General Update - December 2009

I've mostly been working on the actual railroad in the past week or so.  The scratchbuilding as become sort of a catch-22 -  I spend a lot of time building things but then don't finish the last few steps and the painting/weathering - why? - primarily because of the state of the actual layout - anything I finish will have to be moved several times for things like painting and ballasting the rails, scenery, laying the actual rails, backdrop painting adjustments,...etc.    So my goal is to start finishing the trackwork, electronics, painting and ballasting the track and some basic scenery items in specific sections so then I can finished structures and start to detail specific scenes.   I also need to finish some construction on the layout room - primarily the ceiling.  I have an old house with tongue and groove flooring directly on the joists - this means that dirt and dust works its way through the floor and eventually onto the layout.  I have been building sections of plywood ceilings and valences directly over the layout to prevent this.  I would have liked to build a drop ceiling spanning the entire room but being an old house and being 6'3" tall, I wouldn't be able to stand up.  I literally need to stand between the joists while working on the layout.    This all doesn't mean I won't be working on scratchbuilding too - I will be doing a bit of each.  I will include in the blog some things I am working on as it would probably be of interest also.  

What I am calling the Coke Works Branch had the track on it partially ripped up as it had been originally intended to be part of a city for an earlier model railroad.  For economic reasons I elected to keep this branch Code 70 track, reusing some of the old Shinohara Track and adding some new Micro-Engineering flex track. I am of course a bit nervous about these old turnouts and DCC but I've talked to a few people that have said the problem is overstated - we will see I guess.   As part of the layout work, I built the frames for four control panels - one for the main , and one each for the port, the blast furnaces, and the coke works branch.    Each panel will get a Power Shield breaker.    In the course of the friday night operating sessions I have been attending I've used both ground throws and switch machines and feel that while both have their advantages, the machines are the way to go for my situation.   The level of finished detail that I intend will include a lot of wiring, piping,...etc.  that would probably get damaged with ground throws -  machines, although  an expense, will prevent damage.   I will use Tortice Machines throughout.    One thing I am scrapping - DCC control of switches.  I originally intended to use this and already have a Digitrax decoder that works four machines.  It might be something to retrofit later, but from an operational standpoint it would be confusing for someone new to the layout and also, you can't throw switches from the NCE utility controller.    I've posted a jpeg of my first draft of my panel design for the coke works branch.

HIGH LINE Part 4

With the work on the ore transfer car mostly complete I started thinking about getting back to the highline so it would have somewhere to run.   As I think I stated in the past, the construction is pretty straightforward, it just is repetitive.  I can cut out the parts for and build, maybe four bins in a night.  At this point I have built 18 bins.  Because of my continued issues with styrene warpage I am going to build the highline in three sections of 20 bins each - so you can see, I have my work cut out for me.  I will also need to build a short spur at the one end for the boiler house (to deliver coal to if needed)  and a bridge at the other section.

ORE TRANSFER CAR - Part 7

A few finishing touches to the ore transfer car end up making for four or five hours work.  Added a lot of pivot pin ends,....etc.  basically small diameter styrene rod chopped thinly and glued on.  I also added the brass ladders and steps.  Built an air tank for the one platform and added the trolley poles.  Probably a bunch more stuff but it's mostly complete.  I have to figure out how to make a number plate for the ends and then paint and weather the car.  Overall this build was pretty complicated, primarily due to the wacky compound angles in the hopper.   I'd rate myself a 6 out of 10 as far as satisfied with the result.  There are a few pieces a little out of wack - whether this is warping styrene or bad measuring, it's hard to tell.  I probably will build a second car at some point, way down the road, and hopefully do a bit better.

ORE TRANSFER CAR - Part 6

Spent four hours or so working on minor details - getting close to a finished product.   The brake gear was a bit of a pain modeling, but I felt that it was important to include visually.  I also mounted the trucks with screws - they turn but the wheels are fixed.    I also added the wide rim on the front and back top edge of the ore hopper - they are installed on a downward angle.  Side plates of .020 styrene were added to the platforms at each end, as well as railings (Tichy pipe rails).  I built the doors using .020 styrene and scale 1x4 styrene strips.   The doors are smaller than most prototype doors so commercial castings were out of the question.   What's left?  traction motors, door operating mechanisms, an air tank, the trolley poles, front windows, number, headlight, and a few other details.  Can't wait to paint it.

ORE TRANSFER CAR - Part 5

Doors -  The door assembly is comprised of a fixed panel on top and a moveable panel under - four assemblies total.  The doors are activated by a motor or mechanism concealed in the space between the cab and the hopper end wall.   The fixed and moveable doors were built from .020 sheet styrene and .030x.100 strips and a few .100 I-beams.  I still need to add hinge pins and spacers and some sort of arm to trip the door, whether I actually build the activator or not.  

ORE TRANSFER CAR - Part 4

Trucks part two -  Work continued on the trucks using a variety of styrene strips and shapes to build up the truck frame details.  So far I'm pretty happy with the results.  For this I am primarily using pictures.  The trucks shown in the drawings that I have are different, so they must have changed them out at some point.  I still have to add traction motors and a drive train (waiting on a Plastruct order for the motors), and also the brake gear.

ORE TRANSFER CAR - Part 3

Before I continue with this series I'd better give an idea what was the purpose of this machine for those non-steel folks.   The ore transfer car that I am modeling is based on the prototype machines used at Bethlehem Steel (Lehigh) to transport iron ore and maybe limestone? from the ore yard/sintering plant to the blast furnace storage bins via the highline.  Each unit was self propelled using electric traction motors drawing power from an overhead trolley wire.  Bethlehem Steel's units were somewhat unique in that they used a wide - gauge track (7' 10" between rails).  Presumably this was so the transfer cars could be larger and carry more ore.  Once over the appropriate bins the side doors would open and the contents of the car would fill the bins for use later in the blast furnace.    See photo of the prototype.

Returning to the model  - I added some 1/16 angle stock to the sides of the hopper to simulate the ribs.  Also, I started construction of the trucks.  You can see how I built the wheelsets and set them for the wider gauge.  I used .040 styrene for the side frame base and styrene tubing (round and rectangle) for the hubs.  More to come on these.