Monthly Archives: February 2016

Trackwork, Wiring / Electronics

End of February update…

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Hi, it’s been a bit, sorry about that. In this end of February update I’m going to cover a few things. So here goes…

First – Picture problem fixed.

Actually I’m not sure there was an actual problem, I’ll explain. I got a new camera as my old one was getting outdated. If only in terms of current technology. It’s an old Canon Rebel XTi with a 10 megapixel sensor. A great camera that’s still working perfectly. But because  I use the camera for work too, it could be better. So I got a new Canon Rebel T6i that has a 25 megapixel sensor and a faster processor. Figured I could shoot better (more detailed) pictures of the layout, plus I can shoot video with it also. Turns out the website didn’t like the larger pictures, 10mb with the new camera as opposed to 3mb with the old. So for this post I shot the pictures with the old one. It was that or I had to “dumb” down the new camera. Any way, as I said, problem solved.

Second – The “speed bump”.

As I had mentioned in an earlier post, before I wired the track I had down, I had run into a speed bump. It was quite literally a speed bump. As I was laying track from the turnouts from the reverse loop to the yard at New Brighton over the bridge in the berm scene, I failed to notice a bump in the tracks at the end of the bridge. It was only as I was pushing a string of cars over the tracks that I had laid that I found the problem. There was a 1/4″ rise in the tracks over a 6″ length of track. A 1/4″ rise means the cars uncouple, not good.

The evil "speed bump".
The evil “speed bump”.

Turns out that I failed to screw down the plywood base that this end of the bridge was mounted to and the plywood had a slight warp to it. I know that I had looked at the plywood sticking up and had thought that I would have to do something about it, but my brain never made the connection. So I had to pull up the track, the roadbed and the subroadbed to fix the problem (that’s why I went ahead and wired the rest of the track and came back to this). Any ways I have fixed the problem.

The arrow shows the joint that had to be leveled in order to level the tracks.
The arrow shows the joint that had to be leveled in order to level the tracks.
The area that had the "speed bump", now repaired.
The area that had the “speed bump”, now repaired.

Third – Track down and wired.

Just so you know, I haven’t been sitting on my behind. I have the return loop in and wired. Held my breath, as I have never used an auto reverser (the AR-1) before, ran a train through it and it worked perfectly.

View of the berm scene with the return loop in the background.
View of the berm scene with the return loop in the background.

Next, I laid the track from the switches to the staging yard and wired them up.

The Loop around the engine facility into the yard.
The Loop around the engine facility into the yard.
Beginnings of the yard at New Brighton.
Beginnings of the yard at New Brighton.
The small stock yards and meat packing plant.
The small stock yards and meat packing plant.

I only have the “main line”  laid through the yard as I have yet to figure out the rest of the yard. The background buildings are temporary, as I have yet to figure out their  placement.  The stockyards/meat packing plant is important because if I had not talked about it before, New Brighton had the largest stockyards west of Chicago and needed to be included.

The last “industry” in the yard is the power plant. It hides the hole  from the staging yard to the “real world”. I had planned on a single hidden track in the staging area for it, but found that I could put two tracks (switched) into the space.

The power plant that will hide the hole to the staging yards.
The power plant that will hide the hole to the staging yards.
The throat for the staging yards and the hidden track for the power plant.
The throat for the staging yards and the hidden track for the power plant.

So there you have it. I can now run a train from the area just before the staging area to the town of Brandon or from Brandon south through the return loop and back to Brandon.

What’s next? Wiring the staging yard. Only a deal because each track will have a switch to turn it off so as not to have a bunch of sound equipped engines idling away. Then, laying the track in the town of Brandon itself. After that? It’s on to the helix and the upper level.

Wow, for some reason the upper level never seemed to be on my radar. How cool is that.

Till next time, Happy Railroading…

 

 

 

 

Wiring / Electronics

The Trains Are Running…

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Yes, that’s right, the trains are running. Actually, they were running shortly after we got back from Milwaukee. However, I’ve been banging my head against the desk for the last week trying to upload pictures of the historic event to my website to no avail. I also shot a short video so that you could actually see it, but the file was too big to upload even if I could. If you want to see it, it’s available at my instagram account, same name.

As I left it several posts ago, I had wired the feeders and pulled them to the front. As I started wiring them to the buss wires, I was thankful that I had drilled all the holes for the wiring. The buss wires were perfectly located for soldering the feeders. It was a little dark under the edge until I realized that instead of just working around the rope light that installed for aisle lighting, I could plug them in and behold, a well lit space that made it easy.

After they were all wired, I cleaned all the tracks with a brite boy and was ready to roll. Then I realized that my DCC station was at the end of the stretch that I had wired and I would be unable to follow the train. So I temporarily mounted several UP-5 panels along the front, got them hooked up and THEN I was ready to roll.

I dug out a BLI 2-6-6-2 locomotive, why, it’s an articulated locomotive and it had sound. Got it on the tracks, turned on the power to the DCC system and stared at the throttle. Yup, it took me a few seconds to remember how to power everything up. But when I did and heard the sound come up on the engine, I was pretty sure you could hear a chorus of angels. It was a glorious moment. Turning the knob, the engine started moving and no, there is not a downside coming. Everything ran perfect. I added a dozen boxcars behind it and ran it back and forth over the twenty feet of track without any problems. Yay.

