Signaling for the Lovelock section

The Lovelock section of the layout is connected to the main line by a turnout at the bottom of the helix.  The helix already has signaling controlled by an occupancy detection circuit.  I want the new signal and both of the existing signals to monitor the position of the turnout as well as occupancy of the helix.

To accomplish this I used a diode matrix type of technique.  Refer to the drawing below.  The two diodes that are in parallel with the relay coils are just there to suppress back EMF when the relay opens and don't affect the logic of this circuit.  The two diodes that are on the input from the detection circuit isolate the two relays from each other and prevent the 12 volts from the tortoise contacts from reaching the relay 

The use of a Peco insulfrog turnout at the bottom of the helix means there is no frog to route power to.  This left both sets of contacts on the Tortosie switch machine available to control the signals.  Referring to the photo below, +12 volts DC was connected to both commons (red wires).  The orange wires are connected to the position contacts.

This is the new circuit board to control the new signal.  The red and black wires are 12 power, the orange wire is from the Tortoise motor contacts, and the yellow wire is from the occupancy detection circuit.  The red and green wires are the outputs to the signal.  Notice the diode on the board between the terminals where the orange and yellow wires are terminated.  This diode allows the occupancy signal on the yellow wire to activate the relay but blocks the turnout signal from affecting the relay on the board for the helix signals.

At the board that was already installed to control the signals at the top and bottom of the helix, the diode was placed in line on the wire that connects it to the detection circuit.  This diode will prevent the signal from the orange wire on this board from affecting the relay on the new board.

So here's the new signal on the Lovelock siding.  It will indicate a red whenever the helix block is occupied OR the turnout is aligned to the staging yard.

And here is the same signal showing a green when the turnout is aligned to the lovelock siding AND the helix block is clear.

Building EP Minerals - Part 4

Continuing with progress on the EP Minerals plant.  The final track arrangement was a compromise between keeping the spurs easily accessible and attempting to capture the look of the actual facility.  The final track arrangement does include 3 spurs - one for the loader, one for a storage track, and a third one that runs along the long warehouse for the occasional loading of box cars but can also be used as a storage track. 

With the track installed and painted, next job was installing the wiring, and the turnout linkages.  As this is a removable section of the layout, this was an easy job to do while it is sitting up on the saw horses.

The buildings showed in the last post have started to get some paint.  The loader building got a base made of tempered hard board to increase the vertical clearance for the covered hoppers that will enter it.  A sheet of fiberglass reinforced plastic has been made into a removeable where the rest of the plant can be built at the work bench.

Building EP Minerals - Part 3

In this part, I am constructing some building that will be part of the plant.  The first building is scratch built around a leftover roof from a Kato overhead station.  This roof piece has been sitting around for years and it feels great to finally use it.  In fact, this entire project is absorbing bits and pieces left over of past builds.

The Halliburton barite processing facility in Battle Mountain was built from a Walther's Glacier Gravel kit and I did not use all of it.  This car loading structure is built around one of the larger sections of the Walther's kit that I had left over.

This last building is entirely scratch built from Evergreen styrene.  I had noticed some long narrow buildings in overhead photos of the prototype with a rail spur running alongside of one of them.  In the photo there are covered hoppers parked on that spur but I am going to go with the idea that they could also ship bagged product in the occasional box car.  So this one has one large door and a long loading dock.  The ramp was something left over from the Walther's warehouse kit so I used it here.

These structures just have a primer coat of paint right now.  These will all be getting some finish paint and more details.   Although the prototype site has 3 spur tracks, I've decided my model will only have 2 and am building the turnout I'll need for that now. 

Building EP Minerals - Part 1

At the west end of the Lovelock expansion section is an industry called EP Minerals which I had introduced to the layout in THIS POST back in October of 2022.  The time has come to actually build a model representation of this industry.  The photo below shows the spot on the layout that this industry will occupy.  It's about 18 inches square which should be plenty of room.  The track shown entering the site is not glued down as I have not decided on a track arrangement yet.  The real plant has at least 3 track spurs and I plan to represent that in this model.

