A Great Year's End

A year's end treat for you all:  On a cool, sunny morning in September 1994, the first SQ-555 westbound stack train moves across the Onondaga Cutoff on its way to interchange for the trip west to Chicago and Seattle.  This was the first meet between two NYS&W trains on the Cutoff, as SY-1 was ready to leave the yard on the left at the same time.  The sounds of a typical operating session are worth hearing, too - best heard with headphones or a sub-woofer!

Progress is continuing on the Island Extension yard, where Phase II of the project is moving along well.  All track is in place, and after a few tweaks this addition will really help capacity for 'offline' movements during operating sessions.  Next steps will be to drop feeder wires to each piece of rail, and add ground-throw switch machines for crews to use to throw turnouts.

Here's an overview of the new yard area with the final track curing under weights:

And a general view of the dispacher/trainmaster area with the new yard above:

 

As 2014 draws to a close, I want to thank each of you that reads this blog and let you all know how much I appreciate your enthusiasm and support.  I feel this is a hobby that celebrates community and you all are the community that brings this layout to life!   Best wishes to you all in the new year, and Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays to all!

~RGDave

Island Track Extension: Phase II

Despite holiday commitments and family events, I have found time to work on the assembly and installation of the next phase of the Island Track Extension Project, designed to alleviate capacity constraints on the Island Running Track, and therefore both ends of the Onondaga Cutoff.

I had the lumber for this project on-hand, and Jack & I had built a very sturdy support system for the Trainmaster-Dispatcher Station table, with a thought ahead that it may be used to support the Island Extension as well.  The TM/DS table is 3/4" plywood with a 2" X 3" frame, and that in turn is supported by 2" X 4" and 4" by 4" legs as pictured above.  The second level was again 3/4" plywood, and a simple support beam was attached before installation on the table.

Careful measurement of height was required to cut support legs of the proper length to allow a smooth transition to the Phase I construction.  The result is a new yard area that is just about level, with a gentle transition to the 1% grade of Phase I.

There was some concern on the part of regular operators that the new level will be restrictive for Trainmasters and Dispatchers, and as a result I was able to adjust the width and placement of the new level for the yard to maximize the available space on the desk below.  That said, it is important to maintain a 6-track design to allow for future storage of a unit coal train and an Amtrak consist, and all of that should be spaced widely to allow for personnel to access equipment by hand (the ol' '0-5-0 switcher) if needed.  So, I used a scale 18-foot clearance, center-to-center, making for 2.5" clearance in HO scale.

Here is a quick shot of all 6 tracks placed evenly across the new board to check clearances and give an idea of how this will look when it is all in place.  From left to right, we are looking at the approximate alignments of the tracks named as follows:  Layoff, Runaround, Ladder, Express, Island S&I track 1, Island S&I track 2.

Enjoy the holiday season - plenty more to come as this project comes together!

~RGDave

Views of a Recent Operating Session

Happy Thanksgiving!  Thanks for taking time to check out the blog, hope you enjoy what you see!

Here's a few views of the recent November 22, 2014 operating session, during which we re-enacted September 10, 1994 on the railroad based on Conrail schedules and timetables.

First, an extra military train ran, carrying the symbol MIL-401.  Conrail gave the 'MIL' prefix to any dedicated military extra, and the digits worked with the division first ('4' for Albany Division origin) and the section of the train second ('01' for first such movement of the day).   So, the MIL-401 is a military extra originating on the Albany Division and is the first Albany Division military extra origin of the day.  In any case, here it is pausing at CP280, adjacent to Onondaga Yard:

Shortly thereafter, I grabbed a quick shot with my iPhone of the view looking west from CP280, which has in the distant background some of the new scenery along the M&E.   For now, this is the most 'complete' view along the Onondaga Cutoff, and helps give a sense of space in the layout room.

I am also in the process of editing a video or two of this operating session to present here in the next entry.

With this most recent operating session behind us, things will quiet down a bit on the model railroad between the holiday season and the pending arrival of another baby - the Abeles family is about to have a new member!   I will do my best during the next few weeks and months to keep you up to date with all the changes.  I hope to still find a few moments to make some progress on the railroad.

