A 3400 COMES TO BROOKMERE

A beautiful brass model steam locomotive was bestowed on the KVMR by way of three estates.  It is a model of the CPR M 4 class which was treated of in a previous post on Kettle Valley Consolidations. It can be found here: http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/06/kettle-valley-consolidations-part-1.html

When it came to us, the model was covered in a very poor paint job which only obscured the exquisite craftsmanship of the original builder; a man by the name of Doug Murray who lived and worked in the Vancouver area.  Apparently he was a VSE stock broker and his hobby of building brass models was a therapeutic release from the pressures of his profession.  Among other things he built a detailed model in brass of a pile driver.

Major components of the 3400 were scratch-built and fitted out with several commercial castings.  The only other commercial items seem to be the under-frame, cylinders and drivers.  The rivet-work is of a very high quality, perhaps a little oversize in some cases but very clean and precise.  We will describe the craftsmanship in greater detail with pictures and the work we had to do to get the model running smoothly.

Boiler  It appears to us that the boiler was rolled by the builder.  A friend of ours disputes that but the boiler courses were at the very least modified in length and with rivets and other details added, then reassembled.  The running boards (which are often a challenge to fabricate and mount) conform closely to photographs of the prototype.  Here is the left or fireman's side of the model after sandblasting.  The cross-head guide rods were masked off from the abrasive.

It could well be that the cab was scratch-built or at least heavily modified from a commercial model.
The boiler front is perfect and had an etched number board bearing the digits 3400.  Curiously, according to photographs of the actual number 3400, she did not have the running board configuration that the model was given and differed in two other major details: 1.  Number 3400 and many of her sisters had a step in the running board on the right side under which was located a second air tank; 2.  The placement of the bell varied. It could be located as in the pictures or alternatively it could be attached to the check valve behind the smoke stack. In this case, the sand dome was moved further to the rear.  Below is the right side or engineman's side with the straight running board.  One other major detail variant in the 3400's was to re-position the headlight to the center-line of the boiler front.  This was the standard practice of the late steam era on the CPR but many older locomotives retained their high headlight to the end.




To match the model to a Kettle Valley locomotive in our late steam era (number 3448) we considered changing the right-side running board, adding the second air tank and re-positioning the bell and dome.  However, we found a photo of a prototype match to number 3455 parked beside the Penticton roundhouse in 1938 so in the end we chose not to change these three significant details on Doug Murray's beautiful model but give her the number 3455 which would not be too far from historical reality.


Chassis  The chassis received a serious modification by Doug to the driver slots to achieve the appropriate spacing for the drivers which was uneven.  The overall dimension from the first axle to the fourth was correct as supplied.  But the spacing of the middle two axles was different.  Doug filed the front faces of the middle two axle slots and added brass fillers to the rear of these two slots in order to bring the second and third axle forward and to provide a larger spacing between the third and fourth drivers.  By doing this, he achieved a closer match to the prototype as can be seen in the following CPR diagram.  It would seem that the chassis was originally designed and built for somewhat larger drivers with even spacing.


Drivers  The model ran very poorly and after considerable labour spent on the chassis and drivers, we found that one of the wheels on the gear axle was loose.  So, it would run for a few minutes but would soon develop a mild stutter and eventually a severe bind to the point it would not move.  Accordingly, all drivers were re-quartered and the loose one eventually affixed with "Thread-Locker".  In tuning the chassis and drivers, we had to shim the slots to reduce the amount of play between the slots and the axle bushings.

 Gearbox  The original drive gear was exposed on the bottom by lacking a cover plate.  This is considered a deficiency that would only invite problems as time went on by attracting foreign material into the gearbox and its lubricant.  A new NWSL gearbox was installed and the motor remounted. Model airplane fuel line was used as the universal to join the gearbox to the original Mashima motor.


Tender  Here is a photo of the locomotive with its switching tender.  These tenders had a back-up light mounted on a stand for night work and large foot-boards fitted on the rear.  The model tender is mostly scratch-built with a few commercial castings and the trucks added.  Very, very nicely done.

Unfortunately, the coal bunker extensions had to be modified for our tight model curves by cutting notches in the front corners.  Otherwise, there would be a direct short between the extension and the cab roof on any track curve sharper than 60" or so.  But the notches are hardly noticeable and seem to pass as prototypical.  It is most desirable to couple the tender as close to the cab as possible.

Decoder  A Tsunami Heavy Steam decoder was installed in the tender.  Our standard Mega Bass speaker made by Soundtraxx was fitted out with a cylindrical lead enclosure held together with Capton tape.  This was mounted right forward under the coal bunker in order to maximize the height of the speaker enclosure on the principal that the larger the speaker box the deeper the sound.  The decoder was placed behind the speaker and the wiring connected.  Two plugs were used between the tender and locomotive.  One two pin connector carried the blue and white wires for the headlight and the three pin plug carried the red wire for the loco pick-up, and the grey and orange wires for the motor leads.  It was a squeeze to get the wires routed into the cab and around the motor properly.  The lead speaker enclosure adds significant weight to the tender thus providing good electrical contact between the rail and the tender wheels.


