Bullfrog Snot

When I took delivery of the Osceola, I noted the box that the engine came in contained a bottle of Bullfrog Snot, a liquid traction tire product. I don't recall if there were any directions with the locomotive suggesting that I use it, so I set it aside and forgot about it.

Tonight, I recalled that I had it. I applied it to the port side drivers of the Osceola. These drivers don't pick-up track power, so having a insulted traction tire would not hurt performance.

After letting it cure for a couple hours, I did a test. The loco does pull much better. I was able to pull 6 cars in a brief test. I will let the rubber material cure overnight before doing more thorough tests.

I also ordered a set of tungsten weights. There is room in the boiler and firebox for several ounces of weight. Hopefully that will help too.

While I was in a spending mood I ordered a steam decoder for Osceola, some Soundtraxx Current Keepers and speakers. I will retrofit a  Current Keeper to Haupt. I also plan to swap the Stanton Battery in Osceola for a Tsunami T1000 with a Current Keeper. This will reduce the dead weight in the tender, which may help with pulling power. I will keep the Stanton parts as spares.

Finally, I tinkered with track plan version 13. In this version I added a peninsula between Falmouth and Stonemans. This addition adds about 16 feet of main line run at the expense of losing my crew lounge. It would create a better isolation of Falmouth from the rest of the layout and add some open country running, but I think the loss of the crew lounge is too much. I know CINCHOUSE would not like this.