Starting the bench work for Carlin

I have been waiting for the arrival of some materials for the Wesso section before I could proceed with it any further so I decided to get started building the bench work for the Carlin section.

This section is 91 inches long and meets the next section to it's right between wall brackets.  When both sections are both ready to be installed, they will be bolted together.

This section will have removable bottom plates with LED lights mounted on them to light up the staging yard and the display case.

This photo shows the difference in elevation between leaving the lower helix at Winnemucca on the west end of the layout and the east end of Carlin.  The climb around the entire room will be gradual.  Most of it will be in the canyon at the opposite end of the room.

Lower helix conclusion

1/8 inch hard board was used to wrap around the outer parts of the helix.  This will eventually be painted to blend in with the walls of the room.

Another piece of old 2 x 2 Ntrak module leg was installed on the outer edge of the "Winnemucca" section on the top,  this is grey in the photo.

In last October's Helix Progress post I had mentioned that there seemed to be a bit of a twist occurring in the helix sections causing there to be a slight difference in the spacing in some places.  I was able to solve this by making 4 spacing strips that hold the outer edge at a spacing the 2-/14 inches between levels.  One of these was mounted on the outer edge between each all thread rod.

Each loop of the helix has a pair of 22 gauge feeder wires which are connected to a 2 position terminal strip.  Then that terminal strip is connected to the output of a PSX-1 under the helix.

This photo shows the connections for the inner or WP tracks.  The connections for the outer or SP tracks are on the opposite side of the helix.





While this marks the completion of this lower helix, there will eventually be another helix stacked on top of this one that will connect the other end of the layout to a return loop and siding that will be above Wesso after the layout goes all the way around the room.

Land contours for the Wesso section

Been working on creating the land contours for the Wesso section of the layout.  Both the SP and WP lines follow the route of the Humboldt River and both lines cross the river many times.  I'm sure in the long history of the river and railroad co-existing the tracks have been washed out when the river has risen and the railroad has learned to build up the level of the tracks.  This is a type of scene I want re-create on parts of the layout including on this section.

This view of the prototype is typical of the type of what I want to represent on this module with the tracks built up in anticipation of the river possibility rising.

On this section I am using a combination of Woodland Scenics plaster cloth over cardboard webbing for the river bed and insulation board and drywall joint compound for the sides of the built up areas that the tracks are on.

I'll talk more about the river in the next post.

Bench work for Wesso

Here is an overall view of the Wesso section bench work.  It is 24 inches deep at the widest parts and about 80 inches long.

I built this section of bench work very much like a module for a portable layout.  The side railings  beams are 1/2 inch plywood and the deck is 1/4 inch.

The path for the rail lines was raised above the surface with blocks of 5/8 inch plywood.  This section is set 5/8 inch lower than the adjoining section so the level for the tracks on both is the same.

Land contours will be done with insulation board but I wanted solid wood under the road bed.

A river bed was cut into the flat surface were a pair of bridges will carry both the east and west bound lines over this first of several crossings of the Humboldt river.

As I did when working on the yard, this section will be resting on wall ledgers so it can be easily removed to work on.

Starting the Wesso section

Once the tracks from the staging yards reach the top of the helix they will enter the western end of the paired track at a point the railroads call Wesso.  From here the SP would go to the southwest toward Sparks and Reno and the WP in a more directly western direction.  The general alignment of both railroads at Wesso is in a Northeast to Southwest direction.

Here is a screen shot from Googlemaps with my notes added to illustrate.  Besides the railroads the most noticeable feature is what appears to be a trap shooting range. I don't know if this was here in my 1970's to 1996 modeling era so mostly I plan to concentrate on the features related to the railroad such as the signals and dirt access roads.

Whenever modeling a prototype scene there are always some compromises to be made.  This drawing helps  illustrate what I will try to explain below.



Because I only have just under 7 ft to model this scene and on one end there is a 90 degree turn I  had to reverse the position of crossovers relative to how they are on the prototype.  On the prototype the two crossovers  meet on the SP side but in my model scene they will meet on the WP side.  This does not effect the operation.

One goal in my modeled scene will be to create the illusion of the two lines moving off in slightly different directions from one another as they enter the helix.  I plan to use a few hills and the Interstate 80 overpass to terminate the view of the SP line before it begins it turn into the helix.  This actually happens on the prototype in Winnemucca about a mile to the west of the scene.  The WP line will be in the open while it makes a gentle turn and go behind some hills or structures on the outskirts of Winnemucca which again is only a mile or so west of the scene.  So using scene compression to an advantage here.  Another way the scene will be compressed is the space between the tracks.  On the prototype the tracks are about 300 feet apart but I plan to model them at about 100 feet apart.

