Long ago on independence square (Benton: school, living, bill) - Kansas City - Missouri (MO) - Page 1001 - City-Data Forum

WCHS'59 · 04-03-2016, 02:03 PM

All that is left of my model railroading days is the herald which I have hanging on the wall next to my desk.

On the first two layouts, I used 9 inch sections of brass track. I also used ready made curved track. Brass was common in those days for model track as that was about all you could get but could seemingly be a bad idea. I forget what Lionel used, but Lionel was considered toy railroading rather than model railroading.

After sitting for a while, brass oxidizes and as a result the engines will not run. Their wheels cannot receive electricity through the oxidation or they run very slowly in jumps and spurts. I think steel was another option for track but might have been very limited as to availability.

Lightly sanding the top of the brass rails would get the engines to running again but that was bad also. It left sand paper grit that would get picked up into the engine electrical works. Sanding also tended to pit the tracks. The pitting would gather minuscule dirt that could build up and also have an effect on smooth electrical contact.

I finally settled on running a track cleaning car coupled ahead of the engine. This was a flat car with a liquid cleaning solution bottle mounted on the top of the car. It would dispense very small amounts of fluid through a small tube down to a pad mounted underneath the car that rested on top of the rails as the car moved.

On the third layout I used what is called nickel-silver track that came in three foot lengths. Takes a while longer for nickel-silver to oxidize. I forget what alloy besides nickel was involved but there was no silver, that is just the name for it. I also had to bend the track to the curve shape I wanted.

Trying to bend straight track into curved track is futile doing it with eyes and your hands.

I set up a camera tripod and drilled a hole in the flat side of a yard stick and placed that hole over the camera mount. I then drilled a hole in the other end of the yard stick at the inch mark I needed for the radius. I dropped a pencil through that hole, secured it, and then I could freely swing the yard stick around in that radius. Sub roadbed the width of a 1x4 would go down first roughly following the pencil. Then cork roadbed would go down following the pencil to a more accurate degree.

Then the track went down. I had several track gauges, which I mounted on the straight track and moved these gauges very slowly between the rails following the radius fixed by my tripod setup.

Mad Anthonie · 04-03-2016, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

The above is from April 2015. I lamented the fact at the time that I did not know where my photos were. I discovered some this morning of the early construction. This was the first version and was 4 x 12 feet. Version II was 5 x 9 feet and the third version was 17 x 9. I had room in this house for an even bigger layout and was ready to start but the Big Chief said she would rather use the space for something else.

That looks to have been an impressive and expensive layout. I'm impressed that you had a turntable, not many layouts, home or museum, have those. Keep digging for more!

At one time the Greater KC area had at least 14 turntables, usually at the roundhouses serving the many rail lines serving the city. Today there are about 3 that remain in service; one in North Kansas City for the Norfolk Southern; and two for the Union Pacific, one in NE KC, and one in the Argentine area of KCK.

Mad Anthonie · 04-04-2016, 11:35 AM

This one may be tough!

Identify the location of this photo, which I shot in the winter of 1982.

WCHS'59 · 04-04-2016, 11:59 AM

Anyone know where?

This was on the Fox News website this morning. They gave no other information as to the cave.

“A sleuthing archivist found the file March 22 in a limestone cave outside Kansas City where the National Archives stores patent records and other historic documents in 15-foot-high stacks, according to the Post.”

It has to do with the patent application filed by the Wright Brothers in 1906 for their airplane. The application apparently went missing sometime during the 1980 – 2000 time frame.

First thing I thought of was Geo Space but then there are other cave sites in the area also.

WCHS'59 · 04-04-2016, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mad Anthonie

This one may be tough!

Identify the location of this photo, which I shot in the winter of 1982.

Lee's Summit Road about to get a bridge over the old Chicago and Alton?

Mad Anthonie · 04-04-2016, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

Anyone know where?

This was on the Fox News website this morning. They gave no other information as to the cave.

“A sleuthing archivist found the file March 22 in a limestone cave outside Kansas City where the National Archives stores patent records and other historic documents in 15-foot-high stacks, according to the Post.”

It has to do with the patent application filed by the Wright Brothers in 1906 for their airplane. The application apparently went missing sometime during the 1980 – 2000 time frame.

First thing I thought of was Geo Space but then there are other cave sites in the area also.

The National Archives has storage space in the limestone caves east of Lee's Summit Road, about 1/2 mile south of the Little Blue River. Google maps will show it if you zoom in on the area.