Not a huge amount of progress today, as we had a few other things to get done. However, I did get three of the servo switch motors installed and (temporarily) connected up to the TAM Valley controller. They can be a little bit of a bear to set up, though once dialed in, they work quite nicely.

If you’re using a turnout with a spring to hold the points over to one side or the other, you’ll most probably need to remove it. If you’re using the Micro Engineering turnouts, this means that you’ll have to remember that the hold-over spring also supplies tension needed to hold the points in place, and you’ll need to install the switch motor so that the new throw linkage provides that pressure. Otherwise, the points will fall out of the switch and/or you’ll “break” the electrical connection between the points and the wing rails.

After several hours of drilling holes, dropping feeders and soldering, soldering, soldering, the first “train” ran into Corinna under its own power this evening. The plan had been for it to be the No. 1o Forney, but she kept picking the switch entering town. Instead, No. 9 did the honors. A closer inspection of No. 10 showed that her pilot truck had been installed improperly after her last overhaul (it was upside down!). A short time later, No. 10 was plying the rails as well, followed by inside framed 0-4-4 Forney No. 5 and the newest addition to the roster, No. 6, an inside framed 2-4-4.

The next task will be to start installing the seven servo switch motors and controls to power the turnouts.

The track gang quietly finished off work in Corinna late today. Tomorrow? Wiring…

After a bit of searching, I finally decided that the turntable at Corinna will be based on the WW&F turntable at Albion, ME., while the engine house will be based on the one at Randolph, ME on the KC.

These images are taken from Vol. III of Gary Kohler and Chris McChesney’s excellent Narrow Gauge in the Sheepscot Valley book series, and show the ringless turntable “pit” and the “bunks” that the end of the turntable rested on when it was aligned for a particular track. They also give a clue as to the unique deck construction.

Based on Jeff Bissonnette’s excellent drawings, also included in the book, it becomes apparent that the entire deck is built from 12″ x 12″ lumber, with the only metal parts being used to construct the spider (and, of course, the steel suspension cables). This design all but eliminates most of the finicky bits of building and installing a model turntable!

Tonight, the mainline, yard and all track switches were put in for the town of Corinna.

The siding for the freight house / depot, the turntable lead and the caboose / MOW tracks still need to be put in, but that should take a fairly short time during my next session. Then, it’s on to my least favorite part of the endeavor — wiring.

I’ll also need to take one of the turnouts out and possibly make a repair. The switch to the caboose / MOW track has a problem with its point tension spring — or the spring is missing altogether. The biggest issue this can cause is that, if I’m not careful when installing the switch machine, I could create a condition where the machine will literally pull the heel of the point out of the joint. Of course, this would happen to be a switch that’s on the main line!