Frogs on the Overhead

 Overhead Crossing Frogs

I just noticed that I haven't finished swapping out the temporary overhead crossing frogs with commercial frogs.

But the temporary frogs have been working out so well that I might just keep them!

Negotiating Frogtown.

Here are the four 90° double track crossing overhead frogs (track obscured for clarity). The two crossings on the left still have the small washers that I was using for temporary crossing frogs. The two crossings on the right have been finalized with crossover castings. But since the washers have been performing flawlessly and they have a much smaller appearance that I've decided to keep them as is. They just need to be finalized by trimming the excess wire and solder it all in place for electrical continuity.

As for the angle crossings I don't think the washers were working well for that. So they have been swapped out for the adjustable crossing frogs. These work great.

Rivers Trolley & Traction Adjustable Crossovers are what I used. But I have no idea where a fella can purchase them these days. Might have to monitor eBay closely for them.

Yes sir! Closely monitor eBay for frogs!

Dandy

How 'bout Them Apples!

 In studying photos of 19th century city streets I've noticed that "road apples" are quite ubiquitous.

But the question is: should droppings be modeled?

I mean- it is natural after all. Horses are going to doo what horses gotta do!

Both Images: Shorpy.  Color: Hotpot

And doo they do a lot! It was quite the problem back in the day. Particularly in New York City that when the elevated railroads were built the steam locomotives were hailed as a solution to the pollution!

But doo I want to model "excreta" though? I suppose I might if it's not too conspicuous- one of many details to notice. And it is kind of funny. But I doo want to be careful- it is a poop joke after all. I don't want to be crass. Just... realistic. Which begs the question- what to model dung with?

The question of what to use to model "after parts" had been lurking in the back of my mind for some time now and one morning while emptying my coffee maker I noticed that the used coffee grounds are about the right size and color for manure. So I set up the test photo shown at the top of this post and well, yeah, not a bad result. So I'll keep it in mind and see if I can tastefully incorporate "effluent" into some of the scenes on the layout when I get to the detailing stage of layout construction.

All I need now is for someone to make some HO scale Pooper-Scooper figures, then I can make a nice little scene like this.

Yes Sir! HO scale Pooper-Scoopers!

Dandy