Great Northern railway

New Delivery.

Got these off ebay from same vendor: 8 bucks each; with shipping about 12 bucks.

Steam locomotives a classic from well know writer Linn Westcott.  This and 100 years of steam has lots of steam drawings and pictures and list just about every wheel combo.   The Westcott has about 25 pages describing all the parts of a steam engine and how they work: great for scratch building or for just pure knowledge.   The PRR is a paper back with lots of pictures from Philly to Pittsburgh.

Got some more decoders totaling 11 more engines that I can convert.   I use the 1617's WOW steam with keep alive in all engines that get decoders.

New folding table 2'X4' from HD for books and railroaders when they bring their engines to run on the layout.

Planning stage of putting in a new staging track.

Presently, I want to install a new turnout along the passenger tracks at the back of the Seattle's yard and run it into the next room and install an 8 or 9 track staging yard.  I've got way too many cars and engines to fit on the layout and this would allow a lot of interchange engines to reside there.

pictures:

I'm not sure why I did this 40 years ago, but I'm glad I did.

I have no idea why I made this section removable but, without it being removed, it would have been difficult to easily install the new turnout and track.  A 2'X8' section of scenery made of 1X2 framing is very light and my neighbor helped me remove it.

There is a 4" space to the left of the passenger tracks so plenty of room for the new track.

The spare room is about 10'X10'.  I'll cut a hole in the paneling and put a wall braced table along both walls.  The new table is 3' high so there is plenty of room between it and the upper tracks that now reside there.

The backside wall.  I plan on putting two 3 way turnouts at the throat of the yard and branch into 8 or 9 tracks.  The two 3-track turnouts will allow a lot more storage space.   The 2nd 3-way will be connected to the center section of the 1st 3-way. The width of the table being only about 20" so still easy viewing and access to the upper part of the layout.  The minimum radius is 48" so I'll make the turn in the corner 48", also. The tracks will dead end at the wall to the right.  Will probably need some escape tracks at the end for engines but, then again, maybe not as this will be a start/finish staging yard.  Once an ops is done, I can put the engines back up front.  With the staging yard, several trains will be able to transverse the mainline and go to the upper 3 track staging yard and vise versa.  Trains leaving this 3 track area, or the St. Paul yard, can be destine for the lower staging yard. 

The entire layout is all hand laid track and switches.  I'm lazy in my old age and will be using ready made track.  Looks like I can use Shinohara 3-way turnouts (which are #6's) and a couple #6 turnouts for addition storage tracks.  Two extra turnouts would give me 7 staging tracks.  Of course 2 more turnouts would give me 9.  Still deciding on this to keep width of table as narrow as possible. #6 turnouts are equivalent to 43" curves so that should be sufficient for my large steam engines. #8's are equivalent to 67" but 'eat up' more storage space'. The rest of the yard will just be 3' flex track.  I'll use just the manual throws by caboose hobbies.  DCC is standard.  I'm hoping these turnouts are like my hand made in that  only one feed will be needed at the throat and 'juice' will be fed to the desired track when the turnouts are aligned.  

Any suggestions are welcomed.

Last year, I bought a bunch of tunnel portals and wanted to install one at this location.  With the section of scenery removed, I can now, easily, install the portal. 

Sam thats quite the adventures move! I cant wait to see the in project pictures! I bet its going to look great!

Thanks, Mike.

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Staging yard (cont)

Prep:

Used a putty knife to clean up the gravel area plus removed the trees.  Fortunately, I didn't glue the gravel down very good and it, easily, came off the homosote. 

After.

I was going to put a new turnout farther up the yard by the other turnouts but too much work.  I'll make a new #10 and insert it just after the end of the road.  With about an 8' radius, it's best to insert a homemade turnout in that area.  The rest of the staging yard will be all 'processed' turnouts.

Another nice surprise: the end mountain was, also, just 'sitting' in place and came out very easily. 

I'll be cutting another hole in the paneling just below the present hole and I'll lay the new ply/homosote  next to the existing table for about 32" so I can run the new track to about 10" from the wall.

A railroad friend of mine has a lot of track and turnouts that he wants to sell.  He has Shinohara and Peco turnouts and atlas flex track.  The Peco turnouts were nice, especially the locking points system and they don't have a lot of extra rail at both ends so they can be put close together to save on space.  Putting them over the Shinohara turnouts showed them to be a tighter radius than I wanted.  He had three sizes of Peco and the largest was still a smaller turnout # than the Shinohara #6's.  Too small of a turnout for my large steam engines. 

