Rainier Great Western Const Update

RGW Feb 19, 2007

  1. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Waking up during the middle of the night. All that you could see in dreams were wires, wires and more wires..... :eek::D
     
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  2. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    "wires, wires and more wires....."

    Yup, but definitely in home stretch now.
     
    Last edited: Jul 17, 2019
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  3. gjslsffan

    gjslsffan Staff Member

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    I hope this is the end of your electrical troubles.
     
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  4. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    When I posted earlier today I didn't have photos of the shrink tube work from last night, so I took those tonight.

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    We decided to strengthen the pin connections with the shrink tube. It might be overkill, but anytime we can reduce the impact of movement, I'm willing to err on the side of caution.
     
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  5. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Last night's work session consisted of all hands working on the install of the South Seattle Yard megapoints panel. Just so there is no confusion, that meant yours truly was upside down on a dolly all night, but I digress. As we did with the Interbay panel, we fabricated a simple channel for the panel to slide in.

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    In this case, the panel is 28 inches by 8 inches. So it was wide but not deep. Here is the opposite side. You can also see Scott's handiwork and his platform for the power supply.

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    We had to move two of the tortoise control boards inward to give us enough clearance, but that was a minor adjustment. In the end the panel slid right in.

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    We still have to fabricate a locking mechanism to ensure the panel stays in place but otherwise this part of the install is done. The next step was to mark each tortoise with its correct number and then we started installing the wires.

    One step closer. Until next week, thanks for checking in.
     
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  6. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    To summarize tonight, we created a rat's nest of wires, then unscrambled it and stretched each to their appropriate tortoise switch machine.

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    It was an all hands effort to run all 30 wires to each tortoise and we still have work to do. Each wire needs an edge connector to attach to the tortoise, so next week we'll start soldering them on and perhaps even putting them in place. We'll see when the time comes. We also need to course the wires through hanger clips and do a little tidying up, for sure.

    The good news is we are one step closer to operations. Figure two more work sessions to finish this install, then at least three to get the railroad in shape (including yard testing) and finally one for staging. That puts us in October, but the time will pass very quickly.

    Thanks for checking in.
     
  7. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Been a couple of weeks since our last update, so thought it was about time to get everyone caught up. As I stated in the last post, we expected a couple of weeks of work to debug the South Seattle Yard panel. We completed that work tonight and can report complete success.

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    All turnouts (30) and routes (14) are working as intended!

    In other news, we received the Maple Valley backdrop from the printer today. For now it is taped into place to remove the curve in the backing paper (white area at top). I had the printer delete the sky, so our painted backdrop with our own clouds will be what you see once it's in place.

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    It is 122 inches long and was purposefully printed deeper than we will actually need. We will trim it to the "best fit" depth once we start jockeying it into position. It is a peel and stick product, so once we are ready to install it, it should go on smoothly. We may have to do a little surgery on the backdrop to assure that's the case, but we'll see.

    That's it for now. The next phases are cleaning, then testing, and finally operation. Woohooo!

    Thanks for checking in.
     
  8. dalebaker

    dalebaker TrainBoard Member

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    The above post is Likeable on many levels!!! Video of the first run is a must!
     
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  9. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Using the weekend to prep for backdrop installation on Tuesday. First thing was to remove the foam against the backdrop and then sand the glue and excess paint. This will give us a nice clean and smooth surface to attach the picture.

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    Then I painted the background for the mountains at each end.

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    Finally added the landforms.

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    Once we have the photo backdrop in place, we'll come back and add more foam in front of the photo to close up the gaps and then we intend to use tall static grass to help create the idea of distance to the pasture and mountains on the photo.

    Thanks for checking in.
     
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  10. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Just a quick post to get up to speed on our progress. We finished the prep for the picture backdrop. Spackled all the imperfections and sanded them back out, then put on frog tape to protect the surfaces for the next step.

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    Next we will put down a layer of caulk against the backdrop and once dried, spackle to close the gap between the track and the backdrop.

    As for the cleaning process, what do you do with your cars in order to clear track so you can vacuum and then brite-boy? Answer, put them anywhere you can...

    Here's but a small sample of how it looks.

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    More next week.
     
