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

[Scottl]

A very neat and tidy wiring job!  I might have missed it but what are you using for frog polarity?

[Cajonpassfan]

Nice and neat, Mike! I like the way you’re clustering detectors on one card. Something to thing about for me. I’m still struggling with what goes where😜
I see you’re using Wago’s as well; I love them and wish I knew about them several years ago. Sweet little gadgets...
Looks like you’re making good progress, congrats!
Otto

[C855B]

Thanks, guys!

Nice. How's your back?

Funny you mention that.   

Actually... I'm feeling pretty good, and ready for more. I kneel and squat to do this stuff, and the reps with the squats (fetching tools, etc.) especially have benefits - I seem to have lost about an inch at the waist in two weeks of this. I notice similar effects from setups/teardowns with our club's N-Trak layout, that the bursts of physical activity leaves me feeling energized. Model railroading as a fitness regimen? Who'd a thunk?   

... what are you using for frog polarity?

The Tam Valley board is configured to drive 5V relays, changing polarity when the points are in the middle. The relay board is one of these super-cheap Arduino accessories found on eBay. At $1.50 per frog, I can't complain!

[Scottl]

Thanks Mike, I had not previously seen that approach.  Looks great.

[C855B]

The electronics on the east portions of the layout were completed a few days ago, so everything runs and all crossovers are functional - that's a big, big leap in the overall plan. The grain elevator service tracks at Cozad were laid (Code 40) and wired, so there is finally an operation opportunity once I learn to not run into the backside of turnouts lined against me.    The two junctions and Cozad all have separate web panels running on tablets, like so:



However, for my own operating convenience and proof-of-concept I built a dispatcher panel covering the whole "division":



controlling this:



Current project is completing the kitbash for the grain elevator at Cozad. You can see the silos about 1/4 down on that third picture. It's a Walther's "ADM" kit plus two silo add-ons (thanks, Pete! @pedro). By adding the 8 silos, etc., it's a reasonable foob and will stay that way having made the decision to not kill two months trying to more accurately capture the 1:1. The elevator is going to be set aside until more paint arrives - it figures the off-white I used and ran out of is not stocked locally. [...sigh...]

Next on the to-do list is gathering up the supplies strewn about as prelude to painting the track, closely followed by ballast and then getting serious about land contours and scenery. I expect that process to be interrupted by uncontrollable bouts of signal fabrication as a shipment of RR-CirKit RYG LEDs will be in Tuesday's mail.

[C855B]

Prep for track painting and ballasting (compare to picture above):



And then there's this:



So what are we looking at here? Junk stuff formerly taking up space in the layout room. Early last winter we built a barn next to the studio building to protect the van (which replaced the prematurely-aged box truck) AND to store the piles of construction materials that have been cluttering the layout space for several years. The shelving with the foam (layout supplies) and sheet plastic (also layout supplies) is shortly to have the lower two shelves filled with plywood (NOT layout supplies!) destined for finishing the workshop. The workshop is presently too much of a mess to do much of anything to until other space is cleared for reorganization. Out of the frame to the right is shelving holding the steel studs (yet more layout supplies) and other miscellaneous materials that, yes, were taking up beaucoup space in the layout area. Also in the barn now is the - appropriately enough - barn metal (siding), formerly the centerpiece of what had become a dumping ground.

Much, much progress in the past several weeks, and much liniment and naproxen consumed.

@rodsup9000 - just have to move those plywood stacks and the stuff on them, and we should be ready to start the next benchwork phase. Whenever you're in the mood to head east, lemme know.

[rodsup9000]

 How about in 2 weeks. I'll give you a call when I know for sure.

[wazzou]

Prep for track painting and ballasting (compare to picture above):

@C855B Mike, I have to ask as it has been bugging me too much not to...so, with all of the real estate you have, why do those doglegs look so sharp in change of direction when there seems to be an allowance for much broader transitions?

