Last Post of the Year!

One last post everyone!  I have actually gotten a good deal done lately (by my standards, of course :) ).  I hope this means that 2015 will be just as productive!

First off is all of the replacement ties are complete and installed!  All over the layout there are no more gaps so I have begun putting in the masking tape for painting the track.  Once the taping is done, the modules will be removed one at a time and the track sprayed.  This will also give me a chance to put in new legs and get the remaining wall supports out of the way.  All of this will have pictures in a future post!

Now the only reason I got all of the ties finished is because of this beautiful device:

This is the Dremel Workstation.  More info is available here, but it works like your typical drill press.  The difference is the various things a Dremel can do and be, versus drill bits.  I put in the tungsten carbide cutting tool and went to town on those plastic ties!  I removed a small channel on either end where the rails will go and then flipped the piece over and removed a small bit from the bottom to allow it to slide in easier.  This Workstation is a wonderful accessory and I highly recommend it to anyone with a mating Dremel!

The third major completion is my first detailed locomotive!

I have been working on this particular locomotive sporadically over the past three years.  It started life as an Atlas Trainman GP38-2 in CSX YN3 paint.  I stripped that off and made it the first locomotive for the Spindletop Rail Lines, the previous name of the SRR.  At the time I had the idea of doing a green and orange paint scheme as you can see.  This one is not getting sound as it has all of the weights in tact and can pull like a six-axle engine.  Along the way I added Cannon & Co radiator and dynamic fans, grab irons, lift rings, pilot details, windshield wipers, sun shades, and other details.  But I am now calling this one finished as the ditchlights are lit!  This was my first experience with SMDs and magnet wires.  I got these pre-wired as I cannot hold my hands still enough to solder my own. 

I won't lie, I had a lot of fears about using these.  They are delicate, there is only an enamel coating on the wires, and they are pricey (or so I say).  However, that does not mean they do not work perfectly!  In fact, I kick myself for being such a wuss about getting these installed.  All future engines will most likely use these over bulbs.  They look great, were much simpler to use and install, and put out a great amount of light!

Anyways, thanks for reading this year and I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and good luck in your 2015 endeavors!



A Visit to The Bryan/College Station Model Railroad Society

Well I don't know about y'all but I had a fine Thanksgiving vacation and a great visit with the family.  I hope everyone out there had the same or better!

This is a club owned SD40-2 painted in the freelance Gulf, Texas & Western scheme of the layout.  Here number 1000 idles (loudly I might add) waiting for a new train during the open house.

 

The weekend before the turkey day I found myself up at the train club in Bryan, Texas.  I was a member of this club for nearly two years while in school, and I always wish I had more time as a member there.  These are the guys who really got me hooked back into the modeling world, and I can never thank them enough for that.  And because they are that cool, they invited me to come run during their annual open house!

The club is called the Bryan/College Station Model Railroad Society, or BCSMRRS for short.  They have a website here (EDIT: this link is to their Facebook, more updates and pictures there!) with plenty of pictures and general information.  The layout is a freelanced idea focused on operations with the ability to handle and run long trains across many different scenes and towns.  The local line is called the Gulf, Texas, and Western Railroad.  There are operating sessions and regular run nights, with open-to-the-public general meetings every Monday evening.  If you want to visit, do not hesitate!  The members are very friendly and very experienced in different facets of model railroading.

I arrived a bit after the opening time of ten AM.  The weather was not looking good, thunder and rain on a direct course to berate the area all day, but that could not stop the open house!  The guys had setup a large outdoor covering to allow visitors to arrive and dry off before entering the layout building.  All day long people came to visit and oooh and ahhhh at the many different trains running around, and take in the details of the world that has been created on the layout.  All day long, these guys kept the signals green, the trains a rollin', and kept the attention of visitors young and old.

Personally, I had the best time imaginable.  I hope to attend the whole weekend next year, including helping setup on Friday and cleanup on Sunday night.  It is always a blast to see all of the improvements they have made to the layout and building, as well as catch up with friends.

So if you get the chance, go check out the GT&W and be sure to say hi for me!

And now for the random picture of the day:

 This is a perfect example of old power helping out in the modern world.  BNSF 1607 is an old Santa Fe SD40-2 in the classic "yellow bonnet" paint scheme that has been updated to modern requirements (ditch lights, enviornmental readers, etc).  She has been hanging around the Pearland Yard for a few weeks now helping in switching duties.  Apparently, the Gensets are not very reliable and it takes two of them to do what this one loco can do.  So this old girl has been pushing and pulling the long autorack and intermodals into the loading facility.  It is always great to see this one rumbling by!

