From armchair to benchwork!

Sounds good. Count me in. I can be a token HO participant!

The Skunk Valley railroad is an HO layout in the garage. It's roughly 5 x 12 feet, DCC, with 3 steam engines and 1 early diesel. Much of the layout is complete (or as complete as they ever are.) Track is down, most of the scenery is done. and quite a few of the structures are in place. Our local club does a monthly "round robin" to several layouts, including the Skunk Valley.

Long term (6 month) goals:

1. Complete the block signal system (75% complete, awaiting parts).

2. Complete the industrial district, roughly 2 x 4 feet.

3. Develop some type of operating session.

Short term (this week): Repair damage from the last operating session, broken switchstand, several broken trees, tendency to derail at Turnout 4.

[ 19. February 2003, 15:58: Message edited by: Jackson ]

 

My problems with wiring and laying track have been mostly not really knowing what I am doing? Like I said before, I did this when I was a kid and used sectional and ran one engine on a big loop. (I was content) Now, I want biggger and better..my layout is N with 2 table tops..one a 5x10, the other 4x8 together to form an L. I am using flextrack with some sectional. What I am unsure of is the wiring of the track and turnouts? I am really unfamiliar with alot of terms used here so maybe I need to do some reading first. I read alot about soldering the wire to the tracks? Also, what about the turnouts? I am no Bob Vila here..in fact, if Bob is on one end of the spectrum, I am on the other end. I am willing to take my time with this because I want to get it right.

Also, I have a MRC260 as well as a small powerpack I got from a set I bought as a kid. My idea was to just run 2 trains on seperate tracks but after hearing about DCC, I want it.
Other than buying the DCC system, is there anything I need to do on the tracks, engines or wiring for it to work? Thx for all help!

 

Here's my layout plan, to go with the previously posted info:



[ 19. February 2003, 16:33: Message edited by: David Chong ]

 

That's a nice looking plan David. Looks like you'll have a lot of switching activity available, plus passenger operations.

You have the "Frisco" logo, so was wondering if you have equated the locations/industries etc to the real Frisco railroad, such as certain cities etc. I'm trying to do that, but even with "selective compression" and "modeler's licence" it's sometimes hard to do, especially with certain industries and yards.

Also thanks for the inspiration in one of your other posts. It's too easy to "hold off" for awhile on some unfamiliar task of building the layout, and thinking more research is needed. I've found I spend way too much time "researching", and not enough time actually doing. You're right.....do something!.......even if it isn't 100% correct.....it can always be redone if you're not satisfied with the results. I like that approach. Now I'm anxious to get going once again.
Good luck.
Bill

 

Count me in. I have a 7'x7'x18" deep L shaped switching layout. I have finished laying the new Atlas code 55 track and 14 code 55 turnouts. I found that the new under table switch machines from atlas won't work through my benchwork and road bed. The linkage has too much slop and play to work consistantly. I was so disgusted that I just had to walk away. My goal will be to build new linkage for the switch machines and get them wired and trains running. Looking back with 20/20 vision, I wish that I had used the slide switches and thrown the turnouts manually . I could have saved enough $$$$$$ to buy a new Loco.Does anyone in this forum have a diagram showing how to wire the slide switches and the best way to mount them? It may be best to sell the atlas switch machines and make matters simple .
Blake

 

Blake, I went through the same kind of process with turnouts as I planned my layout. I am working on a tight budget, and yet I want the layout to be high quality and look good - two competing paradigms. The turnout controls got particular attention, because therein these two goals come into direct opposition.

If you go with manual throw or standard remotes, you get that ugly (and potentially pilot-fouling) machine beside the turnout. Under the table is nice, but as you found, the Atlas machines have a bit of play, and they are expensive to boot. Especially in my interchange yard, which is tight, I had no tolerance for the big switch machines.

It looked like I was headed for ground throws, but when I shopped them, I didn't like what was available in N scale - too ugly, too big, too expensive, or too hard to grab and use.

My solution was to make my own ground throws. I use 49-cent (!) electric light wall switches from the hardware store, gut the electrical contacts, and then connect an .020 gauge wire to the bottom of the switch lever. The switch housings are mounted horizontally to a shelf on the side of the layout with screws. The wire comes out the side of the housing, goes through the layout fascia, and routes directly under the turnout throwbar. For long runs, I thread the wire through copper tubing, which runs about 50-cents a foot.