[C855B]

I suspect the perceived sharpness is an illusion from compression due to the angle and the telephoto. Here's the overhead view from the plan:



You can see from the plan view those are pretty broad. Without booting into Win7 (Mac dual boot) for the planning software, I'm recalling the minimum radius is either 36" or 48"*. The priority on this section of railroad is arrow-straight as is the 1:1. Ten feet of curve was not working for me, but I didn't want 20' of straight paralleling the benchwork, which was too-model-railroady. So a couple of long "kinks" was the compromise. It works well in person.

EDIT: * - I booted-up to run AnyRail and checked. The smallest radius in those "sharp" curves is 96", and only 7° of it. They're plenty broad.

[wazzou]

Very well then, carry on.   

[GaryHinshaw]

Nice progress Mike.  Those junctions are going to be fun to dispatch and navigate - especially with all those signals. 

RE ballasting - I can't help but do a bit of math here: I estimate that you have ~100 linear feet of track in that photo.  At the rate I ballast, it would take me about 300 hobby hours to finish it, or something like 8-10 months of elapsed time.

Carry on, 
-gfh

[James Costello]

I'll just leave this here...
https://www.railpictures.net/photo/729331/

[C855B]

I'll just leave this here...
https://www.railpictures.net/photo/729331/

Oh, the rush of nostalgia! The engine shed at East Yard and a U50C! The U50Cs didn't last all that long on the LA&SL. They ran in braces of three... I have 8mm film somewhere in a box of a trio at old Summit in '70 or '71, just before the total destruction track realignments. Their propensity to melt the aluminum traction motor wiring at sustained max load quickly relegated them to eastern lines only, where they would only face mild grades and be a quick tow to either the Council Bluffs shops or the new North Platte service facility. They were all gone by '78.

This shot in 1973 was a total anomaly. I never saw any after '72, and that's considering I spent entirely too much time railfanning in the '70s. So I surmise the photographer was pretty bold in his trespassing exploits to capture this picture of a rare sighting. The shed was pretty deep into UP's facility there, with the RR having a moderately visible special agent presence due to load thefts. Even then there was low tolerance for unauthorized access.

[C855B]

This is a test:



"So, Mike... we know you do weird stuff building the layout... but WTF is this?"

Proof of concept on a leg system for the first (Phase 1) peninsula. This peninsula is the first go at semi-free-standing benchwork. I have been using 6" drain-grade PVC pipe as "monopod" legs on the temporary dogbone loops, with the rest of the Phase 0 layout attached to the walls. The monopods have worked well, so they'll be used on the loop ends of the peninsulas. However, to avoid using drastic fasteners such as Hilti concrete anchors (22-caliber "gun" nails) to hold up the main part of the peninsula, it will be table-style legs offset in a few inches.

I settled on 4" PVC legs a while ago, filled with sand (~40# each leg) after framing is done. Issue I realized from N-Trak work - legs attached at the top only were going to be wobbly. Solution was a span between pairs. No problem, use tee fittings. Problem. 4" PVC fittings are expensive - $15-20 each, and I need eight. Big "nope!" Solution? Drill a hole to receive a span. Easy? Also "nope", because pipe OD is not a standard drill or hole saw size. The 1-1/2" pipe in the photo is 1.89" OD, for instance. A 2" hole saw will be too loose for a glue fit.

So I put on my plumber's hat, and reminded myself of my kit of special reamers called "socket savers". These are used to save existing-work PVC fittings where a pipe has been sawn off at the fitting and a new pipe needs to "go there". They basically ream out the cutoff stub and renew the fitting for a tight fit that can be reassembled with standard pipe and PVC cement. The process being tested for the leg brace is to drill a 1-1/2" hole, which is the pilot for the socket saver, follow with the socket saver... voila!!!... perfect fit. Smear cement around the joint... done.

I was surprised it worked this well, actually. Solid. Next on the task list is laser level to get rough measurements on leg length, and I can start building legs, followed by paint, then benchwork framing.

Plenty to do while we're imprisoned for the next 2-1/2 weeks.

[Lemosteam]

What do you plan to use for vertical adjustment, i.e. leveling, at the bottom of each leg?