February Projects

 While I did get all the track laid and power feeds wired for Middleton, I was unable to install the turnout motors and control panels for it.   Hopefully, by next month.  I did make a test video of my C636 running on one half of the town.  

I also made a revision of part of the junction trackage, replacing the #6 right hand turnout that goes to  the staging loop a #8 right hand turnout.   This also allowed some minor track adjustments for the industrial spurs in the middle of the wye.

With the icehouse, sand house, fuel oil dock and engine house base made I was able to lay out all the yard tracks.  This led to the elimination of one yard track and repositioning the engine house and servicing facilities.  This is shown in the track plan below.

My Division Point Weyerhaeuser #108 2-6-6-2T arrived this month also.  A photo of it along with one of the NWSL 2-6-6-2Ts #6 and the Mantua 2-6-6-2T #13 is below.   The other NWSL 2-6-6-2T #4 is in the shop right now.   The two NWSL loggers are models of the Black Hills Central locomotives 108 and 110.  NWSL made these years ago and they need the open frame motors replaced along with adding decoders, keep alives, and speakers.

The next two photos are of the Sugar Pine Lumber company 2-10-2T.   This was used on their common carrier Minarets and Western railroad running from the logging camps to the mill.   This was the only one of this type built.  It served along with four 2-8-2Ts.   According to the data on this one it had greater tractive effort than the Mallets.  

The last two photos are of Willamette #25

January projects

 While I wasn't able to make any real progress on the main layout, I was able to accomplish a few things.   I started constructing some of the building kits that I have.  The first ones are for the yard area.    These include the engine house, fuel oil tank, sand house, icehouse, water tank, and maintenance. buildings.

I also bought some HOn3 flextrack and N scale cork roadbed for a 23 inch radius circle to test the narrow gauge engine that I purchased.  

After playing with it for a short while, I decided to convert it into a 2 foot by 8 foot shelf layout.   This will be based on one of the layouts in the book Shelf Layouts by Reid.  This will be the lower left part with a foot added to the bottom as shown below.   This section is similar to a reversed image of John Allens Time Saver layout which is also pictured.

I also added feeder wires to the frogs of the older DCC friendly Walther's turnouts that I have.   The new ones have a tab on the side that provides an electrical connection to the frog.  On the older ones the frog is isolated without power.  I removed the plastic under the frog between two of the ties and soldered the wire to the bottom of the frog.   I did the soldering on a metal rack for a heat sink to prevent the plastic around the frog from melting.   The photos show one of them with the plastic removed and another one with a short feeder soldered to it.   As can be seen in the photo of the top of the frog area the plastic was not affected.

I need to spend the next few months getting back on schedule for building the main layout and getting it running.  I also ordered some more flex track so I could finish.   

    

       

December Christmas Present

 I was not able to get any work done on the layout in December.  However, I did treat myself to a new locomotive.    It is a Southern Pacific narrow gauge 2-8-0.   The Southern Pacific had two narrow gauge 2-8-0's, number 1 and number 13.  The number 13 was manufactured earlier.  Most of the other narrow-gauge locomotives were 4-6-0's or 4-4-0's with a few 2-6-0's.  Westside imported three versions of the 4-6-0's, numbers 8,9, and 18.  All of them have been preserved.  They also imported this 2-8-0 in two different runs, one with the motor in the cab and this one with the motor in the tender.  There were 300 in both runs.

The 4-6-0's also were imported with the motors in the cab and then in the tender.  Pacific Fast Mail imported the motor in the tender version of #9 while Westside only imported the motor in the cab version.  

The version of # 1 that I have has the motor in the tender.   Of course, I will be purchasing a few cars and some track to run it on.   In addition, I will be adding a decoder, keep alive and speaker.  There should be enough room in the tender for everything.

November Construction

 This will be a short post.  We got a new dog from the shelter that has Kennel cough and has developed an attachment to me.  She gets anxious if I am out of sight, so I have had to spend quite a lot of time taking care of her this past month.   I was able to take the base boards for the midpoint town and work on them with her near me.  I glued the cork roadbed in place and spiked the track in place.  Hopefully she will get better and join the other dogs which should reduce her anxiety.

October Construction

Wiring is progressing.   I have connected all the feeders to the buss for the staging tracks and two lift outs.  control panels for the lift out turnouts and junction are being wired and a 12-volt power supply for them is being ordered.  Five of the switch tenders from Micro Mark have been installed.  18 feet of flex track have been laid from the junction up the grade to the second town and 12 feet of flex track on the top loop have also been installed.  Feeder wires for them are also in place.  Also, the rest of the track for the junction has been installed.

