..... The print files for the 'U.P' style portals are ( HERE ). The print files for the 'Stepped Top' portals are ( HERE ). The print files for the 'Stone Arch' portals are ( HERE ). You can find the single track portal print files and over 100 items for your railroad ( HERE ). If you came into the build here you can find the main index for the build ( HERE ). Sumner
Finish Hidden Staging Pt. 1.... Got sidetracked for a couple months building and helping with the WiTcontroller WiFi wireless $50 throttle ( HERE ) and some other train projects. So time to get back to laying track. Here and on the next two pages I'll document laying the rest of the track in the 'hidden staging' area. . More on how I lay cork and track in the build ( HERE), ( HERE ) and ( HERE ). . . . Using my screw gun I backed out the screws above and removed the bracket shown above. The whole layout is held 3 inches above the main bench-work by risers. The 3 inches gives you room to mount almost any thing you need under the layout easily anywhere you want to as it just takes a couple minutes to move a riser if it is in the way. Info on building the layout using risers is further back in the build ( HERE ). If you are considering building or adding onto a layout give them serious consideration. Info on building the layout creeper ( HERE ). . . More info ( HERE ) on how you can have servo control to throw your turnouts for about $10 per turnout. The $10 covers the servo, limit switch for frog polarity, servo bracket, control box with toggle switch and LED route indicators and the servo controller that lets you control how far the throwbar/points is thrown. Now computer or Arduino needed for this. Part 2 next.... A link to this whole build ( HERE ). Sumner
I really like the servo bracket. I was planning to fashion some from basswood pieces parts I use for building and repairing RC planes. The printed ones look much cleaner though. I infer that the servo is only powered when the momentary push button is depressed? I looked at your setup/calibration video which leads me to believe that is the case. If so I like that as that would eliminate the buzzing/chatter of servos when they aren't being used.
That is correct....only draws power with the pushbutton is pushed. The LED's are powered all the time but of course don't draw much power and not powering the servo all the time also really cuts power plus "eliminate the buzzing/chatter" as you mentioned. The print files for the brackets ( HERE ) have really had a lot of downloads on my thingiverse.com account ( HERE ). I think a lot of people are using them. Sumner
Sumner, I really appreciate the effort that you put into presenting your layout design and construction, with the pictures and descriptions of the various steps and their purpose. Very well thought out and presented!!!
Finishing Hidden Staging part 2..... . . Interested in the total under $10 servo turnout control setup? More info ( HERE ). . . . . . Part 3 next.... A link to this whole build ( HERE ). Sumner
Finishing Hidden Staging part 3 ..... Info on 'turnout tester' ( HERE ). Info on how I connected them, wired them and attached the wood ties ( HERE ). More on the 'tie gluing fixture' and other tie gluing fixtures down the index a ways ( HERE ). . I've been spraying the turnouts with Rust-Oleum Specialty 12 oz. Earth Brown Camouflage. I tape the points to keep paint out of there. . Just before the tunnel portals coming out of the hidden staging the track goes from ME code 70 to ME code 55. I bought the 70 during COVID when track supplies dried up and couldn't find more code 55 at the time and wanted to save the code 55 for the visible track areas. Also in this area insulated rail joiners were used on both rails of the tracks exiting the hidden staging. Hidden staging is a separate power district as are the tracks entering it and exiting it. . . The coal mine complex will operate with an identical 'loaded' train and an 'empty' train (same engines and cars). The empty train will disappear in the coal mine complex and be replaced with the full train that had been hidden. There are three things that determine the length the train can be if I also want it to go to the upper level of the layout via the 'track elevator'. 1. The track elevator can handle a train up to 12 feet in length. 2. The empty train loops back on itself after entering the coal mine complex and crosses the track it entered on in a hidden hill. The loop is 11 ½ feet. If the train is longer than that it the head loco would hit the end of the train at the crossing. The crossing is made up of two tracks to the mine with the single hidden track crossing the other two tracks. The crossing can't stay blocked by the hidden train since it would then block the first and second track to the mine. 3. The length of the hidden tracks in the hidden staging area where the 'empty' and 'loaded' trains are stored is the third factor that plays into the length of the train. The track for the 'loaded' train is over 12 feet so no problem. The track for the 'empty' train is only 9 feet. At the moment the limiting factor for the length of the identical trains is the hidden track for the empty train at 9 feet. That track can't be made longer as it would exit the hidden staging area. What I'm going to do is add a siding off that track for more storage length. I hope to have two U.P. GP7's at the head-end of the train and a S.P. GP9 helper for each train a ways back. The train will move into the hidden storage to where the S.P. GP9 is at the turnout for the extra siding. At this point the whole train will be past the coal mine complex and will all be hidden but will be fouling the single track double track crossing leading to the mine that is also hidden. The train will uncouple from the GP9 and pull ahead of the turnout. The turnout will be thrown and the head of the train backed into the siding. Next the turnout will be thrown again so that the S.P. GP9 and the cars behind it can pull further into the hidden staging and free-up the crossing. When it is time for the next run the GP9 will back into the hidden loop area. The GP7's will come out onto the main storage track and stop. The GP9 will pull forward and couple-up and the 'empty' train will be ready to make a run to the coal mine. Confusing???? Up next is adding is an additional siding as explained above for the empty coal train in the hidden staging so the train can be longer .... A link to this whole build ( HERE ). Sumner
