THE EDGE OF THE WORLD

Continuing tasks deferred during the final push leading up to the NMRA National Convention, I finally completed installing fascia around the entire layout.  This was a cosmetic task that I would have liked to complete prior to the convention.  Alas, higher priority tasks claimed what time and energy I had this past summer.

Four major areas remained without fascia:  the area around Westfir, the Salt Creek trestle area opposite Westfir, the “Pryor” area between Salmon Creek (outside Oakridge) and McCredie Springs and a final surprise—the Willamette River bridge scene between Eugene and Springfield.  That last one was surprising because the basic scene has been featured in a number of photos of the layout.  I just had not completed fascia across the gap underneath the river surface.

The Westfir fascia needed to be a little deeper than my standard fascia for flat areas of the layout.  I introduced a small rise and descent in this area for the mainline so the Westfir spurs would descend sharply from the mainline.  As simple a requirement as that slightly deeper fascia was all it took to delay that project.  In addition, I needed to work around roadbed support while installing the switch controls for Westfir.  All of that has been accomplished now.

Fascia completed for Salt Creek Trestle (right) and Westfir (left).

Westfir fascia.  An oversize fascia hump has been installed for the ridge and tunnel that will separate Westfir and Oakridge, as seen on the right.

The fascia coming into McCredie Springs needed to be solid and curved.  I used ¼ inch thick hardboard for this area rather than my usual 1/8 inch hardboard.  This required good bracing and mounting points on the benchwork.  Further, I secured this panel with flat-head screws.  The mainline will go through Tunnel 21 as it enters McCredie Springs.  Right now, the fascia appears a bit truncated on top.  I am prepared to splice additional material on top of this when I do the actual scenery work.  This fascia region extends all the way back to Oakridge and includes the Salmon Creek area and the front of the Pope and Talbot lumber mill.

Fascia extend from Oakridge (back left) to McCredie Springs (rear right).

Curved fascia panel for Tunnel 21 leading into McCredie Springs.  Prototype photos are taped to the wall.

The Pope and Talbot fascia is lined with a shelf.

The Willamette River bridge scene finally has fascia!

In a final non-related note, ordinarily I would be reporting on the just-concluded Annual Convention of the Southern Pacific Historical and Technical Society, held in Sacramento, October 7-10.  This was a grand affair including a special event Thursday evening at the California State Railroad Museum, celebrating 150 years of the Southern Pacific.  We had the run of the museum, which was much appreciated, as I finally got up into the cab of the last cab-forward, SP 4294.  That is one of many focal points of the museum.  Good presentations were heard during the day on Thursday and Friday.  Friday evening and Saturday afternoon featured several fine layouts on tour.   Unfortunately, my camera took this event to corrupt the image data as I near filling the memory card.  Should I succeed in recovering those files, I will post more about this event later.

Meanwhile, I have returned to my layout with renewed energy after recovering from this summer’s NMRA convention focus.

WHY OH WYE?

Every once in a while, a project that seems to be simple turns out to be anything but.  Such was the case for my long-delayed hook up of the Cascade Summit wye.  In concept, this should have been no different than the installation of components for the Oakridge wye—a task accomplished a couple of years ago.  Instead, the new installation at Cascade Summit lead to a couple of weeks of frustration as I tried to understand why the same auto reverser used for Oakridge would not function at Cascade Summit. 

In both locations, I use an OnGuard Auto Reverser.  The auto reverser is connected just to the tail track, the wye switch, and a few inches of wye leg tracks.  The Oakridge installation has been working flawlessly for a couple of years.  Why would the new installation at Cascade Summit not work?

I did continuity checks, voltage checks, using an RRampmeter (DCC voltage and ammeter) and tried bringing the power for the wye tail section from the nearby wye base and leg circuit rather than a separate pair of leads from the station panel terminal block.  I even tried reversing the power leads to the auto reverser.  All that did was change the leg of the wye that would work.  A board swap, prompted by the DCC Specialties folk just had the Oakridge installation still working and the Cascade summit installation not working.

