BASIC BACKDROP FOR OAKRIDGE

Following the push to get the railroad ready for its first operations, I took a breather on concentrated tasks.  Two issues highlighted by the first operating crew were worked on—switch point gauge and adding to the car fleet.  The switch point gauge issue has been easy to address.  It involves melting the solder for the curved stock rail at the two printed circuit board (pcb) ties closest to the point ends and moving the rail out slightly.  I adjust for widest tolerable gauge outside the points which results in minimum check gauge at the points with their extra width.  I also note the FastTracks ™ instructions call for filing the points to a sharper point than I have been doing. 

As to the car fleet, a quick search through my moving boxes quickly found another ten chip gondolas and a half dozen tank cars.  I also located fifteen Athearn lumber box cars needing only modest work to get them into operation.  Couplers were changed on all of the “new” cars, as well as the ExactRail wood chip gons. 

Turning back to construction projects, I decided to address the basic backdrop behind Oakridge.  My prior backdrop efforts provided for Eugene and Springfield.  Now I have basic backdrop paint behind all current track and the roadbed extension out of Oakridge.

Completed Backdrop Base Behind Oakridge.

For the basic backdrop, I continued techniques employed previously.  This included reworking the basic sky fade from blue to horizon haze to account for a higher ridge line (horizon) behind Oakridge. http://espeecascades.blogspot.com/2012/11/backdrop-sky.html  Clouds similar to those behind Eugene and Springfield were painted using sea sponges, though the number of clouds increase as I move geographically East (up-mountain).  I used a similar three-color terrain effect, though I mixed paint colors for the middle tones to represent nearer ridges. http://espeecascades.blogspot.com/2014/02/defining-horizon.html  Finally, the immediate nearby ridge height was increased to represent the nearby ridge at Oakridge.  I will return to this ridge later to add trees— a mix of Douglas Fir and late winter Oaks (The Oak in Oakridge!).

Salmon Creek and the platform for Pope and Talbot at the RR-West (geo-East) end of Oakridge.

Backdrop in the “Pryor” area behind the climbing roadbed.

My initial efforts produced at least one anomaly that I chose to replace.  I created a high ridge behind Oakridge that stood too tall.  After sitting with it for a couple of days, I pulled out the sky paint to obscure the ridge, returning the focus to Oakridge.  This was a good reminder that most anything in model railroading can be redone for a better effect. This is the “art” of model railroading.  In this case it really was an art technique that was used!

High ridge and hill behind Oakridge.

Ridge and hill wiped out by fresh sky paint.

Replacement backdrop ridge.

FIRST FLIGHT (OPS)!

My HO scale SP Cascade Line hosted its first operating session with operators other than myself.  In my working career, this would be a “first flight” event, a major milestone.  This was a critical step, as it subjected the layout systems to objective users who were unfamiliar with any details of its construction or equipment installation.  Preparing for this event meant working through many small tasks that had been set aside while pursuing some “larger” objective.  “First Ops” was the first time the railroad (layout) fully came alive.

First operating session with (left to right): Joe B., Rick A., John B., and Dave H.

I am happy to report that although I have a list of action items to check out and correct, trains ran over the full railroad as it currently exists.  My group of four  testers ran through all turnouts, usually by pushing light cars through the switches—a tough test. 

As I placed freight cars at industry spots typical of regular layout operations, I discovered just how large a railroad I am building.  This layout will consume many cars on its industry spurs.  The photo shows the situation at Springfield where one or two cars stand in for three or four.  I will be looking for specific cars and car types in my collection that were packed away long ago for moving and storage.  Some car types such as tank cars have been flagged as needing additional purchases.

My First Ops session did exactly what I hoped it would, revealing strengths and weaknesses of the operating core of the railroad.   It took nineteen months to reach this milestone.  Onward toward the “Golden Spike!”

First Ops Crew (left to right): Myself, Rick A., Joe B., John B., and Dave H.

CONTROL FOR THE SWITCHES

The major remaining task required to begin test operations on my SP Cascade Line was providing control to the power switch machines.  Switch machine installation provided a mechanical throw rod and frog wiring.  With this, I could reach under the layout to manually move the Tortoise ™ throw to the desired position.  While this was sufficient for limited testing by me, it would be unacceptable for visiting operators.  Further, installation of the fascia made it much more difficult to reach under the layout.  The fascia was needed for switch linkage support for the manual throw switches, which use Blue Point ™ switch machines.