All the track that I bought, today.

I need about 50 pieces of 3' flex track.  This is all Atlas.

I've gotten suggestions and am using a little bit of everyone's ideas.  I'm using two 3-way turnouts at the beginning of the throat.   Next on the outsides are two #8 turnouts.  I think a Y turnout will work in the last center track of the 3-way.  And the last two turnouts are #6's: Sharper than the #8's but, since they are the last turnouts in the yard, they should work well.

The yard throat will 'eat up' about 5' but the spare room is more like 14'X14' instead of 10'X10'.

Presently, I going to have 9 tracks and they should be about 22' long so good enough to handle the 25-45 car trains that I like to run.

I also got some turnouts at the end of the yard for engine escape tracks, if I should need them.

This fibrous material is what I used to use instead of homosote.  This stuff was put on the sides of new houses 40 years ago and is no longer made.

I went to Menard's to get the needed materials.  The original ply and fibrous material was exactly 1/2" thick, each.  The new ply is less than a 1/2" but I picked out homosote that was a little thicker than 1/2" so it comes out to be 1" thick, total.  Fortunately, someone told me that the homosote's thickness is not consistent so I found 2 that were thicker than the others.

Homosote and ply cut 20" wide on the table saw.  This will handle 9 tracks spaced 2" apart.  

It's difficult to find 1"X2" nice, straight pine boards so I bought 12" wide ones and ripped them down to 2" widths.

Ten 8 footers should be enough to frame up the tables.

A couple two by fours to make angle bracing from wall to table.

Ply and homosote are ready to be glued and nailed.  Will have to wait as I've got 3 days of RC plane meets, starting tomorrow. 

That’s great!

WOW Sam, your not wasting any time! Going to be a huge improvement to your layout!

Thanks, guys.  

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Staging yard (cont)

Got back from the RC meet and did some work.

Construction started:

Transition piece from original layout to staging yard.  Glued and nailed 1X2 stringers to ply and then homosote on top.

bottom side.

Dry fit.  This piece rests on the original 1"X4" supports. 

I used a Fein hand oscillating cutter to enlarge the hole in the paneling. 

8'X20": glued and nailed stringers to ply and homosote glued/nailed to ply.  Stringers every 2'.  The outside stringer is 2" from the edge 1) in case I want to make it narrower and 2) should aid in securing ends to each other. 

Dry fit.  Put some LED lights in upper layout's supporting structure. 
The staging is 9" below the upper level: a little close but should be OK.  As with my other yards, this one will, also, have a slight slope to it to aid in backing a large string of cars.

The track will be S shaped to connect to the original layout.

You know Sam, at the rate your going, you will have engines and cars parked there by tomorrow!

Mikes, sounds like a good plan to me!

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Staging (cont)

Table construction:

This morning at 6 AM, got some work done before going to my next RC plane flyin.

One more 8'X20" table assembled.

Track guide lines added.

Looks great, Sam

Thanks, Mark.

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New delivery:

This is the 3rd set of diesels that I have and, probably, the last.  There are a few I consider iconic: E1's, PA's and these centipedes. 

I pre-ordered these but BLI cancelled the 2nd run due to insufficient orders but I located a brand new set on ebay.  I believe they were made in 2018.

Both are powered and each has 32 powered wheels plus the lead/trailing trucks so they should pull just about any train length.   They are very nicely detailed.

Have lighted headlight, number boards and marker lights.

Lighted cab with crew.

Nice truck detail.

Paint is crisp.  I've painted a lot of engines but getting all those lines straight would be difficult for me.

Each unit is just over a foot long.

Staging yard (cont)

Table construction.

Building the corner modules.

Framing.  Both are separate modules.

Triangular piece for the curves.

Also a modular section.

Ply and homosote glued down and modules screwed together. 

The large piece of ply to the right was used to create the curves using a nail and tape measure.

Radius from minimum of 48" to 64".  I use 2" spacing between tracks.  On the Seattle yard where it is built on an 8' curve, no problem.  I don't thing there will be but I'll have to put a big boy on the curve and see if any problems.

Modules carried to the basement.  Everything screws together.  The  track doesn't reach the hole in the corner so I left it open for ease of access.

Right side.

Left side.

Looks great, Sam!!

Nice work Sam, you will be staging trains there in no time!

Thanks, Mark and Mike.