Lighting  We favour the LED lamps made by Evan Designs: http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/  They are very tiny and have a built in bridge rectifier and appropriate resistor.  They can be connected directly to the lighting outputs of the decoder and are not polarity sensitive.  Here are the front and back of the package together with one of the LED's and the wires.  The actual lamp is indicated by the red arrow.  Very small indeed and a very bright light is produced.  Care must be taken to mount these so that the wires do not scrape the metal of the boiler to short out.  They are fixed in place with white glue which helps to insulate them from the bare metal.  Some heat shrink and a two pin plug can help too.  For more info on working with these amazing lamps see the October issue of Model Railroad Hobbyist: http://mrhpub.com/2016-10-oct/online/


Painting and Lettering  The model was blasted with 220 grit Aluminum Oxide Abrasive.
Painted with Scalecoat I Paint: http://www.minutemanscalemodels.com/  CN Sig warm black is our preferred colour of which we have a dwindling supply.  Scalecoat I - Graphite And Oil was applied to the smokebox.
The decals are by Black Cat: http://www.blackcatdecals.com/product/cpr2345-dh-steam-engines-in-dulux-gold/  Black Cat provides the warning placards on the footboards both front and rear that are added according to photos of CPR switchers as well as the fire hose decal for the box under the tender.  One day we will weather the model but for now we like her in her pristine outfit.

A final note on her use on the layout.  The prototype Brookmere did not have an assigned switcher as far as we know.  Only Penticton had one.  However, No. 3455 fits in well with our operating scheme and works the east end of Brookmere during our operating sessions.  This has worked out well as a good yard crew can efficiently manage the east yard.  In reality, road crews would do their own terminal switching but in practice on our layout, an assigned yard switcher has been found to expedite things better in our compressed operations format.  Glad to have this exquisite model grace our layout.

Coquihalla Man

BRODIE STATION - PLANS AND DETAILS

Four miles to the west and downgrade from Brookmere is the "station" of BRODIE where the Merritt Subdivision used to connect with the Coquihalla Subdivision.  This point marked the end of the Merritt Sub at Mileage 65.16.  Much farther to the west, mile "0" for the Merritt sub was the place where the track diverged from the CPR mainline at Spences Bridge.  Later on, at the time of the abandonment of the Coquihalla Sub in 1961, this Brodie junction became mileage 112.7 of the Princeton Sub. 

Brodie is not much recognized as a geographical name but it can be located on Google Maps by keying in Brookmere and then moving due west towards the highway.  The loop and Girder Bridge are clearly seen in the earth view.  From Highway 5 it is readily accessed by taking exit 250 at Larson Hill.  A short winding road will take you to the Brodie loop.

The house in the photo is the Section House along with the tool shed and wood shed.  The windows of the section house have been removed.  Out-of-sight and possibly also removed is the other building identified on the drawing that follows as "house" but of this we have no other information.  We present here a few drawings, details and photos to aid the modeler in reproducing this interesting junction in the "middle of nowhere".  The photo above was taken by our late, good friend Glenn Lawrence sometime after abandonment of the Coquihalla sub.  It appears that the points and frog of the switch in the foreground have been removed which may have happened in the late 1960's or early 70's.  It is possible that Glenn took the photo on his 1968 trip to Brookmere, Merritt and the Otter Creek Valley.

Here is the title block for the "Station Ground Plan" of Brodie.  As is evident, it was originally drawn in 1934 with an update rendered in 1940.

Another detail crop from the same drawing follows showing the junction switch with the Merritt Sub already referred to. You can click on the image to enlarge it. This detail also shows the pole line with the actual placement of poles indicated.  The poles carried 17 wires according to the notation.  Note the "drop" (telephone cable) to the register booth (aka phone shack) which is close by the junction switch.  This was not really a shelter for passengers but a building for train crews to record the passage of their trains in a special book called a Train Register.  They could also contact the dispatcher if needed using the telephone located inside.  Curiously the plan denotes the building as a "station" and timetables do show that Brodie was a "flag-stop" but the question is who would have boarded or detrained here since no one except the local section gang lived in the area.

According to the drawing, the phone shack has a footprint of 10 feet by 22 feet and is set back 18 feet from the track centreline.  It does not appear in the photo above, being just out of sight to the left of the picture.  Good photos of the shack are to be seen in the collection of Lorne Bond at Hank's Trucks: http://www.hankstruckpictures.com/pix/trucks/k_duddy/2010/10-11/kettle_valley_rr/file005a.jpg  There are also other fine shots of KV steam trains and scenery.  A tiny side view of this shack is shown in Smuin's book, Mileboards on page 3-11.

