There is nothing quite like walking through a doorway to a trainset running far above your head, where your dreams ever fly.
I was called to repair an LGB G scale trainset that is elevated nearly twelve feet from the floor in a dentist’s office. It is a beautiful set. The little 0-4-0 is small but mighty, and it has a powered tender that is just as strong. It has only five cars including a lighted caboose, but it could probably pull four or five times as many. The engine and tender each are plenty heavy and have a traction tire, so they have plenty of tractive power for a long consist.
On my first trip, I cleaned and lubricated the engine units and rolling stock. I did not have enough time to clean the track. The set has been up there for three or four years, and it has all of those years’ worth of dust and dirt built up. I took one swipe of the rails with my hand, and it looked as it did at the end of the Christmas rush. Black and grey. ’tis no wonder things squeaked and grated. I pulled everything down for cleaning, and that worked pretty well. However, the newly cleaned rails packed on the old dirt and grit, and the electrical contact was lessened. The track was no less a problem than the condition of the engine.
I had to do some climbing and clambering to reach parts of the track that twelve-foot ladder could not. It took me three hours to clean the damned thing, but I got it done. I could have fallen and died at any time, but my trains needed me!
One of my previous jobs had me throwing forty-pound weights on and off theatre stage pulley systems sixty-four feed above the stage floor.
Not bad for someone who is afraid of heights, eh?
A nice view from one of the upper windows of the dentist office lobby windows. Looks like a baseball stadium.
