Merry/Happy

From the Erie Railroad Employees Magazine, December 1956

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to model railroaders (and the rest of the world) everywhere!

Back to locomotive project

Got a message the other day that Digitrax is sending back a (hopefully) repaired command station *that smoked about a month ago for no apparent reason) so that I can get back to trying to get the LocSound Micro working in my Hoboken Shore 44 tonner. 

When I last left off, I had tried it in several different locomotives, but it keeps resetting randomly as if it can't handle the amperage. Ironically, there is an article about a successful installation of this decoder in the same Bachmann locomotive in a recent Model Railroader magazine. My next step, as suggested by Tom Pearson, is to try the decoder without the speaker. I'm pretty sure it is the speaker that came with the decoder, but there is no telling what the problem is at this point...

Howdy

Spent a few hours today working on some identity graphics for the PoNY, and oh, setting up this new blog.

HH660 paint job

Got around to painting a couple of locomotives in basic Erie black. One is a Bachmann 44 tonner and the other is a Proto2000/ JJL epoxy resin body HH660. I've got a QSI revolution sound decoder and amber LEDs installed in the very compact space with a small speaker and small-ish capacitor that hangs into the cab area. The engineer and brakeman don't seem to mind much, but I need to paint it black to help make it less obvious. Decals are on their way from an eBay purchase, so the HH will be ready for a layout to operate on soon. Maybe I should work a bit on that project as well...

149th St. Progress?

I spent an afternoon cutting out the plywood top for the Erie 149th St Yard project. I have several sheets of 3/4" Baltic Birch salvaged from some display cases, and I have found several projects in which to use pieces of the pile. My intent with this project is to build it so I can easily set it up, store it, and maybe take it to the local show. My idea was to make the plywood top the substantial portion of the benchwork and add some aluminum stiffeners below to connect to a base. I would split it up into pieces to be able to transport and store more easily.

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First thing I did was print out the track plan at full size in order to use it as a template. Even though it is a small layout, it still took several plotted sheets to create one large paper layout. Between the time I printed it out and actually started cutting plywood was probably 3 months. I then matched pieces of plywood to the plot and discovered I could use three sheets of plywood patched together from what I had on hand. I sketched out my cuts to avoid having turnouts on the joints, then transferred to the plywood. I made these joint lines such that they would interlock and help make a good connection.

After about 2 hours of cutting and fitting and maneuvering the heavy plywood I was able to see how everything would go together. I transported them inside and got a feel for how it would fit in the room. I was pretty excited, and felt a good sense of progress for the day.

I let the pieces sit for a few days, then stacked them off to the side while working on something else. I moved them again , then began to question my construction ideas. These pieces, although only a few square feet each, where really heavy. So heavy I have come to think, that I am reconsidering simply using them as templates for bench work that would be made from lighter materials. I spent a little time in the local big box lumber retailer looking at what was available in Luan or thinner Baltic Birch. The Birch wasn't Baltic - it was Whitewood with fewer ply and lighter density. I would use this for structure, so I wanted the dimensional stability of thinner plys and cabinet grade material. Whitewood wouldn't do it for me. The Luan looked pretty descent and came in 4x4 sheets, but only in 1/2" and not the 1/4" I was hoping for for a toping and sub roadbed. Stymied, I've gone back to laying track on my Z scale layout in the living room. I have finally felt an advantage of having multiple projects going on at the same time. I now have some breathing room to figure out what I want to do on the 149th and get satisfaction from accomplishing something I normally wouldn't have if I were only working on one layout at a time. I'll let you know if I find any other advantages to my multi-layout building strategy.

Erie 149th Street Harlem Station

[caption id="attachment_249" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Erie's 149th Street Harlem Station in Peco HO code 75 "Streamline" track"][/caption]

A new layout to distract

So one thing you can do to avoid actually making progress on anything is to start a lot of different projects. As I am trying to figure out how construct the benchwork on my HBS layout so that it is easily disassembled to clear space in my office/guest room for other uses, I am contemplating starting on a small layout first to work out some of the issues I've identified that need attention.

Being a New York Harbor guy, I've done a lot of research on the various pocket yards around the harbor, and I've been inspired by work of David Ramos, Tim Warris and others. I also just want to get something up so I can run my trains.

I've used a free download of AnyRail software to draw up a plan of the 149th roughly as it appeared in the early 1950s. Total size is about 7'x5', and it would be a free-standing layout so there would be access all around it. I'm looking to use lightweight materials and split it into two sections for easy storage. It would feature a car float with tug, float bridge and several spots. The prototype had about one float unload and load a day, and I can imagine this would be a just right amount of operating time for a casual evening solo session. It would also be good for taking to shows and letting people try out operating.

I've made some changes since this image was created, most importantly increasing the size of the lead at the top of the plan by ooching the turnouts over to the right.

I've already got the boxcabs and S-1 that operated there for the Erie, and I have tested them out on the Peco code 75 Streamline track to much satisfaction so far. Perhaps I can get this up and running in short order to use as a test bed for establishing my construction standards for the HBS.

Great research site: Harlem 149th by Philip M. Goldstein

Other 149th Street layouts: Small Layout Scrapbook #96a (more photos) and #88, and another under way by Matthieu Lachance

Room preparations

One of my goals for the Summer was to get the layout room ready for a layout. A critical task was to rearrange some electrical outlets along one wall and patch several holes in the gypsum board.

A major roadblock was having to select a paint color. This seriously could have put me off the job for several months trying to decide, but I bit the bullet and gave myself 24 hours. Considerations included existing color of carpet, the other walls and ceiling and the fact that the fascia of the layout will probably be a dark rust color. There will also be some sort of background board as well of an undetermined height.

I chose a darkish grey-brown (Sherwin-Williams #7025 Backdrop) mainly in response to the future fascia color, but I also wanted to try to create an accent wall.

Most layout rooms have indeterminate axis and orientation, probably in order to keep the focus on the layout. They also seem to be painted lighter colors and usually a light sky blue to boot. So what am I doing choosing a dark grey-brown for the longest wall in the room?

The thinking is several fold. First, I tend to question preconceptions in order to arrive at fresh, project-appropriate responses. It is easy to just do what you've seen before, and that does usually work well enough, but I am more interested in trying for something better than standard design.

Second, I am not looking to create an indeterminate sense of place in the room itself, but rather a cohesive dialog and supporting relationship between room and layout. Since this particular wall will be at the closed end of several aisles (basically an "E" configuration) I am hoping that the darker accent wall will not only frame the layout but also will direct and hold the gaze within the layout by being a dense presence in the room.

Third, I don't want to be in a sky blue environment. My layout is not about the big skies of the American West, it is about dirty, gritty, Northeast waterfront, blue collar
railroading that is neither glamorous nor romantic.

So the painting is done and I like the color very much. Before and after photos are above and below. I'll keep evaluating as layout work progresses.