Updates on the 4th Subdivision

Despite dropping the ball on posting to the blog during the past several months, I have been active in model railroading. The NMRA division to which I belong has divided, a long story I will not go into here, and I have taken on a fairly active role in the formation of a new division: Division 12 of the Mid Central Region. This has frankly taken up a major part of my model railroad writing energy.


During this time, much has been accomplished at Willow Springs on the 4th Subdivision. In a post from August, I listed a series of steps in transition towards a focus on scenery and operations. Most of these steps are now complete. In addition to installing and labeling all the bill boxes, I mounted the Willow Springs control panel and installed the final NCE UTP panel. I suspect that creating some sort of shelf or mini desk, for sorting waybills or writing out switch-lists, is a step I will regret skipping.

Tools laid out for soldering the
rail joiners.

While I am still not quite ready to paint the track, most of the steps to do so are complete. In late October, I soldered the remaining rail joints. I also tacked down any loose track and corrected a loose and miss-aligned curve near the box company spur. A few days after soldering, I went back and scrubbed any soldered areas with denatured alcohol and an old toothbrush. The purpose of doing this is to remove any flux or dirt from the track, which will prevent the paint from adhering. I also started the somewhat tedious process of filling in missing ties. Really with just a few more hours work in the attic replacing ties, the Willow Springs trackwork would be ready to paint.