The CB&Q in Wyoming

2011-09-21T06:16:00.001-04:00

It's been a bit over nine months since I posted that the layout was coming down. It's completely gone (has been since around March). I was able to salvage most of the track and a great deal of the benchwork. Roadbed and subroadbed went into the trash. All the structures (the pitiful few there were) are packed away, and rolling stock is sitting in the rented house in Charleston. I've joined the Charleston Area Model Railroad Club, and manage to exercise my equipment there on occasion. I have no idea when I'll have a new house in which to put a layout - the bad market has ours in New Jersey not selling anytime soon, it looks like.

CB&Q in Wyoming is being Dismantled!

2010-12-03T11:51:00.002-05:00

There have been three years of little to no activity on the layout due to my foray into local politics. My delving into New Jersey politics is fortunately coming to an end (talk about diving headfirst into basement of an outhouse!).

The remainder of the story is that I am being transferred by the company to South Carolina - permanently! All in all a good move (any way of getting out of New Jersey is a positive), but it means the CB&Q in Wyoming is now in the process of being dismantled.

I'm salvaging all the track I can, and of course all the rolling stock and such is being saved. Even as much as possible of the benchwork dimensional lumber is going to be retained for re-use.

I don't have a new home yet and probably won't for several months to come. As soon as I have the dimensions of a new layout space design will begin on the new CB&Q in Wyoming.

2009-01-29T11:54:00.006-05:00

Work progresses, albeit still slowly.

Here's a more-or-less overall view of the layout as of the end of December:

The blank part of the skyboard to the far left has been painted now. We started adding a ceiling to the room to control the dust and debris that falls onto the layout from above. The corner in the left distance is where we began. It's slowly expanding towards the camera and to the right. Before more benchwork is installed the ceiling will be put up above those areas. It will probably be a long time before the entire ceiling is finished, but it will be done a bit at a time until it's complete.

Here's another shot of recent work - the studs and mounting frames are in place for the backdrop all the way around to Casper now. The far corner in this shot is where I stood to take the previous shot. Ceiling will be done in these areas before benchwork goes up.

2008-12-23T06:38:00.006-05:00

It's been five months since I posted. There's a good reason - I've had very little time or energy to work on the layout.

I've managed to put in fifteen or twenty hours since the last post, though, so I thought I'd go ahead and tell you what's been done.

I've continued the backdrop installation and painting. Here's a photo of the painted backdrop before I installed any scenery:

I also did some cheap-and-dirty scenery for some shots for my helix presentation, which I gave at the Mid-Eastern Region convention in Reston in late October. Here's an overall shot:

While the landforms are the final ones (except for cutouts for access to tracks behind the hill), the yellowish scenery and trees aren't - they were just for the presentation. There will be no trees in this area and the ground will be a somewhat darker tan/brown with sparse prarie grass and sagebrush sprinkled around.

I've continued adding to the backdrop, and the skyboard now continues uninterrupted past Thermopolis. The hill profiles only extend to the curve in the backdrop at the corner right now. I'm going to try to continue on with them during the Christmas break.

2008-07-22T07:09:00.003-04:00

I finally managed to get a bit of time - about three hours or so in the past three weeks - to work on the layout.

I've completed the lower level skyboard extension around the corner into Thermopolis, and I've completed the backdrop about halfway through the corner. I've also started painting the backdrop - about 16 feet of it behind Glenrock has received the base tan color. I would have gone farther, but the additional sheet that starts around the corner into Thermop. hasn't been prepped yet (sanded / washed). Next, as my very limited time permits, I'll add additional colors to the backdrop and bring at least part of it towards completion. Should be interesting to see if I can come up sith something that isn't too amatuerish / cartoonish / pathetic.

Pictures next time.

2008-07-02T06:59:00.001-04:00

It's been awhile since I posted, for a very good reason - I've had almost no time and energy to work on the layout. I've spent maybe two hours in the train room in the last two months. I'm hoping things will ease up and I'll have a chance to do some layout work soon. I'll post any significant progress when it happens.

2008-05-19T06:54:00.003-04:00

Wow! How time flies! It's been nearly four weeks since my last update!

Work on the layout has been on and off. Tons of stuff happening at the borough - I often spend three or four nights a week on borough business. Add to that all the work on the house and I have little time left for the layout.

I've been continuing work on the scenery at Glenrock, experimenting with different lights under the upper deck. Incandescents work OK, but are a bit yellowish. I found a dimmable compact fluorescent, but they're eight bucks apiece! I have three, and they give a decent light. The CRI is around 82, so it isn't too bad, ajnd it's rated as 3200k light, so it might be workable. I'll have to install a dimmer and see how well they work that way.

