The new Duck River sub : Construction Thread

Another ATSF Admirer Nov 19, 2016

  1. Another ATSF Admirer

    Another ATSF Admirer TrainBoard Member

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    Because a picture is worth at least 2500 words, here is a blurry one showing how I intend to fit the pieces together.
    [​IMG]

    Brass stock slides into brass stock and holds things together against the springiness of the flextrack and the weight of the train, and the whole thing slides around merrily.

    Now I should go build it :)
     
  2. Another ATSF Admirer

    Another ATSF Admirer TrainBoard Member

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    Summer is here, finally. I seem to get kicked out of the layout garage every day between 2 and 3 because it is just too warm :(
    Still, I have progressed.

    PVA glue holds cork to the staging yard arrival track, and "Supa Glue" (Cyanoacytate, like Kragle, I guess) holds PCB cladding to the cork.
    Washers under the selector track reduce friction and provide vertical alignment of parts. The (steel) bolt is just used to pivot, there won't be power flowing here.
    [​IMG] | [​IMG] | [​IMG] | (click to embiggen)
    Also worth noting, the black line marking the first 4" is where the track will be glued/pinned. about 4" past the pivot point is another black line, showing the track leading away to the Helix, also glued and pinned here.
    The track across the middle of the selector track is not glued at all.

    The next step requires me to find my Smoldering Iron.. I packed it around here somewhere...
    [​IMG]
    Last time I used a soldering iron was at work, sticking down 0402 capacitors using a binocular microscope to see the little blighters! If my boss saw this picture, I might get relieved of soldering duties ;)
    Solder on the outside of the rails, and using some snipped off ties / sleepers to keep the rails in gauge. Also in the photo, the little brass tube that forms the selector track alignment system.

    [​IMG]
    All of the alignment tubes soldered down. Lesson for next time: space the tracks further apart! The brass tube is common with the left rail (into staging), but is physically close to the right rail! If rails were 1/4" further apart, it would be less of an issue. I have seen an O-scale picture on the 'net where the sliding brass bits were soldered one to each rail. Now that's alignment :)
    So I still need to solder each track down, and cut insulating gaps.

    But I took a detour and glued cork down all over the staging deck instead. Mostly I want to see how this random caulking goop performs. It goes down tacky and dries fast in the heat, is tacky on the cork, fast too, but not instant - 10-60s of adjustment time, and it mostly holds a 16" curve without pins.
    [​IMG]
    So, the reverted loop has roadbed, from the helix, through the Wye's to staging and all around the loop too.
     
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  3. Another ATSF Admirer

    Another ATSF Admirer TrainBoard Member

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    So, on the mornings and evenings when it has not been too hot, I have been gluing cork to the staging yard. I am out of sheets, so it's individual n-scale strips chopped to fit.
    Today I started on the half-lap joint; the end of the selector track where the rails change length round the curve.
    [​IMG]
    So much shiny metal makes a mockery of my photography skills.
    [​IMG]
    The moving tracks are filed to a point by removing material from the outside of the rail. The bottom is kept so the rail has something to register on in the fishplate/joiner. Testing with a fingernail quickly showed that the point would "pick" an oncoming wheel, so the top of the rail was also filed down.
    The stationary tracks are filed to a point by removing material from the inside of the rail. Stationary outside, moving inside. This means the rail joiners can be solder to the outside of the stationary rails, well away from any moving wheels.
    Rail joiners were .. massaged .. with a pointed stick to make them less tight and the whole thing was very carefully soldered, the stationary rails to the joiners and the joiners to the pcb.
    Somewhat surprisingly, the whole thing works! There is less movement than I expected - the original plan had 12mm (1/2") of movement on a single rail; but I think that was with 90° of swing. The final design has 45° of swing, so only moves about 2-3mm on both rails. :D
    Filing rails to fit is more easily done before gluing and spiking everything down!

    So I moved to the other end of the selector track, where one rail becomes nine. Disaster. My test-car hits the brass stock used to keep alignment - guaranteed derail :( :(
    [​IMG]

    Since that was Plan B, time for Plan C. I found a drill bit about the same size as the brass stock (Just for y'all imperials - an actual 3/16" drill bit, approximately 5mm) and I made vertical holes through the swinging arm and through the keyway. The brass stock was forced into the drilled holes (taking care not to dent or nick the end) to ensure a nice tight fit which is metal-on-metal, so it can carry current if needed.
    The hole is far enough from the track that both the test car and the NMRA gauge clear the sliding bolt.
    [​IMG]
    Still very manual, with no train on the swinging arm, pull the brass stock pin up, slide the arm near or far, and drop the pin in the new hole to achieve pinpoint alignment.