The eventual plan for the SP Cascade Line provides for Centralized Traffic Control, wherein significant switches are remotely controlled by the Dispatcher.  Though I have been gathering the needed computer interface and control circuit boards for the CTC implementation, I am not quite ready to launch into that major effort.   This still left me with a need to control the power switch machines. 

For the interim, I opted to wire the Tortoise ™ machines with conventional toggle switch control via connection to a 12 volt power supply distributed around the layout.  Over two dozen switch machines have been connected using DPDT toggle switches for control. 

Of course, there were some challenges along the way.  One major challenge occurred with a machine at the end of the Springfield peninsula.  This spot is more than a little confined and has a concentration of both Tortoise ™ and Blue Point ™ switch machines. 

Switch machines under RR-West Springfield—a very confined space!

True to “Murphy’s Law,” one of the machines did not work when powered up and needed to be replaced.  This probably was a good failure, because it prompted me to change the switch machine mounting.  I originally used an offset throw, as provided by the Tortoise machine.  This results in a diagonally moving throw rod that also produced up and down movement in the throw bar on the turnout.  I found the rod had popped out of the throw bar as I trouble shot the switch machine.  I replaced the original mounting, which used a hole in the middle of the throw bar, between the rails, with a hole outside the rails.  This allowed the standard center (in the machine fulcrum) throw rod mounting which results in minimal vertical movement.  The close proximity of two Tortoise ™ machines, seen in the photo, is what led to the original mount.  My alternative mounting accounts for both machines, but is mechanically much better.

I took the opportunity to do some fascia painting as I dealt with the toggle switch mounts.  As with the magnet hatch throws reported recently (http://espeecascades.blogspot.com/2014/01/its-magnetic.html), I had clear access to the backing panels before hardware was installed.  This led to a more general fascia painting exercise.

Power switch machine toggle switch controls mounted in fascia inset.  Manual switch linkage knobs on either side have not had their backing plates painted yet.

Painting the fascia had a dramatic effect on the impression of the railroad, neatly framing it between fascia and backdrop.  I recognize the fascia will get messed up as I work on scenery, ballasting the track, and many other tasks, but paint is a relatively cheap way to provide a more finished look—important for visitors.

Overview of Eugene-Springfield aisle with fascia painted.

Springfield depot area with fascia and initial backdrop painted.

DEFINING THE HORIZON

As I worked with the new roadbed climbing up out of Oakridge, I began to get the urge to better define the sky and horizon.  Caution!  Amateur “artist” at work! 

I first needed to prime and then paint the basic sky on the walls and corner coving behind the new roadbed.  I used the same graduated fade from “sky blue” to horizon haze described previously.

http://espeecascades.blogspot.com/2012/11/backdrop-sky.html

Once again, I was struck by how this simple treatment of the backdrop sky seems to expand and define the model railroad world.

Backdrop sky treatment RR-West out of Oakridge.  Additional lights will be mounted on the ceiling in this “black hole” as well as light fixtures below the planned upper deck.

This time around, I was careful to note where the background mountains will be so the haze layer (mostly white paint) could begin at that height.  Preparing for the initial backdrop terrain definition elsewhere, I had noted my original mistake of not accounting for the band of terrain that defines the “bottom” of the sky.  While the sky paints were out, I went back and redid the backdrop sky behind Springfield and the Marcola to Westfir sections.  The sky haze behind Eugene already was at the right height. 

I’ve been asked what color I use for my sky.  I now understand the chuckle this question is greeted by usually, for I now have the same response.  The sky color is very subjective and will shift with time of year and altitude.   I used photos I shot in the springtime (my chosen modeling season) along the Cascade Line to guide my selection.  After looking at many blue paint cards, I finally settled on a blue shade from a card we used for other areas of our house.   This also settled on using Sherwin-Williams paint.  It simply was a matter of convenience.  The base “sky” blue I am using is Sherwin-Williams SW 6527, “Blissful Blue.”  I mix this in various ratios with the white paint base to get the half dozen colors I use for the color banding that leads to the fade to haze.  See the prior post on Backdrop Sky for more detail.

