The Evan's Hollow Industrial (HO Scale - Small Industrial switching layout)

[iandrewmartin]

The Evan's Hollow Industrial is a small project switching layout being built on a hollow core door. This is a first for me as I normally build my own baseboards.
In the series you'll learn, along with me as I use a new type of baseboard:

• the challenges and benefits of using hollow core doors for your layout baseboard
• designing, and building, trestle legs
• wiring for DC and DCC
• laying track
• using wire in tube for turnout operation
• designing operations, and how to use excel to achieve your operations needs

If you'd like to know more come on over to Andrew's Trains and read the full post:
https://wp.me/P47pPY-11Z

[iandrewmartin]

If you're interested in seeing some of the images here's a few for you to muse over:


Above is the basic track plan (direct out of software).

As always there's always room for improvement that you just can't see without track being on the board.

[Philip H]

Certainly looks interesting from a switching stand point. Does it follow a particular prototype?

[iandrewmartin]

Hey Philip;
It is a freelanced layout. Based on several different industrial parks that I've studied and some of the parts of the Bergstrom Lead in Austin, Texas.

Mostly, I wanted to build a simple switching layout, using nothing but simple tools, and a prebuilt baseboard, that almost anyone could make and afford.

I'll share some more of the images shortly. If you'd like to see more of the layout and the progress head on over to my layout design site https://huntervalleylines.wordpress.com/article-how-tos/layout-builds/evans-hollow-industrial/

Things are stalled at the moment as we've just moved house to a smaller city dwelling from the country. But I'll be back into it at the start of February.

[iandrewmartin]

When I was first laying out the track plan, I measured the layout surface, and added grid lines per the plan.

I found that something was 'off'. Perhaps it was too linear when I was looking along the rails from scale height. So I made a change as shown in the image below:


Adding the curved switch made such a big difference I found. It 'corrected' in my eyes the linearity of the track work.

More later on.

[iandrewmartin]

From the image above I outlined the track on the blue foa.

Once that was done I then cut some of my sheets of cork (I bought these when we first came to Melbourne in 2006 and still have a lot of it left) into strips to glue down along the outlined track plan.

And this is what it looked like in the process:

[iandrewmartin]

Finally for tonight, I wanted to post a photo of the turnout control I've chosen. Again it is simple. Can be done with minimal tools and electrical knowledge. See the image below:



In the UK they call this the wire in tube method, and it works really well. Here I'm using brass tubing (I think it is K&L brass), there'll be a brass rod inside of that. One end comes up under the turnout switch rod, through the hole and then bent over to ensure a solid connection. The other end goes to a miniature Double Pole - Double Throw (DPDT) slide switch, again with a hole through the push part. When you move the switch toward the turnout on the layout or away from it, mechanically you move the switch blades. Electrically you change the frog polarity. You could do this with a Single Pole - Double Throw (SPDT) switch but I wanted the option to have a LED on the fascia for those infrequent operators so they get a visual representation of the switch position if need be.

All the best

[Hawghead]

Ian,

It's looking good so far.  I was wondering how you were going to mount the slide switches you're going to use to control the turnouts?  I was going to use the same method to control my turnouts but couldn't come up with a good method to mount the switches that didn't have them sticking out from the fascia, where I was afraid they'd get knocked into.  Additionally you might consider Sullivan cable type Gold-N-Rods.  They are a braided cable in a nylon sheath.  They are designed for R/C airplane control linkages but would work well in your application.  They are very flexible and would prevent having to have the knob or switch directly across from the turnout.  This link  http://sullivanproducts.com/product/032-brass-plated-ss-very-flexible/ is to the manufacturer's site, but you can get them at most hobby stores that cater to R/C planes or any number of online hobby shops.

Scott

[iandrewmartin]

I was wondering how you were going to mount the slide switches you're going to use to control the turnouts?
Additionally you might consider Sullivan cable type Gold-N-Rods.  They are a braided cable in a nylon sheath.  They are designed for R/C airplane control linkages but would work well in your application.  They are very flexible and would prevent having to have the knob or switch directly across from the turnout.  This link  http://sullivanproducts.com/product/032-brass-plated-ss-very-flexible/ is to the manufacturer's site, but you can get them at most hobby stores that cater to R/C planes or any number of online hobby shops.

Scott;

I'm ideally going to be using the following style of jiffy box, firstly because of the industrial - real world - freel of the things. And because they are built like tanks and can take anything that you dish out to them.


And they're relatively cheap at $8AU including taxes. Plastic jiffy boxes would also work, but they are not as strong and I like the look of the things on a layout that is all about industry.

As for the Gold-N-Rods... Unfortunately being in Australia, what you can get, we most likely cannot. And where we can get them, they'll be double or triple whatever price is your normal - mainly because of the shipping. Especially from and to the US now. Postage is dearer than poison. Here we simply call it the Australia tax. I may be able to find something in China and then get them shipped out. But for this build simple is best as this is supposed to be a simple, anyone can build it layout.

More later.

[iandrewmartin]

Today we have a couple of more overall pictures of the build as it currently stands. This was just before we moved from Sebastopol, Vic (in the country) back to the Big smoke (Melbourne) where today was a very poor air quality day because of all the fires you've probably seen on the news here in Victoria.

Today's photos:
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]
This shows the entirety of the layout, with all the cork strips glued and setout per the hand traced track plan.
Of note are the two connections out to the rest of the world:

• Bottom centre (where the wye switch is outlined) leads off to a two track fiddle stick that will act as a run-around for switching
  
• Top right leads off to the Sebastopol shops complex. When this eventually gets built, it will be based on a smallish loco rebuilder in Georgia. Additionally there'll be a RIP track and car repair facility.
  

All of this will be represented by another fiddle stick.

Photo number two shows almost all of the wiring in place.
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]
Currently all track feeders and frog feeders are in place and through the door and the foam. I had a chat with Lance Mindheim when I was planning this project for his take on the whole hollow core door wiring thing.  He suggested making big holes in the bottom of the door.

As a former telephone tech and computer guy with many decades in the business I thought that was over kill. So I used another method. I'll be posting a video about that once I get time to write up the next couple of posts on the project on my Andrew's Trains website, including laying track and wiring.

Hope you're enjoying seeing this stuff. Certainly seems to be generating a lot of views.

Regards
Andrew Martin
Owner, Operator and chief cook and bottle washer
Andrew's Trains - https:\\huntervalleylines.wordpress.com