As mentioned in the last post, I've been working on the turnouts that will be used on this section of the layout and plan to start the bench work soon.

Custom throw bar for code 55 turnouts

While I've been happy with how smoothly the hand laid code 55 turnouts operate I have noticed that they are a bit delicate where the point rails contact the throw bar and have had several break on an Asia themed module while running the layout at  shows.  Not too hard to fix but I have been looking for ways to improve the durability.




Checking on the internet I learned that other people have had this problem on turnouts with smaller sized rail. It was suggested that the tension on the Tortoise motors be checked and I did that but have not been able to completely solve this issue.

I had worked around this problem In my home layout's staging yards by using HO scale ties to match the height of the ties on the Atlas code 80 flex track I was using.  The extra width of the throw bar seems to provide a stronger bond to the point rail.  With 16 turnouts in use there have not been any broken points so far.

The areas of the layout with scenery and code 55 track were going to need a different solution.

The PC board code 55 ties that come from Fast Tracks are .31" thick.  I purchased these PC ties from Clover House that are the same thickness but are wider.

My idea was start with this material, cut it to the length needed, then file down the areas that would be exposed to the same width as the Fast Tracks ties.  Leaving a section that would be under each point rail the full width.

I made up this crude little fixture from brass stock to help create the shape I wanted with a file.  The length of .110 PC board ties is placed into the slot that runs lengthwise.

The three shaped sections show in this photo is the results of only a few minutes of working with a file with the tie section in the fixture.  The two wider areas on the right are for contact to the point rails and the one on the left is for a reinforcement for the wire from the Tortoise motor.

Here is one of these customized tie sections installed in a turnout.  The idea is to have a bigger area of soldered contact with the point rail while maintaining an appearance of something close to the width of the rest of the ties.

Of course the real test is going to be getting a few of these  turnouts installed on the layout.  The double cross over / junction at Wesso will get the first 4 of these turnouts and will receive lots of use.

Train Board January weathering contest

It's 2016 already !, well happy new year !

In December my entry in the N scale weathering contest that was held on TrainBoard.com won by membership vote.  I got my prize in the mail yesterday.  It's this Great Northern weathered box car.

The requirement last month was any 40 ft box car that had at least some Micro-Trains part on it.  I entered this Micro-Trains car that I had weathered.  Another view of it is on this December post.

They are doing it again in January and this month it's got to include graffiti and can be any type of car, as long as it has at least some Micro-Trains product on it.  My entry is going to be this Atlas 50 ft ACF Centerflow covered hopper car.

Here is a view of the other side.  Voting is going to be during the 3rd week of January on the N Scale board at TrainBoard.com.  Any TrainBoard member can vote.

Check it out.

New territory for the new year

After 5 turns and 14.5 inches of climbing from the lower section of the staging yard the helix is nearing completion.  The last section for the helix is a special transition section that will connect it to the Wesso section.  In this section the Atlas code 80 track will be connected to the Micro Engineering code 55 track and part of it will have scenery representing the edge of Winnemucca, Nevada so this small section will be referred to as the Winnemucca section.

To cut out this section I first made a cardboard template.  Once I was satisfied with the fit of the template I traced it's shape onto a sheet of plywood and cut this out with a saber saw.  There were still some minor adjustments to be made to get the fit just right.

To install this section it had to be put in over the all thread rods, then slide the end into the last pair of splicing blocks.  To do this I made slots for the rods instead of holes as seen in this photo.

Besides being supported by the rods and the helix splicing blocks there is also a 3/4 inch ledger along the wall where that end of the section is secured.

This end of this small section of bench work will connect to the Wesso section which I have already started to cut the parts for and will post on soon.  The holes shown in this photo are to accommodate any wiring between the two sections.






So as 2015 ends and the new year begins the layout is enter a new and exciting phase.  The most complicated bench work for the layout is now complete and section by section it can now progress around the train room.

Thank you everyone who has been following my slow progress on this layout. May you all have a safe and happy 2016.

The weathering contest

Work on the layout has been slowly progressing and I'll be posting more on that soon hopefully.  One side project I have undertaken during December is weathering a couple of my Micro-Trains 40 ft box cars for entry in a Micro-Trains sponsored contest on Trainboard.com.

This is the one I entered.  If you are a member of Trainboard.com all of the entries can be seen and voted on at:

www.trainboard.com 




If your are not a member, it's worth looking into.  There is no cost and they have quite a few separate boards for each modeling scale plus rail-fanning and other railroad related topics.  This months weathering contest is going to be the first of several with each month being a different type of car.

This is another car that I weathered at the same time but did not enter.  These photos were taken on one of my Ntrak modules.

Hopefully before too long both of these will be running through the Palisade Canyon.

Happy Holidays to all !