Idaho Belt Freelanced plan

[LKOrailroad]

Yeah, it would mean a bit more bus wire but not all way round. My design has a 12 ga main bus under the entire layout. Sub-buses with circuit breakers feed off the main bus. That way the districts are organized by crew assignment/working area without adding a bunch more bus line.

Most derails tend to happen around switches. That's why I like the switching areas (industry, yard, etc.) electrically separate from the main.

[basementcalling]

Time for an update.

My summer goal was to have enough track down to run a train before I returned to work at school on August 26. Tonight, train number 1 ran on the branch portion of the layout, 5 days ahead of schedule, but I am going back to work on my classroom tomorrow, so I made my goal by the skin of my teeth.

I strung power bus wires this afternoon and used suitcase connectors to attach the feeders. The bus is 12 ga and the feeders 18ga. I used a joinerless technique Gary Hinshaw shared to make joints between the ME code 55 track sections and it works pretty well, so it should be easier on the code 55 concrete tie mainline when I get to laying that this weekend.

I had to hook up a small power pack and run a train, so a pair of GP15-1s are in the video pulling a pair of 60 foot log cars up the 2% grade from Plummer Jct, to Terminal, where they tie up on the north leg of the wye. Real operations here will likely feature pulpwood racks hauling lumber to interchange about where this train started, with a shortline stopping at Plummer to pass over the logs to Idaho Belt power.

I did find one track section that seems to have a power feed issue. I think my first suitcase connection is to blame, and I found a set of feeders I skipped when attaching them earlier, so I will be back under the layout after this post.

Hope you enjoy the video of the first train running on the Idaho Belt.

[GaryHinshaw]

Congratulations!!  Mark the day.

[Philip H]

Peter,
Nicely done sir!  The DMV  's salute you.

[basementcalling]

Nothing much photo worthy to report since the first train ran.

Track is now down through the first one loop helix. I am not thrilled with how my joinerless connections are working in there, so I've been adjusting because of several issues. Track gang members with more experience with this method are welcome to toss ideas and suggestions my way for any/all of these findings.

1. ME C55 doesn't always lay flat. Not sure if pressure from the feeder wires is pushing it up or if the tie strip or rail has kinked in the vertical after handling. I did find one hump in a rail that seemed to be the cause of one AC4400 truck to pop 1 wheel off the tracks. It was well away from any joint or feeder set. Other kinks are more like ramping up at ends. It seems gluing down track will stop this, but I plan to run extensive test trains before gluing the track down for good.

2. With joinerless connections, accurate feeder wire soldering is a must. Off by a few millimeters means the gaps increase or decrease in size.

3. I am finding ME C55 wood tie track easier to do this with than the concrete tie stuff, which is the opposite of what a few other folks have stated. Go figure. I've noticed the concrete tie rail likes to ride over the clip heads instead of between them unless extreme care is used in sliding the tracks together.

4. Atlas C55 turnouts would be much more fun if they had a locking mechanism built in. They do work sort of with push pins holding the points in one position, but repeated use weakens the hold the pin has in the hole in the foam.

5. I need a wiring refresher on reverse sections and DCC. I will probably have 2, which I plan to handle with a PM42, but not sure yet which track section makes the most sense to wire as the reversing section, or does it have to be the one that physically causes + to meet - rail?

6. Temporary tracks have been put down where more #10 turnouts are needed. Some operational flexibility will be lost until they are available.

7. Grade calculations were spot on thanks to Anyrail.

8. Watching a train climb is watching a train at work, even if it's only 6-8 cars. My 2% on 18 inch radius slows a pair of AC4400s from Kato enough to see using my MRC 1200 power pack right now.

9. A digitrax Chief set is in the house. Checking to see if the insurance is up to date before installing.   

10. A cool canyon scene will look impressive once scenery is in, but a support will need to move a few inches to achieve a realistic slope on the rock walls.

11. I am up way too late the night after the first day with students.

[GaryHinshaw]

Sounds like good progress Peter.  Photos would help to diagnose your track humps, but feeders can definitely push up on the track if they're stiff #18 or 20 wire.  You should be able to bend them under the roadbed in a way that relieves that pressure though.  I don't see how the tolerance for feeder placement is any different for joiner or joinerless connections.  I use 1/4" holes in the roadbed for passing feeders though, which gives me some wiggle room.  Once everything is set, I plug the hole from underneath with conduit putty, then fill it with ballast. 

2% grades with 18" curves can definitely tax your locos!  They don't have nearly the pulling power of the (scaled) prototype locos.  You'll probably want to explore pusher ops before too long.  That can at least help compensate for the extra drag in curves.

