Signal Flags

[Keith Hayes]

A friend has a neat non-Colorado, not-narrow-gauge layout I am privileged to operate on. It is one of several in the area that are new and we are all working the kinks out getting the layout to operate smoothly.

I recently drew a yard master trick. The layout uses car cards to route cars around the layout and colors help remove guesswork when assembling trains. The yard has a track for each destination,  but for reasons unknown,  we got easily confused about which block of cars was on which track.

After the session,  I suggested a bit of colored paper go between the rails as a visual aid. The layout Owner replied that it wasn't prototypical and for the same reason he chose not to use hand throws at turnouts. Rile number 1.

So I got to thinking of a workaround: what is colorful that would be on the ground in the yard? Paper litter immediately came to mind, but I thought this might look suspicious and untidy. I then thought about flags that a Brakeman would use to signal the engineer from the end of a cut of cars. Seems like a few of these laying about would be plausible.

So...how to make them? Brass wire--duh--but what for the flag? This is HO, so the flags are a bit over 1/8" square. The material needs o be thin enough to fold. I was thinking very thin brass or copper sheet. Then I watched a video of a fellow building a  1/72 tank model who used plumbing tape to model a tarp. Brilliant! I happen to have a couple roles of the Teflon tape. I got one out of the tool bag and cut a piece off.

If you have done some DIY plumbing work around the house,  you know how fiddly this stuff can be. It tends not to stick where you need it, but likes to go where it is not invited. Using the smooth side of my steel rule,  I was able to cut off some small squares of material. These were glued to short lengths of brass wire with CA and a bit folded over. Once the glue dried,  I painted the flags with Tamiya Primer, which seems to adhere to the Teflon. Next, colorful acrylics were applied to the flags and a tan to the staff. Somehow along the way the flags each developed a unique fold. To enhance the age and folds, Tamiya panels liner was applied.

I will deliver these at the next session and we can determine if they fill the bill to avoid mistakes in the yard. My friend observed that while action along the line can be sped up to 4:1, work in the yard plods along at 1:1.

Anyway, consider adding a role of Teflon plumbers tape to your hobby box. This is a great way to model tarps and this sort of detail.

[Dave Eggleston]

Great idea! I know of several modelers who mark under-layout magnets or car fouling points with simulated paper junk at specific points alongside tracks. Color is a nice expansion of this idea.

[Rick Steele]

What would be a more prototype way to mark magnets, etc. is to paint the side of the rail. This was done in many yards on the prototype to indicate the clearance points between the lead and the tracks. The first place that I saw this done was in the C&S yard in Cheyenne. Nothing big, just a (scale) foot long streak of white or orange or yellow to indicate the center of the magnet, the clearance point, whatever you have hiding underneath the track and ballast.

Rick