Here's a few pictures of the electrical projects described above.
1st here are the SPDT toggles installed in some of the control panels.
This is the UTP plug-in for another throttle on the opposite side of the center peninsula, near the river area. I still have an issue of the throttle not connecting sometimes to the PowerCab system. It starts to boot up and stops in the 2nd screen. If anyone has any ideas what might be happening, your feedback would be appreciated.
And finally the NCE Auto-switch is install.
The track to the extreme left is the program track. It is in the station area of the main yard, measuring about 2ft long.
I cut the track using a Dremel tool with the abrasive disk attachment. To further insulate the section, I CA glued some styrene in the cut and filed it to the profile of the track.
I can't wait to get down there again and work some more on the layout.
Thanks for looking.
Keep the axels greased and the tender full, we're rollin' now.
Ron
My layout progress posting Named "PRR Schuylkill Division"
Link to my Youtube videos. http://www.youtube.com/user/myowngod2
I finally had a vacation, and I made sure I put aside a couple of days to get down to my Dad's house to work on the layout. Priorities ya-know...
The first day I got down there my Father-in-Law finally made it down also to see the layout. It was his first time seeing it in person. His first impression was that it's alot BIGGER then he thought. It's not a full basement empire but I would consider it a medium sized layout, 13'x16'. Being that he's a master custom cabinetry maker by trade, he had to get his hands on a part of the layout and help out. I'll get to that in a future post.
The main section that I worked on the first day was the upper most level town area. I am going to name it Manayunk-Roxborough region. This can be found just west of Philadelphia, in the "real" world. I have a team track planned for this town. Here's the first configuration of the structures. If anyone has any other suggestions please chime in.
It's pretty straight forward. There will be a fence around the area with alot more detail once the ground cover is applied.
This is the area in relation to the Greenlane Bridge. I still have some detail to add to the bridge and paint it. Then add the weathering. Eventually I'll build catenary towers going across the spans, like the prototype.
This next photo is taken before I adjusted the track. It now runs straighter, ending about where the pin vise is at. This move allowed more room for the road coming up the hill and also a longer straight track to unload boxcars and such.
The blue foam is a pop that will have a small church and store on it, to represent the beginnings of a town. The black marker lines will be where a road is. It will run toward the edge of the backdrop and disappear behind a few hills.
This is a quick [URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOTQGgISkR0"]VIDEO[/URL] of the area.
There's more pix and videos to come...
OK, I mentioned earlier that my Father-in-Law stopped by to see the layout and help out. The first project I had him get to was mounting the 3ft RR crossing sign in the stairway leading down to the basement where the layout is. This sign has been haunting me... I could just picture it falling over on one of my kids or nieces or nephew.:eek:He did some nice work. He is a custom cabinetry maker. The sign was mounted on 1/2" plywood cleats on the wall to give it a shadow box effect.
The next project he worked on was adding some outriggers to the bench work to allow the fascia to be attached. The area near the lumberyard spur is a very tricky spot. There is a tight S-curve there and he managed to get the blocking perfect. He belt sanded the wood to match the curve of the fascia dead on. Here's a few pictures of the area.
Here's the young fella hard at work measuring up the next piece of wood.
He wishes he could get the fascia up that day to finish the job, but I wanted to layout the track plan schematic on it before it was installed on the layout. It's much easier that way.
OUTSTANDING!!!!!! Keep them reports coming...
Man, I am soooo farrrrr away from running trains..... 20+ years and counting, but getting closer everyday.
How did you do the concrete viaduct?
Nick
Take a Ride on the Reading with the: Reading Company Technical & Historical Society http://www.readingrailroad.org/
nbrodar How did you do the concrete viaduct? Nick
The Greenlane Bridge is located in the western Philly area, in a town called Manayunk. The actual "Greenlane Bridge" is a car traffic bridge just adjacent to the double arched railroad bridge. I'll be modeling that car road as well in the future.
I started out with a bunch of Atlas N-scale arched viaduct kits. I used those for the smaller arches in the span. I made them twice as wide to achieve the HO scale width I needed.
