Mid-Summer progress report

It's been almost a month since I posted anything on this blog so just a quick update to let everyone know I'm still active on this layout.  While I've been busy with other things, I have been able to do a little bit more work on the staging yard and am getting close to having all the track work done.

Seen in this photo the entry end of the WP staging yard now has paint and cork and I've built up a 3 turnout yard ladder.

The project going on when I took this photo was to install the linkages between the turnouts and the Tortoise motors.  The Tortoises will be mounted upside down the way I did on the loop end of the SP yard.

Continuing progress on staging yard

Work has resumed on the upper section of the staging yard which will serve as the western terminus on the layout for the Western Pacific.

I have been building more Fast Tracks turnouts and put three right hand ones together to make the yard ladder shown in this photo.   Using the yard ladder as a guide, the cork road bed was completed to tie in the road bed from the yard tracks with that coming off the turn around loop bridge.

Also 6 more Tortoise turnout motors have been received and 3 of those will be used to power this yard ladder after the track is installed.

At the other end of the yard the section of the upper yard deck that had been left open has been completed by inserting a section of 1/2 inch plywood.

After this photo was taken the bare wood was painted both on the top and bottom to seal it.

Helix design

When I decided that I would need a helix to do what I wanted to do on this layout I studied everything I could on the Internet and examined first hand any helix that I could.  The room that I built in the back of my garage is a 20 x 10 ft rectangle but has a 2 ft bump out in one corner for part of the helix.  The net space set aside for the helix is 42 x 42 inches.

I really liked the idea of using all thread rods to support the helix because it would allow me to experiment with some different grade adjustments plus it offered the best access to the tracks.

My design uses 90 degree curved sections of 1/2 inch plywood that are 4.5 inches wides.  The radius on the outer edge of the curved sections is 20.5 inches.  Between each section a pair of splicing blocks hold the sections together and attach to 3/8 inch all thread rod.  Two 8-32 screws on each side of each section will secure the splice blocks to the curved sections.

I found that I could get 10 of the curved sections from a 4 x 4 sheet of birch plywood.  After making the first one I marked it as master and used it as a template to draw the others.

The splicing blocks are made from scraps of the sheet that the curved sections were cut from in between 1/4 inch thick birch plywood material.  The overall size of these assemblies is 4 inches x 2 inches.

Here are the results from a single 4 x 4 sheet of plywood.  The curved sections on the left have been painted. All sections will be painted prior to assembly.  This is a start, my plan is by doing some of this now, I'll be able to go right into assembling the helix after the yard is completed and installed.

Removable bridge for the upper staging yard.

Besides the brass bridge that I built last November for the loop on the upper line to pass over the loop on the lower line, there was going to be another bridge needed to bring the front end of the loop back over the yard ladder of the lower yard.   This curved bridge was built of tempered hard board.  I thought that it would be great if the bridge could be made removable in case that yard ladder ever had to be worked on.

Here is the completed bridge installed.  The tempered hard board worked out really well in this off scene application where sturdiness was the most important feature needed.

Here is the bridge removed to access the lower yard ladder turnouts below.  It only takes a few minutes to remove or re-install the bridge.

Since I had been happy with the results of using small sections of PC board to make the rail gaps, I decided to try to use that to make solid ends for the track on the bridge and for the approaches to the bridge.

For more details on how I work with this material, see the post Staging yard track gaps.

In this photo one of the screws that hold the bridge in place can be seen.

As the section of track on this bridge is not mechanically connected to the main track, feeder wires soldered to the bridge track pass through a hole and connect to the main feeder.








At this point the road bed is in for most of the upper yard and enough track is in on the return line so that this bridge has been thoroughly tested.  Some more turnouts have been built and track laying in the upper yard can proceed soon..

Modifying a work light with LED modules

I have one of those lighted magnifying glasses that is mounted on a folding arm to my work bench. This is the kind that has a circular fluorescent bulb with the magnifying glass in the middle and a push button to start.  The fluorescent bulb needed to be replaced, plus the starting circuit had been acting up for some time.  As there was nothing wrong mechanically with the lamp, I started to think about how it could be converted to LED's.

