REVISED TRACK PLAN – JANUARY 2015

A revised track plan has been drafted reflecting actual construction of the railroad.  This revised plan replaces the April 2012 plan long posted on this blog.  The “Concept and Plan” tab has a revised explanation of the plan.  Both the revised plan and the former plan are posted there.

Revised, January 2015, Track Plan.

Two significant changes were made to the April 2012 plan during construction.  The Springfield turn-back lobe was moved two feet closer to Eugene.  There is plenty of aisle space between the two stations.  I needed to provide more space along the window wall for the crew lounge.  The other change was to angle the Oakridge wye into the middle of the “nook” containing McCredie Springs.  This made better use of the space.  It also provided for better platform access for operations at Cascade summit.  More subtle is the addition of more industry spurs and their identity. 

Many small details get lost on this plan, even at the ¼ inch to the foot scale I used to draft the plan.  Viewers wanting more detail should check the track schematics under the “Station Schematics” tab of this blog.  The correct sequence and orientation of switches is provided on the schematics.

I needed a track plan better reflecting the as-built layout for presentations.  I will be presenting my layout planning, construction and initial operations to the annual San Francisco Bay Area Layout Design and Operations Special Interest Groups Meet this next weekend.  http://www.pcrnmra.org/sigs/  In many ways, this is a report back to my former model railroad colleagues on what I have done since retiring and leaving that area.  I also will highlight this next summer’s National Model Railroad Association National Convention, to be held in Portland, OR, August 23 – 29, 2015.  http://www.nmra2015portland.org/

IT’S ABOUT TIME

While clearing the stacks of packing/storage boxes along my basement east wall, I finally located the controller unit and two more clocks for my GML Fast Clock system.  I purchased the controller and clocks a half dozen years ago, knowing I would need a fast clock system for railroad operations.  I settled on the analog clock system sold by GML Enterprises.  (http://www.thegmlenterprises.com/)  The analog clock faces are appropriate to the era of timetable and train order operations up through my layout’s “modern era” of 1985.  Digital presentations may be appropriate for current day, but railroading is a conservative business, particularly where safety is involved. 

I ordered my clock controller with 3:1, 4:1, 5:1, 6:1, 8:1, and 15:1 ratios.  I expect to use the 3:1 ratio on my Cascade Line.  In retrospect, I probably should have skipped a couple of the higher ratios to get a 1:1 and a 2:1 ratio.  The 1:1 would be useful for some operating schemes.  Having an “official railroad time,” even at the same time step as real time could be useful in some operating scenarios.  Still, the 3:1 ratio is my best guess as to a good ratio for this railroad.   That ratio compresses twelve hours of railroad operation into actual four hours—about the limit of most operating sessions I have attended.  By the way, the 15:1 ratio is useful for checking the clock operation (just done!) and for setting up for a future operating session without directly interacting with each clock.

Most of my clocks are GML’s six inch size.  The Dispatcher’s clock will be a four inch one (to be mounted when I build the Dispatcher’s work station).  Three of the clocks have GML’s “real time” feature that allows them to function as regular clocks when the fast clock system is turned off.  Two of the clocks in the main room are so equipped.

I built frames for the clock faces from ½ x 1-1/2 inch poplar.  The frames are much like picture frames.  The clock faces are mounted on plastic plates by GML.  I mounted these to the frames.  Inside, I found I needed to provide terminal posts to connect between my main distribution cable and the smaller wire desired for the terminal connection to the clock mechanism provided by GML.  I used an old model railroader’s (aka “cheapskate”) trick of making connection posts from brass wood screws.  Once the wires are looped around the post (with solder-tinned ends), I could secure the connection by screwing the post into the wood frame.

Two fast clocks.  Just visible on the back of the left clock are two connecting posts at the bottom of the wood frame.  The clock on the right has the “real time” option and controlling toggle switch.

I placed four of the clocks above the backdrop on the single post in my basement, effectively creating a clock tower.   At least one face of this post is visible from most everywhere within the main layout space.  A clock above Wesfir covers it and the future locations of Wicopee and RR-East Cruzatte.  Another clock is located near the RR-East yard throat of Eugene Depot and Classification Yard.  The final large clock is mounted in the “back room” where the staging yards are located.

“Clock Tower” on basement post as seen from the Eugene operator aisle.

“Clock Tower” seen from Oakridge.

Westfir Clock.

Staging Yard Clock.  Clock for the RR-East end of Eugene Depot and Classification Yard can be seen through the passageway.

I am glad to finally have my clock system installed and functioning.  This becomes one more tool as my railroad comes to life and begins operations.  

