 |
||
 |
 |
 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
Go
|
New
|
Find
|
Notify
|
Tools
|
Reply
|
|
Good job for what you call "ameteur." ! Also thanks for the details on how you made the 3rd rail.
I find it interesting that you used staples for the 3rd rail cover support. Very good job !!!!! |
||||
|
 |
That looks awesome The staple idea is great
|
|||
|
 |
amazing job, impressive.
|
|||
|
 |
Wow, great job! You definitely captured the right look and feel.
 Check out the Subway Section here at OGR! Chris C. Shaffer TCA 08-62434 http://www.trainweb.org/subway/index.htm |
|||
|
 |
Really nice job on that!
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - You must take the A train To go to Sugar Hill way up in Harlem.  https://www.tmbmodeltrainclub.com |
|||
|
[QUOTE]Originally posted by West Side Joe:
Strictly an amateur effort, but I'd like to hear your comments and suggestions. Thanks. West Side Joe, Some precision work I dare say! Looks great. Well if you won't put a rat under the Third Rail, I will be the mouse hiding under, with a bread crumb in my mouth, maybe if I get lucky a piece of bagel with cream cheese! You have my admiration for such great precision! Prairie |
||||
|
Thanks for the very kind comments. I continue to be inspired by the really great subway modeling I've seen on this forum.
I've modeled in N most of my life (I started my first N layout in 1968) but the size of O scale makes it more fun and easier to look around for things at hand that can be used for modeling. Beads and staples were not the things I would have first thought of to use here. The most rewarding comment up to yesterday came from my 22 year old daughter, who when seeing the completed third rail, asked "Did you buy this?" Grew up riding the NYC subways. |
||||
|
 |
wow thats great,but always remember................dont step on the third rail.lol
|
|||
|
 |
This is great stuff. I may want to re-do my 3rd rails this way. Some are getting old and flimsy. This is much nicer than what I built ... and more realistic. Curves may be an issue. How will you handle it?
As for the details: 1. What are you using for 3rd rail? Are you using HO rail? I will still use the 3/32 ABS H-beams. Was the protection board the result of my suggestion on a prior topic? I use the .187x.040 for my protection board. 2. Where did you get the cube beads and what are they resting on? 3. How did you extend the rail ties? 4. What kind of glue are you using? I really like it. JOE |
|||
|
Grew up riding the NYC subways. |
||||
|
 |
Your tracks look very nice....Thanks for sharing your ideas.
Gregory C. Williams TCA 05-59374 MTHRRC Member |
|||
|
 |
Great idea Joe, I'm Impressed.
Hope the glue holds for several years. Looks great! Watch out for the MTH Lo V cars with the EXTRA WIDE CLOWN SHOE TRUCKS. They ripped up a section of my 3rd rail on my viaduct section. Another goofy MTH design. Steve |
|||
|
That looks great! This looks like a work of art to a non-subway modeler! Great job!
----------------------------------------- "Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the world together." Glancy Trains Modular Group www.glancytrains.com My Train Site www.ogauge47.webs.com |
||||
|
Just recently a couple of sections of the third rail broke free from the supports, due probably to the expansion and contraction of the rail from the temperature variation in my attic. When I installed the rail, this particular section was not resting on the insulators and required that it be weighted down while the glue set. This was a mistake. The rail should rest on each insulator of its own accord, otherwise it will be constantly trying to break free even without the effect of the temperature changes. So when I install the next rail, I will form the rail until it rests on each insulator without coaxing or weighting. Grew up riding the NYC subways. |
||||
|
Nice work! Back in the early 70's I modeled some outside 3rd rail on my layout. I used brass round head wood screws and soldered code .172 rail to the top of the screws. I didn't have covers on the 3rd rail, I was converting my 2 rail scale over to 3 rail because most friends ran with outside 3 rail. I was also able to run scale sized Lionel on the layout.
Tumbleweed 381 |
||||
|
 |
One little known thing about a third rail is that it's heavier than the running rails were by about 1/3. Where the running rails were 100 lb stock, the third rail weighs in at about 130 lbs per yard. This of course has much to do with the amount of current it must carry, with both running rails serving as the common part of the power circuit.