2008-04-23T06:53:00.011-04:00

Here are some of the photos I promised of progress on Glenrock scenery:

This is the stack of 1 1/2" foam that will go between Glenrock trackage and the backdrop before I started shaping it:

Here's the stack after I hust started smoothing the corners of the blocks:

And during the trimming process:

This past weekend was a very productive one for the layout. A friend (Walt) came over and helped me install the first section of benchwork for the upper deck! (this is a major milestone!)

Here's Walt drilling an anchor point for the threaded rod that will support the front of the second deck:

And here's the installed deck. Below it you can see the first sections of foam scenery set in place at Glenrock. The section between track and backdrop, shown above being built and carved, has rough carving completed. I still have to complete the shaping of that section to make the curves of the rolling hills more natural and accurate for the area:

And just to finish off the day's work, we started extending the backdrop past the opposite end of Glenrock and towards Thermopolis:

2008-04-16T12:32:00.003-04:00

Work on building the scenery base for Glenrock continues. The first big section behind the track is stacked and glued up, and last night I started shaping it. Running a surform tool over the surface is a much easier way to shape the foam than cutting it with a knife or even a hot wire foam cutter, so I'm creating mounds of pink foam shavings! I'm a bit more than third done with the basic rounding and blending of the stack, then I'll start shaping the final rolling hilss and adding any basic feature shapes (like a dirt road, maybe).

Photos in a few days.

2008-04-09T07:01:00.007-04:00

The radial tracks are all in at Laurel now, powered and ready to go. Here are the completed tracks:

And here the tracks are in use:

Sure is nice to have a spot to park locos besides the Laurel interchange tracks!

2008-03-31T06:59:00.002-04:00

I spent a few hours over the last couple of days installing radial tracks from the Laurel turntable to the Roundhouse floor (I'll build up the rest of the roundhouse after the backdrop and such are in place). Photos in a few days.
I still have to spike down a couple of the tracks near the turntable pit and attach feeder wires. Should be done late this week. Then it's on to add the first section of the upper deck over Glenrock, so I can add lighting to Glenrock and paint the backdrop there.

2008-03-27T12:42:00.004-04:00

Boy, almost three weeks since my last update!
I've continued working in the Glenrock siding area, and have finally carved up the first sheet of foam for the area between the track and the fascia.
Here's one end of the Glenrock area with the foam in place but not carved:

And here's the same spot from a different perspective after the rough carving was done:
The flat spots at either end are for additional foam stacks. Before I extend the foreground foam at the fascia, I'm going to paint the backdrop hills and try my hand at building the first section of scenery base behind the Glenrock tracks.

I've left the Glenrock area alone for the past week or so and am focused instead on getting the roundhouse floor and radial tracks installed at Laurel. That will give me a place to store locomotives - they've been parked out on the NP mainline and Laurel yard forever!

2008-03-07T07:05:00.002-05:00

I got a second, shorter radial track installed off the Laurel turntable Wednesday evening. It's just long enough to hold an 0-8-0. The tender is close enough to the turntable that a loco on the adjacent track just clears, so I may lengthen the track slightly - an inch or so would do fine.

Tonight or tomorrow I plan to cut out the roundhouse inspection pit clearance holes in the baseboard. I have to extend the baseboard slightly, so I'll probably do that, too.

2008-03-05T07:15:00.003-05:00

Well, another couple of weeks gone by.

As the final precursor to starting the 3-D scenery in the Glenrock siding area, I started wiring the auxilliary contacts on the Tortoise switch machines under Minneapolis West yard throat to route power to the turnout closure and point rails. Those turnouts (Walthers) route power via the stock rails and points, which over time can become a bit unreliable due to a build-up of grime at the contact points. Once or twice I've had a loco stall when good contact was not made. Using the Tortoise to route power to the closure / point rails eliminates that problem, so several weeks ago I began adding the necessary wires.

I did the first turnout, then found that for some reason the turnout shorted when set for one direction, but routed power fine when in the other! I reviewed the Tortoise wiring schematic and could see nothing wrong, so I cut the wire that was causing the short and everything operated fine again.

Friday the 29th of Feb. I started wiring the other four switches. Again I reviewed the Tortoise schematic to make sure I was wiring everything right, and got started. After wiring in two of the remaining four turnouts, I found that the turnouts were shorting when set to one route, and were fine when set to the other! I reviewed the location of all my feeders in the area and the positions of the insulated rail joiners and even pulled out the multimeter to show me what had power when. I made a sketch of the yard throat and tried to figure out where the shorts were happening. Since the throat worked fine when the points were routing power, I knew something really weird had to be going on! Having no luck analyzing the problem, I finally gave up in disgust for the night and went upstairs.

