SALMON CREEK MAINLINE BRIDGE – 1

As the mainline begins the climb up the mountain RR-West of Oakridge, it immediately crosses Salmon Creek.  The mainline bridge is a four-span ballasted-deck girder bridge.  Very nearby is a lower bridge and trestle that serves the Pope and Talbot sawmill.  The immediate concern, though is for the mainline bridge.

The mainline bridge was built around a core composed of the three splines in the middle of the spline roadbed used for the mountain grade.  I use nominal ¼ inch hardboard cut into one inch strips for splines.  The core bridge splines were depressed below grade to account for the thickness of the deck.   The ballasted deck was located on top of the spline core.  Girders were attached to the underside of the deck, concealing the spline core.  Piers and abutments will be fitted to this assembly (deck and girders), completing the bridge.  The spline core maintains roadbed continuity and a modest curve through the bridge.

Construction of the bridge began with a template tracing of the spline core.  Using this template, I planned the deck base sections, using two segments for each girder.   The deck width is 16 scale feet, per SP Common Standard plans published by Steam Age Equipment Company.  In contrast to the deck on a pile trestle, this deck uses 4 inch thick longitudinal boards supported by transverse (across the girders) 12x12 beams.  I cut out the scale 16 feet wide deck base segments from 0.040 inch thick styrene.  I used my NWSL Chopper to cut the 12x12 (1/8 inch square) styrene beams, making every eighth beam 18 feet long to support the railing posts. 

Ballast deck under construction.

Once the basic deck and its support beams were assembled, I attached the handrail posts and handrails.  Note there was a lot of styrene cement used on the deck.  While the primary bond occured fairly quickly, it took quite a while for the remaining solvent to evaporate.  I did fairly well with getting weight on the assembly to hold it flat, but I still got a little bit of warpage.  That complicated the handrail construction and subsequent handling, but was well within bond strength of the girder attachment and eventual use of adhesive caulk to hold the deck flat as roadbed.

Ballasted deck with handrails installed test fit into location.

The girders were cut from Central Valley plate girder bridge kits (210-1903). Only the rounded girder ends of two center girder sets were cut off.  The outer girder sets were cut shorter by a panel on each end, just as the prototype bridge.  The top and bottom plates were attached and trimmed to length, followed by the bridge shoes.  The rest of the Central Valley kit is surplus to this bridge.  I painted the girder sections Grimy Black. Rust weathering was done with Bragdon powders, followed by a light overspray of Tarnished Black. 

The bridge deck was placed on the spline core and the spline outline scribed on the bottom (cross-beam) surface.   The front girder segments were attached to the deck assembly using gap-filling acc cement.  Once this set, the bridge assembly was removed from location, inverted and the back girders attached, staying outside the scribed lines for the spline core.  Once all of this set up, the deck and girders were placed in position again, awaiting piers and abutments.

Ballasted deck in place with front girder segments attached.  Rear girder segments are laying on the “creek” surface below.  Cans of beans are very handy weights!

Completed ballast deck and girder assembly in place, spanning Salmon Creek.

PLANNING THE STATIONS

As I move into the next stages of construction, I also am planning for the eventual signal and switch control system.  Supporting that effort has been the creation of track plan schematic drawings for each of the stations on the layout.  Previous efforts documented Oakridge, Springfield and the Eugene Depot and Classification Yard.  Those schematics have been posted on the Track Schematics tab for this blog.  Schematics for the rest of the railroad have now been created and posted on that same page tab.  The new station schematics also are presented and discussed below.

Crescent Lake

Crescent Lake is the upper level staging for the layout with a twelve-track reverse loop yard planned.  The schematic shown below shows the yard ladders at both ends of the reverse loop.  The basic formulation is two six-track ladders at each end.  A “switcher spur” will be included within the loop to store a switcher that will assist layout restaging between operating sessions.  This might also be used to store snow removal equipment (plow, spreader, flanger) during operating sessions.  Crescent Lake is the RR-West end of the layout.

