Free-moN Staging Yard - 16"x10'

Though sometimes I find all this yard work pointless:

mcfunkeymonkey

Though sometimes I find all this yard work pointless:

MC.

Don't give up your day job or stop posting your terrific how to series. You will surely starve as a 'Stand Up Comedian".

By the way, my compliments to having your kids involved. Your daughter does better track work than I do and I have about 60 years + on her.

Well done MC.

Blue Flamer.

Wow, now that is some excellent track work.  "Yard work is pointless".....excellent track work and a sense of humor, keep up the nice work on both fronts.  

Wayne

Thanks for the props.
Not sure about "excellent" track work, as most of these posts are about me trying to fix my own mistakes.

But getting closer to figuring things out with manufacturer's turnouts.
For the Altas C55, just slipping in the shims helps keep the point rails from popping up, no matter what method of turnout control you use.
For the ME C55 #6s, my "fixes" are to repair my own bungling in snapping off the throwbars by accident.
The holes in the ME throwbars are smaller than the Atlas, but I've found a slight filing / grinding of the wire takes it down enough to slide through just fine.

Easily distracted, I tend to make a lot of "D'oh!" mistakes, like installing one Bullfrog close the cross-support before inserting the z-bend connector:



No biggie, as I just unscrewed the Bullfrog, inserted the z-bend, then re-attached the Bullfrog.
But I tend to do a lot of forehead-slapping moves like that.
And if you can't laugh at yourself...

By the way, you can see the support for the red control rod sheath still attached to the Bullfrog on the left.
Those are totally unnecessary on this module: just having the red sheath can work fine for the 11" max on this module, and the structure gets in the way when using the z-bend and using both sides, so I just chop it off.

After a lovely day yesterday with a Silicon Valley Free-moN group work session, I got one yard section totally wired up and ready to roll.
Came back home, hooked up the small sceniced extension and the DCC, and ran some trains:





Except for the rear "2" on my 2-10-2 slipping off the point rails when backing up over ONE turnout coming from the diverging route (need to check the gauge & inspect the rails), all the trains ran fine over all the trackwork.

Today will be installing the shelves and control rods on the on the opposite side (now that everything underneath works fine, don't need to prop it up on the workbench), and then hooking up all the wiring on the other yard section.

Should have a fine & operational staging yard with powered frogs and turnout control for the setup at the Coast Division meet June 10th.
Thanks for looking.

Finally got all the track wired up, as well as all the Bullfrog turnout controls installed and wired, which means it's time to run some trains!

While the yard sections and insert make a 10' double-ended yard module, since I made each section with Free-moN standard endplates, I can split the yard and create two stub-ended yards:





So I sandwiched my Sonoma Shoo-fly, added some detachable extensions to the stubs to create some runarounds, and so was able to run some long(er)(ish) trains through.
Enjoy the (short) video, featuring my new 2-10-2 (which will shortly have sound installed, I hope):

watch?v=ntryw3aQzNY

Thanks for looking.

Gidday, still like those oak trees, (even the "wilted brocolli" one ), especially the shots taken through them. They would have been a great place for a young fella to build a tree hut.

Thanks again for sharing,

Cheers,the Bear

Inspirational, to say the least.

Does the Free-Mo standard provide for multiple parallel tracks at module boundaries?  I noticed that your stand-alone extension fit perfectly with the middle of the yard.  Is that just because you defined your own track spacing, or does Free-Mo set that?

Thanks, guys.

Mr. B: Free-moN just calls for a single main centered at the end of a 12"-24" module.
(while my staging yard main looks off center, remember that it is centered for the 12" on one side, with an extra 4" hanging off the other)

For the staging yard I chose 1 1/2" track centers to leave room for fiddling fingers.
Right now some dudes in our group are building a couple of single-to-double main modules and the interchange that goes with them, and I think they're going with 1 1/4" track centers.
Which really makes them sections of a larger module, except that the Main is still usable even if the second main becomes a siding or "abandoned" track if that section is used somewhere else.

