11/22/20

Finally finished the coal mine, coal mine area scenery and mountains.  About 3 weeks of work.  Well, not exactly finished.  Still some details to be added but the heavy lifting is done.

Now it is off to an area about 20 feet down the layout.  This would be to the right of the coal mine down the long 41 foot wall.

I am test fitting building mockups for the towns of Fort Greene and Brooklyn Heights.  In Brooklyn Heights I need to disguise, if possible, a 4 inch waste pipe.  A two foot high hill may work.

Fort Greene and Brooklyn Heights will be separated by a creek and connected via a dual track truss bridge for the railroad mainline and a two lane vehicle bridge.

My artistic directors, Marianne and Sydney, are working on the next structure.  Rather than choosing a basic plastic kit they opted for a Downtown Deco hydrocal kit.  Nothing like working with 5 minute epoxy to test your skills.

Here is an image of them checking out some online how-to videos.

A few pics of the coal mine are below.  I watched a 35 minute video by "Modeler Man Mike" on building and weathering this structure.  Some good weathering tips that I can apply to other structures.

The kit simulates corrugated steel sheets and has vertical reliefs 2 scale feet apart.  I added horizontal reliefs 11 scale feet apart.  I checked steel sheeting online and they are sold in 2 ft x 12 ft sections.  I assumed a 1 ft overlap.  I do not know if this was the size used at the time a mine like this would have been built.  Probably somewhere between the 1920's and 1940's.

First step was to spray the entire unassembled model with Krylon clear matte.  To simulate wall sections that had been replaced I masked most of the wall areas and just had openings where I wanted to simulate new sections which I sprayed with Rustoleum silver metallic.  These are the brighter areas of the walls.

The I added a few strips of Evergreen styrene to simulate repaired areas after spraying them with the metallic paint.

Then lots of weathering chalk brushed on.

Just finished painting the backdrop mountains and hills in the area I am calling New Utrecht.

The rock face mountain that is in the corner and that will sit behind the coal mine is a work in progress.  The structure is completed so the next step is to add some rock outcroppings, foliage and trees.

I wanted to recreate the look of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  These are "old" mountains and are rounded at their peaks.  What I wound up with looks like the Appalachian Mountains mated with Grand Teton Mountain.

Here is a photograph I took from the about 5,000 foot level on Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina.  It is around sunset and overlooks the Blue Ridge.

Here are a few images of the completed backdrop painting.  The big, gray rock looking thing is the mountain that will be behind the coal mine.

Nine layers of 2" pink XPS foam covered in plaster cloth and then stained with a black latex wash.  A taupe wash was dry brushed over this to start to bring out the highlights.

After this I will be building the area of Fort Greene.  Carl 3D printed the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument that will go in Fort Greene Park.  It looks great.  I will post photos of it with my next update.

Originally I planned to complete all construction of the layout and then have several operating sessions before starting to add any scenery.  Well, that plan has changed a bit.

There are several areas of the layout's upper level which will have deep reach in distances after layout completion.  Specifically two corners and the area over the lower level Gravesend Yard.  Even after curving the corners with masonite the reach in distance for any scenery construction and the addition of backdrops would make the work difficult at best.

If you recall the shape of the room, it is 41 feet long and 14 feet wide.  You enter the room at the approximate center of one of the long walls.

On the upper level to your right is the large Fuhgeddaboudit Yard.  In front of you, on the upper level, are the towns of Fort Greene and Brooklyn Heights with the Kosciusko Bridge spanning the Gowanus Canal.  Directly below them will be Gravesend Yard with a bump out for the round house and locomotive servicing area.

A short break for an American history lesson.

Fort Greene is the neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY where I attended high school.  Fort Greene is named after General Nathaniel Greene one of the heroes of the Revolutionary War.  The Gowanus Canal is named after the Native American chief Gowanee.  The Kosciusko Bridge is named after Thaddeus Kosciusko, a Polish officer, who fought with us during the Revolution.  There is a Prison Ship Martyrs Monument in Fort Greene Park honoring the 11,500 men and women who died on the British prison ships after the Battle of Long Island.

