Starting the new layout!


Dakota,
I'm semi-freelancing the Philadelphia area in the transition period, 1950-60. This is my Dad's layout and although I build all of the scenery, he still likes to running any kind of train he wants. But at least the background for the engines and freight will be 50-60's. That time frame is when my Dad grew up in Philly, so it's fitting for him.
 
hey Ron, any new progress??? Ive just done a bit of reading to catch up with what youve been doing over the warmer months (while im off the forum) and gotta say that Im pretty impressed with the progress.. so when ya gonna let us all head to your dads for a operating session..

It really is looking great, and as usual I'm very impressed with your workmanship and attention to detail!
 
Hi Scott,
Thanks for the positive feedback everyone. I haven't done any work on the layout itself lately. I need to get down to My Dad's house soon. I'm really jonesing to see it and get work done.

I have worked on a lot of structures for the layout. They include a double arched bridge for the river/mountain area. I also built an arched viaduct for the High Line section of the layout, and a retaining wall for the back edge of the main yard.

Just last night I started my first laser kit from American Model Builders, AMB. It's the Interlocking Tower kit No.702. I'm going to use it for the yard office. It will end up next to the turntable and coaling tower area. I have all the pieces painted (in PRR colors of course), and the main structure is assembled. This morning I put together some of the doors and window sashes. This is a nice kit, and I can't wait to build my next laser-cut wooden kit.

This is from the Gateway NMRA website. A nice rendition.
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I'll get more pix of the other structures I've worked on lately.
 
Here's some quick pix of the structures I've been working on...

The Arched Viaduct for the High Line.
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The Retaining Wall for behind the yard.
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It's so long, 7-1/2', that I couldn't fit it all in one picture. Here's a quick VIDEO I made of it.

And my most recent project is the Yard Office. An AMB laser-cut kit No.702
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I'll be working on the Green lane Bridge real soon. I'm hoping to finish that up now... I finally made it to the LHS to get the missing styrene I needed. Pictures coming soon.
 
4Starcstms said:
Wow... thats a nice lookin tower... always thought those wood kits would be too hard
Click to expand...

I don't want to take credit for that tower you mentioned. It's from the Gateway NMRA website, off of one of the layouts they built for a show.
You can see the one I'm building in the post above... a work in progress still.
 
Dang! A 7 1/2 foot retaining wall. :eek: That must be some yard you're planning. I guess it will hold a little more than my 12 car yard. :) Good looking stuff so far.
 
FINALLY an Update!

Got back from my Dad's house on Saturday with some great progress photos and videos to share. I've been very busy this week, even though I'm on "vacation". I've been putting in 8hrs a day working on a clients layout, a Marklin HO scale 13'x17' layout. I'll share photos and videos later on a separate thread.

Onto the progress report.

The main project that I worked on this trip was laying out the control panel schematics on the installed fascia areas. The first panel I did was for the main yard. I used 1/4" white pin striping tape for the lines. The fascia was 17" high and I have 14 tracks to lay in. I used 1" centers on the schematic, that left just enough space on the panel at the top for future names and yard tech info.

Here is the start of the panels. These are the 2 main lines with the crossover and station siding. You can see the laser line level I used to get the tape dead on straight. I put dots on each side of the fascia at 1" centers and lined up the laser for perfect lines. easy and worked like a charm.
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After a few hours of work, lining up dots, laying tape, cutting 45 degree angles, and cursing a couple times... here's the results.
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The right side of the yard near the roundhouse. The black square is the Walther's 90' turntable control. A very nice kit, works perfectly.
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Here's a close up of the TT control.
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This is the left side of the panel with the yard classification tracks and passenger station area.
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We mounted the NCE Power Cab plug-in jack in the space above the yard. For now we have a temporary solution to the throttle holder... VELCRO.
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I used graph paper to sketch out the schematic before committing it to the fascia. This gave me a feel for how the tracks would line up on the finished schematic. I think this quick, easy step saved a lot of headaches.
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That's all the work that was done on the first day down. We actually had some fun running trains that night. We also found some minor hiccups that we had to fix while running them... doesn't that always happen? I'll have a video of that run in the next post.
 
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Here's the video I made of an Athearn F7A/B #9673 pulling 6 AHM(I think) PRR passenger coaches. This is my first attempt at editing a video of many clips. Please give me some feedback or pointers. A couple of things I know I'm going to do next time is to run the trains slower, and get more low angle run-by's with a steady camera. But I like the results so far.

F7A/B rail fanning.
 
Ron, the video looked pretty steady to me. I assume you're using a tripod. The train speed was a little high so slowing it down some will allow the viewer a better look at the train. Looks you've got a lot of work in progress on your layout.
 
