End of Track Stop

As I do every Christmas, I set up a six foot section of train track on our mantle.  I usually have my O scale trains on two tracks set up here for Christmas.  These are Lionel-sized trains.  This year, however, I decided to set up my newly completed large scale trolley (F scale) on the mantle which is more than double the size of those O scale trains.

This trolley I've set up on the mantle is the one I just finished rebuilding this summer for our new garden railroad.  It is really a pretty nice model now that I completely rebuilt it.  The beauty of this train is that is it wireless which means I don't have to fuss with keeping the track clean...  there is no need for a power pack or transformer...  there are no wires...  there is no need to deal with finding a nearby outlet.  I placed the track on the mantle and then placed the trolley on the tracks...  that's it...  ready to go.  

I ran it back and forth a few times to make sure everything works including all the sounds.  My wireless trains are controlled by an app over Bluetooth.  Everything worked just fine (and it sounds great) but I immediately noticed that it would be easy to accidentally run this beautiful model off the end of the track causing it to fly down to the floor and probably shatter into many pieces.  There was nothing at the end of the track to act as a bumper stop to keep the trolley on the track.  

As it so happens, I have been meaning to design a simple end of track stop for our outdoor garden railroad but I never got around to designing and building one this summer.  Now this little project was necessary before the grandchildren attempt to run this trolley on our mantle.  

I went out to the shed to grab some of the leftover wood from my summertime garden railroad bridge-building projects.  I figured I could use some of these scraps to make a couple of end of track stops.  I just needed to figure out a design and then figure out the best (easiest) way to cut and build one.  

I came up with a design that is pretty simple.  I have a timber that is placed across the top of the rails.  I marked where the rails come in contact with the timber and then cut a notch at the marks for each rail.  Underneath this timber is another shorter timber that squeezes tightly between the ties.  The friction of the rails in the notches and the timber wedged between the ties keeps this stop in place.  

I tested the stop at each end of the track today by running the trolley at a moderate speed and crashing into the stop.  The stop worked.  I think it would work for the big steam locomotive too but I haven't tried that one yet.  

This timber is a stop for the train's wheels rather than a stop up at the coupler height.  A stop at coupler height can break couplers and I didn't want any broken couplers.  This version proved to be much simpler to make too so that is what I designed and made.

After I completed this little project and while I had the table saw set up outside, I built a rather contemporary support for a new pedal unit on my Yamaha digital grand piano.  In approximately two years, I went through two Yamaha pedal units.  Both broke within a year so I wasn't too happy about trying another Yamaha pedal unit again.  I found some generic company that makes a better looking pedal unit but it didn't come with any supports to keep it attached to the piano.  That is what I built today.  

I made this contemporary pedal support "harp" (these supports, historically, resembled a small harp) out of maple, assembled it, sanded it, stained it (ebony) and then installed it.  It looks good and it is functional!   

Although I only sat at the piano a short while since then, I'm happy with how these supports are holding the pedal unit in place while also looking like they belong.

All in all, it was a productive day!