Hot Box Detectors & Maintenance Consists

[Big_Boy_4005]

That would be a pretty funky crap game with percentile dice. The point is 56, and everything is the hard way.[swg]

[cwclark]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Big_Boy_4005

[#welcome] to the forum.

An interesting queston about the deck of 100. Maybe the answer is put in 3, but 2 of them would be false positives, leaving only one actual defect per 100. The other 2 would force the crew to stop and check the train, then procede at reduced speed to the next detector.

Your deck could consist of 97 green cards, 2 yellow, and one red. The red card would force the crew to set out the bad car at the nearest siding. If the yellow card came up, at the next detector there would be a 25% chance the car was actually bad.

Instead of a special deck of cards, maybe percentile dice would be easier. Percentile dice are 10 sided, numbered 0 thru 9, and can be found at hobby stores that deal in war games or dungeons and dragons type fantasy games. Buy a pair, one each of 2 different colors. One is the ones digit the other the tens digit.

Roll double zero, defect. Roll 98 or 99 possible defect. Next detector after a possible defect roll 1 thru 25 defect, but don't forget to roll for a new possible defect. You could also use the dice to determine which car was bad order. That actually sounds like fun!!![swg]

and if that doesn't work you can always use the dice to shoot a crap game with your buds during an operating session...Chuck[:D]

[Big_Boy_4005]

[#welcome] to the forum.

An interesting queston about the deck of 100. Maybe the answer is put in 3, but 2 of them would be false positives, leaving only one actual defect per 100. The other 2 would force the crew to stop and check the train, then procede at reduced speed to the next detector.

Your deck could consist of 97 green cards, 2 yellow, and one red. The red card would force the crew to set out the bad car at the nearest siding. If the yellow card came up, at the next detector there would be a 25% chance the car was actually bad.

Instead of a special deck of cards, maybe percentile dice would be easier. Percentile dice are 10 sided, numbered 0 thru 9, and can be found at hobby stores that deal in war games or dungeons and dragons type fantasy games. Buy a pair, one each of 2 different colors. One is the ones digit the other the tens digit.

Roll double zero, defect. Roll 98 or 99 possible defect. Next detector after a possible defect roll 1 thru 25 defect, but don't forget to roll for a new possible defect. You could also use the dice to determine which car was bad order. That actually sounds like fun!!![swg]

[cwclark]

I build a MOW consist and included a gondola, flat car, a tank car for water, a 40' box car for supplies and equipment and a crane car..I painted then a silver and gray color and decaled them with SP MOW decals...go to www.rr-fallenflags.org and there are loads of pictures of MOW cars to get some ideas...Chuck[:D]

[Anonymous]

A gondola may be preferred. A man I worked for subbed out his backhoe to the Illinois Central. They actually loaded the backhoe on a flat & from there, he could put his backhoe on top of the gon with heavy timbers under it for support. They did a lot of clean up: collecting old ties, plates, braces, etc. I wish I had a pic, maybe I can turn up one on the net.

[eastcoast]

interesting .
I think if you experience problems, you may eventually need
all of the deck of 100.

As for M O W consist, I've seen all kinds of cars and consists
that serve a wide variety of purposes. I have kitbashed some
cars myself for M O W service that just don't run right on my
regular freights. They are mainly a view block that just sit on
a side most of the time now. I very rarely run the M O W all
but to clean the tracks with a heavy brite-boy car.

[bandit0517]

Two questions:

Thinking of adding a defect detector (like the one on page 88 of the July 2004 issue of MR). In a 100 card deck, how many "defect" cards do you think would be appropriate?

I would also like to add a maintenance detail. I'm thinking a three car consist with a hopper, flat car with ties on it, and a caboose. Any thoughts? Could a Gondola be subbed for the hopper?


Thanks