Installing the switch tenders for the left outs was easy, but I will have to go under the layout to install all those for the junction area.  The image below has the track that is installed for the junction half highlighted.

September Construction

 Laying track, but it is taking much longer than I hoped.  I am using track nails and have to drill a hole in every fourth tie of the flex track.  This is about one every inch.   The staging tracks total a bit over 55 feet or 660 nail holes to drill in the flex track.  I am using a #61 drill bit and bought a tube of ten of them in case they break, being very thin.   I got all the track for the Southern Pacific main line in place and am drilling holes an inserting nails as fast as I can.  

I then need to connect the feeder wires to the main buss line and install the switch tenders.  A power line will need to be run to the triple pole - double throw switches that will cause the points to move and provide power to the turnout points.

The attached track plan shows the track that has been laid, except for the staging, in orange.  This will be divided into two power blocks with the lift-outs and staging tracks being one and the junction and yard the other.   The track leading to the end of the line town and the third lift out at the other end of the town will be part of a third power block.  The midpoint town and upper loop will be a fourth power block.  I am using disconnects for the buss lines between lift outs and the other parts of the layout.

After I test the SP main and staging, I will then add the rest of the tracks at the junction.   Followed by the grade up to the second town, the lift out leading to it, and then the tracks for the midpoint town.  This is on two eight-foot-long sections that I will secure in place after the track is laid.  

The final phase of track laying will include the lift out from the midpoint town to the upper loop, the upper loop, the lift out from the upper loop to the end point town, and the tracks for that town.

August Construction

 Construction is proceeding slower than I hoped.  Except for the yard area I have glued down roadbed on almost the entire junction half of the layout.  I also found a few more code 70 #4 turnouts.  This has allowed me to make a few revisions to the plan for the yard area.  Revised plan and photos below.

For September I hope to have the staging loop track installed, wired, tested, and running.   I purchased some constant on switch motors from Micro-Mark. Sweep sticks from FastTracks were also purchased to help with the track laying. Track for the yard area will be placed loose so that I can make any adjustments needed for buildings.

View from south end.  Track going to right top is for the wye to turn engines.

Overview of junction.  Elevated track in back will go to midpoint town.  Cardboard rectangles are building place holders.

View of the wye/ Tracks in middle of wye are for the meat packing company.  Far end of wye leads to staging.

North end of junction.  Both curved turnouts are #8, 36 and 32 inch radius code 83.  Spur tracks are for the team track (front) and furniture company (left back).   I still need to join the curve leading to the midpoint town that is laying on the board in back to the elevated track.

July Construction

 Due to various circumstances, I did not get much construction done during July.   I did glue the roadbed down for the two lift outs from the staging tracks.   I also made all the car cards and waybills for the layout.   I have also been making some adjustments to the junction area.

June Construction

 I only got part way through what I was planning to accomplish in June.   There were too many other things to take care of the last part of the month.   I did complete the backdrops and most of the sub roadbed.  The benchwork sections are bolted together.

I found that I will need to cut out at least two more 30-inch radius quarter sections and maybe a third.  These will be for the town at the end of the line and/or where the track will pass over the interchange line as it goes to the mid-point town.  I will also need to cut risers for the highest loop.

I have also been experimenting with different arrangements of the yard and engine service facilities tracks.   The engine house and service facilities will be moving to the left end of the yard.  this will help protect the buildings.

The lift-out sections between the two halves of the railroad use door hinges to hold them in place and keep the tracks aligned.  Only one hinge for each end of the lift-outs is needed.

Some photos of the bench work and sub roadbed.   Also, the latest track plan.

For the sky of the backdrop, I found out about these rolls of bulletin board paper that come in 4 foot by twelve foot rolls and 4x50 foot rolls.   The roll was cut into a two foot and two one foot wide rolls.   The shorter side took slightly more than one roll to cover the hard board.   I used some double-sided tape to attach them to the hardboard.  Total cost for the four rolls of tape and one roll of paper was just under $65.  Next step is to paint some clouds on them and probably some mountains.

Revised yard area

The engine house (outlined building and sand house and fuel dock have been moved to the left end of the yard.  The caboose track is now at the front.  The team track has also been moved to the left of the new station location. 

 

May Construction

I am posting this a couple of days early.  The benchwork is almost completed.   Roadbed is being laid for the staging tracks and the buss wire for it has also been run.   Hardboard for the backdrop has been installed on the east side of the layout.   I had to install the right half in two parts to get it to curve around the part of the wall that sticks out two inches.  The picture of the west side of the layout was taken mid-May.  All the lumber and other items on top of the benchwork are being stored there temporarily.   