Photos or it didn't happen...
-gfh

[basementcalling]

Here are some snapshot photos to illustrate the ramping issue and a couple shots of progress.

1. Ramping in a section of flex. Feeders are just to the left.



2. Another pair of examples in mid section of flex. The ties in the middle are not touching the roadbed.





3. More ramps



4. Here is an overview of where the branchline to Plummer Jct leaves the mainline.



5. Looking the other direction towards the first single loop helix in the distance.



6. An overview from slightly below benchwork level of the train on the large fill scene. The height of the photo is about what will be visible between fascia and valence.



7. Same train climbing the 1 loop helix to the fill scene. This track will be hidden once backdrops are in place, but installing it after the backdrop would have been a challenge. I am contemplating some type of shelf on the inside of the track to prevent plunges of equipment to the floor if a derailment occurs.



7. Finally, a shot  of a train exiting the hidden helix trackage. The white JM Huber tank car is about where the track will exit, but no tunnel portal will be visible here in the planned narrow canyon scene as the rock walls will help the train simply pass out of sight around the curve.

[basementcalling]

Spent parts of today sanding cork sheets to make ramps so tracks can be laid at different levels for the mainline, passing sidings, and industrial or tertiary trackage.  Anyone else ever save the cork dust this makes and find a good use for it on the layout? I am accumulating a decent amount of it. 

Still haven't figured out the ME ramping issue, but luckily in most cases the weight of a train passing pushes the track back down to where it should be. The problem will go away when I permanently glue the track down, but it has me questioning flex handling standards for moving track around on the subroadbed and being more careful with it when soldering or doing joinerless connections between sections of flex track.

Did also find that in two places the amount of flash on the sides of the rails on the concrete tie track was enough to create a small dimple of plastic that rose above rail level and could derail some cars. More cleaning time, but football season is here, so that can be done at the coffee table during game watching.

On a sad note, by MRC 1200 power pack I've been using to test run the tracks I have hooked up took two cat induced dives yesterday to the floor. Case is shot but the pack still works. Probably best to get another source of juice though.

Going to be interesting to see how the modeling schedule holds up to the rigors of being back with my 6th and 8th graders.

[basementcalling]

Progress at Divide. Tracks are down, but not yet glued in place. Several feeders still to go, but it's no longer bare plywood. Would look much better with a backdrop, and I bought some flashing to use as an experiment finally. Mock ups were not too successful as the stuff has lots of flex and memory. Definitely will need something else in deep areas with tall backdrops, but hoping the 10 inch rail to deck bottom separation here can use the flashing.



The local sits in the yard as a DPU unit follows a mainline manifest towards Spokane. The tracks are all at different levels. I now have enough sanding dust from cork roadbed to use the stuff as ground cover in some form.



Overview of the East yard throat at Divide. Sure looks to me like that third Atlas #7 in the row has wye tendencies. Doesn't look straight after the points diverge. Can't make up my mind if the turnout really is off in its geometry or if my eyes are playing tricks. This area was originally planned for #10 turnouts, but the ladder took 3 feet, which was too long.
The change to #7s resulted in the curve in the body tracks leading up to the turnouts.



Track level shot of the main and passing sidings. The track the GP15-1s are on is two steps below the main. Mains sit on cork plus roadbed. Sidings have either just cork or just roadbed depending on if they are secondary or tertiary track. The branch yard track the local is on will be buried in the ground cover and sits 3/16 lower than the main. Enough to be noticed, but not enough to impact operation where the tracks must ramp back up to the mainline level, I hope.

[basementcalling]

Today was a birthday present to myself. A day off to get work done, and then play downstairs in the basement after I realized I had opened up a cold for my birthday.

Anyway, lots of mileage of track put down today, all temporary, but the large canyons is bridged thanks to ripped plywood. I had one piece of plywood that left a 3/4 square scrap when Lowes ripped it, but I paid for it so I brought it home. Today it made a perfect temporary bridge across my 38 inch wide canyon scene. Track is a temp job with tacky cement until the bridge flex has a real trestle to span its way across this scene.

To get a better sense of how the trains will flow I had to break out the old DI Twin Stacks. I must say those low profile trucks that can cause fits on an NTRAK layout really glide along on the ME and Atlas Code 55 rails.



A shot just before the last one, with the engines over the scrap bent tower from an old trestle kitbash.



Here's what it looks like from slightly below track level.



Then I found a panorama feature on my camera and decided what the heck. Here's the whole train strung out over about 10 feet of track.