Thanks Jim,
Actually I don't own a tripod yet. But I was just looking into one a few days ago. I guess I just didn't drink enough coffee that day to get the hands shaking.;)

Here's a few more pix of a couple other control panel schematic I did.

The next section I tackled was a small panel near the Schuylkill river section. It will control the crossovers coming out of the yard from behind the roundhouse, and also the middle staging area that contains 3 storage tracks.
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And the final panel I worked on during this last trip was for the upper town area and the lower staging yard. The staging has 2 storage tracks in it, and the third outside track acts as a reversing loop.
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Here you can see the town area that the panel will handle. The staging is just behind the green fascia. The hill in front is a lift out section to gain access to the tracks below...just in case.:eek:
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Ron, nice work on blending in the control panels to the fascia board. I think your control panels are bigger than my whole layout. :)
 
Another video of the progress as of 1/16/2009. It covers all kinds of projects that are in the works. I also as about the positioning of my yard tower. It's an American Model Builders kit. I was going to put it with the long wall with all the windows facing the tracks in front of it. But I started to think it would be more practical if the large windows faced the main yard tracks to see what is happening in the yard. Some people have mention that they usual face it toward the front, immediate tracks. so they can do inspection of the departing trains. Any help would be appreciated.

Progress as of 1/16/09
 
My Dad and I started installing some of the toggle switch that will control all of the turnouts on the layout. They are SPDT momentary (on)-off-(on). I did all of the soldering of the wire leads at the work bench. I did not want to be under the layout solder 60+ switches with 3 solder points each, a total over 190. With hot solder dripping on me from above.:eek:OUCH!:eek: While I was doing the soldering my Dad was drilling the holes and putting in the toggles. Also connecting the common wire between all the toggles and eventually running the power to the turnout machine themselves.

I also installed a UTP panel from NCE to accommodate another throttle on the other side of the main layout. I noticed the throttle would not connect if it was plugged in before the initial boot up of the NCE PowerCab. Has anyone else experienced this?

Another projected completed was the installation of the NCE Auto-Switch. It controls the automatic switching off of the main track power when I change to program track mode. I isolated the stub end track near the main yard that is part of the passenger station area. I insulated it by cutting with a Dremel tool and CA gluing in a piece of styrene in the gap of both tracks.

My Dad and I both worked on installing metal wheel sets in many of the layouts rolling stock. This is keeping the track a lot cleaner... and just sound a lot cooler rolling around the layout, too. :D

I brought down quite a few acquisitions from eBay to the layout. You can never have enough rolling stock. ;)

PRR Schuylkill Division HO Layout - Electrical Projects 1

PRR Schuylkill Division HO Layout - Electrical Projects 2


Thanks for watching.
 
coming along nicely.

2 questions.

1. where did you get that foam car holder in the second video?

2. what kind of screws/fasteners are used to hold the fascia?
 
Here's a few pictures of the electrical projects described above.

1st here are the SPDT toggles installed in some of the control panels.
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This is the UTP plug-in for another throttle on the opposite side of the center peninsula, near the river area. I still have an issue of the throttle not connecting sometimes to the PowerCab system. It starts to boot up and stops in the 2nd screen. If anyone has any ideas what might be happening, your feedback would be appreciated.
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And finally the NCE Auto-switch is install.
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The track to the extreme left is the program track. It is in the station area of the main yard, measuring about 2ft long.
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I cut the track using a Dremel tool with the abrasive disk attachment. To further insulate the section, I CA glued some styrene in the cut and filed it to the profile of the track.
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I can't wait to get down there again and work some more on the layout.

Thanks for looking.
 
NYSW F45 said:
coming along nicely.

2 questions.

1. where did you get that foam car holder in the second video?

2. what kind of screws/fasteners are used to hold the fascia?
Click to expand...

I got the foam cradle during my last purchase from Litchfield Station. I love doing business with Bruce and the rest of the people at Litchfield. Good people.

As for the fascia, I have outrigger boards made from varying sizes of 1"-by boards, depending on the situation. To attach the 1/8" masonite I used 1-1/4" coarse drywall screws with a finish washer to dress it up and strengthen the connection.
 
jscw1 Jack strong. The backdrop is great and I know from experience a lot easier to paint with no bench work. I model the Pacific Northwest with lots of mountains, cliffs, bridges, and forrest. I have incorporated several back drops to include bad weather. I purchased an electronic thunder storm with a strobe flasher and set the trip switch up with a magnetic reed switch. A simple round magnet under a car and boom! thunder and lightning. This looks awsome! I plan to put some photos on the site soon and maybe a video if I can figure that out. jscw1 Jack Strong
 
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