Liftout Section Guide

Today, I will talk about the liftout guide I built for my layout. 

There are many options for building alignment guides for liftouts.  A quick Google search can provide tons of different options and methods, and Google Images links to several great sites that provide a step-by-step breakdown on many methods.  Some use pin and tubing systems, others rely on hinges, and some have custom alignment brackets that even transfer power to the rails on the lift out!  No matter which option meets your need best, all use the same principles and can be suited to your tastes and budget

Now, I have no need at this point for something with power routing or 0.0001" tolerances or even anything with style.  My liftout guide is essentially temporary (like the liftout sitself) until I either build another section to cross to, or we move.  Either way, I went with something about as simple as it gets and it only took a few minutes to design and build!

It is simply a cobbled together assembly of scrap wood pieces.  I started out with a short section of 1x4 that was leftover from building the layout frames.  I drilled two holes a few inches apart and about little bit above the bottom of the board.  Then, using a scroll saw I cut two lines at about a 45 degree angle from the top to the holes and then one across from hole to hole.  The small trapezoid that this formed was screwed to the underside of the liftout plywood section, with the the long end against the plywood.  The larger piece was secured to the end of the layout.  The locations for both were fit up a couple of times to make sure that the tracks would align properly on top.  Once the liftout and layout were mated properly, I added a piece of laminate board to the front of the larger piece.  This keeps the liftout from sliding forward off of the layout in the case of an accidental bumping (this happens far more often than you think!).  Below are some pictures.

So there you have it!  A quick, robust lifout guide!


And now for the random pic of the day:

Yes I put in two!  It is because I am super excited to see some old-school power still being used.  BNSF 1607 is an SD40-2 that is being used in the Pearland Yard lately for heavy duty switching power.  It has twice as many horses under the hood as the Gensets it is working with so I am sure it has been coming in handy moving all of the long intermodals back and forth!

Trains are running again!

I have the trains going again! 

Actually, they have been going for some time now.  To be honest, I have spent all of this time running circles and switching out the yard and completely neglected updating the blog.  It has been an absolute blast!

I have had the yard and main line operational for a while now, but due to how I arranged the trackwork they could never really interchange.  So to fix this (and satisfy the need to just have trains running un-attended) I set up the leftovers of the original layout and added some new pieces.  The new pieces are built-to-fit sections that satisfied the constraints of the area.  They were also built with leftovers and look like it so don't get your hopes up for super fancy handi-work.  The first was on the back side of the room.  I used some 1x4s to build a curved section and topped it with some 24" radius Atlas Code 82 sectional track.  Then I secured it to the layout frame and set it on an existing wall support.  Some trial and error proved it needed some extra support so I added some legs and voila!

It is in the far corner and hard to see but it is there.

 

After that I put in the long straight-away seen above, and then the corner and last straight-away seen below:

 

Next up was the most difficult part: a lift out section.  I don't mind crawling under the layout any but if I am going to be in and out without much train action then I wanted to be able to quickly removed and replace anything across the entry way.  The below contraption is what I came up with.  It has the ame section track connecting to the layout, some flextrack to follow and transitions to a spare piece of Code 100 track that connects to the EZ Track.

 

To remove it, I pull back the joiners on the layout side and pop off the EZ Track and set it out of the way.  There is also a guide piece of wood under the layout end to make sure the bridge always settles into the right spot to align with the main.  I will get a picture of that up here next time.

So there you have it!  Trains are up and running along and I haven't had any problems with this setup.  One day it may all be replaced with more actual layout but for now I have what I need :)

Now for the random picture of the post:

 

This is a slug engine, with the various info here.  Note the removed fuel tank and blanked windows.  It seems to be paired with SD40N in front as there are a lot of pictures of the two together,  I caught these on a random freight heading south on the BNSF line along Mykawa Rd in Houston on 10/15/14.

 

Main Line is Done!

Well I finally finished off the main line a few days ago!  I am happy to be done with it as this allows me to get back to the rest of the train room.  In addition I also laid the passing siding and the fifth yard track.

Below are some pictures of the progress.

Here you can see the fifth yard track on the left of the shot as SRR GP39-2 #1989 idles with a short local on the main.

Here is a better view of the yard side.  To the conductor's side of SRR 1989 is where the lead to the plastic pellet plant will be. 

 

The new yard track on the left is blocked off electrically from the rest of the layout.  I plan on having this become a programming track in the future once I learn the electronics behind using three way switches.  That way it can also be a regular track if needed. 