First step was to remove the fluorescent bulb and the clips that hold it in place.

Well actually, the very first step was to UNPLUG the lamp from the wall.

The push button switch was also removed and Anderson Power pole connectors were installed on the wires that were left.

I made a ring from a scrap of Masonite that fit right in where the fluorescent bulb had been. The ring was spray painted glossy white so it would be more reflective.

The ring was able to accommodate 7 of the LED modules that I have been using for the layout lighting.  A small block of wood was attached to have a handle to remove the assembly from the lamp.

Here is the back side the the ring assembly.

Magnets were attached to the back side with adhesive and all of the lighting modules were wired in parallel with an Anderson Power pole connector at the end of the chain.

Here is the completed ring installed in the lamp.  The magnets are strong so just the two of them hold it in place.  The handle was first put on to help remove the ring but it was also helpful in getting the ring into the right position.

The base of the lamp had a small box that contained the ballast transformer and this is where the AC cord connected.

I removed the AC cord and transformer, then connected the output of one of the power supplies that are being used for the layout lighting.  It's a bit of an over kill for the 7 modules.  The power supply was then mounted to the base of the lamp with adhesive.

The push button that had been removed was replaced with a simple ON / OFF toggle switch.

As can be seen in this photo the 7 LED modules provide plenty of light, I would say at least as much as the fluorescent bulb did.

In this view I think it looks a bit like an alien space ship.

Experimenting with reverse loops

The design of this layout includes 2 reverse loops to turn trains around in the staging yard at the west end of the layout.  For those not familiar with reverse loops, here is a LINK to an article that explains it well. As I am moving along on the staging yard I realized that I have had very limited experience working with reverse loops.  I decided to use my already existing temporary layout that is on a shelf above my work bench to get that needed experience.  The layout uses Kato Unitrack so the changes would be easy.

There are several products available to work with a DCC system that handle the polarity switching that has to take place.

As I had already worked with DCC Specialties PSX-1 circuit breakers and have been quite happy with them, I decided  to order their PSX-AR reverse loop circuit breaker to experiment with. This products senses the short that occurs and does the switching before the short gets to the DCC system.

I thought the simplest way to make a reverse loop would be to put a crossover in the middle of the loop.  But as I soon found out, this is actually two reverse loops and my test engine would stall when crossing the gaps.


Realizing that as long as there was a standard non reversing section in the middle, both reverse loops could be connected to the same PSX-AR.  So the next configuration was a double crossover as shown in the drawing below.  What I really liked about his arrangement was that it is almost identical to what is at Wesso junction and will be modeled on the main layout.

In this configuration the single engine ran fine through any turnout configuration but when I started a second engine it caused the stalling problem whenever both reached gaps at the same time.

So next a second PSX-AR was added as shown in this drawing.  Same test done with two engines running independently.  This time no hesitation when both were crossing the gaps at the same time.


The existing temporary layout had consisted of an oval that used 11 inch radius curves.  The layout shown in the drawings above used 9-3/4 inch radius curves and fit inside that existing layout.  Then I added a double crossover connecting the two loops and also added a siding along the back of the outer loop so there ends up being quite a bit of track in the small space.

Here's a view of the central part of the modified temporary layout where all the turnouts are.   Beyond this on either side is a double track balloon end.  I've been running up to three short trains at a time to test everything.  There can still be a stall if one engine is leaving a reverse loop section at the same time another engine is entering the same reverse loop section.

All three PSX circuit boards are mounted on a scrap of plywood on the wall under the layout to make it easier to see the status LED's on the boards.  There is also a provision on these boards to connect remote LED's as well as many other features that I have not yet explored.

First completed section of LED lighting

It's been a few months since I've updated what was going on with the LED lighting but I have been sporadically working on this so here's an update.

I found the type of power supply I wanted on ebay for about $6.50 including shipping.  They are rated at 5 amps but plan to only load them at 50% of capacity.

This is inside one of the cabinets that are above the layout.  When I built the room I placed several of these outlets around the room that are controlled by a wall switch separate from room lighting.

