Sweeping Vistas

 Now and again, it's nice to make a few images of the layout and of some of the longer and more sweeping views that are possible with a basement-sized layout and photo backdrops.  Views are even more satisfying when you consider how much time and effort has been spend behind the scenes in the last few months with major construction projects!  Here's a few recent efforts:

Amtrak 276 meeting SEIN at CP 280, Onondaga NY

BRSE at CP 282, Onondaga NY

By combining high F-stops for depth of field with Helicon photo-stacking software, you can really create some memorable images around the layout.  Looking at photos like these takes me back in time to warm days along the tracks on the prototype, waiting to see what the railroad would run past me.  It's a soothing experience to let the mind wander using the layout as the medium!

After the Pouring Rain

Thunder rumbles into the distance as the setting sun jumps out beneath the thunderheads at CP280, Onondaga NY.

Everything is soaked and it is still drizzling, but the worst is east of us now.  Just as the sun shines through, the Mohawk Dispatcher lines up the last and most important of the afternoon's westbound trains, super-hot TVLA, through the interlocking.

With all the rain we have had in NJ in the last twelve months, and capped by the rainiest spring I can remember, I was inspired to play with the iPhone camera and see if I could create a shot that looked as though it had just rained on the Onondaga Cutoff.  It is always a good challenge to try and create atmosphere in model shots; it helps trick the eye in to seeing more than is there.

Fun for a quick grab shot!

~RGDave

More Frickin' Weeds

On the Onondaga Cutoff, we strive to replicate real-world situations, and I am focused between operating sessions on adding scenery or elements that compliment that focus.  It's ironic that one of the great goals of prototype model railroading is to model those things that in 'real life' we try hard to minimize.  Weathering, industrial decay, litter, and, of course, weeds.

Now that some of the scenery behind CP 280 is set, it was finally time to scenic the narrow stretch of real estate adjacent to the interlocking.  Seen here to the left, maintenance crews have carved an access path through the vegetation but Mother Nature always finds a way.  Weeds crop up here, even some nice wildflowers, but weeds nonetheless.

In modeling and in life, sometimes the weeds are a welcome sign of reality.  Best wishes here at midsummer from the Onondaga Cutoff!

~RGDave

Backdrops Are Complete!

Capping a productive few months on the Onondaga Cutoff, and with a lot of help from Jason and Timm, all the photo backdrops on the top level of the Onondaga Cutoff have been successfully installed!  As you have seen over the past few months, different parts of the railroad have taken on a much different feel thanks to the backdrops and now that effect is fully in place.

Now that there is a some time for other projects, it will be nice to take a mental and physical break from the intensive effort to install the backdrop.  The results as you can see from recent posts are worth it.  Here's a quick iPhone snapshot of dusk at CP280.  This was a neat view before, now it's a already a scene with more to come as ballast and foreground scenery can be completed!

It's a major milestone, and 12/6/2016 will be remembered as such.  And yet it is just the beginning of the magic to come as scenes spring up in front of the backdrop.  The best is still yet to come!

~RGDave

A Little Progress is Still Progress

Summertime with a young family, and an extended community with many teachers, is a time of weekend trips, camping, and family activities.  Between that and working full time, summer months are not a high-volume production time for the Onondaga Cutoff.

However, there is still time to do a bit here and a bit there, and those bits add up.  Here's a late afternoon photo of recent scenery construction west of CP-280. 

A few more trees have grown in on the hillside, and I am wrapping up the first layer of ballast for the east end of the major yard on the railroad, including leads into CP-280. Ballasting interlockings is a painstaking process, worked on a few ties at a time, all while working to get the colors and profiles correct despite avoiding stones and glue on moving parts of interlocked turnouts.  This is the first layer of ballast in the yard, with smaller crushed 'walking' stones yet to come as a finishing touch near the ladders and North Runner (the track running on the right side of the ladder tracks into the distance).   

Enjoy the waning days of summer!  

~RGDave

Steady Progress

Operations on the Onondaga Cutoff continue to develop, and remain one of my favorite parts of the whole railroad hobby these days.  Interchange between different jobs and railroads is an integral part of that, and so we include not only Conrail jobs but also jobs of the NYS&W, and M&E, in each of our sessions.

Here, NYS&W job SY-1 moves light power through CP280, at the east end of Onondaga Yard.

 Weathering track ahead of ballast installation is a big process and as you can see above, is coming along well.  Much of the progress on a model railroad is just slow, steady persistence, working towards the end goal of a finished layout.  And, in that idea lies one of the more hidden attributes of our hobby:  coaching.  I say this in mind of how the process of building such a creation takes years, if not decades, to complete.  How many hobbies today demand such patience and persistence?   This layout is 'coaching' me to be more patient, to relax and enjoy the process.  For example, due to supplier issues, I am still awaiting the delivery of the final signal bridge, which in turn delays the process of installing the ones I have on hand.  It's frustrating, but on the other hand, there's lots to do to keep progress moving.

One bridge that we do have on hand now is the bridge to support the intermediate signals at MP 278.  Here's that bridge, ready for installation, complete with number plates I built using decals with the correct Conrail font:

I love how these turned out; Tim at Integrated Signal Systems did a masterful job with the soldering and included details that really make the bridge a special piece:  ladders, NYC-style targets, and different finials (the top cap on the masts) per the prototype.  This bridge will be lit the same day as all the remaining signals.

Slow, steady progress is how you get to the destination - and also how I enjoy the process.

~RGDave

CP 280 is Online!