Here is the detail crop from the plan showing the Bridge, the junction switch and the phone shack which is described as a "station".  Other things to note are the 4.0 milepost at the bottom of the plan and the right-of-way owned by the railway; this latter is marked out by the dashed and dotted lines.  The right-of-way is usually 50 feet from the centreline of track but in some places it is 100 feet from centreline.  An interesting detail is the switch which seems to be a curved switch with the "normal" route easing into a tangent for the Coquihalla line.  Trying to interpret the figures adjacent to the switch, it would seem that the diverging route of the switch flattens from the loop curve of 12 degrees to 4 degrees 30 minutes through an arc of 4 degrees 30 minutes then reverts to 12 degrees.  The other wye switch near the phone shack has identical figures.  See below.  For modelers, we tend to build our curved switches with full loop radius rather than flattening them through the frog as the prototype did.

Both of the original two bridges located at Brodie were 100 foot long wooden Howe truss spans replaced with steel versions about 1932. In the drawing above, the bridge for the Coldwater River crossing at Mileage 4.1 of the Coquihalla Sub is denoted as a 100 foot long Deck Lattice Truss.  It can be seen in the background of the opening photograph.  A line drawing appears below.  This CPR line drawing is heavily edited from the original to render the image legible for modelers.  This steel truss bridge was removed some years ago presumably for environmental concerns.  The abutments are still in place although somewhat undermined by the action of the Coldwater River.  An identical truss type was used on the famous Falls Creek/Bridal Veil Falls trestle in the canyon downstream at mile 21.2.  It is still accessible to courageous hikers for measurements and photographs.  The Coldwater version employed only two trusses whereas the Bridal Veil Falls trusses were four in number for the one span.  The Tie Bill of Materials was: 108 ties @ 8" x 14" x 14'-0".

And now, a plan detail of the track, the girder bridge and the structures that show in the opening photo.  These latter are located close by the 12 degree curve of the loop from Merritt.  They were: a No. 2 standard tool house, a section (foreman's) house, a (wood)shed, two privys and the aforementioned house set back from the loop.  According to Smuin, there was a bunkhouse here in early years but no sign of it on the plan or in the photo.  Perhaps section men were given a better dwelling at some point and this is the mystery house. Dimensions of the Section House were 21.5' x 28'.  It appears to be the standard CPR/KVR No. 3 section house with the common addition of a room to the rear which usually housed the kitchen.  Again note the curved switch to the west leg of the wye junction and the back track.  And the loop curvature is described in this part of the drawing as 12 degrees which is considered a "sharp" curve in real railroading.  It turns an arc of 191 degrees 30 minutes between the spirals at each end.

The bridge is still in place as part of the Trans Canada Trail.  It is denoted as a 100 foot long Through Plate Girder. Here is the CPR line drawing of it.  While it is denoted as Bridge 112.9 of the Princeton sub, before 1961 it was Bridge 65.0 on the Merritt sub.  A good reproduction of a drawing of a bridge similar to this one was rendered by Patrick Lawson in the October 2003 edition of Mainline Modeler.  His drawing is for a bridge on a tangent so the substructure differs a little from this one which is located on a 12 degree curve.  Comparison of the plan views will reveal the different substructure arrangements.  The bridges' widths are the same at 18 feet centre to centre for the main girders. 

Here is the Tie Bill.  Not sure where and how the 4 odd ties were placed.

This fine photo was taken by Dave Love in the 1980's shows some detail. 

There is an excellent early photo of the Brodie Loop and junction showing the original Howe truss bridges and the section house in the background.  It is dated as 1927 and shows a passenger train crossing the mainline bridge and a work train in the foreground.  It gives a very good overview of the whole track arrangement and of the scene with the high fills.  This photo is from the wonderful collection of vintage photos preserved by the Okanagan Archive Trust Society.  Here is the link to the Brodie photograph:
http://www.oldphotos.ca/archivos/displayLargeImage.php?tableName=photos&imageID=229951233


For completeness, we present the entire plan of Brodie station.  The Rule at the bottom is scaled to the plan where one unit equals 100 feet.  The original plans were drawn in a scale of 1 inch equals 100 feet and the scale at the bottom was produced when the CPR Engineering Department put their historic plans on Microfiche slides. 

We hope that this subject is helpful to modelers and railfans.  We could treat in detail some other stations on the Coquihalla Subdivision if there is interest.   We part here with a shot of conductor Hicks returning to his caboose after registering his Westbound Extra at the Brodie phone shack on the Kettle Valley Model Railway.

Hopefully the next post will not take us a year to publish but a little feedback would help in that regard.

Coquihalla Man

Update:  June 2023: A reader has sent us a photo of his work on his KV layout which is very much worth sharing with readers and modelers.  Here is a recent shot of his very impressive O-scale version of Brodie.  The scene is very recognizable and reflects well the view seen at the top of the page.  The section house is superb with its "insulbrick" siding. 

