CONSTRUCTION BEGINS!

Actual building of the HO scale SP Cascade Line has begun!  The first step was cutting up plywood into “dimensional” strips for use as L-girder and stringers for the base level of the railroad. 

Plywood is being used for dimensional stability.  Too many folk (local and nationally) have reported problems with solid lumber warping, often well after initial construction.  The alternative of kiln-dried lumber is both expensive and can be unsatisfactory as well.  The initial delivery of K-D lumber to be used for legs was rejected as it had far too many defects (knots and edge of trunk cuts) to serve my intended use.  I hand-selected the replacements.  The lumber industry has changed a great deal from when I was growing up here in timber country—Oregon.  Plywood largely overcomes the warping issue of solid lumber, albeit at the expense of alternative edge joining techniques.  Screws don’t hold as well in the edges of plywood compared to solid lumber.

Plywood loaded into truck prior to becoming “dimensional lumber.”  Underneath the ply are rejected 2x6 intended for legs.

Eleven sheets of seven-ply A-C plywood were cut into “dimensional lumber.”  Most were cut to 3-7/8 inches wide to serve as L-girder webs (vertical piece) and stringers.  Two sheets were cut into 1-7/8 inch strips to serve as the L-girder flange (top cap).  This should be enough to support the base level of the railroad.

July 30, 2012 became a red-letter day.  The first L-girder was assembled!  Construction truly has begun!  The first L-girder will be attached to the central post, on the Eugene side.  It is composed of four 8 feet lengths of 3-7/8 inch wide web and 1-7/8 inch top cap with offset joints.  Glue and screws were used to attach the top cap to the web.  The coarse thread wood screws should be sufficient to hold the top cap in place as the glue sets.

First L-girder resting on stringers. 

L-girder detail

CONSTRUCTION PLANNING

With the completion of full-size track planning, construction planning and materials lists became the focus of activity.  Using the full-size plans drawn on newsprint on the floor, L-girder benchwork was spotted onto those track plans.  A critical part of this process was allocating space for the switch machines.  The following picture shows a section at the railroad west end of Eugene.  One L-girder was drawn with pink highlighter.  A companion L-girder will be mounted on the post, seen in the upper center of the photo.  The stringer locations were outlined in orange, while the space for Tortoise switch machines was outlined in green.  As expected, several stringer locations were adjusted to clear space for the switch machines. 

Eugene RR-West end plan with switch machine locations and benchwork outlines.

The full-size plans were used to estimate track and switch purchases. The track plans were measured for an estimate of track requirements.  The current estimate calls for about 900 feet of Code 83 track and almost 1000 feet of Code 70 track.  The current plan calls for 180 switches, with about half of those planned to be Micro Engineering #6 Code 70 and another ten ME #6 Code 83.  The remainder of the switches will be #8, built using Fast Tracks jigs.

The full-size plans helped illustrate a good opportunity to use manual switch throws rather than Tortoise powered machines.  Blue Point switch mechanisms will be used to provide a switch for switch frog polarity (hot frogs) and an additional contact set that might be used for input to the signal system in several locations.  About 70 switches in Eugene, Springfield and Oakridge will get manual throws.  The rest of the layout requires powered (Tortoise) switch machines as it is in CTC territory.  The reverse loop staging at both ends will get powered switches to facilitate easier control of those switch ladders. 

Another construction preparation task sighted a height reference line around the basement.  A laser level was used to spot the reference line.  This line will be at a nominal 36 inches above the floor at the central post.  This line should remain visible below the benchwork, which should be important in the more open structure area of the mountain climb.  A secondary reference line will be drawn 12” above the prime reference to achieve the 48 inch base level for the layout.  

Laser level setup with prime reference height of 36 inches at the basement center post.  Vertical alignment of the tripod shaft was set with a level.  Tripod base plate also was set with a level.

