LAYOUT TUNE UP – SWITCH MAINTENANCE

Several items on my “To Do” check list prior to WOOPS involved switch throws at Oakridge.  Three switches were highlighted by my crew over the past several months (operating sessions).  I held off addressing them as they required moving a fair bit of under-the-layout storage out of the way for access.  Preparing for WOOPS demanded these be addressed.

 

One switch proved very easy to fix.  The switch throw rod had disconnected from the Blue Point switch machine.  I use threaded rods for throw rods, with most initially just threaded into an appropriately sized screw eye attached to the Blue Point switch machine throw.  Unfortunately, operators often twist the knob on the end of the throw rod, which can unscrew them from the switch machine.  Such was the case with the first switch problem I addressed.  It was a simple fix, although I added another nut to the connection at the switch machine which has helped make the connection more robust.

 

The second switch machine issue involved one of the cross-over switches used to emplace helpers mid-train in the Oakridge Yard.  This switch was controlled by a Tortoise ™ by Circuitron switch machine.  The points were not throwing all the way in the cross-over position.  I had run out of the limited amount of fulcrum position adjustment on this machine, so I needed to replace the throw rod from the machine to the switch throw bar on my way to potentially adjusting the new throw rod.  I got lucky.  Simply replacing the prior throw rod which had a bend in it with a new straight throw rod cured the problem.  Whew!  Two down.

 

Oakridge cross-over switch not throwing all the way.

 

Replacement throw rod on the switch machine cured the switch throw issue for this Oakridge cross-over.

 

The final switch throw problem proved far more complex.  The affected switch was in the Oakridge wye, branching to one of the maintenance of way spurs within the wye.  Once again, the switch was not throwing all the way.  This switch used a Blue Point switch machine.  Once again, I exhausted the fulcrum adjustment capability, so a new throw rod was in order.  Enter the infamous constant of the universe known as “Murphy’s Law” (with apologies to one of my regular crew members).  If it could go wrong, it would—and did with multiple failures.

 

Access to the switch machine was in a difficult position.  I needed to clear out a considerable amount of under-layout storage to gain decent access.  That accomplished, I needed to both dismount the Blue Point switch machine and replace its throw rod.  Somehow while cutting through the old throw rod, I must have clipped several of the wire leads to the Blue Point double post-double throw (DPDT) switch in the Blue Point.  I needed to repair that wiring harness.

 

Blue Point switch machine with wiring harness repaired.  The black shrink-wrap on the wires covers the spliced wire leads.  Note that the throw rod is fixed to the throw mechanism with a bend just above the repaired wires at the base (left side) of the machine.  This is what had to be cut to release the old throw rod.

 

The next problem that developed involved the switch throw bar.  The reason this switch was not throwing all the way was that I apparently never really got the throw rod from the switch machine into a proper hole in the middle of the throw bar just under the points.  I decided to move the throw rod connection to one of the holes outside the stock rails, as the middle of the throw bar did not look like it could support a new hole.  That “support a new hole” proved correct, as just working with the throw bar ended up causing it to break.  I have had several other throw bars on my Micro Engineering switches fail.  The solution is to replace the throw bar with a pc board throw bar just like all of my Fast Tracks switches.  

 

New pc board throw bar installed with the throw rod connection outside the stock rails.  The drilling template in the foreground provides for proper mounting screw geometry for the Blue Point switch machine underneath.

 

I carried through with my decision to mount the throw rod connection outside the stock rails, so a new mounting for the Blue Point would be needed.  That led to yet another problem.  As noted in the photo above, I used a drill template to fix the mounting screw holes.  When I mounted the Blue Point switch machine in its new location, it turned out a simple straight throw rod would do, with no side-to-side bends.  I thought everything was going fine, so I trimmed the throw rod on top of the layout, hooked up the big threaded throw rod to the layout fascia and tested.  The switch STILL did not throw all the way!

 

Blue Point switch machines mounted under the layout.  The closer one (top) was the problem machine.  Close inspection of this photo shows the throw rod is rubbing against the uneven edge of the slot cut into the plywood sub-roadbed.