    With the alignment system now sorted, I have started gluing down the yard tracks down and soldering their ends to the PCB, temporarily using a short rail joiner to guarantee they are aligned with the selector track while being soldered. 2/9 done, just waiting for the sun to go away and the glue to cure ;)
     
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  4. Another ATSF Admirer

    Another ATSF Admirer TrainBoard Member

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    7/9 yard tracks soldered and glued. Testing each with that yellow stack car as I go, so I can fix any mistakes before they become permanent!

    Staked the three staging deck turnouts down and started flexing the Atlas C55 around the curves. It is an interesting contrast between the super-slinky Atlas C55 track with one rail that moves, and the much more sedate Peco C80 with two moving rails; since I have one on the staging yard, and the other on the staging deck.

    I will need to find a way to actuate the turnouts. The two under the helix should probably be remote - tortoise sounds fun - while the third for the reverted loop is reachable from the aisle. And the support beam is right under the turnout :( I can probably finagle the tortoise to fit, if only I could work out how to bend the spring wire so the right-most hole on the fulcrum produces useful left/right movement, instead of up-and-down!

    Last paycheck turned into an order from England for a curved turnout (helix) and asymmetrical 3-way turnouts, for the main deck yard throat. ("complex trackwork is fun trackwork!"). With shipping, 3 turnouts from England for half what the local stores charge. Not that the local stores actually had them all in stock. I suspect the Internet killed the NZ model train shops 2-3 years ago, and I'm just late to the party - the two I can actually drive to have both ditched N-scale altogether, in favour of more RC cars. :(

    Next paycheck might turn into an order from America; I need more flextrack and more cork if I am going to progress past the staging deck. I also really want one of those Intermountain SD40-2 with sound. But I don't see the CFO approving that purchase yet! And some more tortoises for the main deck, and DCC decoders for them, and ...
    Maybe if I remember to book her car in for a service, I might accumulate enough brownie points to cash in on just one little locomotive? :coffee:
     
  5. Another ATSF Admirer

    Another ATSF Admirer TrainBoard Member

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    More progress.

    12 February, the first two staging yard body tracks were being glued down.
    15 February the last two staging yard body tracks were being glued down.
    [​IMG] 2/9 | 9/9 [​IMG]

    16 February, Cutting the insulation gaps between each rail and testing there is not continuity with the multimeter. Not very photogenic, so here is a rigged demo:
    [​IMG]
    The half-lap joint also does not conduct reliably, so I will need two sets of feeders for the swing arm.

    Because progress is addictive, I then pinned track around the curve on the staging deck. I think I will need to improve my nailing technique if I want this to be truly bulletproof.

    Previous layouts have shown the best place to get kinks and derails is where flextrack meets a turnout. On the main deck I tended to keep at least 3" of straight between any corner and a turnout, but on the staging deck I did not. Whenever Will I Learn? :(

    The best way to find a kink and cause a derail is to couple the most expensive car to the most expensive engine, and then balance a bucket of paint just under the turnout. This should yield a loud splash and a ruined engine in almost no time at all! :barefoot:

    The second best way to find the kinked rail is a long-wheel base engine (2-10-2 or SD90 or similar) coupled to a long wagon. My longest wheelbased engine is a Southern Pacific SD70 on DC and I added a passenger car to my venerated double-stack car. Which it now seems has pizza-cutter wheels.

    So, the Pizza-express test train!
    [​IMG]

    (I bet we could fit a lot of pizza in a 40' container. That's not a dining car, so we'll have to sell it by the slice!)

    [​IMG] | [​IMG]

    The first picture is on the straight siding where trains will pause and reverse. The speed controller is the black box and white cable on the right..
    The second is on the S-bend heading towards the helix. There are two soldered joins under that engine, because the two turnouts are 62" apart, and flex track comes in 30" lengths.
    The third picture has the engine atop the helix escape turnout, nosing onto temporary track because there is no helix yet (obviously!)

    In all, I have been able to run the engine backwards and forwards across two of the three turnouts, forwards and reverse, pulling and pushing, with zero derailments so far. Although the blue 53' container is shaken off by the Atlas C55 track spikes encountering the pizza cutter wheels.