Cascade Summit

Cascade Summit will be at the same level as Crescent Lake and, as the name implies, will be the summit of the mountain climb that begins at Oakridge.  Cascade Summit has a mainline straddled by two sidings: the “Mountain Siding” for RR-Westbound trains and the “Lake” siding, closest to the aisle and the imagined Odell Lake, for RR-Eastbound trains.  Cascade Summit also includes a wye for turning helpers and snow equipment.  A set of crossovers provide access for the turned helpers to the “Lake” siding and a small extra siding (the “Beattie Spur”) used to hold helpers for their opportunity to return downhill to Oakridge.  A railroad maintenance spur should be located at the RR-West end of the complex, but may end up at the other end due to space considerations.

Cruzatte

During layout design, I chose mountain sidings to model based on operational significance.  I ended up selecting about every other actual siding, but the ones selected had some significance.  In all cases, my sidings had train order offices before the installation of Centralized Traffic Control (CTC) in 1955.  With all the structures needed for one of these full “railroad villages” available as kits from AL&W Lines, I could not resist this choice. http://alwlines.com/

Cruzatte was a required wheel cooling stop for descending (RR-Eastbound) trains in the days before dynamic brakes.  Water was available at both ends of the siding to handle both the road (lead) locomotive and helpers.  Beyond that, Cruzatte was a “basic mountain siding” with main, siding and a company spur (house track or M.O.W. spur).  I skipped Abernethy between Cascade Summit and Cruzatte.

Wicopee

Skipping Frazier and Fields, the next siding or station will be Wicopee.  Wicopee also was a train order station.  In the days of steam, it was the habitual up-hill watering stop.  One of the steam era water plugs still exists  at Wicopee today, used for fire fighting and other maintenance tasks.  Wicopee is another “basic mountain siding.”

McCredie Springs

McCredie Springs will be the lowest of my mountain sidings, skipping Heather (RR-West) and Pryor (RR-East).  A resort once stood near this siding.  I will add a rock quarry and bunker for “operational interest.”  There were a number of quarries in the area, but none were rail served.  Consider this a modeler’s choice.

Oakridge is the next station RR-East on my layout.  Oakridge was the helper station at the base of the mountain climb.  It had engine facilities and a turning wye.  Oakridge has been discussed in several prior blog posts:

http://espeecascades.blogspot.com/2013/04/laying-out-oakridge.html

 http://espeecascades.blogspot.com /2013/05/laying-out-oakridge-2.html

The schematic is shown here again, just for completeness.

The schematic shows the yet-to-be-built Pope and Talbot mill spurs at the RR-West end of town.  Travelling through a short tunnel at the RR-East end of Oakridge brings us to Westfir.  Westfir is represented by another pair of mill spurs for Western Lumber Company.   No schematic is provided for Westfir at this time.

Springfield

Springfield is the next station on the layout.  It was the first track laid on the layout.  Springfield includes tracks and spurs along the mainline and a bit of a branch, my “Marcola Branch” off the RR-West end of the siding complex.  Sufficient railroad business exists in both areas to require two separate local switching jobs.

http://espeecascades.blogspot.com/2012/11/springfield-track-layout.html

Eugene Depot and Classification Yard

Just across the Willamette River from Springfield is the Eugene Depot complex.  This includes the depot mainline, “WP Siding,” a pair of “City Yard” tracks, and industry spurs.  Parallel to the depot complex is my eight-track classification yard.  The classification yard is placed here simply because there was space for it—space that did not exist in the “back room” where the Arrival/Departure Yard (staging tracks) are located.  Industry spurs at the RR-East end of the depot complex are still under development.

http://espeecascades.blogspot.com /2013/07/track-laid-in-eugene.htm

Eugene Arrival/Departure Yard

The RR-East end of the layout is in the Eugene Arrival/Departure Yard, another twelve-track reverse loop yard.  Contained within the reverse loop will be engine service facilities for both steam and diesel.  Outside of the reverse loop will be an industry spur/branch that will terminate at a paper mill.  (I moved Millersburg from north of Albany to north of Eugene.)  The other side of the reverse loop will have the caboose track and the Oregon Electric (SP&S, BN) Interchange.

The track throat complex between the depot and classification yard and the reverse loop yard is sufficiently complex that a tower operator position will be developed.  The complex is somewhat like Santa Clara, California, where I used to take railfan pictures.  Once again, AL&W Lines has produced a wonderful structure kit for that tower.  Since Santa Clara, Oregon, is on the north side of  Eugene (very near the SP yard), I will call this tower Santa Clara, as well!

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.