Version 5 of The CB&Q in Wyoming

[hon30critter]

Hi Mark,

Another great video! Very informative. If I ever need a swing out section, I'll know how to build it.

Cheers!!

Dave

[York1]

Thanks for the new video, Mark.  Nice work, and it looks like the gate works perfectly.

[Pruitt]

Hi Dave,

So far the gate seems pretty solid. Time will tell.

I just posted my latest layout update video:

[hon30critter]

Hi Mark,

The gate looks very sturdy! Thanks for showing all the construction details.

Cheers!!

Dave

[Pruitt]

27 May 2023

I've continued work on the truss bridge the last few weeks...

On 1 May I began building the trusses themselves.

Those went pretty quick. On 2 May the first truss was pretty far along.

 After that I built the second truss, then connected the two together. 

 By 13 May the basic superstructure was complete.

 A few days later the diagonals were installed in the truss panels. That ended work on the bridge for about a week, as I had to wait for some parts to arrive from Central Valley.

The parts I needed arrived on the 22nd. I spent a few hours over the next couple days adding the missing details and painting the bridge. 

All in all the bridge came out okay. I still have to final install the bridge ties and rails (just set in place in the photo above), but that will happen when the bridge is installed o the layout in a few months. For now this project is complete.

Moist of the last few weeks I spent building the swing gate at the layout room entrance. 

I looked at using a lift-out section, but it's large enough the weight would have been a problem, along with a good chance of damaging the lift-out over time as it was removed and replaced. I also looked at some sort of motorized lift-up section. The problems I foresaw with that were complexity of construction and cost. A motorized adjustable height table might work, but I couldn't find one with a long enough range of motion. So I went with a swing gate.

I'd been turning over different ideas for the removable section at the layout room entrance for some months, then I saw the swing bridge that Ray Brown of Bessemer and Lake Erie in HO Scale built. When I asked about it in a comment on one of his update videos, he very obligingly put together a video detailing out his gate. Using his work as inspiration I decided it was time to get started on my swing gate.

 On 6 May I took the first step by building and mounting the lower support frame for the gate (that's the lower bit of framing below).

I decided to spend a bit of extra money and build the gate out of 1X3 red oak. It's much stronger than pine and also much less prone to swelling and shrinking with changes in atmospheric conditions, so I think the extra cost was justified.

First I built he fixed hinge mount and attached it to the benchwork. This thing is pretty solid, using two sections of 1X3 (facing to the right in the picture below) capped with the hinge mounting flange facing to the left. I wanted this thing to be plenty strong!

Following that I mounted the hinges and the pivoting hinge plate.

I used door hinges rather than gate hinges because the tolerances on the door hinges are much tighter than they are on gate hinges. I don't want to have to be constantly adjusting the gate to keep train running over it reliably.

Once the hinge axes were properly aligned (I verified that by simply swinging the pivoting plate back and forth to check for binding), I commenced with building the gate itself. That took several hours, but in the end, on 8 May, I had the gate frame basically done.

Then I built the rest that the free end of the gate sits on when the gate is closed. This is another beefy part, similar to the fixed hinge mount. It's positioned so that the gate slides across the top, generating enough friction that the gate is securely positioned without the need for a latch of any type. This wouldn't have worked with a softer wood, I think.

To ensure the gate always stops at the same spot when closed, I built a simple stop block out of a scrap bit of the oak that hits the end of the rest when the gate is closed. Again, I don't think this would have worked with softer woods.

With the gate framing finished, on the 11th I began adding subroadbed for both the gate and Greybull. I installed it in one piece across both the gate and the fixed benchwork at the free end of the gate. That way I knew I would have exact elevations at the bridge and the benchwork sides when I cut the subroadbed to separate the gate.

On the 12th the gate and the fixed benchwork sections were cut apart. I cut the plywood wrong and had to patch the gate side and recut the fixed plywood. On the 13th that was done and the gate worked properly.

On the 14th I added the cork sheeting to the gate, completing it.

Then I began adding the rest of the Greybull subroadbed. This included figuring out where the Orin yard section I'd salvaged from my layout in New Jersey would go.

Over the next few days I elevated the subroadbed (and the yard section) to the correct height and added cork sheeting. I finished that up on the 24th.