FULL-SIZE TRACK PLANNING – 3

The previous pair of posts (http://espeecascades.blogspot.com/2012/06/full-size-track-planning.html and http://espeecascades.blogspot.com/2012/06/full-size-trackplanning-2.html) described the full-size track plans on the main (valley) level.  Plans for Cascade Summit and Crescent Lake wrap up the full-size planning effort. 

The Cascade Summit plan was fairly simple with the main line placed between the RR-Westbound “Hill” siding and the RR-East-bound “Lake” siding.  The short “Beattie Siding” at the RR-East end serves as a pocket for helpers or MOW equipment.  My Cascade Summit is laid out in an “L” shape, with the summit wye, used for turning helpers, coming off the “Hill” siding at the 90 degree bend.  As with the prototype, the wye tail will be placed inside a single-ended tunnel. 

Cascade Summit RR-West end

Cascade Summit RR-East end.

Two sets of crossovers provide for turned helpers reaching the Beattie Siding, ready to proceed RR-East back down the Hill to Oakridge.  The operator and section house “village” will be placed at the RR-east end.  The curve at the RR-East end will send the track through the summit tunnel, into the back “nook” of the basement and back downhill.   The full-size planning effort located this curve a bit closer to the nook wall which will help with the set of three operator pathways that converge in this space.

The Cascade Summit track is located above the operator path for the lower level as it climbs out of Oakridge toward McCredie Springs in the nook.  Think of the planning paper as outlining where the operator path will be in the space on the  main floor level.   A cross section of this arrangement was shown in the Track Plan post and is repeated here

Spaced out from the wall corner to the nook will be the lower level operator path, the steps leading up to the Cascade Summit operator platform, and the operator path around the tail of the Oakridge wye.  As all of this was laid out on the floor, it became clear that a bit more space for these three paths would be useful.  Fortunately, the Oakridge wye could be rearranged with left-hand turnouts instead of right-turnouts.  Doing so added another foot of space at the tight spot—a huge gain.

Revised Oakridge Wye Plan.  Former tail track is indicated by disconnected blue tape line to the left of the new wye location in the upper part of the picture.  The new right leg of the wye is the sharper curve, closer to the center. 

Crescent Lake uses much the same configuration as the Eugene Arrival/Departure Yard (reverse loop) below it.   Differences are the exclusive use of #8 turnouts and the placement of the left leg of the reverse loop closer to the stairwell wall.  With Crecent Lake suspended from the walls and ceiling at over 7 feet from the floor, access will be require the use of step ladders.  Using the more gentle divergence of a #8 turnout is prudent.  Spacing the left leg of the loop closer to the stairwell wall will place use of a ladder closer to the wall—better for operator stability on a step ladder and clearing a path below for lower level operators.

Crescent Lake Track Plan is a partial overlay of the Eugene Arrival/Departure yard below. 

Crescent Lake switch ladders.  Right leg is in the upper portion of the picture.  Half of left leg ladder is near the center of the picture.  Eugene A/D Yard is below (lower portion of picture ) on lighter colored paper.

August 4, 2012, edit: Corrected short siding at Cascade Summit to "Beattie Siding," named in honor of the Assistant Engineer on the Natron Cutoff Construction.

FULL SIZE TRACKPLANNING – 2

Full-size trackplanning, discussed in the previous blog post (http://espeecascades.blogspot.com/2012/06/full-size-track-planning.html), fleshed out the design rendered in ¼ inch scale drawings.  Adjustments have been made and opportunities seized as this effort progressed.  Full-size planning has been essential to development of the Eugene design.  Throughout the entire layout design effort, the design of the base yard  (Eugene) has been a challenge.  Most of my best design thoughts have come while working with the full-size space. 

The challenge of Eugene is that that the prototype facilities were massive.  From the depot downtown through city industries out to the Blair Street Yard and into the main freight yard (with hump yard added in the late 1950’s), the Eugene complex stretched for miles.  A space several times the size of my basement would be needed to completely replicate Eugene, even with shortening to the design train length (20 feet) used for the HO-scale SP Cascade Line. 