So the short of it is no, Free-moN doesn't stipulated anything about multiple tracks across module ends.
That's sort of up to each club / group for unique sections / modules.

The detachable extensions I built to fit the end of the yard (and both extensions can be put together to create it's own short runaround), but if someone else had a raised main and lowered siding that was 1 1/2" apart then they could use them too ;)

I'll probably be building another staging yard insert that has a track split off to a single "main" (making it a "y" insert) so a stub-end classification yard can be tacked on or it can be the interchange from other line/modules.

So many projects!
And when you start building Free-moN modules, it's hard to stop!
(Still need to figure out where I'm going to store all this stuff!)

Busy week as we're getting ready to show/run some trains on Sunday.
(And the Euro Cup started yesterday. Need to get a TV out in the garage: Wife's not happy I keep bring train stuff into the house to work on while watching)

Started building the machine shop in the staging yard.
First made a pit by cutting out the center & then turning that into the bottom with some pieces of scrape styrene:



Decided to install the machine shop at a slight angle to break up all the parallelism.
Had to cut a channel in the ply for the pit.
After installing replacement ties, I spray painted the track Grimy Black:



Installed "concrete" strips of scored styrene for the diesel service area, then painted the rest of the ply "mis-tint tan" [WHICH I SHOULD HAVE DONE BEFORE LAYING ANY TRACK AT ALL!!!] (more on that in a bit)
Couldn't resist throwing down some dirt on the wet paint, which led to throwing down some cinders as well (haven't quite decided how I want the yard to look, but sparse dirt & cinders is an ok base ground cover):



BIG NOTES TO SELF:
--Paint yr ply at the start: seals the wood and provides smooth surface for throwbars (painted every other layout first: didn't on this one as in too much a hurry to get things operational for a show)
--Don't forget to douse your throwbars with LaBelle oil BEFORE wetting ground cover and soaking with diluted white glue. The oil creates a barrier and so prevents the diluted white glue from creeping under the throwbars.
Because I forgot both, I had 7-8 throwbars that I had to unstick and then scrape out with a thin-blade knife and file [D'oh!]

But all worked out okie dokie, and I finished building the machine shop, though I had to move the chimney a bit:



The chimney is CA'ed for now, but I might break it off and use a magnet / dowel if it becomes a nuisance during transport.

What's that blue light in the shop, you ask?
Hmm.....

[cont.]

Before we get to the blue light, here's another nifty addition to the staging yard:
At the last show, we had to jerry-rig a NEC PCP with a piece of track to act as a programming track, so...
I isolated two tracks (the outside diesel service track and the machine shop track) to serve as programming tracks during operations:



During normal ops, the tracks are connected to the main bus, but we can flip to programming mode through an on-off-on toggle on respective sides of the module:



The toggles are hooked up to some short wires that have Anderson powerpole connectors, so we can hook up the "DCC in a Toolbox" I'll be building later today:



As this Staging Yard is designed for primarily practical purposes, I think the programming tracks (with enough space for 2-3 loco consists) will help out moocho.

The main bus splice will also allow me to run trains at home, or if we don't have the fabulous "DCC / JMRI in a box" that we normally use.

Now back to that blue light...

[cont.]

So I made the Machine Shop with the roof removable for access:



And will be detailing the interior over the next couple weeks.
Need to get a bunch of machine shop equipment in there.
Might put up some interior walls, too, to cover the plastic window frames & detail-less walls (though nobody will really see it, given the 50" height).

But started with some dudes working:



The grates in the middle cover a hole that houses a welding circuit:



Operated by a toggle on the fascia.
Workers need to do some work while people are programming, right?

Very silly feature but adds some fun.

For now the welding lights are run by 9V battery mounted by a clip to the module wall:



Eventually the circuit and more lights might be connected to the accessory bus, but for now, that's it.

And now it's back to watching the Portugal / Germany game while installing low-pro wheels and MT trucks on some old reefers so I have more rolling stock to roll tomorrow ;)

Happy weekend, all.
Thanks for looking.