I finally took note that the PSX circuit breaker for Cascade Summit would trip, showing a short, but the auto reverser would not trip.  That was the major clue as to what was going on.  The PSX was tripping faster than the OnGuard auto reverser for the Cascade summit Installation.  I checked the PSX circuit breaker instructions to see if there was a way to change the circuit breaker timing.  No such luck in the instructions.  I consulted with my DCC experts.  They at least confirmed I likely was on the right path dealing with circuit breaker trip time.

I did note a slightly different form factor (board width) and a couple of other detail differences between my older PSX circuit breaker boards and the much newer ones installed for Cascade Summit.  I also noted a change in the instruction package for the PSX between my earlier breakers and the new ones.  Something had changed.  Finally, a desperate e-mail to DCC Specialties, sent over the weekend, netted instructions on setting the PSX trip time.  Kudos to them for a Sunday response!!!!

After considering my options, I elected not to change the PSX circuit breaker trip time.  I will reserve that for the future, should I encounter further problems.  Instead, I swapped the old PSX boards at Springfield (my original installation) for the boards at Cascade Summit and McCredie Springs.  The combination of the old PSX boards works with the OnGuard Auto Reverser.  I now have that set up at both Oakridge and Cascade Summit.  It works!!!

The pictures below will show ways to identify the various circuit boards on my layout.

PSX circuit breakers for Eugene and Oakridge.  Two new breakers are at the top of the stack.  The other four are older, purchased in 2012.

Old style PSX circuit breakers for Oakridge.

New PSX circuit breakers now installed at Springfield.  Note the “ET” brand in a circle silk-screened in the lower left corner of these two boards as they are mounted.  The mounting is inverted, so the “ET-in a circle” mark would normally be in the upper right corner.  These were the boards that caused me problems with my OnGuard Auto Reverser.

OnGuard Auto Reverser installed for the Oakridge wye.  Ooops.  It looks like I pulled out the red wire leading to the wye tail track on the right!

Cascade Summit OnGuard Auto Reverser.  It now functions!

Test power on the RR-East leg of the Cascade Summit wye.

Test locos on the wye tail track.

Test locos have come out of the wye and are on the RR-West leg of the wye.  Very sharp eyes will find the lead axle of the rear truck of the rear loco, SP 7428, is over one of the rail gaps for the wye.  Note that the headlights are on, so the auto reverser has done its work.

This was a long tale about what should have been a simple installation.  In fact, it took me more than two weeks with daily trouble shooting efforts to finally resolve the issue.  “There be dragons” out there!

RETURNING TO THE RAILROAD

A bit of a vacation from the railroad was needed following the intense effort leading up to the NMRA National convention and the high energy expended during the convention.  The first couple of weeks of September found me in my lounge chair reading a couple of books.  I still have a tall stack of books to go, acquired over this past year.  A measure of my layout construction focus can be found in my deferring reading books by favorite authors, normally done immediately upon publication.

I returned to work on the layout with a couple of useful tasks that were deferred to “higher” priority tasks for the convention.  Both involved wiring.  The first task added a pair of circuit breakers to the Eugene Classification Yard.  Fortunately, I had wired the yard with circuit blocks that supported easy conversion to the new plan. 

I previously wrote about the task of DCC circuit protection assignment as that of “short management.”  The goal is to minimize the impact of a short by one crew on any other crew.  I originally configured the Eugene Classification Yard as one big power district, protected by a single circuit breaker.  Actual operations of this yard have had two switch crews assigned, one at each end.  Though my crews have not reported problems with shorts, the potential has always existed for one crew shutting down the full yard. 

The solution was simple—add more circuit breakers.  Fortunately, I wired the classification yard as several different power blocks, tied together at the station electrical panel.  It was very easy to isolate the two yard leads from each other and the main yard body tracks.  All had separate circuits that were joined together within the terminal block for the yard.  Those have now been separated such that there is a circuit breaker (power district) for the west yard lead and ladder, the east yard lead and ladder, and the body tracks. 

Eugene station electrical panel.  Two new circuit breakers are above the original group of four. For wiring convenience, they are arranged as the west yard lead on top with the east yard lead below it.  The depot tracks are the third district and the yard body tracks are below that.  The bottom two circuit breakers are for the Oakridge power districts. 