Goals for June are to first get the staging tracks wired and operating.   Then place the sub-roadbed on the west half of the layout for the staging loop and interchange area.   This will be followed by roadbed, track and wiring for the complete staging loop including the two lift-outs at each end.  If all goes well, I hope to have the staging loop in operation by the end of June.  

I have also made some minor alterations to the track plan after learning a new trick using cornu curves in place of flex track in XTrackCAD.  XTrackCAD has a function button that allows you to add cars and locomotives and run trains around the layout.   The red lines in the picture below indicate the direction the turnouts are set to.  I put some cars and a pair of locomotives on the tracks and ran them around to check siding lengths.  

The program also measures the distance a train moves and I used that to find the distance from the start of the siding at the top left to the end of the track on the bottom half of the layout and then to the starting point.   Running point-to-point the mainline is 91.5 feet.   Including the continuous run section increases the total length to just over 100 feet.  Operations will be point-to-point with a turntable at the right end of the final town and a wye at the junction for turning locomotives.  The continuous run is there if I feel like just running some of the larger locomotives over the entire layout.

Motive power for the Modoc and Lassen will be a pair of 2-6-6-2T's and a 2-10-2T for the 1950's and three RSD-15's for the 1960's.   Actual start and end dates are 1953 when the Southern Pacific transferred the AC-9's to the Modoc Line and 1969 when ALCO stopped building diesel locomotives in the US.

I was also able to purchase a couple of locomotives on EBay this month.   The one on the left is a Mantua 2-6-6--2T full saddle tank logger.  It was listed as broken with a buy price of several dollars over $100.   The seller mentioned that it might be DCC equipped as it only hummed when he tried it on his DC track.   When it arrived, I put it on the test track and found it is DCC equipped with sound, etc.   The decoder is a TCS WOW sound unit.   I have to find out how to add a keep alive to it.   

The locomotive on the right is a NWSL full saddle tank logger that was listed on EBay shortly after the Mantua engine arrived.   It is in very good condition with added lights and crew.   I almost got it for a very low price but ended up paying almost the minimum price on the BrassTrains site due to a last second bid.   Fortunately, I had posted a higher total for my bid and did not lose out.   

The Mantua locomotive was undecorated while the NWSL was decaled for a fictional road.   I removed the decals using MicroSet and MicroSol and rubbing them with a cotton swab.   They came off after several minutes of rubbing.   I then decaled both for the Modoc and Lassen.   The NWSL already had the number 8 and I numbered the Mantua as 6.

Both are supposed to represent the same engine.   As can be seen the Mantua is much larger and has several inaccuracies such as both air reservoirs at the front of the saddle tank. On the prototype locomotive one is toward the rear.     The drivers are 55 inches in diameter compared the 44 inches of the prototype. Since it is only intended as a spare engine for running at the club and to use while a decoder, keep alive, and speaker to the other , that is okay.

April Construction Update

The framework for the east wall of the garage stall has been completed and that for the west wall has been started.   Half the plywood for the staging tracks has been installed and the other half is waiting for additional support pieces to be installed.   The plywood for the upper and lower towns has also been cut to size.  

The following photo shows the front half of the east wall framing.   Each framing section is three feet wide by eight feet long.  The two sections will be bolted together with carriage bolts.   The legs are attached with carriage bolts.   The support pieces are held in place by 1.25-inch wood screws.  I had originally intended for the legs to be removeable but had to permanently attach them due to needing them supporting the upper level of the track.  

I have also drawn the curved plywood sub-roadbed pieces to be cut out of the remaining sheet of plywood.  These can be seen in the second photo.  These will probably take a day to cut out with the jig saw.  These are 30-inch radius quarter circles.  Most of these will be for the loop area on the northeast end of the layout (see track plan) along with connecting the upper-level town on the east side to the loops.  

I also need to go to the hardware store for more 1.25-inch wood screws and 1x3 inch lumber for support pieces.  I will also check to see if the store has any cans of mistake paint that is close to sky blue.   Every once in a while, when they are mixing paint, they will make a mistake and end having to make a second can of the correct color mix.   The mistakes are usually a lot less expensive than buying a can.

I have levelled the front section of framing to match the rear section when it is level again.  The floor has about a two percent slope from the rear of the garage to the front.  

May construction plans are to finish the framing for the west wall, lay roadbed and track for the staging yard and maybe complete the lower-level loop connecting the two ends of the staging yard to the rest of the layout.  Then wiring the track so I can run a train or two.  The staging tracks are about 18 feet long and will hold two normal sized trains each.