I tried to find models that resembled the monument and my old high school but so far nothing close.  See images below.  The high school is the large building in the center.

I made building mockups out of construction paper using the foot prints of the structure kits I currently own and staged them to create towns and to test fit.

Below is Fort Greene looking towards the coal mine at New Utrecht which is one of the corners I mentioned previously.

The coal mine at New Utrecht.  A UP 2-10-2 is leading a freight on the mainline down grade to the lower level while the NY Central A-B-A set of Erie Built units has finished its climb upgrade.  In the background is an A-B set of Pennsy F-3's waiting at the coal mine.

New Utrecht downtown area in the corner.  Note the masonite in the corner.  New Utrecht station is to the right with the tail end of the Erie led freight.

This next image is from opposite New Utrecht station looking along the 14 foot wall toward the coal mine.  The tracks closest to the edge of the benchwork are mainline.  The NY Central 4-6-4 is pulling a passenger train on the upper level branch line.  The tracks for the coal mine are behind.  These tracks will join the branch line and then the main further along the long wall to the right.

Next steps:

Select the back drops.  I plan use a combination of printed and painted back drops but have not determined the specifics.

Build, paint and weather approximately 18 structure kits and prewire them for lighting.

I want to get this done over the next few months so that I can start the lower level construction.

 Next phase of the upper level construction is underway.

Dual track main and single track branch are being extended along the long back wall and around one of the side walls.  This adds room for the town of New Utrecht with a small industrial area, a coal mine, train station and a small downtown area.

The photos below just show the progress of test fitting the track and the foot prints for structures.

Next steps are:

1. Marking the plywood, laying cork roadbed, laying track, powering the track and testing.

2. Since there will be a hill in the corner behind the coal mine I will need to add backdrops and the hill after I finish with the trackwork.  Along with construction of the coal mine.  Long reach in distance to the corner where the hill will be located so this one section of scenery will be added early.  The reach in distance to the farthest track is 21 inches from the edge of the benchwork.

3.  Mount turnout motors and test again.

Small industrial district with three manufacturing companies.  Box cars parked at sidings and a short freight waiting to enter the main from the branch.

The location of the coal mine and tipple on the right where the hoppers are parked.  On the left is the location of New Utrecht train station and depot with a couple of RDC's waiting to take on passengers and a box car at the depot location.

Another view of the location of New Utrecht station with the coal mine location in the background.

Coal mine location.  Tracks closest, and hanging off benchwork, are the two main tracks that start their descent to the lower level at New Utrecht station.  Directly behind the main, and in front of the mine, is the branch that will run around the upper level.

Another view of the small industrial area with the coal mine in the background.

Still in the shakedown cruise for this first phase of the layout.

A short video at the end of this update.  I will not win any awards for cinematography.

The wayward Santa Fe war bonnet is from Dick Wegner's collection.  I may need to change the name of the railroad and add Santa Fe at the end.

Spent most of the week checking and adjusting coupler heights, wheel gauge and weight and then repeatedly running the cars forward and reverse at varying speeds to find and resolve quite a number of issues.  Got through 202 out of 252 freight cars I have which should be more than enough for a mini-operating session when we resume our get togethers.

Starting tomorrow I will work on the passenger cars.  Then off to finalizing the design of the remainder of the upper level.

Testing out the 24 DCC equipped locos since most of them were laying boxes for many years.

Interesting results:

1 that totally lost its DCC mind but will run on DC.  Needs a manual reset but I will have to get to the decoder by opening the tender

2 that cannot reset CV's 3 and 4 for momentum.  They take up to 20 feet to stop.  These are 20 year old Rivarrosi's with Arnold decoders which will be changed out

1 that needs the tender to be dis-assembled and re-assembled since the frame is not seated in the chassis.  This is out of the box but also out of warranty.

1 has chuffing sounds fade out when it gets up to speed

1 that needs weight added over the drivers so it will pull more that 7 cars

1 that needs weight added to the tender

Here's the video.  New York Central 4-6-4 Hudson pulling into Fuhgeddaboudit Yard with several heavyweights behind.  Santa Fe passenger train on the mainline and a pair of Pennsy Centipedes hauling a long string of express and refrigerator cars.