Then I use .030 styrene to create the sweeping larger arches. There is a variety of H-beam styrene to get the profile in between the top and bottom arches.
I used one of the main columns as a reference to get the side nice and straight along the double arched sections. The columns are 5/4" pine, a true 1 inch thick. The width is a little wider then the width of the double Atlas viaducts.
Once I had the 2 big sections of arches made I used a BUNCH of different clamps and even tape to hold it all together while the 2 part epoxy was setting up. I used "J-B Kwik", a fast version of J-B Weld, to hold the plastic to the wooden columns.
TaaDaa!
myowngod The Greenlane Bridge is located in the western Philly area, in a town called Manayunk. The actual "Greenlane Bridge" is a car traffic bridge just adjacent to the double arched railroad bridge. I'll be modeling that car road as well in the future. I started out with a bunch of Atlas N-scale arched viaduct kits. I used those for the smaller arches in the span. I made them twice as wide to achieve the HO scale width I needed.
Thanks.
I drive by both bridges almost everyday on the Schuylkill. Using the N scale viaduct for the arches, certainly seems like an easy method then I'm using - forming the entire set of arches from styrene.
WOW!
I really envy the family particiation part. And great work as well. I go to Reading every year because that's where our company's HQ is...do you know how many years it was before I pronounced Schuylkill correctly?
San Dimas Southern slideshow
After I was done fooling around in the Manayunk/Roxborough area, and my Father-in-Law was done the fascia blocking, I started to lay out the next control panel/fascia. It is just opposite the main yard panel, and handles all of the mainline crossovers coming out of the yard. There is also a schematic of the branch line track.
Once again, I marked 1" spacing dots on each end of the green masonite. Then used a laser to line up the 1/4" white pinstripe tape. This works great!
Here's the completed panel. The branch line is the upper right schematic.
And installed on the layout.
This is the panel to control the small lumber yard spur. It is to the left of the panel shown above. This is where my Father-in-Law was working on. He was happy to hear it attached to the blocking he did PERFECTLY.:D
This is looking toward the entrance of the layout. The main yard panel is on the left and the new panels on the right side of the aisle.
Here's a VIDEO of the second major panel installed.
Another spot I worked on was laying out some of the engine service facility structures. I built the Walthers Ash/conveyor pit, and sanding tower and house. This is added to the already installed coal tower and water tower and 90' turnable with 6 stall roundhouse.
If anyone has some ideas on how the structures might be laid out in order from the turntable out. Would the steamer dump the old ash before going under the coal tower or get new coal on the way out of the roundhouse, ready for a new assignment?
Here's the structures, in tentative positions.
Here's a quick video that shows that area a bit. Also shows more of the Manayunk region. Oh-yeah, a brief cameo by my Dad under the layout. He was under there for a few hours hooking up A LOT of toggle for the main yard. Much appreciated hard work.Any feedback is appreciated.
I also started sizing up the area for the 30th St Station model, being represented by a Walthers Union station kit. It's not exact, but close enough. This model is going to be 6 inches from the front of the layout, so I plan on detailing the whole interior. 30th St has a neat bronze statue and ornate art-deco chandeliers in the main hall and I plan on trying to create that in HO scale... we'll see.:oThe station will be up on a raised platform with stairways dropping down to the track level loading platforms. The road coming off the raised city behind the yard will run to the right of the station. I also have a trolley line planned to be sistered along side of that road bridge. The trolley line will run back through the city and disappear behind some buildings. I will use one of the many auto-reverser circuits out there to control the movement of the trolley. I was think of this one, http://www.trainelectronics.com/autoreverse/basic/NEW_unit.htm . I know there are other cheaper units but that seem to slam the engines to a dead stop and then reverse it without the gentle slow down before reversing. I like that feature.
Also any ideas on what kind of girder system might be used under a structure like this station?
And finally for this most recent trip down, here is a progress http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flgwM9hcQlI of pretty much everything we did this trip.