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Construction tables (cont)

Installed all the tables. Took a good 6 hours.  Walls  in the basement aren't real straight.  I accounted about a 1/2" for slop but needed some more.

Main staging throat.

Laid out some track and it appears the length will be from 15' to 20' for the nine staging tracks.  Going with the 15' that should give me a storage capacity of about 270 cars (figuring 6" a car).  That should work out about right and relieve the two main yards that are close to full capacity plus more space for engines that are sitting on a table. 

Corner modules.

Back wall.

Will put in some escape tracks.

LED strip lighting taped to some PVC outside corner trim.

Angle bracing. 

When screwing back of module to  wall studs, I used wood shims for where the table wasn't flush with the wall.

Staging yard construction (cont)

Track laying.

YEP, still takes 45 minutes!

The transition from the original track to the staging track requires a hand made turnout due to an 8' radius on the original track.

Been making 'em like this since the 70's.

Ink template of a #10 turnout.  A #10 is about 2" longer than a #8.

Grind frog rails and spike them down on the template insuring good transition from closure rails to frog rails.

Lots of solder and a weller 140 watt gun.

One hack saw blade to make initial clean out of the frog and NMRA gauge to make the final profile.

Points ground on a grinder.

Outside edge needs to be rounded over to fit against the stock rails. 

Inside top edge get a slight bevel, top and side.

Point rails will remain solid (not cut): I see some of the manufacturers are starting to sell them this way.

My grinder.  Been using it since the 70's (decade and me!) and my dad used it in the 50's.  Back then you bought a grinder and provided your own motor.  Back then, can't beat when people threw out old washing machines or dryers!

Visit to Carillon Park in Dayton, Ohio.

Very impressive.  Shows the great abundance of top industries and minds of the early/mid 1900's that was in Dayton, IE: Wright brothers, Patterson of NCR, Kettering of Delco, Joseph Desch, etc.  plus train stuff.  They also have riding small gauge trains but not operating on the Monday my daughter and I was there.

New Delivery.

MTH Erie Triplex 2-8-8-8-2.  I'm partial to engines that are usually about 40 years old and need painting but the brass version is about 3 times as expensive as this model so 'cost effective' dominates!  A very nice model that was made in 2010 but is brand new.  It has a cast boiler and tender so very heavy and should pull well.  MTH provides a rubber tire driver if one wishes to replace one of the drivers.  The engine is already painted and has DCC so it saves me a lot of work.   One thing that bugs me is most of the manufacturers of articulates makes the rear drivers swivel but, with 48" curves, it shouldn't be noticeable.   

Brand new.

Still has the foam protectors on the engine.

Nicely detailed.  Besides headlight, also working marker lights (also tender).

Detailed cab and lighted.  All LED's.

A good 'smoker'.  I like this as it's something different.

I picked up this Virginia Triplex a few years ago that's by Westside.

The only other MTH engine that I have is the Milwaukee bipolar and it is pretty cool.  Factory painted, DCC and has remote operating pantographs with motors to operate them.

Was in Louisville, KY for 5 days at an RC flyin but back to work on the layout.

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Staging yard (cont)

Track laying (cont)

Some ties were glued next to the existing track and the #10 turnout was installed.  Nothing fancy on the ties as they are along the back wall and will not be seen at that distance. 

The hand laid track was transitioned to the 3' flex ready track.

An S curve to enter the staging yard.

The two 3-way turnouts are installed.

Caboose hobbies 'hand throws' for the points.  Most of the 'hand throws' are sprung so a straight piece of piano wire was used to connect the points to the 'hand throw'.  The first  'hand throw' was not sprung so I bent the wire for constant tension on the points.

V grooves were cut in the homosote for the piano wires to go under the turnouts to reach far side turnouts. 

Alternating cuts were made in the bottom of the plastic between the ties (one cut on out  side and a gap cut on the inside tie) so the rail can be bent  to make a good transition from turnout to turnout. 

Spikes used to secure track to homosote as well as 'hand throws'. 

WOW Sam, you have been very busy, I would have to say very impressive! I love the hand laid track to make things work! What a great craftsman you are! Keep up the great work!

Thanks, Mike,

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Staging yard (cont)

Track laying (cont)

The center track (track 5) is straight for the two 3-ways so those were easy to align with the straight lines drawn on the homosote.  

In order to get a smooth transition for the near 3 tracks, the 3' flex track were attached to each of the #8 and #6 turnouts and aligned  with the first 3-way turnout. 