 

Addendum Nov. 2021: Here is an aerial photo of Brodie, cropped from the original which was taken in the 1940's.

June 2023 Update:  The bridge has been removed. Presumably by the Ministry of Transportation after the disastrous floods of November 2021 which wreaked havoc in many places in the Coquihalla and throughout southern B C.  Google Maps shows it so; these are the coordinates: 49.814865 - 120.942561

Copy and paste them into the search box at Google Maps.

LIST OF POSTS 1-51

Here is a listing of the first 50 posts of this blog in chronological order.  By clicking on the appropriate link you will go directly to the post.  1.  5 February 2014 THE BEGINNING http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/02/the-beginning.html 2.  7 February 2014   BRIDGE MILEAGE 21.2 http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/02/bridge-mileage-212.html 3.  10 February 2014 THE TUNNELS  http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/02/the-tunnels.html 4.  13 February 2014 TUNNEL PORTALS OF THE MODEL KIND http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/02/tunnel-portals-of-model-kind.html  5.  19 February 2014 A MEDIUM DOUBLE TUNNEL PLEASE  http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/02/a-medium-double-tunnel-please.html 6.  26 February 2014 THE STATION AT MIDWAY, BC  http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/02/the-station-at-midway-bc.html 7.  4 March 2014 MIDWAY IN 1:87  http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/03/midway-in-187.html 8.  13 March 2014 MIDWAY YARD http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/03/midway-yard.html 9.  19 March 2014 OPERATING AN HISTORICAL MODEL RAILWAY  http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/03/operating-historical-model-railway.html 10.  27 March 2014 MODELING CANADIAN PACIFIC TANK CARS http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/03/modeling-canadian-pacific-tank-cars.html  11.  2 April 2014 EXTRA 5101 EAST REVISED http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/04/extra-5101-east-revised.html 12.  16 April 2014 BASIC TRAIN-ING FOR OPERATIONS - 1 http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/04/basic-train-ing-for-operations-1.html  13.  23 April 2014 SOME OF THE BELLS AND WHISTLES Basic Train-ing For Operations - 2  http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/04/some-of-bells-and-whistles.html 14.  1 May 2014 BEAVERDELL AND HIGHLAND BELL http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/05/beaverdell-and-highland-bell.html 15.  7 May 2014 ROCK CREEK "INDUSTRIAL PARK" http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/05/rock-creek-industrial-park.html 16.  14 May 2014 CARMI STATION http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/05/carmi-station.html  17.  21 May 2014 CARMI TIMETABLE NOTES PART 1 http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/05/carmi-timetable-notes-part-1.html    18.  28 May 2014 CARMI TIMETABLE NOTES PART 2  http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/05/carmi-timetable-notes-part-2.html  19.  4 June 2014 KETTLE VALLEY CONSOLIDATIONS PART 1 http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/06/kettle-valley-consolidations-part-1.html 20.  11 June 2014 KETTLE VALLEY CONSOLIDATIONS PART 2  http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/06/kettle-valley-consolidations-part-2.html  21.  18 June 2014 KETTLE VALLEY CONSOLIDATIONS PART 3 http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/06/kettle-valley-consolidations-part-3.html 22.  25 June 2014  KETTLE VALLEY FIELD RESEARCH  http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/06/kettle-valley-field-research.html 23.  3 September 2014 OF LOGS, LUMBER AND THE KETTLE VALLEY RAILWAY http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/09/of-logs-lumber-and-kettle-valley-railway.html 24.  10 September 2014 MILEAGE 99.6 LOG SPUR AND LANDING  http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/09/mileage-996-log-spur-and-landing.html  25.  18 September 2014 KETTLE VALLEY LOG FLATS  http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/09/kettle-valley-log-flats.html  26.  25 September 2014 LOG LOADS FOR THE LOG FLATS  http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/09/log-loads-for-log-flats.html 27.  1 October 2014 THE PASSENGER TRAINS OF DAVE HANAS: Nos.11 & 12 http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/10/the-passenger-trains-of-dave-hanas.html  28.  8 October 2014 THE PASSENGER TRAINS OF DAVE HANAS: Nos. 45 & 46  http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/10/the-passenger-trains-of-dave-hanas-nos.html 29.  15 October 2014 A KETTLE VALLEY FREIGHT CAR FLEET  http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/10/a-kettle-valley-freight-car-fleet.html 30.   22 October 2014 COAL ON THE KETTLE: HOPPER CARS http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/10/coal-on-kettle-hopper-cars.html 31.  31 October 2014 COAL ON THE KETTLE: COAL GONS http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/10/coal-on-kettle-coal-gons.html 32.  17 November 2014 MILL GONDOLAS ON THE KETTLE VALLEY  http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/11/mill-gondolas-on-kettle-valley.html 33.  28 November 2014 LAYOUT TOUR ARTICLE IN RAILMODEL JOURNAL, 2003 http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/11/layout-tour-article-in-railmodel.html 34.  12 December 2014 BROOKMERE: THE EARLY RAILWAY YEARS  http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/12/brookmere-early-railway-years.html 35.  27 December 2014 BROOKMERE: PLANS FOR THE LATER STEAM YEARS http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/12/brookmere-plans-for-later-steam-years.html 36.  16 January 2015 BROOKMERE: TRANSITION TO THE DIESEL YEARS  http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2015/01/brookmere-transition-to-diesel-years.html 37.  1 February 2015 BROOKMERE TRAVELS TO BROOKMERE  http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2015/02/brookmere-travels-to-brookmere.html 38.  9 February 2015 WORKING BROOKMERE YARD: PART 1  http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2015/02/working-brookmere-yard-part-1.html 39.  23 February 2015 WORKING BROOKMERE YARD PART 2  http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2015/02/working-brookmere-yard-part-2.html  40.  5 March 2015 CPR 70' HALF DECK TURNTABLE http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2015/03/cpr-70-half-deck-turntable.html   41.  10 March 2015 CPR HALF DECK TURNTABLE IN HO  http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2015/03/cpr-half-deck-turntable-in-ho.html  42.  28 March 2015 BROOKMERE ROUNDHOUSES, I & II  http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2015/03/brookmere-roundhouses-i-ii.html 43. 20 April 2015 BROOKMERE ROUNDHOUSES, III  http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2015/04/brookmere-roundhouses-iii.html 44.  13 May 2015 BROOKMERE ROUNDHOUSE IV: A MODEL IN 1:87 http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2015/05/brookmere-roundhouse-model.html 45.  31 May 2015 HAPPY BIRTHDAY KVR! http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2015/05/happy-birthday-kvr.html 46.  10 June 2015 C P R PILE TRESTLES http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2015/06/c-p-r-pile-trestles.html 47.  18 June 2015 BRIDGE 102.7 (THALIA)  http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2015/06/bridge-1027-thalia.html  48.  5 January 2016  THALIA TRESTLE IN HO - THE BRIDGE DECK Part 1  http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2016/01/thalia-trestle-in-ho-bridge-deck-part-1.html 49.  19 January 2016 THALIA TRESTLE IN HO - THE BRIDGE DECK Part 2  http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2016/01/thalia-trestle-in-ho-bridge-deck-part-2.html 50.  26 January 2016 TRESTLE BRIDGE DETAILS  http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2016/01/bridge-details.html 51. 12 February2016 PUSHERS IN THE COQUIHALLA http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2016/02/pushers-in-coquihalla.html   "Q"

