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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!!

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!

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.

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.

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!).

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:

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.

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.

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.