The photo below is from Googlemaps and is a Streetview from Upper Valley Road near where the railroad spurs enters the plant.  What catches my eye in this photo are the rotary kilns and the towers with the sharply sloped roofs.  So those are the features that I will focus on with the remaining parts of the plant being more freelanced.

A photo from another angle shows that there are three of the rotary kilns and I plan to have two of them in my model of this facility.  I did a bit of research on what these actually do and found that they are used in many mineral processing operations.  I am surprised that I have never seen any models of these offered in kit form.  Not finding any kit or 3D models available I set about scratch building these.

Got off to a bit slow start on this.  First tried to wrap .040 x .020 styrene strip around a styrene tube to represent the support bearing rings.  This did not work well so picked up some 1/4 inch and 5/16 inch tube at the hobby shop with the idea that the 5/16 inch could be cut into thin slices to use as the rings.  That was easier said than done.  I had trouble getting a straight cut using my chopper or a hobby knife.  After much experimentation, the method that finally worked was the put the 1/4 in tube inside the 5/16 inch tube, then place a screwdriver in fitting tightly inside the 1/4 inch tube.  Then I used a tube cutter to cut the small rings needed.  The screwdriver kept the tubes from crushing.

So after most of an afternoon at the work bench I got the basis of a pair of rotary kilns.   I will need to make a trip to the hobby shop for some additional materials to finish them but it's a start.

This project will be the subject of several posts over the next couple of months.

Truck trailers for the grocery warehouse

A key visual feature I wanted to create in Lovelock at the grocery distribution warehouse was a large truck loading dock area with trailers parked at the dock doors and also in the lot.  This facility receives products both by rail and truck then ships by truck in company branded trailers.  The trailers delivering products could be from various freight companies but I needed to create some IGA trailers for this warehouse.

Years ago I had a Cannon printer that I got really good decal prints from.  When it died I replaced it with an Epson that I never got as good of results from.  The Epson got replaced last year with a Cannon G5020 but I had not yet tried to print any decals with it.  Recently I had purchased some decal paper that is supposed to be compatible with this specific printer.  So the first attempt was some IGA logo decals of various sizes to use on these trucks. 

I was so impressed with the way these came out I then made another sheet of decals with some trailer numbers and some colorful grocery store related graphics.  Both sheets were sealed with a spray coat of  Krylon Crystal Clear.

I painted and decaled 5 of the old Atlas generic 24 foot trailers models and 1 of the 40 foot models. Got those painted in white after first washing and applying a coat of gray primer.  Then the decals were applied and all the trailer bodies were given a coat of Dullcoat.

In the next post, I will describe what I did to improve the chassis parts to these trailers.

Finishing the grocery distribution warehouse

Gold Medal Models chain link fence was installed around the track side and vacant lot side of the truck parking area.  At that point I had run out of the fence material so planted hedges along the road.  Small bits of static grass clumps were added in a few spots to represent weeds growing through cracks in the pavement.  A few pallets and a dumpster were added and more details will be added later.  This view taken from the back of the bench work when it was removed from the layout.

On the building itself, details were added to the roof which help to break up the repeated pattern of the printed roof.  I used the larger air conditioning units that came with the kit, and added some turbine vents from California Freight and Detail.  I also added some plumbing vents which are styrene rod and a scratch built roof access hatch.

This is how the track side of the building looks.  I added brush around the area from static grass clumps I made myself along with some ready made ones from Scenic Express. 

And here is the finished scene of the truck area.  I knew building this that the small awnings above the truck doors were going to be delicate so I did not add them until almost everything else was done but I still managed to knock one off and can't find it.  If it does not turn up, it won't be difficult to make a replacement.

This has been a rewarding project that I actually started last August.  I'm quite happy with the way it came out and look forward to having the local from Carlin service this industry.

Roof for the grocery warehouse

For the roof of the grocery distribution warehouse I wanted to use a pattern printed on paper.  I have had some good results in the past designing my own shingle roofs using Microsoft Visio and then printing them for house roofs.  I had considered making a commercial type roll roof this way but then I found something easier that I thought looked really good.

For a fee of $1.99 I was able to download a PDF file of this roof and can print as many of these as I want.  I got this from Team Track Models.  Their web address is: teamtrackmodels.com  They offer this and other types of roofing in several shades as well as paper buildings.

