Going Full Circle

Alright so for this post I would like to give a quick overview of how I have gotten the layout to go full circle again.

 

After all of the uncertainty that has arisen over the past couple of months with moving, I decided to bring the rest of the layout back to life.  In my previous setup, the connectors that ran from one end of the modeled layout around the room to the other were supported by angled shelf brackets that were secured to the wall studs.  This time around, I cannot do this as we may or may not be moving.  So now I had to come up with new methods.

 

I had some constraints.  First, I hate floor supports.  They and my toes do not get along.  Plus, the connectors will not see much weight.  So I wanted to avoid those as much as possible.  Second, I wanted to follow the rules of simplicity.  As few curved sections as possible, easy alignments, simple entrance/exits, that sort of thing.  Third, I had budget constraints.  Consume as little funds as possible.

This greatly limited my options but part of the fun I have with this hobby is learning new things.  So I turned to my trusty friend the internet and set out to find new possibilities and solutions.  After a few days of searching, several options presented themselves and I worked with them as best as possible.

 

To keep curved sections to a minimum, I built extensions to the exiting layout.  They are the standard 1x4 with ½” plywood fare I have been using.  I have removed the floor supports and added bracing to keep them level with the rest of the layout.  Track on top, and boom, done.

Next I took care of the long straight runs.  This got me a lot done without much invested.  The book shelf is a simple big box store setup.  It is a bit tall but it was all that was available.  I built some adjustable landing brackets and screwed them into the sides.  The boards are ½” plywood strips I had left over from the previous setup.  This whole thing took a night, including cutting work.  Very simple, even if it isn’t subtle.

 

 

After that I came to a challenge: a lightweight corner section that doesn’t require a whole lot of support.  Enter these neat modules I read about here.  They cover how to build them so I will not elaborate much.  I only have two thoughts.  1) the hot glue does a great job of holding and 2) do not use the 1/8” MDF board that I did.  Find some thin, cheap plywood and it will have a lot less saw dust and weight (I also used some Liquid Nail).  All things aside they are really a clever solution that does work.

 

 

Lastly, there is the biggest obstacle.  The lift bridge.  I really wanted to have a simpler way to get into and out of the room.  Before, I had a whole section of wood to manually lift out of the way after disconnecting and removing track.  Now I have this beauty.  More on it and its construction at a later time.

 

And there you have it.  How I built the layout back up to running capacity.  The past several weeks have seen many a train go over it after a little tweaking but it will do the job well.  Which of course means I am far too busy to blog because I am playing with my trains!

 

Random pic of the day!

 

This was actually taken today, 5/7 at Englewood Yard.  I have seen the Penn Central engine before. but this is the best perspective I have been able to get.  Very fortunate to have caught it.

Signals, Scenery, and Ballast

And here is the first post of the new year.  Hopefully everyone enjoyed the transition and is looking forward to the blessings of 2016!

With the new year, I am going to do something new: this whole post of being created from my phone!  I figure I should start working my way into current technology uses.  This could be the new thing.

Anyways, on to the subject of the post.  I finally finished the ground cover scenery and ballast on my first module!  

The scenery is the same stuff and technique as before.  I was really worried that the little corner left would not blend with the existing, but even I cannot tell where the new begins and the old ends.  I'll call that a win.

The ballast is real stone made by AZ Rock & Mineral company.  I followed the techniques that regularly show up in MR or MRH.  It took four good glue soakings though as I did not have a good base secured.  Lessons for next time!

Here are some closeups of the signals.  The electrical cabinets are from BLMA and a pain to build for a novice structure guy like myself but they are nice and accurate.  The switch machine is by Details West.  It was simple install and build, but is non-functioning.  The Blue Point below the decking handles the control.  I also added exposed electrical conduit for effect.

Here are the signals past the turnout.  One head is turned away from the tracks on purpose.  The set of these I purchased had a double head that is commonly used in ABS or block territory.  I decided that the SRR left the block signal when it added the siding to keep costs down.  This turnout is controlled by a Caboose Industries stand.  I cut off the lever normally on these and added a more modern looking handle.  Might not look so bad or obvious now.

And now for the random pic of the day!