Continuing with the basic paint, I wanted to use house paint to define the basic landforms on the backdrop.  A simple three-color treatment can be remarkably effective in defining the horizon and landforms.  The furthest away mountains are painted using the basic sky color (“Blissful Blue”).  I used green paint for the other two layers, representing closer terrain.  Returning to Sherwin-Williams, I used their color card 66 to get my two greens, plus a third, darker, green for the fascia.  Layer two is mostly made up of SW 6458, “Restful.”  The closest (lowest) layer is SW 6460, “Kale Green.”  The fascia will use the darkest green from this series, SW 6461, “Isle of Pines.”  While painting the terrain, I freely mixed up shades of these colors by combining them on my painting pallet.  Though I have identified the specific paints I am using, I offer them only as a report of what I did.  “Your mileage WILL vary!”

The next step in the backdrop painting was to paint some practice panels.  I cut up a sheet of hardboard into 2x4 feet panels.  These panels received my standard sky treatment (blue fading down to haze at the horizon).  I then tested and practiced each technique I would use before I applied it to the “real” backdrop.  Even with that, I find myself returning to the layout backdrop to modify or refine.  The backdrop painting is an art form.  Though not “high” art, it still requires development of skills usually undeveloped by model railroaders.  That certainly applies to this retired professional engineer! 

Backdrop practice panels propped up on the layout—my standard “easel.”

I was encouraged to try painting my backdrop both out of necessity (a consequence of a narrow shelf layout design) and from books, articles and videos on backdrop painting.  I highly recommend Mike Danneman’s Painting Backdrops for Your Model Railroad, Kalmbach Books, 2008.  I also recommend Chris Lyon’s videos on backdrop painting currently running on Trainmaster’s TV.

After sketching a chalk line for the distant horizon line of mountains on the backdrop, I began with clouds.  Though Chris Lyon makes an excellent point about painting cirrus clouds, I needed to move up to cumulous to represent Western Oregon in the Spring.  Mike Danneman describes a technique with artist brushes.  An alternative is to use natural sea sponges, effectively dry-brushed (tapped) onto the backdrop.  The sea sponge technique was described in a Mainline Modeler article by Carol Somers in March 1986.  

I decided to try the sea sponge technique first and quickly found I could get the effects I desired.  I define the bottom edge of the clouds with a mix of white, blue and a bit of artist acrylic neutral gray, mixing “to suit.”  It is important to maintain perspective.  In this case it means small clouds in the distance near the horizon, growing to larger, nearer, clouds as one gets “higher” in the sky.  At this stage of my artist’s development, I still am too regular—the curse of an engineer.  I keep working on the clouds and am moving toward my desired goal.  DO use photos of the sky and clouds to guide your efforts.  You wouldn’t model a boxcar or structure without them, so, also, with the backdrop.

Once I had the clouds in place, I began with the distant mountains.  As noted above, I used the basic sky blue to define the most distant mountains.  At Eugene, I used a faded (with white) version of the blue, as I wanted to convey even more distance.  Next was either the standard light green (“Restful”) or a mix of it with the sky blue.  Finally, I defined the closer mills with the dark green (“Kale Green”).  I reworked the Willamette River bridge scene from my first attempt to “raise” the distant mountains.  I also ended up redoing my first attempts at trees in this scene.  I used a technique with a fan brush and black paint Chris Lyons has described in prior (and hopefully the new) videos.

Revised Willamette River bridge scene backdrop.

I finished the current effort by defining the basic backdrop terrain behind Eugene, Springfield and the Marcola to Westfir stretch.  That is around 100 feet of backdrop.

Eugene Backdrop

Springfield Backdrop

Marcola to Westfir Backdrop

The backdrop very much is a work in process.  I will continue to refine or change as I develop my “artist” skills.  Fortunately, the most important skill has been honed over the years—observation.  I’ve taken a number of photos and will take more to guide my efforts.  I can’t do anything about talent, but I can develop skill.

IT’S MAGNETIC!

One of the critical tasks preparing for operations has been completing installation of uncoupling magnets.  I am using Kadee 308 under tie magnets for uncoupling in difficult to reach spots.  Permanently mounting these magnets under the ties can lead to undesired uncoupling, so all are mounted on trap door (hinged) hatches.

Preparation for the magnets began with cutting holes in the cork roadbed and plywood subroadbed at the desired locations. 

Uncoupling magnet hole in roadbed.