The solution to the Eugene design dilemma was to concentrate on the design priorities established for the Cascade Line Layout.  In practical terms, this meant designing facilities intended to serve the modeled railroad, not all of Western Oregon, which was served by the historic yard.  This resulted in a classification yard sized for the modeled on-line industry.  Although operation design studies conducted during the layout design process kept tugging me toward including ever more tracks, reality was firmly imposed by the full-size planning effort. 

The Eugene design that emerged features the downtown depot area (flipped relative to the actual geometry) with the seven-track (plus run-around) classification yard located across the mainline from the depot.  The picture of the Eugene depot and classification yard shows the passenger siding, mainline, and two freight sidings on the right.  The classification yard ladder is seen on the left.  Multiple runaround tracks have been provided throughout the Eugene design.  The runarounds should keep the yard functioning in spite of any activity on the mainline.

Eugene Depot and Classification Yard looking RR-East.

The RR-East end of the depot and classification yard shows the multiple tracks coming back together.  The mainline and sidings are on the right, near the wall, while the classification yard ladder is on the left.  At the throat, the left-most track is the yard lead.  The next two tracks represent the mainline.  To the right of the mainline tracks are a group of turnouts not yet connected by track line.  This will be the location of Eugene “city” industry.  The second mainline track, the one with less switches, was added over the past few months as yard operations were thought about.  This track provides a way for trains to enter or depart the reverse loop tracks without going through the main yard throat—provided the outbound (RR-westbound) trains are set up for clockwise operation out of the reverse loop.

RR-East end of Eugene depot and classification yard tracks (lower part of photo).  Main yard throat leads to reverse loop staging serving as the Arrival/Departure yard (top of photo).

The Eugene Arrival/Departure Yard is formed as a reverse loop with twelve tracks.  The A/D Yard serves as staging for the RR-East end of the layout.  Through mainline trains, notably the First Class passenger and priority freight trains, will use the outer tracks with their broad radius curves and long turnouts (#8). 

Eugene Arrival/Departure Yard throat with right hand side ladder.  Left hand ladder access tracks extend off to the lower right.  Engine facility access splits the dpace between the two sides of the reverse loop (Switches without track lines extending).

The full-size planning effort provided the opportunity to use a “pinwheel ladder” for the outer tracks.  These tracks are accessed via turnouts formed around the loop curve.  The back legs of these tracks along the walls are plenty long enough, so they could start necking down via the “pinwheel ladder” much earlier than the inner tracks.  Doing so will save track and narrows the width of the yard at its most exposed curve. 

Eugene Arrival/Departure Yard reverse loop.  Pinwheel ladder used for outer tracks seen in the foreground.

The interior of the reverse loop will house the engine facilities.  The back-left of the loop interior will have the diesel sand and fuel rack.  The roundhouse and turntable will occupy the opposite corner of the loop interior.  Outside the loop will be a pair of tracks for the Oregon Electric (SP&S and BN) interchange.  The opposite end of this track set will house the caboose track.  The gap between the outer and inner loop track ladders provides an opportunity for placing the PFE ice deck.  The prototype Eugene ice deck was located within the yard, near the roundhouse, so having to cross tracks to access the ice deck has historic precedence. 

The Eugene track plan is now “complete.”  The function pieces have all fallen into place.  It is now time to move on to designing the supporting benchwork.  

FULL SIZE TRACK PLANNING

Track planning for the SP Cascade Line has alternated among sketches, scale drawings and full size planning using newsprint and photo-copies of standard turnouts.  Though the concept and schematic of a track layout feature might be outlined in the sketches and scale drawings, full-size planning often leads to the “ultimate” solution, including which direction (left or right) a turnout needs to split.  My experience with track planning has shown that a space “speaks” to the designer at full size in ways not seen in smaller scale representations.  Planning factors for the Cascade Line were kept generous to allow wiggle room for such inspiration.