Saturday morning (March 1) I went back into the basement to see if I could figure out what the problem was. I pulled out the Tortoise schematic for the fourth or fifth time and looked at it again. The problem hit me square in the face as I was looking at the wiring diagram. I had been reading it wrong! Every time I had looked at the diagram, I had seen what I thought I would see, and not what was really there! I couldn't believe it!

I crawled back under the layout and rewired all the Tortoises to match what I'd finally seen in the schematic. When I got back out from under the layout to try everything out, they all worked perfectly. I'd wasted several hours mis-wiring the machines and then analyzing and re-wiring them. I had read and re-read the Tortoise schematic several times, and read it wrong every single time (except fo the last time)! Oy vey!!

Next I installed some foam supports off the Glenrock subroadbed, to hold the foam for the scenery in place above Minneapolis.

With those tasks done, I turned to the Laurel engine terminal and starting gluing together the floor of the roundhouse that will be installed there. I also laid out one of the radial tracks off the turntable that will be adjacent to the roundhouse. Since my hip was causing me some pain (I bruised the joint somehow, though I don't know how), I stopped for the day at that point and retired to the recliner for few hours of really bad television.

Sunday, March 2nd I was back in the train room, this time carving a piece of 1" pink foam as a base for the first scenery on the layout. I got the edges trimmed to fit between the track and fascia, then stopped for the day - hip was really giving me fits! I spent the remainder of Sunday not moving around very much.

Last night I completed the radial track I'd started Sunday. I now have a spot to park a loco that isn't in the middle of a yard track! Tonight I'll install a second, shorter one.

I did take photos, but they're still in the camera. I'll post in a few days. Sorry about the long-winded post!

2008-02-18T07:09:00.002-05:00

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted, but that's because not much has been happening on the layout.
This weekend I found some time to work on the layout, finally. I added power switching through the Tortoise switch machine for one turnout that was no longer routing power through the points, and generally cleaned up the layout. I vacuumed the tracks and got everything back into running order. I also cut one section of foam for scenery at Glenrock, but I'm thinking I'm might use cardboard and plaster instead, at least in that area.

2008-02-01T21:28:00.000-05:00

I finally have a few shots of the work of the past several weeks.

Here's the backdrop and fascia as of the end of December:

And here it as of tonight:

The fascia is painted and the hill profiles are in place in front of the sky. The vertical grey line in the white hills is the puttied splice between two sheets of plastic.

Just for fun, here's an engine-eye view of Minneapolis staging:

2008-01-31T06:36:00.000-05:00

Monday evening I cut the second profile board for the backdrop at Glenrock. I sanded the plastic to give it some "tooth" so paint woulds adhere, then cleaned it (I wiped it with a damp towel a couple of times to remove the sanding dust). Tuesday my wife helped me install it on the layout.

Wednesday was, and Thursday will be, too busy with borough activities to work on the layout. Friday I hope to have time to add plastic putty at the joint between sections. Saturday is a Timonium day at the GSMTS. By Sunday evening, I hope to be ready to paint the profile board with the background hills that surround Glenrock.

2008-01-28T11:34:00.000-05:00

The slow work continues. With the help of my wife, I got the two fascia sheets I'd started for Glenrock finish painted and installed. They look good! A photo will follow soon.

A friend came over to help work on the trains yesterday afternoon, and I'd planned to install the missing bit of subroadbed into Thermopolis from the helix, and install the plywood sheet for Thermopolis, but he ended up helping me install a new window instead.

2008-01-21T21:39:00.000-05:00

I managed to find a few hours to work on the railroad the last few days. Last week was a bust - meetings every night except Wednesday, and that was filled with an operation session at someone else's house.

I managed to get two sections of fascia for Glenrock sanded over the weekend, and primed them tonight. I also cut one section of backdrop profile board for behind Glenrock. I may have an hour or two tomorrow night also. If so, I'll paint the fascia sections I primed, and maybe cut the second backdrop profile section.

2008-01-11T12:18:00.001-05:00

I picked up my four sheets of polystyrene last night. I should be well set with backdrop material for some time to come!

I also received QSI upgrade chips for my BLI heavy Mikes. Those came out over a year ago, I think, but I only just now got around to buying them. Hopefully I'll be able to get them installed soon.

We've got a full weekend of working on the house planned, but maybe I can steal an hour or two and get to the basement to work on the trains.

2008-01-10T07:04:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year, everyone!

