Saginaw Transfer Railroad

[Denver Road Doug]

Guys, thanks for the comments.   For once, a model railroading project is actually going a little better than expected!  Well, at least I'm having fun with it.   My roommate came back, so now the layout is sharing space with my bed, and the dresser's back but no longer part of the benchwork.  So it's nice and "comfy" now but hey, it still works and is usable and accessible so....mission accomplished!

Next up is wiring...more permanent wiring anyway.  I've split the track weathering into 6 phases and I plan to "weather & wire" the track as I go.   This includes feeders and also decoders for the turnouts.   So that will probably be slow going for a bit, depending on how my weekends pan out and work demands.

[Denver Road Doug]

Well, I guess that's what I get for saying a model railroading project was going well...       Actually progress HAS been made, but nothing really visible, and I started a more permanent wiring project that stalled so I can't even run trains at this point.   But, I thought I would provide some bit of update so people don't think I expired.  I took a break from Railwire but hope to get back to posting here again now.

The goal from the beginning was to make this layout portable and somewhat self contained so part of that meant finding a place to stuff all of the wiring/DCC components.   I mentioned before creating a sandwich of 2" and 1" foam so what I did was cut cavities into the 2" foam for the components.   Then I backed that with 1/8" plywood to give me something to attach to.


Bottom of the Loop side (2" Foam) with the wiring/DCC cavities cut out.


Top of the Yard side (2" Foam) with slots "routed" for insertion of 1/8" plywood panels.  The 1" foam layout top surface was then laminated using foam-compat caulk.


The plywood panels are in place on the bottom piece in this photo.  The top was yet to be "routed" at this point.

Since the above photos were taken, I laminated the 1" and 2" pieces together so that the layout structure itself is complete.    The process then moved to wiring, and I am currently soldering and dropping feeders to terminal strips below, which will eventually feed detection, transponding, and signalling circuitry.  Currently they'll just be jumpered together.  (yes, overkill for the layout but the goal from the start was to be able to test/learn all of these components.)

I also weathered most of the track at this point.  Still some work to go but the basic paint is down.   As feeders go, so will the remaining weathering and ballast.   It's a slow process given my life so who knows when it will get done.   I get sidetracked with other modeling projects too so while I'm trying to focus on it, I know that I'll keep being distracted.   But, it's all fun...I wish the layout allowed me to run trains but I'll get there eventually.   I have no desire to scrap this layout and start another so I'm committed to it for the long haul.   

[Denver Road Doug]

Also came across a photo of another piece I've worked on...a flat that will represent one of the large grain elevators present in Saginaw.   This was a mockup scene, and eventually a modified version of the Red Wing Milling building will be an adjacent flour mill.   You'll also noticed a sky blue foamcore backdrop in place.   Not elegant, but quick, and the seams can be photoshopped fairly easily if need be.

[Hornwrecker]

Just read through your thread; interesting idea.

It was mentioned early on about the edge of the foam chipping.  I've got an all foam layout (see Vermissa Valley thread), and I've found that putting a layer of Sculptamold on the edges prevents this.  The stuff turns into a rock, and is easy to repair if needed.  Use a wet putty knife to smooth it down after applying.  I've also tried water putty, but it's not as easy to get  to stick onto the edges, but will leave a smoother appearance.

[GaryHinshaw]

Good to see this revived Doug.   Interesting approach to the benchwork & wiring.

Now a question: is this the same layout on p.3 that we're seeing pictures of on p.1?  I'm not getting how such a large elevator complex would fit, but I could easily be missing something... 

Cheers,
-Gary

[Denver Road Doug]

Hornwrecker,

I checked out your layout post...nice work!   Interesting to see how you keep improving/expanding it.  I've really not had much trouble with the foam chipping other than while cutting it but it has not caused any issues of yet.   That's a good tip about the Sculptamold though, and I've used that stuff with good success before.

Hey Gary,

Yes, this is the same layout.   In the first pics, you see a smaller white cardboard mockup grain elevator sitting in the same spot as the Red Wing Milling building in the later pic.   The "large elevator complex" is simply a backdrop building, printed on two pieces of plain white 11x17 paper.   There's a bit of (unintentional) forced perspective going on probably.

Regards,
Doug

[GaryHinshaw]

Got it.  I guess I was thrown off by the lack of track in the latter shot... 

-gfh

[Denver Road Doug]

OK, so I finally got the layout out of storage (after yet another move) and made some progress. Got my first section of *partially weathered* unitrack wired and mostly in place. I soldered feeders to every section of track, including each leg of the turnouts. Doesn't look like much but it was pretty tedious work, having to carve out spots on each piece of Unitrack to have enough metal to solder a feeder to, etc. I also liquid-electrical-taped everything to minimize the chance of shorts catching the foam on fire. And my soldering leaves something to be desired so I also tested each feeder.



Then I was trying to utilize existing holes from very early on in the building process when I was simply trying to drop feeders and turnout controls to get up and running. In retrospect, it would have been easier just to drill new ones so that's definitely the plan moving forward. Also in the "lessons learned department", I got waaay to scientific with the length of the leads. While they work, I have virtually no room for error so I'm going to be a little less frugal with the wire budget, too.





Next steps...
-Finish carving out space for the wires so nothing is binding and everything is nice and flush.
-Weather the short piece which replaced another similar length of track.
-Hand weather the ties and rail around the points. (you can see I've removed the masking tape from two, but the rest are also masked and all need to be painted.
-Finish weathering the track. (although, this--and the other steps related to painting/weathering--may be tabled for later so I can move forward with wiring.) The weathering so far is simply the base application of paint. I have a multi-pass process for weathering Unitrack so there are a few more steps. You'll notice the darker paint, and that represents the mainline portions while the lighter sections are secondary trackage. If you are familiar with the trackplan you know it's doubletrack all the way around, but the section between this Double XO and the one in front of the yard is visually single track main, even if I will be running trains the full length of the layout for roundy-roundy running. You'll hopefully see soon enough what I'm trying to accomplish, and hopefully it looks good.
-Tie together the feeders underneath. The track is blocked for detection and signalling (see insulated Unijoiners) so that further complicates things.
-Gap the two outside rails on the double XO. This is again related to the blocks.
-Clean the paint off the tops of the rails.
-Install one DS64 and connect the turnouts. Will probably do this soon, because if I'm gonna have to replace a turnout, now is the time. (as crappy as that would be) I'm planning to test the turnouts individually moving forward before I get this far.

[coldriver]

  I initially had trouble with finding 2" foam so I started with a sheet of 1", figuring I would eventually laminate 4 together if I didn't find any 2".   Well, finally did find 2" and now I've decided to go with one 1" layer laminated to one 2" layer.   

Where did you find the 2" in DFW?!?!?

[coldriver]

I like the Saginaw concept a lot - those massive elevators are such a great signature feature.  Hopefully you'll be able to make some good progress. 

[Denver Road Doug]

Where did you find the 2" in DFW?!?!?

Dean, there's a vault/freezer company in Lewisville that will sell sheets to model railroaders.   I can get you the contact info if you need some.