The holes were then covered with styrene covers.  I used 0.020 inch thick Evergreen black styrene for the hole cover and Evergreen dimensional strip for the cover frame, matching the roadbed height.  I used black (vs. white) styrene to be less noticeable should the eventual ballast cover get disturbed.

Uncoupling magnet hatch covers.  A Kadee 308 magnet and steel field enhancement plate are nestled in the left hatch cover.

The holes were cut and hatch covers were mounted as part of the roadbed preparation before track laying.  The hatches received the same gray latex paint used to prepare all roadbed.  <Note: recent discussion on a Yahoo Group List points out that latex paint “breathes.”  I accept that my roadbed painting is purely cosmetic.  It won’t slow the drying out of the cork.>

With initial operations looming soon, I needed to complete the magnet installation.  As seen in the photo, a typical installation involves mounting a small plywood hatch to the underside of the subroadbed with a hinge.  A corner brace mounted on the side provides a lever arm for actuation.  Airplane control rod (plastic “choke cable”) provides the linkage to a knob mounted in the fascia.  Pulling the knob pulls the magnet hatch up into position.  Pushing the knob back in lowers the hatch, reducing the magnetic field, hopefully preventing unwanted uncoupling.

Typical magnet hatch activation installation.

Two spurs in Springfield are far from the aisle, close to the backdrop.  The team track ramp also might be difficult to reach, so all three get the Kadee 308 magnets.   The Eugene depot tracks are a long reach from the aisle, so many magnets are mounted there.  Further motivation for magnets on the depot tracks comes from providing for some passenger car switching at the depot.  Passenger car diaphragms are notorious for getting in the way of any other uncoupling method.   I’ve added magnets for both switch ladders in the classification yard, even though both sites are within easy reach of the aisle.  The Eugene depot and classification yard complex has sixteen uncoupling magnets mounted.  About half of those were challenging installations.  Still, one learns and develops a set of techniques used for most installations.

Chalk up one more “Must Do” task on the way to bringing the railroad into operation.

EXPANDING THE WORLD

I continue to work both below and above the benchwork on the layout.  Below the layout, I connected the first pair of boosters to the DCC system command station.  A pair of NCE PB5 boosters complement the existing 5 amp PowerHouse Pro.  I’ve been running mostly sound-equipped locos on the layout.  Start-up produces a slow wave of sound coming on as each sound system grabs available power.  The boosters were planned long ago. 

I encountered a minor fault as I hooked all of this up.  An issue with DCC boosters is that they might be out of phase with each other, leading to bad behavior at the boundary between booster districts.  Using an AC voltmeter, I checked each of the booster district boundaries and determined I did not have an out of phase issue.  With that, I ran the first pair of locos over the boundaries.  Crossing one boundary, I encountered a brief short and then resumption of movement.  The PSX circuit breakers were tripping and resetting.  Investigating, I discovered a 1.5 volt difference across the boundary.  I eventually traced this back to the booster power supply where I discovered one of the power supplies was inadvertantly set for 12 volts versus the 13.5 volts normally used for HO scale. 

NCE replaced the PB105 booster with the PB5 in their line this past year.  In contrast to earlier practice, the PB5 comes with its own power supply.  That power supply has a switch between 13.5 volts and 12 volts.  Check your power supplies for PB5 installations!

Above the layout base level, I have started benchwork RR-West of Oakridge.  The mountain climb starts immediately.  I also have another bridge, across Salmon Creek, to provide for as the roadbed starts out.  For the mountain section of the layout, I elected to use spline roadbed.  I am using nominal ¼ inch thick hardboard, cut into 1 inch wide strips.  These are mounted vertically, forming 1 inch thick roadbed as the splines are added for width.

Mainline climb out of Oakridge on hardboard spline.  Multiple spline laminations can be seen on the end of roadbed on the right.

The mainline bridge over Salmon Creek consists of four deck girder bridge sections with a ballasted deck on top.  That ballasted deck has depth that must be accounted for with the splines.  I am running three splines through the middle of the bridge girders.  I will place the ballast deck on top of them and then come back later to attach the girders as scenic fascia on the sides of the central roadbed splines.  The ballast deck will be composed of scale 12x12 inch cross beams overlaid with scale 4 inch thick planks (actually just 0.040 inch styrene).  I made a quick height tool for this assembly to help position the bridge splines.  The center spline at the Oakridge end fits into a slot in the plywood roadbed.  The first riser at the RR-West end has a notch routed into it to accept the lower spline height for the bridge, while allowing outer splines to be mounted at the correct height for regular roadbed.