It took parts of 4 sheets of this printed roofing to cover the entire roof.  Each piece was cut to fit it's location and a number was written both on the bottom of the roof material and on the roof of the building.  The seams were arranged so that the patterns on the paper would match at the seams.

From my past experiences with paper roofs, I already knew not to use a more liquid type glues and used the same stick glue as I have had good results with before.

And here is the completed roof.  Of course there will be some details added such as access points, vents, and air conditioning equipment.

Painting the grocery warehouse

For me, a structure project really starts to come together when it gets painted.  I have learned through experience that a primer coat is a must when using the Vallejo paints so I ordered a large bottle of it.  This is one of the largest structures I have built and would it not fit into the spray booth. So I brought in a folding table and placed it in front of the spray booth for this job.

The finish coat on this building is Vallejo stone gray.  One tile was masked off and painted white so it could be the background for some decals I made to create a sign.  The numbers above the truck doors are from a Microscale decal set. 

Out of the many smaller pieces in the kit I selected 32 for use on this structure.  They were stuck to a sheet of cardboard with small amounts of canopy glue and sprayed with gray primer.  After that had dried overnight, the parts were brush painted in various colors.

For concrete pad at the truck loading dock,  I found that the primer gray was as good concrete color so used it for the sheet of styrene that I had already scribed the expansion joints into.  Then weathered it with some weathering wash and dabbed with a paper towel before the wash dried.  I really like the effect this gave and plan to use this again in the future on other projects.

Winter 2026 layout update

It's currently getting into the 30's at night and that is about as winter as it gets here so it is time for a winter update.  Progress on the Lovelock expansion section for the layout is progressing in between other projects and activities.  Again this winter I am participating in the annual Trainboard Winter Layout Party and have been posting regular updates on that thread.  The fascia and the control panels for 6 turnouts have now been finished.

Also, the ballasting of the track has been started and is now about 50% done.  And a few of the details of the grocery distribution warehouse are also being worked out.

I recently picked up a pair of the new Micro-Trains Railgon gondolas which will be used on the layout.  This model is most likely going to be the last new body style released by Micro-Trains as the company was purchased by Atlas in November.   A future project will be to weather these.

Painting the track for the Lovelock expansion

With the track on the Lovelock section thoroughly tested and any minor problems corrected, I was ready to paint the track and ties prior to ballasting.   While at Home Depot recently, I found this flat earth brown camouflage spray paint.   I've seen others using it in various posts and YouTube videos with good results so thought I would give it a try.  As it's winter I had to do this inside the train room.  After getting the temperature up to a reasonable level, I opened the window and turned the fans on before starting.   I also had to be careful about any overspray getting anywhere.  I am really happy with the results and it was quick. 

After letting the paint dry for about an hour, I used a razor blade to scrape the tops of the rails.  They will have to be cleaned again after ballasting but it much easier getting the paint off now before it's really set.

Track and wiring for the new section

The track work and wiring with the exception of the spurs going into the EP Minerals plant are now completed.  As I don't have an exact design for MP Minerals yet, so I am holding off permanently installing its spur tracks for now and just have a single spur loosely tacked down to I can test the operations over the entire area.

I am using the same type of manual push / pull turnout controls that I have used on the Battle Mountain and Carlin sections.  Here is the link to the post detailing how this was done Tracks across Nevada: Hand throws for turnouts. Because of the viewing angle of this section allowing easier viewing of the turnouts, I am not planning to have the indicator LED's on the fascia. 

Because this section was going to be removable, the wiring to the rest of the layout needed to be done like modular layout wiring.  I used an AMP / TE Connectivity 9 pin series 1 connector with the cable feeding through the wall into where the helix is.  This cable is antenna rotor cable with 8 conductors.  This cable and connector type is the standard we use on the modules in the Ntrak club I belong to.  The receptacle on the module was mounted to the same aluminum L channel that was used for the turnout switches. 

One pair of the wires on the cable are used for the DCC power.  Another pair is used for 12 volt DC power, and the 4 remaining wires are spares.  I wanted to give this section it's own DCC district so a locomotive here would not give a red signal on the helix block.  I had an unknown brand of DCC circuit breaker that was part of an estate I purchased a few years ago and it seems to do the job just fine.  Because the deck is only 1/4 inch thick, small 1/4 inch pieces of plywood were glued to mount the components. 

