2020-2021 Thirteenth Annual International Winter Layout Party

ppuinn Dec 11, 2020

  1. TrainzLuvr

    TrainzLuvr TrainBoard Member

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    Maybe you want to consider moving the double crossover, the one that's closer to the edge of the benchwork, to a location between Connor's Gulch and Vic's Scrapyard?

    Actually, it might be better off between Vic's Scrapyard and Munville, before that right hand turnout.

    This way you create two long sidings, the first crossover where the track branches off at the bottom around Evanko Gravel, and the other up at Munville.
     
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  2. nscalestation

    nscalestation TrainBoard Supporter

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    Early Saturday morning I got over to the Home Depot and picked up some tempered hard board to finish the fascia along the new Palisade Canyon section of the layout which has been the focus of my work during this layout party. I wasted no time in getting it cut out and installed. I have learned not to staple it, just glue and clamp. With no staple holes it's way easier to get a nice finish.

    2020TBLP51.jpg


    After the glue had set on the front, I cut out and put up the piece for the end where the gate is. This will support the hillside. Then started on the cardboard strips along the front which can be seen in the lower right hand corner of this photo.

    2020TBLP50.jpg
     
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  3. TrainzLuvr

    TrainzLuvr TrainBoard Member

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    I am very humbled, happy and proud to report that tonight, moments before the Valentine's Day ran out, I've met my objective in this 13th Annual Winter Layout Party.

    In what is an unprecedented long delay for railroads, the engineer and the conductor in Rio Grande locomotive 5903 have been waiting for many weeks to get the green signal and take the first journey across Newbridge & Lockport Railroad. We commend the crew for their patience and their skill to survive on what little supplies were provided in their caboose.

    [​IMG]

    Upon traversing the treacherous terrains of plywood pacific on a loosely pinned down track, the crew managed to pass the golden spike point, cross the lift-up gate, then enter and pass through staging, returning back to their starting point.

    Suffice to say, both the engineer and the conductor were somewhat confused by this rather unorthodox conclusion of their trip.

    Though this is not the end of their journey, but the beginning. They will be taking more trips across the railroad in the coming weeks, months and years, testing the trackwork, crossing many turnouts and entering numerous sidings.

    The adventure continues.
     
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  4. Sumner

    Sumner TrainBoard Member

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    What glue are you using?

    thanks,

    Sumner
     
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  5. nscalestation

    nscalestation TrainBoard Supporter

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    The yellow wood glue, either Elmer's or Titebond.
     
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  6. Kevin Anderson

    Kevin Anderson TrainBoard Member

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    I did get some work done this weekend. However I forgot to take pics. I was busy get some evaluations done with the NMRA. I did receive my latest AP cert though. I now have three on the wall. I still have room for four more however. I will be spending some time on one last scratch build over the next few weeks. I will need to take another trip out to the location and take more photos somI can finish it. All the ones I took disappeared somehow.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
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  7. okane

    okane TrainBoard Supporter

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  8. okane

    okane TrainBoard Supporter

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  9. Atani

    Atani TrainBoard Member

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    No work on the layout this weekend other than the board below being assembled today. This is the test run of the ESP32 CS PCB and there is another revision in the works. I have two footprints to fix for the next revision as they are just barely too large for the actual part.

    Tomorrow I'll upload new code to the ESP32 to adjust a couple pins and OPS track current limits (bump from 3A to 5A/10A). Then it's back to the layout again for more testing and work on the helix and if it is dry for a bit I'll get some road base cut for the main deck.[​IMG]

    Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk
     
  10. ppuinn

    ppuinn Staff Member

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    No progress on the open hearth furnace, but significant progress on upgrading scrap yard structures, upgrading scrap yard scenes, upgrading scrap loads, weathering scrap gondolas, and making new scrap iron loads. I plan to give a virtual clinic on modeling scrap iron recycling on my layout, and I want pictures of my scrap yards and scrap loads for my PowerPoint slides. Over the past 2 or 3 weeks, one member of my weekly work crew has upgraded 3 cardboard buildings in the large IBS Scrap Iron Recycling Yard, and the other member has been using Evans Designs Model Builder to design the exterior "skin" that will go on those cardboard buildings.
    This pic shows the old IBS Sorting building on the left (originally made over 20 years ago and re-taped several times since then), and, on the right, the new building with the printed Model Builder "skin" that will be glued to it tomorrow. This pic shows the old IBS offices and Non-Ferrous Metal shed on the left and the new ones on the right. The new skin will be pale blue metal siding with a door or two on each side of the building. This is the shredded metal loader building (upgraded maybe 2 or 3 weeks ago??), but now wearing the recently added conveyor covering. Pic today showing the metal roofing of the East and West Prep Sheds (where the pickers strip out the interior of junk cars before putting them through the crusher and shredder) going the correct direction on both buildings...Last progress report, had the roofing going the wrong direction on one of the buildings. I still need to add some scenery around the foundations, so the buildings are "planted" into the ground instead of floating above it.
    [​IMG]

    While the work crew worked on the larger IBS Scrap Iron Recycling Yard, I created two 2-sided loads of damaged rail car scrap (large pieces on one side and small pieces on the other), a 1-sided load of rail scrap (turnout frogs) and a partial load of wheel sets that will be permanently spotted in the Mervis Rail Scrap Salvage Yard. I also weathered those 4 gondolas and 6 others. I've only been able to upgrade the paint job on a couple of my scrap loads...still lots more to get prettied up for pics for the clinic slides.

    I've replaced the generic scrap yard details in the Mervis Rail Scrap Yard with rail scrap made from old, broken, wrong era, bad running, rail cars, and am pleased with how everything turned out.
    This is the back end of the yard: the track in the yard has a partially loaded gon with wheel sets (to be permanently spotted there) and a gon with processed (small, less than 4') rail scrap ready to be picked up. More wheel sets are behind the crane, then bolsters, then a pile of side frames in the corner. To the right of the cars and crane are single wheels and both large and small pieces of damaged rail cars. I made some acetylene cutting torch tanks from red and green telephone wires and put some workers in the yard. The 2 cars on the interchange track behind the scrap yard show the large side of the damaged rail car load and the load of scrap turnout frogs (made from some broken Atlas turnouts that have been in my parts drawer for decades). I still have some work to do on the scale beside the yard office and the sliding gate.
     
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  11. nscalestation

    nscalestation TrainBoard Supporter

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    Here's my mid-week update:

    Fascia got all sanded and a coat of primer. All of the remaining land forms along the front between the river and the existing finished section have gotten plaster cloth. Ready to start building up the hillside where the tunnel portals are located.
    2020TBLP52.jpg


    Here is the end behind the tunnels. An access hatch has been made that will cover the opening except for small openings for the trains. The hatch will be removable using a pair of 8-32 thumb screws the go into the Tee nuts mounted in the upper corners of the opening.
    2020TBLP53.jpg
     
  12. TrainzLuvr

    TrainzLuvr TrainBoard Member

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    Filed under "Insane in the membrane" category, I though I should finish the benchwork on the branch line by cutting some wood outside at -3°C with 1 foot of snow on the ground, 'cuz you know...bench work somehow never ends on this railroad. Or, just plain insane here.

    [​IMG]
    This benchwork is 1" lower than the main surface, and the grade down starts at the far right in the photo above. Last I checked, it was about 1.15% grade which should be ok, fingers crossed. None of the wood surfaces are tied in place, as I was just fitting all the pieces together first.

    [​IMG]
    Another view, this time from inside the room, portion of the benchwork for the industry is visible on the left side of the photo. Not sure what this industry is going to be yet (I got lots of kits on hand), but there's is 42x10" of space, which is plenty for N Scale.
     
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  13. logging loco

    logging loco TrainBoard Supporter

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    I really like the clean smooth facia surface. The results are worth the extra effort.
     