A BRICK WALL AT YEAR’s END

As we close out 2014, I can look back at a great deal accomplished on my HO-scale SP Cascade Line.  I got the middle core of the railroad into operation.  As expected, those operations pointed to a few track and rolling stock issues, but otherwise confirmed a sound foundation for the railroad.  Important as well was the development of the local freight operating scheme, in particular adding a second Springfield switcher.

With the operating core of the railroad settling into functionality, I began expanding beyond that core.  Roadbed and track was extended up from Oakridge to the first mountain siding (station) at McCredie Springs.  I also began the upper level over this area with Cascade Summit.  October and November saw a major milestone: construction and elevation of the roadbed panels for Crescent Lake.  The twelve-track staging yard in a reverse loop has been laid at Crescent Lake.  Construction literally is downhill from here.

I wish I could report great accomplishments for December.  Such is not the case.  Occasionally in the life of a project one hits a proverbial “brick wall.”  Such has been my case for the past month.  Between breaks for the holidays and family activities, I have made little visible progress.  Some of this has been “think time,” but much has been taking a break. 

I did begin moving the mountain of moving and storage boxes from the basement east wall.  This will clear the way for roadbed for the mountain grade connecting McCredie Springs to Cascade Summit.  My lifetime accumulation of rolling stock does get in the way at times!  Slowing the box moving process is that I have been opening each box to confirm contents listed on the box ends.  Several interesting surprises greeted me with equipment I had lost track of.

Boxing Day (December 26) along the basement east wall.  This is the area of the remaining mountain grade.

As we recover from various injuries and general exhaustion from the holidays, we wish all a Happy New Year!

August 2015 and the NMRA National Convention in Portland are approaching rapidly!

REPAIR AND REVISION

With track laid at Crescent Lake, I’ve taken a break from intense new layout construction.  Part of this was to focus on the Thanksgiving holiday and house guests.  Further, it was past time to address a track repair need and a long-delayed track improvement.

A long-delayed project was the addition of a spur track off the Oakridge wye to service the future sand house.  The test operating sessions used the primary sand track to provide service, but eventually this track will need to be kept open for helper locomotives being serviced.  Test fitting a #6 turnout showed I could add such a switch for a sand spur and still access the wye with at least a 36 inch minimum radius leg. 

East Oakridge wye leg with sample #6 switch nearby.

Sample #6 turnout overlaying East Oakridge wye track.

The former East Oakridge wye track was removed using a technique suggested by Jerry B. for the adhesive caulk.  Jerry discovered that an alcohol soaking softened the adhesive caulk making easy work of track removal and potential salvage.  My previous effort in the same area used just a putty knife.  This is the second time I have revised track in this area. Adding alcohol to the process made the task easier and made clean-up very much easier.  I was able to scrape the roadbed to remove the previous caulk.  This contrasted to the sanding operation used before.

Removing the old track with a putty knife after soaking the area with alcohol.

Track and caulk removed from RR-East leg of the Oakridge wye.  A small pile of scraped-up caulk is to the left of the putty knife.

The new #6 turnout was installed.  Once the caulk set for the turnout, the remainder of the wye track was formed and fit into place as well as the new spur.  Both of these were then permanently laid with the adhesive caulk.

Revised track at East Oakridge.  The new sand spur has its first car delivered.

As I worked on the connecting roadbed and track between Cascade Summit and Crescent Lake, I ended up destroying a switch at the RR-East end of the Eugene Depot area immediately below.  I simply failed to cover with a hardboard or plywood overlay all of the track down below.  The result was a bent up switch leading to the depot main track.

Mainline switch at the RR-East end of Eugene Depot requires replacement.

Replacing the bent switch employed the same process used to revise the RR-East Oakridge wye to provide the sand spur.  An alcohol soak was followed by lifting the old switch out with a putty knife.  The area was cleaned up and a new switch installed.

New switch installed in the switch ladder at the RR-East end of the Eugene Depot.

CRESCENT LAKE TRACK LAID

Building and suspending the roadbed panels for Crescent Lake was a major milestone. (http://espeecascades.blogspot.com/2014/10/crescent-lake-in-suspense.html )  The next tasks were to install roadbed connecting Crescent Lake to Cascade Summit and installing track at Crescent Lake.

