WM Western Lines Engineering Report

[wm3798]

Yes, they will happen, mostly with coal movements.  F'rinstance, BT-1 might bring a long cut of empties into the yard, some of which are bound for Elkins (on-layout) others might be off to Fairmount via Bowest (off layout) or Somerset and the Laurel Valley via Rockwood (also off layout).  So as these cars pile up, trains can be assembled and sent off to their various destinations.

If an abundance of cars bound for a particular scheduled local crop up, we can send out an extra to pick up the slack.

As for clearing industries, other than picking up coal loads, that's done by the locals.  If you're dropping off a load, you're picking up the empty, that sort of thing. 

The paper mill has an around the clock switcher, so it can digest whatever gets fed to it, and keep a steady stream of outbound shipments on the departure track.  (also sorted for numerous destinations... if there's space available, the blocking can be done on-site, and cars added to trains headed in the right direction, further freeing up space in the yard for the fast freight work.

Lee

[wm3798]

There's been some discussion of upgrading the DCC system to Digitrax, as I believe I'm reaching the outer limits of what my MRC Prodigy Advance can do.  One of the deciding factors has been the control bus wiring, since the MRC uses 8-pin and Digitrax uses 6 pin.

Well, after a little experimentation, it turns out that a standard 6 pin plug fits snugly into an 8 pin jack, and provides a good mechanical and electrical connection with the middle six wires.  This being the case, I'll be able to make the conversion without having to rewire the whole mess, and can even leave the existing jacks in place!

So last night, in celebration, I finished wiring in the control bus, which involved adding 4 more jacks to the system.  The control bus is now completely looped, so that should reduce or eliminate the "SVDA" displays when someone bumps a loose wire, and otherwise help the signal strength.

I've now got 11 jack locations (including two dualies at either end of the yard) around the layout, located on both sides of the aisle, so even with my current tethered throttles, there should be no problems getting tangled up in red tape...er... black wires...

Lee

[davefoxx]

Lee,

Well, the additional good news, when you finally bring this Digitrax plan to fruition, is that many of us have Digitrax throttles (and those fancy Droids) that we can bring to ops sessions.

DFF

P.S. Your PM box is full.

[John]

Lee - you can not "loop" the control bus - if that means connecting both ends .. not if you expect the digitrax to work

[wm3798]

Easily handled.  I can simply disconnect the plug at the drop leaf bridge, and it becomes a point to point bus.

It's working smashingly with the MRC.

Lee

[wm3798]

I've been running through the schedule to see how things should work out for an ops session, and so far everything is going swimmingly.  Apart from a couple of time consuming "operator error" issues, the yard is working smoothly, and my plan of working the through freights on the main is definitely a success.  I've also been working on correcting a couple of wiring issues to make the yard run more smoothly.

I set up the outbound cut of cars on the A/D track.  When the through train pulls up on the main, the yard crew goes out, pulls the set outs (which are conveniently blocked to the rear of the train) and swaps them for the pick ups.  It takes a couple of minutes, but it simplifies everything, and allows the yard to keep jumping setting up locals and other cuts of outbounds.

As I'm going through, I'm figuring out where the best spots are to work in the locals and the Thomas Sub traffic.  Once I've gone through the schedule from top to bottom, I may rig up a fast clock just to see if I can make sense out of it from the stand point of a time table.  I never thought I'd get into that, but last time I ran at Eric's I liked the way the clock aided the ebb and flow of traffic.

Off to the train room to run the West Local down from Elkins!

Lee

[seusscaboose]

check out this link
http://www.thegmlenterprises.com/id19.html
although i am quite sure you can probably rig one up simple enough... while i don't advocate stealing someone's product ideas, maybe you can inspiration from his control panel options that may be specific for you if you do-it-yourself.

Dave F. can probably chime (pun intended) in on it as well... he known as "Father Time" around my way... although he is spreading his wings in the Yard with respectable results

[wm3798]

It turns out that the MRC hand-held has a built in fast clock feature.  I'll have to read up on how to set it.  One issue it might have would be if when someone splits a switch and cause a brief outage if it resets.  I'm sure I'll have plenty of occasions to test that today!

Lee

[rswinnerton]

So does Digitraxx in the 402D throttles. I have a Super Chief 8 amp Duplex wireless if you'd like, next time I'm down, I'll bring it with and we can fool with it. I also have Digitraxx's computer interface, which is what allows you to run JMRI software, soundbug, and DecoderPro (DP is worth it's weight in gold...No more CV programming on the throttles.)

I love my Digitraxx.
Russ

[wm3798]

Put in some time on the layout today, mostly on adding fascia around the front side across the windows.


If you disregard all the rubbish below that narrow green band of masonite, you can see the progress.  The most interesting (read Pain the Arse) part of the project was figuring how to make the helix look a little better, yet still keep it accessible for emergencies.

This is what I came up with.



The portal on the left is the Connellsville sub going into the top of the helix.  I cut the portal out of sanded plywood and added some trim pieces.  The whole section from left to right was supposed to be one solid piece of plywood, but somewhere between the attic and the garage, I lost a half an inch, so I opted to just cut it in two and use some foam to fill the gap.

