Page 20 - 39. MRH13-05-May2013
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Questions, Answers & Tips - 4
Blue signals (3) can take several forms. Many engine terminals
have blue electric lights permanently installed along tracks
where engines are serviced. Depending on the era, it can also
be a blue lantern hung on the equipment, or a cloth flag or
metal panel.
When a blue signal is placed to protect workers and equipment
not on a main track, it continues,
“switches providing direct
access must be lined against movement to that track, secured by
an effective locking device and a blue signal must be placed at
or near such switch. Facing point crossover switch must be lined
against a crossover movement and secured by an effective lock-
ing device.”
Sub-sections set out rules for positioning derail devices, and for
securing remote control switches.
Lettering on flags and panels can vary according to the situ-
ation. Most have some variation on “STOP: Men at Work,”
but they might also have a plain “STOP,” “STOP – Tank Car
Connected,” “Occupied Camp Car” or something else. The
rules are the same for all.
– MRH
TIPS
Soldering iron cleaner
How do you clean up flux and other stuff that tends to get
into switch-making jigs?
Tim Warris of Fast Tracks uses a metal-bristle brush to keep
the soldering iron tip clean. My background is in electronics
soldering, and I’ve used a wide variety of tip-cleaning
techniques, starting with the Weller sponge/water combo.
Eventually I ran across the Hakko (4) tip cleaner “metal
sponge.” The metal of the tip cleaner captures dirt and flux,
keeping it out of the work area, and in general is neater. You
simply plunge the tip of the iron into the coils of the cleaner,
and out comes a clean tip which you can then tin, and get back
to work. It has the advantage of one-hand operation, so you’re
less likely to burn yourself by accidentally touching the iron.
The Hakko cleaning system is fairly inexpensive, too.
One source is Amazon.com:
– John “Steck” Stoecker
Instruction sheets
I use car cards and waybills for operations. I have color-
coded blocking for my trains and provide the yards/stations
with blocking sheets so the operators know where the cars
go in the trains. I had been putting them flat on the fascia,
4
4. Hakko's coiled wire
cleaning sponge for solder-
ing iron tips minimizes heat
loss and allows one-hand
operation.
MRH-May 2013
