Track And Clearance Work At CP Drains

I've been doing some track cleaning, electrical and mechanical troublshooting, and clearance work around my main line. In particular, I worked on a problem I'd discovered whereby my recent GE locos were derailing on the superelevated curve at CP Drains. I looked at the curve carefully and saw that the superelevation wasn't consistent. It was a pretty easy fix, I jacked up the low spots with a screwdriver and shoved in some cardboard shims to make the level consistent.

I refreshed the ballast with some Arizona Rock & Mineral ballast I had on hand. This covered up the original Woodland Scenics ballast, which after 25 years or so had changed color. It was a big improvement.

The rock castings will also meed to be touched up, and the whole area needs more vegetation.

I ran a 3-unit test consist, including two Walthers Mainline ES44ACs, back and forth through the area to be sure the problems were solved. There was also a slight clearance problem with the tunnel portal on the curve. I widened the far edge of the portal with my Dremel and touched up the paint with aged concrete. I've seen a number of videos showing prototype portals like these, and they often aren't symmetrical.

Here's the test consist rounding the curve the rest of the way. The vegetation here was recently applied, and I need to clean it up where it impinges on the far track.

The scenery below the track needds to be replaced and refreshed here, too. But it feels good to have the trackwork back up to snuff.