Thanks for looking, and again any feedback or critiques are welcome.
myowngodAlso any ideas on what kind of girder system might be used under a structure like this station?
Poured concrete foundation walls would support the exterior walls and exterior wall columns; also, any interior walls that are load-bearing and/or masonry. The interior support structure would likely be fireproofed steel beams and columns or concrete beams and columns. Floors would be fireproofed formed sheet steel supporting concrete or hollow clay tile supporting concrete or all concrete. If the foundation walls are partially above grade, they would likely be the aforementioned concrete faced (veneered) with stone as is the rest of the building.
Dante
PS. A most impressive project (I, too, have driven the Schuylkill River route many, many times on trips).
Are you going to do both the upper and lower platforms at 30th Street? I agree the Victory Statue in the main concourse is very impressive.
nbrodar Are you going to do both the upper and lower platforms at 30th Street? I agree the Victory Statue in the main concourse is very impressive. Nick
Sort of in a way, Yes. It won't be the full blown upper level trackage. Just a trolley line that will come across the bridge from the raised city area behind the yard. I'll use an auto-reverse unit to shuttle the trolley back and forth through the city.
Margaritaman I really envy the family particiation part. And great work as well. I go to Reading every year because that's where our company's HQ is...do you know how many years it was before I pronounced Schuylkill correctly?
You mean "sure kill"? As anyone who drives there regularly would call it.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
You mean the Shore Kill Distress-way?
myowngod 30th St has a neat bronze statue and ornate art-deco chandeliers in the main hall and I plan on trying to create that in HO scale... we'll see.:o
Of course, since there's 9 train lines under the station, the support structure is mostly open. The vertical beams are mostly in encased in concrete but I'm pretty sure it's typical I-beam steel framework. I'd offer to take pix but they tend to frown on that these days.
Very impressive - I use the 30th St station often; my office is at 20th St and another building blocks view of the station, but I can see most of the yard out my window. Beats working.
Next week I'm taking a real train trip, to Alabama and back for a family viist and looking forward to riding the Crescent. Those chandeliers and the statue are fantastic, Also a great bas relief mural in the side room of the station. The ornate design of the elevated platform roof will be another challenge, for sure. I love to see such devoted work to model the PRR, and the compression is a real challenge. Here's a guy who has a very interesting approach to the downtown Philly area: NECORRIDOR - complete with skyscrapers and working catenary!
After a long hiatus from the construction of this bridge, I have made some good progress over the last week.
I put on the last details and trim on the bridge. I mainly used Rix Products highway divider. You can see the trim under the mini arched section at the top of the towers. Also there is a small keystone like detail that is in between each of the smaller arches.
The next picture you can see the trim on the right tower, but not yet installed on the left tower.
Once I finished all the trim, I FINALLY PAINTED THE BASE COLOR!!!
The color I used is Polly Scale Concrete.
Once the paint had dried, I turned my attention to weathering the bridge. I used a few different techniques; India ink washes, dry-brushing, and chalks. The paint colors are Polly Scale Aged Concrete and Aged White. These colors are used to create the spalling of the concrete and leaching colors from the bridge. The chalks were mainly black, dark brown, dark brownish orange. I got most of my inspiration from photos of the bridge I found on the internet.
I'll get some quick videos of the progress up on Youtube over the next day.
Thanks for checking it out.
Wow...you may not have had any updates in a while, but when you come back, you come back with a bang! Jamie
CLICK HERE FOR THE CSX DIXIE LINE BLOG
I'll have to agree with Jamie.. That is one sharp looking bridge!!
Here's the video I made. It covers the bridge project from start to finish... except for the install. That will be in a later video.
Greenlane Bridge Project
Now onto the Highline steel girder bridge project. Followed by the Highline stone arched bridge section. I "Promised" my Dad I would have all the bridges for the branch line complete by the next time I come down. He's really itching to get the branch line up and running.
myowngod Here's the video I made. It covers the bridge project from start to finish... except for the install. That will be in a later video. Greenlane Bridge Project Now onto the Highline steel girder bridge project. Followed by the Highline stone arched bridge section. I "Promised" my Dad I would have all the bridges for the branch line complete by the next time I come down. He's really itching to get the branch line up and running.