Then, I bend the wire up through a large (1/4") hole under the throw. I then put a staple underneath the layout that spans the bottom of the hole, acting as a fulcrum for the vertical wire to lever on. This provides very strong throw force at the throwbar - my contact is about twice as strong as on manual or remote Atlas throws (e.g. you have to push about twice as hard on the points to get them to move without throwing the switch). Sometimes, I have to fiddle with the vertical wire for about 5 minutes, adding a bend in it to push off against the sides of the hole through the layout. I bend most of them so that the force on the points is equal in both throw positions.

I hope this helps. If I had a digital cam I could document the whole process. I love the results - my whole yard so far has these installed, and they are attractive, have positive contact, require no electricity, are very easy to manipulate for my 6-year-old, and are cheap! Let me know if I can explain better.

David

 

David Chong said:
"One day I took stock of my progress, realized I was so worried about doing something wrong that I was doing nothing at all, and changed my threshhold for how much I was willing to "wing it". Mind you, I am still doing careful planning and research, but at some point I decided I just had to throw down some glue, solder some rails, and get some track down.

It helped immeasurably! I did make some mistakes, but they were easily fixed, and the simple act of getting something done - even done wrong - spurred me into working on the layout, either to get it right, or to complement and build upon what I'd done correctly."

I think you hit the nail a good solid one with this thinking. The fear of failure blocks more model railroaders I am convinced than anything else. I know from time to time, it has blocked me immensely. I call it "hobby intimidation." When I realized I was falling into this trap, that was the beginning of the first thread of this, the third layout party. I had read in other forums of modeler's just not making the progress they wish they could, and admitting they weren't putting in the hours they knew they should. When I figured I wasn't alone on this particular ocean liner, I started the first layout party. For me, it was a real break through.

I still run into intimidating problems, but I know if I don't have a solution that I'm 100% with, go with what I have had planned, and voila... progress.

Thanks for raising this particular issue.

[ 19. February 2003, 23:08: Message edited by: rsn48 ]

 

I couldn't agree more with Rick and David's comments. I have been on my lazy butt overdesigning my dream layout for about seven years. I'm awfully tired of not being able to run my trains, except at Ntrak shows. Even there, all we do is put a train together, and let it run around the track for an hour.

I'm currently in a position with a lot of time on my hands, and all I've been doing with it is surfing the net. So I'm extremely grateful for this challange to finally get going on the layout.

Rick thinks my plans for the next six weeks may be overambitious. That could be, but I will do my best to not let myself down in front of all you good people. Also, I reaaallly have planned the parts I'm trying to get done down to the nth detail.

I want to post my layout diagram, but I use Cadrail 6.0, and haven't been able to figure out how to get it in a viewable internet format. Does anybody have any ideas?


Just as a progress report, the design calls for 93 pieces of lumber in the benchwork. Today, I started the installation. I cut and installed the first 12 pieces. That works out to 13 percent of my first week's goal. Tomorrow I will be able to get an earlier start, and should be able to complete another 30.


I'm excited!
Dave

 

Wow Dave,

Great to hear you are turning a corner in the hobby! I'm really thankful to Rick for opening up this forum for challenge and inspiration.

I still shudder when I look at the goals list you have, but perhaps it will be like the floodwaters being released from the mighty dam that has held back your building energies so long!

To post your layout diagram, open up Cadrail, get your whole layout on screen, and then hit the PRINT SCREEN key (above your keypad). Then open up Microsoft Paint (or your favorite graphics editor) and select File > Paste. Then, click File > Save As..., and name it something. In the second dialog box, near the bottom, select JPG (jpeg) format, save it, and post it to the internet as described in a previous post.

Bill - This layout visually is based on the area around Paso Robles / Salinas: old California Oaks, lush hills, oil, livestock, and farming. The sister layout, which connects at the yard, is very much Central Valley looking - flat, brown grass, industrial, and urban. I only recently moved to the Central Coast and am just getting up to speed on my Frisco history. I've gotten to know my local RR history fairly well (Pacific Coast RR: Avila/Port Harford, San Luis Obispo, & Santa Maria), and am just now branching my studies along the coast. Any favorite online resources?