    From here, next; I need to find a better way to spike down the track. Pilot-drilling 0.5mm holes and trying to push the nails home with pliers is an exersize in bent pins and broken sleepers. :(
    I will also glue down the rest of the staging yard tracks, solder feeders, and install the box in place on the wall. And then I can run trains in and out of staging. :cool:
     
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  6. Another ATSF Admirer

    Another ATSF Admirer TrainBoard Member

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    So, while googling how to nail track down, I stumbled across a YouTube Video:
    The narrator has made a solid piece of brass stock that slides inside a hollow piece of brass stock, and the whole assembly has rubber bands to provide the driving force.
    If the hollow stock is picked to just cover the head of the chosen nail (Peco SL-14 nails are about 1/16" across the head), there's no room for the nail to tip sideways and bend.

    Too many words, so here's a picture:
    [​IMG]
    The bottom rod is solid, 1/6" diameter brass stock, bent at one end, and with a little "collar" soldered on the shoulder, to stop it binding as much. With more care on the bending, it wouldn't bind as much to begin with.
    The middle tube is 3/16" outside-diameter and happily 1/16" inside diameter.
    The rubber bands are stolen from the kitchen drawer ;)
    Assembled:
    [​IMG]
    If you are careless, it is still possible to over-drive the nail and bend the tie, but if you pay attention to how far the collar is above the tube, you can determine how much the nail protrudes, and adjust how much you pull up / how much you stretch the rubber bands / how much force the rod hits the nail with - it is still possible to screw up, just not as much, or as badly!

    ( Yeah, I need to find a camera that works. In theory there is a 12MP point-and-click packed in one of these boxes... )
     
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  7. Another ATSF Admirer

    Another ATSF Admirer TrainBoard Member

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    Progress is Addictive.

    I found a fan to move air and make the garage more pleasant in the sunlight.
    [​IMG]
    There it is at the end of the helix base, behind the fully assembled staging yard - which just needs wiring.
    [​IMG]
    Buses: 1.5mm², approximately 16AWG. When wiring houses, these are rated to 240V 13A, or 3.1kW. 15V 5A shouldn't be an issue.
    Feeders: approximately 26AWG. As long as they are short, 15V 5A shouldn't be an issue, right?
    (When I get the DCC system online, I will be doing a quarter-test to be sure the booster/breaker trips and thus nothing catches fire! I think I have a US quarter in a drawer somewhere...)

    After running trains I realised that the turnout right over the support beam is the most logical point to install the auto-reverser for the reverse loop / reverted loop. Except I might want to run DC, like, for testing. So I put a remote mounting kit on a tortoise and exploited the built in DPDT switch. Instead of power-routing the frog, I am power-routing both stock rails! (to the right in the below photo) This does mean no engines can be moving on the reverse track lead while the tortoise is throwing the points, or upset things will happen.
    The 'hare' decoder will be powered from a separate breaker from these rails to avoid crashing the whole DCC system when upset things happen.
    [​IMG]
    Yellow wires to throw the point, non-reversing track to the left, reversing track to the right, white wire along the timber is one side of the staging deck bus.
    In theory it should be possible to use the Hare to power-route the stock rails and auto-throw to match the loop and everything. But for now I am using brute-force wiring to be simple, to be sure.

    [​IMG]
    Since it has been wired, the staging yard has been put into place and then shimmed to be approximately level. It will need to be screwed to the brackets once the glue on the shims dries.

    Might as well test it, right?
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Test engine tells me I have dirty track on the swing arm. Not surprising, everything is about a decade old!
    But it does work so far :D
     
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  8. Another ATSF Admirer

    Another ATSF Admirer TrainBoard Member

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    I found my US Quarter in the "traveling money" drawer, good for testing the DCC when I get it working.

    I finished the reverted loop on the staging deck and temporarily wired it together.

    Then because I thought bare wood looked boring I got some very not prototypical green paint (Arizona or New Mexico, remember) and gave everything a coat. paint dries fast in this heat.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    From here I need to solder more feeders and tidy the wiring; then install more tortoise switch machines and decoders, so the staging deck is automated. I should probably get DCC working and test with more engines and more trains that the trackwork is good enough to build a helix over it. :D
     
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  9. Another ATSF Admirer

    Another ATSF Admirer TrainBoard Member

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    My internet order of tools and some more coal wagons has arrived, so we get a second test train.

    I have added about 40W of thin-strip Florescent lights over the staging deck, so I can see things while I work out how to light this area better. Far too many Lumens and not enough CRI, but I can see the couplers.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
    The 10-wagon train is too long for the temporary helix spur, so I can't turn this train around. Oh, and there is a 16W log fallen across the track too!