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  11. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Another short update from tonight. We continued to clean track. Our process is simple, vacuum, hit really dirty track with Brite-boy, then using a simple block of wood we burnish the track to a high shine. For our final step, we flip the wood over, hit the block with CRC 2-26 and then spread it over the clean track. Here's Doug during the burnishing stage.

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    I started the evening early, before the guys arrived. I put AC weathering strip foam down into the gaps between the track and the backdrop. Once I had it in the right place, I filled the space with Dap gap-filling clear caulk. Once hard, it will support the foam landforms and prevent anything from falling through to the yard below.

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    This will take a while to dry, so next week we will start putting in the foam landforms. And based on this picture we have a lot of ballast touch ups in our future

    Until next time, thanks for checking in.
     
  12. VinceP

    VinceP TrainBoard Member

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    Almost looks like Rock Island track woooops to much ballast.
     
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  13. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Can't be its too straight.
     
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  14. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    In advance of this coming Tuesday, I went out to the layout and removed the frog tape from the backdrop area. Really pleased with how this DAP caulk is working out.

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    One other item we added last week was pipe insulation to the areas of the fascia where a person might duck under to fix derailments or other track situations.

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    This stuff is strong and will help prevent scraping the back of one's head. Trust me, I'm happy to have installed this stuff.

    More on Tuesday.
     
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  15. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Sounds like there were a few "experiences" which led up to this installation. :)
     
  16. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Tonight we cut foam to fill in the gap between the subroadbed and the backdrop in Maple Valley. We used tracing paper to make a template and then cut the shape in the foam with a foam cutter. Once we had that done, Scott painted over the white caulk with a light gray.

    Before:

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    After:

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    The paint will help hide any imperfections once we cover any bare spots with ballast. You can see the foam pieces off to the side in the second shot.

    In other evening activities, Ed started working to install our track detector module. He recently completed the speed recorder install, so this is next item on the list. Reynold is busy working on lowering more flat cars.

    On a side note, Reynold asked me if I would volunteer some time as a docent at the City of Fife's annual fun days event. When I found out we were doing it on the City's Alco C415, I was all in. For 2 hours attendees could hike their way up the ladders and climb into the cab and look around. This unit was one of 26 ever built between '66-68. This one was purchased by the Chehalis Western and featured a mid cab and high adhesion trucks, in a B-B configuration. The City bought the unit from the CWRR about 12 years ago. I had a blast talking to the families as they passed through the cab. Here are Reynold and I after the last few people came through.

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    What a fun afternoon. Thanks for checking in.
     
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  17. gjslsffan

    gjslsffan Staff Member

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    Looks like you have made some progress on your Railroad and having a blast on an old Alco to me :)
     
    Last edited: Oct 18, 2019
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  18. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    As I have heard it told, the ALCo is gutted? If so, a shame. She is so historic. Needs to be intact and operable! :)
     
  19. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    She is, even down to the fact that in order to prevent thieves from stealing items, the horn has been removed and put in a separate side building. I did have a funny moment during the tour, a young man, about 14, asked me if I knew the "start-up sequence" for the ALCO, as he wanted to run it back and forth for a ways. I'm like, well, the tracks only extend about 3 feet on either side of the unit, so we're not doing that. Didn't have the heart to tell him that the engines had been removed years ago. M
     
    Last edited: Oct 18, 2019
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  20. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Well, the Maple Valley backdrop is in place!


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    We started by cutting about 1-1/8 inches off the bottom of the photo. After test fitting it, we felt a lower profile was called for because we wanted to minimize the significant grassy areas on the lower half of the photo. The grass in the foreground was quite long and it just didn't blend well. So we cut and lowered the photo.

    To apply it to the backdrop we pulled the backing off then we used an all hands approach to place it on the backdrop. Each crew member held a section while I went down the line with a J roller to smooth it out along the way.

    Once in, we set to shaping the foam blocks. One thing we like to do is round off the top, it leaves very small gap between the foam and the backdrop, we do that because even that small a space creates an illusion of distance.
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    Then we set out to test clearance for our longest and widest cars. Note in this next picture the gap at the top of the foam and how small it is, but the effect is there and that's all we need.

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    We shaped the foam where needed then called it a night once we were satisfied.

    I took this last shot at a low angle, I like the look.

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    Here are a couple of other shots prior to shaping the foam. I love how the clouds look as if they are coming over the mountains.
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    More next week.
     
    Last edited: Oct 23, 2019
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