Seaboard Central 2.0

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I wish!  Ain't nobody got time for that.

Truth.

[davefoxx]

Well, the first week back from a vacation is always rough at work.  That said, I made very little progress on the layout this week.

Since I am off today, I was able to make a small amount of progress on the new staging yards before I must move on to other household tasks and family matters.  Unfortunately, I am short turnouts and flextrack (I haven't yet figured out if I have enough cork roadbed), so I am only able to get in one track for now.  But, the first cut of cars was shoved into the A&R's staging yard, which represents Fayetteville, North Carolina.  It appears that each track in both yards (totaling seven tracks) should hold approximately ten to twelve 50' cars, although I am planning to add a crossover between the first and second track of each yard for runarounds.  Boy, what this will do for ops and storage on the layout is just phenomenal.



Also, taking a look at the layout of the SBD trackage on the layout, going left (clockwise) is north and going right (counter-clockwise) is south.  I have settled on the SBD staging yard representing the RF&P's Acca Yard in Richmond, Virginia (the northernmost point on the Seaboard and where yard operations were transferred after the SCL closed Hermitage Yard).  So, leaving Hamlet Yard, one would operate a train clockwise on the layout through Aberdeen and Southern Pines and eventually up north to Richmond.  Southbound SBD trains would do the opposite.

Happy 4th of July,
DFF

[Dave V]

Dave,

What's the plan for scenicking the vertical transition between the two yard levels?  Were this the PRR I'd say a nice cut-stone retaining wall might work, but clearly here something more rustic...  A slope with trees, kudzu, or both?

[davefoxx]

Dave,

Honestly, since it's only staging, I'll probably just do something along the lines of a cut stone wall and cover it with kudzu, just to make it aesthetically pleasing.  I'm not too concerned about it.  It sits off from the layout, so I don't expect that it will detract from the scenicked portion of the layout.  Function before form.

DFF

[davefoxx]

I finished the cork roadbed for the A&R.  Sadly, I don't have enough cork to complete the SBD staging yard.  Oh, well, this is part of the reason why I held off placing an order for track this week.  Fears confirmed.



The following terrible picture actually makes me very happy.  What you can see here is that my Sea-Land train fits comfortably into a staging track.  Granted, it won't likely make an appearance on the A&R line again, but, since the SBD staging tracks are a little bit longer than the A&R tracks, this was a good test.



DFF

[Rich_S]

Dave, Very nice. I just wonder, should each staging yard have an escape track to eliminate back out moves or 0-5-0'ing locomotives?

[davefoxx]

Rich,

There will be a crossover between the front and second track of each yard out of a pair of #5 turnouts that I ordered yesterday.  There will be no 0-5-0ing necessary . . . unless I'm lazy. 

DFF

[davefoxx]

I don't know about y'all, but I always get nervous when I have to cut into an installed piece of perfectly good flextrack.  Case in point, to access the planned four-track staging yard from the Seaboard System's mainline, I need to install a turnout here:



Here we go!



Whew!  Just waitin' for the glue to dry to test it.  Hopefully, I'll get the slide switch turnout control installed tonight, so that I can still run the layout without further downtime while I take my time building the staging yard.



DFF

[davefoxx]

The glue is dry, and the slide switch control has been installed.  Success!  Now I'm just waiting on my order of cork roadbed and turnouts from MBK to continue on with the staging yards:



DFF

[svedblen]

Good it worked out!

[davefoxx]

I was messing around in the basement and began finagling a bridge from scratch for the A&R to clear the SBD near the south end of Hamlet Yard.  Unfortunately, I didn't have enough clearance over the SBD track to build a deck plate girder bridge as I did on my old layout, so I had to come up with something else.  Complicating matters, the A&R track is on a curve.  What I ended up doing was building a bridge with small I-beams supporting what will be a ballasted deck.  It's probably not prototypical, but Ed's Law will keep me honest.  Here's what I came up with:


The following picture shows how much I cut down the abutments to make them work.  The modified abutment is at left, and an unmodified abutment is at right:


Although this was pretty much leftovers from the scrapbox, the I-beams came from a Rix highway kit (they'll be painted to look more like steel than concrete), the abutments are from Chooch, and the balance of the parts are styrene sheet and strips.

DFF

[Philip H]

a well done compromise from the dumpster/scrap box there Dave.

[davefoxx]

Thanks, Philip.  At a minimum, the bridge is a decent stand-in until something better comes along.  Because of the height restriction, I couldn't use any commercially available plate girders, because I needed a deck bridge due to the curve of the track.  I'm actually pleased with how it came out, and, once painted, weathered, and ballasted, I think it will be acceptable.  Besides, in its location on the layout, it's not easy to get up close for a view.  Three foot rule!

DFF

[Rich_S]

Dave,
   I agree, it looks good to me. At one time I had a rating chart that showed the different girder bridges. My memory is not as good as it used to be, but I believe your bridge fits into the E-33 rating? Of course there were multiple beams under the bridge. I think 3 under each rail side by side, but again CRS is kicking in  Anyway I think the updates look great and can't wait to see when more of the scenery is finished.

[davefoxx]

Thanks, Rich!  I had five I-beams left over, so that's what I used.  I evenly spaced them, since (1) the track is curved and I can't really put them directly under the rails, (2) it will be a ballasted deck with a concrete "trough" on top of the I-beams to hold the ballast, and (3) at least five I-beams on this little span will give the impression of sturdy construction, if someone looks underneath the bridge.

DFF