Mainline Salmon Creek bridge roadbed.  Bridge center splines are depressed to account for depth of ballasted deck materials.  Regular roadbed height splines can be seen glued to the outsides of the bridge center splines at a higher level.

Once the bridge roadbed was accounted for, I built up spline roadbed around the curve in the corner and continued climbing through the “Pryor” area.  Actual Pryor has a siding, but I am using its name to identify the area I am working through.  I set the height of a far (eight feet beyond the last center spline riser) riser using a board and level.  I find the “old” method of using a spacer block on the low end of a bubble level to be more effective than the fancy new electronic level.  I still use the electronic level as part of a final check.

Roadbed spline laminations climbing up through the “Pryor” area.

As seen in the photos, I added a corner cove for the backdrop through the corner.  The corner cove is set at a height to provide for benchwork for Cascade Summit above it. 

This roadbed expansion will permit most of the first train-length detection block RR-West of Oakridge to be installed.  This should provide options for the initial test operations of the Valley Core.

A DEPOT FOR EUGENE

As I work toward initial operations on the current railroad—the “Valley Core"—I find myself diverting into several “side” projects.  Such is the case of the depot construction for Eugene.  It is not needed directly for operations, but it provides important context for the tracks currently in place at Eugene.  As I show the layout off to family and friends through the holiday period, I find the depot would be useful for them to relate to the railroad.  Finally, I needed a different project to lift me out of a bit of a holiday funk.

Eugene depot model in position on the layout.

My current Eugene depot uses the Walthers “City Station” kit (933-2904).  This is intended as a long-term stand-in until I finally get around to scratch building a more accurate depot.  The Walthers structure is the right size and captures the look of the stone and brick depots along the original Oregon and California (later Siskiyou) Line.  These include Medford, Grants Pass, Roseburg, Eugene and Albany.  In addition to published photos, I consulted photos on Joel Ashcroft’s site: http://spcascades.railfan.net/photosEugene.html  and ordered a set of depot photo prints from the Shasta Division archives from “Photo Bob” Morris: http://www.snowcrest.net/photobob/index.html  Out of respect for the intellectual property rights of both sites and the excellent (commercial) resource provided by Bob Morris, I provide just links and let the reader judge whether my use of this kit is a suitable stand-in. 

Assembly of the depot is relatively straight forward, though I will note several things I did to mine.  First, this is a brick structure.  That meant painting the brick siding an appropriate base color (I used PolyScale Boxcar Red), adding individual brick highlights with Primsacolor pencils, and applying a mortar treatment.  I began with a thin gray wash (1:3 gray paint:water plus several drops of Liquitex Flow Aid).  Though this altered the basic brick color a bit, I did not get the desired mortar line contrast.  A second application of the gray wash was a little better, but still not much contrast.  A fellow modeler suggested I go all the way with a white mortar wash.  This proved to be the solution.  Though the actual mortar on the Eugene depot is gray, one uses white in the model form to compensate for the small scale—the art of model railroading!

For the window sashes, doors and trim colors, I consulted the Steam Age Equipment Company SP Common Standard Plan books.  Volume 1 lists paint colors for company buildings.  By 1956 (the revision date on the plan sheet), masonry structures used either gray or tan trim.  The photos I looked at showed the trim color had shifted from darker (bottle green was a previous trim color) to lighter—gray or tan.  I selected gray based on the darker brick color and looking at the few color pictures I could find of similar structures along the Cascade and Siskiyou Lines.  I stand prepared to receive an alternative view—inevitable once one makes such a choice.  I’ll take such comments under advisement when I finally tackle a more accurate depot model.  Although the standard plans call for white window sashes, I have no indication of them at Eugene nor on the similar structure photos I looked at, so windows, doors and trim all received a light gray color.  The roof was painted SP’s Moss Green (PolyScale Depot Olive). 

I installed basic wall partitions between the central operator bay and the waiting rooms on either side.  I also installed a floor.  I chose not to light the structure, as I do not intend conducting night or low light operations on the layout.  No further interior detailing was installed as the structure will be placed two feet away from the aisle.  It will serve as a good stand-in.