PUSHERS IN THE COQUIHALLA

A few months ago a friend of ours made a film of some action on the Kettle Valley Model Railway.  It deals with the movement of trains over the layout in a simulation of what actually happened on the prototype in the steam era.  It is presented here for your enjoyment or amusement.

PUSHERS: As far as we can tell, "pusher" was the official and professional term used to denote assisting engines on CPR trains whether they were pushing or pulling or simply along for the ride on a re-positioning move.  In their stories and conversation, we have heard KV men sometimes using the term "helpers" but they generally seemed to prefer "pushers" and spoke of "giving a train a push" or their being assigned to the "Hope pusher", or "running pushers out of Revelstoke", etc.  CPR Train Sheets for Revelstoke denote the assisting engines as "pushers".  This does create the oxymoron of the leading engine on a train being called a pusher when strictly speaking it might be called a "puller".  However it is certainly not the only instance of imprecise usage of words in the English language.

Synopsis: In the video, a pusher, engine 3678, starts out in the roundhouse at Brookmere as she is readied to assist No. 11, The Kootenay Express passenger train over the summit of the Coquihalla pass in the Cascade Mountains of Southern British Columbia. There is film of the trains from track-side and also from the pilot of the pusher herself.  The scene shifts to No. 11 crossing the Tulameen River Bridge just west of Princeton, traversing the beautiful Otter Creek Valley, eventually arriving at Brookmere where the crews would change.   After the pusher couples on, we see the train stopping to register at Brodie junction, and then resuming its journey into Coquihalla siding for a meet with an Eastbound passenger train which is running quite late.  We "tip over" and start down the hill to Romeo where we have been ordered to again wait "in the hole" for a drag freight.  This arrangement by kindly dispatchers would enable heavy tonnage trains to keep moving on the maximum grades.  We then back up in time a little to see that very drag freight starting out at Hope. This is Extra 5101 East with a tail-end pusher working up the hill to the meet at Romeo.  Once clear, No. 11 proceeds down the canyon to Hope where we will leave her to continue to her final destination at the coast.  We then rejoin the drag in the upper canyon on her way to Coquihalla summit where their pusher cuts off "on the fly" in order to run light back to Hope. The video provides a fair look at the completed areas of the layout with captions for some of the action.