Had a lovely day running trains with the Silicon Valley Free-moN dudes at the Coast Division Meet in San Leandro, CA:

watch?v=wAGq6zOyUyI

The space we had available was a funkily-angled atrium at the Boy Scout Headquarters building, but, hey, Free-moN can fit anywhere!

Speaking of fitting things in, here's a "Behind-the-Scenes" of how I get my Shoo-fly & Staging Yard modules (& equipment) to meets:





Notice the high-tech shock-absorbing packing material.
If I build another module, it will be a good excuse to get a bigger car ;)

Thanks for looking!

M.C.

In using the bullfrogs do they need to be spaced so much lower than the base of the layout? How do you think they would work in HO scale with the longer throw distance needed. Also do they have springs which positively hold the turn out in position?

Thanks in advance, really enjoy your posts and get a real charge out of your kids working on the layouts with you, my youngest is 21 so I am enjoying yours vicariously.

J.Rob

In using the bullfrogs do they need to be spaced so much lower than the base of the layout? How do you think they would work in HO scale with the longer throw distance needed. Also do they have springs which positively hold the turn out in position?

Free-moN module benchwork is 6" tall.
Most modules have 2" foam on top of 1/4" ply that rests on 3 3/4" side & cross beams (or directly on 4" side & cross beams).
The Bullfrogs themselves are about 2 1/2"+ tall, so when you mount them directly to that 1/4" ply, you only have about an inch of space to the bottom of the benchwork, as you can see on the one Bullfrog I installed on my Shoo-fly module:

[Note: I didn't want control rods / knobs sticking out the sides, so I MacGyvered a rod & plate that you could reach under and push/pull]

The Staging Yard module, on the other hand, has no foam, so there's just a 1/2" ply top on 5 1/2" sides.
In order for me to get the control rods down so they'll clear the shelves that protect them, I put in 2 1/2"ish spacers:

No so critical for the center ones, but very important for the ones close to the sides (and some are very close to the sides).

There's a spring which pushes a ball into slots that hold the Bullfrog in position for each throw.
It's very solid and strong.

It'd work great for HO.
The only issue I've run into is that any length over about 10"-11" needs to have the sheath supported, either with the support that comes on the Bullfrog (which you can see on the third BF from the left, but most I cut off because they get in the way when there's a control rod on each side) or with a Tadpole, which is sort of a separate post you can install to anchor the sheath closer to the BF.

Fast Tracks has videos demonstrating all these options.
[scroll down to the "video" tab]

Hope this helps.
Feel free to ask any questions.

Thanks. It sure does. One more question can they reach turnouts 3 feet away as they come in the kit or will they need to be MacGyvered as well? For got to mentioned I also enjoyed your recent articles as well nice work.

J.Rob

Thanks. It sure does. One more question can they reach turnouts 3 feet away as they come in the kit or will they need to be MacGyvered as well?

The control rods come in 36" lengths, and you can always join them together.
[scroll down the product list to 'Control Rod 36" ']
They have hangers / joiners as well.

As long as the sheath (red) control rod tube is secure, theoretically you can have the turnout as far away as you want.

As my Free-moN modules are 24" and 16" wide, I don't have any practical experience with distances over 11" (and at that length the sheath needs to be anchored, which is what I'll do today on one).

Just remember the rods require about 1 1/8" travel, so both the knobs and the yellow control rod will stick out from the fascia 1 1/8".
And the yellow is bright.

If I didn't have that shelf protecting / blocking the view of the knobs, then I'd probably want to paint at least the yellow control rod (and maybe the knob, too) before installing.
The yellow is a bit tacky.
But I'm not sure if the paint would rub off over time.

Well, it's going to be a hot one today, and the garage always gets 10-15 deg hotter than outside, and they're repaving the road right in front ("I love the smell of asphalt in the morning..."), so maybe I'll just bring a project on a tray inside and watch the Poland-Russia game where it's cool.

