Electric "trucks" on the Hoboken Shore

There is a reference by an ex-HBS employee to electric trucks being distributed in the morning and retrieved at night from the dock areas. At first I assumed these were road trucks, but I have come to realize they were actually much smaller devices for moving around pallets, boxes and loose materials. How long these were in service, I don't know, but given the age of the employee, there is a good chance that they were in service still in the 50s.

This will make a nice operation event as well as another 3d modeling project.

Generations of Hoboken Shore Locomotive photos

Representing early and late generation Hoboken Shore Railroad locomotives. All that is missing is the HH660. Yes, I would have to computer model and 3d print all but the 44 tonner... Backdating at some point with catenary? Fun to think about...!

Battery progress

Just arrived is the latest subject for my battery trials. I received (3) 800mAh Turnigy batteries today from Hobbyking (a radio control hobby web site). I believe this may be the sweet spot for my operations and locomotives. 

We had op session #5 a week ago, and operated for about 2-1/2 hours before the 500mAh equipped locomotives started to run out of gas. The lone 800mAh was just fine, so at this point I'm guessing I can get at least 3 hours out of them if not 3.5 hours. 

The batteries I just bought are a good compact form factor for the current version of battery car as converted box car. Eventually I would like custom MOW street sweeper cars that the HBS prototypically carried around to keep the flange ways free of dirt and garbage. 

 

See above for comparison of sizes. I promise at some point I will do a more careful comparison of run times, battery sizes, etc. as I settle into my optimal configuration. 

This installation is like a beta version .8. I'm still using JST connectors, which are a little large, but easier to plug and unplug. I've tried the tiny Soundtraxx connectors with success, but I don't really benefit from the smaller form in the spacious box car, but it may help in the future sweeper cars. 

 

Above is current standard configuration with a 500mAh battery. The 800 should fit same space. Next release version .9 will maybe have recharging plugs accessible from bottom of car so I don't have to fish wires out of box car doors, although that does seem to work OK. I'd just like something a little more elegant when I do the sweeper cars. 

HBS 701 11-11-1974

Creative Commons Licensing in collection of author.

In front of General Foods at the turnout to the engine house in 1974.

Waiting for the tug that never comes.

Waiting patiently for the tug that never comes.

It has been several months since touching the layout, and the citizens of Hoboken are in limbo until their dystopic city takes shape. A November 15 operating session is on the horizon, but life is probably too busy to play until then. I can most certainly feel the frustration welling within at the lack of progress on my own projects in life including the layout. I keep saying "rebalance", but it is slow to happen.

Fortunately my little plastic inhabitants are good at waiting quietly and waiting patiently.

Realignment No.1

As always planned, I am going to refine the track alignment in many sections of the layout. My overall plan was to get it down as faithfully as I could to the information I had on hand and get operating as soon as possible. This allows me to learn how the layout works, what could be brought out more in a session, see if any foci present themselves, and do more careful research on relationship of track to buildings and any prototype operational practices.

Original alignment

I have found multiple sources for track alignment of the railroad, so I can now cross-reference and verify what it was at what time. The below are for the Maxwell House/American Can complex in particular.

Left half of Maxwell House and American Can complex. (Hoboken Historical Museum)

Right half of the plant with piers into the Hudson River. (Hoboken Historical Museum)

I am nominally modeling 1959 at the moment, but that is mainly because of the Erie's situation of being at the end of it's solo career. It would be a hoot to model the HBS starting at the beginning in the 1800s, and making changes over the course of a few years evolving as the railroad did. That would be amazing, actually. Maybe I will model backwards since I have locomotive roster for that and I have to scratch build the earlier stuff. Hmmm. I like this idea. Makes scenery more of a challenge, but reworking track is easy.

Pulling up the track was easy, I use clear adhesive caulk that allows for quick removal. The only problem is if too much uplift is used, the rails will pop out of the ties, so some care is required.

Realigning was a quick exercise because of the adhesive caulk laying method: I used adhesive caulk on bare plywood. That simple. There are several areas I have eyed for realignment.

The 14th street industries might want to move back or forward so that I can model the buildings better (more on this in a later post). In particular, the US Testing building has an interesting 90 degree access track that cuts across yard tracks that make sit fun and unique. Similar for the Engine House. I would essentially need to eliminate the 14th street tracks to have enough room for this.

Also of interest is modeling the Seatrain operations that would be stunning with the crane lifts that move rail cars on and off the ship. A pier with a ship on it would be a crowd pleaser for sure. At the moment, the Seatrain tracks are about a foot long...

Rough new arrangement is not glued down, yet. I'm going to keep it unglued as I work on the American Can and Maxwell buildings so I can make adjustments. 

In the meantime, I have started on the Maxwell/American Can site with the goal to have more accuracy and more room for buildings. I've got a short film about the Maxwell House factory on order, and several great photographs. I will be scratch building/printing this large industry. I have the exact placement of the elements on a fire map, but there will need to be a little compression (of course). That is the price for being a track-centric modeler. If I were more rigorous in my prototype modeling, I would only model a portion of the railroad at true HO scale. Maybe someday I will be disciplined enough to create that type of layout.

Until then, compromises will keep the emphasis on the operations and dystopic setting on the waterfront instead of exact reproduction at scale of the physical elements. It's just one of the many challenging dichotomies model railroaders bravely face on a daily basis.

Batteries in Boxcars

A proof of concept trial has started to see if the batteries and CNVRTR chips can be tucked away in trailing cars. A small path had to be cut in the chassis of each boxcar for the two wires from the locomotive. The trick is to test the ease of accessibility of popping off the body to load the battery and connect it to the locomotives each session. It's not real convenient with these boxcars, but doable for the near future until the more permanent plan is in place.

The plan is to model and 3D print the maintenance of way cars the HBS actually used on a regular basis. There was a flat car/transfer caboose looking thing and street sweepers that were regularly run to keep the flangeways clear of debris at street trackage.

Edit: I should have mentioned that there is no problem with radio communications to the receiver in a plastic box car.