I had a gap of about twelve feet between Cascade Summit and Crescent Lake.  This gap was along the wall, so I installed basic wall brackets, similar to my previous efforts at the other end of Cascade summit.  (http://espeecascades.blogspot.com/2014/09/track-into-mccredie-springs.html )  I chose to mount Crescent Lake a little higher than Cascade Summit.  This provided a bit more headroom in an area that will need additional lighting and will see a fair bit of operator foot traffic below portions of it.  This meant I needed a slight grade between the two stations.  I installed wall brackets at the ending heights for each end and then spanned the entire distance with a pair of 1x4 boards on edge for a straight edge.  With this, I was able to set the risers for the roadbed on the rest of the brackets.

Setting the roadbed grade between Cascade summit and Crescent Lake.

Cascade Summit to Crescent Lake roadbed installed with trim board temporarily mounted.  The trim board will be removed to provide easier access for switch machine installation and wiring.

With most of the track for Crescent Lake previously formed, installation was relatively straight-forward.  I had to take a break from that work for a literal break—I broke my left little toe one evening after a full day of track work.  Fortunately, that was just before the “vacation” break for the SPH&TS Meet in San Luis Obispo (http://espeecascades.blogspot.com/2014/11/sph-2014-san-luis-obispo.html ), so I felt little “guilt” about not being able to work on the layout. 

Now, with healing well underway, I could return to my step ladders to complete the track installation.  All twelve staging tracks plus a utility spur are in place as well as the connection to Cascade Summit.

Mainline, reverse loop throat and “right” switch ladder in place at Crescent Lake.

“Left” switch ladder in place at Crescent Lake.

West Cascade Summit—now connected to Crescent Lake.

SPH&TS – 2014 – SAN LUIS OBISPO

The Southern Pacific Historical and Technical Society returned to San Luis Obispo, California, for its annual convention at the end of October.  We last met in San Luis Obispo in 2009 for what proved an outstanding convention.  So, too, this year’s event was very good.  Having taken the refinery and Santa Maria Valley Railroad tour last time, I elected not to go this year, but all the other events were very good.

The convention began with a shuttle bus over to the newly opened San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum, housed in the former freight house.  The building has been restored and renovated and turned into a good museum housing railroad artifacts, interpretive exhibits and a pair of HO-scale model railroads.  Exterior exhibits include an historic wood boxcar, a Santa Fe café-observation and an SP caboose.

San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum in the restored freight house.

San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum exhibit space.

A modest size model railroad illustrates the Pacific Coast Railroad, an early railroad on the California Central Coast.  A larger space is devoted to a layout focused on Southern Pacific activities around San Luis Obispo, spanning from Cuesta (“The Grade”) to the north through San Luis Obispo (the Division point between Northern—Coast Div., and Southern—Los Angeles Div., California operations) to points along the coast, including Surf.  Convention Co-Chair Andrew Merriam contributed fine modeling to the Pacific Coast Railroad layout, including a wood through truss bridge featured recently in Railroad Model Craftsman.  The SP layout is in an early stage of construction, but already features the station at Surf.

Pacific Coast Railroad layout.  Train is approaching Andrew Merriam’s wood through truss bridge.  Andrew is dealing with something in the electrical gear.

Southern Pacific model railroad layout showing the scene at Surf.

The Santa Fe café-observation car was open for visitors.  Though the car interior arrangements have been modified over the years to serve as a private car, some of its former style has been preserved, especially in the rear section of the car.

Santa Fe café-observation car interior.  Our SPH&TS Belgian member, Wouter De Weerdt, is facing the camera.

While I was at the museum, the southbound Amtrak Coast Starlight (Daylight) arrived for its station stop.  Several of my Oregon railroad friends arrived on this train.  A photo line formed on the museum freight house platform.

Amtrak Coast Starlight leaving the San Luis Obispo depot.

Thursday and Friday featured the “usual” array of excellent clinics, a pair of vendor rooms, and lots of time to meet and greet.  This was an excellent opportunity for me to catch up with my California railroad friends while also spending time with my Oregon friends.  I had a great time! 

I also met with Chuck Catania about his and Seth Neumann’s Model Railroad Control Systems “cpnode” computer interface.  Cpnode uses an Arduino chip to replicate local (field) circuitry of a signal and control system (e.g., a Control Point).  Their cpnode interfaces with the C/MRI system developed by Dr. Bruce Chubb.  I will be using their system plus “Chubb hardware” for my signal and CTC control system.  It was good to see Chuck getting lots of serious attention throughout the meet.

Another long-term acquaintance present and displaying was Rob Sarberenyi of Albrae Models.  I recently took delivery of their first HO-scale product, an SP rebuilt flanger.  ( http://espeecascades.blogspot.com/2014/09/flanger.html) Their next model will be a DODX heavy flat car with M-1 tanks.  Announced at the meet is the third project, a pair of SP water cars.  After the meet, Rob and modeler extraorindaire Clyde King took prototype measurements and photos of a pair of nearby water cars for this project.