 

Here is the other leg of the layout.  This is where the loco facility and local SRR field office will be located.  Coming from the left of the shot, the first turnout is to the siding then the second is the lead into the yard.  Back on the main are two #6s that will lead to as of yet undecided industries.

Lastly is a shot back towards the room entry of the yard.  The run-a-round track that is pictured can hold four 50' cars or three 60' cars as long as they are spotted correctly.

 

From here I am going to begin setting up temporary supports around the walls again so that I can get trains going in a loop.  I haven't decided whether or not to build more actual layout or not.  Too many variables in life right now.  Fortunately there are plenty of other things to do to this current part of the plan.  Starting with the supports and (unfortunately) cleaning up the train room.  It is a downright mess!

 

Finally, the random picture of the day: some fancy loads on bulkhead flats waiting to go South out of the BNSF Pearland yard.



Feeder Wire Idea

As I am laying the tracks around the layout, I am adding in feeder wires.  These are the narrow gauge wires that run from the rails to the bus lines under the layout.  I have been able to use a lot of leftover pieces of wire but I am burning through it pretty quickly.  I was dreading having to spend the high prices that Radioshack demands, when I had a chance visit to my parents house.  While I was there, I happened across large, rubber-encased line in a junk pile.  I looked at the end of it and saw just a ton of little wires!  I asked my dad what it was and he told me it was a piece of phone cable that had been left behind by the phone company when making hurricane repairs.  I asked if I could have half of the length and he obliged, so I set to work dismantling and removing the wires. 

These are the wires from one little bundle!

 

These are all of the bundles from the cable!



There are tons of tiny wires that work perfectly as feeders!  I am going to sort the wires by color but for now I am using only red and black ones.  There are plenty of other colors available for when I run out of those.  So if you can get your hands on a short section of phone cable like this, I highly recommend you take advantage!

On the layout, trackage has been laid around the curve!  Now I am perfecting my turnouts to have those installed this week.

*EDIT* Random picture of the day: a LONG line of rail train for the work going on at the BNSF intermodal facility.  After a fantastic derail the entry to the facility has been undergoing a re-design and the work has been on going.

Until next time!

Main Line has Begun Work

Work crews finally began construction of the main line! 

After months of planning, changing, analyzing, and more planning, the main line work has begun.  I have gotten the first straight away and about half of the big curve laid down, both roadbed and track. 

The above picture show the main on the right and the yard on the left, with only the straight part of the main line. 

The turnouts are Atlas #6, one for the passing siding (left hand) and one to go to future industries.  All mainline and industrial track will be code 83, mostly all Atlas product.  I used code 100 in the yard for reliability purposes.  Depending on this layouts success, I will most likely use code 83 for all future setups.

Here you can see the beginning of the curve.

Now you may be wondering "why is he making such a big deal about this curve?  It is just a curve."  You are mostly correct.  However, this is my FIRST flextrack curve.  The only curves I have laid before this were sectional.  So this is actually a big deal to me, and kind of scary since it has to align with a specific radius to make the plan work.  So go me for taking a new step!

So how did I go about making this curve?  Well, being an engineer by profession, I used my smarts (que laughter).  I built a radius tool and cobbled some supports together.  The tool is made using two nails, a screw, a pencil, and some leftover, small trim wood.  I nailed the pieces of trim together to be longer than the radius I needed (>42").  Then I drilled out a hole in one end and taped in a pencil.  On the other end I put the screw through the board at exactly 42" from the pencil tip.  Then I laid the board seen below on a shelf unit to act as a pivot point support.  Then I simply pushed the screw down in the board and ran the pencil between the straight lines guiding the main.  It worked like a charm.

Pencil end - being used

Pivot point support

Pivot point screw

Securing nails - watch out that they don't catch you.  They are pointy.

The pencil end.  What a quality taping job...

Now I need to finish the curve off.  I am following the recommended practices of connecting a soldering track as you go around the curve to keep a smooth connection point.  I will post again once that gets done.

And to finish things off, I want to start a new thing of ending posts with some proto shots I take on whims.  To start it off, below is PTRA 9609 crossing E Loop 610.  I got the shot while my wife was driving 70MPH so I am glad it came out as well as it did.  The unit is an MK1500D rebuild, and was hauling empty flats and gons from a pipe yard on 6/29/2014.

 

Until next time!

Tunnel Motor is Back Together

I finally have the T-2 back in running order!  The loco is much quieter now that it has the modern Genesis motor in it.  I haven't been able to test it against the other Genesis as that one is disassembled for detailing and painting now.  Really I am just glad to be done with the wiring.

However (as usually happens with me and the hobby) I created a new problem to solve!

