The D&J Railroad -- From Scratch
- Thread starter D&J RailRoad
- Start date
D&J RailRoad
Professor of HO
The north end of the division yard just wasn't working out to well. There wasn't enough room between the turnouts for the turnout controls. I pulled the track apart and did some cutting into the homasote to run stiff wires under tracks to slide switches.
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D&J RailRoad
Professor of HO
A set of UP SD70s with a string of well cars are seen coming up the grade to Hawke summit.
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Cjcrescent
Master Mechanic
Ken, are you just using the mechanical part of the slide switches to just throw the turnouts, or will you also be wiring them in to power the frogs on the turnouts as well?
D&J RailRoad
Professor of HO
The slide switches for the turnouts provide the contacts for powering the frogs. That will be a follow on project after I get the industry sidings installed around the layout. The double pole double throw provides for frog power plus signal lights and they are easier to work with. The Caboose turnout throws look good, but the throw bar is always a little difficult or awkward to get a finger nail under to operate.
The scenery will be southwestern United States, scrub brush, expanses of desert with mountain ranges in the distance. Model Railroader magazine provided an article last summer for dioramas of desert backdrops that I thought was exactly what I was looking for. Despite needing about 300 linear feet of backdrop which would include the peninsula backdrops, it would look a whole lot better than a one dimensional, painted on hills.
The scenery will be southwestern United States, scrub brush, expanses of desert with mountain ranges in the distance. Model Railroader magazine provided an article last summer for dioramas of desert backdrops that I thought was exactly what I was looking for. Despite needing about 300 linear feet of backdrop which would include the peninsula backdrops, it would look a whole lot better than a one dimensional, painted on hills.
D&J RailRoad
Professor of HO
Things have slowed down a bit on the layout as I have been job hunting since last September, however, that ended today as I got a job offer and will go back to work next week.
On the layout though. The sorting yard only had arrival/departure tracks leading to the yard. The A/D only had access to two tracks of the yard while the yard switchers had drill tracks that they could back into for pulling strings of cars for sorting. The drill tracks follow the A/D track but dead end about 25 feet out from the yard. I decided I would provide a cut over from the A/D track to the drill track on the far end so the switcher would have run around access as well as extended track for sorting. The foremost cutovers are powered by Tortous machines while the drill track cutover is local manual.
The line up of motive power on the right is temporary storage until I get some shelves put up for them. I've been unpacking more boxes of rolling stock and structures and am running out of places to put this stuff. All of them have basic decoders and operate.
On the layout though. The sorting yard only had arrival/departure tracks leading to the yard. The A/D only had access to two tracks of the yard while the yard switchers had drill tracks that they could back into for pulling strings of cars for sorting. The drill tracks follow the A/D track but dead end about 25 feet out from the yard. I decided I would provide a cut over from the A/D track to the drill track on the far end so the switcher would have run around access as well as extended track for sorting. The foremost cutovers are powered by Tortous machines while the drill track cutover is local manual.
The line up of motive power on the right is temporary storage until I get some shelves put up for them. I've been unpacking more boxes of rolling stock and structures and am running out of places to put this stuff. All of them have basic decoders and operate.
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Cjcrescent
Master Mechanic
Use your thumb to "roll" across the barrel of the machine itself. This will lift up the throw handle enough to get a finger under it and throw the turnout. It just takes a little practice, and soon you'll be doing it almost unconsciously.
D&J RailRoad
Professor of HO
Yes, I know about that little trick but I get grease off the roller. Always something to complain about.
otiscnj
Well-Known Member
I see by the looks of the loco line-up, its mostly SP? I know the SP engines I saw prior to the Grande typeface, always needed to be in a very bad need of a trip thru the washer. For some reason I've always had a thing from regular SP SD40-2's, even though I'm more of a WP fan, in terms of western roads, and 'anthracite roads,' back east. Keep those news stories and photos coming!
Cjcrescent
Master Mechanic
Well, if ya didn't complain, would ya be any happier? Iffin you're like me, NO!!
racerdonnie13
New Member
I went out and saw this layout today in person...all i can say is wow! Very nice work Ken. It was nice meeting you.
