AC&Y - Ohio's Road of Service

[Rich_S]

Family considerations are taking us back to Ohio. 
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Now, back to packing boxes.  Wish me luck.

Hi Steve, What part of Northern Ohio? Will you be close to AC&Y Territory? It's my understanding the (new) W&LE is still keeping the former AC&Y track well polished, but I haven't had the chance to visit the area in person.

On another note, the P&WV Long Valley Branch has become the Penn Central Long Valley Branch, those cursed JPM videos   





Good Luck on your move to the Buckeye State. Will you be able to attend this year's Altoona N Scale show?

Because of my work schedule, I can only attend on Saturday.

[SAH]

We'll be on the West side of Cleveland, just west of W117th St, in Lakewood.  I saw the apartment for the first time on Monday.  For an older building (1920's probably) it's nice.  The room designated for the layout will be tight but doable.  Not exactly in AC&Y territory but close enough.  I should be able to visit the AC&Y archives at the Univ of Akron more frequently.

I'll not be attending Altoona this year.  Load up is the Monday after.  Lots to do between now and then.

Steve

[wm3798]

My cousin lives in Sheffield Lake, across the highway from that big condo building.
I was going to try to hit that train store while we were there in May, but it was after hours by the time I found it.  Is it any good?

Lee

[SAH]

We're just about settled in the apartment.  Just a few lingering boxes to go to storage.  I'm getting too old for this long haul moving stuff.

So far the attention I put into packing has paid off.  The Spur 4 modules survived with no damage.  I was somewhat concerned after seeing how Spencer (S49) was loaded into the storage locker.  Up arrows meant nothing to these guys.



All of the finished modules were up side down at one point or another during the process.     I haven't opened any of them up yet because there is no reason to do so right now.  It will be a surprise for later.

Spur 4 is (mostly) up.  The photo sequence is from left to right around the room, Goodyear at the end of the spur, General to the right with the Brittain engine house module on the turnback section that is not yet mounted.  No supports attached to the walls.  All done with book cases and simple stands I fabricated from the Greensboro layout lumber before we left.  There are few temporary supports as you will see.







With the modeling desk in the center and the parts cabinets all within easy reach I probably have the most efficient model building setup I've ever had.  Now to get the proper supports in place, get Brittain mounted and put the track back together.  It could be a very productive Winter on the AC&Y.

In mid August we took a break from unpacking to catch the last Cleveland Orchestra concert at their summer home at Blossom Music Center.  What a gem of a facility this is, located in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park .  Picnic during or before the concert and enjoy the cool evening and great music.  A good crowd did just that for a rather eclectic program:  Ives, Bernstein and Rimsky Korsakov. 

[SAH]

It Runs!  I connected (rebuilt is more like it) the most complicated section junction trackwork, hooked up a DC power pack and took ACY 102 for a spin.  No derailments and all the electrical connections seem good.  I am happy.



I don't usually read MRH but took a look at Mike's editorial and Bill's "What's Neat" shout out and it got me to thinking about stuff.  The current effort is 57" high to the rail head and is obviously not as ambitious a project as the Greensboro layout.  I like the closer to eye level height a lot.  That's probably where the third deck would have come to rest in the GSO plan.  Spur 4 was at office chair working height.  It worked OK but the short switching exercise I did this afternoon confirmed something that bugged me about the low deck height:  Rolling around in the office chair didn't seem right.  Can't put my finger on why but it was uncomfortable and took away from the railroading experience we try to achieve.

The GSO layout was to be three decks and even at that, in the moderate space I had, I could tell the layout wasn't going to meet my expectations.  Too complicated to build and likely to maintain, which are close cousins to being "too big", tying back to Mike's thoughts.  I think it hit me when the GSO layout was down, the space was repurposed to what a "normal" person would expect a walkout basement to be, the sun was coming in though the windows and the room looked really great, comfortable.  A layout would have worked in the space, it just would have to be different in scope and purpose, making better use of the unfinished spaces off the primary space.  Something to think about for the next attempt.

Steve

[Rich_S]

Hi Steve, Glad to hear you and the AC&Y survived the journey to Cleveland. Keep us posted on the progress of the layout.

[mstl 246]

Always like seeing updates in this thread, glad to see the layout made it through another move Steve!

Nat

[SAH]

Thanks for the encouragement guys.  Building in an apartment setting does have it's share of challenges.  The usual saw work and the resulting saw dust is a non starter if peace is to be kept in the household.  The primary reason we moved back North was for aging parents.  Fortunately my Dad was an active do-it-yourself kind of guy so my Mom has no qualms about storing the miter saw and my firing it up when we visit.  One must plan the cuts ahead however.  So far so good.