As hoped, the cut-in for CP 280 went smoothly, and despite there being 15 heads and 5 turnout combinations to program and wire up, all of those tasks were completed in one evening.  Below is a photo of the eastbound home signals at CP 280, including those on the bridge for the main tracks as well as dwarf signals beyond, protecting the North and South Running Tracks.

The Local Control Panel was installed in the several days after the cut-in.  As of this week, the interlocking is complete except for scenery.  Exciting progress!

We are aiming to make more progress in the signal department over the next month, before the next operating session.  Much of the hardware and signals are on-hand to complete the remaining work; all that remains to be delivered are the final 3 signal bridges for CP 282 and the automatic signals in Camillus.  Integrated Signal Systems will be delivering those to me within the next few months as well.

Step by step, we are getting there!

~RGDave

Major Signal Progress

The signal gangs have been working steadily on the Onondaga Cutoff, generally from east to west, installing signals as they arrive from the manufacturer.  The latest batch to be installed include all signals protecting CP280, adjacent to the Onondaga Engine Terminal.  Here's a view of the bridge protecting CP280 eastbound, modeled after the westbound home signals at CP286 in East Syracuse, NY:

And, the unique bracket mast design protecting CP 280 westbound, with a backdrop of the engine terminal:

As we had discussed several months ago, this signal is modeled after the prototype westbound home signal at CP293 in Solvay, NY.  The Track 2 signals are mounted higher than the Track 1 signals, allowing trains running west on 2 to more easily see their aspects over a train on Track 1 due to the curve on the approach. 

All of these signals, along with the dwarf signals protecting moves onto and off of the North and South Runners and East Lead, will be activated this week.  If all goes well, by the end of the week, CP280 will be fully on-line and ready for service at the next operating session!

So, despite a busy summer schedule and a happy, excited baby daughter, we are still able to keep pushing forward on the 'O-C.'  Stay tuned, more to come!

~RGDave

Next Steps

Today, I have a a few action shots for you all, and a general discussion of the current progress on the Onondaga Cutoff.

First, though, the images.  Be sure to click on each for a full-size view: 

WAON-14 spots boxcars of scrap paper to be used for paperboard at the big Iroquois Paper facility east of Camillus, NY.

SEBU-7 sweeps around the curve and slams through the crossovers at CP280 with the Onondaga Engine Facility in the background.  Leading three other units is Conrail C39-8 #6000, recently upgraded with an LED headlight.

Now that the trackwork is in place and there are less and less issues with track leveling, alignment, and design, the Onondaga Cutoff is moving towards the next real challenge:  an operating signal system.

Ever since I was very young, I have been interested in signals on railroads, and in how they function.  It follows that to me, the crown jewel of a quality model railroad is a prototypical, working signal system.  From an operation as well as a photographical standpoint, nothing compares to watching a train on the layout 'knock down' the correct signal aspect for the move at hand!

Thanks to the efforts of several operators, namely Nick and Alex, I am formulating a plan and budget for the purchase of components that will be used to replicate block detection of trains which will work with computer-based CTC, including the operation of a working signal system.  While I am fully commited to Northcoast Engineering (NEC) components for the DCC system, I will be using an older Windows-based PC to run free software known as "Java Model Railroad Interface" or JMRI for signal control.  JMRI will work with a Digitrax signal system to drive signal heads and display aspects for operations based on block occupancy.  I will do my best to document the process for you here.

Since block detection and signal wiring will require extensive additional wiring work beneath the roadbed, I have elected to minimize progress on layout fascia and scenery until the signal system is installed.  It will be much easier to run new wire and make new connections before the fascia blocks easy access!  However, this approach means it will likely be more than a year before scenery begins in earnest on the main line.  However, since the M&E will not have signals, work on scenery there can begin sooner.  Plenty more to come as the winter wears on!

'The Light at the End of the Tunnel'

All interlocking switches are now in place - we're getting closer and closer to having the mainline track complete.

Here is a view of all mainline track at CP 280, east end of Onondaga Yard, looking east. Yard tracks to the left are not laid yet. I have placed them there there as space holders:

I built west from CP 280 and am now laying Track 2 around the final big curve towards the 9-Mile Creek bridge, and simultaneously I put in CP 277 and am working west towards the same location. But there won't be a 'golden spike' ceremony when east meets west - that will wait for the new control system, backdrop, and a small section of finished scenery to host the 'official' event.

Looking back west, with the mainline to the left and preliminary yard tracks to the right, and CP 280 in the foreground:

Working east around the big curve, I thought an overview would be helpful for you to see where things stand now. Track 2, the closer mainline track, is in place around the majority of the curve now, with staging below: On the other current 'end of track', working west, is CP 277, freshly laid in place as a basic universal crossover. This will allow trains to work around each other when the local is out on the line, or when a big freight is tying up a main track while working Onondaga Yard. Tracks to the left and right are staging leads and will not be visible once scenery is in place:
One of the things that having the mainline complete will allow is operating 6-axle power for the first time in years. In advance of that, I have started to change out all the old Athearn sintered iron wheelsets to nickel-plated brass wheels, made by Northwest Short Line. Here is Conrail SD50 6789 with her new shoes:
The track looks pretty toy-like, right? I put a bit of old ballast down to see how that looked. It's too white, and still, the track needs weathering. All those things in good time :-) For now, here's 6789 positioned westbound approaching CP 277 with some ballast down:

And, finally, a shot of 6789 again, this time positioned on the big, superelevated curve westbound coming into CP 280:Before long, it will be time to weather the 9-Mile Creek bridge and install the bridge track to complete the main line. Then I can run big trains while working on wiring, yard tracks, backdrop, and upgrading locomotives...but at least there will be trains running!