Hey Nice to See things are Progressing Nicely
That bridge came out very nice Looks Like the Real Thing. but you know what will top it off literally Some old Catenary poles. I was thinking about branching off the main on my layout and head toward Manayunk. Theres something about how that line enters the Manayunk section. I can just see a GG-1 on your Bridge. I have progressed on my Highline as well. catenary is complete with High Tension Towers. Theres Still work to be done in West Philly with the Greys ferry Section and ZOO
Looking Forward to seeing your High Line Work.
Heres a Peak
Steve Smith 1:1 Railroad Architect 1:87 Railroad Architect Certified PRR foamer
Visit www.prrnortheastcorridor.com
Movies http://www.youtube.com/user/ac0catenary
Live DCC catenary in Ho scale
Urban/City Modeler
A Real Juice Jack .. IF its not electric Its not running on my layout.
Thanks for the compliments. I am pretty proud how the bridge turned out.
ACcat, I was totally planning on putting catenary towers on the branch line,, going across this bridge and the Highline section. I was researching pix on the net and came across your site. It was a big inspiration for the design of the towers. I plan on the regular K towers with every other one having the tall power line tower on them.
I'll keep everyone up to date on the Highline pix... soon.
myowngodACcat, I was totally planning on putting catenary towers on the branch line,, going across this bridge and the Highline section. I was researching pix on the net
ACcat, I was totally planning on putting catenary towers on the branch line,, going across this bridge and the Highline section. I was researching pix on the net
...this The Electrification of the Paoli Local article might be helpful. Note the catanary composition diagram at the article's bottom -- probably inspired by a William Volkmer Pennsy-electric book.
...the PRR Wire Train photo is something you rarely see even at traction-dedicated websites. This would make a neat "girder-skyscraper on a flatcar" scratchbuilding project when the modeler has a little time on their hands.
One "modeler's trick" for hanging-overhead transistors are to use, cut to length, nylon-threaded screws with a small hole drilled through its length to then slip into and/or through the transmission wire.
I'm sure accatanary has more subtle construction techniques up his sleeves.
P.S.: Appreciation goes for your construction-pics insights.
Conemaugh Road & Traction circa 1956
How am I just now finding this thread? This is AWESOME!!! Oh, man! I know a LOT of model railroaders from the Philly area that would LOVE to see this! That bridge is both ingenious and excellently executed!
More! More!
Modeling the Rio Grande Southern First District circa 1938-1946 in HOn3.
Nice work, Fella!! I, too, have just discovered this thread! I ate it up!
As a regular commuter for a number of years on the Paoli Local and a reluctant "participant" on the Schure Kill Distressway, I can appreciate what you are doing. Impressive! Keep going and keep us informed!
I look forward to it!
biL
Lehigh Susquehanna & Western, a study in Freelance Prototyping
BiL Marsland (P5se Camelback) Lehigh Susquehanna & Western Northeastern Pennsylvania Coal Hauler All Camelback Steam Roster!! "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others" -- George Orwell, Animal Farm, Chpt. 10
myowngod Thanks for the compliments. I am pretty proud how the bridge turned out. ACcat, I was totally planning on putting catenary towers on the branch line,, going across this bridge and the Highline section. I was researching pix on the net and came across your site. It was a big inspiration for the design of the towers. I plan on the regular K towers with every other one having the tall power line tower on them. I'll keep everyone up to date on the Highline pix... soon.
Bill Kachel has a How To Build Catenary PDF which can be found online at Keystone Crossings http://kc.pennsyrr.com/ and other Catenary layouts can be found on my website Links section.
For Insulators most of us use glass beads that can be found at any crafts store. If your really picky you can use Tinchy insulators or buy Model memories Cat poles packages which can get expensive if you need alot of them. Home made Catenary poles can be created with Plastruct/Central Valley structural or Brass components.
looking foward to more updates on the greenlane bridge, highline and that Reading Terminal front