IMPROVED CAR MOVEMENT DOCUMENTS

One task on my “active” list for most of the past year was improving the documents used to direct individual car movements on my layout.  I use a “home-brewed” car card and waybill system based on similar documents printed by Old Line Graphics and Micro-Mark.  All of these derive from the fundamental system described in a landmark article in Model Railroader magazine by Doug Smith.  

The basic car card and waybill system features a car card with a pocket that travels with each car on the railroad.  A separate “waybill” is inserted into the pocket to direct movement of that car to the next destination.  Long ago, I developed computer-printed masters for both the car card and waybill, very similar to the aforementioned commercial products. Though I have long-since lost the original text file, my printed masters still serve as reproduction masters.

Car card for an SP bulkhead flat car.

While my car card master continues to serve satisfactorily, even with the hand-written data entries, the same could not be  stated for the waybill.  I was reminded of the inadequacies of my waybill format for hand-written data entry as I pressed it into service for initial operations on my SP Cascade Line.  In the rush to get ready for the NMRA National Convention in August, 2015, I simply could not spend the time needed to develop or acquire a suitable computer substitute.  Note that I use Apple Macintosh computers for which little model railroad software has been developed.  

One positive aspect of my forced railroad down-time this winter and spring has been time to deal with this operating document issue.  I located a car card and waybill routine that used Microsoft Excel, a program on my desktop.  The particular program was developed and made available by the NMRA Australasian Region with a link provided by the Operations Special Interest Group.  The programmer(s) who developed the Excel spreadsheets did a great job, including getting the correct format for a two-sided four-cycle waybill.  My railroad operations really need only two of the four cycles resulting in my needing to print only the front side of the waybill.  I added color code bands for the destinations to assist the classification yard in rapidly switching cars.

Two waybills.  The waybill on the left is for a flat car to be delivered empty to Pope and Talbot at Oakridge and then move to a lumber yard in Los Angeles.  The waybill on the right is for a smooth interior car to be delivered to the Weyerhauser Interchange on my Marcola Branch.  This car subsequently moves to another Los Angeles destination.

A final car document I am now adding to my operations is a “Spot Card.”  This is a control feature for making up local freights developed by Lee Nicholas of “Utah Colorado and Western” fame and adopted by my friends in the nearby Willamette Model Railroad Club.  The idea is that the originating yard for a local freight has a file of “Spot Cards” for industry spurs served by that local.  The yardmaster (or clerk) marries up the appropriate “Spot Card” with a car card and waybill for a car being placed into the local freight consist.  If a spot card is available, that means there is space at that industry spur for the car.  I adapted the “Spot Card” idea from my WMRRC friends to my own use, adding the same color code used for the destination station.

Spot Cards for the waybills previously shown.

The final document for a car to be spotted at an on-line industry consists of a car card with a waybill and spot card in the pocket.

Car card set for an empty bulkhead flat to be spotted for loading at the Pope and Talbot lumber mill at Oakridge.

SP bulkhead flat being spotted at Pope and Talbot.

While I was working with Excel and printing operating documents, I used the same color code for file divider strips for use by my Eugene Yardmaster.  The YM uses the dividers to separate blocks of cars in the classification yard.

Car card slot dividers.  “Springfield – A” is the first Springfield switch job that switches the backdrop side of the mainline at Springfield.

The big test for all of these documents will occur in another couple of weeks as my railroad returns to scheduled operations.

INSPECTION, REPAIR, AND TUNING

During the house repairs, I covered the affected areas of the railroad with hardboard to protect the track.  The railroad had to serve as a work platform in three places, each of which had a number of switches installed.  After I painted the repaired ceiling over the railroad, I removed those hardboard covers.  Inspection of the railroad was the next task.

I was pleasantly surprised to find relatively little damage to the railroad.  Only one switch repair could be tied directly to the house repair activity.  The throwbar for the snow plow track off the Oakridge wye was broken.  This was a Micro Engineering turnout.  I have found their throwbars a bit frail and have replaced about a half dozen on the railroad so far.  Although I had to fiddle with the switch machine installation while replacing the throwbar with a pc-board tie, the job was directly accomplished.