The straight is on a 2" center to center.

The curves needed about 2 1/4" for clearance for the worse case scenario: ie big boy passing passenger cars on the curve.  After the curve, the tracks go back to 2" centers. 

I used up all the new atlas flex track (25 pieces).

Dry fitting the remaining flex track, it appears I'll need about 8-10 more pieces of flex track.

Close tolerance. 

Each lead got an insulator on the hot side so trains can be turned off and not continuously tap into the DCC power station. 

Sam, things are really looking great! When your done your going to be able to park a whole fleet there! I really want to thank you for posting all your work!

Staging yard (cont)

Track laying (cont)

Got 7 of the 9 staging tracks secured.

For engine escape tracks, I put in a double cross over for two of the tracks.  The 3rd, 4th and 5th tracks get two #6 RH turnouts and a slip switch.  I'm short one #6 turnout so #5 track will be done, later.   There is 27" past the escape turnouts so even the UP 8500 turbine can access it. 

The last two staging tracks and turnout needs to be done.  I've got enough track for the 8th staging track but not the last, 9th, staging track.   Looks like about 5 more pieces of flex track should 'do it'.  My original estimate is 'spot on': Track #1 is 15' long and track #9 is 18'.  Could use it as a hump yard: I put a box car at the throat and it rolled all the way to the other end.   I just put some foam rubber at the end!  That will be a good, initial test of the 'front end power': if it can't pull the train out of the staging then it won't make the main hill between Skykomish and Tye. 

That's a lot of smooth track laying, Sam!!

Thanks Mark and it goes a lot faster than hand spiking rail on individual wooden ties!

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Staging yard (cont)

Track laying (cont)

Last turnout install on far side.

8th staging track laid and only one section of the 9th as I ran out of track.

Next is electrical.

Big difference between the staging yard throat and Seattle's and St. Paul's yard. Staging yard throat only needs 45" to span to 9 tracks whereas the two mainline yards need 8.5 feet.

I failed to mention tools of the trade.  Both by Xuron: excellent tools.  I had another brand and they don't work nearly as well.  Left one if for driving spikes and it has an indentation to hold spikes.  The right one cuts the rail. The good side is perfectly flat and no distortion of the rail. 

Staging yard (cont)

Plexiglass and electrical:

Had some 1/8" thick plexiglass from an old project of 30, or so, years ago and ripped it into 3" widths.  Some 100 grit sandpaper wrapped around a paint stick to smooth out the edges.

Set the fence the desired distance to, consistently, drill out holes the exact distance from the top, for the attaching screws. 

Plexiglass protector installed.  Large pan head screws used.

Put some along the lead in track as the track is a little close to one corner.

Electrical:

Ran new DCC wires (lamp cord) to a new terminal stripe for the staging yard.

Also, ran wires for circuit breaker (CB) remote reset button (black button on plexiglass).  There is a direct 'line of sight' to the main CB so easy to spot and reset remotely. 

I had two spare CB's.  Local reset buttons to the left of CB.

Staging yard (cont)

Electrical (cont)

DCC power routed through CB.  

SPST toggles installed.  Using the KISS rule.  No need for a fancy control panel: Just put the toggles next to each staging track.

Each track numbered plus an arrow sign should make it pretty clear which toggle controls which track!

The homosote was easy to cut with a utility knife to recess each toggle. 

DCC routed to a terminial strip: Hot wire is connected to all the top screws; the bottom screws will route to each staging track. 

Track #8 wiring was installed and tested.  

Looks like the track connectors are working OK.  I'm use to soldering jumper wires between each rail so we'll see how the connectors work 'over time'.  One track done; won't take long to finish up the others.  The shinohara turnouts are working as I want them to: power to the track that the points are connected to and power off if not thrown to that track.   I'm figuring that the SPST toggles will be 'ON' most of the time since only one track will be powered by way of how the points are thrown but, 'just in case' the toggles have been added for any unforeseen future condition.  

Staging yard (cont)

Electrical (cont)

A few problems with the 3-way Shinohara turnouts.

Going straight through, there was a short at one frog.

I had to put a piece of masking tape to prevent the wheels from touching it.  This happened on both 3-ways to there is a design flaw in them.  

Not related to tracks but I've noticed an annoying problem with LED overhead lights.  They reflect off the rails as 'light and dark' areas and looks unnatural versus other forms of lighting.   It appears to depend on the distance and whether viewed 'in person' or via a picture.  I'm guessing some opaque plastic cover would diffuse the affect.