With a track plan that provided for all major elements as seen in the previous post (http://espeecascades.blogspot.com/2012/06/track-plan.html) and with flooring installed, the time had arrived to lay out the track plan in full size on the floor.  This exercise provided adjustments to trackage that didn’t quite work out as drawn and opportunities to implement enhancements as they “presented themselves” in the actual space.

Laying out the turnback loop for the Salt Creek Trestle revealed a couple of issues.  First, the aisle space between the loop and the next lobe over, the Westfir-Oakridge track, did not lay out as wide as expected by the scale drawing.  A simple adjustment to the Westfir scene reclaimed the desired aisle width.  Second, the Railroad-East (downhill, closer to Oakridge) ends of the Wicopee and Cruzatte sidings nearly overlapped.  Moving both sidings two feet downhill (RR-East) netted four feet of separation, which should help separate crews at these two operating points. 

Revised Salt Creek  Loop

Laying out Oakridge at full size led to an adjustment to the wye.  It did not need to extend as deeply into the “nook” as originally drafted.  The location of the wye and engine facilities needed to be separated from the depot scene.  Chalk one up to post location in the room.  The Oakridge plan retains all tracks present in 1954, albeit with altered geometry.  The model still should operate much as the real railroad did in 1954.

Oakridge Wye.  Bins and boxes are located where Cascade Summit operator platform will be.

Oakridge engine facility in center foreground.  Depot located on the right, beyond the post.

Finally, laying out Springfield at full size revealed the turnback lobe needed to be moved further away from the basement back wall and outside door.  With plenty of space in the aisle (up to eight feet) between Eugene and Springfield, a shift of one foot was laid out.  Upon reflection, another foot adjustment may be implemented.  The full size layout of Springfield also revealed opportunities for additional industry tracks on the “Marcola Branch” tracks looped within the main line turnback lobe.   Other opportunities for industry tracks along the mainline were seized in the full size plan.  The resulting plan should provide lots of work for the Springfield switch crew.

Springfield lobe as seen from near the basement  doors leading outside.

TRACK PLAN

The track plan for the HO scale SP Cascade Line reflects the priorities established for it and the space available.  The highest priority for the layout was to represent the climb over the Cascades from Oakridge to Cascade Summit, supporting manned helper operations.  This immediately presented two design challenges: providing for a long (by model RR standards) mountain climb and locating the pair of locomotive turning wyes (at Oakridge and the Summit).

The years of concept definition and notional layout design efforts paid off when the final basement configuration was identified with the house plan.  The notional design efforts often featured a fold-back of the mountain grade along one wall.   The actual Cascade Line provides just such a feature as the line makes a large “S” configuration of about five miles length near the middle of the climb.  Fortunately, this track feature also has an important scenic feature—the Salt Creek Trestle, shown as the inspiration view for this blog as well as its background.  The turn-back curve with the trestle becomes a major scenic feature of the layout design.  Further, the prototype track arrangement provides ample justification of “stacked tracks”— two levels of the mainline simultaneously in view.

Locating the wyes logically fell to the top nook corner and the next one (central top) over.  Though an early layout design swapped the positions of the two wyes (Oakridge’s being more central in the plan), the final arrangement provided a longer mainline climb and a better passageway around the wye tail. 

The length of mountain climb (about 245 feet) provided 40 inches of climb at the prototype 1.8% from the base level.  The base level for Oakridge and the rest of the valley cities was established at 48 inches based on operating experience with a number of layouts, most notably the Cal Central Club layout where I was a member for over three decades.  This base height then established the summit height around  88-89 inches, providing an opportunity for easy passage underneath the summit trackage.   As seen in the image below, Cascade Summit will be built out over the track coming up out of Oakridge, forming an operator “tunnel” for the lower level.  Even my 6’ 4” frame should not be challenged by the modest height under Cascade Summit.  The Summit scene maintains adequate clearance from the room ceiling which is at 9’ 6”.