The second wiring task was to rearrange the NCE radio base station and repeater antenna already in use and add yet another repeater antenna in the “back room” where the reverse loop staging is located.  I had expert advice during my operating session for the NMRA Convention.  Good friends from my California days, Mark Guirres and Mark Schutzer, were part of the operating crew.  Based on Mark Schutzer’s advice, I relocated my base station (RB02) to the middle antenna location with the two repeaters split off at that point to locations to the left and right. 

NCE radio antennas in the main layout room .  The base station is in the upper left of the photo.   Repeater “B” is in the former base station location on top of the backdrop spine at the RR-East end of Springfield in the lower right corner of the photo.

Repeater antenna in the “back room” serving the staging yards.  Radio reception had been poor back here during the convention operating session.

I needed to mount two of these to the ceiling.  I fabricated mounting brackets from 0.060 inch thick styrene, reinforced by styrene strips.  A pair of toggle bolts was used to hold the bracket to the ceiling.  The NCE radio antenna base slipped into the bracket and the antenna and cables were attached.

Antenna base mounted in fabricated ceiling bracket.

PDX2015 NMRA NATIONAL CONVENTION – 3

Layout Design Special Interest Group Tour

The third event my layout was part of for the NMRA National Convention in Portland in August was the Layout Design Special Interest Group (LDSIG) Tour.  The prior two events were the formal convention bus tours (http://espeecascades.blogspot.com/2015/08/pdx2015-nmra-national-convention-1.html) and an Operations SIG operating session (http://espeecascades.blogspot.com/2015/09/pdx2015-nmra-national-convention.html ).  As has been traditional, the LDSIG Tour was conducted on Wednesday of convention week.  This was a self-guided tour, with participants providing their own transportation.  We had seventeen layouts on the tour ranging from Washougal, WA, to Eugene, OR—a span of about 140 miles!  Participants needed to chose their layout visits carefully, as not all layouts were open all day.

LDSIG Tour participants bought a tour ticket, which included the information packet listing the layouts and their locations.  GPS guidance was assumed, though the information packet included ”terminal guidance” (specific instructions for locating the layout entrance once at the address) for many of the layouts.  The LDSIG Tour ticket also bought the purchaser an LDISG polo shirt, embroidered with an LDSIG logo and a loco image that was connected to the convention site.  We were not allowed to use the Southern Pacific—this convention followed one in Sacramento, CA, in 2011.  Instead, we featured “The Northwest’s Own Railway,” the Spokane Portland and Seattle Railway, with one of their Alco C636 locos.  The SP&S was well known for its Alco fleet, including those C636s.

LDSIG Tour Shirt logo.

One hundred twenty five folk signed my guest register during the Wednesday LDSIG Tour.  A couple arrived just as we opened up at 10 am—a quick drive out from Portland, as the information packets were distributed around 9 am.  Carloads and groups of carloads arrived throughout the day, with the last visitors arriving around 9pm—a long day.  The combination of the three events on Tuesday and Wednesday of convention week had been my deadline focus for three years of construction.  Whew!  Herewith some photos from the LDSIG Tour.

Many visitors took photos.  My helper and “height gauge” John B. is in the orange shirt.

Several folk who had been out to the layout on Tuesday came back as part of LDSIG Tour carloads.  Longtime friend Don M., who operated Tuesday night  faces the camera and is talking with helper Bob S.

John B. and Richard C. run trains in Oakridge as visitors look  on.

My helping crew relaxes at the end of a long day.   Conventions are full of intense activity for organizers and participants!

Following the NMRA convention activities, my wife and I held an open house for our neighborhood to show off what all the activity had been about.  Another fifty folk signed the guest book.  Following this peak of activity, I am taking a break from most railroad activity until the Southern Pacific Historical and Technical Society Convention in early October.  It is time to take care of a number of tasks put off during the intense build-up leading to the NMRA convention.

