cleats

For example, one of the tasks before us is to install the cookie-cutter roadbed on risers along the north wall of the room. The first four sections, along the west wall, have no cleats between the top of the bed slat riser and the plywood/homosote roadbed sandwich - I just drove a screw from above straight down into the endgrain of the riser. That has worked fine, but the grades along the north wall are extremely sensitive so I want a connection that will tolerate some adjustment without working loose.

So I need a bunch of cleats. Making a sawcut through a piece of 1x2 pine may not seem very educational to most of us, but doing it for the very first time opens vistas for young minds. Measure off 4 inches, mark the stock, clamp the stock into a miter box, fight to start the cut, listen to someone tell you to take your time and let the saw do the work, fight to keep from jamming the saw, get a sore arm, and five minutes later you’ve got yourself a cleat.

This happened today during a “lull” in the curriculum, and often occurs in the days following a test. I’ll introduce a topic and give students exercises to work on together while I circulate to answer questions. But first, today I took three students outside to the bench and taught them how to make a cleat. I watched while one of them cut and the other two observed. The student that just made the cut then went inside (me too) to send out another student. I stayed in the room and the students cycle through the cutting exercise three at a time: the fresh arrival watches, the second one cuts, and the one with experience instructs, then leaves to fetch a new novice.

So, although I could spend about a minute and a half on a chop saw to get 40 cleats, I would argue that would be less productive in getting the results I’m interested in than the 3 days it’ll take me having the students do it.

Best of all, most of them emerge from their labors excited and hungry for more.

west mainline staging tray

Back when I was thinking about how to configure the sectional benchwork, one of the design parameters in the back of my mind was possible staging below the main deck. But I didn’t go so far as to provide a full width staging deck, figuring I could thread some staging through if I decided I really needed it.

I did so decide, and am finally getting that staging facility installed.

It’s an unusual arrangement, probably not ideal: there are just two tracks, but they’re pretty long (24’ each). We’ll see if I can make an operating plan work with some trains parked in tandem.  

Last year’s students built the actual trays, learned to cut masonite, and they discovered strategies for clamping and gluing plywood/homosote layers between masonite side rails.

The trays are 8’ long, same length as the layout sections, and after considering a number of strategies for mounting them so their front edges match the plane of the main deck fascia I settled on 1x2 outriggers supporting vertical 2x2 posts with 1x2 cleats under the trays.

Other, more elegant solutions were set aside when I considered what my new batch of 7th graders were ready to do: measure and cut wood (manually, of course). Only the cleats have any kind of critical dimension: I intended for them to fit snugly between the masonite rails so they could be screwed from the tray sides, but my students couldn’t cut them accurately enough so I’ll have to put screws into them through the homosote deck.

No problem, especially considering the opportunity to apply the current math topic of “inequalities.” I needed 1x2 cleats cut at least 4 inches long but no more than 4 ⅛” long, so I wrote the specs on the whiteboard:

x = length of cut 1x2

4 inches < x < 4 ⅛”

The students figured out the meaning of that pretty well, and they also learned that if a sawcut is made on the workpiece side of a measured line, the workpiece will be too short.

Once painted to match the existing fascia, I think the trays will look ok and am pleased that we took the trouble to match the curved return at the end of the staging area.

Very cool...

I wish I had more hands on math like this in school! As an architect that regularly works with engineers, I do math all the time but never really understood its relevancy while in school. Designing, measuring, and building things did though... Have you explored basic electronics with the students? One more wonderful area of model railroading!

One more wonderful area!

Indeed! I have ambitions to implement Bruce Chubb's CMRI. When he introduced the circuitry in a series of Model Railroader articles long ago I was astonished to discover that because of his clear explanations I was able to understand the details - I'm hoping my students will derive a similar benefit today.

By the way Sancho, that's a marvelous blog!

Jeff Allen 

Thanks

For making school interesting. Having a real live example to show how things like math work out in real life is amazingly helpful. Really wish I had had that in my school years too.

Jack

Picks and Drops

As described in a previous blog post, last year I prepared some one-page switching puzzles for my students, based on a series published in Model Railroader by Bob Hayden years ago. Although they have been very popular with the kids, the puzzles were just a little out of reach for students who had no previous exposure to railroad operations.

So this year I prepared two very basic scenarios in the same puzzle format, intended to introduce the constraints of trailing point spurs vs. facing point spurs, before other more complex situations are attempted.

These exercises really helped students understand that there is a lot going on in even the simplest moves. Now that they have a clear idea of these basic situations I'm going to have them do the puzzles again but add dots for crew members on the ground - I'm in the middle of adding magnets to freight cars and tiny metal angles to crew figures so that we can think about that on the model as well. 

Jeff Allen

Next we will do subtraction.

Next we will do subtraction. You have three engines in your train and you are climbing a 2% grade. While going up the hill the second engine springs a coolant leak and shuts down. What do you have?

A Three engines

B Two engines

C Three engines but only two operating

D A train that is stalled on the hill

E Both A and C

F Both C and D

G A, C, and D are correct.