One other switch repair was somewhat related to the house work.  The RR-West siding switch at West Springfield (outer edge of the turnback loop) looked like it could use some tweaking.  I got a bit too vigorous with my small file, catching the point, splitting it through the rail web and crumpling the head portion of the point.  The picture below shows my attempt at reforming the point.  I decided it would be better to replace the point rail.  This turned out to be an easy job—much better than trying to make do with the damaged rail.

Damaged point rail at RR-West Springfield.  The damaged point is on the right, not quite straight.

Switch with replacement point rail.  The replacement rail is unpainted.

A consequence of all of the drying action in the house was change in the moisture content of the railroad benchwork.  This showed up as warped track—like a sun kink on the full-sized railroads.  I had two of these warped rails or track.  A single rail needed to have a gap cut for expansion and the rail spiked down for about a foot in length in the midst of Oakridge yard.  A second spot, on the mainline out of Springfield, had the track pop up off the adhesive with both rails warped.  This one was a very simple fix of shortening the rails at the nearby rail joint and reattaching the track to the roadbed. 

Mainline track warped RR-West of Springfield.

Reattached track after trimming the length of the both rails.

A final track task has been a long-deferred systematic inspection and tweaking of my Fast Tracks switches.  Most of my original construction Fast Tracks switches were built without a notch in the stock rail railhead where the points meet the stock rail.  At least for me, this resulted in tight track gauge at the points and through the first couple of inches of the points.  Although I or one of my trusted helpers have gotten to many of these switches, now was a perfect time to systematically inspect and tune.  All of the rolling stock that has been on the railroad is in the staging loops in the “back” room.  Without equipment in the way, the inspection and tweaking proceeded very efficiently. 

It has been a long  down time for my railroad.  I am about to clean the track (another task made easier with no equipment nearby), vacuum the railroad (again) and finally turn the power back on.  That light at the end of the tunnel is growing brighter!

THE RAILROAD REEMERGES

It has been a long stressful winter and spring as we dealt with the aftermath of discovery of a water leak in our house at the beginning of January.  The leaks were caused by flooring staples penetrating radiant heat tubing (intended to heat the tile on our main floor).  Four years later and a thermal cycle (no heat) allowed the punctures to reveal themselves.  I reported the start of this process back in January:

http://espeecascades.blogspot.com/2016/01/house-maintenance-pause.html

The railroad has been covered by screwed-down hardboard for the past four months.  The railroad had to serve as a work platform during that time.  House reconstruction (flooring restoration, drywall replacement, trim—deferred, and paint) finally got underway in April.  We finally took action for ourselves with paint as we realized it was the key item remaining that kept us from returning to normal house functions.  The trim will get installed in a while, but is not critical to returning our lives to normal. 

Here I am applying paint to the ceiling over Oakridge.  A large patch of ceiling was removed for both leak repair and inspection.  Three new inspection hatches have been left in the ceiling, one of which is just over my left shoulder in this photo.

Two primary leak sites were discovered.  The subsequent inspection effort exposed more of the ceiling such that four stations on the railroad were impacted by the construction effort.  The first was over the Oakridge engine terminal.  Subsequent inspection led from Oakridge across the aisle to an area over Cascade Summit.  The second leak site was over the RR-West end of Springfield.  The subsequent tubing inspection led to a long opening that extended from the back wall of the house to the main house beam over the Eugene Depot area.  This last area  disturbed the mounting of my NCE radio base station.

NCE radio base station dangling from the ceiling.

The ceiling has been restored as far as it will be, with three inspection hatches left open for now.  Eventually they will be covered.  They are located over aisles, so the hatch cover mounting should not impact the railroad.

Radio base station remounted and Eugene uncovered.

The final step of uncovering the railroad was at Oakridge where it all began.  In the rush to provide a work platform, I had screwed down many small scraps of hardboard over the Oakridge track.  Uncovering this area required many more screws to be pulled out than other areas.    At least it is done now.

Oakridge uncovered.

I now turn to a period of inspection and repair.  I also found I have some spray foam insulation (used under the house main floor) to dig out that fell between those scraps covering Oakridge.  Sigh.  