On the 25th I disassembled the upper level Lander benchwork at the far end to provide clearance to work on Greybull down there and mounted the turntable.

Yesterday I installed the track at Himes Curve (just off the hinged end of the swing gate) and laid the first track onto the gate itself. 

This morning I cut the rails at the swing gate and tested the track by pushing a car over it. Seems to work fine. There's no power to the gate or the approach track yet, so I can't try a loco over it.

I also added the mainline track across the rest of the gate and onto the Greybull benchwork. I'll cut it free later this afternoon. Then will come some wiring and a test train.

["JaBear"]

Thanks Mark and Dave. I had read of tulle being used for fencing mesh, and mentioned it to Her-in-Doors, who is a tailor by trade, and who informed me that she may even have some in her scrap fabric box. Now I’ll have to track down a local supplier for the nickel silver wire of a suitable gauge.

 

That fence may not be Bear Proof but if I can achieve similar results I’ll be a happy chap!

 

Cheers, the Bear.

[Pruitt]

Thanks Dave, Ed, Bear!

Bear, the fabric is indeed tulle. The framework is nickle-silver wire straightened with a drill and vice (seure one end of the wire in a vice, the other in a drill, pull the wire taut and turn on the drill. The wire comes out straight as an arrow). The wire is 20 gauge. Here's a source: https://www.dickblick.com/products/nickel-silver-wire/

The wire is cut to size and soldered together into whatever size you want, then sprayed with Super77 adhesive. The tulle,already cut to rough size, is pressed onto the frame. After that the whole asembly is sprayed with Eastwood Tank Tone Metallic Coating. Final steps are to trim the tulle to the frame and plant the thing in the ground.

To me this looks very convincing; far more so than the commercial offerings I've seen. And you can customize the installation to anyplace you need it.

[hon30critter]

Hi Bear,

I can't take credit for making any chain link fencing because I have never done it, but I believe that many people use 'tulle' fabric for the mesh. I don't know if this is what Mark used:

https://canada.michaels.com/en/tulle-spool-by-celebrate-it/M10542437.html?dwvar_M10542437_size=54%22%20x%2025yd.&dwvar_M10542437_color=Pink

The listing is for a lot of material. I'm sure you can get it in smaller quantities.

Cheers!!

Dave

["JaBear"]

MKs fence by Bear, on Flickr

[gmpullman]

Wonderful episode, Mark! Thank you for taking the time to document your progress and the great editing and professionalism of your presentation.

I just clicked on a Runcam 2 for myself. I had two much earlier versions of this camera. I think it was a Mobius. One of which I still use as a 'dashcam' for my vehicle and it sees the heat of noontime sun to minus teens in winter and is still working well some eight years later.

I didn't go for the "4K" model since the minimum field of view (130° vs. 120°) was a bit wider than the Runcam2. For layout use too wide of a FOV is distracting, IMHO.

Regards, Ed

[hon30critter]

Thanks for another interesting progress video Mark. Your videos are always enjoyable to watch.

Cheers!!

Dave

[Pruitt]

Thanks Rich.

I hope one day it is fully operational!

I posted my latest layout update video this morning:

[richhotrain]

Mark, thanks for that detailed explanation of the operations on the completed layout. I must admit, I feel overwhelmed just reading it and imagining the beehive of activity with as many as 14 to 15 people at work.

Your layout is in a class by itself. This has to be the most interesting thread on the layout by far. Keep it coming!

I am looking forward to videos once the layout is completely operational.

Rich

[Pruitt]

Thanks John, Dave, Rich!

John, I'm retired, so I have lots of time for the layout. I probably average 3+ hours a day in the train room. A lot of the rest of the time I waste on the computer and watching TV (mostly YouTube).