Hidden Coal Siding Pt. 1... On the preceding page ( HERE ) I explained how adding a siding for part of the 'empty' coal train in the hidden staging area would allow that train to be longer. Below is Pt. 1 of doing that. . . More info on building and using a 'Turnout Tester' ( HERE ). . I use CDX plywood for about everything I build including furniture and boat mods. It is usually pretty knot free on one side and if I'm using it where it will be seen (like for the layout fascia) I'll hit it for a minute with the belt sander. Our lumberyard usually has this in good condition, can't say the same for what I've seen at the 'big box' stores. Check you local lumberyard if they haven't been put out of business and you might find better lumber there than the big box stores and maybe for even less (my case). Much more info on building the layout using 'risers' ( HERE ). I have cereal every morning so no shortage of Cheerios and Bite Size Shredded Wheat boxes to use for making patterns. . . Laying cork and track next.... A link to this whole build ( HERE ). Sumner
ive got to learn how to make my own turnouts . i could use some custom made ones. wish kato would make some.... any who looking good there.....
I have never seen such a well photo documented, well explained layout construction. Wow. Makes it so easy to follow along. Nice!
Next step ......... ..... getting the roadbed down. I use the beam compass I made in laying out track centerlines but find that I use the templates I made a lot more. They are a lot more flexible in using them and easier to transition from one radius to another. I'm running 1.25” track centerlines in most areas so made the outside radius of the templates 1.25” greater than the inside and that has worded very well for me but you could make them to any radius you want. I also found that at times the inside works better than the outside or the other way around. An example is shown above where the center line is close the the upper level support. Using both and sliding them past each other is also very handy. Tried to show a rough idea of what the terrain will end up kind of looking like above. I'm not really going for a mountain look but more of the look of the mesas we have in this area down below the mountains so didn't quite get the look I'm hoping for above. . . . . . . If you think laying flex track and roadbed might take up too much time and/or is too difficult think about trying it. Once you lay a little roadbed down it becomes quite easy and doesn't take that much time. The track laying is a similar situation. I feel the looks and availability to transition curves on any radius gives one a lot of flexibility in designing and building a layout I also found in redesigning this area that it is easy to remove the old track and it can be used again if one makes changes down the road. Laying track next.... A link to this whole build ( HERE ). Sumner
Hidden Coal Siding Pt. 3.... This will end the additional trackwork that was added to the hidden staging. It makes it possible to have a longer coal train and stage it in the hidden area. Later there will be an upper level over this areas so wanted to get the trackwork done before that happens. . . . . . . . . . Finishing the wiring for the hidden staging is up next.... A link to this whole build ( HERE ). Sumner
Staging Wiring Pt. 1... I wanted to be able to turn the track power off to the tracks in the staging. Even though the layout is DCC and you acquire the locos you want to run the decoders in them are still getting track power while they sit. Not a big deal but sometimes the sound locos will fire up the sound and I just want the locos sitting in staging to not be powered until I need them so took this extra step that didn't really add that much more to the wiring. Instead of taking one rail of each section to the main buss on the layout's fascia I routed that rail to a small panel that has 6 toggle switches on indicator LEDs for each of the sections the power will be controlled on. I covered the panel in a previous post ( HERE ). The panel is small and space limited inside so used a single 18 gauge wire from the buss to it but used some colored 22 gauge wire from it and didn't want to run the 22 gauge wire to far so ran it a short distance to a solder pad with 6 isolated pads on it. Then I was able to run 18 gauge to the start of a single 20 gauge wire buss that runs along the section of track that is being powered via the panel. I was trying to limit any voltage drop in the wires but in reality probably could of run 22 gauge for the whole length as most of the time there will only be one loco at a time in one of these track sections. Possibly 3 if there is a consist stored there. I didn't mount the solder pad shown above until the wires were soldered to it as shown. Then I was able to mount it with two screws while sitting on a roll-around chair I use at the edge of the layout. Above in the image I also bring attention to the servos that are being used for the turnouts. More about how you can have all the components needed for servo turnout control for about $10.00 ( HERE ). Also while I was taking pictures I took the one above to bring attention to the benefits of building a main bench-work that isn't attached directly to the layout but uses risers between the bench-work and the layout. This makes it easy to put switch machines, wiring and anything else that attaches to the bottom of the