 

I let the problem sit overnight so I had a clear mind when I next looked at the problem.  With that, I could see the uneven slot routed into the plywood sub-roadbed was impeding the throw rod coming up from the switch machine.  A bit of router work cured the problem.  Sometimes waiting a bit to clear the mind helps find the real source of a problem.

 

Three switch throw issues that lingered for several months have now been corrected.  Oakridge should operate much better now!

 

 

WOOPS TUNE UP OPERATING SESSION

My regular early May operating session provided my last session with my regular crew to operate the railroad before our regional operating event—WOOPS (Western Oregon OPerationS) scheduled for early June.  WOOPS features a dozen local operating layouts that will be operated by invited guest operators from around the West.  As my tune up session, I took careful note of items needing fixing and will spend the next month trying to get the railroad into the best shape I can for our out-of-area guests.  

 

I have found positive responses to my crew calls gradually climbing as we come out of the doldrums of the past several years.  I still experience a higher rate of folk having to drop out in the last couple of days prior to a session, but I still draw full crews—a blessing!  

 

The new tracks connecting the Eugene Arrival-Departure Yard to the Depot area caused development of new operating practices in this area.  The tune up session saw these come fully to the fore with several occasions of the multiple tracks in the area being used for simultaneous train movements as intended.  From the aisle side toward the backdrop (wall) four tracks have separate designated functions:

1.     Switch Lead serving the Eugene Classification Yard

2.     East Main (formerly the only main line connecting the Depot and Arrival-Departure Yard) primarily serves now for eastbound train moves into the Arrival-Departure Yard.

3.     West Main (the new track added during the pandemic lockdowns) serves as the principal track for westbound trains exiting the Arrival-Departure Yard.

4.     Industrial Siding (another new track) provides switching access to six new industrial spurs added during the pandemic lockdowns.

 

Shown are simultaneous mainline moves by a RR-East train (nearest train facing camera) and a RR-West train (departing freight headed away toward the Eugene depot and beyond).  Mark K. photo.

 

Switching action in the Eugene “inter-yard” area.  The pair of switchers on the left are bringing a transfer cut from the Arrival-Departure Yard to the Classification Yard for further work.  An RR-West mainline train is exiting the A-D Yard in the middle, here using the East Main.  Having two mains in this area helps keep operations fluid.  On the right, the Eugene City Switcher works the North Eugene industries.  Mark K. photo.

 

Thanks to regular operator Mark K. who has helped develop and standardize procedures in this area and then document them with the photos seen above.

 

The rest of the operating session went well, with a full crew exercising the railroad as designed and noting a few issues for my maintenance attention.

 

Dave H. performed Dispatching duties as he often does.

 

Randall P. served as the Yardmaster for the Arrival-Departure Yard, assisted by Craig L. as the Switcher position for this yard.

 

Mark K. works as the Eugene East Switcher while Mike L. behind him works the Eugene City Switcher.

 

Pete Johnson checks car card and physical car as Eugene Classification Yardmaster.  Behind him Keith K. works as the Eugene West Switcher.  Behind them in the aisle are crews for mainline and local trains working at Springfield.

Eugene West Switcher Keith K. works his end of the classification yard.  Note he is using the facia shelf edging to good effect as he organizes the car cards for the switching underway.

 

A full house at Springfield!  Craig P. works the Springfield-A local job on the depot side (away from the aisle) of the mainline.  Rodger C. talks on the radio with the Dispatcher as he works a train on the mainline headed toward Eugene.  Jeroen G. (leaning down) has the RR-West train on the siding (closest to the aisle).  Assigning only one of three area locals to work in Springfield at a time keeps the main and a passing track available in town.

 

The importance of allowing only one Springfield area local freight to work at a time while keeping the main and a passing track clear for mainline movements became clear from the very beginning of operations on my railroad.  Separate Springfield local freight jobs were defined after the first trial operating session found the Springfield job returning to Eugene with 28 cars—beyond the nominal train length design factor employed in my layout design.  Keeping a passing track clear reflected an important operating need going into and coming out of Eugene.  On the full-sized railroad, the SP eventually inserted the Judkins siding between the depot area and the Willamette River crossing.  I did not have that space, so we opted to ensure an available passing track for mainline use at Springfield.