    [​IMG]
    Southern Pacific hauling five Burlington North coal gons and five Norfolk Southern coal gons across a green scene in Arizona? Sure, why not!

    The third BN wagon seems to want to uncouple from the fourth, when coming to a stop after reversing. Seems to happen less if the stop is more gradual, not found any other correlating factors yet. Seems fine going through the pointwork and the sliding approach join forwards and backwards; just uncouples on the yard straight :(
     
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  10. Another ATSF Admirer

    Another ATSF Admirer TrainBoard Member

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    I dragged the laptop out to the garage and started taking inventory. I own 19 locomotives. 8 of which could legitimately be on the rails in 1984, and 13 in 1995 (when Santa Fe disappeared into BNSF); and at least 74 rolling stock. Figuring out which of those fit in which years will take longer..

    We had people around and I showed off the layout, wherein I learned two things:
    1. Thomas the Tank Engine derails on the half-lap joint. Probably the best answer is to banish the little blue interloper to the main deck only.
    2. my Kato SD70MAC and a silver-side passenger wagon derail on the point at the reverted loop. So I've ripped up that section and replaced it.
    [​IMG]
    This engine, derailed to the right of this picture.
    Amusing note, this engine was manufactured in September 1995. The ATSF ceased to exist in September 1995...
    [​IMG]
    So the track has been relaid to eliminate the kink, and now the engine and passenger car go through without concern.
    Amusing note, the technique of sliding 'lost' sleepers under rail joints works fairly well at disguising them. There are two joints and a power feeder in that picture, and I suspect to see them you have to go looking.

    Looking ahead to the helix and beyond; the main deck is about 93mm over the supports, 250mm over the staging deck. I've put a sheet of plywood in the middle as a test to see how a scenic divider would work. (working with what I have lying around)
    [​IMG]
    About 20" taller than the main deck rails. Which is probably a little too tall in my estimation.

    There's about 5" of mainline rise in "another town", I figure the backdrop should be at least twice that to look 'right', so 15" over the mainline should look and work well.

    With the size of the scenic divider a known, I found another distraction: I hung a TV off the wall.
    I figure it will be nice to have music or a movie while working. And with a computer running Linux nearby, I can investigate DCC and how much it has changed since 2008 :)
    [​IMG]
    About 16" over the mainline, with one piece of track doing a mock-up of the main yard :)

    It seems the wifi is a little weak in the garage. I might need to get it stronger if I want to use my cellphone as a throttle and have it safe and reliable :)
     
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  11. Another ATSF Admirer

    Another ATSF Admirer TrainBoard Member

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    With my very large monitor in place, I have started down the road of DCC and computer.

    I applied power to my base station and it still works. I tested the circuit breakers using a pair of pliers, and the breaker does throw - at least near the feeders. Will re-test all over the staging deck with my US Quarter later.

    After a short argument with Linux (have to add 'plebian' to the group that is permitted to use serial ports; then have to log out before the system notices that 'plebian' is allowed to access the serial ports), JMRI starts and can see the "NCE USB" dongle. Unfortunately, the dongle cannot see the command station.

    The software running in the base station is ancient, so I have ordered a new upgrade EEPROM from the NCE website, that should be here in about two weeks, along with some kapton tape to get the order heavy enough to ship :)

    In the meantime, I have dusted off ATSF GP60 #4023 and demonstrated that I can in fact turn the headlights on and off remotely. And that DCC requires cleaner track than DC :(

    Absolutely no sign of my point and shoot camera :( Will be a while before I can save enough to replace it - especially as any time I get free funds I buy model supplies ;) - so I guess we are stuck with out of focus cell phone pictures!

    Looking forwards I will be:
    • Wiring and testing the staging deck so the breakers work reliably when a quarter is applied at any point
    • Dusting off the roster and testing the DCC all works
    • Getting the roster into the computer so I can speed match and so forth
    • Starting on the helix
    • Eyeing up the main deck - all the joists and supports for track and backdrops
     
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  12. Another ATSF Admirer

    Another ATSF Admirer TrainBoard Member

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    Invited a friend around to play with the band saw. He started on the helix supports and I started on the helix spiral. Naturally he picked Oval Support B to start on - the most complex one on the plan :rolleyes:

    Searching for suggestions on how to build a spiral helix and I found.. my previous layout. And also HemiAdda2d and ppuinn's designs.