The backdrop and valence supports have been installed.



I found some 1x2s in the garage and repurposed them for the turn back frame.  Scrap foam board and salvaged pink insulation used for the module packing were glued to the top of the frame.  I don't know if the turn back section will be part of the final design (whenever that may happen) so I didn't want to spend a lot of time and effort on it.  Normally I'd have used plywood rather than foam board but I can cut it with a utility knife and easily glue things together in the apartment.  Cutting plywood - Not so much.  You can see the chief inspector doing what she does best in the bottom photo.  And so we press on.

[SAH]

The turn back section is up.  It all fit together more-or-less as planned.  No track yet and I'm not sure exactly how far I should go:  Build it as if it was part of the future design or quick and dirty to connect point A to point B.  I'm playing with backdrop support / placement and have a plan to reuse lighting valence sections for the GSO layout. 

[Rich_S]

The turn back section is up.  It all fit together more-or-less as planned. 
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Build it as if it was part of the future design or quick and dirty to connect point A to point B.

Looks good Steve. As for a answer to your question, only you can truly answer that question. If it was me, I'd build it as if it was part of the future design.

[SAH]

Good progress this week.  Here is the roadbed installed.


The turnback track is installed and the lighting / valence structure is in place.  I will probably move the lighting on the right to the center section since I've decided i will not do anything with the Brittain engine house section with this setup.


Here's the General Tire section lit.


Spur 4 (the current operational sections) is to the West of Brittain Yard.  The Akron Terminal Properties (ATP) industrial district is to the East.  I found some info in the AC&Y archives at the Univ of Akron this past week that better documents the ATP development timeline and other details.  Interesting stuff that has no bearing on my modeling plans, like the AC&Y Victory Gardens location with correspondence to boot (1943) and and other info that does, like leasing info with maps for a siding used by Lawsons Milk Co.  TRW members of a certain age and from NE Ohio will fondly remember Lawsons.  I also found a few additional photos of the General plant on the interweb to help with model construction.

After reflecting on the newest iteration of my AC&Y adventure and the role sectional modules have helped to get up and running quickly I have a hard time seeing how HCDs are a better answer if you have a strong affinity for a prototype and your modeling skills have reached your "good enough" level.  But, to each his or her own.  It's one of the things that make our hobby so interesting.

[Brian M]

Steve,
Enjoying following along as you rebuild.  I've also built my layout as a sectional, which has let me reconfigure it multiple times to fit the space that I have available.  Considering I've moved some sections 5 times since I first built them, this has been a great way for me to go.  It has also proven handy for removing sections to allow house work to get done, such as when the main drain pipe out of the kitchen was leaking down into the basement.  So I'm also a big fan of going the sectional route.

Don't know if I'd worry too much about trying to tie the turnback into the future plan.  You could also always just put down some basic scenery and call it good for the time being.  The nice thing about it is that it wasn't a big investment in materials, so if you don't end up needing it later, it isn't a big loss.

-Brian.

[Cajonpassfan]

Looking good, Steve, nice progress being made. I’m enjoying your build.
I see you’re using CFL’s for lighting the scenes...I installed something very similar to light my lower deck some years ago, when LED’s were just too pricey. Since then, as LED pricing has come way down, I’ve been replacing the CFL’s with LED’s and find  them much cooler and efficient (and unlike the CFL’s, instantaneous). They draw much less power, which makes me less uncomfortable about heat buildup and potential fire issues. The flicker is gone, too, and I’m finding I don’t need the sockets spaced as closely. Something I would suggest you consider; I found some great LED sales at our local Batteries+Bulbs store.
Otto K.

[SAH]

Hi Brian.  I agree 100%.  Once I stopped freelancing (20+ years ago) and stuck to a prototype, I started laying track as close to the prototype configuration as possible.  It looked good and ran well.  The sectional approach has allowed me to hold on to the gains.  I've come to think of curved sections as disposable to some extent.  I strip the track and such, keeping the frame for future use.  Works for me.  Same goes for the lighting valence. 

This is twice now that Otto has written my next post for me.     I was looking at the CFLs yesterday and thinking about how much better (and less expensive) LED strips are today compared to when I started building the system I'm using now.  I used CFLs for the same reasons you did.  When the time comes I'll probably use up the lighting valence sections I have built and then switch to LEDs.  The CFLs do provide A LOT of light, which I like.  That will be a real advantage when running Brittain Yard.  And there are no little dots of light on the rails, but I stop noticing that once the trains start running.

[Cajonpassfan]

Lol, but I don’t want to write your posts for you Too much work...
Actually, I’m not taking about LED strips; just LED bulbs to replace the CFL’s.
Otto