Layout Construction – April 2010

April was a tough month, with federal taxes and licensing for two vehicles due, there was not a lot of money left for fun. I had enough projects to get through the month without having to spend any money.

I had been working on the designs for the Lewistown station that I will eventually scratch build. It seemed like a perfect time to print out the drawings and create a mockup of the building and see how it looked on the layout. Click here to see the actual photos from an earlier post.



This also gave me the opportunity to build three building kits that I had purchased months ago. The stack yard and grain elevator will be located in Denton (Click for map). The grain bin will be part of a set to be located in Geraldine.



I also spent some time working out a 3D model of the helix that connects the lower and upper levels of the layout. The 3D model allowed me to finalize the design of the supporting structure for the helix and the swing bridges.



A close-up view of the helix and a view from the lower level heading across the bridge towards the helix.



Another view with the helix cover in place (brown panels). Are you wondering how you get out of the room with track blocking the door? The last photo should answer that question. The swing bridges have moved out of the way for the door to open.

Layout Construction – March 2010

March 11, 2010
I built the first switches for Denton. These are the east side of town from Lewistown. I also painted the foam creek bed to check the surface for imperfections from covering up the crack in the benchwork. After that had been completed I tested the bridge placement over the creek bed.

 

Next I built the removable staging for Lewistown. The staging must be removable to allow access to the short door (in the background) which leads to the crawl space/storage area under the house. In these pictures I have used various things (table, paint can, box) to test the height of the staging track. The track on the staging extension is not permanent.

March 17, 2010
The Denton area is now starting to take shape. The switches have been installed and a length of track laid on the mainline.

Here the track over the bridge has been added to complete the curve to Denton. The other photo is a test of a run over the new bridge track.

March 26, 2010
Now it is time to finish the Lewistown staging tracks. A fascia board was installed to create an area for one end of the staging table to rest on. The table is a 1” x 6” with two 1” x 2” boards for support. The small blocks allow for correct alignment of the table. On the opposite end, I added a 1” x 2” cross ways and small blocks on each wall for support. This setup allows for light weight construction and good support.

Now came the problem of how to get electrical to the staging table without a complicated connection. The answer was found while walking around Lowes looking for ideas. I had extra AC wall cables from the under-cabinet lights that I bought. Why not use those and plug the power into an AC outlet. For the outlets I used screw in light socket connectors. I removed the outside threaded cover and soldered the wires directly to brass tabs. All that was needed was to drill a round hole in the wood and glue the connector in the hole. BINGO! problem solved. As an added bonus the the plug and outlet have one side enlarged for polarization so the correct connection will always be made.

March 28, 2010
Here the final connections have been made between the benchwork and staging table. The bus bar has short wires on the top to distribute power to the addition connections. Now when it is time to get to the storage area under the house it will be a simple process of unplugging the cable and removing the table staging table.

At this point, all I needed to do was add roadbed and track. Viola! instant staging for the railroad. Well, maybe not instant.

And now for your viewing pleasure. . . . . a couple of videos!

Hostlers Railroad Festival – March 6, 2010

We attended the 21st Annual Hostlers Model Railroad Festival at the Union station in Ogden Utah. This is the largest show in the area. Always a fun event. Of particular interest was the ever changing Z scale layout in the last three photos.

We searched the vendors and various sellers for those hard to find items. Below are the items picked up at this show. A special thanks to my search team for their hard work.

 

Layout Construction – February 2010

February 13, 2010
I got ahead of myself with construction of the track. I was so excited to test the new DCC (Digital Command Control) system that I did follow the track plan. A crossover in the mainline to access an industrial siding was left out. These photos show the removing of the track and two switches installed for the crossover. I also installed some Caboose Industries ground throw mechanisms to control the switch points.

Now that the crossover is installed it was an easy step to complete the passing siding for Lewistown.

February 17, 2010
Now it was time to move on to the “End of the line” to continue the mainline to Denton. This required cutting the foam board to create a creek bed. Abridge that I purchased for an old layout will be used to span the creek. It was a surprise to find the gap in the sub-board after removing the foam. I will have to fix this before making the creek bed.

February 27, 20010
I installed the rest of the foam board for the Geraldine and Denton town areas in preparation for adding new track. The town of Denton will be the next extension of the mainline. The top right photo shows the road bed being installed in Denton. While installing the roadbed, I worked on the large crack in creek bed. I added small strips of foam to fill in the crack and then added several coats joint compound to create a smooth surface.

Here is a short video with the new passing track installed. This gave me a chance to test the DCC system with two locomotives running at the same time.