Gibbon, Cozad & Western - "The 100th Meridian Line"

[C855B]

Illustrated progress --

Electronics panel for Colton Tower under construction. DCC control for six turnouts (servo switch machines), frog switching, eight signal heads and two occupancy detectors for OS blocks. Also support for off-board occupancy logic and track power distribution:



Colton Tower trackwork complete, both west dogbone loops running:



Overview of operational portion of layout. Computer (Raspberry Pi 3) is running everything:



Looking to the north, more under way. Won't be able to put things in final positions until benchwork turns the corner. Extra pair of hands for heavy construction should be here next weekend:



Bridge detail. Central Valley bridge is done and resting on modified Chooch abutments; still need to add guardrail, paint rail and deck, and then come to terms with just how weatherbeaten I want this to be:



Bridge is half of a pair, so I have one more of a slightly different design waiting on the bench. There's going to be more fun in store modifying abutments for closely-parallel bridges.

It's been quite fun hopping around from task to task. If I hit a roadblock on something, I just clear my head for a moment or two and then pick up something else needing work.

[C855B]

More progress on the GC&W. Turning the corner with benchwork:



Second crossover pair finished with track operating to this point, nearly doubling the runnable mainline in the past week:



And the pièce de résistance of this past week's work:

Not a valid vimeo URL
This is a BLMA "old style" Santa Fe signal bridge with Showcase Miniature signal heads, connected to the DCC bus via Team Digital SHD2 decoders and controlled through JMRI. I connected it mostly for proof-of-concept; the signal bridge itself and the #38 wires to the heads are ultra-fragile, and it will be a while before clunky stuff like ballasting and scenery base construction is completed enough to be confident it isn't going to get smashed.

Not visible is the work that hasn't been done yet on the electronics. The rails may be operable to the new crossover, but with the exception of temporary connections to a few track jumpers there are only a half-dozen or so turnouts that work, and just two blocks with detection. I'm still working on clarity for wire routings.

[Cajonpassfan]

Dang, lot's of progress being made, looking good!
Otto

[GaryHinshaw]

Exciting to see this progress!  (Somehow I missed your Jan 2 update.)  I know what you mean about the visible vs. invisible progress: I'm just about done laying track in Bakersfield, but I still have a boatload of wiring to clean up underneath...  We do what we gotta do.

[C855B]

Thanks, guys. Things are moving along nicely because I've been able to devote most of my time to the layout for the past month. It will slow down a little due to resuming renovations at a rental property/guest cottage, set aside while we were dealing with the apartment building. Kitchen is gutted at the moment, so it's "down hard" and has to be a priority. Come spring there also will be non-layout work at the building constructing the lounge space so we have somewhere for our kid to stay during summer break if the cottage is rented.

Terraforming is weighing heavily, Gary, so I'm intently watching your progress. The new corner with the cool S-curve has become complicated given the transition between the river, the curve, the corner, and an elevation change to the new benchwork. I intended the sweep and rise for the scenic interest, but getting the transitions to make sense from a geologic perspective, keeping the look and feel of the area (nothing abrupt, as in no deep, sharp cuts), and hiding the joinery all at the same time has my head swimming a little.

Which explains why I'm up at this hour.

[Scottl]

It is all coming along nicely!  What does the prototype look like in the s-curve location?

[C855B]

Here's the basic inspiration, north of the bridges: https://binged.it/2j0FX5P  The gully to the west will be mostly hidden behind the embankment. It's interesting the way this worked out, as it was not my objective for the river crossing scene to paraphrase this particular curve, as the curve was originally taken from: https://binged.it/2je6hqT

Usual modeler's license will be representing the highway on the right side, with further liberties taken to have the highway cross under the RR as in this location a couple of miles north: https://binged.it/2j0KGEp

[GaryHinshaw]

Here's some inspiration for your special effects lighting in that Mojave River corner:

http://www.railpictures.net/photo/248841/

As for the terra-forms, I think you could model the scene pretty faithfully, then gently sweep around the corner into Daggett, no?  I'm not quite getting what's making your head spin.  BTW, are you starting to feel like the room is too small for the type of layout you'd really like to do?   

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Damn, it's awesome watching this type of progress happening after so much prep work. But I guess that's what it was all for!

Go man, go!

[Carolina Northern]

Mike,

Might these be of some use to you?




http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-Set-Power-Distribution-Board-With-Status-LEDs-for-DC-and-AC-Voltage-Everest-/201370124332

Don

[C855B]

Pretty nifty, Don! Looks ideal for yard track distribution, for sure. Thanks!

[C855B]

Transcended my mental block on the curve and grade at Oro Grande. Finally.



Paint can is clamping the last support for the grade. I decided to fabricate a quickie mockup for a bridge over the Mojave so I can run trains before the landforms are done. After spending as much time as I did on the Central Valley truss and just about to do another for this location, I was envisioning slipping with the Surform or whatever shaping tool was in-hand and smashing the spindly bridges. Faux concrete is "good e'nuff!" to span the river for the time being.

[GaryHinshaw]

Just how I was picturing it.   

Is your mainline spacing wide enough to accommodate the side-by-side truss bridges?  Seems like they might be a smidgen too close...

[C855B]

Yes, you are right about the spacing, I had determined earlier they need 1/4"-3/8" more separation. For the temp span I figured on just laying a couple of pieces with minimum tack-down, and will realign the approaches when the trusses go in. The CV kits build the track into the bridge and I am also by no means close with the abutments in the temporary arrangement, so I'll be splicing and carving, anyway. There's at least a little bit of method in the madness.

[C855B]

As too-well documented elsewhere in the forum, most of my MRR time the past two or three weeks have been devoted to other projects. "Stream-of-consciousness modeling", I suppose.

But back to the layout. On Gary's prompting I reviewed the bridge approaches, and decided it would be better to fix that now than later. So the realignment is done, and with one line laid across the temporary bridge, we can start up the hill through Oro Grande:



For sure, that is one sexy curve. Track isn't tacked down yet, I'm just forming the curve at this point and need to trim the joints and solder the feeders before gluing.

You can see a couple of Tracksetta templates laying about the work area, as mentioned before I find them indispensable for laying smooth track. Something different is the brown template in the transition, behind the two red push pins. This is an inexpensive straight template stamped "M D Plastics" picked up at a local train show. It's cut from laserboard and is a bit sloppy (Tracksettas for precision), but I find the material flexible enough for smoothing transitions. I managed to break that one in half putting too much pressure shaping the curve, but even half a piece works to prevent accidental kinks when hand-forming curves. (Other half to the right. )

Anybody want 4x8 sheets of 3/8" foamcore? Robyn and I decided the best process for backgrounds is to paint on foamcore sheets and mount to the layout after the artistry. 3/8" is twice as thick as normal foamcore, I am concerned about handling big sheets and having it buckle. I've been getting quotes from local-ish (St. Louis) plastics suppliers. The biggest issue is order quantities. I need 18 sheets to do the room plus 2 for backup, case quantity (no broken cases!) is 14. That's a lot of excess material I otherwise have no use for.