Engineer Mike B. and Helper Engineer Pete H. await clearance to proceed RR-West and uphill as a RR-East passes on the Oakridge Siding, leaving the mainline clear between the two trains.

 

Guest operator Derek W. watches his train at Wicopee as he meets another train.

 

Jeroen G. has escaped the mass of trains seen earlier at Springfield and is climbing the mountain grade over Salt Creek Trestle.  Sean V. assists with his mid-train helper locomotives.

 

Later, Rodger C. guides his RR-Eastbound train down over the Salt Creek Trestle.  It looks like Rodger has an “XMUG” (Empty boxcars to Eugene).  This nominally is assigned a lower operating priority, but the reality of Southern Pacific operations in this mid-1980s era found these trains of empty lumber cars being hustled back to Eugene swiftly.  The forest products shippers of Oregon were crying for cars to load product!

 

A meet underway at Cruzatte.  Mike L. (on the main floor) has the RR-East train on the main track (closest to the platform/aisle), passing a RR-West held in the siding controlled by Helper Engineer Sean V. (front) and Engineer Jeroen G. (back).

 

Although I started the week before the session with what looked to be an overflow crew, by the time we got to the Saturday operating session, the crew had fallen to sixteen which provided exactly enough to man all operating positions with no doubling up.  That meant I had to thrust my guest from my California days into operation on his own and also not have any other crew doubled up (desired by a couple of engineers).  Still, all did very well and a good time was had by all.

 

 

Layout Electrical Wars—Battle Lost

One of my longer-term goals has been the replacement of the toggle switch control of turnouts on yard panels.  The first step in this process was commissioning a local model RR electronics expert to design control boards that will permit pushbutton control of track routing.  He delivered the first set of these boards for the Crescent Lake panel in the year before the world shut down.  It always seemed I had “higher priorities” elsewhere on the layout, but I finally found a window of opportunity this winter and spring to assemble the new panel.  

 

From my perspective, this project involved laying out a new panel, installing pushbuttons and LED indicators, wiring up those items on the panel to the control boards and then installing the panel into its layout location with connections to the switch machines.  Although I dragged my feet throughout the process, I finally accomplished the panel front layout, hardware installation and panel back-side wiring.

 

New Crescent Lake control panel backside.  Two control boards are needed to control the switch ladders at either end of the Crescent Lake reverse loop staging yard.

 

New Crescent Lake panel with the beginning of switch motor connections.  Groups of connecting wires will be bundled with wire ties eventually.

 

As I began making switch machine connections, I wanted to power up the panel and try the several routes initially wired.  This would guide further connections.  Which polarity should the switch motors use as the standard connection?  When I powered up the panel, the LEDs on the control boards lit and a route on the inbound switch ladder would light the appropriate route indicator LED.  Unfortunately, the same could not be said of the outbound side of the switch ladders.  The outbound LEDs would blip once and extinguish.  Stalemate.  I needed to consult with the circuit designer.

 

New Crescent Lake control panel with the route for inbound track 2 selected (upper right).

 

Unfortunately, I ran out of time.  I need a functional control panel this week as I prepare for an operating session at the end of the week.  I will freeze any further work on such critical layout infrastructure throughout May as I prepare to host operating sessions for outside-the-area visitors coming in for our 2023 edition of Western Oregon OPerationS (WOOPS 2023). 

 

Fortunately, my on-panel and layout documentation was good, so it was relatively easy to re-install the old toggle switch panel.  That will have to remain in service for WOOPS.  Somehow, the “binary logic” of toggle switches controlling a switch ladder evades some operators, so I must resign myself to dealing with inevitable shorts at mis-set switches and a few potential derailments.  That is what I hoped to achieve with the new route-controlled panel.

 

Toggle switch to switch machine wiring on the inside of the old Crescent Lake panel.  This has been restored to service.

 

Sigh.  Count this as one battle lost in the on-going layout electrical war.  The battle for a new panel for WOOPS was lost, but the summer break should give me time to get with my model RR electronics expert to try to sort this one out.

