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

[C855B]

Funny, yet not funny - I was working on the track plan today, having a little bit of clarity about the last major piece of blank slate - the refinery at "Sinclair". I thought it through, spent nearly two hours laying out something that seemed to work and captured the necessary points, fixed the mainline alignments around the setout tracks, moved the mouse to click "Save", clicked and... and... and...

...frickin' BSOD!!!!  I couldn't believe it.

I try to run a clean house and haven't seen a BSOD in several years. And there it was in all its glory, just when I thought I was "done". After a couple of scary moments where the "repair" process hung up, I power cycled again, everything came alive, and the file opened OK... but without tonight's changes, of course. I guess the inferred message was "Nope. Try again."

C'est la vie!

[C855B]

Latest track plan:



Sinclair is filled in, more or less paraphrased from the prototype. Main feature I wanted to get was the coke loading facility and storage tracks for the outgoing petcoke. The rest is largely refinery clutter, but there's enough there to keep somebody busy moving loads and empties around the plant.

Aside from adding the grain elevator at Cozad and possibly a minor something at Egbert, this is basically what I'm shooting for. I still need to tweak grades around Grant Tower which might move a switch or two.

[C855B]

Construction progress, the east wall of the layout room:



versus this before we went on vacation:



I've had some success motivating the insulation contractor (Robyn).   As you see, she does great work. The first layer is R-19, the second is R-13. Unfortunately, a lot of little bits to stuff around old construction that couldn't be undone without becoming a major project.

The biggest part of it was sealing-up a bunch of sloppy work by the roofing & siding contractor, where they had left gaping openings around the portico roof supports. There was a breeze blowing through the gaps. No wonder we couldn't keep the building even a little warm last winter. Vapor barrier now in place, sandwiched behind the green and white panels you see above the main studwall. Studwall extension is going up nicely, and should have that part of it done tomorrow. Electrical rough-in is done and I finished a couple of outlets (notice the red test light) to have work power in that end of the building.

Next on the list is east half of the north wall. Biggest issue there is power, with two 100+ foot runs back to the main panel. These are important circuits since this will be layout power, and I'll need a liberal quantity of outlets and junction box access.

[mcjaco]

Once the insulation goes up rooms take on such a different feel.  Better it'll be cooler/warmer and quieter!

[C855B]

You betcha. The insulation work is already showing good results in the utility bill!

Could use input from the crew on locating 110V outlets on the peninsulas. I was thinking this would be handy, but OTOH I have or will have lots of outlets around the perimeter of the space. Really, how often do you need 110V for anything other than construction tools? It adds complexity in the "doing it right" due to the need for dedicated additional junction boxes embedded in the north wall.

With this thought, the plan is a concentration of outlets on two circuits in the center of the backbone (north wall) for the DCC system and support, with additional outlets across the north wall for convenience and DCC boosters. The two inward-facing peninsulas could easily have their boosters connected to south wall power.

Accessory (scenery lighting) power will be two or three 12VDC buses off of conventional communications-grade power supplies.

[Philip H]

Mike,
I'd do at least one one each side of each peninsula.  Current residential code (at least here in Maryland) is every 6 feet in a wall that is over that distance.  Extrapolating to your plans, I'd say that an outlet (perhaps a 4-plex instead of duplex) on each side of each one means you can have more tools/lights/shop vacs hand for any given phase of construction/maintenance.  But I'm not a big fan of 47 extension cords to get power to a task light, so what do I know.

[mcjaco]

Code up here is every 6 feet.  I'd say at least one run up each penninsula.  Easier to use vacuum, power tools, etc.

[C855B]

Are you guys sure about every 6 feet? "Spaced every six feet" is a very common misinterpretation. The current code actually requires that outlet placement is such that corded luminaires and appliances need no more than six feet of cord. That corresponds to outlet spacing every twelve feet. "Six feet" also fails the 16"-on-center test for new construction, becoming 5'4" spacing. I've had this discussion with code inspectors, forcing them to go back to the book. Here's the book:

[210.52(A)] A receptacle outlet must be installed in every kitchen, family room, dining room, living room, sunroom, parlor, library, den, bedroom, recreation room, and similar room or area so that no point along the wall space is more than 6 feet, measured horizontally along the floor line, from a receptacle outlet. ...

ANYway...

Several things:

1) This is quasi-commercial. The residential rules don't apply, and in any sense it's definitely not some manner of living space. But I target a minimum spacing of 8' for my own convenience.

2) We're 1999 NEC here. I don't know how far back the spacing rule goes, but without the books in-hand I can't verify when the mandate came.

2a) Code is not enforced here. We don't even have an inspector at the moment, but with promises of a part-timer sometime soon. The blessing/curse of a small rural city. Even when we get one he's gonna go insane trying to keep up with our growing inventory of derelict properties. That's why the last one quit. I was told outright to "not worry about it" by the (then) code guy since he already knew my work was... well... a little anal.