I've been sworn in on Borough Council, and that is, as expected, taking quite a bit of time.

I have been able to do a little bit of work on the layout, though. I ordered four sheets of polystyrene for the backdrops. I'll be picking that up this evening. Four sheets should last for awhile. Last night I cut the next section of masonite for the fascia. All I need to do is trim the top edge to a decent ground contour and it will be ready for mounting. Following that I'll mount another eight feet of backdrop, then install the backdrop profile sheets behind Glenrock.

2007-12-29T22:17:00.000-05:00

I've done quite a bit of work on the layout over the long Christmas break, most of it in the last couple of days.

I cleaned up and painted the sections of backdrop installed behind Glenrock--

Before:

After (the paint isn't quite dry yet):

I also started fabricating and installing the fascia for Glenrock --

The semi-rectangular holes will provide access to trains in Minneapolis Staging underneath Glenrock, once scenery is begun.

Obviously the fascia is still under construction. The edges of the access holes will be cleaned up, and the whole thing painted. I'm thinking wither black, sagebrush green/silver, or Wyoming earth tones.

Minneapolis Staging Yard Finished!

2007-12-17T07:21:00.000-05:00

The last finishing touches - the east throat occupancy detectors - on the Minneapolis staging yard are finally done! Now it's on to installing the base for Thermopolis, finishing the backdrop for Glenrock, and adding fascia to the Glenrock benchwork (in front of the west part of Minneapolis staging). After that will come some real scenery!

2007-12-10T12:02:00.000-05:00

Well, I've made progress on the last set of detectors for Minneapolis staging, but they're not done yet. They're mounted and the main cable, which arrived last Wednesday, is strung between the panel and the detector area. The cable is tied in to the control panel itself, but LEDs are not installed yet.

I'm hoping I'll have the installation finished by the end of this weekend, but with the holidays and borough business meetings and such, I'm not sure it'll happen that fast.

I just realized I never posted results of the election. I won, by three votes. I'll be sworn in on January 3rd.

2007-11-30T07:42:00.000-05:00

Well, CRAP!
With two of the three sets of occupancy detectors in Minneapolis staging yard now working, I went to start installation of the last set, at the far end of the yard, last night. I cut the oblong holes between the tracks for the transmitter / detector set (very easy with a Roto-zip), then went to string the 12-conductor cable between the control panel and the point I'll mount the terminal strips near the detector set. Turns out the cable is about five feet too short! End of progress last night.
This morning I ordered another 100' spool of the cable, as well as a hundred-foot spool of 8-conductor cable for Seattle staging detectors.
So for the next several days I'll mount the terminal strips for the last set of Minneapolis detectors, add pigtails to the detectors, then mount them and tie them into the terminal strips. By the time that's done I'll have the new cable, most likey, and I can install that. I hope to have Minneapolis yard totally finished by the end of next weekend.

2007-11-28T06:36:00.000-05:00

Okay!
I was able to spend some time on the layout over the Thanksgiving weekend (in between working on the house and sitting on my butt), and I managed to get the IRDOTs installed for the center section of the Milwaukee staging yard. I'll get the final set of detectors installed at the other end over the next few weeks, then I can start installing the base for Thermopolis.

2007-11-19T11:51:00.000-05:00

I've managed to start doing some work on the layout this past week. I'm in the process of installing occupancy detectors in the center of the Minneapolis staging yard. All the detectors are mounted and connecting wires attached - now I just have to connect the wires to the cabling, the cabling to the panel, and install the LEDs in the panel. In all, probably seven or eight hours of work to go to get this batch functional.
Then it's on to the set of detectors at the far end of Minneapolis. Total that will take about ten hours, then I can install the Thermopolis base support, run track into Thermopolis, add fascia board to the Glenrock area, then FINALLY start installing basic scenery at Glenrock. Hopefully I'll have some time over the Christmas break to do some of that.

Back to the Layout!

2007-11-12T11:52:00.000-05:00

Well, the election is over. It was too close to call, so for another few days I still won't know if I've won or not. Meanwhile, life gets back to normal, with working on the house and, finally, the trains again! So watch here for periodic updates!!

2007-10-04T07:04:00.000-04:00

I know it's been awhile since I last posted, but vacation, work and a run for borough concil have me so busy right now I haven't had time for the trains since my last post!
Hopefully I'll have time again after the election on November 6th - win or lose!

2007-08-23T06:41:00.000-04:00

The new control panel was completed last Friday evening (17 August). Here it is:

Sunday I ran my John ALlen track cleaner car around the layout to clean all the tracks - I haven't run anything since mid-July.