I'm going to make a "half dome of foam" to stick some scenery there next to the upper helix track, which is now, by the way, ballasted.  If nothing else, I can use this as a photo backdrop for rolling stock shots.

The primary access for the helix remains up the middle... the blue tub you see there slides out, leaving plenty of room for even us full-figured railroaders.  And I'm going to have to under there tomorrow, because I've got three more bike cable/click pen installations to do to get the A/D tracks fully functional.

So at this point, I've got about 6' of fascia to do around the Cumberland area, and another 4 or 5' on the front edge of the yard.  Inch by inch, it's getting done!

Lee

[wm3798]

Last night I completed the ops schedule, ending up where I started with the West Local coming down the hill from Elkins, and the westbound train of ore and coal empties coming up out of east staging. 

All tolled, there were 20 moves, although an actual session might involve a couple of more or a couple of less depending on the ebb and flow of local traffic.  At the leisurely pace I ran (about 2 - 3 trains a night over the course of the week) the yard never got overwhelmed, and local moves got inserted as their traffic filled up a class track in the yard. 

When the cycle was completed, there are two through trains set up in the yard ready to go (a coal extra bound for Allentown, and a mixed WM-6 train bound for Baltimore that includes a dozen Laurel Valley coal loads for Port Covington) as well as the Union Bridge Local, which handles North Junction and points east, and a few cars bound for Luke.

So, with that cycle run, I can confidently say that the schedule is up to the physical plant I've built, the train lengths and mix of traffic works, at least in a "one at a time" scenario, and the yard is plenty big enough, as long as it doesn't get slammed through over-aggressive dispatching.  I do need to spend some time cleaning wheels and reseting decoders to get over a modest power shortage, but overall, everything worked well.

There are a few infrastructure issues remaining to be done, chiefly mechanization of a critical interlocking in the A/D tracks, the failure of the electronics in the turntable, and the construction of the industrial sidings at Cumberland.  There's also something going on in the approach tracks to one of the west staging tracks that only afflicts Intermountain F units... and the usual assortment of dead spots around a few turnouts.

The optimal crew size remains 5, four on throttles and a dispatcher, with room for an extra yard operator, yard clerk, and perhaps a couple of conductors, but more than the basic might make the trains run too quickly for the yard to keep up.

Anyway, back to tinkering.
Lee

[wm3798]

A major advance on the technology front...  I wanted to finish the west end of the A/D yard, which involved hooking up a few more manual switch throws.  Two I could snake across the surface, and used the micro slide switches I've become quite enamored with.

The third was more complicated.  I wanted to use another pen clicker, but this would be more complex because I wouldn't have the direct access to it the way I did for the other three during installation.  Mechanically I wouldn't have too much trouble, but lining everything up to connect the slide switch near the points was going to be a nightmare.

So, I tried installing the slide switch on the pen itself...  I ended up with this Rube Goldberg special...


I cut a 3/8" notch near the tip of the pen, to nest the slide switch in.  I used clear heat shrink tubing to secure the switch to the pen barrel.  a touch of gel CA cements it in place.  Next, I bent a piece of relatively thick piano wire (.030?) to make a hook that snugs next to the metal pen point, tightened down by the screw post on the left.  The wire was then bent to be able to insert it through the hole in the slide switch rocker.

After a million minor adjustments, I got the pen to click and fully throw the slide switch.  So I wired it up, and inserted it into the fascia... from the inside.  I had to pull the clicker end off, slide the barrel through the hole I drilled, then put the clicker back on.  No problem.  I use a 5/16" hole, which gives a nice snug fit.

Once that mess was installed, I hooked the other end up to the bicycle cable, which was then attached to the lever to throw the switch.  Again a few minor adjustments, and mechanical success was achieved.  At that point, just wired in the connections to the track power, and voila.  Power routing pen!

Finally, with those nettlesome mechanical and electrical chores behind me, I dug out some more foam from the old Chaffee Branch and started forming up the landscape around Greenwood and the helix.









The A/D switches are located just behind the yard commissary building.  The pen clicker is there sticking out of the fascia above the helix tracks.

Lee

[Philip H]

well,well, lookie at that UNPROTOTYPICAL switch throw pen thingy sticking straight out of the hill!
Seriously, looks good, now I just hope i can remember which way is down . . .

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Very cool.
And the pen spring is strong enough to pull both the points and the slide switch "back"?
Reliably & for a long time?
Just wondering as I found the spring-loaded Caboose ground throws too wimpy for pulling the slide swiches.
But maybe I'm using stronger slide switches (radio shack).

Thanks for sharing!

[davefoxx]

Lee,

That skewed portal over the helix makes my skin crawl.  The opening is so large that it's blatantly obvious that there is no tunnel lining.  Why not rebuild a portal that is more perpendicular to the tracks and then you can fill over that with a foam scenery base?  That will also hide most of that fascia for those low angle pictures.

Ducking for cover,
DFF