I added about 20 feet to the upper level that extends the dual track mainline from the arrival and departure tracks of Fuhgeddaboudit Yard.

A branch line splits from the main and will eventually be extended to a coal mine and a couple of industrial areas on the upper level.  The main will begin its descent to the lower level.

A few short videos.  Pennsy 6-8-6 steam turbine #6200 moving from right to left leaving the yard and entering the main.  UP 4-12-2 #9019 entering the yard from the main.  Also a pan of the yard with the classification tracks along the wall and the loco servicing area in front.

In case any of you notice my temporary power distribution wiring I modelled it after wiring I saw in Havana, Cuba last year.  See the photo of the typical Havana building power entrance wiring at the end of this update.

Oops!!!!

That is the title for this blog update.  I could also call it "Improve Your Planning".  Look at the two pics below and you will understand.

During my initial layout of the trackwork it looked like the turnout throw bars would not be over any of the support joists and interfere with the mounting of the turnout motors.

In laying the final trackwork a little adjustment here and there has placed several over the joists or too close to be able to mount the motors.

It looks like I can safely move one joist but I will need to use the offset mounts in at least four locations and will need to surface mount a motor in another location.  Fortunately the surface mounted one will be in a good location for a small building.

The rest of my benchwork will not be as fortified and not interfere with anything under the layout.

Since my plan was to use DCC Concepts Cobalt turnout motors in most locations I would still have sufficient clearance to mount them over the joists.  The Cobalt is about 2/3 the size of a Tortoise and has the quick disconnect wire connectors incorporated.

Well, the Cobalts are all out of stock since parts for them come from China so I need to use Tortoises for now.  The cost of the Tortoise is about $4 to $6 each more than the Cobalt if you include the cost of an Acculites or another type wiring connector.

In the pics the spot of light is shining down from the throw bar hole and hitting the joist.

Some additional progress on Fuhgeddaboudit Yard.  Finished laying tracks in the locomotive servicing area along with weathering and installing the bases of three of the yard's servicing areas - ash pit, coal tipple and diesel servicing.

In a major brain dead senior moment I misplaced and cannot find the base for the two bay car shop.  Sheet styrene will be used to replace it.

Built an ascending / descending ramp for the coal delivery to the tipple using Woodland Scenics preformed 2% incline / decline set and 1/2" riser set along with plaster cloth.  Using the Woodland Scenics products was a lot easier than scratch building plus I have enough left over for two additional incline / decline areas.

Next is the power distribution for the four locomotive servicing tracks.  I will be using the switches in the turnout motors to turn power on only to the track designated by the yard master.

A few snapshots below of the locomotive servicing area.  Any structures you see are from Dick Wegner's finely detailed layout.

Overall view of the yard.  Loco servicing on left and classification yard on right.

Locomotive servicing area

Yup, lousy job in Photoshop covering up the junk behind the layout in the photo above.

Since turnout motors are back ordered I plan to start work adding two 8 feet long x 2 feet wide sections to lengthen the mainline, add sidings for the coal mine and a bridge over what will be a canal.

Reverse loop through Fuhgeddaboudit Yard is in, powered and tested using a PSX-AR autoreverser.  Most likely I will change the two PSX-AR autoreversers for the yard and mainline loops to a two port Frog-AR which cuts the cost per autoreverse loop about in half.

The mainline loop will not have a high current load since the maximum number of locos on the loop at any one time may be three.  The yard loop will have a higher power requirement with up to five or six locos.  Assuming two yard switchers sorting cars plus three or four road engines moving in and out of the servicing area.

I plan to use the switches in the turnout motors to turn power off and on to individual tracks in the loco servicing area.  The two switches in the Circuitron Tortoises have a maximum current rating of one amp and I will use one for powering the turnout frog so I cannot run a parallel electrical path through both switches.  The DCC Concepts Cobalts have two switches and each switch is rated at five amps so I will be able to use one of the switches to turn power on and off to individual tracks and the other switch for the frog.  Problem is that the Cobalts are out of stock due to some parts coming from China.  I will be calling DCC Concepts (UK company) tomorrow to get and update.

