Progress Report 02.28.13 - RIP Track in Ottawa

Last night, I was fishing out my tools to check the gauge on my Atlas locomotives.  For the most part they run ok, but some of them pick the turnouts.  I have a feeling that they need to have their wheels spread on the axles as they are set too narrow at the factory.

Anywho, I found an Atlas Wye turnout.  Hmm....This would work perfectly over at Ottawa for my Repair-in-Place (RIP) track to repair cars like the prototype.  I would place the RIP track in the open area at the east end of the yard.  The more I think about this, the more I'm liking it!  I have a vision of how the scene would look.

Completed converting the car cards to the new format.  I'm very pleased!  They look so much more professional.

I updated three of the car card box labels to add the Ottawa RIP Track as well as assigning Kelly Yard #5 to be jointly the Carrie Ave Shops storage track. I replaced the Utica car card box label swapping the industry order.  As it was before, if you read left to right, it would not match up with the industries physically on the layout left to right.  It was a small change, but a source of confusion in the past.

Coupler/truck replacement.  I received more MTL coupler/trucks replacements today.  I will finish replacing what I can in the near future.  There is about 15 to 20 cars that will require more extensive work than simply replacing the trucks.  All those cars will be routed to either Carrie Ave Shops or the Ottawa RIP track for repair.

I created a few more signs identifying some industry tracks in Ottawa.

Speaking of Ottawa ... This evening I cut in the switch and installed the new Ottawa RIP track.  I also finished gluing the ballast that I spread earlier in the week.  The yard looks too clean now.  I will need to add some bushes, dirt, etc. to make it look more like the ROCK.  I need to go back and install the slide switch and drop a pair of feeders for the RIP track.

Overall, a productive day.