Rich, once the layout is completed, it should be able to keep 11-15 operators busy. Winter to summer trains will include:

CB&Q -

• Nightcrawler north - passenger from east staging to west staging
• Nightcrawler south - passenger from west staging to east staging
• Passenger west - passenger (duh!) train from east staging to Casper
• Passenger east - passenger (duh-duh!) train from Casper to east staging
• Westbound through freight - east staging to west staging
• Eastbound through freight - west staging to east staging
• Westbound hotshot freight - east staging to west staging
• Eastbound hotshot freight - west staging to east staging
• Westbound reefer express - East staging to west staging; icing in Casper
• Big Horn Basin local turn - Greybull to Thermopolis & return
• Cody Branch local turn - Greybull to Cody & return

CNW - 

• Lander Doodlebug - passenger Casper to Lander & return
• Lander local turn - Casper to Lander; return the next day
• Casper passenger west - east staging to Casper
• Casper passenger east - Casper to east staging
• Casper freight west - east staging to Casper
• Casper freight east - Casper to east staging

Q trains 1-8 maybe two per operator; Q train 9 and NW trains 3 - 6 maybe two operators total. NW trains 5 & 6 one operator. Q trains 10 & 11 and NW trains 1 & 2 each require an operator. That's eleven people, plus a Casper yard operator, a Casper switchman (for local industries), and if enough people show up a Casper engine hostler (every train through Casper gets a motive power change), and a Greybull yard operator. That's 14 to 15 people(!). 

Q trains 3, 4, 7, 8 and 9 and NW trains 3 & 4 can be easily dropped, bringing the total down to 11 to 12 people. 

Fall trains will include all the above, plus the Q will add at least one beet train, and the NW will add one stock train. 

Probably will only rarely be able to run a full schedule - not that many operators around here!

And this is all subject to change.

Right now, with no staging yards or Cody branch, we run one passenger train crom Casper to Basin and back, one Doodlebug from Casper to Lander and back, one local from Casper to Basin and back (services Holly Sugar in Worland and Basin, and one local from Casper to Worland and back (services Thermopolis and Worland except Holly Sugar), and one local from Casper to Hudson (Lander isn't built yet) and back. We also throw in a reefer express from time to time. That's a total of 6-7 people (no Casper engine hostler).

Occasionally I run a train on the layout, but not very often. Mostly I spend my time on construction. After an operating session I'll finish up whatever didn't get done (which is quite a bit sometimes!).

[richhotrain]

Mark, I spent some time looking over your photos and reading your text about your progress. You truly do amazing work, and I find myself fantasizing about running trains on your layout once you complete it.

Remind me, and all of us for that matter, about how you plan to operate the layout once it is completed. I cannot imagine this being a lone wolf effort, but do you ever imagine yourself just operating the layout solo?

I assume that most of the time the layout will be operated as a group effort. How many guys do you plan on having over for a group operating session and how often will these group sessions occur?

Rich

[hon30critter]

York1

Great work, Mark!

Ditto!

Cheers!!

Dave

[York1]

Great work, Mark!

I do have to say that something upsets me.  I can work a month on my layout, and I don't accomplish anywhere near what you do.  I don't know how you do it.

You continue to inspire me to keep at it and work on layout projects.

Thanks!

[Pruitt]

28 April 2023

Nearly another month gone by. Here's what's been happening on the layout.

With the caboose track now at the opposite end of Casper yard, the short spur that was the caboose track was available for antoher industry. I moved Todd Brothers Pallet and Crate to the area to see how it would look there.

As it turns out it didn't fit well, so late in the month I moved it over by Shultz Walter Co. Grocers, and decided to relocate the team track to this spot.

April 1st I built a code 55 turnout for the Poposia mine spur just west of Hudson. I have a code 83/70 Fast Tracks jig, but by carefully positioning the codee 55 rail in the grooves, I can build those smaller rail turnouts with it, too.

After a few days I installed the new turnout, complete with my first set of production 3D printed ties.

This completes the siding at Hudson, so I no longer have to push cars for Hudson all the way from Riverton.

On the 13th I laid the mine spur itself and wired it in.

On the 20th I installed the replacement ties at the rail joints. I used toes I designed in Tinkercad and then printed. These are much easier to use because they're slightly thinner than the ties I remove for the rail joints. The resin is also harder, so when I have to sand the ties a little bit it's easier than sanding the more flexible removed ties. It takes less than half the time using the resin ties. I'm not gonna hate installing replacement ties nearly as much as I have in the past!

That's it for new trackwork.

Earlier in the month I laid out the approximate locations for chain-link fencing around Rocky Mountain Drilling.

On the 10th I went to Basin to visit Dave, and he taught me how he makes his chain-link fences. We made several short sections, and he had made a long section for me before I got there. 

