A New Family - December 2011

The Utah Society of Railroad Modelers
While attending the Wasatch Rails 2011 show in November, I attended several clinics put on by the Utah Society of Railroad Modelers. The clinics were enjoyable and very informative. Part of the clinic included a recruiting message from the organization. I have been a “lone wolf” modeler for a long time. This fairly new organization looked like it had a lot to offer to somebody like me. The one thing that peaked my interest more than anything was how the “club” was organized. This is what I call a “non-club” club. What I mean by that is, there are no club dues (You need to join the National Model Railroad Association after three meeting), there are no club officers (Just a Chief Instigator and his assistant instigators), all positions within the club are volunteer and not elected. I have belonged to clubs in the past that became riffed with politics. This really takes away from the enjoyment of a hobby, something that is suppose to be fun.

My contribution to the group so far is helping to design a new logo. We needed something that was representational of a Utah club. After many possible ideas, a small group was chosen to be voted by the group. This is new winning design.

Layout Construction
With activities in the new club, work and the Christmas season, not much work was completed on the layout. I continued to the work on Red Coulee bridge. The bridge supports are very time consuming and I’m going slowly to try and do it right the first time.

Videos
I take the time to complete a few videos of layout. The first one is from a spy camera at the front of the train. I built a special car to hold the camera.

On board video

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This next video was shot in high definition with my camera phone. It is a Motorola Atrix 2 with 1080 video on board. Enjoy!

High–Def layout view.

Layout Construction–November 2010

Helix Construction
The next step in construction was to complete the helix to the top level. After cutting the circle for each level, construction continued with drilling holes for 1/4” threaded rods. These rods will allow the adjustment of each level to gain the proper height in each turn of the helix. The 1/4” particle board turn is held in place with a washer and nut from both the top and bottom.

To make the transition from the helix to the upper level easier, I applied roadbed to the last piece. This piece was lowered to the level of the previous curve. By adjusting the nuts this allowed a smooth continuation of the track surface.

Here is a video of the test run of the helix.

A special video for our fans

Thought I would throw together a special video for our fans in California. Hopefully this won’t drive “Mom” nuts, again.

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!

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.

Layout Construction – January 2009

Gotta Run Some Trains
With a new DCC system waiting to be tested, I proceeded with getting track down as soon as possible. These photos show the progress so far.

 

Here is a short video of the first test run of the new track.

I also took sometime to begin working on the large bridge at middle of the layout. Click here to view the blog entry where I discussed the bridge.