The movement of the model trains is a fairly accurate portrayal of what took place with only some compromises, the most obvious of which are train lengths and siding lengths.  The engines on freights were often three in number, two being on the point and one in the rear and most pushers ran all the way between Brookmere and Ruby Creek or Hope.  In our sessions we cut off the pusher at the Coquihalla summit as happened occasionally but we make it a daily feature for one of them.  Rear-end pushers were usually cut in ahead of the caboose as depicted in the video but occasionally behind the caboose.  During operating sessions we often make this arrangement to expedite the train movements.   Another arrangement was to sometimes cut in the pusher several cars from the rear of the train.  We understand that normally, the engineman of the road engine had the right to lead the consist but often they opted to allow the pusher to lead as we have depicted here.  (We suppose there may have been some thought for self-preservation at work in this decision, as rock-slides were a common occurrence in the mountains and the lead engine would be the first to encounter them.)

The passenger trains are closely modeled.    The scenes are recognizable miniatures of the historic reality and the structures, rolling stock and motive power are accurate for the period.  Finally, some of the whistle signals are appropriate.  We enjoyed building the models and making the movie.  Hope you enjoy viewing them.

Coquihalla Man

TRESTLE BRIDGE DETAILS

Our post today makes this the fourth in a series on CPR Pile Trestles and specifically, the Bridge at Mileage 102.7 of the Princeton Subdivision of the Kettle Valley railway.  They are unexpectedly long posts and there are still at least two to go.  This is a surprise to us as we only envisioned two or three maximum.  Here follow some interesting details which could apply to many railroad bridges and trestles.

Barrel Platforms: In each of two places on the 
deck of our trestle, 3 ties were omitted to allow for construction of the water barrel platforms.  The three empty tie spaces were fitted with 8" x 8" x 17 foot long ties to support the platforms.  Upon the tops of these ties were placed five or more planks for the platform itself. Our observation is that the platforms were placed on alternating sides of the bridge and in the case of Thalia trestle, they were located such that they were roughly equidistant from the ends of the bridge and from each other.
We provide here a CPR drawing which is taken from the set of plans dated September 3, 1957 but there are some minor differences from earlier construction practices to note.  One factor in considering these dimensions, is that by the date of this plan, 1957, specifications for bridge ties on trestles had reduced the lengths of bridge ties to 10 feet in length from the earlier standard of 12 feet.  But the size of the platform was (thankfully) increased so that the platform ties were still 17 feet as specified in the drawing.  This later version is seen in this photo by Dave Love.  The barrel is long gone as the Carmi Sub had been inactive for some time by the date of the photo.

First a few words of explanation of the abbreviations.  The "S4S" note means that the railing boards were surfaced (i e planed smooth) on all four sides.  The abbreviation "Rgh." for the platform floor boards stands for "Rough" which means that these boards were not surfaced thereby affording some measure of grip for work boots.  These platforms are called refuges in other places.

One feature which this drawing from the 50's and the photo above reveals is that the platform had safety railings.  This was not the case for bridges from earlier times where the specifications made no allowance for them.  (One surmises that old timers were a hardy bunch with an acrobat's sense of balance.)  The arrangement in this case can be seen in one of the detail photos, two 2' x 4" boards being placed in a "V" to prevent the barrel from falling off the platform.  Nothing else.  Old timers must have gripped the barrel (with white knuckles?) if caught out on the bridge as a train approached.   But the structural support of the platform is the same in both eras.  Here are two views of the model.
The barrels seem to have been the standard steel drums of 55 gallons capacity with a cover, although some photos show them uncovered.  In earlier years the barrels were made of wood.
We provide here some interesting excerpts about these platforms from an engineering book of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway Co. issued in 1939.

The book is entitled: MAINTENANCE-OF-WAY Rules and Instructions.

397. Fire protection water barrels must be placed at all wooden bridges and trestles and at all steel bridges with wooden decks.  At each such bridge or trestle 30 feet or less in length one barrel must be provided.  At each such bridge or trestle over 30 feet in length a barrel must be provided at each end... and at intervals of 150 feet and on steel bridges with wooden decks at intervals of 200 feet along the deck.

398. ...Those [barrels] at the ends of bridges and trestles must be placed 12 feet from the structure, and those along the deck must be secured to platforms outside of the outer guard rail.  A four gallon pail, in the bottom of which two small holes have been punched, must be placed inside of each barrel, and each barrel must be provided with a cover and kept covered.

 As to barrels situated at the ends of CPR bridges, there seems to be some correlation with the PGE practice, but only in some cases. In the example of the 100 foot long girder bridge at Brodie there is only one barrel and that is located at the west end as can be seen in this shot from 1989.  In photos from earlier eras, no barrels are evident.  Early photos of other bridges show barrels buried in the ground with only a foot or so showing above the grade.  As to trestles of the 1940's through the 70's, the only barrels we have observed in photographs are those placed on the platforms.


