Sunkist Packing House, Orange County CA - N Scale Switching Layout

[tom mann]

I like that plan a lot.

Great concept.

[chuck geiger]

love it

[timgill]

Thanks guys. M.C. deserves all the credit.

There will be a 3' staging track on either end of the layout. The Sunkist spur can hold about 10 40' cars, which means I can realistically have door spots for loading and an icing dock as well.

Running some ops simulation in XtrkCAD today has proven very successful. I can bring the local in from the east to shuffle loads and empties, as well as swap newly iced reefers to the waiting loading doors. To spice things up, the local crew has to tie down at a certain point during the timetable to allow a short commuter train (Alco PA's with heavyweights) from the west to make a short station stop. There are a lot of possibilities and I enjoy the double-ended staging concept of bringing different trains on/offstage to perform certain tasks.

Eventually, having transfer-table style staging would be a help in allowing more than two trains to appear during a session, but at this point I'm keeping it simple.

[timgill]

it's the first rainy day of the season here in SoCal, and to top it off I have the day off; so what better way to celebrate than by finally getting off my butt and working on the layout?

Convenience and the aversion to starting new benchwork let me to decide to keep this as a home layout. I expect to design and build some different FreeMo modules soon.

So, today was the day of roadbed. After transferring centerlines to the shelf, I went at it with the cork.





All of the spurs are going to transition from roadbed level and be laid directly on the plywood, so the cork is only laid under the mainline and siding, plus the first 5" or so of each spur.

Here are some trains on the roadbed to get a sense of scale. The passing siding capacity is nice and long.





Can't wait to see these geeps in action. I need to find a LOT more reefers, though.





I have adapted the plan to accommodate for some Atlas #7's and #5's that I have on hand. While I do enjoy the handlaying process, I find that lately the need to build three more turnouts has actually been a deterrent to continuing on the layout. If I use what I already have on hand, I can get rail down faster and get trains up and running much sooner.

[timgill]

Spent the last two evenings working on installing track.

I am soldering feeders to the underside of the rail and/or rail joiners in an attempt to completely hide the feeder wires after ballast is laid. This requires some patience, as the holes for the wires must be drilled accurately to allow for correct alignment of the track. As each set of feeders are installed, they help anchor the track in place temporarily.





I am not installing feeders on every piece of track, since I plan to solder my rail joiners. To test the effectiveness if this method, I ran the main buss wires and connected them temporarily to my PowerCab. The feeders were wrapped around the buss wires, but not soldered.





Even with no soldered connections (other than the feeders->rail), each end of the layout and every spur passed the "quarter test" for tripping the breaker. After soldering all joiners and the feeders to the buss, I think that this will be adequate.

Almost all the trackwork has been fit in place; I am still hunting for one more right hand Atlas Code 55 #7 to complete the runaround (and the layout). If I can't find one, I'll handlay a #7.











I also drilled holes for the switch machines (which I will fashion out of DPDT switches, to be mounted under the table).

Once I'm satisfied with the operation and alignment of everything, I will permanently glue down the track using either wood glue or liquid nails. I have used liquid nails in the past, though I may prefer going with wood or white glue since a death-grip is not necessarily required.

[timgill]

And, here is a boring video of me running an NW2 back-and-forth, complete with droning narration.

[chuck geiger]

Tim I had a long Sunkist siding (which was really a packer in Sanger, CA SP Branch) and it became my favorite
part of my second N layout a few years ago. I kitbashed it from several DPM kits and scratchbuilt sections.

[timgill]

Tim I had a long Sunkist siding (which was really a packer in Sanger, CA SP Branch) and it became my favorite
part of my second N layout a few years ago. I kitbashed it from several DPM kits and scratchbuilt sections.

Very cool.

No pix today, but I ran more tests; discovered I needed to drop a couple more feeders, and had to pull a turnout because its jumpers to the point rails had failed. Soldered new jumpers for that and dropped frog wires as well.

I've decided to cannibalize my old layout and use the bullfrog turnout machines, since it will be a drop-in no-cost turnout solution. Had to form new throw wires for each turnout machine, using slightly lighter gauge wire than what the bullfrogs normally come with.

Once I completed enough tests to be satisfied with operability, I started tacking down track with liquid nails. Leaving the right end of the layout loose for now, as I'm waiting on delivery of my final #7 turnout to complete the trackage.

Once the liquid nails dries, I'll start installing and wiring the bullfrogs. Also need to start spot-soldering the rail joiners as well.

[timgill]

Since I am waiting for the last #7 switch to install to complete the trackwork, most of the work on the layout has been little tweaks and test running.

I cannibalized some bullfrogs from my old layout and installed them:



Installed pads under the headblock ties and trimmed the throw wires to length:



Here's the latest design dilemma: I can't decide how the crate factory spur should be angled.