    [​IMG]

    So I have divided the oval into 32 arcs of 11.25° each, measured the radius at that point - conveniently it changes by 1mm per sector, and finagled the large compass into marking some sort of curve between points. Flextrack will flow around the curve so even if the pencilwork is approximate, cork and track can be spiked to the correct radius marks.

    Next is to overmark the track centres in one colour, and then mark the cut-out lines between each ramp in a different colour (green and black have volunteered themselves); double-check where the turnouts are, where the entries and exits are, and cut the spiral out.

    Carry the giant wood slinky over to the layout, test fit supports, notch supports for the staging deck track, and screw the whole thing together. Should be fun. :coffee:
     
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  13. badlandnp

    badlandnp TrainBoard Member

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    I found this funny, then remembered you are down under! I hired on with the Big New Santa Fe in 96 and worked there a few years. Essentially, the BN stockholders wanted the SF management team and bought the SF to get them. On the BN side, it was not a well recieved merger, because the SF bunch runs things a LOT differently than the BN bunch did.

    Anyway, your SF painted units are still correct until 97 or 98 as not all locos got their new BNSF numbers til then. They didn't even really get started until 97 on the renumbering scheme and patching. So, run them locos! ;)
     
  14. ppuinn

    ppuinn Staff Member

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    ATSF Admirer said:
    Carry the giant wood slinky over to the layout, test fit supports, notch supports for the staging deck track, and screw the whole thing together. Should be fun. :coffee:

    LOL. Working alone while drawing and cutting the spirals for my bowl-shaped helixes was tedious work, but was manageable. But putting my first "wood slinky" (great description!) on the stair-stepped supports by my lonesome was a frustrating exercise in juggling! I finally asked my wife to stabilize the supports on the far side.
    In order to complete the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th helixes while working solo, I secured 2 of the supports on the far side and one on the near side to the base, clamped 1x2s onto the top and bottom of the slinky to keep it flat, set the flattened slinky on the 3 supports, released the clamps and removed the 1x2s, and let each loop of the slinky settle onto the stair-steps of the supports.

    For the past few years, another model railroader and I spend a day each week working on each other's layouts. It never ceases to amaze me how much more work 2 guys finish in one day than 1 guy can get done in 2 days!
     
  15. Another ATSF Admirer

    Another ATSF Admirer TrainBoard Member

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    There is some virtue in the approach - after all, if I am creating a fictional river to play with, I could also fiction the timing or existence of the merger ;)
    Although I expect my painting skills aren't up to taking a blank SD90MAC and claiming ATSF bought a dozen of them, so I might fiction only a wee way past the nineties..

    I do seem to recall some effort to duct-tape down the supports last time, while trying to get the slinky to sit atop them.:censored: Might even have some old pictures.
    I have some greater issues this time, in that the staging deck has a loop on it, and every support needs a notch to go over the loop track; but I don't accurately know where each support goes until I have the wood slinky at least cut to size.
    I may have to run before I walk. Or get the handy friend back to help duct-tape things down! ;)
    Worst case, I can cut the slinky as a flat oval (i.e. cut the outside and inside only, leave all the ramps together), build some scrap supports the full height of each loop, and balance the giant donut in place while working out from the donut arcs where the supports need to go. I seem to recall last time that the lovely straight lines drawn from centre to outside actually move around the ramps when the slinky is put down, because the length of the ramp changes when the flat donut becomes three dimensional ;)

    Progress:

    Went out into the big wide world on Saturday and got some sun. Also wrenched my shoulder which means no heavy lifting and no power tools :(
    My various internet orders have arrived. JMRI + NCE USB doesn't like the NCE PowerPro, which 5 minutes of googling would have told me is true. :( So I bought a USB Serial cable what works with Linux and now my shiny upgraded 5A Power Pro is talking to JMRI, via all sorts of trip hazards slung across the walkways :eek: - Guess I will be fixing that when I decide how all of this works and fits together.
    I have started feeding my roster back into the computer, using the JMRI DecoderPro "read all CVs" option. Turns out I did add a Decoder to my 4-6-2 Pacific way back when, so that's nice. :D

    Also looks like my ancient decoders aren't so fussed on dirty track. Might be looking at where I can bodge in some capacitors as a DIY no-halt module :D Not terrible work, just fiddly.
     
