Feather River Canyon in N-scale

[rodsup9000]

 A week ago last Thursday afternoon I had a mishap with the tablesaw and cut off about 3/4 of a inch off my left thumb. I've found it kind of hard to do somethings with just using my right hand.
 
  But anyway, I've wanted to add drawbars to my Intermoutain FT's between the two "A-B" sets. Then I want to add wiring between them so that all of the pickups are wired together.  Here is some test prints that look like that they'll work. In order to print them on the FDM printer without support, I made two halves that are glued into one piece.   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  I need to work on the drawbar so that it has a little more capture of the pegs. These maybe alright, but to be on the safe side, I'll redraw them. But the concept is going to work. I'll also be adding these to all my "F" units too.


 My Anycubic Photon resin printer was delivered yesterday, but still haven't had time to get it set up yet.

[narrowminded]

Thumb, OUCH!   The rest sounds and looks really good.

[mighalpern]

Damn Rodney:

thats a lot of thumb.  !!! 
I have slowed to a crawl on my bridge this week since I spent 2 days in bed with a cold, but the thing is built and i am getting ready to glue the  track/ties that you sent me.  Although I now see i messed up by not cutting the top gaps and the ones in between  ( was too excited to remember that little bit )  but i'll cut them once glued in place
get better
Miguel

[rodsup9000]

Wow, it's been a year since I've posted anything on the layout build.

 Over the last year and a half, I've had the opportunity to operate on some great N scale layouts, like Joe Kasper's BN, Jon Percy's  Buffalo & Pittsburg, Brett Overholtzer's MKT, and John Achson's ATSF. Also some superb HO layouts like Mike Porter's CGW, John Breau's Great Northern, Mike Borkon's UP, Bill Hirt's CBQ, Rick McClellan's Frisco, Jim McCroskie's CBQ, Doug Taylor's Pennsyvania/EBT, Dave Achson's Joint Line, and Mike Tomie's Santa Fe. Others include Jim Eudaly's O scale C&O and Mike Fyten's S scale Kaw Valley. These are just in the KC area and I have operated on few other fine RR's across the US.

 So what does that have to do with my railroad??? you ask. Well, as it was, my layout was just a layout to run trains on and have a little operations.  With the help and suggestions from some of the experienced operators and layout owners, I've been making changes to make it more of a operating railroad. That is what I was wanting when I started building the layout, but was never exposed to any actual model railroad that had Ops sessions.

 I've printed up about 350 car cards with waybills, 50 some, car cards for blocks of cars (5 cars in each block), and 5 sets of cards for whole trains. These last sets are for the both CZ's (trains #17 and #18) and 2 sections of eastbound SP through PFE's trains and a westbound SP manifest that will have no switching on the layout. In my world, the SP had shut down the Donner line for repairs and routed 2 sections of their train #378, and the WB manifest over the WP. It took over a month just to get these done, and now I'll be redoing the single car cards cause I want to print a picture of the car on the car cards so that the operators can easily know what cars and cards go together. It a lot easier to match a car to a picture than to read the car number. Also printed car card boxed on the FDM printers. Need a few more, but I'm out of filament and need to run to KC and pick up a few rolls at Micro Center this week.



 




 Have close to 100 loco's on the layout now and all have been decoderized and programed. The ones that are "sets" (MU'ed) have been speed matched in both directions through all speed steps. Still need to add decoders and program both RDC Zephyrette's, trains #1 and #2.

 Researched employee time tables and other sources for trains that operated in 1955 through the canyon. Have 2 trains (#156 & # 154) staged in the "high line" staging yard and the 3 SP trains, both CZ's and 3 WB WP trains staged in the main staging yard. Still need to make up EB FB (fruit block) #62, EB Expider #58, EB NCX (Northern Cali Express) #56, and a couple of other trains yet that will go in the main staging yard.


  The biggest changes on the layout so far is in Oroville. The west end of the yard was the classification end and the east was the cut and fill to mainline trains. This has been switched around and the class is done on the east end. I've taken out the turntable and roundhouse and completely cut that part out of the layout. This will add more room for the classification operator. Both ends of the yard have been relaid and the class end has servos added to the turnouts and wired into a rotary switch matrix. The west end will get this also, once I have a ops session or two to make sure it doesn't need anymore realignments. I took out 2 of the AD tracks and now have just 3. Yard tracks 11 and 12 can be used as AD track if it's needed. Added SP mainline with staging at one end for feeding industries, interchange track along with some industry tracks. 

 When everything comes together, the layout should support up to 16 people.
 1. Dispatcher
 2. Oroville Yardmaster
 3. Oroville Yardmaster Helper-cut and fill
 4. Oroville classification
 5. West Oroville local
 6. East Oroville local
 7. Keddie Yardmaster
 8. Portola Yardmaster/ classifcation
 9. Portola Yardmaster helper- cut and fill
10. Quincy RR
11. Portola to Keddie local
12. SP local
13. Road job
14. Road job
15. Road job
16. Helix Operator

[rodsup9000]

 East end Oroville yard before








Now









 West end before






Now

[Cajonpassfan]

Rodney! WTH, ouch! I hurt for you!
Hope that can heal and grow back soon. Or with your talents, maybe you can print yourself  a thumb extension? Urgggh....