WINTERAIL 2016—CORVALLIS

Winterail long has been THE premiere railroad photography and railroadiana show on the West Coast.  Indeed, it spawned a number of similar events around the country.  It features beautifully produced rail photography shows set to music and often with narration—very similar to what Ken Burns made popular on PBS with his Civil War series and later topics. 

Winterail has long been held on the second Saturday of March in Stockton, CA.  Producer Vic Neves retired and left California this past year and located in the middle of the Willamette Valley.  Since no other Californians wanted to take on the production role and keep it in California, Winterail moved up here to Oregon with Vic. 

This weekend, Winterail officially opened up in its new home at Corvallis High School, now on the third weekend of March to take advantage of Corvallis schools’ Spring Break. 

I was delighted to return to regular attendance at Winterail as had been my practice while living in California.  I have known Vic Neves for decades and now operate with him on several local layouts—including my own SP Cascade Line.  It was great to renew friendships with the Winterail “Roadies,” as many of the regulars made the trek up from California to help Vic put on the event.

I also was delighted to see what had become of Corvallis High School, rebuilt, ca, 2005.  I am a CHS Spartan and alum from many decades ago.  I am proud to say the taxpayers of Corvallis have produced a beautiful facility to replace the hodge-podge of construction era (Great Depression WPA to 1960s) facilities I knew well.  Comments heard from my Oregon and California friends indicate they were impressed similarly.  The CHS facilities are a far cry from the aging facilities in Stockton.  My photos in this blog post suffer from hand-held in low light, but I think they still convey the event and venue.

Vic and Annie Neves welcoming the crowd to Winterail in the Corvallis High School auditorium.  The facility seats 650 in roomy, comfortable seats. 

The photography shows are preceded (and in parallel) with a railroadina sale.  Aisles were ample so the crowd could linger with individual vendors without being jostled continuously. 

Another view of the auditorium, as the crowd began gathering for the first show.  No bad seats in the house! 

Ticket sales were above 350 (preregistration).  I suspect those sales will grow much higher next year!

Winterail 2017 will be March 18, 2017. 

BASIC MOUNTAIN GRADE BACKDROP

I continued to play “artist” by painting the basic backdrop for the mountain grade.  This totaled around 120 feet of wall length as I addressed both the long pair of walls for the grade plus the upper and lower lines in the McCredie Springs nook.  This is just basic backdrop with minimal detail, but it shows where I am headed on this area. 

I began by “sketching in” the landform outline with gray paint.  This is the profile for the landform as it reaches the wall.  Next, I added the distant ridgeline to several locations.  Finally, I painted a deep green swath representing the nearby forest.   A feature of this color band is that its upper profile has a representation of Douglas Fir tree tops. 

Wall area behind and above Wicopee.  Gray band represents the landform profile.  Two tunnels will appear on the upper (rear) line here.  Blue tape on the subroadbed spline indicates the portal locations.  The distant ridgeline is above the landform profile.  The nearby forest green band is advancing into the gap.

Cruzatte basic backdrop “completed.”

Basic backdrop painted for Salt Creek Trestle and the track between RR-West Wicopee and RR-East Cruzatte.

Basic backdrop painted for the McCredie Springs Nook. 

McCredie Springs backdrop.  I will add detail here, as most of this scene is fully against the backdrop.

Future site of Tunnel 3, the summit tunnel.

Though I am tempted to add artistic detail to the gray landform profile area, I will resist for now.  Once the landform is built (still deciding on technique), I may want the neutral gray on the wall under the scenery.  For now, I have transformed the space from bare walls and plywood to something representing the area through which the track climbs.  This is the Cascades!

THE SKY IS RISING!

Rather than playing “Chicken Little” (sky falling…), I did the opposite for the wall the major mountain grade is mounted on.  I applied my standard multi-band sky treatment (http://espeecascades.blogspot.com/2012/11/backdrop-sky.html)to about sixty feet of wall.  This completes my expected sky treatment on walls, as I do not expect to need any sky color behind Cascade summit—the terrain will reach the ceiling before the wall behind that scene.  I remembered how applying the sky treatment immediately transformed a layout area when I applied that treatment to the McCredie Springs “nook” area last summer.  Completing that effect for the rest of the railroad has been on my active list since that time, but operating features of the railroad always took precedence—right up until my enforced operations break this winter.  (http://espeecascades.blogspot.com/2016/01/house-maintenance-pause.html)

Sky treatment applied to wall behind Cruzatte.