After I got back home I installed that long section of chain-link fence. You can see it to the right of Todd Brothers on the far side of the road (I hadn't decide to move Todd Borthers yet).

The weekend of the 14th my wife and I went with the Casper train club to the North Platte Nebraska train show. I was able to sell several mid-80's Proto 2000 diesasels I'd had packed away for several years, and the 130' turntable and four modern roundhouse kits. This netted me enough to purchase a new 90' turntable for Greybull, and a TCS WowSound kit for the 10-wheeler I acquired a couple months ago.

I also sold a couple of the larger 3D printed houses.

When we got back from North Platte I jumped on several different projects.

I began working on the Powder River stock pens again. I glued the two eastern-most pens to the foam core board, then installed several gates. These gates are glued in position and don't move.

Then I spent a week building the loading chutes. Since Powder River shipped both sheep and cattle, I needed chutes that would load double-deck stock cars.

By the 23rd I had the chutes finished and installed on the foam core. This brought me to a halt, as the chutes used up all the fence railing I had on hand. More is on order.

I also went back to work on my own larger 3D printed house. I received the window castings I ordered, painted and installed them.

Then I moved on to the roof. I painted a sheet of 320-grit sandpaper black, cut it into 3' strips, and installed it on the house using Super77 adhesive. I used a felt tip marker to add the "tar" at the seams and edges, then used a chopped-off toothpick to make the plumbing vent.

Still to come is the chimney and weathering to kill the shine on the roof.

I set both printed houses in their rough locations behind Rocky Mountain Drilling. Still a long way to go to finish this area, but it's getting there.

The other project I started is the bridge over the Popp Agie (pronounced Po-PO-zha) River between Hudson and Lander. This is one of the Central Valley 150' truss bridge kits. Here, 25 April,  the deck is under construction.

I finished the deck on the 26, then painted it (using the same matte black I used on the roofing paper) and the wooden tie and railings. Here's where it's at now:

Today I'll start on the trusses themselves.

And that's where we're at. All up to date.

[Pruitt]

doctorwayne

Hi Mark,

I attempted to answer your private question, but I was unable to create a reply.  But just to assure you, while I occasionally do express a complaint, I'm not aware of any complaint thread, and don't wish to be part of a whiner crew, either.

Best regards,

Wayne

I think it was the thread about a website update, but at this point I don't remember for sure. I certainly wasn't looking for a place to air complaints - just another place to see some good modeling. I guess without the ability to send a PM my question will just have to go unanswered. Oh well...

Thanks for responding, though! 

[doctorwayne]

Hi Mark,

I attempted to answer your private question, but I was unable to create a reply.  But just to assure you, while I occasionally do express a complaint, I'm not aware of any complaint thread, and don't wish to be part of a whiner crew, either.

Best regards,

Wayne

[hon30critter]

Hi Mark,

I love the new train mounted video camera. The view looks very realistic, and everything is in focus even in the distance. It is far superior to your older cameras!

By the way, your video updates are coming up regularly on my YouTube searches even if I am not searching for train videos. I just watched video #41 and it was terrific!

Keep up the good work! Your posts are something that I really look forward to!

Cheers!!

Dave

[Pruitt]

Thanks Bear, John!

John, my cab ride raw video was a lot bumpier than I expected it to be. Not sure why. But the editor (DaVinci Resolve) has great image stabilization software built in. I ran it through that, and presto! Smooth video clip!

Bear, I was wondering if anyone would notice that SD70Ace sitting there. It's going to the North Platte, NE train show to (hopefully) be sold. It's sitting there so I won't forget it (so of course I probably will).

["JaBear"]

TT by Bear, on Flickr

[York1]

Thanks, Mark!  Enjoyed the video!

I'm impressed with how smooth the cab video is.  My cab video is very bumpy.

["JaBear"]

Gidday Mark, great video of course, and having a friend help was obviously a huge bonus, “many hands make for light work…”

 

Not knowing what I’m talking about, not unusual for the Bear, but would 3D printing removable beet loads be a possibility?

 

Cheers, the Bear.

[Pruitt]

Thanks Rich and Dave!

I just posted my April layout update video:

[hon30critter]

richhotrain

Good stuff as usual, Mark.

Ditto!

Cheers!!