On another topic, yea, nothing like getting to run/operate on a bunch of other people’s layouts to get a feel for what works, and doesn’t, for you. The KC area has tons of truly great layouts so you’re lucky in that regard, in that you should be able to get enough operators to bring that monster of yours to life. The new yard looks great (although I will miss the roundhouse😢

Best, Otto

[eja]

I am a violinist and likewise had a serious encounter with a table saw. Some advice:

Stop Saw   https://www.sawstop.com/why-sawstop/the-technology/

Push sticks - always!

Never rush what you are doing !!

Fortunately, despite nerve damage I am still playing

Ed

[rodsup9000]

On another topic, yea, nothing like getting to run/operate on a bunch of other people’s layouts to get a feel for what works, and doesn’t, for you. The KC area has tons of truly great layouts so you’re lucky in that regard, in that you should be able to get enough operators to bring that monster of yours to life. The new yard looks great (although I will miss the roundhouse

Best, Otto

 Yes, I'm truly blessed to have so many good layouts and operators in the area. It's pretty easy to get a full crew for a Ops session.

I am a violinist and likewise had a serious encounter with a table saw.

Push sticks - always!

Never rush what you are doing !!


Ed

 I was in the process of turning the saw off, when my left hand was moving faster than my mind. I had just glanced away from the blade, to look at the power switch to turn it off with my right hand, when my left hand was going for the board I had just ripped. It took that one very minute second and it was done. I've worked around all kinds of power tools all my life and I always try to do things the safest as possible.

 BTW, it's all healed up now.

[C855B]

... I was in the process of turning the saw off, when my left hand was moving faster than my mind. I had just glanced away from the blade, to look at the power switch to turn it off with my right hand, when my left hand was going for the board I had just ripped. It took that one very minute second and it was done. ...

I've been in that same boat - extra-careful prior to and during the cut, mindful of blade and everything else, shut the saw off, and proceeded to ding the tip of a finger clearing the fence with the blade very much still spinning. Fortunately it was mostly nail and didn't even catch enough skin to bleed, but it certainly got my attention... forever!     I was lucky.

Rodney, definitely haven't forgotten your offer to help. We're making slow progress clearing the layout room enough to start work on the next benchwork phase. Dealt with the big detritus in the barn just this past week and am about finished with the wiring in there, so all that leftover construction stuff we were tripping over is soon to "exit the building". Be thinking late January to early February.

[rodsup9000]

Rodney, definitely haven't forgotten your offer to help. We're making slow progress clearing the layout room enough to start work on the next benchwork phase. Dealt with the big detritus in the barn just this past week and am about finished with the wiring in there, so all that leftover construction stuff we were tripping over is soon to "exit the building". Be thinking late January to early February.

 Sounds good

[rodsup9000]

 This is the SP tracks that I've added. First was to take out the backdrop at the east end of Oroville.

Before






Now








 
The far left trackage is WP, then SP track, WP-SP interchange track. The WP has to use the pair of turnouts that's on the SP in the lower left to get to 3 of it's industries.



 



 This is just past the white styrene building. The left back track is the SP main that goes south out of Oroville. It just ends at the backdrop and I'll need to camouflage it some way. Next track goes inside of the building that is Ida Packing Co. Sp gets all the outbound non-perishable foods and WP gets everything that goes out in a refer. The third goes down to the interchange and more industry tracks. 



 




SP mainline continues along the backdrop.

 
 












 More industrial area for the SP












  to the SP staging track

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Hot damn man. That is an industrial grade layout you've got going on.

[rodsup9000]

 Changes to west Oroville

 This is what it looked like when I first laid the track early in construction.








 Then I made changes to make more industries, but it just didn't look or feel right. This was another area the group thought it could be more like the prototype.










  This is what it looks like now








 The unfinished building on the right will be Butte County Citrus, middle spur will be Table Mt Lumber and the finished building will be Standard Oil depot. Then there is a spur just out of the photo on the left that will be Achiegas (named after a local modeler)






The elevated track is going up to Adelaide, where Kopper's wood treatment plant and High Sierra Pine Mill will be, as the prototype did.
The spur on the right will have a hardware supply co and a screw manufacturing co. Then the two spur tracks will be Vanderburg Iron & Steel,

[rodsup9000]

   Quincy RR Jct is at the east end of the Keddie yard. (The prototype jct was a few miles east of Keddie) I still need to install the interchange turnouts yet.
 Looking east from Keddie Yard toward Williams Loop













  Back to the west








 The tracks will disappear and go under Williams Loop.










 The town of Quincy. Along with the sawmill, there will be Standard Oil, Union Oil and Shell Oil bulk oil depots, lumber yard, hardware suppy co, and a distillery




















 





 

[MK]

Is that a raised plywood floor?