SP's East Portland "Produce Row"

[pdx1955]

Got gladly back to modeling after remodeling the kitchen...so I finally have some progress worth showing.  Got the overhead wire up for the Portland Traction Company "interchange". since there's been so many M1's posted lately,I threw in a X31 to keep with the PRR theme  . Found it's a bit harder to place stuff on the tracks with overhead there! Also been firming up the OR99E embankment with fitting part of the abutment and filling in around the edges with Sculptamold. I also managed to plat out the roadways and start on the bases to serve the daily complex and a couple scattered houses.



The industrial area is starting to fill in ever so slightly as more structures get completed:



Lastly the next backdrop building is prepped for sign painting before it gets assembled. This is made up of three Walther's Variety Printing background flats to make an appropriately sized structure mimicking the real one.



Peter

[pdx1955]

The next building in the East Portland area has been completed, Holman Transfer. This building was actually served off of the SP&S which is in the backdrop in this location.The industrial area is starting to take shape as the lots fill up, however, this is one of the last ones that can be made from kits. Most everything else will be a scratchbuilding project in this part of the layout.  Next up will be Northwestern Ice and Cold Storage as I move along the backdrop to the right.

 



Work on the west approach of the Steel bridge is almost complete save for details. I completed the sidewalk and narrow-gauge streetcar flangeways to top of the deck and the sidewalk supports on the bottom. On this side, the original girders were replaced by long I-beams where the roadway was widened in the early 1950's, so I'm capturing that feature as well. These supports only exist where you can see it...too many other things to do to spend time on things that will never be seen. Remaining work will be to add the rails, railings, and work in the Just Plug streetlights . Since this was a one-way roadway, I'm thinking of only having the streetlights on the nearest edge towards the viewer. If they were on both sides, it would tend to illuminate the backdrop which would leave an unrealistic bright spot.

[pdx1955]

Spent about 5 hours under the layout last night (up to about 2 AM) trying to diagnose a short between power districts. The PM42 would trip when a locomotive crossed the gap. Everything would run fine within each district , quarter test passed in all sections, no shorts on startup, good ground connections between boosters. Hooked up a trouble light ( a couple of jumper cables and a old Walthers "Flourette" bulb) and went on a search for swapped wire or feeder (or a whole set). Figured out that I didn't wire it backwards after many get up, sit down, crawl in/out, test rounds. Cut and replaced a few feeders back were they were that appeared to be suspect but didn't see anything else.

Bypassed the PM42 between two districts (only have 3 total) so the Tam Valley booster fed the mainline and the Zephyr with the PM42 did the 2nd St  branch. The mainline power district short cleared up immediately and no shorting was apparent with the TV booster and the trouble light was off (indicating same polarity in each rail. Problem still existed in the main/branch power district gap, so I bypassed the PM42 ...still shorted. Flipped the bus wires and the problem went away. Put the PM42 back in the circuit and the short returned. Flipped the wires ..still shorted. Bypassed permanently the PM42 (maybe still use it for a turntable reverser if all sections haven't gone bad.) and wired the Zephyr to the branch directly. Probably just as well as the PM42 output current is not enough for a Hex Frog Juicer to work right (1.5 A from the 2.5 A Zephyr).

A bit sore from crawling around. but glad I got that finally solved (been working on buildings instead).

[pdx1955]

I didn't show this in my first topic post, but late is better than never. Originally, I had designed the far northern section (or eastern for the SP guys) to in sense be a visible staging/fiddle yard representing the Union Station area. I always wanted it to be a bit more functional but adding an escape crossover for the platform tracks would have cut the usable sections too short. What I wanted was for a passenger train to come into the station, then the power cuts off and goes back to the roundhouse light. Later, this would reverse for outgoing trains.

I did some revisions a few years ago and rebuilt the staging/classification yard on the other side of the layout. The whole layout actually got moved a few feet to get it away from the garage door to facilitate maintenance and eventual replacement. I'd seen a temporary wye tail track setup in an article or layout tour, so I made something similar. I added a temporary "escape crossover" that keys into the layout (can't move up down or side to side) and has a bolt "pin" through the leg and brace to make the track lineup correctly. The tail track is long enough for a set of Alco PA's. A Cinch-Jones plug only allows the wiring to be plugged in correctly. The whole thing still allows enough walking space around the end but easily removes when not in use.