So there you have it, the trains are now running.

Now to complete the reverse loop and I can double the length of a run ( yes, I picked up the AR-1). Then get the tracks laid up to the New Brighton yard. I also now have the sheets for the yard, so that can be started too.

Hopefully I’ll get the picture problem worked out before next time.

Till then, Happy Railroading…

General

Kalmbach Publishing…

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We had planned on stopping at Kalmbach Publishing on our way home as Waukesha is outside of Milwaukee on the way to Minneapolis. I thought it was farther than it was and it could have been a day trip. I would have preferred to have called ahead, but was unsure when we would get there. I’m sure they would have liked a call, but the guys at Walther’s had said that you didn’t really need to.

Kalmbach Publishing, home of Model Railroader and some other magazines.
Kalmbach Publishing, home of Model Railroader and some other magazines.

We walked in and over to the receptionist, who asked if she could help us. Trying to sound intelligent and knowledgeable, I just kind of babbled. It took just a second and my wife stepped forward and told the receptionist that I was a model railroader and was wondering if we could possibly have a tour. She looked at me and smiled at my wife, said sure and called upstairs.

About 5 minutes later Associate Editor Eric White came downstairs. We exchanged the usual pleasantries, where were we from, what scale and road and such. Then hi smiled and said lets get started.

Again like Walther’s and their employees, everyone at Model Railroader were exceptional. Even though you are interrupting their work day, they all take time to stop and talk.

First stop was their history case. A couple of things that caught my eye.

The only surviving engine from John Allen's "Gorre & Dephetid". It was out at a friends house for repairs when a fire destroyed John's layout.
The only surviving engine from John Allen’s “Gorre & Dephetid”. It was out at a friends house for repairs when a fire destroyed John’s layout.
3-D mockup by Gordon Odegard for the Clinchfield project layout.
3-D mockup by Gordon Odegard for the Clinchfield project layout.

Then a swing around the Editorial offices, where the only one in his office was Steven Otte. The senior editors were all in a meeting. Then as you swing around you come to the area where the magazine and page layouts are taken care of. After that was a large hallway where all the older project layouts that Model Railroader still has are parked.

The "Beer Line" layout.
The “Beer Line” layout.
Scene from the Beer Line layout, Al Kalmbach and crew with the complete first run of model railroader magazine. This is from a picture from 1934.
Scene from the Beer Line layout, Al Kalmbach and crew with the complete first run of model railroader magazine. This is from a picture from 1934.
The Virginian project layout.
The Virginian project layout.

Then it into the Magazine’s workshop. This is where they build the layouts that you watch on the webcam. Eric even offered me 15 seconds of fame by asking if I wanted to step out in front of the camera so I could go live on the web. Sorry, I declined. However, Cody Grivno was in the shop working at getting an engine cleaned.

Cody in the workshop cleaning an engine.
Cody in the workshop cleaning an engine.

Although he kept working on his project he stepped around and we had a very nice chat. Turns out he’s from northern Minnesota and would come down to the cities to hit the local hobby shops. Again, it amazes me that they are so willing to take the time to talk and make you feel at home.

After some time talking we moved on. Next up, the MR&T. I wasn’t disappointed, however after seeing it in the magazine so many times, it’s not how I imaged it. I can’t explain it, it just falls into place different then I expected.

Below are some shots of areas that I remember as articles.

Harbor scene from the MR&T layout with the associated magazine project page.
Harbor scene from the MR&T layout with the associated magazine project page.
Another magazine project on the MR&T.
Another magazine project on the MR&T.
And another...
And another…

And then we were done, back down to the lobby where I thanked Eric profusely.

Two side notes:

First, out of curiosity I asked Eric how they decided who would give tours, he sheepishly admitted that everyone else was busy and he was texting his wife. He got picked.

Second, if you think your workbench is cluttered, below is a shot of the editor’s office for “Classic Trains”:

The "Classic Trains" editor's office, and I thought my workbench was bad.
The “Classic Trains” editor’s office, and I thought my workbench was bad.

Lastly some shots from the lobby.

Tribute to Al Kalmbach, fifth still from the bottom on the left is the picture recreated on the Beer Line of the first publication.
Tribute to Al Kalmbach, fifth still from the bottom on the left is the picture recreated on the Beer Line of the first publication.
More history, the first printing press, Al's first homemade train and stories and awards for Kalmbach Publishing.
More history, the first printing press, Al’s first homemade train and stories and awards for Kalmbach Publishing.
Another photo of Al and the first run, with his philosophy.
Another photo of Al and the first run, with his philosophy.

I cannot not tell how much I appreciated how welcoming everyone we met were. I would highly recommend a visit to Kalmbach Publishing and Walther’s if you are in the area. They would probably appreciate a call if you know when you can stop by, but they seem happy to accommodate you if you don’t. Kudos to them all.

Next time, what has been accomplished downstairs.

Happy Railroading…