Before I started, you could not see through to the other side between the air tanks and the fuel nozzle...  That area was all frame that I had milled out to fit the backwards motor.  Fortunately, it is only noticable from eye level as you can see below.

The camera was raised only a little and now the gap is invisible!  So I may or may not fix it.  We shall see.  Next for this loco is a little decal to show this engine is under ownership of the SRR now and some touchup paint.  Nothing too fancy.

I am also in the midst of planning to lay down the main line this weekend on the layout!  Finally!  I had everything in place and then I found I am out of rail joiners...  So after a quick trip to the hobby shop I can get started.  One the main is laid I will move on to designing the remaining layout portions so the roundy round can get started again.  I miss just having the trains run in a circle...

Re-Powering a Favorite

Howdy again!  This time I come bearing improvements that worked right the first time!

I bought an Athearn SD45T-2 a while back and I made posts on it and its progress here and here.  I finally got the replacement dogbone drive shafts that I mentioned last time.  If you recall, the model came with 1.609" shafts, and after putting in the new motor one of the drive shafts was short.  From what I could tell the best fix would be the 1.76" shafts.  Voila!  They are just right!  Below shows the shaft in the flywheel and gear tower.  It really is a perfect fit.

 

I gave the motor a few spins with the drivetrain fully assembled and I felt no resistance or binding.  So next up is to put the whole shebang back together and run it on the rails.  Hopefully she will run with the other Genesis locos well enough to consist them together.  Since I am finally going to join a club, I can really use the heavy haulers.

For a visual, here are the two different drive shafts side-by-side.

Check back soon as I will be updating with the performance of this over-hauled locomotive.

Making it modular

I have been slowly working on the layout these past months.  The biggest roadblock has been deciding the future of the layout.  We may be moving into a smaller house soon so I have been trying to figure out the best way to divide the layout into movable sections.  More on that other stuff later.

I had always planned on the layout being modular, as my wife and I's plan for our current living situation seems to be so fluid.  I built the frames individually, made track plans based the frame lengths, etc.  However, I went full bore on laying out the decking plywood and the track.  This turned out badly (read: stupidly) as cutting through track with standard cutting implements has proven ...difficult.  Most saw blades are too rough (too few Teeth Per Inch) and would tear the track up or separate it from the plywood.  So to make the layout "modular" I had to improvise ("as usual" he said disdainfully).

The biggest difficulty is cutting through the decking where track is already laid.  The best way I found was to cut the track was with a razor saw over where the modules meet.  Then I used a small drill bit and drilled through the plywood between and around the ties as much as possible.  The plywood was cut using regular hand and powered saws (the easiest part).  To finish it off, I used a hack saw blade to cut the plywood that was still connected beneath the track.  I would have used the razor saw but the blade is not deep enough to cut the track and plywood together.  I angled the hack saw blade in the existing cuts and slowly leveled it out as I cut upward.  It took awhile but it eventually worked.

 

 

So now that the layout is cut up, I can work on finishing the yard.  It works well right now but needs some tweaking.

For my final thought of the day: be sure that if you make your layout modular, you cut the decking before laying track.

Re-powering the Tunnel Motor is a Pain

So right now my budget doesn't allow much in the way of buying brand new locomotives.  I could if I saved up over time, but that doesn't work so well with me.  I plan on getting a new locomotive and suddenly "ooooo shiny new tank car!" or "well dang, I just got to have that Hy-cube" and etc, etc, etc...  So instead I tend to put a little bit into the existing engines.

In this case, I want to have my tunnel motor be able to run with my SD45-2.  This is the beginning of the Pain.  When I tried to do this a few months back (around September...  geez) I found that they were just too different speed-wise.  I played around with the speed table settings on their decoders but that was a lot of time to get nowhere.  So the idea was side lined.  However the idea has come back to the forefront as I am trying to join a local club.  But if they won't run well together then what can I do?

While the two locos are similar in drive train design, it turns out they have very different motors.  The tunnel motor is from the RTR line and the 45-2 is from the Genesis line, and the output on their electric motors is very different.  I had an extra RTR motor sitting around so I tried it in the 45-2, but the frame and weights will not allow it to fit (Pain).  So I decided to try a Genesis motor in the T-2.  After some time on the 'bay I got a new Genesis motor and went to install it.  Turns out it fits as far as the securing screw holes, but the frame was too tall for the screws (Pain again).  SOOOO more work.  Now it looks like this after some time on a mill.

