That look great!

Now just cover everyihing with 'ash' and what a good look you will have!

Giday, really cool service pit mate.Very clever the banjo string and looks good too.As John said,needs some filth.How did you cut the guts of the C Track out please,and would love too see a piccy when it's finished on the layout.Keep up the good work.

Thanks for the pictures Bob,very nice work

Excellent solution. I have been pondering how accomplish the same thing. In order to make the string disappear, have you tried blackening it so it doesn't show up against the pit walls?
Ira

Thanks all for your reactions and comments. Makes me feel I am on a good track . Now, a few reflections on your individual questions :

I am setting up a small batch production for my depot. You may have noticed here and there in this forum of these plans (see turntable). I plan a 20 stand round house, but the job appears a little too big to do it for each rail. In reality, they were present all over the rail lenght [:(]. I will reflect on this.

As to the the blackening, Ira, I have considered it, but I still have no real good solution to that. In half the cases, the blackening does not work fine. I am just wondering how Marklin does such a nice job with their M-rails and puko's... Any good advice ? Btw, the string you see in the pic is from an old banjo, with the steel almost black from age. Just bought new strings in a music shop, and, oh boy, what a shiny thing !! Definite good advice needed for that one !

As to the dirt, I am somewhat disappointed too. I tried to give it some dirt, but apparently not enough . I agree too. One comment however, the two pics are the same unit (just only built one so far). The second pic is not realistic, due to the excessive light from the flashlight. Anyway, is there someone who can give me advise for oil traces ? They should look a bit shiny, with eventual a trace of cupper.

The rails were cut with the small table dicing saw from Proxxon (FSK/E) that I use for cutting all my C-rails to fit loose ends. The dicing saw allows to regulate the height of the saw sticking out of the table. What you do is the following: use the guide to position the rail over the saw where you want to cut. I place the rail upside down. Then power the unit and gently start levitating the saw till it starts cutting. Continue until about 4 mm of the spinning saw becomes visible. Then I slide the rail along the guide to proceed with the requested lenght.
In what I have shown, I stopped at both ends of the rails. This makes the unit solid for handling. For the ash pits, I have cut two rails in one long go. The ash pit needs to have about two loc lengths. I did not make pics yet , but promise to give them later.

So far my story. To be continued...

Yours,

Bob

Thanks for all this valuable information.

For oil, try a mix of Humbrol #85 with some drops of #55.

Pierre.

Looks absolutly great and fine tooling too. I will make one to inside my E-lok shed.



I agree[:p]

Hi all !

Took me some time to make some progress... Not finished yet , but thought I might give you some update on the progress :

These pics are on the actual ashpit itself and the two rails for service. The ashes get collected in the central pit, and are taken out by a crane when filled. The pits should be filled with water, to immediately damp the hot cinders.

I give a pic of the bottom view (without the pit) to give an idea of the mechanical construction. Plasticcard an recuperation parts are used here. Made the stairs myself from 2mm thick plastic.



view on the remains of the original C-tracks...



One stadium further : with pit in plasticcard.




And the actual stadium. I need to cover the small 'metal' bridges with some gridded plates, that will also take the middle rail. Not completely sure how to tackle this, but I'm close.




Hope to be able to report soon on how I succeeded in doing that [:p]. Pray for me

Cheers,

Bob

Congrats, steamfriend it is fabulous! I will definitely copy this, the ultimate form of flattery

Luis

I'm duly impressed. Like Luis I believe I will copy your idea when I get that far with my layout.
Ira

Really amazing !

Congratulations Bob. It is a very high quality job.

Pierre.

Giday Bob, how did you cut the track? It is cetainly a nice sharp cut.

Hi all !

This is my last picture set for the time being. I will stop working on the pits in favour of other jobs on my layout... They need now to be built-in, and be furher finished with ashes, 'water', coal and coal/grease dust. Guess this will take me several months, since it goes together with all the rest. (in the mean time, I will need to continue on my turnable (see other thread), but am still awaiting the fine scale profiles.

So here are my final pics :

finished with third rail ! Use guitar wire and pieces of metal grid plates (Weinert) for the 'bridges'




A look into the big ashpit : need to fill it with ashes, and water



So much nicer with a loc ready to throw its ashes...




Final pic : a close up top view....




Thanks for all the comments, friends. I am glad you like it !


Best wishes,


Bob

Excellent work. I will certainly copy you when I am to that point on my layout, if you don't mind.
Ira

Hello Bob,

I am about to start the construction of my Walthers roundhouses which are equipped with inspection pits. So I am really interested in using your technique for the third rail over those pits.

Can you tell me the exact reference of the banjo string that you used especially the material ?

Thanks.

Pierre.

Thanks all for the nice compliments !



Pierre, the strings I used are the following :
D'Addario Guitar strings, PL010. Acoustic of electric plain steel
(indeed, no nylon rugaurer [}:)]). Diameter is 0.25 mm for E B and G strings. Made in USA (!) (J. D'Addario and Company, PO Box 290, Farmingdale, NY 11735. I just bought them at my local music shop.
I drill four 0,4 mm holes, two at each side of the middle rail, and 'suture' one end in place. I make a loop over the bar of the middle rail, making sure there is firm contact. You can really pull the string. The two turns I make like that seem OK. I do the same at the other end of the pit, four holes, and firmly pull the string through one hole, bend it, and 'suture' it at that side too. At this stage, make sure there is quite some tension ! It works fine [:p].

Before fitting the wires, I had them blackened in the kind of chemical blackening procedure (CARR'S Metal Black - toxic solution based on Selenium dioxide - never understood how it works).

Wish you good luck !

Bob

(Btw : I live in Leuven, since you were asking, Pierre - always welcome !)

Your ash release pit is somewhat bigger that the one in Randers, Denmark.
I was there yesterday : https://www.marklin-users.net/fo...ault.aspx?g=posts&t=4850
Pictures of ash release pit:
http://server6.theimageh...N2085.JPG&album=9944
http://server6.theimageh...N2088.JPG&album=9944

Just a small hole between the tracks, and a lot of fun using the turntable when several steamers was waiting to get rid of their ash.

Michael

... but totally believable !

Pierre.