[pdx1955]

Here's a couple of my latest efforts worth showing... Finally got back to my west side Steel bridge approach showing a mock-up of the modified Miller Engr fence emulating the Gothic design of the actual railing. It's the closest that I can get without doing a custom photo-etch.


Also, just completed the basic walls of the next building- this one will be the Fairbanks Morse Co. warehouse. It looks I can achieve that urban canyon feeling of the real thing as the I fill in the foreground. I do like how it cuts off the view and focuses the eye in the scene.



Eventually, the spot to the left in the second image in the immediate foreground will be filled with a 6-story seed warehouse, so you will won't really to see much if any of the FM bldg in the future. In the background you can see the abutment of the OR99E viaduct which will serve as a scene break between the dense urban-industrial and the more suburban-industrial areas.

I played with the camera a bit to get a more-realistic viewpoint...here you can see the resident head building inspector watching the company photographer...

[pdx1955]

In addition to figuring out the interlocking arrangements for the East Portland junction which will allow me to obtain the necessary hardware (above and below ground), I worked up a 5-yr planning document showing the major goal areas. I felt like i needed some sort of plan to help direct my efforts in the most efficient way as there are a ton of things that could be worked on, especially as I don't work on this as much as I could be. These are fleet, operations support, track infrastructure, East Portland structures, general scenic progress, and a couple of "emphasis areas", mainly the Union Station area and a longitudinal strip area along the backdrop from the SP main back (about 6" deep). These "emphasis areas" cover the related scenery, structures, and major detailing so I can have some more-or-less finished areas. This doesn't cover everything and still there is 120+ major tasks in this plan each of which have many sub-tasks. 

Finished the first of four produce/cold storage warehouses, the only one from a kit and definitely the smallest footprint. The "Safeway Foods" produce warehouse was based off of Walther's Water Street freight house kit where I cut the office portion in half and replaced/re-profiled the roof plus adding the cooling units. I had to flip the orientation of the structure so the office end is on the north rather than the south to allow for the trucks to actually serve the warehouse without interfering with the UP's 2nd Street switching spur line nearby (far right in the photo). This structure is on the small size, but the actual structure would be something like 5x15'', and I don't have enough ROW width as it is.


In positioning the structure to allow for trucks, I realized that it would be better served, and the switching movements more streamlined if i moved it to the left of a switchback-type spur crossover rather than to the right. Currently a switcher would need to pull the cars for Safeway, put them in the yard tracks, run around them, and then go after any cars at the produce dock on the left end of the spur. In a twist of fate, some unknown feline did a number on one of the crossover switches and it will need to be replaced anyway. The second photo shows the approximate location of the realignment. The stub siding to the right will still allow enough room for a switcher and 2-3 reefers which will be enough to serve the dock and the warehouse without doing any run-arounds.

[pdx1955]

I had some time off this week so I exiled myself to the workbench and completed the next building project, the Fairbanks Morse Co. warehouse. I used the sign-printed on label stock method from @wm3798 ...that works really well in my opinion. Spent most of the day constructing stair railings and putting together the covered loading dock. The dock is all made of styrene with masking tape cut into strips and glued on to represent tarpaper. I added a few crates representing crated pumps, scales, motors, etc that would be shipped to and from this location. Like with all of the other structures, it is painted using craft paints and weathered with Bragdon weathering powders.




The track view is getting better all of the time I think:


I also finally glued down the station platforms and weathered them. In the background beyond the baggage cars, I'm figuring how the walls of the REA building go (there is a number of odd angles here to fit the siding ) before I construct the core and glue these on.

[coldriver]

I got to spend a little time in your target area last week visiting "Hair of the Dog" brewery at Water Ave and Yamhill.  The UP (former SP) mainline on 1st Ave  still has a lot of great old brick structures.  You're doing a very credible job of capturing the feel of the area.  Keep up the good work!

[wazzou]

I got to spend a little time in your target area last week visiting "Hair of the Dog" brewery at Water Ave and Yamhill.  The UP (former SP) mainline on 1st Ave  still has a lot of great old brick structures.  You're doing a very credible job of capturing the feel of the area.  Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the heads up!   

