect we'll also need to add a horn and bell so she's legal on the main line, if needed. Otherwise, add some graphics, and we're ready to go. Well, almost. It looks as if this little pint sized locomotive may be about to pose a challenge for the west coast battery guru -- stay tuned for what we learn from THAT!

Been Awhile

It's been awhile since anything happened here, because I've been away from the Slate Creek for over a month. What started out as a short trip to give my Mom a few days off from caring for Dad turned into a month long trip to help her take care of him in his last days, until he passed away on October first. My heartfelt thanks for all the support, prayers, and notes everyone sent during that time.

Look for some fresh railroad material here in the coming weeks as life returns to "normal" around here.

More Historic Photos: The very VERY begining.

Meet Robert E. Brown. "Bob" to friends on the east coast, "Gene" to older friends and family in the midwest, he's "Dad" to me. He took me to see my first train at about age 3 ... and all these years later, I remember it ... a big black E unit with the now infamous "PC" on the nose led a stainless steel passenger consist through what had once been the Clinton, CT station. Dad took me for my first cab ride (Edaville #3, about 1973) and as you see here, introduced me to model trains. The photo was taken on the very first day I took the throttle of a model train ... and the rest, as they say was history. The Slate Creek Railway is named for the small ribbon of water in Hamilton, Kansas where Dad fished as a kid. He took me there, once, and while the layout is set in an entirely different place, the name seemed a good one. Dad and I were always going to build a big layout together, but it was never to be ... though he did like to come over and see the Slate Creek Mark I, and even made it to NC to see the Slate Creek in its current form, which, though unfinished already represents a great deal of work, and he could see where it was headed.

Dad has brain cancer, about the worst type there is. He's been fighting it for a year now, and its a fight not many win. All of the various work necessary to be a model railroader-- part electrician, part carpenter, part plumber, part builder, and the mentality of an inventor -- all of it I learned from Dad, often by watching him fix and engineer different projects in his own shop. I could always call Dad with questions on how to do something that had me stumped, and he often had not only the answer but the tools or the parts to do it. He came over, engineered and built the swing bridge for the Slate Creek Mark One, on about ten minutes notice. Dad's business card once read "R. Brown and Sons -- If We Can't Fix It, It Ain't Broke." I will always be proud to be part of the "And Sons."

Please keep him, and our family, in your prayers and thoughts.