Monday I did something I haven't done in ages - I actually spent a couple of hours just running trains! Tuesday I did just the least little amount of work on the roundhouse floor, cleaning up flash off the castings and fitting them together, then locating it properly relative to the turntable.

2007-08-17T07:15:00.000-04:00

It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted - anyone notice?

The control panel is just a few connections from finished - for now. Only five of the 24 total IRDOTs are wired into the panel, because I only have five installed. The others will come over the next six to eight months (these things are about $25 apiece, so I have to break the purchase into small numbers at a time).

Everything works - I just have to wire the IRDOT power supply through the panel off switch.

I'll be posting pics of the finished panel in a day or so.

2007-08-06T07:00:00.001-04:00

Work on the new control panel progresses. I have one more set of track selection indicators to wire, then the power LEDs. After that, I have to add new terminal strips in the case, slip the panel into the case and attach all the wires to the terminal strips, and add resistors to balance the LED lighting. Probably another week worth of effort, all told (it will probably take me three weeks!).

2007-07-31T06:56:00.001-04:00

The new control panel is coming along slowly, but it IS progressing. I managed to get one bank of track selected indicators wired, and all the Tortoise switch wiring is complete. Here's a couple of shots of the panel as of Sunday night:

And here's a view of the face of the panel with one occupancy indicator temporarily powered:

2007-07-23T06:48:00.000-04:00

Well, I decided to forgo the panel mounts for the LEDs. I'll secure them in place with a dab of rubber cement or something on the bottom lip.

Here's the new panel graphic:

I finished cutting and drilling the panel's plastic sheets, and installed the switches. A closeup of one section looks like this:

The holes which are NOT punched in the graphic yet are for the LEDs. Each track except the main gets two LEDS near the switches - a blue one to give an at-a-glance indication of which route is selected, and a bi-color (red/green) one to indicate whether that section is occupied (red) or clear (green). The main will not store trains, so it doesn't have occupancy detectors.

Wiring is just barely started:

I plan to work on this each night for the next week or two until it's done.

2007-07-18T06:54:00.001-04:00

I guess I need to plan ahead a little better.

I ordered the LED panel mounts yesterday morning, then at home tonight I worked on the panel. I got all the switch holes drilled and the switches temporarily installed. Getting the panel mounts for the LEDs installed would be challenging, because the smallest require a 1/4" mounting hole, and is about 3/8" diameter over the bezel. So - a choice.

Do I redesign the panel graphics once again, leaving more distance between the yard track lines and then buying new plastic and starting over again, or do I forego the panel mounts, and install the LEDs directly in the panel (using rubber cement or something else that will allow me to remove the LEDs if I damage one)?

I chose the latter - we'll see how that works. So a whole batch of panel mounts I don't think I'll need will show up in a few days. Oh, well.

No work on the layout tonight, and probably not tomorrow, either - I'm attending an operating session on a nearby layout tonight, and I have a political meeting tomorrow evening.

2007-07-17T11:45:00.000-04:00

Well, I did NO work on the layout last night. My back is still bothering me, so I'm not sleeping real well. After a full day of work, an hour spent stripping paint on a window and a few minutes installing a piece of baseboard, I was absolutely pooped! I plopped down in front of the TV at 8:30 and promptly dozed off. I slept pretty well last night (in a recliner - easier on the back), so I hope to get some work on the control panel done tonight.

Yesterday I did order some panel mountings for the LEDs - something I forgot to do when I ordered the switches a few weeks ago. Hmph! Here's a schematic of the wiring for one end of the Seattle staging yard (the other end will require an identical arrangement):

Two more middle switches and LEDs, wired the same as this middle switch and LED, will be needed for each end of the Minneapolis yard. Note that the LEDs indicate which track is SELECTED, and not the actual position of the turnouts. That's all I wanted - an indication of what track off the yard ladder I've selected.

Not shown here, since they're separate circuits, are the IRDOT LEDs and wiring.

Depending on how much time I have after paint stripping tonight, I may actually start wiring the switches.

2007-07-16T06:55:00.000-04:00

I got the second sheet of the Glenrock backdrop mounted a couple of days ago. I just need to get some plastic putty to fill the gap, then about fourteen feet of the backdrop will be ready to paint!

Last night I cut the new plastic face of the panel to size and sandwiched the graphic in between two sheets of the stuff. I slipped the sandwich into the grooves on the panel frame and began drilling it for the new switches. I got about ten switches in, leaving ten to go. I'll finish drilling those switch locations tonight or tomorrow.