I need to play with this some more. Putting the camera on a tripod and rolling it on the office chair will probably help tremendously, but for a late night end of work snapshot it did a decent job.  The grade really is a constant 2.3% through here. height from rail top to plywood in the canyon is 9 inches, so I have some room to add foam and decide exactly what this bridge crossing will look like.



One problem I did solve today was the ramping in the tracks. It appears a couple were just end of track issues, as when I put new tracks onto the layout they flattened out. Two are more problematic, as they caused some log cars to derail today. They should glue down smooth with weight over them, as they flatten out under locomotive loads, but I am pretty sure that the vertical bends in the track were made while handling the code 55 flex when it slid off the subroadbed and hung for a minute during line up. I was able to replicate that process today, so new track handling procedures are in the works for the maintenance department.

[GaryHinshaw]

That has the potential to be a real signature scene Peter.  Looking forward to seeing it develop!  But if you're planning to model 'today', I think you need to cut way back on the Twin Stacks and sell off all those APL containers. 

Glad to hear that your figuring out the track issues.

-gfh

[Philip H]

Don't listen to Gary - the Twinstacks are cool, and there are plenty of them running around today in other colors.

[basementcalling]

Philip, I figured Gary just wanted a good deal on them for Tehachipi, BC. That BC stands for Before Containers, I think.   

[basementcalling]

Time for an update. Not sure if this experiment is a fix it up or flush it yet. Will probably sleep on the backdrop so far before doing more. Vinyl flashing is some flexible stuff.

I've been engineering backdrop plans lately with little solid success. Here is what went in today. I can tell there will be some places that need a more rigid material, but I can see the vinyl being useful on long skinny straight scenes. It must be completely braced, so I had to add a lip along the back of the plywood this afternoon to the material could be attached at the top and bottom. Everything above the staple line will be trimmed off. I thought about curving it under the upper deck here, but the compound curves in the corners are more than I want to tackle. Staples up top will be behind bracing for the upper deck. Lower staples will be hidden behind buildings or bushes and such.

Here is a view of what Divide looked like a few months ago.



This was back in July. Below is about the same angle after this afternoon's work.



The vinyl actually looks slightly gray under the light in the layout room, which may be to my liking if I do a cloudy day theme on the layout. It's supposed to be tan.

Here is a a closer shot of the wye in the distance in the image above.



This shows a few wavy spots which I am not happy with. I'll probably remove the staples and try again. The vinyl is almost like canvass in how much it needs to be held tight before attaching, which is a challenge solo. There were a lot of clamps being used today.



Finally an overall scene shot. All this work was my version of taking it easy on my knee, which I've now had drained of fluid twice in a week, two months after falling on it wade fishing this summer. Luckily tomorrow I will be fishing from the kayak, so the knee will get a good 8 hours of rest, plus ice on the 3 hour drive time.  The doctor said that's what it needed, but I need a fishing fix.

[basementcalling]

Plans change, and I have been rethinking backdrop materials, as the vinyl flashing I experimented with has proven a bit flimsy. Not a problem in a few spots on the lower deck, but in the areas that need a taller backdrop the amount of bracing required is problematic, especially where the backdrop wraps around the 1 loop helix.

So I went to Lowes and found a sheet of MDF paneling with a damaged oak finish and got a deal on some 1/8 inch material to play with.

Here is an overview of how things look at this moment from the central aisle of the layout.



As you can see, the backdrop height will vary some by location. Still to come on the left is a backdrop for the second deck that is now clamped in place. Note the deformations in the vinyl backdrop on the lower left. More on those later. The operator can look up a canyon scene between that vinyl backdrop and the tall MDF backdrop to see trains as they emerge from the hidden loop. That scene looks like this at the moment.



Here's what it looks like from behind when clamped in place against the peninsula spine. I think that should be sufficient to keep it in place. I also think this is higher than the final backdrop will go on the inside here. I am not sure I want some places with a 10 or 12 inch sky and others like this with 24 inches of background.



From inside the central peninsula when clamped in place.



Here is a section of vinyl backdrop with the second deck clamped into position.



And the other side of the peninsula with the MDF backdrop.



Working solo it seems much easier to get a smooth surface with the MDF, even if getting it into position is a bit more of a weighty challenge than the vinyl. Keeping tension on the vinyl material to attach it is a stretch (haha) that seems to easily result in a bow or indentation in what should be a flat surface. However, MDF may appear floppy, but that is a trick. When dropped and it lands on edge over a foot in flip flops.   At least when the vinyl drops it only picks up every piece of sawdust and cat hair on the floor thanks to the static.