Canton, Highlandtown and Fells Point - Compact layout

[GimpLizard]

Thanks, Jeff.
I've got another offer on the way.  I doubt I'll be doing much with them any time soon... it's spring and the construction design phone has started ringing again...

But if I end up needing something, I'll let you know! 

Lee

It's spring? Then what the heck is that foot of (nearly) fresh snow doing piled up in my front yard? 

[wm3798]

Got my care package of gently used turnouts today.  (Thanks @davefoxx !!)

Should bring the yard to life reasonably soon, even if I take an unreasonable amount of time to pre-wire everything.


And the picture's upside down...

I'm going to do a single track main line on cork there running from the back toward the front, and run the yard tracks at grade.  A switch at each end will form the all-important runaround, with a second runaround available where the switch lead runs off in the foreground.  Whatcha think?

[DKS]

Where'd that enginehouse come from?

[wazzou]

And the picture's upside down...

Whatcha think?

We can see it though.  That's a step in the right direction.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Where'd that enginehouse come from?

Australia, duh.

[Santa Fe Guy]

Now, now we are standing up the correct way down under!
Rod.

[wm3798]

Why the Engine House is from the DKS collection...  I can't remember under what circumstances it arrived at my doorstep, but there it is!

Lee

[DKS]

I can't remember under what circumstances it arrived at my doorstep...

Funny, I can't either...

[wm3798]

I shall do my utmost to put it to good use. 

I seem to recall it being presented when you came down to photograph the layout, or when I was building the little Elkins Yard, but it didn't quite fit, so it was mothballed until about 4 days ago...

The good news is that it's ideal in its new home.  I'm debating whether to keep my ramshackle car shop/scrap yard building though.  It takes up valuable yard space.

Lee

[wm3798]

In tonight's episode, May glues down some cork roadbed...



Next I'm debating whether to build some of those nifty pen clicker turnout controls, or just run a simple wire out to a slide switch... 

I'm going to put some of that 1/16" black foam down under the turnouts for the yard to provide for a modest degree of separation between the ballasted main line and the yard throat tracks....  One of these days...

Captain Slow

[eja]

WM3798,,,

What are those nifty pen clicker switch control devices ??

Sounds interesting.  X' cuse me if I missed something earlier in this thread.

[wm3798]

It actually dates way back to the construction of the yard that now serves as the foundation of  the @Ed Kapuscinski 's Windsor Street layout.  The idea came from Kevin Beck @justTRAINcRaZy

This is the slide switch with the throw rod, which I connected to a bicycle cable using a 2-screw wire clamp.  The bicycle cable allowed me to reach the back edge of the layout to operate a switch that was behind the yard tracks.  I had staging tracks below, so I couldn't use a below decks machine like a tortoise, and there wasn't room above the deck for something off to the side.  So this was an efficient way to operate the switch remotely, and best of all, cost next to nothing to do using spare parts I had laying around.



At the fascia, you can see two white pen barrels there on the right, below the soldering iron.  Sorry I didn't get a better picture of that.  So I cut back the pen barrel so the ink/ball point projects well beyond the nose of the pen.  Another 2 screw clamp pinches the bike cable to the ball point.


The pen barrel is fit into a hole in the fascia, which I drilled using a 1" paddle bit to provide for a recess for it to prevent accidental belly switching, and if memory serves, I used some Liquid Nails or something similar to secure the pen to the opening.

You can see the clicker end of the pen barrel in the unpainted fascia next to the locomotives.



I did another version for a different location where I built the slide switch into the pen barrel, probably for a turnout located closer to the edge.  This would be the design I'd use on the current layout, if I decided to do that.



I built this about 7 years ago, and Ed reports that even after being moved and re-established in a new home, they still work reliably both mechanically and electrically.  Perhaps he can take some better shots of the fascia mount for us.

[wm3798]

I had a bit of time to goof off last night, so I did a thing!





Installed 4 LEDs in a commercial block on Haven Street.  Still have to do some fine tuning, some touch up paint, and add some HVAC units and stair well heads to the roof to hide the wiring.  I had built these years ago, and the interiors were already installed, and had been designed for a mini Christmas light bulb.  LEDs give better directional lighting, so I had to go in through the roof.  Might paint one of the resistors to look like a tank or something, but I can mask the rest with some details.

But finally, the Hobby Shop is open til 9 p.m.!



A note about the buildings... those of you who have been around N scale for a while might recognize the two brick buildings as an old Heljan kit, featuring "Miss Mary's Millenary" which was the building on the left, and the other.  Walthers might still offer these two.  I stretched out the block by adding a "false front" frame building between them, installing only a front and rear wall, and using some Faller printed roofing to form the gable roof behind the facade.  I used the windows from the side of one of the brick buildings, and the store front from the one on the right to give some continuity, then scratch built the bank store front using clear acetate and some strip styrene.  The bank sign was snipped from a match book back in the days before home color printers.  It was a good, cheap way to add some commercial real estate.  I separated my original construction so I could step the buildings up the grade of Haven Street.

I still have to add foundation details and then work on tricking out the sidewalk out front with a light pole, some figures, and other details.

Lee

[wazzou]

It's too bad the dispersion of that street light can't be more broad.
Good job of installation on the interiors.
I have never been a lighting guy.  I guess personally, I just attribute more of my focus to the trains. #shrug

[wm3798]

I'm not done yet!

For the finished street light, I sand down the lens to improve the dispersion, and paint the "box" black so it's less obtrusive.  I then mount a telephone pole on the sidewalk to give the illusion that it's holding the street light.  Just a little trickery I've done before...



As for lighting, apart from always being a lighting nerd, my layout is only about 9 or 10 square feet total... so it's the sort of thing that keeps me busy and adds a level of detail to an otherwise small railroad.  It also helps me remember if I turned everything off before I leave the room!