I realized that I forgot one very inportant thing - panel mountings for the LEDs. I'll need about 36 of those. I guess I'll order a batch from Digikey.

2007-07-09T12:42:00.000-04:00

Well, the new switches for my control panel came in Friday. Bad news - the case is so much larger that I'll have to basically rebuild the panel from scratch! The switches won't fit where the others are now. That will be a chunk of work! I bought new lexan for the panel face, and re-worked my graphic for the new switch spacing. I went to print it out and discovered I don't have any 11X17 paper! Maybe I'll get it printed by tomorrow... then I can start populating it (again).

2007-07-05T11:24:00.000-04:00

We (my wife and I) mounted the first sheet of the Glenrock backdrop on the 3rd. The second sheet also would have been done, but we ran out of 1X2 wood we're using for the mounting framing. Once that second piece of backdrop goes in, we'll paint it.

2007-07-02T07:22:00.000-04:00

I started preparing to install the backdrop behind Glenrock, and did some "fit checks" of the second deck benchwork over that area. The second deck looks like it will work well. There's plenty of room between the tracks on the lower deck and the bottom of the fascia board on the second deck.
I'm using white styrene for the backdrop, and mounting it with 1X2s. I got the 1X2s installed for Glenrock, and half-installed a curved piece of plywood that will carry the backdrop over to the helix.

2007-06-29T11:28:00.001-04:00

I had a few extra minutes before my meeting last night, so I was able to test the IRDOTs. They all work fine. All I need to do now is install the bi-color LEDs in the panel and wire them. But that brings up another problem...

When I first built the panel, I didn't plan on having much in the way of indicator lights, except for occupancy indicators for the hidden yards. But it turns out that it's easy to get confused about which track is selected for Minneapolis staging! Since the ladders for that yard are not mirror images, making sure the same track is selected for both ladders is not completely straight forward. In fact, even though I built both the yard and the panel, I have to look twice and think for a second or two to make sure I have the right track selected at both ends! So I want to put in an indicator for which track is selected for each ladder, with the simple premise that only the indicator for the selected track will light (for each ladder), with other indicators dark. An easy, at-a-glance way to be sure that the right tracks are selected at each end of the yards.

Note that I'm not looking for an indication of how the turnouts are actually aligned, only of which way the panel switches indicate the turnouts should be aligned. Simple to do, except...

The tortioses are thrown using DPDT switches. For my "selected track" indication, I need 3PDT switches - two sets of poles for the Tortoises, and one for the indicators. So I need to disassemble the panel, remove the DPDT switches, and install the 3PDT switches in their place. OY!

Meanwhile, I'm just a bit leery of installing the bi-color (red/green) LEDs for the IRDOTs, just in case I need a bit more room for the track selection (blue) LEDs. But maybe I'll just bite the bullet and put in the occupancy LEDs anyway.

Here's how the panel looks now:

2007-06-28T06:48:00.000-04:00

Been so busy with borough meetings and so on (plus stripping the porch in preparation for painting) that I haven't been able to work on the layout for several days.
Last night, though, I did have some time (no meetings!), so I got back aboard the creeper and spent two hours underneath the layout wiring the IRDOTs. Other than adding a couple of cable clamps, the under-layout work is done for now. I'm going to try to test the IRDOTs this afternoon, but that's doubtful - I have another meeting tonight! But if they work, then all I have to do is install the LEDs in the panel and wire them up - probably three to six more hours of work. Maybe by Sunday night...

2007-06-23T19:34:00.000-04:00

I managed to finish mounting the first group of IRDOTs last night. My back is still a bit sore, so getting on and off the creeper was not a lot of fun! Now comes wiring. I'm using bi-color LEDs, so each IRDOT gets four wires run to it - two for power and one for each color of the LED. Power is common on all units (wired in parallel), so I need 12 wire cable - two to each IRDOT, for ten wires, and two to all IRDOTs for power, making two more for a total of twelve. And gee, I'm just lucky enough to have bought a spool of twelve-conductor cable from Digi-Key when I was wiring Tortoises. Sometimes things DO work out. I'll be starting the wiring tonight. That should take several days.

2007-06-17T21:33:00.001-04:00

It's been a few weeks since I last posted any activity - because there's been very little activity.
Since the end of May I've been too busy with other things (the local primary elections, some irritating back problems that's made me less than completely comfortable working around the train, etc.) to spend time on the layout. But the last few days I've managed to start again - slowly.
I got the feeders installed on the track west of Genrock, and extended my layout power circuit (I have a 120V line running along the front L-girder of the benchwork, with outlets spaced conveniently every 8 feet or so). I hope later this week to start installing the rest of the IRDOTs on the west end of Milwaukee staging, but that kinda depends on how my back is feeling.