PDX2015 NMRA NATIONAL CONVENTION - 2

PDX2015 NMRA NATIONAL CONVENTION -2

Operations Special Interest Group Ops Session

The second major activity involving my layout for the NMRA National Convention in Portland in August, was an operating session conducted under the auspices of the Operations Special Interest Group (OpSIG).  After the formal convention bus tours cleared away (http://espeecascades.blogspot.com/2015/08/pdx2015-nmra-national-convention-1.html ), my helping crew and I had a brief moment to catch dinner before fifteen guest operators arrived.  Fortunately for my anxiety level leading up to the convention, half of this group was composed of friends from my days working in California.  It was great to show off what I had accomplished in my move north.  Many of these “guests” had participated in discussions leading to the layout’s design, its operations design, and the electrical system supporting it.  The remainder of the guest operating crew became new friends, willing to operate on a “raw” model railroad.  The operating session was only the fourth operating session using the full mainline.

I had a great crew helping me, including Dave H., who had trained under ex-SP Dispatcher Rick K., to perform that duty for this session.  Rick A. and John B1.  participated in all or most of the test operating sessions leading up to this event.  Friends from California days also joined in, as they had for the formal bus tour:  Richard C. and John B2.  John B2 was my “height gauge” as he stands even taller than me at 6 ft-10 in.  The probability that he might operate this railroad some day kept me honest about my overhead clearances for the overhanging sections of the layout plan.  John B2 used my camera to record the images contained in this post.  Follow along with the operating session as seen through the eye of the camera.

As seen here, I am doing the initial briefing before turning my operating crew loose on the railroad.

Mark S. served as Yardmaster at Eugene.  Here he is organizing the work for his two switch crewmen: Howard G. and Reid K.

Around at Oakridge, Principal Helper Bob S. advises Scott. C. on operations at Oakridge while Don. M. and Helper Engineer Dennis D. prepare to cut in a helper locomotive set.  Dave T. (using the operator platform behind him as a desk) is preparing to work with the Oakridge Turn.

Dispatcher Dave H. works with departing crew Norm A. and John M. as they prepare to depart staging.

I am fiddling with the headset connection to an FRS radio to help Mat T. and Hilding L. get ready to take their first train.  They were called for Amtrak Number 14, the northbound (RR-East) Coast Starlite.

Don. M. (foreground) and Helper Engineer Dennis D. guide their train uphill around the loop at Salt Creek Trestle.

Richard C. gravitated to the ill-defined role of “Santa Clara Tower Operator” controlling the switches in and out of the Eugene Arrival/Departure Yard on the lower level and “Crescent Lake Yardmaster” controlling actions at the upper level staging yard.  Though I had thought about the need for this job, I had not formally defined it nor briefed it.  Thank you Richard for jumping in to fill an obvious need!

Conductor Mat T. and Engineer Hilding L. are underway with Amtrak No, 14, seen just behind them at Wicopee siding.

Don M. confers with Richard C. about departure from Eugene.

Mark G. and Dave F. took the Eugene City Switcher job and are seen here conferring with West-End Yard Switcher Howard G.  In the background, two members of my local helping crew, John B1 and Rick A. were called for the Second Springfield Switch Job.  At this point in the operation, we had nineteen folk operating.  When I build the engine facilities within the Eugene staging loop, I can add a hostler position making a full crew of twenty on my railroad.  I had thought a full crew would be fifteen, but with two-man crews in use for both the local switch jobs and the road freights, it is clear the railroad can absorb twenty crewmembers quite productively.

Action is heavy at Eugene!  In the back, Hilding L. and Mat T. are taking the Marcola Turn out to work the Marcola Branch out of Springfield.  Working forward, Yardmaster Mark S. observes the activity, ready to provide further instructions.  Eugene City Switcher Crew Mark G. and Dave F. have pulled a car out of the switchback into Rubenstein’s Furniture in the corner notch to the left.  West End Switcher Howard G. is looking on, ready to do further classification work.

A couple of my guest operators, Jim B and Steve W., were “camera shy”—actually, the photos of them just did not work out.  Further, my intrepid photographer was on the other side of the camera—of course.

This fourth operating session of the full railroad was a success.  Yes, there  were a few glitches noted, but the railroad ran well enough that all could see how operating sessions will develop as I lay the remaining track and further develop the control system.  The layout tours and this operating session are what I worked toward for the past three years.  I just made it with the help from many friends for this “graduation exercise.”

PDX2015 NMRA NATIONAL CONVENTION -1

The national convention of the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) just concluded its 2015 edition in Portland, OR, August 23-30.  I have been aiming at supporting this convention and showing off my layout for it for the past three years.  This was THE BIG EVENT!!! 