DCC Concepts also has some interesting control systems for turnouts that I am looking into.

Well, so much for the boring stuff.  I did get a Big Boy and DD-40 consist going.  Just took a while to speed match them.  Low quality iPhone video below.

Quick video of the progress below.

The track for the first reverse loop through Fuhgeddaboudit Yard is down and I expect to have it powered and tested by midweek.  Fingers crossed.

This loop includes the classification yard ladder and engine servicing area.  These tracks loop from the arrival track through the classification yard and engine servicing area back to the departure track where there is access to the mainline.

Yup, that is a UP Big Boy on the arrival track with a string of NY Central Pacemaker box cars and a NYC caboose behind it.  Hey, it's my railroad.

All that sound is coming from the SD-7 / DD-40 consist.  I will be turning the volume down very low on all sound equipped locos.  An op session may have 2 or 3 yard switchers, several engines on the mainline and a couple on the branch.  I am not supplying ear plugs.

April 16, 2020

Currently laying track for the second reverse loop which is Fuhgeddaboudit Yard.  This yard is configured as a large loop inside the mainline loop.

Road engines will enter the yard via a long arrival siding and cutoff from their trailing cars.  The road engine will proceed around the classification yard to the locomotive servicing area while the yard engine sorts the recently arrived cars.

The classification yard has long leads at each end plus a runaround track at each end to aid the yard crew in sorting.

Departing trains are pushed onto the long departure siding where the road engine can wait and then back up to pick up its train.  From the departure siding the train enters the mainline.

I am working out the power distribution for this yard.

Update on the testing of the auto reverse units.

The MRC AD520 and the DCC Specialties Frog-AR are powered by the track buss in the same power block as the mainline buss that is connected to the reverse loop.  I use a DCC Specialties PSX as the circuit breaker on the mainline.


1.  MRC AD520 - $33.81 at Blue Ridge Hobbies

Very easy to set up.  Two red wires to the mainline and two yellow wires to the reversing section.  No options or adjustments to set.
Wires are approximately 22 AWG and do not have connectors.  The wires need to be stripped and spliced to the mainline and reverse loop busses.

Results of test:  Worked initially but became intermittent.  Several retests with the same results.  I plan to retest again.


2.  DCC Specialties Frog-AR - $49.95 at Tony's Train Exchange

Can be configured to power four turnout frogs, or two turnout frogs and one reverse loop or two reverse loops.  Has adjustable trip current independent of the circuit breaker for the block it is in.

Requires wire jumpers soldered to the pc board to configure for reverse loops.  Also requires wire jumpers soldered to the pc board to change trip current from one amp to up to four amps.
Must be used within the same block powering the mainline and frogs or reverse loops.  Input power is off the mainline buss.

Screw down terminals for input power from mainline block and four screw down terminals for wiring to frogs and / or reverse loops.  One wire for each frog and two wires required for each reverse loop. 

Worked well without stalling or hesitation.  Ran a two diesel consist into and out of reverse loop and also had another diesel enter reverse loop while first consist was in loop without any stalling or hesitation.



3.  DCC Specialties PSX-AR - I had these sitting on the shelf since 2013.
Current cost is $53.95 at Tony's Train Exchange


This is a combination circuit breaker and auto reverser.  Set up is similar to the standard PSX with push pin jumpers to set trip current at one of four settings - 1.27, 3.81, 6.35 or 8.81 amps.  Screw down terminals for input power from booster and for output terminals for reverse loop.

Test results the same as the Frog-AR.

I plan to use this device to power Fuhgeddaboudit Yard (upper level yard) which is a large multitrack reverse loop incorporating a freight classification yard and locomotive servicing area.

This device has many features that I will not use so it is overkill for this application.  In testing I found that 3.81 amp trip current setting will handle five sound equipped locomotives at startup.  Since this is a yard there may be that many powering up although I plan to use the switches within the turnout motors to control on / off power to various tracks limiting the number of locos in the servicing area firing up simultaneously.  The classification yard will always be powered.