Winterail 2023

A major rail enthusiast event for me in mid-March has been Winterail.  This rail photography exposition has been a feature for me from early on from my working in California as it began in Stockton in 1978.  Winterail features presentations of rail photography tied to music.  Think Ken Burns does railroading.  A few years after my retirement and return to my native Oregon, Winterail followed as Producers Vic and Annie Neves also moved to the mid-Willamette Valley.  With that, Winterail now uses the Corvallis High auditorium, a modern, comfortable facility.  The 45^th Winterail was presented March 18 in Corvallis.

 

Winterail 2023 opening up in the Corvallis High auditorium.

 

This year’s Winterail was the usual mix of old and new/current.  It began with a teaser of film footage put together by Warren Haack of Catenary Video Productions from the Western Rail Museum archives at Rio Vista, CA.  This featured color film shot of railroad topics in the 1950s with an extended set of scenes shot by Stan Kistler on the Westside Lumber Company operation out of Tuolumne, CA.  Shown for Winterail was a fifteen-minute teaser from a much longer video that Warren markets under his Catenary Rails business.

 

From there, we moved through a presentation by Associate Producer Evan Werkema documenting the mergers over the past couple of decades that created four large rail systems out of seven former large systems in the US.  Evan’s quirky sense of humor and editing touch were in full evidence, resulting in a delightful show.

 

After a lunch break, we got a taste of the new with a presentation by a now-17-year-old (new blood!) on the Tacoma Rail operation on their “Mountain Division”---“The Hill” up from the Tacoma tide-flats and toward Morton, Washington.  This took me back, as a friend and I scored a cab ride on this same stretch of railroad forty-plus years ago when operated by Weyerhaeuser’s Chehalis Western.  

 

Additional good presentations followed, many prompting memories for me of places I have been and rail operations I have seen.  New sights were shown, as well.  We saw “Slavic Steam Survivors” featuring several current working steam operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina.  We also saw two good presentations imported from the similar Summerail event held in the eastern US.

 

Winterail is a great annual gathering of rail photographers and enthusiasts from the West (mostly).  It becomes a great place to meet and catch up with friends with the shared interest of railroading.  Winterail has been a regular feature of my annual calendar.  That improved and strengthened for me with it move to Corvallis.

R.I.P. Paul Koehler

Announced this week was the passing of former Southern Pacific Intermodal Manager Paul Koehler.  Paul worked for the SP in a variety of intermodal traffic management positions in the Los Angeles area from the 1960s forward.  Paul was very active in the formation and nurturing of the Southern Pacific Historical and Technical Society, serving at various times as President, Vice President and Business Manager.  

 

My interactions with Paul were via the SPH&TS.  In spite of quite different personal styles, I came to appreciate the management and business acumen of Paul.  I was particularly impressed when then-VP Paul Koehler had to take over at the 2011 SPH&TS Convention in Portland for the cancer-stricken President Paul Lyons, basically at the last minute. Paul K. adapted to conditions in Portland and ran a successful convention.  He seemed to be “everywhere,” and did it well.  

 

Such individuals can be lightning rods, and Paul Koehler was no exception.  Still, I came to understand and appreciate his views on the business side of the organization.  One area that was never in question—we both cared passionately about the Southern Pacific.

 

Paul was renowned for twisting folk’s arms, particularly where it concerned getting a donation.  Although I was able to resist a few of these entreaties, I may have surprised him when I leaped into the effort that provided the Society capital to purchase the injection mold dies for the Red Caboose F-70-7 flat car, which launched the SP Models program of the SPH&TS.  OK, that was self-serving, as I got some great models that currently run on my model railroad.  Still, the time was ripe for that move by the Society.

 

A few years ago, as my model railroad clearly reached a regular operating status, I received a small package from Paul. Contained within were a set of cardstock billboards, sized well for HO scale.  They had been part of marketing promotions by the SP and reflected full-sized billboards the SP commissioned at various spots around the system to promote the railroad’s transportation services.  Two of these found places on my railroad.

 

SP billboard located at the RR-West end of my Oakridge Yard.

 

SP billboard located at the RR-West end of my Eugene Depot area.  This one is a constant reminder for me of Paul Koehler.  He was active in intermodal developments for the SP in the Los Angeles area.