  14. nscalestation

    nscalestation TrainBoard Supporter

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    Thank you. It also adds a surprising amount of strength and stability to the bench work. This layout is made up of many smaller sections and the fascia holds it all together. In the event that we ever move and I want to salvage the sections, the fascia can be cut through and the sections unbolted. Then if re-used in a new layout a new fascia could be installed over the old.
     
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  15. RailMix

    RailMix TrainBoard Member

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    Looks like the crossovers might come in handy by providing a locomotive escape without traveling a long distance, especially the one closest to the wall. That could be useful in switching Dymax Industries.
    Myself, I didn't get enough done last weekend to be worth posting a photo. We'll see how this weekend works out.
     
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  16. nscalestation

    nscalestation TrainBoard Supporter

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    Weekend update, one more week to go. Have been building up the hillside with blocks of insulation board glued together and held with pins, clamps, and nails until the glue dries. Included a strip of hardboard that provides a relatively flat area for Palisade Ranch Road. After the general desired shape is achieved the hillside will be covered with plaster cloth which will make it strong.

    2020TBLP54.jpg

    Was going to put the finish coat on the fascia but found that what was left of my smoke gray enamel was dried out. New can is on order with True Value and while I am waiting for that I started some scenery in the large area between the two tracks and along the front edge. Next I'll start to work on the ballast on the front track.

    2020TBLP55.jpg
     
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  17. TrainzLuvr

    TrainzLuvr TrainBoard Member

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    Over here, I mustered some focus and energy into doing more wiring on the layout. Managed to install an electrical panel for the Power District 1, with the basic necessities: A power bar, DC supply, DCC Booster, LCC Repeater and couple of phenolic terminal blocks.

    [​IMG]

    The way this is setup is that LCC Network is brought from Staging and into the LCC Repeater (black RJ45 cable). Just before the Repeater you see a small black box which is a Female to Female RJ45 adapter, where a DCC signal is tapped off the LCC Network cable.

    That DCC signal is fed into the Lenz LV103 DCC booster ports C and D. From the Booster, DCC signal on J and K ports is connected into the top terminal block, for wiring around this district.

    The DC supply connected on the left terminal block provides 16V/7.5A for the Booster and various DC needs around the district - the same setup as in the Staging.

    There's room left on the panel to mount more LCC Nodes, if/when need arises, but generally LCC nodes are put "in-situ" where they are needed, avoiding an issue of routing long cables back to a central location. Everything is transmitted via that RJ45 Cat5e black cable across the entire layout.

    Locally, there's still DCC signal wire for the track feeders, but local events (block occupancy, signaling, accessory control) are processed where they happen and that information is sent across the entire LCC Network.
     
  18. Kevin Anderson

    Kevin Anderson TrainBoard Member

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    Time to start painting the base color on the modules I’m building.[​IMG]
     
  19. okane

    okane TrainBoard Supporter

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    This may be my last post for the Winter layout as this is quickly becoming a workweek from hell. I wanted to at least get trains running, solve the inevitable poor conductors and connections. but as of today here is the progress.

    Working on the first power district. All track and switches installed, Risers/Incline/Declines in place. What's next - running the electrical, checking block Sections and Reverse Section. Run a few trains to make sure all is as expected. Deb will be installing a blue backdrop for now. I will head out to a few select places in the county, during the spring - take a few panoramas, print a few out and lay them on the backdrop. Pictures below

    IMG_20210223_103911.jpg IMG_20210223_103920.jpg IMG_20210223_103935.jpg IMG_20210223_103928.jpg IMG_20210223_103941.jpg
     
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  20. nscalestation

    nscalestation TrainBoard Supporter

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    Here is what I've gotten done over the past few days. Got the plaster cloth put on the hillside. This will be followed up with drywall joint compound.

    2020TBLP56.jpg


    I cut a piece of .030 styrene sheet to fit on the end sky board and fit in behind the top of the hill. I will paint this attempting to match the sky on the photo backdrop then glue it to the skyboard.

    2020TBLP58.jpg


    And I got the ballast done on the front track, which is the Southern Pacific or westbound paired track.

    2020TBLP57.jpg
     
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