Thursday evening provided an opportunity to visit a couple of local layouts.  Although I had seen these five years ago, it was good to see what had been accomplished in the interim.  Andrew Merriam models the SP Coast Line around San Luis Obispo.  Indeed, his model of San Luis Obispo is seen when one enters the layout space.  Andrew’s layout was very popular, so I had to grab a few photos while jostling for space.  Andrew recently was awarded his Master Model Railroader certificate by the NMRA.

The SP Daylight arrives at San Luis Obispo on Andrew Merriam’s layout.  Andrew has captured the look of San Luis Obispo on a narrow shelf and with his backdrop.

The northbound SP Daylight crosses Stenner Creek Viaduct on Andrew Merriam’s HO-scale layout.

Andrew Merriam guides a freight along the coastal hills on his layout.

As usual, the SPH&TS Annual Convention was a highlight for my year’s railroad activities.  Convention Co-Chairmen Logan Bertolette (retiring SPH&TS President) and Andrew Merriam put on a great convention.  Thanks guys!

CRESCENT LAKE IN SUSPENSE

With the roadbed panels built ( http://espeecascades.blogspot.com/2014/09/crescent-lake-foundation.html) and the track formed ( http://espeecascades.blogspot.com/2014/10/forming-crescent-lake-track.html), I moved on to installing Crescent Lake.  First up was installing switch machines and dropping feeders for the switch ladders already installed on three of the panels near the reverse loop throat.  I placed each panel on sawhorses so I had easy access to the top and bottom.  By now, Tortoise ™ has become straight-forward for me.  A wiring tail is soldered to the contacts and a new, thicker throw-rod used.  I am getting quite good at coming up underneath the layout to poke the throw rod through the hole in the switch throw bar.  I needed to remember which rail was which for the feeder color code.  The eventual turn-back loop at Salt Creek trestle exchanges the colors for the “aisle” and “wall” rails.

Initial wiring underway on a switch ladder panel for Crescent Lake.

The next task was to raise each panel to the final height—over seven feet up.  The first three panels were eight feet long and each had at least one edge that was to be supported by an L-girder ledger board attached to the wall.  I installed a temporary ledger “hook” that was used to catch the roadbed panel edge as I lifted the other panel end to the final height.  A temporary leg held the panel in place while I installed the threaded rod support into the unistrut ceiling mounts.

Temporary ledger “hook” installed on ledger L-girder.

Roadbed panel hooked onto ledger L-girder, ready to be raised to final height.

First roadbed panel in position with temporary leg supporting the free corner.

First roadbed panel installed.  Supporting threaded rods are just visible near the ceiling light and at the right front corner.

Unistrut ceiling mount.  Unistrut spans floor joists above.  Threaded rod is screwed into a unistrut nut above.  Fender washers and a conventional nut are screwed in above and below the plywood support arm for the roadbed.  This fixes the roadbed against gravity and bumps from below.

I continued this process by hooking the long roadbed panels to either the ledger L-girder or to an adjoining panel.  The staging yard switch ladder panel installed along the wall was swung up to the final height by first hooking it to that first corner panel and then moving it along the ledger L-girder to its final position.  A three-feet wide panel joins the two larger panels.

Switch ladder panel hooked onto corner panel, ready to be raised.

Switch ladder panel being moved along the ledger L-girder.  Temporary “hooks” are installed in the end panel sections, keeping the roadbed panel along the wall and on the L-girder.

Switch ladder panel and short joining panel installed.

The final task involved two major panels and one small joining panel that were completely supported—suspended—by threaded rod.  Neither of the major panels was long enough to use my hook and tilt installation method.  Both required use of brute force aided by my handy step-ladder.  Yes, it would have been good to have help, but I got the job done.

Corner panel being moved into position.  I worked one end up the back-side of the ladder and used several lengths of temporary legs at the other end.  The panel will be rotated from this position to meet up with the panel on the left.

Once the panels were up and suspended, I sanded the joints between panels to a common height.  Then I added cork filler strips across the joints.  This ensures a cork joints and roadbed panel joints do not line up.  With the cork installed and painted my usual gray, I could move on to track installation.

Corner roadbed panel suspended.

Roadbed panels installed.

Suspended Crescent Lake roadbed.

Crescent Lake roadbed panels installed.  Looking through the passageway to Eugene.