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  16. ppuinn

    ppuinn Staff Member

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    For my circular bowl-shaped helixes, I set my supports at the 8 points of a compass (and had an extra pair at East and West for my oval helix). I cut my spiral ramps from 4 ft by 8ft panels of Homasote (a 1/2 inch thick paper-product insulation board). I used a 1 inch wide ramp for my first helix (Pekin Helix), but that was too narrow and I had to add 8 additional supports--16 points of the compass--to prevent sagging between supports. For the next 3 helixes, I used 1.5 inch wide ramps and screwed the 1/2 inch Homasote 4'x8' panel to a 1/2 inch 4'x8' OSB (wafer board/wood chip board) panel before drawing out and cutting the spiral ramp. Each loop gradually increased in radius so that at the completion of a single loop, the radius was 1.5 inches larger (diameter was 3 inches wider)...and releasing the clamped flat "slinky" allowed the ramp to settle down onto the proper 1.5 inch wide stair-steps of each support. The supports are positioned at the compass points, and diameter of each loop gets larger as the ramp goes up the helix. This means the distance between one support (e.g., the North support) and the next adjacent support (e.g., the Northwest support) will be different (longer) for the next higher loop. You can see below that the Pekin Helix supports are closer to each other at the bottom of the bowl than at the top (just like the slices of a pie or pizza are narrower toward the center than at the outside).
    In the Pekin Helix, the 1 inch wide ramp makes the outside of each loop 1 inch radius (2 inches diameter) wider than the loop below it, and each loop begins 1 inch offset from where it ends. For the other helixes, the ramps are 1.5 inches wide and the radius increases by 1.5 inches throughout each loop, so each loop is 3 inches diameter wider than the loop below it.

    The Pekin Helix's Homasote-only 1 inch wide ramp:
    [​IMG]

    One of the stair step supports of the oval Kellar Helix:
    [​IMG]

    Below, note how I had to cut 4 inches of the OSB panel from the underside of the 2nd loop's ramp (leaving just the Homasote) so I had enough clearance for trains to pass under the second loop into the bottom (first loop) of the helix. This is the Peoria Helix, but I had to cut the OSB panel on the Bartonville and Keller Helixes, too. Depending on how thick your ramp is, plus how steep the helix grade is, and how tight the radius is on your first (lowest) loop, you may (or may not) need to trim something from the bottom of the 2nd loop where it passes over the track that enters the bottom of the helix.
    [​IMG]

    Have you played with the Helix Dimension Calculator I developed (stickied at the top of the first page of the Layout Design Discussion forum)? It lets you plug in values for grade, minimum radius of the bottom loop, maximum footprint of the helix, width of the ramp, desired rise from bottom to top of the helix, height of the ramp as it reaches each compass point (support) of every loop, and allows you to see the effect changing certain values has on other values. Sadly, it's not yet in metric, but you can convert by using 1 inch equals 2.54 centimeters.
     
    Last edited: Apr 10, 2017
  17. Another ATSF Admirer

    Another ATSF Admirer TrainBoard Member

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    Happy Easter.

    Yes, I am familiar with the spiral helix spreadsheet. It is practically my desktop picture on my workstation PC ;)
    I have hacked it to add metric and highlight when I hit the wall or the legs (because laps 1-4 hit the legs and laps 5+ are above them. Very confusing)

    So today I crawled around under the layout with wire cutters and screwdrivers.
    [​IMG] | [​IMG] | (click to embiggen)

    The two turnouts between the helix and the staging yard now have tortoises and a DCC decoder. Which will help, because these two are buried once the wooden slinky is imported. ;)
    Might need to bring out some LEDs for the staging yard master to tell which way the points are set..
    Not sure if I want to power route the frogs or not (Atlas Code 55). Modern diesels cope with what I guess is a dead-frog currently, and my one steamer has engine + tender pickups; so they are reliable enough today. But if that ever changes in the next decade or so, they really are buried!

    [​IMG]
    My wiring scheme is "european style" chocolate blocks. These are plenty enough current and will work reliably enough with up to two wires in each side. Trying to bring three or more wires into a single screw is a touch less reliable. I also have "tag strips" for bringing together more conductors at once - like yard feeders.
    As pictured, Black is Common, White is Track Bus for the Staging Deck - DC or DCC, and Orange is the DCC Accessory Bus. Very important that - if a DCC-controlled point changing shorts out the track bus, the accessories are on a separate breaker and so the human can fix the issue! (y)
    I have one spare breaker left, so the whole main deck can be one 5A district. If that isn't enough, I can always split it further later. :)

    Running trains
    [​IMG]
    err.. looking for track issues. yeah, totally looking for track issues ;)
    (tape on the wall shows helix height marks)

    If I haven't pulled anything scrambling around under the layout, tomorrow I should get back onto that big wood slinky! :D
     
    badlandnp likes this.

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