J.Robb,

I use these Bull Frog turnout controls on my HO layout and do have some turnouts 3 feet away from their control handles and they all work great.  I have one with control rods at some pretty unusual angles and it works perfect every time, actually these control units have proven to be flawless for me. They and Fast Tracks come highly recommended.  

Wayne 

Thanks for the quick reply and the good info I was considering these for some turnouts that will be too far for easy operation by ground throws.

Seems like after a show the train stuff just sorta sits for awhile, as I play catch-up with work and figure out what project to tackle next.
I need to install a Tadpod support for one of the Bullfrog cables (just a few inches too long for firm action), but I really didn't feel like diving back into benchwork.
So I pulled out a box of Tichy Wreck Crane Train kits I got awhile ago and gave that a go.
The crew, supply & boom cars were all fine & straight-forward enough: hardest part was gluing the nuts centered.
The crane was fun, too, until The Threading Of The Cables:



Talk about blowing your eyes out.
Next time I'm painting everything bright yellow so I can see the thread easier.

But it all worked out, and now we have a wreck train to help out during shows:



Still need to paint the trip pins and add some details to the boom car.
Now to build the MOW shed next to the MOW track:



But it's nice to be back modeling again.

Thanks for looking.

Nice work on the wreck train M.C. But now it's been 11 long days with no update from you and at this point I am beginning to question your dedication to this hobby!

Surely you must know by now that you are an inspiration to us all and that we need to hear from you on a regular basis as you look down on us from the lofty Mount Olympus heights of model railroading accomplishment. We (I) eagerly await your next update...

Frank B.

Dorval, Canada

Sorry for not posting my usual 20 kabillion pictures a day, but Other Things (like Life & Family stuff) been happening lately, especially with Japanese School Summer Intensive and then Summer Vacation in full force. But I just finished building, installing and getting operational the manual turntable for Effett Yard, and so, in an onslaught of quantity over quality, I present a plethora of progress photos.

Our Silicon Valley Free-moN group held a work party June 30 at Steve Williams’ house, and we worked on Murf’s Junction module as well as some single-to-double track modules. Scott Forrest also brought his RotoSaw with nifty attachment that allowed us to cut the 8ish” turntable pit hole with surprising accuracy:





As you can see, we just cleared the Bullfrog support, which would necessitate cutting a notch in the pit floor to fit around it.

The Voice of Experience says: Building a custom pit turntable is much easier if you do it before installing track, wiring and turnout controls like Bullfrog [“D’oh!”].

It also helps to have the right tools.
A week or so later I journeyed down to Scott’s workshop in Half Moon Bay (name describes the shape of the bay, not any saggy-swimwear styles), and we cut the pit floor out of ¼” MDF and fitted it into place with screws:



After using our advanced compass & geometry skills to find the center, Scott used his nifty drill press to create the vertical hole for the ¼” audio jack I used for the pivot and electrical contact:



While all the cutting and drilling were not 100% perfect, it was PDC [pretty darn close], and you’ll see how I constructed the bridge and pit walls to bring everything into very PDC alignment in the end.

[cont.]

While I love Gallows-style turntables, Effett Yard runs all types of locos, so something more Transition Era is more appropriate. Even more important in Free-moN structure design is Solid & Robust: given all the moving and multiple operators monkeying around with everything, even with the best of intentions something delicate like a Gallows deck wouldn’t last long.

I found a 6” x 1 1/8” metal tie plate at Home Depot, and then used 0.08” styrene (which was the exact same thickness as the plate) to build an 8” bridge:



The channels in the middle are for the wires from the audio jack (with connection screws cut off to lower the profile) to run through the tie plate screw holes to the track.