Dave

[richhotrain]

Pruitt

It been another three weeks since I posted an update. How time flies!

31 March 2023

I continued working on the stock pens in early March, focusing on the gates for a few days.

On the 13th I uploaded a short video of a sugar beet train on its way to Holly Sugar in Worland, from Casper.

These videos will look a lot better when I get more scenery done!

Middle of the month I started extending the CNW line west fgrom Hudson, onto the new benchwork. 

Then it was back to the stock pens on the 19th. After placing several of the pens in their approximate locations I came to the conclusion that the "ground" was just too uneven for the pens to look right when placed. Also, the entire set of pens will be very fragile, since they'll be connected to each other only through a scale 1X6 over the top of the gate posts. I decided to mount the pens on a chunk of foam board, then install that onto the layout when construction is complete. Here I'm trying out how it will all fit at the siding:

And that was it for the pens for now.

Back over at Hudson, I installed the subroadbed for a coal spur just west of Hudson. This will require a code 55 turnout which I have to build, and a couple sticks of code 55 track, which I don't have right now. But the subroadbed is in place at least.

On the 20th I laid the first couple sticks of track west of Hudson towards Lander.

The same day I started adding skyboard over the new benchwork to Lander. By the 22nd it looked like this:

And on the early morning of the 24th I finished hanging all the skyboard sheets for both the Lander and Greybull areas.

About 9:30 that morning Dave from Basin arrived to help me make some much-needed adjustments to the Casper yard throat and caboose track. 

A few months ago Dave, a retired BN engineer who ran the line between Casper and Cody, told me that Casper yard, despite being a fairly substantial yard, never had a drill track! Switching was done off the main (what a violation of model railroad rules!!).

I'd been planning on moving the caboose track up near the yard throat in order to extend the A/D track half a dozen car lengths or more towards Douglas, since running all the way down the yard to pick up or drop off cabooses was a real pain. Then Dave made a very simple suggestion - flip around the two turnouts that tie the drill and runaround tracks to the yard ladder, giving direct access from the mainline to the runaround track. As a bonus, the old drill track becomes a much longer caboose track, right where it's most convenient!

On the 24th he showed up to help me make those changes.

This isn't a real good picture of the area before we made the changes, but you can see the area in the distance.

The mainline is on the right, curving around the engine facility in the distance. The track just to the left of it, which ends about halfway around the curve, was the drill track.

You can see the yard ladder in the center to left part of the image, and the runaround track just behind it. The spur to the icing platform and east end industries come off the runaround at the turnout at the left end of the runaround track. That configuration meant that strings of reefers going from the mainline to the icing platform had to zig-zag back and forth from the mainline onto the drill track and then up to the icing tracks. That was a back-and-forth, back-and-forth movement for each cut. What a pain!

The caboose track was at the opposite end of the yard, off frame in the foreground.

We spent about five hours working on the area, rearranging the two turnouts and adding short sdections of new track as needed to tie everything back together. This is what it looked like late that evening. You can see a couple of cabooses in their new home on the old drill track:

I decided against extending the A/D track around the curve towards Douglas. Trains longer than the A/D track will be worked on the main, and the caboose track wil become another small industry siding.

On the 25th I got the repair part I needed for my 3D printer (that's a whole 'nuther story), and got it back in commission. On the 26th I printed out another small house for North Casper.

I also printed the loading ramp floors for the stock pens. These are far too long and will be cut to length when I get around to that part of the pens construction.

I also printed out a bunch of oil drilling pipe racks.

While I was doing all that printing I patched the seams in the new skyboards with Testors and Tamiya styrene putty. A couple days of patching and sanding and patching again gave me passable results, and on the 28th I painted the sky.

On the 29th I wired the new track (all six feet of it!) west of Hudson and ran a locomotive over it as a test.

Yesterday the weather was pretty decent with the temperature over 50 degrees outside, so I took the two printed houses I'd made and painted them with rattlecan paint.

And now we're up to date! I'm going to focus on building the turnout for the Hudson coal spur and then get back to the stock pens, I think.

 

Good stuff as usual, Mark.  

Rich

[Pruitt]

selector

Really nice modeling of very high quality, Mark.  But....looks like your Dremel has derailed.  Might wanna fix that. 

-Crandell

That's why I post updates. You guys catch everything I miss!