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.
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 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?
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.
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.
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
WOW!
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.
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.
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
How did you do the concrete viaduct?
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!
OUTSTANDING!!!!!! Keep them reports coming...
Man, I am soooo farrrrr away from running trains..... 20+ years and counting, but getting closer everyday.
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.
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...
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.
My Dad and I started installing some of the toggle switch that will control all of the turnouts on the layout. They are SPDT momentary (on)-off-(on). I did all of the soldering of the wire leads at the work bench. I did not want to be under the layout solder 60+ switches with 3 solder points each, a total over 190. With hot solder dripping on me from above.:eek:OUCH!:eek: While I was doing the soldering my Dad was drilling the holes and putting in the toggles. Also connecting the common wire between all the toggles and eventually running the power to the turnout machine themselves.
I also installed a UTP panel from NCE to accommodate another throttle on the other side of the main layout. I noticed the throttle would not connect if it was plugged in before the initial boot up of the NCE PowerCab. Has anyone else experienced this?
Another projected completed was the installation of the NCE Auto-Switch. It controls the automatic switching off of the main track power when I change to program track mode. I isolated the stub end track near the main yard that is part of the passenger station area. I insulated it by cutting with a Dremel tool and CA gluing in a piece of styrene in the gap of both tracks.
My Dad and I both worked on installing metal wheel sets in many of the layouts rolling stock. This is keeping the track a lot cleaner... and just sound a lot cooler rolling around the layout, too. :D
I brought down quite a few acquisitions from eBay to the layout. You can never have enough rolling stock. ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB8IEENLeSk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdD10XzD6K0
Thanks for watching.
jdamelio Enjoyed the videos and watching your progress. Wrong side of the River though
Enjoyed the videos and watching your progress. Wrong side of the River though
I agree
hehe at least 'our' side isn't a bike path....
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Ron, awesome work. Being from Port Richmond, I too know the area well. Upon seeing your piano factory, it struck me that it looks very similar to the Packard building that is visible from the east bound lanes of the Vine Street Expressway, between the 23rd street and Broad street exits. Since you said you were going to have a small representation of 30th Street station, would you also include a representation of the Amtrack lines crossing I-76 right around the Art Museum? Anyway, once again, great work.
jdamelio Wrong side of the River though
Wrong side of the River though
That's alight, at least your modeling the Philly area. I do have a Greenlane bridge representation, and eventually a small version of 30th St. Station.
rrinker Is that the plan based on the one from Creative Layout Design? I guess being from the area I always 'got' the jokes he incorporated on that one - one of my favorite Armstrong plans. Particularly the town of Bee Haven (so you can have a local pageant each year to crown the new Miss Bee Haven!). Not to mention the Welsh town of Llawn Mawr. --Randy
Is that the plan based on the one from Creative Layout Design? I guess being from the area I always 'got' the jokes he incorporated on that one - one of my favorite Armstrong plans. Particularly the town of Bee Haven (so you can have a local pageant each year to crown the new Miss Bee Haven!). Not to mention the Welsh town of Llawn Mawr.
Yup, That's the plan. I took it and scanned it into the computer. Then I mirrored the image to better fit our space. The upper lobe I stretched out to fit the long wall we have. This also widen the main aisle (in front of "DeMaigne Yard", another of Armstrong witty names). Because the original plan was in O scale and we're model HO, the aisle got real tight... like 13" tight (ouch!). That was one thing JA almost always had, tight aisles. Another main plan change I did was to push the main track to the outside of the bench work in the main yard area. JA had the yard lead going to the branch line cross over all the incoming yard switches and double mains. I DID NOT want to hand lay all that specialty track work and really mess things up. I think it runs alot smoother now.
Thanks Jamie,
My son can watch the videos over and over again. When he gets down to the layout, it's hard to keep him away...heck, who am I kidding... It's hard to keep me away, too.