2007-05-29T05:55:00.000-04:00

I managed to get a bit work done on the layout over the Memorial Day weekend, but house work and special activities (family barbecue, Memorial Day ceremonies, upcoming election primary) took most of my time. I installed four pieces of flextrack from the west Glenrock switch west towards Casper. That puts me at the end of the installed roadbed, although I could install another four feet or so of roadbed and track before reaching the end of the subroadbed (the plywood base). Before I can go further with track I need to build more benchwork. I still have to install feeders on west end of Glenrock and the extention west.

2007-05-24T06:57:00.000-04:00

I installed the ground throw for the Glenrock west switch last night. Didn't have much time to work on the layout, so that's all I got done. I have a meeting tonight, but I'd like to extend track west from Glenrock a bit. As the additional track will be hidden, it should go down pretty quick once I get started. Then it's feeders, and back to the IRDOTs on the Minneapolis staging below. Hopefully I'll manage some good progress over the long weekend, in between house projects.

2007-05-23T12:02:00.000-04:00

I finished installing the individual ties in the Glenrock area last night. Looks kinda different without the end-of-track-section gaps. Tonight (if I have a chance) I'll install the west switch groundthrow and start extending track from there towards Casper.

Glenrock Trackage Finished!

2007-05-21T06:16:00.000-04:00

I finished laying track in Glenrock (the siding) yesterday. I ran the 2-10-2 through it and through both switches and it ran without a hiccup. This is a major step towards beginning scenery in this area, whihc will be the first on the layout.
I have several more things to finish before starting scenery, though. First thing is to install missing ties at all the flextrack joints in Glenrock. This is about half done, and won't take more than another hour or so to complete. I also have to install the west switch ground throw, and connect some additional feeders tro the track at the west end. All total, probably 2 1/2-3 hours of work.
I need to add additional track off the west end of Glenrock also. Right now there is one three-foot section of flextrack in place. I need to go on around the curve there and move on down the Thermopolis wall towards Casper. This is necessary since after Thermopolis is started, access to install the Glenrock-Casper track would be tough.
The other, most major task, will be to get the IRDOT units in place in the Milwaukee staging yard below Glenrock. While I could wait to do this, it's much easier to cut the holes between the ties for the sensor from above, where I can SEE the ties. This will be a ten to twenty hour job, most likely, and I'll have to wire the detectors and test them as well. I also don't have enough on hand, so I'll have to order another ten or so.
So it will still be several months before scenery is started, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel at least!

Coaling Tower is Finished!

2007-05-16T06:46:00.000-04:00

The presentation to the local NMRA chapter on Saturday went well, based on audience comments. It was a lot of fun to do, too!

I finished the coaling tower and put it in place on the layout Sunday. I think it came out OK, overall. I received several very nice comments on the Trains.com forum. Here's a few photos of the finished product on the layout:

I still need to add the rest of the tracks and begin scenery, but it's a start. Before adding the track under the inside chutes and the coal delivery track, I need to build the ashpit between the tower and the turntable. That probably WON'T happen within the next couple of weeks - I'm very busy with local politics, gardening and house renovation right now, but I'll try and eke out a few hours here and there on the layout.

2007-05-05T17:49:00.000-04:00

The coaling tower is coming along well. Should be done in a few more days. Here's the latest progress photo:

The humidity in the basement is fine again. Just a few more spots on the floor to clean, and I'm back in business down there!

2007-05-03T07:07:00.000-04:00

The humidity in the basement (train room) continues to drop - like a feather. Another five percent or so will put it below 60%, and I can start working again.
Meanwhile, the coaling tower continues to progress. The instructions are a bit inadequate in places, and the rigging thread is larger in diameter than the holes through which it's supposed to pass (!), but other than that it's progressing well.

2007-04-28T17:32:00.000-04:00

I'm continuing to work on the coaling tower while the basement dries out and the benchwork stabilizes. Here's a shot of the tower in work:

2007-04-27T17:33:00.000-04:00

Great news! My wonderful wife has been busy cleaning the train room all day! Just a few spots left to clean up and it'll be ready for us to work in there again. I will have to wait another week or so, though, because the humidity is just starting to come down to normal, and I want the benchwork to re-acclimate before I lay more track.

2007-04-26T06:33:00.000-04:00

The water is nearly dry in the train room - just a few small puddles. By the weekend I'll be able to start cleaning up (sweeping and mopping). Not a bad thing - it was overdue anyway.

The coaling tower I've been building is progressing slowly, but it IS progressing. Should be finished next week.