layout anywhere at any time since the risers can easily be moved if they prove to be in the way. More on building with risers ( HERE). . . Above one can see how easy it is to wire the other rail to the buss on the side of the layout. Most of the time both wires are brought to the buss on the side as they are powered any time the power to the power district is turned on. Drill a hole next to the rail. Push the wire down through the hole. Reach under and bring the wire to the fascia and through the hole there. Solder it to the buss. At the track rail pull the slack back out of the wire. Cut and strip it and solder it to the rail. Fast easy and no going under the layout!! With the 5v buss and the DCC buss on the fascia on the side of the layout I hardly ever have to go under the layout to deal with wiring. This is big approaching 80 even though I'm in pretty good shape. I do have a special 'layout creeper' for the times I do that helps a lot but still not having to go under is better yet. Since the wire is 'solid' and not stranded it stays in place well. I did put a drop or two of CA on it every 6-8 inches to also help with that. It won't be moving if I brush against it while reaching into this area if I have to . Another partial day for this wiring and one to finish up the turnout control wiring and I'm about done here. I'll wire the two coal mine tracks to a control panel on the side of the layout where I'll be able to observe the coal mine complex and running the trains there better. A link to this whole build ( HERE ). Sumner
This & That.... I finished the track wiring in the hidden staging but still need to connect the switch-boxes that control the servos. I have the switch box bottoms and some generic LH & RH tops up on my thingiverse.com account ( HERE ) that you can print out but not the ones shown in the next image. They are specific to turnout situations on my layout so unless there is a demand for them I won't be putting them up. The boxes are about 1.5” long and 1.25” across and a little over 1” deep. As mentioned above I have some generic ones for LH & RH turnouts as I've made a ton of those in #6's. I usually add them together for cross-overs or use them tied to curved turnouts at times. Above are some of the switch-box tops I've designed and printed for special circumstances. I only need one toggle and button switch to control the two servos that throw the two turnouts in a cross-over. In the tops at the left above there are holes for two toggle and two button switches for control of either two turnouts or three in the case of a cross-over and a turnout by it. The little larger box (top right) is for three turnouts in the hidden staging. The one below it controls two curved turnouts on one of the two coal mine tracks to the loading area. On the right there is a hole for a toggle switch that will turn the track power on/off for the track that holds the empty coal train and on the left will be a toggle switch for the track power for the loaded coal train. It doesn't take too long (an hour or so) to design the tops for special situations and I enjoy doing it. I thought I'd share a couple pictures of how I've been adding the drop wires for track power that go out to the DCC buss. I this is in the hidden staging so not much need to hide the wires but was practicing on the black wires. The red ones are running along the track here as they don't need to be hidden and go to switches that can turn the power on/off for the section of track they are next to. The black wires go to the buss on the layout's fascia. I drill a hole next to the track. The wire is 20 gauge solid. I push it down through the hole and reach under the layout from the side and pull it over to the fascia and put it through a 1/4” hole between the DCC buss wires there. I solder it to the buss wire (two images down). I then pull as much slack out of the wire as I want to back up at the track. Cut the wire from the spool and strip the end. Next I put a short 90 degree bend in the end of the stripped wire as shown above. Next I push the wire back into the foam board just to the point I can bend the end down and lay the 90 degree bend up against the outside of the rail. I can let go and the wire stays there as the bend at the foam acts like a spring and holds the wire against the rail. I'll then put a drop of flux on the wire and rail and solder it. My go to solder now is Superior No. 30 Gel. I love it and highly recommend it. I wish I would of started using it much sooner. I use it for about everything including decoder installs. You can put it on a drop at a time and it works great. You can find more info on it and the link where to buy it ( HERE ), I'm just a very satisfied customer. The last thing to do is to take a screwdriver and push the wire down into the foam next to the rail. I'm not adding ballast or ground cover here but if I would this would completely hide the wire except for the small solder joint on the rail side. I'm aware some will solder the wire to the bottom of the rail as an option. For my layout I doubt I'll take the time to do that as this basically makes the drop invisible. If I was doing a highly detailed scene I might consider soldering to the bottom but this is 'good enough' for me. I can run 4-5 drop wires through a 1/4” hole and if I have more in the same area I just drill another hole. After having the DCC and 5v buss around the end of the layout now for some time I decided to go ahead and add it to the entire layout. It has been working great and there is hardly any need to go under the layout using it for either the track wiring or the wiring for the turnout control that connects to the 5v buss above the DCC buss. If you dread having to go under the layout to do wiring you might consider it. At almost 80 it has been a lifesaver for me and I'm still able to get under there but don't like to. In the staging I put the switch-boxes for the turnout and track power control up on the