Another video of the progress as of 1/16/2009. It covers all kinds of projects that are in the works. I also as about the positioning of my yard tower. It's an American Model Builders kit. I was going to put it with the long wall with all the windows facing the tracks in front of it. But I started to think it would be more practical if the large windows faced the main yard tracks to see what is happening in the yard. Some people have mention that they usual face it toward the front, immediate tracks. so they can do inspection of the departing trains. Any help would be appreciated.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyT6EgKtqlc
Great progress updates and great videos! BTW my 4-year old son is gonna be mad at me in the morning when he realizes I accidentally closed the YouTube window where we had paused your most recent video, but he'll be fine when I tell him we can watch it again from the beginning. Jamie
CLICK HERE FOR THE CSX DIXIE LINE BLOG
Here's a few more pix of a couple other control panel schematic I did.
The next section I tackled was a small panel near the Schuylkill river section. It will control the crossovers coming out of the yard from behind the roundhouse, and also the middle staging area that contains 3 storage tracks.
And the final panel I worked on during this last trip was for the upper town area and the lower staging yard. The staging has 2 storage tracks in it, and the third outside track acts as a reversing loop.
Here you can see the town area that the panel will handle. The staging is just behind the green fascia. The hill in front is a lift out section to gain access to the tracks below...just in case.:eek:
Here's the video I made of an Athearn F7A/B #9673 pulling 6 AHM(I think) PRR passenger coaches. This is my first attempt at editing a video of many clips. Please give me some feedback or pointers. A couple of things I know I'm going to do next time is to run the trains slower, and get more low angle run-by's with a steady camera. But I like the results so far.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPO-1qdpwVs"]F7A/B
Got back from my Dad's house on Saturday with some great progress photos and videos to share. I've been very busy this week, even though I'm on "vacation". I've been putting in 8hrs a day working on a clients layout, a Marklin HO scale 13'x17' layout. I'll share photos and videos later on a separate thread.
Onto the progress report.
The main project that I worked on this trip was laying out the control panel schematics on the installed fascia areas. The first panel I did was for the main yard. I used 1/4" white pin striping tape for the lines. The fascia was 17" high and I have 14 tracks to lay in. I used 1" centers on the schematic, that left just enough space on the panel at the top for future names and yard tech info.
Here is the start of the panels. These are the 2 main lines with the crossover and station siding. You can see the laser line level I used to get the tape dead on straight. I put dots on each side of the fascia at 1" centers and lined up the laser for perfect lines. easy and worked like a charm.
After a few hours of work, lining up dots, laying tape, cutting 45 degree angles, and cursing a couple times... here's the results.
The right side of the yard near the roundhouse. The black square is the Walther's 90' turntable control. A very nice kit, works perfectly.
Here's a close up of the TT control.
This is the left side of the panel with the yard classification tracks and passenger station area.
We mounted the NCE Power Cab plug-in jack in the space above the yard. For now we have a temporary solution to the throttle holder... VELCRO.
I used graph paper to sketch out the schematic before committing it to the fascia. This gave me a feel for how the tracks would line up on the finished schematic. I think this quick, easy step saved a lot of headaches.
That's all the work that was done on the first day down. We actually had some fun running trains that night. We also found some minor hiccups that we had to fix while running them... doesn't that always happen? I'll have a video of that run in the next post.
Ron,
Looking great. I feel right at home. Living in Phoenixville and work in Philly, I drive the Schuylkill Expressway everyday. Keep up the good work.
Yes, wow! And, I really like the SIZE of your piano factory!! I like big buildings on my layout. I think they make the trains look more realistic in an urban setting.
Here are pics of a few of mine: http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/t/140225.aspx
Mark
I know you don't have scenery done yet, but the work you have done is very good. Lots of good pictures and looks well grounded in the prototype! Impressive, Most Impressive!
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot Visit my blog! http://becomingawarriorpoet.blogspot.com
I haven't been down to the layout in a while but my Dad got more of the fascia up and painted it the green color I chose. I think it looks pretty good so far. It really starts to finish off and dress the layout.
This is in front of the main yard area.
Here is the area of fascia that I put up back in August.(to the right of the red pole. He added the section to the left of the pole that wraps around to the main yard area.
And a wider angle shot of the whole layout. It's really coming together.
I can't wait to get down there and start working again.