As the layout design process proceeded, it became clear that Oakridge represented a key operating and scenic feature.  The layout plan provides for all tracks present at Oakridge in 1954.  Compromises were necessary, notably in the relative positions of the depot and engine facilities, but the result should operate much as the original during the era of steam helpers.  Flanking Oakridge are the pair of large lumber mills: Pope and Talbot to the geographic east and Western Lumber at Westfir to the geographic west.  Both will be modestly represented, but they should provide lots of work for the Oakridge Turn.

Fleshing out the remainder of the railroad are Springfield and Eugene.  Springfield is contained within a large turn-back loop—a compromise made necessary by the approximately square central layout space.  The design for Springfield attempts to capture major industry located along the mainline.  Also provided is a modest set of tracks representing the Marcola Branch and interchange with the Weyerhauser operation.  The Springfield switcher should be kept very busy!

The design for the layout’s base yard at Eugene provided the greatest design challenge.  The final design represents many compromises, great simplification, and recognition of the top priorities for the rest of the layout.  Modeling Eugene at any time after the Natron Cutoff (Cascade Line) was built could consume more space than the entire basement.  The current design for Eugene features the Eugene depot, an Arrival/Departure (A/D) yard that also serves as open staging, a classification yard (7 tracks plus run-around) sized to serve the modeled railroad (rest of the layout), “City” industry, and engine facilities.  The engine facilities are located inside the reverse loop staging formed by the A/D yard.  They will be accessed via a roll-under chair—one of the toughest design compromises for the entire layout.  

Returning to the top end of the layout, reverse loop staging will be provided at Crescent Lake.  This loop will be suspended from the ceiling.  As described for Cascade Summit, the resulting layout structure should provide at least seven feet of clearance underneath.  Crescent Lake staging will have optical position detection and probably closed circuit TV to assist operators.  A stool, ladder or stand will be provided so operators can make a direct observation of their train prior to beginning a descent down the mountain toward Oakridge.

The plan for the HO scale SP Cascade Line should provide for interesting mainline operation and lots of opportunity for individual car movement serving industries both large and small.

LAYOUT ROOM PREPARATION

The final element of layout room preparation was completed today!  The primary house construction took care of much of the space preparation:  insulated walls, covered with drywall, ceiling drywall, lighting, many electrical outlets (spaced every six feet), heating and ventilation.  Virtually all systems are independent of the main house systems with heating a separate zone and the ventilation unique to the basement.  Two weeks ago, the basement bathroom was completed.  Now, the vinyl flooring has been installed.  This seals the concrete, eliminating concrete dust from the layout space.  Eventually, some form of carpet will be laid in the operating aisles, but for now, the space is ready for construction.

Here are a few views of the space.

Main basement space with me standing beside the single post in the space.  In the foreground are the three floor-mounted electrical outlets.

Swinging the camera to the left, we see the stairwell wall and plumbing awaiting a kitchenette.  That will come after much of the layout construction, though several of the cabinets were acquired during house construction.  Overhead is the “Lifebreath” heat recovery ventilation system for the basement.  This system reclaims about 75% of the heat of the space before exhausting to the outside.  The ventilation system is independent of the rest of the house, removing any chemical vapors that might be generated by layout construction (e.g. “water” epoxy or paint).

A passageway under the stairwell connects the main basement space to the “back room.”  The back room will house the upper and lower level reverse loop staging tracks.  The dispatcher’s desk will be on the right side of the stairwell wall.

The “back room” as seen from the under-stairs passageway.  The exercise room is open on the left. 

Next, I’ll spend some time laying out the track plan at full size.  The flooring has a convenient one-foot grid on its surface.  After that, the hobby accumulation of five decades, removed for the flooring project, will return to the basement.