Coming straight off the #5 turnout, at an angle to the right of way:



Or, curving to parallel the main line:



I like the look of the spur coming straight off the turnout and angling away from the mainline, but I'm not sure that makes sense from an "urban planning" standpoint; i.e., the crate factory foundation would be angled differently than the adjacent packing plant.

What do you guys think?

The other day I decided my day was going too well, so I soldered some rail joiners. There won't be any pics of that...  ...but nothing some work with a needle file won't fix.

Otherwise, just running trains and testing out the trackwork. Everything is working great and it's fun to be running, though without the final turnout I can't switch facing point spurs yet. Lots of little tweaks, filing some points, etc.; the powered frogs are really nice because my little NW2 can creep around at speed step 3.



I picked up this caboose off eBay...it's actually a C&O prototype and never existed on the AT&SF, but how can you resist such a cool caboose?





That's all for now!

[timgill]

I received the final piece of the puzzle in the mail; the last #7 turnout. Cut it in, wired up the frog, and installed the bullfrog switch machine.



I have been working on drawings for the Olive Heights Citrus Association packing plant, to use as a guide for scratchbuilding the model. I made the drawings in Inkscape, using a photo and estimating the dimensions based on a reference height from a doorway in the photo.

I laminated the printouts to cardstock and cut them out to use as a mockup to get a general feel. I'm excited that I have enough space to model the entire facility, including the pre-cooling building and icing dock.







Another project I started today was my "poor man's transfer table." Two sticks of code 80 on a 1x4 that slides freely on two joists.



This block will guide the 1x4, once I mount a couple screws underneath to fix it in the channel.



I also installed hi-tech failsafes such as this:



I am also going to mount masonite fences on either side of the 1x4 to prevent catastrophic train flights to the ground, as well as wire up feeders.

So all is going well; running some trains for final tests, need to solder rail joiners, replace missing ties, and then it's time to paint track!





Thanks for looking.

[txronharris]

I'm liking what you have going on. The layout I'll be starting soon is also going to be a shelf type switcher as well so seeing your progress is inspriational. I liked your idea of making it a usable FreeMo section although just like you I don't have any local FreeMo guys I'm aware of. Still makes a good option. Can you do that with your trackplan or did you scrap that idea? I don't know what the requirements are for a FreeMo module.  Going to be a cool layout and operations are going to be neat to see. Please keep us updated!

[timgill]

Progress continues. Much of last week was spent tediously replacing missing ties.

Dad's table saw is on loan while we are working on laying laminate floors in my house; so, I used the opportunity to cut masonite for the staging fences and fascia.





The fascia does need some touchup, and a couple errantly drilled holes patched in.

I am using wire from coat hangers as actuating rods for my bullfrog machines. On my previous layout, they were mounted behind the fascia out of sight; for this layout I have fixed them to come through the fascia.



I will probably cut off the 90 degree bend and form a pull knob from a dowel or something.

After some final running tests and cleaning, I cranked up the compressor and airbrushed the track.





Now I'd like to focus on getting the major structures built, so I can start planning the scenery around the building foundations.

[timgill]

The latest efforts on the layout are focused on scenicking the area around the team tracks. This is a good test area for ground cover, as it is a corner of the layout that has no structure footings to be planned, etc; mostly open scenic breathing space.

This is my first time using unsanded grout as a ground cover base, and it took a few tries to find the method I prefer. I'm using a light tan cover that I got from Home Depot; there are a lot of color options available, and in the future I might mix 2-3 blends to get a better variety of coloration.

I mixed several cups of the grout with some water until I had a slurry that was about the consistency of cake batter. This was spread onto the plywood and smoothed/shaped with wet fingers. While it was still wet, I sifted on a top layer of dry grout to give the ground a rough dirt texture.

After that was ballast (AZ Rock & Mineral; EXCELLENT products), followed by a couple blends of turf, ground foam, and silfor tufts, fixed in place by a flood of Iso alcohol followed by Matte Medium. Once dry, the matte medium makes the grout a few shades darker; In this case it was a benefit, because the color I started with was too light.

Here are some cell-phone snaps; critiques are welcomed.















As you can see in the photos, I've also painted the backdrop. I still need a fair bit more scrub, weeds, and a few bushes, also going to plant a few oak trees near the corner to help frame the scene and mask the exit to staging. Since this is a team track, there will also be a good bit of scrap wood, trash, etc. The area near the front edge is the transfer area, and might also be a good spot for a low loading dock, scratchbuilt from basswood.

Onward and upward!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Wow, I feel like I'm looking at Chuck Geiger's layout! That's a compliment.

I dig it.

[Supaned]

Nice progress so far - are you intending to uncouple cars with a pick , manually , or some other method?