I'll be giving a clinic on how I built my helix at the Garden State Division, NMRA meet on May 12th. I've been spending quite a bit of time putting that together:

2007-04-23T06:30:00.000-04:00

The water is finally almost gone from the train room - just a few small standing puddles remain. They may stillt ake a couple of days to dry because the water is seeping up into them from below.
Meanwhile I've started construction on the Laurel coaling tower (the Walthers wood tower kit). I've been sitting at the kitchen table in the evenings assemblint it in front of the TV.

2007-04-18T05:44:00.000-04:00

Work on the layout is postponed for a week or two. Like a lot of folks in the northeast, the big storm that rolled through Sunday and Monday left some water in our basement. We fared better than most with only a couple of inches in a depressed area of the train room, which is the basement under the original part of the house (I don't know why, but in one area the floor was poured two inches lower than in most of the rest of the old basement. Used to be a room there, I guess). There's also some shallower standing water on other parts of the floor. When I clean up the water, it seeps back up through the floor, so apparently it will take a few days for all that rain to percolate through the soil enough so that the water table is back below the basement floor level. No damage to the layout (except a couple of legs are wet on the bottom), but I'll need to wait a couple of weeks for the humidity in the basement (and in the benchwork) to drop back down to normal before I can start work again. Meanwhile I may start working on a structure or two at the kitchen table.

2007-04-16T07:18:00.000-04:00

Had a grand-nephew stay over Friday night and into Saturday - a great little five-year-old fella known as "AJ." After breakfast Saturday, he was chompin' at the bit to run the trains. So at 8:30 in the morning, he, my wife and I all traipsed down to the train room and fired things up. I'd cleaned off the layout and done a bit of testing about a week earlier, so I know it was ready to run.
And run we did! For about an hour and a half, AJ, my wife and I all ran trains. Mostly I acted as dispatcher, switching tracks, giving running directions, and making a couple of little mistakes in routing (no major incidents, though!). We had a great time!!

Sunday it was back to construction. I installed one of the two turnouts I built last week (except for the ground throw), completing the mainline through the Glenrock siding (I still have to finish the siding track) and added a bit more track beyond the siding. I also laid more cork roadbed so I could continue the rails onward. I've about run out of benchwork for continuing the line - soon I'll have to clear out that end of the train room and add the additional tables. I also changed out the poor-rolling trucks on about a half-dozen cars for better-rolling sprung Kadees. I hauled forty-eight cars around the staging loop behind the 2-10-2, with no slipping!

All in all, a very productive and fun weekend!

2007-04-13T07:04:00.000-04:00

No construction at all last night - just cleaned up the table where I was building turnouts for company arriving today. I went down to the basement, thinking I might do a bit of work on the layout, and instead just ran some trains. A couple of months ago I bought a P2K 2-10-2, and decided to test its pulling capacity. With the traction tire driver installed, it hauled 45 cars around the NP staging loop on the layout (no grades on that line), including my John Allen-style track cleaning car and half a dozen tank cars that roll like they have flat tires (those trucks are slated for replacement some day). Forty-four forty-foot cars plus loco and caboose is the maximum train size my staging yards will handle, so the hauling capacity of the 2-10-2 is just about right. Up the grade on the Frannie cutoff it hauls twenty-plus cars with no problem, which is the appproximate train length for that branch. On the milder grades of the Wyoming Mainline, it should handle around 25-30 cars. The BLI 2-8-2s will haul about five cars less.

Gee, rather than work on the layout I actually stopped and ran some trains! What's wrong with me?!

2007-04-12T06:57:00.000-04:00

Cleaned up around the points on the two new turnouts. They now "throw" easily - or at least they did. I also painted them last night, so now I'll have to go back and clean up the points again! That's about all I did - after painting the fumes drove me out of the train room for the night (too cold to paint outside).

2007-04-11T12:17:00.000-04:00

Again, not much time to work last night - borough Planning Board meeting. I did remove the support frame from the turnout ties and clean up the points area a bit to improve freedom of movement of the points. All that's left is to paint the turnouts, then install them! I may opt to build two more turnouts first, though - that will use up all my quick-sticks wood tie sets, and I can put the turnout building stuff away for awhile.

2007-04-10T07:20:00.000-04:00

Last night I managed to get the wood ties attached to my second turnout, but that was it - had a borough council meeting in the evening. Not a whole lot of time to railroad!

2007-04-09T11:22:00.000-04:00

After a break of about a week, I spent a good part of yesterday building a couple of #6 turnouts. The second one is nearly complete - I only have to add the wood ties to it, then paint them both.