The next component for the wood deck is the outer guard rail which by the 1950's was called a "Tie Spacer".  This was made of 5" x 8" material.  We substituted 4" x 8" boards which was the later practice and the closest commercial size available.  It is also advantageous to have this plank a little lower than the railheads to allow cleaning of track without scraping it.  Been there; done that.

N-B-W's: A few nut-bolt-washer castings could be added to the ties that are situated over the bent caps.  They are barely visible in the overhead shot of the previous post.  In that same post, the close-up shot shows the n-b-w's applied to the Main Stringers.  More on these items in the next post on the construction of the bents. 

Rails: We use Floquil solvent base paint to give the rail a rusty look.  Rail Brown will do or in our case we mix equal amounts of Rail Brown and Rust.  Fortunately, we acquired a goodly amount of these paints shortly after the announcement that Floquil paints was ceasing production.  There are alternatives available.  The tops of the rail are cleaned off in preparation for installing the rail to the bridge deck.  The main rails are code 70 and the inner guard rails are code 55.
Four or five squares of masking tape are placed on the bridge deck and the position of the main and inner guard rails marked out.  Slots are cut in the masking tape the width of the rail base to guide in the positioning of all four rails as they are glued down.
To affix the rail to the ties, we use Pliobond glue which is a solvent-based contact cement.  Walther's Goo or standard construction contact cement will work as well.  A generous coating on the bottom of the rail is applied and allowed to dry.  This can be a messy job in that the glue will easily smear on the sides of the rails.  We did manage one or two smears even though there was no need to hurry the job.  Normally contact cement is applied to both surfaces but a coat on one surface will do here because by applying heat from a soldering iron to the top of the rail, and working slowly from one end to the other, the rail bonds with pressure to the ties quite well.  It can be reheated and adjustments made soon after or even months later.  In our case over the years, we have had to make a few adjustments due to movement from seasonal expansion.  Once or twice we have had to work a little fresh glue into the joint.
The spacing of the main rails was done with standard rail gauges.  Our preference is Precision Scale Co. # 4958 but the rail spacing must be critically checked with NMRA gauge after placement.  The inner guard rails are spaced at 2' - 5 1/2" on centres according to CPR specs.  For these rails we cut a short block of wood as a guide at .310" which is close enough for the distance between the code 55 railheads in HO.  These rails are centered between the main rails.

Here is a photo with measurements.
And part of the CPR drawing.

Mileboard: One final detail for the bridge deck is the mileboard which can be seen in the crop from a photo in our collection which also shows the barrel platform.  This is the bridge near Portia at Mileage 33.9.

To the right is a sketch with some field measurements of a sign long forgotten; perhaps from the Myra Canyon.  The prototype is cut from a 2" x 10" plank for outside measurements of about 1 1/2" thick X 9 1/4" wide X 39" long.
We made our tiny model on a Word Document along with many other signs and mileboards.  It can be seen in a photo above.  The paper signs are cut out and affixed to a piece of styrene for strength; one for each side of the styrene.  These mileboard signs seem to be placed on the  engineer's side of the track when facing East.  This is not necessarily a CPR specification but simply the consistent observations we have made on various bridges in the field and from photos.  On the other hand, it could be that the signs were placed on the same side as the telegraph poles where the regular mileboards were posted.

Whew.  Glad that is done.  Questions to clarify things are welcome.  More to come on the bent construction in a week or two.

Coquihalla Man

THALIA TRESTLE IN HO - THE BRIDGE DECK Part 2

We continue our study of the curved trestle at Mileage 102.7 on the Princeton Subdivision with a description of some of the techniques used in constructing a model of it for the benefit of those readers who may be considering building a curved trestle of their own.  As is often the case in construction, curved structures are ten times more challenging than straight ones.  But in the case of this bridge, the roadway span introduces a further complication.  Trying to describe the process is a challenge of its own.

Here is a bird's eye view of the bridge deck showing its eight degree curve and the oversize roadway span.  You can enlarge it by clicking on the photo or by using your computer ctrl and + keys.





Layout: The actual Thalia trestle was built on an eight degree curve which in HO is about a 98 inch radius.  No, that is not a mistake - slightly more than eight feet.  In O scale the radius would be 14' - 10" and in  N scale about 54".  For our model, we made an accurate plan starting with a centre-line and marking out the position of the bent caps and laying out the stringers.  To obtain the centre-line, an arc was drawn on a large sheet of paper to this 98 inch radius using trammel points and a long stick.  The photo to the right was downloaded from the internet to illustrate what we mean.  To repeat, this arc would be the centre-line of the bridge when laying out the deck and locating the bents.  The paper was then permanently mounted on a flat softwood board as a working surface on which to build the bridge deck.  A wood template of the 98" radius was also cut and trued up to assist in aligning the bridge ties later on.
 