As I wrote previously I am naming locations on my model railroad after neighborhoods in Brooklyn, NY.  I grew up in the Gravesend neighborhood which was one of the original 17th century Dutch settlements on the western end of Long Island.

Since we are locked in at home I was cruising the TV with my remote when I came upon a four episode mini-series on Amazon Prime titled "Gravesend".  As it turns out the producer, who is also the lead actor, is from Gravesend and the series was shot mostly in the old neighborhood.  If it gets traction there will more episodes.

The story line centers around a soldier in a ficticious ethnic fraternal organization whose members all have last names that end in a vowel.  The real last names of most of the actors and actresses in the show also end in a vowel.  Hmmmm.

If you decide to watch this show just know that it is not an uplifitng experience and the characters have as many redeeming qualities as the characters that were in the Sopranos.  Basically a bunch of thugs.

Now for the model railroad update:
Ran into shorting and stalling problems testing the MRC AD520 and DCC Specialties Frog-AR auto reversers.  I will be going through all the wiring and step-by-step tomorrow to try to figure this out.  I will have several reverse loops so functioning auto reversers are a must have.

As it turns out I should have read the old hand written notes I made on the Arnold decoder instructions that came with these Rivarossi units.  This decoder is 20 years old and can only use a two digit address for the locomotive.

Except when it cannot.

I use a loco’s road number as the address and the road numbers of these two are 4008 and 4010.  For this decoder I used just the last two digits of each so I set the addresses as 08 and 10.  Well the Arnold decoder likes the 10 but will not accept a leading zero as in 08.  So the address of 4008 is just 8.

Long story short- I will eventually change out the decoders in these two locos.

Made some additional test runs today with the DC locos and found four that would not run.  Opened them up and cranked the flywheel around a few times and they ran.  In general most were fairly noisy and will need cleaning and lubrication prior to being decoder equipped and placed into service.

I forgot how noisy the old Athearn Blue Box Specials were.

A short video of one of the test runs.  Three Bachmann Spectrum DDA-40 Centennials.  Six motors turning 48 wheels.  No problem climbing the 2% grade that will be on the finished layout.
I could not find any prototype photos of Union Pacific consisting multiple Centennials.  The photos I did find had them in a consist with one or more six axle road engines.

I finished the mainline test of my DCC equipped locos.

Out of the 23 DCC equipped locos three have either completely or partially lost their minds while sitting idle for a long time.  Sound human??

Two of the three are 20 year old Rivarossi's with Arnold decoders.  One does not run at all on DCC but I will fire up a DC power pack and test it with DC.  The other is being stubborn and will not accept changes to CV's as listed in the original manual that came with the locomotive.  It runs but there is so much momentum cranked in it takes about 20 feet of track to stop.

The other is a Broadway Limited Pennsy T-1 duplex.  It would not take commands when I first powered it up then ran ok after a reset using CV 8.  Ran for a while and then stopped.  Light stays on but will not reset or take commands.  I will be doing a manual reset as in the DCC instructions but I will need to get into the tender.

Anyway, I did test a freight train behind an Athearn Genesis Big Boy.  Tracked well at varying speeds in forward and reverse.

I did make a couple of repairs to the freight cars that have been sitting in boxes.  How does something break sitting in a box?  Maybe due to being moved seven times over the past 20 years.

First run on this section of powered mainline.

Woo-hoo.  Only took two and a half years to get here.

Not exactly a golden spike moment.  Well, maybe half a rusty HO track nail moment.

Starting with the DCC decoder equipped locos.  Four axle diesels first and progressed up to eight axle units.  Ran forward, backward and at varying speeds and no derailments.

Today I will be testing the DCC equipped steam first and then switching over to DC power to test the locos without decoders.

Then adding freight and passenger cars behind the locos and repeating the testing.

Since the curve radius ranges from 33" to 45"  most of the locos looked good coming around the curves.

The one diesel that looked a bit awkward coming around the curves was the Pennsylvania Railroad Centipede from Broadway Limited.  It looks like this is due to the model being designed with two very long front and rear bolsters.  On each bolster there is the four axle power truck plus the two axle idler truck.  A 100" radius may make these look good.