3) Since the layout itself is considered non-permanent construction under the code, there's no requirement within the layout structure.

In thinking about it over lunch, considering the extra cost and especially extra work of extending 20A circuits into the layout peninsulas, I'm likely to nix the idea of convenience outlets on the layout itself. 12AWG is a real PITA when you try to tee more than one branch circuit, as even deep boxes just don't have room for it all. So I'd need dedicated junction boxes just for the peninsula runs, which means that many more breaks in the main run, which then means more potential failure points (not that I anticipate problems, but one never knows).

That's why I posed it the way I did. The occasional extension cord for construction or cleaning is not a worry. Only when I anticipate something needing a permanent 110V supply is what will drive the decision.

[Scottl]

I agree, AC power on the benchwork peninsula's is probably not needed, and it would require special handling anyway like armouring.

I put a split circuit into my layout room with a double pole 15A breaker and 14/3 wiring so it doubles my capacity with minimal added cost and effort.  I put in a couple double gang boxes for wall plugs too, just because there are so many small loads and wall warts involved.

[Philip H]

We just had a kitchen remodel and trust me our inspectors wouldn't approve the rough in for anything less.

[C855B]

Kitchens are a special case. Things get a little intense for counters, requiring an outlet every four feet.

> ...require special handling anyway like armouring.

In this project, that's a given. There is to be no Romex in our building. Anything that isn't MC jacketed is in metal EMT.

I put quads nearly everywhere in the building, noting the wall warts issue as well. I backed-off this plan a little mostly along the walls in the layout room since there wasn't going to be a lot of need for permanent power, they strictly were convenience outlets. It's only where I expect to have the DCC and other power supplies, and there we'll have more quads. Quads are a bit of work, again because of stuffing 12AWG into the boxes. The different in effort between 12 and 14 is amazing. Sometimes I wonder why I went through all the trouble to do 20A circuits everywhere, but then I do things like plug-in a 1HP dual-piston air compressor. When it doesn't even dim the lights, I am reminded, "Oh, that's why."

[mcjaco]

New construction up here is every 6 feet.  It used to be 12 feet. 

Not that it matters.  I've seen so many code violations in the two homes I've lived in up here, there must have been some good money being passed around.

[C855B]

Wow. So they're going beyond the NEC? And haven't been challenged about it?

In contrast to the lack of code enforcement where I live, I have a good buddy who is the fire marshal for a major metro area, and is therefore the chief code officer. We have regular mutual rants about the mechanical, electrical and construction codes, especially that in the last decade code updates seem to be the result of a bunch of anonymous engineers working for the code writing agencies justifying their own jobs. IOW, they keep cranking down and cranking down on 0.001% issues, while increasing construction costs 10-20%. As my friend and I discuss, the local governing authorities (like him) are stuck because the elected officials passing the laws that invoke [whatever] new code revision aren't engineers and therefore don't realize what they're imposing, just rubber-stamping it as "the best authority we have", not recognizing that the authority is enamored with its own power and is out of control.

[Philip H]

Wow. So they're going beyond the NEC? And haven't been challenged about it?

As my friend and I discuss, the local governing authorities (like him) are stuck because the elected officials passing the laws that invoke [whatever] new code revision aren't engineers and therefore don't realize what they're imposing, just rubber-stamping it as "the best authority we have", not recognizing that the authority is enamored with its own power and is out of control.

Your second paragraph explains your first FWIW.

And in our town the do go way beyond, supposedly because the whole town is a state designated historic district.  My house turns 100 in 2016.  Plus the town wants to keep control from the County, who actually handle the inspections because they have staff . . . we got a formal written warning for not having the electrical permit in the house when the inspector showed up, even though he had the permit copy and number in his paperwork.

That aside, I still think a convenience outlet or two in each peninsula will pay dividends in the end, especially if you are going all armored.  Not lugging 20 feet of extension cord to vacuum the track you just reballasted will eventually become important to you.

[C855B]

. . . we got a formal written warning for not having the electrical permit in the house when the inspector showed up, even though he had the permit copy and number in his paperwork.
...

Ouch. Not that it cost you anything more than brownie points, but, still, it's taking the "don't ever question our authority, we will make your life Hell" nitpicking to a stratospheric level. It's my assessment that dealing with code inspectors is like getting a mortgage - the process is completely unreasonable and many of the rules arbitrary, but for 99% of us we do it rarely and just want it to be over with. We're not going to invest the time and lawyer fees to challenge it.

There are so many degrees with this stuff. Our city's architectural preservation commission meets today, I've mentioned I'm on this commission. We are desperately trying to find the legal authority to go after the worst of the worst without taking down the rest of the community, which, frankly, can't afford an intense code enforcement effort. The law (and code) has to apply to everybody, we technically cannot pick and choose. It's a serious trap, and the only way out seems to be to echo circumstances like yours, where we essentially enact our own codes, which are then subject to challenge because they're not the standard authority.