Improvements of my rolling stock

[doctorwayne]

..... John Allen had a rule that only he touched equipment, which may sound fussy, but the more you deal with these situations, the better you understand the potential problems.

While I don't have an operatiing group or open house sessions, that's pretty-much the rule here, too. I do make some exceptions for regular visitors, and especially for my grandkids, but they are aware of what they're allowed to touch and what's off-limits.

....But I've had problems with my own long sleeves, either during actual operation or during maintenance....

Me, too, on occasion, but if I built it, I can fix it, too.

Just last night, in a rush to get something non-train-related from under the layout, I neglected to turn on the room lights and then stepped too widely to avoid tripping over my compressor (normally not in the layout room). My sleeve, mid-arm, caught on the crane runway behind the Lowbanks Shops. As you can see, it's right on the aisle and is probably the spot on the layout which concerns me most when visitors are here:



The styrene end column on the near runway was snapped off at mid-point, also breaking the column's lateral bracing and that between it and the next column, too. The styrene collector rails for the crane's electrical power also broke-off at the adjacent column and the runway girder, also styrene, and the rail (steel) were bent severely outward. Fortunately, the crane itself didn't drop. I may take a picture of the damage, but the runway girder and steel rail have already been straightened, so it doesn't look all that damaged. I haven't checked yet, but there may be other items, all styrene likely, which could have been melted by verbal response to my own carelessness.

...My own preference is in general to have a clear idea of what the layout is for in relation to my own parameters of amusement. This includes minimizing risks, problems, maintenance issues, etc in the level of detail I add to rolling stock.

I don't think it should be controversial to say that there's operating stock and display stock.

I agree, and that's why I consider nothing on my layout to be display stock - especially for myself. For visitors, though, much of it should be considered non-touchable. If anything needs breaking, I can handle that.

Wayne