I hope I haven't used this one before but anyways, this is one of the test units for the ES44AT locomotives.  It is the first of the Tier IV locomotives and is made by GE.  They are currently producing these engines for BNSF, UP, and CSX.  I have not yet seen a UP one.  I caught this bad boy heading East out of Englewood Yard one afternoon when I was heading home from work, and was lead by a Citirail ES44.  A train with no class one engines!

Yard Ballast and Basic Scenery

Howdy everyone!  I have been using my recent free time to work on the yard on the layout.  This includes ballasting the tracks and putting down the basic scenery.  Below are the results of the first layer of scenery and what I know of ballast.

BALLASTING is one of those model railroading tasks that you either love or hate.  I have honestly never met anyone who is in the middle on that.  I personally fall into the love category.  I am only okay at doing it though , as this is maybe my second attempt in HO scale.  I had some basic experience while in N scale but that is a whole different beast. 

So while I am certainly no master, I will explain my technique.  Who knows, it may help someone out!  So the best ballast to use (and a lot of others agree and echo this opinion) is Highball Products ballast.  This is real stone!  The yard uses dark grey limestone.  Here is the bag I am currently using.

The first step is to pour a very small line down between the rails.  Put in so little that you don't think it will fill.  Trust me, it will.  Too much becomes difficult to handle once you spread it out.  Anyways, once you have the small line take a foam brush (I like and use the 2" brush with a 3/4" brush for backup) and spread the ballast between the rails.  Clean it off of the tops of the ties and be sure to clear it out of the web of the rail.  A quick tap of the rail head with the brush handle can usually do this.  Also, be sure to check the "tie plate" area where the rail is held to the ties.  The smaller pieces lodge in this area and are obviously out of place. 

Next is the shoulders of the track.  Now, my yard tracks are laid straight on the decking so there is not much of a shoulder.  I try to keep the ballast in close to represent yard tracks that don't handle a lot of heavy, fast traffic.  For mains and sidings, I would want more but that is for the future.  Today we are focusing on the yard.  So what I do here is pour a small line along the tops of the ties on the outside of the track.  Then using the same 2" foam brush, I come along and brush the ballast away from the tracks.  I use a slight angle as demonstrated below.  This allows the leading edge to clear away the larger piles and the back side to clean the leftovers off of the top of the ties.  In this case the leading edge is on the left of the pic.

Now you fill in any gaps or touchup as you see fit!  Then glue it all down and you're done.  One last note, be extremely careful around turnouts and crossings.  These little stone pieces can get in everything and foul it up beyond usability.

SCENERY is much different task for me.  It is so simple that you can't help but love it.  I start by painting the decking a standard brown color, but I certainly recommend using a tan color.  Brown does make a more realistic dirt color, but it make a really dark subcolor for all of the greenery.  So take that advice as you will. 

Once the paint dries, I apply a thin layer of full strength white glue every where that I want to have base scenery.  In this case, it is the grassey areas and the little gravel road.  Next I applied an even layer of Woodland Scenics Green Blend "grass" and some old Highball N scale ballast for the gravel road. 

Once the glue dries, I vacuumed up the extra grass and gravel.  ***IMPORTANT: put down the grass before the ballast so you don't vacuum up your hard work***
Next, I take various colors of ground foam and apply them over everything in a random pattern and density.  Here I used JTT green, WS burnt grass, and WS earth, all in the fine variety. 

Once you get something you are happy with, spray it all with the iso alcohol.  After a little time for it to soak in, I soak everything in a thinned glue mixture.  The glue is 2 parts water to 1 part while glue.  I use a syringe to apply the mix and soak everything in it.  I make sure it gets into all of the ballast and scenery.  Again, be extremely careful around turnouts.  The glue can glue turnout points to the rails...  Don't ask how I know this.

Lastly I sprinkle on a little more random turfs to accent what has been glued down.

The top of the picture has the scenery all glued down and the bottom is only prepped for gluing.

Again this is only the first layer!  So much more can and will be done. 

Hopefully this can serve as a basic guide to other beginners.  Also be sure to check out publications by the professionals, such as Pelle Soeburg or Lance Mindheim or the many great people at MRH E-Zine!

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!



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!

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!