Cheers all,
David

 

This is just what I need!

My layout is N scale, built on a 36"x80" door. I put down cork roadbed
on the door, then reconsidered and scraped it off, then covered the
whole thing with a 1" layer of blue foam. I carefully numbered each
piece of cork before scraping it off so that I could just re-glue it,
but bogged down halfway through and never finished.

That was about 8 months ago, and the layout has been leaning against a
wall ever since.

In the next 6 weeks I want to get the track layed and running. (The
track plan is complete).

In the next week, I want to finish off the roadbed.

See you in a week.

 

Test post...more to come!

Bruce J.

 

Hi all...

OK...here's the plan. I'm building my first layout, a simple HO urban switching layout on a 24" x 66" hollow-core door. A mainline, a couple sidings and many buildings giving it the look and feel of a big city. (I was inspired by John Pryke's work...check out his book 'Building City Scenery for your Model Railroad').

My main interest is building structures and a portion of the layout behind the tracks presents a busy city street corner with a main street and a view down a side street. There are 6 buildings in this city scene and completing one building per week with painting and detailing seems like an achievable goal. Here's the lineup:

1. Bachmann Trade Tower (foreground)
2. Bachmann Ambassador Hotel (foreground)
3. Bachman Savings & Loan (background)
4. DPM Grand Valley Bank (background)
5. City Classics Iron Front Building
( foreground, with wall detail suggesting a demolished neighboring building)
6. Bachmann Metropolitan Building (background)
7. Optional movie theater facade with marquee and sign, DPM modular components (bonus points if competed!)

OK, kidz...it's a good plan. Let's see what happens by next week!

Bruce J.

 

Bruce,

Check out the March 2002 issue of Model Railroading magazine. They've got a neat article about a guy who built a city scene on two 4' modules. I've just about worn out the pages looking at all the photos! It's one of the best layout articled MRG has run yet.

Pat

 

Ok, I have some ammo now
I want to thank everyone for their input on my switch machine problem. I now have some creative Ideas and I will have a positive attitude about getting some progress on my layout.
I'll post the solution that I will use to throw my Atlas turnouts. Thanks again!
Blake

 

Bruce,

Do you find it easier to build models individually? I have fonud that I prefer to build several models in parallel, so that I can apply all the various steps of construction at the same time. That way, for example, I only have to load up a given paint color in the airbrush one time, saving me the prep-paint-clean cycle for each model & each color. Of course I still end up doing some things twice (or more ), but in general I find that doing parallel steps on multiple models saves me time and hassle.

The down side, of course, is that you don't get any payoff of a single completed model until they are all basically done, so while the total time invested is (for me) significantly less, the time before a finished model is produced is much longer.

You?
David

 

Dave,

The approach you describe is more efficient, but I've learned one key thing with experience. I have to exert some real willpower and focus to complete a single kit. If I have multiple projects going on, none ever seems to get completed before I start yet another! At least if I complete a single kit, I can get the feeling of success to motivate me to do another.

This "layout party" really works for me for just that reason. One building a week!

Bruce J.

 

Today was layout day with my buddy, Steve.

I got the elevated roadbed fully laid on the second phase of the mainline (the first switchback), including the refinery siding and industry tracks. True to model railroader form, I changed the plan en route. I decided to kill the "stock yard" industry off the first siding to help de-clutter the layout a little. Although it is still a spaghetti bowl, crowding that industry into the right side there is beyond my clutter tolerance limit. So I eliminated it, allowing the refinery tracks to "relax" a little.

Lesson: I still need to "see" things sometimes, the plan isn't always enough. Glad to be working on something I can see!

David

 

I have the track laid in the 'small' room (4' x 8'), my goal now is to build benchwork in 'large' room (7' x 7'). But serious problem:
What exact brand of 'suitcase' connectors do I use to connect #14 wire to #18 wire? I originally had #12 for the common bus, then went to #14. What is the easiest way to connect my #18 feeders to the #14. The #18 lead to #22 track feeders.

 

I believe Radio Shack's suitcase connectors are for the following wire sizes; 18-22, 14-18, and 10-12. So you should be able to use these connectors across the different wire sizes.