Cruzatte wall before the sky treatment.

Completed sky treatment blends with previously applied sky treatment in the nook to the left.

Sky treatment extends to the Salt Creek Trestle scene.

The next step will be a basic hillside treatment approximating where I expect to build up the terrain and extend the tree line above that.  Meanwhile my operating crew and I (whenever that happens again!) can enjoy the introduction of this real world element to the layout space.  I have already seen how my eye and brain accept the completed sky as belonging there, even when viewed above the backdrop spine behind Springfield.

CORRECTING A HUMP AND A SAG

As my railroad settles in, I have found a couple of roadbed issues that demanded attention.  The first was a hump in the roadbed and track in the middle of my Cruzatte location.  This one developed because I fit a modest width plywood roadbed piece between two eight-feet long pieces without proper (e.g., full width and beyond) splice plates underneath.  As I set the grade through Cruzatte, I allowed this filler piece to form a vertical kink—a hump.

Cruzatte roadbed hump.  Short filler roadbed section is on the right.

The hump became very obvious once I built the mountain operator platform and we began walking along this stretch of railroad.  I built the roadbed through this area using ladders and stools—not the best spots from which to observe something like this hump. 

The correction of the hump was straight-forward.  I removed the track.  Since I lay track using Dap 230 adhesive caulk, I have found I can flood such an area with alcohol and then easily pry up the track using a putty knife.  Once the track was removed and the area dried overnight, I used my belt sander to sand down the cork roadbed.  Final trimming was done with a Stanley Surform® and a sanding block. Relaying the track and re-installing the track feeders completed this job.

Cruzatte roadbed shaved down to remove the hump.

Cruzatte roadbed hump corrected. 

The second roadbed problem was at the RR-West end of the Salmon Creek mainline bridge.  Here, a dip or sag had developed.  I am not quite sure how I built this sag into the roadbed, though the fact that the roadbed splines that pass through the middle of the bridge (concealed by the cosmetic bridge girders) at less than standard roadbed height is the likely culprit.  See my posts on this bridge construction at:  http://espeecascades.blogspot.com/2014/04/salmon-creek-mainline-bridge-1.html  and http://espeecascades.blogspot.com/2014/06/salmon-creek-mainline-bridge-2.html 

Salmon Creek roadbed dip at the RR-West end of the bridge.

Correcting this dip required removing a couple of pieces of track, including half the track on the bridge.  That took some care to avoid damaging the bridge handrails.  In the end, the piece of track from the bridge needed to be replaced, as the ties broke away from the rails in several places.  

As it happened I also had a section of track lifted up from the roadbed just up the line from this area, so another section of track was removed.  The track had bowed up because the roadbed shrunk a bit over the past month, likely due to the dehumidifier in the basement as part of the house maintenance issue cited in the last post.  I could work on both problems (the bridge dip and the track lifting) at the same time.

Track hump caused by roadbed shrinkage.

With the track removed, I started filling the roadbed dip with balsa sheet glued on top of the cork roadbed.  The balsa lends itself well to shaping with hand tools and is plenty strong enough to support the track.  I needed to install about a quarter inch of filler material at the deepest point of the dip.  The top layer was a relatively smooth section of 1/32 inch thick balsa sheet.

Roadbed dip filled with balsa and sanded to fair back into the existing roadbed.

Salmon Creek mainline ready for service.

As noted above, I had a couple of instances of track popping up off the roadbed, likely due to roadbed shrinkage with the dehumidifier used in the layout space as part of the house maintenance issue.  I had quite a track bow at Wicopee.  In  the end, I needed to remove close to 1/8 inch of rail from one piece of track to refit the track. 

Track bowed up at Wicopee.

Adjustments to the roadbed are known issues for new track.  Both the full-size railroads and model railroads go through these adjustments.  Indeed, the prototype Cascade Line was not cleared for passenger train service for at least six months after line completion as the roadbed and track settled in.  For my model railroad, it will be good to just run the current railroad with only modest scenery efforts for a year or more so I can more easily spot and correct any more roadbed settling issues.