Once the arc was drawn, the main tool for accurately laying out the placement of the bent caps and the stringers is a compass or divider set. In order to locate the bent caps, we simply draw perpendiculars to the arc at about a scale 14' - 10" on centre.  Of course, the span over the road is larger requiring centres at 19' - 10" apart.  Perpendiculars to an arc are erected in the same way as perpendiculars to a straight line if you remember your high school geometry.  Here is an edited description and drawing from an old trades publication.

To Erect a Perpendicular to an Arc of a Circle, without having Recourse to the Center. – In the figure, let A D B be the arc of a circle to which it is required to erect a perpendicular. With A as center, and with any radius greater than half the length of the given arc, describe the arc x x.  With B as center, and with the same radius, describe the arc y y, intersecting the arc first struck, as shown. Through the points of intersection draw the line F E. Then F E will be perpendicular to the arc, and if sufficiently produced will reach the center from which the arc A B is drawn.

Read more: http://chestofbooks.com/crafts/metal/Metal-Pattern/Geometrical-Problems-Part-4.html#ixzz3wGpZNdMp

 

Stain: Before we go too far we should interject here that all scale lumber was soaked in a pot of stain, specifically Hunterline's "Creosote".  We wish that the stain was a little more concentrated so that occasional darker results were possible without having to soak them several times.  It is easy enough to dilute a stain but strengthening it is not so simple a process.  Most components had been cut to exact or rough size beforehand and after soaking, allowed to dry thoroughly.  We should also add that no progress photos were taken as solving the unique challenges of this particular project required a fair amount of concentration and experimentation.  With the arc and perpendiculars drawn in, we turn to the actual construction outline as much as we can remember it. 

Layout continued: These perpendiculars are the centre-lines of the standard bent caps which are specified as being 12" x 16" x 16 feet long.  There are two larger caps for the bents flanking the road which are 14" x 18" x 18 feet long.  Using dividers set to a scale 8 feet, we set one point on the intersection of the arc and the perpendiculars with the other point/pencil marking out the two ends of the bent caps (9 feet for the larger caps).  The scale lumber for these bent caps was cut and would be placed in position on the drawing.

The next paragraphs and photo deal with the allowances that must be made for this particular trestle with its non-standard roadway span, so the reader may want to pass over them for now and jump to "Superelevation" for a plainer outline of a normal curved trestle.

At this point, some full length temporary shims needed to be inserted under the standard caps to account for the oversize timbers of the roadway span.  There are two factors here.  One is the 6 inch difference in the stringer depths. This difference can be seen in the photo that follows.  It is noted in the elevation drawing in the previous post. There is also a 2 inch difference in the thickness of the bent caps; for a total height difference of 8 inches.  These shims were tack-glued to the underside of the bent caps.  The purpose of these shims is to bring the tops of the stringers level for placement of the bridge ties.  Keep in mind that when the bents are built, those flanking the roadway will have to be this same 8 inches shorter than the standard ones.  Finally, a permanent shim needed to be placed on the larger bent caps in order to bring the standard stringers even with the heavy ones spanning the roadway.  This shim is 6" high x 6" wide x 11 feet or so in length and was positioned over half of the bent cap that flanks the roadway.  See the photo below. 

In addition, one can reference Dave Love's photo of the prototype (published on the June 10th post) which clearly shows the difference in elevation of the caps of bents 8 & 9 compared to the others.  The shim in the above photo shows what is only a best guess as there are no specifications on hand for this part of the bridge and the original was destroyed some time after abandonment. 

Superelevation: For any trestle built on a curve, a tilt is specified in the engineering drawings.  To produce the tilt called for in the drawing, all caps were elevated on the outside edge with temporary scale blocks of 8".  This is close enough for a 2 1/2" superelevation in 5 feet.  It was important to build the tilt into the deck as the components were being assembled and glued so that the deck would sit naturally on the bent posts without twisting or distorting.  The caps were held in place on a flat board by pins and/or spot glue.

As mentioned earlier, the varying lengths of the stringers were marked with an X-acto knife after placing them in position directly on the plan.  The stringers were all glued to the caps and to each other and to the spacers in accordance with the colour-coded drawing in the previous post.  Except for the larger span over the roadway in which case the six stringers were laid parallel over the span.  Common white glue was used for all wood joints. 

Bridge ties:   As mentioned earlier, bridge ties had been previously cut to length and then treated with "creosote" and left to dry thoroughly.  Mount Albert Scale Lumber was the choice for the 8" x 8" x 12 foot long ties.  Note that one tie is placed directly over each of the bents.  These critical ties were placed with care and allowed to set hard before the rest of the ties fitted in between at about 12 inches on centre.  To aid in alignment of the edges of the ties, we employed the aforementioned template of 98" radius.

Now that the deck has had the ties placed we will cover in the next post some interesting details that give the bridge deck a lot of character: water barrel platforms, rail and guard rails, mileboard and a few nbw's.  We welcome comments and questions.

Coquihalla Man