Third rail is drawn in an "H" pattern and laid on its side. If you look carefully at a subway line, the third rail contact face is somewhat wider than the running rail. This is true of over-running, under-running and side-contact third rail, as the same can be used in any of those installations. In a yard area and other places where trains move slowly, 90 lb running is sometimes used as third rail. For over-running contact shoes (run along the top), this kind of rail is mounted up-side down to maximize the shoe contact area. I have an engineering drawing showing how a third rail is installed. However in reduction for scanning, one can no longer read the dimensions or notations on it. Still, I admire the work of anyone who attemps to model an outside third rail for their layout! Ed Bommer |
|||
|
I will take your word for that but your statement truly surprises me, only because for a major part of my life I've been looking at subway tracks and I would never have imagined that the third rail was actually heavier. Even in pictures it doesn't seem possible, like this one for instance:
 Grew up riding the NYC subways. |
||||
|
|
|
Small as that third rail may look, Joe, it has a much wider running top and web, thereby making it heavier. I needs to be in order to carry the high amperage, 600 V to 660 V current needed to move a train of subway cars.
I'll post in the Photo Section, my scan of a 1914 Republic Steel drawing of third rail installations, using drawn 150 lb third rail for heavy use and 90 lb running rail for use in yards and shop areas. It could well be by now that a lighter drawn third rail is made for such use. I'll also try to transfer that scan to this group. Ed Bommer |
|||
|
Now I see the logic behind using H-section Plastruct to model third rail, Joe P.! Maybe a change is in order for the second third rail section of my module.
Grew up riding the NYC subways. |
||||
|
|
|
Here is a copy of the scan of the Republic Steel third rail installation, approved for use in New York State, May 1914:
http://ogaugerr.infopop.cc/eve...53102703/m/948101012 There are a few more pictures in the Photo section, showing various aspects of the third rail as it was installed on the SIRT. Ed Bommer |
|||
|
|
|
Just a note:
The model 3rd HO rail also needs to be installed upside down. Larger surface at the top. Steve P. |
|||
|
I relied on pictures from the original IRT construction book for ideas on the third rail, and the cross section diagram shown there is more like a conventional, smaller running rail than a heavy, H-section rail or an upside-down rail.
Ed's drawing of the Republic Steel third rail is very interesting, not only for the clear depiction of the heavier cross section, but also for its statement (and yours) that in terminal areas, the third rail was composed of inverted 90 lb running rail! So Steve's post is close to the mark! It is of course not correct for me to rely on the original IRT construction to depict a subway in the 60's. However, I also wonder if the Republic Steel drawing is actually intended for heavy rail use on class 1 railroads and not for subways. If so the current draw of a big electric locomotive through just a couple of points of contact might require a larger rail cross section than the distributed current draw of a train of self-propelled cars. Then again, I'm not an electrical engineer so that assumption may make no sense. Then there is also the appearance and personal appeal factor. I was personally surprised at the delicate look of the third rail I built. The sectional track is grossly out of proportion, but the third rail against the scale R-27 car looks pretty good, and I wonder how a heavier rail might look. Grew up riding the NYC subways. |
||||
|
|
|
As a newbie to all this, I think sometimes the drive for a layout to be prototypically perfect can get a bit too carried away. Your 3rd rail looks pretty good, so I wouldn't stress it if I were you. When I finally build whatever layout I do build, be it on a viaduct, trstle, or a plywood trench on the floor, Im oly going to go so far, and thats it. And Im NOT putting in a third rail, unless I actually decide to try to make it work like a real subway ....Um, see what I mean?
 TLAR all the way for me!! |
|||
|
 |
You did a great job Joe, I follow these threads very carefully as I plan on Building an El section as well as a subway tunnel underneath the layout in the future and I really think your use of staple was an excellent idea. Thanks for the inspiration.
Stevin Custom Weathered Trains and Buildings. Check out Our New Website... http://weatheredtrains.webs.com/ |
|||
|
As the weather heats up and my attic gets warm I'm noticing another interesting effect: the cover board on the third rail is so thin, it tries to expand too between the supports when the attic gets warm (80 - 90 degrees), so some sections droop down and others rise up, and then it all goes back to normal when the attic reaches a normal room temperature again. But if I use any thicker plastic strip it's not going to look as good.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: West Side Joe, Grew up riding the NYC subways. |
||||
|
| View $GS_USERNAME's Public Profile |
| Add $GS_USERNAME to my Ignore List |
| View Recent Posts by $GS_USERNAME |
| Notify me of New Posts by $GS_USERNAME |
