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…......................................... .--- Finish Hidden Staging Pt. 3 ---
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Finishing Hidden Staging part 3 .....
Info on 'turnout tester' ( HERE ). Info on how I connected them, wired them and attached the wood ties ( HERE ).
More on the 'tie gluing fixture' and other tie gluing fixtures down the index a ways ( HERE ).
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I've been spraying the turnouts with Rust-Oleum Specialty 12 oz. Earth Brown Camouflage. I tape the points to keep paint out of there.
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Just before the tunnel portals coming out of the hidden staging the track goes from ME code 70 to ME code 55. I bought the 70 during COVID when track supplies dried up and couldn't find more code 55 at the time and wanted to save the code 55 for the visible track areas.
Also in this area insulated rail joiners were used on both rails of the tracks exiting the hidden staging. Hidden staging is a separate power district as are the tracks entering it and exiting it.
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The coal mine complex will operate with an identical 'loaded' train and an 'empty' train (same engines and cars). The empty train will disappear in the coal mine complex and be replaced with the full train that had been hidden. There are three things that determine the length the train can be if I also want it to go to the upper level of the layout via the 'track elevator'.
1. The track elevator can handle a train up to 12 feet in length.
2. The empty train loops back on itself after entering the coal mine complex and crosses the track it entered on in a hidden hill. The loop is 11 ½ feet. If the train is longer than that it the head loco would hit the end of the train at the crossing. The crossing is made up of two tracks to the mine with the single hidden track crossing the other two tracks. The crossing can't stay blocked by the hidden train since it would then block the first and second track to the mine.
3. The length of the hidden tracks in the hidden staging area where the 'empty' and 'loaded' trains are stored is the third factor that plays into the length of the train. The track for the 'loaded' train is over 12 feet so no problem. The track for the 'empty' train is only 9 feet.
At the moment the limiting factor for the length of the identical trains is the hidden track for the empty train at 9 feet. That track can't be made longer as it would exit the hidden staging area. What I'm going to do is add a siding off that track for more storage length. I hope to have two U.P. GP7's at the head-end of the train and a S.P. GP9 helper for each train a ways back.
The train will move into the hidden storage to where the S.P. GP9 is at the turnout for the extra siding. At this point the whole train will be past the coal mine complex and will all be hidden but will be fouling the single track double track crossing leading to the mine that is also hidden. The train will uncouple from the GP9 and pull ahead of the turnout. The turnout will be thrown and the head of the train backed into the siding. Next the turnout will be thrown again so that the S.P. GP9 and the cars behind it can pull further into the hidden staging and free-up the crossing.
When it is time for the next run the GP9 will back into the hidden loop area. The GP7's will come out onto the main storage track and stop. The GP9 will pull forward and couple-up and the 'empty' train will be ready to make a run to the coal mine.
Confusing????
Up next is adding is an additional siding as explained above for the empty coal train in the hidden staging so the train can be longer ....
A link to this whole build ( HERE ).
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