One of the perks of working at a place with a machine shop

 

The motor now fits in the frame!  I had to add some shims into the securing holes as the screw heads could pass through them but it can be done.  However, I am now stuck again (more Pain).  To get the motor to fit, I had to put it in "backwards" so now one of the dogbone shafts is too short...  Blah...  There are some longer ones on order so I will update again when they are installed. 

If you want more detail on the process, or advice on how to avoid the pains above, leave me a comment and I will help out as best as I can.

Later!

Some Pictures for the Last Post

Alright y'all, are some pictures as I promised.

First is a shot of the layout construction progress. 

Aside from the messiness of the room, you can see how it is coming along.  About half of the decking of 15/32" plywood is attached and about 75% of the support frames are built.  I only have one more to go!

Due to space constraints I have scaled back the layout some.  It will now have three walls of layout and the fourth wall will be a connector for continuous running and where the work table will go.  However I do have a decent plan still.  The yard ladder has been built (it can be seen about halfway down the right side decking) and should be installed tonight if I can stay awake.

This is the re-motor project I am working on for the tunnel motor.  She didn't play well with my Genesis SD45-2 so I decided to put a Genesis motor in here.  The internet says that the Genesis motor fits RTR locos.  What they didn't say was that it takes some work...  More on that in a separate post.

And lastly, I randomly caught the Illinois Terminal heritage locomotive.  She unexpectedly passed me leading a train from the Texas City Terminal and by the time I caught up to her for a picture, this was the best I could do.  But I swear it is her!  Zoom in on the cab numbers!

And lastly, a shiny new BNSF Gevo near my work.

Now I am off to recover for an op session tomorrow on the Almeda Terminal & Gulf layout!

Workin' on the Railroad

Specifically my model railroad.

I have been making slow progress, but progress all the same.

I don't have any new pictures for this update yet.  I may put them in another later post.  Sorry.

Layout: work is progressing steadily.  I have all of the turnouts I need now so track will be laid in earnest once the layout is fully built.  One frame and the remaining decking to go!  Currently about half way on the decking.

Paint Scheme: a new Texas-themed scheme should be getting applied to a new loco shell next week.  I hope it comes out as cool as I imagine it as.

Prodigy: my trusty DCC system up and burned out on me a few months back.  MRC got her fixed up and returned so the engines can move a little at least

Yard: the yard ladder should be secured and powered by the weekend!  Once the ladder is tested and operational, I will lay the yard tracks and put out some rolling stock.

Until then, have a good time everyone!

Construction Continues

They say that no good plan survives contact with the enemy.  I find this to be true in many cases, particularly mine.  I have had good results using the shelf brackets of the previous posts on earlier layouts, but those were mostly a loop of Bachmann track on 1X4 boards around the walls.  The layout I am building though uses two foot wide frames and as a result the brackets are flexing too much.  I tried everything I could think of to reinforce them, but alas, nothing worked to my liking.

After a week of deciding, I chose to build the layout with legs.  I had originally decided against this but it really is the simplest way to go.  So, I am removing the shelf supports and using the wood planks to make the table legs.  The modules are resting on these legs and a piece of wood that is screwed into the walls at my level line around the room.  The nice part is that all of the support pieces are at the same places as the brackets were, so the frames are the same size.

Now for the pictures:

 



The wall supports

The modules on their legs and supports

This is the first two modules installed

 

The frames are made out of 1X4s and decking screws.  I really like these screws because they use a #2 square head instead of a Phillips.  That means a whole lot less stripping.  The legs are the leftover bracket decks, same for the wall supports.  The frames are held to each other using 1" screws until I can procure some bolts and washers for a permanent fix. 

 

Next is the plywood to make the decking!  Then it will be time to move on to the next half of the room.



Stuff from Christmas

Howdy again!

It is a bit late, yeah but I did want to show off some of the stuff I got this past Christmas.  My wife went out of her way to find me some awesome train related items.  She found a dealer on that Etsy site, which is actually entertaining and does have trains for sale, that had good train items. 

One is a lantern from 1901 that used by the Southern Railway.  It is a bit beat up but clearly used and has traceablity on it to authenticate it!  Unfortunately I don't have a picture of it yet...

The second item is this Southern Pacific logo in brass.  The dealer had bought it from someone who had found it while walking an abandoned/torn up old SP right-of-way out in California.  Unfortunately we cannot determine what it came from or it's use...  But it still looks really cool!

And the third item is an SP engineer's guidebook from the 60s!  It is well worn and not exactly a collectible item of value but I certainly love it.  To give you an idea of the age of the item, it shows pictures of where to place marker lights on steam locomotives.  Yeah, steam.

 

 

Anyways, that is all for now.  Back to the layout construction!