Update from Paul Smith

I took a couple days off from work this week and finished the stone work along the arch deck girder bridge. I used the same technique of landscape foam to adhere the stones next to the abutments and then filled them with stone dust. 

I also placed leaf netting over the pond to catch the leaves this fall. I had a lot of leaves to clean out this past spring, so hopefully this will make spring start up a bit easier and less messy!

I think I am about done landscaping the railroad for this year. Next year I’ll begin working on the roadbed on each end of the long deck girder bridge. I’ll need another load of stone dust. I used up almost all of my 14 yards this year.

I see there is a train show scheduled for Nov 2nd at the Auburn MIddle school. Maybe I’ll see some of the MGRS folks there!

Question For the Blog:  I do have a question for the blog though: I was running my USA Trains GP-7 in a lash up with my USA Trains GP-38 Friday and one of the wheel sets kept derailing on the GP-7. Upon removal of the locomotive from the rails, I found one of the tires on a traction wheel had come off and was just floating along side the wheel. I don't know why it came off; is it possible that while both locomotives have the same motor and gear ratio that the GP-7 wheels were turning a bit faster causing the tire to grip harder and thereby peel off the wheel? Has anyone experienced that? A problem for the experts!

Thanks.

Paul