When I began this blog and then actual layout construction, beginning August 1, 2012, I expected there would be another NMRA national convention in Portland sometime in my lifetime.  That probability became part of our lot selection criteria, as the formal layout tours for such events are conducted with 50 passenger tour buses.  We needed easy bus access and good street parking for such tours.  About two months after starting construction, I learned that Portland would, indeed, host another NMRA national, but that it was a scant three years in the future!  Yikes!!!  This was my one shot at presenting my layout and its design and operations ideas to a national audience.  As readers of this blog have seen, that led to very focused work and ultimate success—just in time.

I hosted three separate activities with the layout during the convention.  On Tuesday afternoon, we had the formal convention bus tours.  Two 50-passenger buses came by, filled out to capacity due to at least one of the other layouts on the tour.  My helping crew and I barely had time to grab a quick dinner before the second event.  Fifteen guys signed up for an operating session—the fourth using the full mainline.  Finally, Wednesday was the traditional day for the Layout Design Special Interest Group (LDSIG) layout tour.  As local LDSIG Convention Coordinator, I had arranged to have 17 layouts on the tour, including my own.  Following that, it was back to the convention in Portland.

The following photos represent the first set of photos from those activities.  Most of these images were shot with my camera by one of my helping crew.  A subsequent post will provide more coverage.  Meanwhile, this post marks my one hundredth post—a fitting way to reach that milestone.

Formal NMRA convention bus tour visitors arriving.

A poster and handout explained the layout concept.

Tour visitors roamed the aisles while my helping crew ran trains and answered questions.  I was stationed near the basement entrance, greeting visitors and answering questions.

The aisles could get a bit crowded, but the visitors were able to move around.

Stay tuned for a subsequent post covering the operating session.  Meanwhile, I will attempt to take a break from railroading following the intense effort to build and prepare the layout for all of this.  Three years from bare basement to functioning monster layout completely built by me, alone.  That construction effort was accompanied by doing the local coordinator work for the Layout Design and Operations Special Interest Groups.  Time for a rest!

THE DELUGE

Proof that “Murphy’s Law” is an absolute came Saturday morning before the NMRA National Convention.  I was out in our garage, trying to fix a low temperature issue with our domestic water.  This “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” missed the instruction to turn off BOTH valves (input and output) of the water feed through our hot water flash boiler.  The result was predictable when I finally unscrewed the filter cap in the input line.  “Mr. Murphy’s Plumber’s Assistant” emerged in full force!

The spray of water at full city water system pressure got my immediate attention.  I madly tried to get the filter cap back in place, but that proved impossible against the water jet now blasting forth.  As I did a good imitation of my Dutch fore-bearers, trying to plug the dike leak, I called for help from my wife.  My plaintive pleas were not recognized until our dog did his best “Lassie” imitation, barking to alert her to my cries for help.  Yes, “Timmy had fallen down the well and needed help!” 

After unsuccessfully attempting to find the main water shut-off valve for the house, a quick call to our already-alerted plumber helped me locate the other valve I needed to turn off.  With the water flow stopped, I was able to get the cap back on the line and restore the hot water system to normal.  By the way, I was successful in getting the temperature issue resolved.

What remained was cleaning up the garage in the aftermath.  Of course (Mr. Murphy!), this was the part of the garage where all sorts of convention materials were stored, awaiting transport to the convention on Sunday.  Fortunately, it looks like minimal damage was done, though some packing boxes are now in recycling.  The most critical items were shrink-wrapped (whew!) or easily dried off.  A few back issues of Layout Design Journals suffered water damage.  Sigh.  Given the water flow, I am surprised to have come through this as well as I did. 

With a strong reminder of “Murphy’s Law,” I now head into the convention humbled, but a bit more relaxed.  I have had that brush with this constant of life.

Hot water system with flash boiler in the upper center.  The critical components are just beneath the rectangular boiler on the right underside.

Convention materials out of the danger zone, ensuring they are dry and well.

Drying a few shirts and packaging.  A soggy box is in the center, destroyed by the water flow.  Fortunately, most of the contents survived.  My layout design poster was not so fortunate, but it will be displayed along with this blog post explanation.