Miscellaneous train stuff

Removing paint from cars/locos

Tip from Michael Glavin: Zep Industrial Purple Cleaner and Degreaser. Seems to take lettering off usat trains locos without damaging paint.

people have used all kinds of different things. Brake fluid is a favorite, but some people have reported that plastic cracks afterwards. Be sure to completely remove it with soap and water. Be sure to get into nooks and crannies and wash / blow out screw holes in standoffs.

This is the place for things that don't fit anywhere else!

Be sure to check out the section on Other's Layouts, I'm trying to put in track layouts of a number of famous (and infamous!) people!

***need*** section on operations...

Fred,

      Typically yard tracks were numbered starting with 1 and moving away from the main line.  It didn't matter which side of the main line the yards were on.  In the 1960s and 70s as the railroads moved towards computers, they got the CLIC system.  That particular system could not read any numbers less than a 3 digit number.  (Or was it a four digit number)  I think it was four as our yard tracks here in Wellington were numbered as 0101 - 0125.

Each Division was divided into zones so each division had a 0101 track somewhere.  They were usually at the east end of the division and progressively grew larger the further west they went. 

      Wellington for instance had 5 zones.  The main yard was the 0100 series tracks.  Actually they were 0101 - 0131 including some little used tracks around the main yard.  The Rip tracks were the 0200 series, the engine tracks were the 0300 series, the "Old Yards" were the 0400 series and the industry tracks were the 0500 series.  Moving west, there were no 0600 series tracks, but the next set of tracks were for sidings and elevators at Mayfield and Milan that were the 0700 series.  For some reason, all the tracks in the 1000 series were skipped on the Plains Division main line and assigned to branch lines.  I can't remember exactly where all those were used right now.  Starting with Argonia just west of Milan, the first tracks there were 2008 being the siding and 2009 being the elevator track.  While most tracks still had a name that all the crew members knew and still use today, they also all had CLIC numbers.  Danville had a siding numbered 2010 & and elevator track numbered 2012.  There was a 2011 track that was abandoned in the mid 1970s that was another old elevator.  Harper was next with the siding being 2013, Yard track 1 being 2014, yard tracks 2 - 5 were 2015, 2016, 2017, & 2018.  The east leg of the wye to Hutchinson was 2019, the wye pocket was 2020 and the west leg of the wye was 2021. The Orient Yard tracks were numbered as 2022, 2023, & 2024.  They were also known as the Orient Main, Orient House and Orient Team.  There were tracks that were known as the team track and dock track that both had a 2025 & 2026 number and the elevator that was 2027.  A new elevator was built in the early 1980s that had two tracks numbered 2028 & 2029 because those numbers had been skipped as they proceeded west. 

      When the Plains Division got to Waynoka, the track numbers became 3000 series.  Waynoka yard tracks were 3001 - 3008.  The main line tracks were always numbered as xx98 & xx99 depending on how many main tracks you had.  The Plains Division was also divided into Zones so that when you reached Amarillo, they started numbering the tracks as 0100 again.  I believe the Slaton side of the Plains Division also started with 0100 at Sweetwater and worked west to Texico. 

      Tracks in the main yards were numbered as 0100, Rip tracks were usually 0200 or 0400, engine facilities were either 0200, 0330 or 0400.

Amarillo has no tracks in the 0200s and only a couple in the 0300s.  They are actually industry tracks.  The 0400s are the RIP and engine tracks.

Currently the computers will read a three digit number so the first zero is no longer used. 

      I see that at Las Cruces you have yard tracks and industry tracks numbered as 4501 - 4519 with a main track of 4599.  Up at Socorro, they have tracks 4101 - 4120.  Dona Ana has 4405 & 4406.  Rincon has 4301 - 4318 and the main line is 4399.  Belen has tracks in the 7100s, 7200s, 7300s, & 7400s.  Albuquerque and Clovis both have tracks in the 100s.  Vaughn, NM has tracks in the 2200s. 

Hope this helps and not confuses you.

Keel Middleton