Shortline Progress

Work is well underway now on the shortline component of the layout.  It will be the M&E Railway, which on my layout is the Minoa & Euclid, though the M&E in real life is the Morristown & Erie, a local shortline here in New Jersey that is largely Alco-powered and is a model short line in their operation and classy paint job. 

The M&E leaves the main line at CP282 and immediately climbs a steep 4.5% grade on a horseshoe curve up to a summit (required due to the oil tank location in the basement).  The line then descends on a 2.5% grade to a big through-truss bridge over Skaneateles Creek.  From that point, the line will climb again up a 1% grade along the wall and pass through a tunnel that allows the tracks to continue through the basement steps.  The far portal of the tunnel will be over the workbench, and the tracks come down a 1% grade into Euclid Yard at the end of the line.

Here's a view of the overall progress so far.  CP282 is to the right, with the short line diverging left and climbing the immediate hill across the oil tank and back towards the camera:

With grades like this, operations on the shortline will seem more appropriate with shorter trains and classic power.  The big C424, paired with either an RS-1 or GP7, will be a regular for the run from Euclid Yard down to interchange with Conrail, needed to move the 8-10 car train back up the 4.5% grade to the summit.  Smaller locomotives will call Euclid Yard home, and be used to switch the yard and the customers there:  a big brewery, and a car repair shop (the workbench).

So far, the benchwork is in place for about half the length of the line, from CP282 to Skaneateles Creek.  The final major benchwork construction is required to frame out the wall that will support Euclid Yard.  I laid some of the track from CP282 south, and now need to construct the bridge in order to finish the route.  This will be a very narrow section of railroad:  a total depth, front-to-back, of about 10 inches.  Backdrop and scenery will be key here in 'selling' the look to a viewer or operator.

Back in the 1990's, I kitbashed an Atlas C424 carbody and chassis to model Morristown & Erie 19.  I put a decoder in the locomotive over the weekend.  Here it is at Onondaga Yard: 

Since 19 will be a mainstay for powering my shortline, I needed to have a reason the unit would be in central New York.

This is where the 'modeler's liscense' comes in:  my story is that the fictional shortline was purchased by NJ-based Morristown & Erie, and is using the 19 under agreement with the 'real' M&E.  The line will have other power as well, but lettered and painted for the Minoa & Euclid, not unlike the Maine Eastern, which is a prototype contract operation by Morristown & Erie.

Finally, an action shot of train SEBU (Selkirk to Buffalo) with a wild lashup, including M&E 19, as it comes west through the interlocking at CP277:

The shortline, and the subsequent interchange, will be a key to the long-term fun of operating the Onondaga Cutoff!

Shortline Construction

Thanks to a few hours work today with Rick, the shortline progress has begun!  The first of two walls that will support the future right-of-way is now in place:

Everything ended up plumb, despite my out-of-level home and basement.  Having another person to help (actually Rick really guided this work session today, and so I helped :-)  is really an asset and part of the fun of model railroading.  Rick is in the process of building a large layout of his own, and will be going with NCE DCC, just as I did.  After we worked, I gave him a run-down of the system and he operated a few trains, the first of many times to come when we'll be operating together.

Here, the WAON-10 works the west end of the yard with U23B 2795 and an ex-NYC caboose:

I put a variety of photos and wall hangings on the layout recently to get them out of the way of construction, but I think I may leave them for now - it is a totally different effect to have them blocking the view of the railroad on the far side.  Eventually, that will all be backdrop, but for now it's nice to have anything to break up the scene.

A few mintues later, SESL (Selkirk, NY to Saint Louis, MO) worked past the local on Track 1, with SD40-2 6524, SD50 6789, and SD40-2 6495.  This is becoming a favorite spot of mine to take photos of the railroad - this view is just about how it appears when standing next to the layout, as the top level of the layout is just below eye level:

Tomorrow, I will continue shortline progress.  More to come!

Wreck Repairs

Some mishaps on a layout are unavoidable.  However, some are worse than others, and over the weekend I had my worst wreck to date. 

I am beginning to experiment with new benchwork to support scenery, and that includes scenery that will be above the staging level on the main line.  I have clamped 1X2 lumber to the existing benchwork in order to measure heights and get a visual generalization of how things may come together.  Everything was clear, and seemed to work well.

At the end of some operating later that evening, however, I leaned a bit too hard on a clamped stringer, and the clamp shifted lower, allowing the stringer to block the forward progress of a double-stacked containter on TV14.  With 4 units up front and 12 cars ahead of the contact point, about 9 cars immediately 'string-lined' the curve.  Two of those hit one of my guard rails, but the rest?  Yup.  They hit the floor.

Thankfully, no locomotives left the rails, and the cars that took the fall were older well cars, but they piled up and sustained damage that made the wreck look pretty real!  Containers at odd angles, shattered truck frames, wheelsets everywhere, cars at different angles on the floor.