A few pics from two weeks ago.

This section of the mainline laid down (about 40% of upper level mainline).  It starts as a double track along the long wall on the left and loops around Fuhgeddaboudit Yard on the right.

The yard's arrival and departure tracks connect to the mainline along the long wall on left.  This creates a long siding up to the yard entrance and exit along the wall with the windows.  This should help keep the main clear when traffic starts to backup.

Yes, that is 3/8" threaded rod coming down from the ceiling joists to support the deep overhang.  I just need a couple of smoke stacks to disguise them.

I am using sheet cork roadbed in the areas where there will be a ladder or servicing.  Otherwise strip cork roadbed.

Cork roadbed and track held down with Dap latex caulk.  Except for turnouts which are not secured to the cork.  Since turnouts are usually the part of the trackwork that may require removal, repair or replacement I am not securing them directly to the roadbed.  If necessary I will be able to slide the rail joiners back, remove wiring from the rails and lift them out.

Another look back.  This time to Feb. 12, 2019

Expansion of Gravesend Yard to include a passenger station and coach yard.  Still test fitting on cardboard.

A look back to Oct. 31, 2018

Test fit of the lower level yard (Gravesend Yard).

I laid cardboard over the framing to act as temporary roadbed and used metal T-pins, that I purchased at an office supply store, to hold the track in place on the cardboard.

The colored construction paper is the footprint of structures and provides a good guide for laying track in a crowded yard.

A little layout status update

I started laying track for the mainline for a section of the upper level.  I had expected to complete laying track, dropping feeders, running the track buss and testing by the middle of this week.

Well there are expectations and there is reality.  I may have the track laying complete by mid week.  Then add the feeders and buss to be ready for testing by next weekend.

I was scheduled to host this coming Thursday.  Since our get togethers are on hold it looks like I will be having all the fun alone.

By testing I mean running all my locos.  DCC locos first and then switching power to a power pack and testing the DC locos.  Forward, reverse, slow, medium and fast.  Then add cars and repeat.

Oh, oh I just did a count of my locos.  Turns out I have 23 DCC equipped and 48 DC locos.  I must have had a lot of senior moments since I do not remember when I bought all this stuff.  I guess I blacked out and wound up at train shows.

March 22, 2020

Fuhgeddaboudit

A very useful Brooklyn word that can be used in a positive or negative context.

Examples:
1.  Luigi's Restaurant has the best linguini with clam sauce.  Fuhgeddaboudit if you think you can find any better.
2.  He is dumber than a rock.  Fuhgeddaboudit if you there is anyone dumber.

The Fuhgeddaboudit sign

This is a sign along the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn at the exit that leads to the Verrazano Bridge between the Borough of Brooklyn and Borough of Staten Island.

I note "Borough" since Brooklyn is one of the five boroughs of NY City.  At one time the sign read "You Are Now Leaving Brooklyn Fourth Largest City in America".

The City of Philadelphia took exception to this.  You know Philadelphia, city of brotherly love, home of the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall and a football team we New Yorkers fondly call the Filthydelphia Beagles.

The City of Philadelphia filed a lawsuit against the Borough of Brooklyn demanding that the sign come down since Philly was officially the fourth largest city and Brooklyn was just a lowly borough.  Anyway Philly won so the sign had to change to something unique.

Some more Brooklyn signs

So now I am thinking about names for businesses on the layout.  "How Sweet It Is Candy Company" and The "Oy Vey! Coal Mine".

I forgot to mention how I came up with the name for the railroad.

Originally I planned to model the New York Central Water Level Route.  If you are familiar with NY Central motive power you would probably consider it fairly mundane except for the 4-6-4 Hudson and the big 4-8-4 Niagara.  At one time they had a triplex but that was a one off.

The Pennsylvania Railroad had some unique steam power with their duplexes and a big steam turbine.  In the late sixties the NY Central and the Pennsy merged to form the PennCentral which eventually met its demise and became part of Conrail and Amtrak.

