Charlie b's layout

[Charlie B]

I was going to start painting an Atlas Alco S1 tonight but decided to install the decoder first. I actually bought a TSC drop in decoder and it took longer to install then any of the hard wired ones I have done simply because the instructions said nothing excep to be sure the bottom brush was isolated, so I milled the frame on the bottom for a little clearance and put it back together. It was then that I realized that the decoder would not send power to the lower brush unless it was touching the motor frame. The top brush is insulated.  So, I removed the insulating washer and installed the decoder and it works fine. It was then that I discovered it was going chitty chitty bang bang going down the track so after tearing things apart I discovered a bad gear in the front power truck. /A $1.50 part from Atlas with 8.50 shipping. I ordered 2 of these gears and two of the one it turns so I will have spares. I know somewhere I probably have a front power truck but it won't turn up for months. 

I painted this box car for the CNW. I know it isn't prototype but it looks good to me and I got rid of a few more old decals.    

Charlie