 

Our Southern Pacific enthusiast community has lost one of our significant contributors and promotors.  Rest in Peace Paul.

FORMAL OPERATING SESSION SIXTY

Beginning in June 2015, I have hosted nearly monthly formal operating sessions and have now reached sixty sessions.  The operating scheme has developed through the years with input from crew members, especially several retired railroaders who worked on the line that I model.  Regardless of source, those crew inputs have nudged me along to a system that fits both me and the regular crew.  

 

Most of the ops sessions have been for my regular local area crew, but a number of them, starting with Session Four for the PDX2015 NMRA National Convention in Portland, have featured “Boomer” crews—operators from far afield.  We are gearing up for another biannual regional operating event in June, so the next several operating sessions will be used to prompt and test enhancements.

 

Formal Operating Session Sixty featured a large crew of nineteen.  Three of those operators were either new to the layout or had been part of the crew only once before with a significant time lapse in between.  With a large crew, it was easy to pair each of the (relative) “newbies” with a regular crew member to mentor them into the particulars of my operation.  The large crew number also returns my operating sessions to pre-pandemic levels.  I am now bumping up against a desired crew size cap—a welcome “problem” to have!

 

Follow along in photos as the crew moved traffic in the (model) Cascades of Oregon.

 

Dispatcher John B. returned to “the big chair” to serve as ringleader for this event.

 

As usual, the Eugene-Springfield area was a hub of activity.  Eugene Yardmaster Rick A. (yellow shirt) confers with Jeroen G. about a road freight movement within the Eugene terminal area while switch crews work in both Eugene (left) and Springfield (right).

 

Yardmaster Rick A. and East Switcher Mark K. work the RR-East end of the Eugene depot area and classification yard in the foreground.

 

West Switcher Joe B. and Eugene City Switcher Mike L. work at the other end of the depot and classification yard.

 

Santa Clara Tower Operator Vic N. and Switcher David L. work the Eugene arrival-departure yard.  The A-D Yard makes and breaks road freights and also holds staged trains representing tracks north of Eugene (e.g., Portland).

 

Craig P. pulls his local freight into Springfield, ready to work tracks on the depot side of the mainline.  This is the first of three locals serving Springfield area industry.

 

Later in the session, two two-man road crews gather in the Springfield area with one of their trains visible on the Springfield Main.

 

Bill M. drew the returning (to Eugene) Oakridge Turn, seen arriving from Oakridge at Westfir.  Bill will switch the sawmill here before returning to Eugene.  The Dispatcher must find or create a “hole” in the normal flow of mainline traffic for the Oakridge Turn to work Westfir.  The single-track mainline becomes blocked by the Turn’s work here.

 

Earlier, at the start of the operating session, the Oakridge Turn sits on Track-4 while a RR-West train has its helper inserted and prepares to climb the Cascade grade from Track-2.  The road crew composed of Joe S. and Jim L. are at the RR-West end of Oakridge while helper engineers Dave C. and Mike R. are closer to the camera and the engine service facilities.

 

The RR-West freight has started its Cascade climb and is approaching Montieth Rock (aka “Rooster Rock”), the rock spires under the overhang in the right-distance.

 

Road Crew John K. and Dave H. have gotten their RR-West train up to Cascade Summit and are moving around the layout space to Crescent Lake to tie up in that upper staging yard.  Helper engineer Dave C. is preparing to return with his light helpers (locos only) to Oakridge.

 

A regular feature of my formal operating sessions is a mid-session lunch break.  Winter weather chases us indoors, finding places in the layout space to squeeze in a table and chairs for lunch.  Conducting the lunch break on site maintains the social activity and focus with minimum disruption to the overall operation.

 

A formal operating session runs about twelve “fast-hours” using a 3:1 fast clock ratio.  This session began before “midnight and ran unto about “noon” of the next day.  Early in the session three successive “T” trains (nominally trains with priority trailer-on-flatcar traffic) ran RR-Westbound out of Eugene on one-hour headways.  After that fleet passed over the railroad, the traffic settled down with more relaxed operations.  The crew had a good time and this session generated only a few “fix-its”—a success!