When I set up the first few of the panels I had made up with 5 LED modules, it was way too bright.  So I removed 2 of the modules reducing the lighting by 40%.

Shown here is a completed 10 ft long section of LED lighting using 24 LED modules mounted 3 each on 8 panels.

As I have worked on the staging yard the first section of LED lights under the cabinets have been used to light the area so they've gotten a good testing.  So far, so good.

Here is the front on view of part of the area covered by this lighting.  The upper deck is where going to be where the cloud sky board is located.  Lately I have been using this area to photograph items for ebay listings.

The staging yard is below that and is shadowed by the upper deck so it will have need to have it's own lighting mounted to the bottom of the upper deck.

The blue strip below the cabinets is a test valance I made from tempered hardboard.

Staging yard control panels

Now that most of the track and turnouts are in place on the lower or Southern Pacific section of the staging yard, I am beginning to get serious about wiring and controls.  These days it is getting more common to use computer controls and while I'm open to that, I still like an actual switch or indicator as opposed to a computer screen for an operator interface.   I actually enjoy this part of the hobby and have built a number of control panels over the years for my own layouts, was well as club projects.  Here are some of those.

Here is what's left of the control panel I built for the Los Angeles Terminal District layout.  The track layout was made from styrene strip glued onto a plastic panel.  The box was made from scraps of birch plywood.

The holes on the bottom of the box were for several connectors that went to the power supply and the 5 modules of the layout.   The plastic panel just sits on the top inside the box without being held in place by screws so access to the inside was easy if needed.

Here is view of the California Northwestern layout showing it's control panel.  This one was done on Plexiglas by taping the track layout, painting the back gray, then removing the tape and painting white.  The whole thing was made into a pull out drawer and the power supply and DCC system was inside but easily accessible.

Last year I built this control panel for one of my Ntrak modules.  It's contained in an aluminum box that is mounted on the module.  The track layout is printed on paper that is sandwiched between the box and a sheet of Plexiglas.




For this staging yards controls I am using some elements from each of the above examples.  I am really hooked on the idea of printing a track plan because it's so neat, can be changed, and a spare can be used as a pattern for drilling the holes in the Plexiglas needed for switches and LED indicators.

As this staging yard is actually two yards, I decided to make two separate control panels and made two birch plywood boxes for them.  Each box will mount an 11 inch by 5 inch Plexiglas panel.  There is an angle to the front of the box.  The panel will sit inside and two 4-40 size screws will hold the panel to the aluminum brackets that are near the bottom.  Because of the angle, the top of the panel is held by the box frame.

Here are both boxes temporarily mounted about where I plan to have them.  The Plexiglas panels have been prepared and sample track drawings placed behind them.  They stick out just a bit but all the tracks are still an easy reach.

There will be other control panels around the layout but those will be smaller and will be built into the fascia.

Installing fascia on the staging yard

I have often read in magazines about layout builders using Masonite or tempered hardboard for layout or lighting fascias but had never worked with it myself so I though it was high time that I expand my horizons and give it a go.

Around the balloon part of the yard where the return loops are, I installed a number of gussets that the fascia could be attached to in addition to the edge of the base.

With the yard sitting on edge it was easy to apply some carpenters glue, set the strip in place then attach with my pneumatic stapler.  After filling the stable marks with Spackle and sanding, the fascia will be ready for paint.

So far in all my testing of the yard with various type of cars, nothing had fallen from the layout.  But I just as an extra precaution I decided to leave a small raised edge on the fascia as the return track on the lower yard runs close to the edge.  I tested it with a short high cube box car as they seem the most top heavy.




Overall I am pleased with the result and found the tempered hard board to be easy to work with.  This bit of fascia is just a start as there will be an estimated 80 feet of layout edge and maybe some 60 feet of light valances needed as the layout progresses.  In the parts where there is more than one deck, the fascia for the upper deck will be extended to be the lighting valance for the lower deck.

In other progress on the staging yard, the return loop bridge for the upper yard has been painted and installed, and cork road bed has been started for the upper yard.  Evidence of some of this can be seen in these photos.  More later.