Why not use the 8” metal tie plate for the 8” bridge? Having 1” of styrene on both sides allowed me to easily sand the ends into curves to match the pit walls by clamping the bridge to the cut-out circle of ply as a guide:



[If you have a grinder, I guess you could have done the same with an 8” metal plate]

As I hand-drilled the hole in the styrene for the audio-jack pivot, the styrene ends also allowed for slight sanding adjustments to insure centering: I just inserted the bridge in the pit and spun it around, and where an end started to rub against the side I took it back to the circle ply guide and slighted sanded it some more:



Surprisingly, very little adjustment was needed, and all the parts lined up pretty well.

So after soldering the feeder wires to the top of the audio jack, I GorillaGlued the metal tie plate to the styrene bridge base:



[cont.]

I smoothed some lightweight spackle tinted with slate grey craft paint around the pit sides to make a more concretey look and cover the ply cross-section:



After it thoroughly dried, I used some fine-grit sandpaper to smooth it down to clear the bridge ends.

Atlas C55 girder bridge sides (leftover from the car float apron on our “Alameda-Belt-In-A-Box” project last year) got spliced together and then glued to the sides upside-down:



I also GorillaGlued some PC board ties to the top of the deck, and then soldered a section of track to the ties, allowing plenty of extra rail to extend over the side for finer adjustments later:



As the audio jack has just a little too much give and so makes the deck a little wobbly, I glued washers under the outside edges of the bridge to ride on a rail in the pit:



Ultimately, it took three washers on each side, which makes the bridge nice and heavy for smoother turning.

[cont.]

The circumference of a 7 ¾” circle is 24.35”, so I had to use two pieces of ME rail (which came in 18” lengths) to create the pit rail. [Although, as I write this right now, I realize I could have just slipped out one rail from a length of 30” flextrack to make it. D’oh!]

I created a 7 ¾” circle on AnyRail so I could have the grid as reference, printed it on cardstock, sprayed it with adhesive and then placed ¼”-long PC board ties equally around the circle. After bending the rail by hand (not so precise) and then soldering it into a circle, I slipped ¼”-long stripwood ties evenly around & CA’ed in place:



After spray painting the whole thing Grimy Black, I CA’ed it to the pit floor:



The rail is not in a perfect circle, which really can only be seen when the bridge is removed and you look straight down. But as the rail is just a surface for the washers and not a thin set of wheels, then it’s okie dokie with me (The Yard is called “Effett” after what I say when I’m taking too long on a project and just end there).

The three washers on each side of the bridge brings the deck up slightly higher than the ply around it, so you can see I installed some layers of grey-painted styrene as a ramp up.

You can also see that at some point I painted the pit grey / concrete and then stained the sides. The floor will have some gravel and dirt fallen in, or maybe gravel all over with some plant growth. We’ll see.

If I couldn’t have a Gallows deck, then at least I could have some wood decking, gosh darnit. I installed stained strips of 1/32” x 3/64” basswood to make the decking:



Very tedious.
But a nice effect when done:



Still need to add some NBW details here and there, and I’m still debating about building a center arch thingy.

You can also see the light white wash and stain on the sides. Don’t want to use weathering powders on something everybody & their mother will be touching!

[cont.]

I spread some caulk and laid down the tracks leading up to the TT, then soldered the end rails to two PC board ties I had GorillaGlued at the edge (definitely don’t want those rails moving!).

After the solder, I used my Dremel to trim the rails back to allow space for the bridge rails to swing through:





A pretty narrow gap, as things go, and cars & locos move onto the deck with nary a bump.

I used a Digitrax AR1 auto reversing circuit for the first time, and I’ve been pretty impressed. The unit is easy to mount (I slipped some 0.08” styrene behind to not bend the solder bumps behind):



and even easier to wire up: two wires from the bus to the AR1, then two wires from the AR1 to the audio jack. No separate power supply is needed, as it runs of the track power. And even on the slowest-speed creep locos passed on & off the TT deck without a single stutter or pause. There’s even a nifty little “click” sound when then power is reversed. It worked great for my NCE Powercab, and there’s a little adjustment screw to move the trip point when we hook up for shows & have more juice.