One day I was reading through a copy of Great Model Railroads and saw an article about a Union Pacific layout that spanned the 1930's to the late 1960's.  The UP had some truly unique steam and diesel power.

So now I decide that I would freelance a railroad spanning 1930's to 1969 based on a fictitious merger between the NY Central, the Pennsy and the UP.  I could run Niagaras and Hudsons pulling passenger trains and duplexes, Big Boys, eight axle diesels, gas turbines and a steam turbine pulling heavy freight.

The catch is that none of this will run or look good on curves smaller than about a 30 inch radius.  So my layout needed a minimum radius curve of 36 inches on the main line.

So now I have to build a model that spans a continent.  Lots of scenic opportunities but little reality.

Well hey, its my railroad.  Who needs locations like New York, Cheyenne, Los Angeles, Sherman Hill and Horseshoe Bend?  I certainly do not.

Locations will include Gravesend, Fort Green, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Flatbush, Bay Ridge and Fuhgeddaboudit (I will explain Fuhgeddaboudit in another post).  These are all names of neighborhoods in Brooklyn, New York where I grew up.  Except for Fuhgeddaboudit.

Hey, its my railroad.

March 19, 2020

A little advice when building a model railroad - get help.

This is a major undertaking and given my age I have one shot to get it right.  I will not be tearing it out in 15 years and starting over.

At an NMRA Gateway Division meeting I met Dale DeWitt who I recognized from a meeting of the local camera club.  Dale is a member of a group calling themselves The Gandy Dancers. The Gandy Dancers have been meeting weekly for many years at the members homes.

Note to all - Explain the term Gandy Dancer to your spouse before you receive an e-mail with Gandy Dancer in the title.  Wife envisioning me at a topless bar and getting e-mails from the dancers.

One of the Gandy Dancers members, Tom McKenzie, developed the initial layout design after he and I discussed my givens and druthers.

Over the past two years this group has been my brain trust and has provided quite a bit of guidance and physical labor in building the railroad.  I learned what worked for them and what did not work.  Why duplicate what did not work for someone else when you can have more fun creating your own problems.

Below are a few pics from May, 2018  This is the beginning of the construction of the framing on one side of the room for the upper and lower levels.

The long peninsula in the middle was for the lower level stub yard.  That has been moved to the wall on the left and is now a through yard.

 

March 19, 2020

Starting Point January 8, 2018

We moved into our house on Dec. 31, 2016.  The house had a very large unfinished basement in which I could build my empire.  Additionally the HVAC systems and water heaters were set along a side wall and not centrally located as in most houses.  Lousy for heating, cooling and waiting for the hot water to get where you want it but great for a model railroad.

My wife is a photographer and needed a studio and the basement was the perfect location for one.  It also is a walkout with direct access to the gardens behind our house.

After space negotiations we divided up the basement between photo studio, train room and a combination photo client reception area and train crew lounge.

By the end of 2017 the basement was finished and I could start work on the railroad.  A few pics of the room on Jan. 8, 2018.  Long and narrow - 14 ft. x 41 ft.  Note the multiple waste pipes that must be turned into scenic elements.

This last image shows the "rotisserie".  I got this idea from a Model Railroad Hobbyist Magazine online post.  If I built the railroad in sections and mounted the sections on the rotisserie I could minimize time under the layout.  By rotating the section I could work on top and bottom sitting or standing.

March 18, 2020

I should start this blog off with a question that I have been asking myself.

Why would a 71 year old man want to start a multi-decade project?

I started asking myself that question two years ago when I first launched this model railroad construction project.  I have come up with several answers that read like the answers to a multiple choice question.  There are no wrong answers.

A.  I believe I have an abundance of longevity genes.
B.  It is something I have wanted to do since I was a kid.
C.  I have finally negotiated to obtain space from "The Management".
D.  I need to do something with all that stuff I have been collecting for the last 25 years.
E.  "The Management" has told me I need to do something with all that stuff I have been collecting for the last 25 years.

"The Management" (a.k.a. wonderful wife) has actually been quite understanding through all this and encouraged me to go for it.

I have images from the start of construction in early 2018 that I will start posting along with descriptions of the progress.