D&J RailRoad
Professor of HO
Thanks Don. I've been tied up with first week at work stuff so I haven't done anything with the layout. Had some down time this afternoon to do some detailing on flat car load with some chain that I bought at the Timonium show last week. I think I need to add some wheel chocks to it.
Added the dunage to chock the wheels and under the front bucket.
Added the dunage to chock the wheels and under the front bucket.
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tomslack34
New Member
The first thing that came in to my mind after seeing these images were technology has grown high and faster.
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railway maintenance jobs
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railway maintenance jobs
There's a hint somewhere about taking the slack out of the chain. Involved hanging the chain vertically from a pin (maybe with a small weight attached and dribbling liquid CA glue down it's length, then cutting to required lengths once dry. Can also be done afterwards so long as the chain is able to be passed through the stake pockets and pulled taught. The dunnage looks excellent but I've yet to find a close up pic of how it's fixed to the deck, possibly bolts through or large screws into the deck.
Retro-gluing would have the advantage of being able to cut slightly overlength pieces and attach to the load and then doing a final trim once all are in place.
Lonestar models, www.lonestarmodelsinc.com make the load tie downs (ratchet ends) for the chains in brown or grey.
I also got 40 links/inch black chain by A-LINE (ProtoPowerWest) which to my eye looks somewhat smaller than what you are using (and seems to match the tiedowns. I got both of these through Walthers)
Retro-gluing would have the advantage of being able to cut slightly overlength pieces and attach to the load and then doing a final trim once all are in place.
Lonestar models, www.lonestarmodelsinc.com make the load tie downs (ratchet ends) for the chains in brown or grey.
I also got 40 links/inch black chain by A-LINE (ProtoPowerWest) which to my eye looks somewhat smaller than what you are using (and seems to match the tiedowns. I got both of these through Walthers)
D&J RailRoad
Professor of HO
Yeah, you're right about the chains looking a little bigger than they should be. After I finished this model load, I did find some smaller chain in one of my junk boxes but I don't know where it came from.
I thought about doing the ACC on the length of chain but then decided against it as it might fill the eyelets of the chain and then look kinda hokey.
As far as the dunnage, it's usually just nailed to the deck of the flat car with large spikes or screws. No real science of accuracy there.
I thought about doing the ACC on the length of chain but then decided against it as it might fill the eyelets of the chain and then look kinda hokey.
As far as the dunnage, it's usually just nailed to the deck of the flat car with large spikes or screws. No real science of accuracy there.
Layout
I have been over to Kens and ran trains on his layout before. He has a well contructed layout and with a few trains running it really gets interesting. I did however "ruin" the layout (as most would say) running NS engines on his BNSF and UP layout. Amtrak mades it appearance with a small superliner / autotrain. I showed him my new Bachmann Spectrum schnabel generator car and it pulled around the layout perfectly. It was amazing how great it looked on there. Ken has built his layout that allowed that big car to move around the layout with other trains passing. Hopefully in the next few weeks we can see some more NS power running on there again. Hopefully my new custom Kato NS SD40-2 converted high hood will be done and ready to go. We shall see!!!!
Eric
I have been over to Kens and ran trains on his layout before. He has a well contructed layout and with a few trains running it really gets interesting. I did however "ruin" the layout (as most would say) running NS engines on his BNSF and UP layout. Amtrak mades it appearance with a small superliner / autotrain. I showed him my new Bachmann Spectrum schnabel generator car and it pulled around the layout perfectly. It was amazing how great it looked on there. Ken has built his layout that allowed that big car to move around the layout with other trains passing. Hopefully in the next few weeks we can see some more NS power running on there again. Hopefully my new custom Kato NS SD40-2 converted high hood will be done and ready to go. We shall see!!!!
Eric
otiscnj
Well-Known Member
Great job on the flat car & load, in keeping with the 'good enough' approach, at least!! If you really want to pick nits, I think 40 links/inch is not correct for HO, but I dare you to find something commercally available, that's any better-or at least that's the way it was, last time I went looking for chain.
D&J RailRoad
Professor of HO
Actually, I did find some 40 LPI chain at the Hobby Barn in Wilson, NC. I bought a few feet of it to finish up some projects that are stacking up back home. I've been on travel for a couple weeks so no progress on the layout.
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