To create the gap between the helix and the new section, I used Kato insulated joiners between the Unitrak expansion track and the Unitrak section on the new section.

So for now, I am going to be running some test operations on this new section to make sure I am happy with this track arrangement and that everything is working OK before starting any ballasting or scenery.

Layout for the grocery distribution warehouse

As I have been operating the layout I have noticed the interchange traffic is largely loaded tank cars in and mostly loaded covered hoppers out.  The Lovelock expansion will have one actual industry, EP minerals which will be also be covered hoppers empties in and loads out.  I wanted to create a couple of freelanced industries that would provide for a more diverse traffic flow.

So with the bench work complete, I need to decide what those industries are going to be and the general placement before I can start laying out any track.

The concept for the first freelanced industry is a medium sized grocery distributor that supplies independent grocery stores and supermarkets throughout the region.  Besides receiving loaded box cars and refrigerator cars, it will be a great place to display truck trailers as some products arrive by truck and this company will have it's own fleet of delivery trucks and trailers.

The starting point for this project is a Walthers Cornerstone modern concrete warehouse kit.  As this will end up being the largest single structure on this section, it's a good place to start to see how everything will lay out.

If the kit were to be built following the instructions, it would result with a rectangular 12 inch x 6-1/4 inch warehouse. But the way the kit is designed with multiple small wall sections, it can be easily modified to make a building of your own design.  There are quite a few of these wall sections with both single or double wall panels.  Some have various sized opening for doors and windows and some are solid like in the photo below.

I used the spues that the wall sections came on to temporarily connect several wall sections and form the sides of the building.  I used canopy glue to do this as is can easily be peels off when I am ready to glue the sections permanently together.

After mocking up a couple of different configurations, this is the one I have decided on.  It offers the features I wanted and this shape being narrower on the left side makes the best use of the space for the two turnouts for the two separate spurs.  This kit did not come with a railcar sized opening but it was easy to modify one of the sections to allow a refrigerator car to be pushed inside the refrigerated part of the warehouse.  As the back side will not be visible, it will end up being open or with some solid styrene sheet.  The size of the roof area will require some interior support which can also be done with Evergreen styrene.  So I will soon be returning to the hobby shop for those materials.  Watch for a future post as this project progresses.

Bench work for the Lovelock expansion

This new section of the layout which will represent Lovelock, Nevada will be 76 inches in length and 20 inches deep with the far-left end angling out to a 24-inch depth.  This time I used 2 ft x 4 ft panels of 1/4 in and 1/2-inch plywood from Lowes as they are much easier for me to handle by myself than a full 4 ft x 8 ft sheet.  This worked out very well and was strong enough as I doubled the frame where there was a seam.

The floor of the train room is the flattest surface I have so after cutting the pieces in the garage they were brought into the train room for assembly.

This new section will need to be removable.  It will be 20 inches deep at the end where it connects to the helix so just over 20 inches of the fascia on the helix base was removed.  A ledge from a piece of 3/4 inch plywood was mounted under the helix base so that it sticks out 1 inch.  The end of the new section will rest on this. 

Strips 3/4 inch and 1/2-inch plywood were added to the 20-inch-deep end of the bench work section with the 1/4-inch deck then attached to the entire frame.  This created a little lip on the end of the section that will rest on the ledge.

Several methods were used to make this section removable but still be secure when it's in place.  On the left end I mounted a 2-inch-wide strip of 3/4 inch plywood on the wall that the bench work section will rest on and used a cabinet latch to hold the bench work section to it.

On the end where this new section meets the helix base, I used a long 1/4-20 bolt with a wing nut to secure the lip of this section to the ledge built onto the helix base.

And in the middle, I installed a shelf bracket with a single 8-32 thumb screw going into a tee nut that is on a horizontal cross piece on the bench work. 

So here is the completed bench work for the new Lovelock section.  Next step is to seal the whole thing with paint, and it will be ready for track layout planning.  At some point a tempered hard board fascia will be attached along the front and painted the gloss gray color.