So I slapped down two small sections of flextrack as overshot safety, soldered the feeders for the approach tracks, and the TT was ready to operate:



The track on the far right is the coal / sand supply spur, and won’t be tacked down until I figure out all the steam engine service details (like do I really want a 6”-tall coal tower on a Free-moN module? Or make it removable? Or?)

So still need to paint and ballast the track and scenic around the pit, but as is Silicon Valley Free-moN now has an operating turntable and won’t have to run steam and F-units backwards every-other trip around the turnback loop.

And, of course, there’s a short [2:30] video of the turntable in action:

watch?v=epkJUTE4njA

Thanks for looking, and I look forward to seeing how others custom-built their turntables!

Having only two tracks to line up with certainly helped cover for the less-than-precise construction methods ;)
But we'll see how it holds up under operating conditions "in the wild" over the next couple months.

I might add a doghouse to the side at the center, or next to the pit just left of the left incoming track.
Need to do a study on where hands go when operating so nothing gets knocked over.

And I need to install some bumpers on the spill-over tracks so nothing makes a mad dash for the floor.

It was so hot in my garage when I shot the video that my iPhone actually shut down to cool off in the middle of the shoot!
But I wrapped an ice pillow around it for a minute and we were back in business.

Yesterday I finished installing industrial railing and ladders on some of the tanks that flank the yard near the diesel service on the other section:





I'm somewhat ignoring my own edict not to have anything delicate near the edge of the modules, so we'll see if the railing remains after multiple transports and shows.
But they'll make a nice partial backdrop for the yard on one side and partial viewblock on the other, so I think a worthy addition.
Especially after I weather the tanks, add gravel, an office, and a section of chain-link fence between the tanks and trains.
Gotta love ABS caps as cheap structures.

Well, back out into the oven (garage) to work on the yard office before the temp controls get switched to "Broil" this afternoon.
Thanks for looking.

Gidday,      

Cheers,the Bear

May I take a side track for a moment?

It's your fault that I've bought a static grass applicator, what with the great shots of your own static grass on these threads.  Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, after all, and I'd like to take my own modeling up a notch.

So, what do you use for glue, what strength, and what length of grass?  Thanks.

My fault, eh?

All righty: Most of the grass I used on the Shoo-fly module is a combo of WS medium & light green (2mm) with Heki Summer or Late Summer (4mm) for the greener pastures and hills:

and then WS Honey (2mm) and Heki blondish color (4mm) for the module ends (for the browner look that Free-moN modules are supposed to have for greater continuity between modules:

The WS static grass is very shiny, so I always mixed it in as filler with the Heki 4mm stuff.
Before I did anything on the module, I used an old piece of foam that I had attempted my first turnouts on to create a test palate for all the different grasses and dirts I had:

And then I practiced some more on the detachable extension:

You can see the greener stuff towards the turnout and the browner stuff towards the work crew at the end.

One way I found to lay down thinner or thicker grass is the initial application of glue.
For thinner grass, lay down your dirt, spray with 70% alcohol, soak with 50/50 white glue and water, and then immediately apply the static grass (and don't shake the silliness out of it).
If you find you still have too-thick grass when all dry, just run your fingers through it and it will rub some out, which you can vacuum toot-suite.

For thicker grass (like Chia-pet thickness), allow your dirt to dry first then spray with alcohol (not soak, but enough so the electricity can travel through the area), brush some 80/20 (or even 90/10) whiteglue & water only in the places you want the thick grass, then shake the stuffing out of the applicator over those areas.

You can also do the thicker grass method over an area you already laid down some thinner grass, too. That's what I did around the cow pasture so there'd be longer grass outside of the fenced area:

Lashedup (Jamie) has a great thread that both reviews the Noch applicator and explores a lot of the various grasses and application methods.

Almost forgot: you can make it look greener & thicker by laying down some fine ground foam on the dirt before you apply the static grass.

Hope this helps, and I'm looking forward to seeing your greenthumb in action!

Muchos grass-ias, Senor!