top of the fascia. For the rest of the layout I wanted something that would look better In the staging it hasn't been a problem on the top of the fascia but hasn't looked great. I did it there as there is the least amount of walking room next to the layout. I considered different options for the boxes but finally settled on putting a narrow shelf on the side of the fascia above the buss wiring as shown above. The switch-boxes will be screwed to the shelf and the wiring will go out the bottom of them to the buss and also through holes in the fascia to the servo controllers and on to the servos or to track sections if they are controlling track power. There will be a shelf similar to this on the other side of the layout also. Above I'm installing the two busses going down this side of the layout. Next I'll install it on the far end and down the other side also. It goes pretty quick (a couple hours for this side) and I can do a lot of it from the chair with rollers and none of it under the layout. The layout is 6 feet wide with a divider down the middle. So the maximum reach to grab a track drop from the side is about j30 inches. I pull the drop over to the side and run it through a hole between the DCC buss wires. Strip and wrap it around the buss wire and solder it. Quick, easy and a good solid electrical connection to the buss. At the track rail pull as much slack as you want out of the wire, cut, strip and solder the wire to the rail and the drop is done. No going under the layout and having to solder overhead or make connections in awkward positions under there. A link to this whole build ( HERE ). Sumner
i like your take on the track and bus wires out side like that. it be easy enough to make make a simple cover to enclose those... Im going to keep that in mind for my next layout.....if i ever find the right property an home...... that is one big layout for sure...
Finished the 5v & 12v Buss wiring (almost)... I have a friend (Shawn) here that I call my 'Blanding, UT son' and I'm his kind-of 'Blanding, UT dad'. I don't have a son and he has a good dad but his dad doesn't live here so I'm kind of his dad here. I've known him since he was a teenager when he got to know me since he was interested in cars. We help each other when needed and he is in his mid 30's with a wife and 2 kids and teaches at the local college in their trucking CDL license program. He and his brother Alex were by this past week and I had them run some sound locos on the test track with a WiFi throttle and they got hooked and said they would be back. Today he came by and helped me put in the last of the 12v buss wiring that is under the layout and pretty much directly under the upper level. I'll solder drops to the track there and drop them straight down to the buss we installed today. First though a few pictures of the perimeter buss that I finished a few days ago. I also showed where some of the power districts are. I have boosters/circuit breakers for eight but only have seven planned presently. . I roll my test track out from under the layout when I want to use it or program a decoder and back under when finished with it. Quite easy since it is on rollers. The DCC-EX Command Station is also on the rolling station with the test track and connects to the layout with a cord that allows me to roll all of it in and out. The DCC signal from the command station goes through the cord to Tam Valley boosters and circuit breakers and on to the track power districts. This has worked great. . …............. Next is the last of the 12v buss system. Well I still need to maybe have a buss around the track elevator which will be Power District #6. I ripped some leftover 1/2” CDX plywood into 2” wide strips and we made up the buss at the workstation in a few minutes. . These won't be as easy to solder track drops to as the buss on the side of the layout but shouldn't be that hard to work with either. Stripping the drop, wrapping it around the buss wire and soldering goes quickly and I'm a fan of soldered connection over using a connector. If one doesn't like the idea of the perimeter buss I've mainly used this could be an alternative approach under the layout near the middle or the edge of the layout. . Nice to have all the buss wiring in. Back to wiring turnouts, servos and laying cork and track along with my N scale DD35A and B project. A link to this whole build ( HERE ). Sumner
At my age can't see that happening , I'll be quite happy if I get the track down and some scenery but I really like following along with projects like that on here. My joy comes in designing and building and most of the aspects of the hobby. Sumner
Laying Cork... Having spent all too much time on kitbashing a DDA35 (still not done) I finally got back to the layout proper and it felt good. Going to spend a couple days getting all the roadbed down for track on this side down to the elevator and maybe around it also. I really enjoy laying the cork on the 1 inch foam board. Soak it in warm water for just a bit (touch of soap in the water), lay down a bead of wood glue and pin the cork to the track centerline. Fast and easy to do. It is kind of like framing a new house. Things go fast and it appears the house is really going up fast and then when done the reality sets in and you realize you still have a long ways to go . I've been putting off gluing the coal mine complex together and painting it. I need to do that but no real hurry as I want to run coal trains over these tracks quite a bit to make sure I have no problems before putting the mine's loading area over them even though it will be removable. There will be the edge of a small town's downtown area and a small train station next to the track before the tracks get to the track elevator. A track will come off the main and parallel it behind a row of buildings and will service a few small industries at the edge of the town. To be continued..... A link to this whole build ( HERE ). Sumner