Using the NMRA track gauge, I found the gauge is about 1/16" too wide at that location.   I may have some problems with a couple engines and cars as they have more scale narrow treads and the trucks may fall off the rail heads.  I'll have to consider on whether to cut the 'spikes' and move the rail over to remedy the problem. 

Got another short on a passenger car but an easy fix: the coupler remotes wire was too long and touching the rail heads. 

Moved the passenger cars into the far staging tracks.  Will be cool to run a 12-15 full size passenger train on the mainline and have space to store them.

Sam, as I have said before, You do just amazing work! It sure looks like its going to be nice to be able to switch trains out on the layout in no time! GREAT WORK!

Looks great, Sam!  Those are some long tracks to store those long trains!

Wow, your work is fantastic. I love following your progress.

Cleveland train show.

Held at Cuyahoga county fairgrounds in Berea, Ohio.

About 215 miles and about 3 hours to get there.

5 buildings used for the train show.

R2D2 was there!  Motorized and remote control.

Lots of layouts.

Large N gauge: about 30' X 30'

Jack from Cincinnati area.

Met my friend of 40 years, or so, Gary.

Booty.

Got all the needed track/turnouts to finish up the staging yard, and 'then some'!

Everything seemed to be for 5 bucks or multiple of it.

6 more flex track: 5 bucks.

Needed another RH #6 and seller had 3 so I bought all 3 for 10 bucks each: brand new, in the box..  Figure another crossover in the staging yard won't hurt.

Very nicely detailed building.  I figure 25 bucks more than the kit price for someone else to finish it is worth my time and I've got a ton of stuff, yet to get done.  

4 sets of CV trucks: 5 bucks each

Telephone poles: 5 bucks.

Smoke fluid: 5 bucks plus 1.

A few extra toggles if needed for the staging yard: 25 cents each.

6 plaster retaining walls: 5 bucks.

nice old, new, in the box bug and trailer: 5 bucks + 2.

And, probably, the best: 3 nut and 3 poppy seed rolls from Becker's bakery.  Cleveland has a rich variety of ethnic groups.

These are a German delicacy: Can only get them in Cleveland.  Surprised I can't find them in Cincinnati with the large German population!

They make stuff the old fashion way: by hand.

Should have asked them if the phone works!

Wow!  I should go sometime.  It’s only 105 miles, about 2 hours  away!  It looks like a great show!

NMRA MCR Div 7 monthly meeting.

After the clinic, we visited two layouts.

John's B&O:

Chuck's D&RGW.

Staging yard (cont)

Got a few things done, this morning.

9th track, and final, track installed.

While connecting juice to the first track, found the ground side of 3-way doesn't conduct electricity. 

Gaps in frog area confirms that. Ran jumper wire under the layout.

Very handy for finding dead/live spots : visual as well as audio. 

You have been really busy!  Those are really great looking layouts!

Staging yard (cont)

Electrical (cont):

Double crossover:

Installed toggles to power the far side tracks (away from the yard throat).

Installed 4 caboose hobbies ground throws.  Drilled/tapped for 00/90 screws to secure ground throw to turnout.

Engine shorts out crossing the center of the double cross over where the drivers bridge over the two center insulated rails. 

Had to install insulators to remedy the short.   The points side will now need some toggles installed to route juice to them. 

Had to cut off the top of the left toggle to insure engines don't hit it. 

With all the turnouts located at the far end of the yard, another CB reset button installed so don't have to walk to the throat end to reset the CB. 

Sam, you sure have been busy, things are sure looking good! With all the work you have done, it make one wonder if your going to take a break when your done and sit back and enjoy it!

REST: I can do that when I die.  No time, too much stuff to get done.

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Staging yard (cont)

Electrical and turnouts (cont):

All electrical completed at the yard throat. 

Finished installing all the escape turnouts.  Installed 3 more plus PM'ed the slip switch.

Double cross over has ground throws installed and half the toggles wired.

Slip switch was missing points so had to make it.  Also, had to solder one point back to its base.  Two #6 turnouts needed cutting to align with slip switch.

#6 turnouts installed on tracks 5 & 6.  Tracks 7-9 will have no escape tracks.

Installed another terminal strip for the DCC wire routing to all the turnouts. 

Still have to install lots of ground throws and toggles.

The staging yard will be, mostly, for passenger cars. The original passenger terminal behind the freight yard could only handle two passenger trains.