After 3 hours of work, I was able to repair all the damaged cars, and last night, all of them returned to service.  An upside to this was that I meant to weather all those cars with my airbrush anyway, and this was a perfect opportunity.  A few photos of those cars will come soon.

Lesson learned:  any clamps that will be in place long-term should be TIGHT!  And, don't adjust or lean on anything clamped when trains are close by.  I learn slowly, but I do learn :-)

Exciting news is that I have procured all the lumber necessary to frame out the last two walls in the basement for the layout, which will enable construction of the short line right-of-way to get started.  This coming weekend, Rick and Jack will both be lending a hand to get the framing in place.  I'll get photos of the progress up next week!

As March Approches...

...the number of DCC-equipped locomotives on the Onondaga Cutoff increases!  I am adding decoders and headlights as I go along, and it's refreshing to begin to see the layout be increasingly populated by locomotives I built years, and in some cases decades, ago! 

As a side note, the vast majority of my equipment modeling and weathering is done at my workbench, seen here after a much-needed spruce up that I did last week:

The layout is to the right in this photo, Onondaga Yard just across the aisle.  A key note here are the supplies for another of my hobbies on the shelf:  good beer.  It's also a simple pleasure to open one of those and enjoy it when running a few trains.  :-)

Decoder installation is a major project.  One thing I have learned to NOT trust are the manufacturer-installed DCC "Quick Plugs", the 8-pin socket on the factory boards in most Kato, Atlas, and modern Athearn locomotives.  Recently, I purchased 4 Northcoast Engineering (NCE) 'DASR' decoders, and 4 NCE D16SR decoders.  The DASR's are replacement boards for the manufacturer-supplied PC boards - they are intended to replace the supplied board.  The D16SR's are 'plug & play' and plug into the existing board, replacing a 'jumper' in the socket as supplied by the manufacturer. 

In all, only one D16 worked. The other three burned right up.  Every DASR worked as advertised.  While the DASR decoders are a few dollars more, I got tired of the $17 of D16 going up in smoke - so, all my PC-equipped locomotives will receive DASR decoders.

On another note:  anyone familiar with Conrail road freights on the Albany Division in 1994 (including the Chicago Line, of course, but also the Boston Line, River Line, and associated mains) remembers the dominance of 'Dash-7' General Electric locomotives on those lines.  Long ago, I built two big 6-axle Dash-7's:  C30-7A #6569, and C36-7 #6639.  Both were kitbashed from Railpower shells, and both are built upon Athearn 'blue box' chassis.  Now, both are DCC-equipped, with headlights, and are working well for the Onondaga Cutoff. 

Here they appear, side by side, in separate multi-unit consists on separate trains in the staging yard:

Enjoy! 

The Prototype Calls

Usually when I'm slow in blog entries on the model railroad, it's because I'm off doing something with the prototype.  In this case, I spent time on three separate trips and got some nice results.  Here's results from two of the three trips as proof:

 Bessemer & Lake Erie #901 North, Carter, PA 1/29/2011

Utah Railway swing help returning from a push to Solider Summit; Castle Gate, UT 2/12/2011

More of my prototype photography is available at http://rgdave.rrpicturearchives.net/ if you are so inclined!

More model railroading to come soon.  Besides the trips, I did get a chance this week to give the work bench a much-needed cleaning.  Also coming soon is learning the hard way about the perils of NMRA-plug decoders.  I did install a new type of decoder successfully, as well. 

Enjoy the weekend!

What a Difference Headlights Make!

A few photos of a nice meet that happened last night on the Onondaga Cutoff...

SENP, a Selkirk (Albany), NY to North Platte, NE (on UP) manifest meets TV-78 alongside a busy Onondaga Yard.  SENP is lead by Conrail SD40-2 6524 with new golden-sun LED headlights, along with C30-7A 6569 and run-through D&RGW SD40T-2 5378, while the intermodal train is lead by Conrail SD50 6789, B36-7 5037, and C39-8 6000.

The command control really makes stuff like this fun.  With my ProCab controller, I can toggle back and forth between both of these lashups and a yard switcher at the push of one button.  FUN.

The snow was falling heavily outside, but the railroad action inside never slowed down!

~RGDave

New Power Districts

As planned, I went ahead and installed two new power districts over the course of the week - both of them were installed on the visible main line.  Since the visible part of the layout is at the top of the grade, it requires the most current to keep trains operating.  Locomotives draw more and more current as the entire consist hits the grade.  Upon reach the summit at each end of the upper level, though, the locomotives must continue on level track while pulling the train up the grade, and so still draw quite a bit of current.

Installing two new power districts, each with its own EB-1 breaker set to 5 amps, I seem to have eliminated current-draw power interruptions.  With two heavy trains at mostly open throttles, 3 Athearn units each, working up 2% grades with 35-40 cars, I had no issues - a nice relief, given the prospective cost of adding another booster to the system.

Soon, I will be installing headlights in my older Athearn units for the first time, and will also work to finalize the design of the engine yard.  Winter is a great time for model railroading!

~RGDave