[pdx1955]

I got to spend a little time in your target area last week visiting "Hair of the Dog" brewery at Water Ave and Yamhill.  The UP (former SP) mainline on 1st Ave  still has a lot of great old brick structures.  You're doing a very credible job of capturing the feel of the area.  Keep up the good work!

Thanks! Its good to have validation that you're on the right track! One of the inspirations for one of my structures (Holman Transfer) was kitty-corner from the Hair of the Dog so you were right there.

Been collecting the next phase of electronic boards like my hex frog juicers and staging track detectors and getting them mounted so I can wire them up. I'll be needing to run an accessory bus around the layout so I can power the block detectors, signal boards, billboards etc. I didn't realize how SMALL the Ngineering flasher circuits are - like half the size of my pinkie fingernail! I was wanting to work on my Union station area Front Avenue crossing but I had to order a new soldering iron with the  right tip for this kind of delicate work, so can't work there for a bit. Not like there's anything else to do  

[p51]

Looking great so far. I live between Portland Seattle, so I've gone down there countless times, and know exactly where you're modeling. Though I'm no expert on what any of the area looked like in the 50s, I really like what you have so far!

[pdx1955]

I had time in the last week to make more progress on some projects that have been slow to start or complete. The biggest item was the completion of the REA facility. I had to realign the siding to give a bit more clearance for long cars which is not unexpected as I had glued this siding down years ago with just ideas about what would actually occur there. I also carved out a ditch between the siding and the alignment of Front Street and added a "cocktail straw" drain pipe at the end to kick off the scenic elements at this end of the layout. 




I also completed removing the cat-damaged switch and crossover realignment at the Safeway warehouse that I brought up earlier in this thread. I managed to extend the spur a bit so a switcher could pull a full compliment of cars from the freight station and the warehouse in one switchback move. The blue tape holds the track while it dries. The head feline inspector sniffed it all out and approved of the changes .



With the arrival of the signal control boards, I completed the layout of the staging area/terminal board that holds the accessory bus power supply, the staging occupancy/fouling point detectors, the first ABS signal logic board and a couple of hex frog juicers. I managed to complete the power supply wiring to the applicable boards late last night. Next step will be "subterranean" with extending of the bus plus installing and connecting all of the detectors, frogs. etc. I plan to have a set of signal repeaters on the fascia for this first signal board as it represents the start/end of the system and will allow me to have enough blocks to support 4 -aspects (flashing yellow) that the SP had.

[pdx1955]

Took some time this afternoon and added the lettering for timetable locations and SP & UP milepoints. Where appropriate I added street/highway numbers where they go off the edge of the layout. I also added a couple directional east/west indicators based on SP practice. (i.e Eastbound is going away from San Francisco ). This will help operations later by orienting the crew members.

[pdx1955]

Momentarily distracted from working on connecting up my staging yard electronics, considering the impact of moving up in scale as others may seem to have been doing as of late. One thing though all that space goes "poof" when comparing N to O as witnessed here:


I'm sticking with the smaller version as the larger version and its friends are movin' on out shortly. 

[pdx1955]

I finally got the passenger staging yard electronics all done. The servo switch machine stumped me for a bit but I eventually got it aligned properly and works just beautifully now. I thought I would use the fascia buttons more, but I like using the Zephyr or a throttle to throw it instead. I added Azatrak's current sensing detectors as these tracks are for full passenger trains with locomotives so I don't need to use any resistor-equipped rolling stock to activate them. I also added an across-the-track detector at the fouling point so an operator knows if they are in the clear or not. The Azatrak products are very easy to setup and use.  All the glow in the picture from under the layout is from the 12 or so LED's from the hex frog juicers which eliminated all of the stalls before I modified the turnouts (added jumpers bridging the hinges and isolated the frog). I used Chartpak tape to make the diagram (which I apparently have enough for life now from my last Amazon order. I still need to wire up the first Azatrak TS2 ABS signal board here which will have a repeater on the fascia for EB movements out of staging.



All of this will be behind a low backdrop which I also got primed and will be adding the sky, hills and clouds to match the rest.