Happy Holidays!

~RGDave

The 'Canyon' at Skaneateles Creek

As scenery continues to develop on the Onondaga Cutoff, I am focused on getting the areas that visitors see first taken care of.  A major part of that has recently been finished, with the bridge on the M&E at Skaneateles Creek now finally crossing finished cliffs!   Here's a few images that show the newly-installed cliffs and vegetation.'

The new scenery really helps to focus attention on the open-deck bridge, which until now crossed a bunch of pink foam and plywood.

Birch trees, after a long hot summer, have started to turn to their fall colors a bit early.  These splashes of color really help to add some interest to the overall scene.

All that remains is to add a few more trees and foliage to better transition the backdrop, and then to add water to the creek bed along with some final details.  There's a variety of scenery techniques here:  plaster-embedded cloth over cardboard strips, foamboard insulation, various ground foams and polyfiber fabric, 'SuperTrees', static grass, etc.  My feeling is that using a variety of techniques and colors for foliage really leads an authenticity to the scene.

Scenery will continue into the winter, and will be mixed with time spent tweaking the signal system as well as work to add a few more locomotives to the active roster.  This is a great hobby:  so many different things to do, with such tangible and visible progress!  I haven't been bored in years.  It's a great relief from the daily grind at work.

Plenty more to come!  And, after several scenery posts, some more pics of actual trains are in order, too.  Stay tuned!

~RGDave

Finally, Real Foliage

It's a bit ironic that as we enjoy the beautiful colors of fall outside my home in western New Jersey I am finally learning to add foliage to my layout.  Thanks to a neat product called 'Super Trees' by a company called Scenic Express, I am learning to build my own trees so that no two are exactly alike, and am able to do that in about 2 minutes a tree, at a cost of about 50 cents a tree (!!).

How do they look?

I am really excited about how they appear, both individually and even more so in a group.  The first piece of the layout to get more trees is the M&E.  While the above group is all the new trees, the one below includes a few of mine mixed in with some commercial trees I had installed previously.

At this rate, I am very excited about the future of the appearance of the scenery for the railroad.  The challenge now is to find time to do it, mixed in with mechanical projects, real-life commitments, and a new future extension project - extending the Island Running Track to allow for more flexibility during operating sessions!  This winter promises to be full of potential on the Onondaga Cutoff.

~RGDave

Adventure on the Montana Rail Link

A temporary hiatus of progress on the OC, and thus a lack of blog updates, is the direct result of limited time.  But, this time, that is due to a generous donation of effort by my wife to cover the home front so that I could make a trip to see the Montana Rail Link, which has long been on my list of railroads to visit in depth.  While having passed through MRL country in 2003, this was the first time I could do it properly.

It was an epic trip, one that exceeded all my expectations; THIS is a modern railroad to be excited about!  While we did get to see the SD45 show, and while it was a highlight, the pride and focus of the operation promises a bright future, and the modern SD70ACe power isn't going anywhere soon - and it it has a sound all its own.

The rest of the photos are available for viewing at https://www.flickr.com/photos/77452817@N08/

More modeling will be coming soon, but I figured I'd put a note up here to document time well spent watching trains in Montana in September/October 2014!

~RGDave

Trackside on the OC

Even on a busy railroad, there's down time waiting for things to move.  And so we take photos of what we can, of things we find visually interesting.

MP 281 on Conrail's Chicago Line, adjacent to Onondaga Yard, sits in the afternoon sun, marked by a classic New York Central concrete milepost, denoting this spot as 281.0 miles from the end of track at Grand Central Terminal in New York City.

Over at Euclid Yard, cars for M&E's afternoon outbound train to Onondaga sit and wait for a few more switching moves.  Maintenance crews use the route of a former track, now a rough dirt road adjacent to the tracks, for vehicular access to the trains.  

Scenery makes the hobby much more enjoyable, and lets our imaginations wander from 'how should this look?' to a new dimension of 'what is happening here?'  We go from imagining visual images to imagining the entire operation, which is far more interesting!

The next big challenge for making scenery is building trees - stay tuned for how that works out!

~RGDave