Long Time - No Post

As I finally get around to writing a post, I see that my blog hasn't been updated since January. That's pretty pathetic on my part. I don't have much to say. I do have a myriad of excuses, but the bottom line is I haven't done any updates. My apologies.

On to the railroads. As I mentioned, I had backdated the Exeter Branch to the early 1960's last year. The year in between saw a refinement of the the rolling stock which involved trying to make it a bit more accurate. I know some folks will challenge me on that. I eliminated a lot of multi-colored herald PFE reefers. I still have a few to go. I also reprinted the waybills as I wasn't happy with the balance of the system. I don't want perfect balance, but it became awkward. 

Most of the jobs remained unchanged. But I did permanently annul the Oil Can and now both the SP and the Santa Fe serve the tank car facility in Oil Junction. 

As I write the I am hosting session 200 on the SP Exeter Branch. I feel this is a pretty significant milestone. 

Last month, we hosted the Desert Ops operating event in Phoenix. The event is hosted the fourth weekend of October on even years. The 2018 event marks our 4th Desert Ops Phoenix. The number of railroads available for each event has fluctuated a bit, but we always have a core of railroads. For this year's event, I hosted 3 sessions on the Exeter Branch. Many of my guests were repeat visitors. So, hopefully they enjoyed the railroad again. 

Below are some updated pictures of the Exeter Branch.

I have made some progress on the LA Division. I now have benchwork up on four of the five walls. I made enough progress that I ran out of risers. I thought that would take a bit longer, but that's how it worked out. So, progress stopped while I made more risers. 

Below are some shots of the progress to date.

First up in installing risers. I got everything close with a laser level and then added the risers. Since you cannot find a un-warped piece of plywood, I clamp the risers to a level to remove the warp. I then level the riser front to back and height wise with the previous riser. Next is to install screws thru the pre-drilled  steel cross members and into the riser legs. 3 legs and 3 screws per riser.

Once the risers are installed, I cut a sheet of 1/2" drywall and install it onto the risers to from the subroadbed. I used a bead of Liquid Nails on the riser.

I continue adding sheets of drywall forming the main level. 

For the inside and outside corners I have opted to unstall 1/2" plywood as a base. The will provide extra support for the radius of the corner. It also is a solid surface to attach fascia when I get to that point. 

I follow the same process for the inside corners. 

Another view of the corner and the front wall benchwork. 

Next up is the decking with drywall.

I clearly have a lot more to do. This will give you an idea of the progress. 

I'm motivated to get going on laying track. My current challenge is that I need to get the main level installed on the peninsula. It is critical so that I have a point of reference for the track. 

My wonderful self leveling green rotary laser has failed, so now I'm looking to get a replacement. Once I can accomplish that, I'll get rolling on the track. 

In my next post, I will describe the new helix design that I'm planning to try. The key to the design is a laser cutter. I'm working on securing laser time now. It's not as easy as I would have hoped. 

I would like to wish all my readers a Happy Thanksgiving and I will work very hard to provide a December update. 

Starting the New Year off right!

Happy New Year to everyone. I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday season. We had a great family Christmas and a low key New Year's eve. I typically choose to stay home on New Year's, watch some TV, have some cocktails and not worry about driving. So, that's what we did. 

The Cab Savers have been selling well and orders continue to flow in. Feedback has been excellent thus far. 

So what's going on with the railroad you ask? 

First up, I have revised and printed another round of waybills for the Exeter Branch. I was unhappy with the balance, so I restructured them bringing that total car count on the railroad to 396. All are printed and I'm in the process of cutting them up. I print 12 to a sheet. I have an operating session scheduled for Tuesday, Jan 9th which will shake out the new waybills. And I'm in the process of renumbering duplicate cars. 

Finally, I've made real progress on the LA Division. The main level now has 16' of completed benchwork and is ready for paint and track. As usual, everything is a process, and I'll highlight the steps below. 

As you are aware, I'm using square steel tubing for the benchwork. It is installed on most of the walls around the room. 


Next up is to install risers. The risers are made from 3/4" plywood. The horizontal surface is 30" to align with the benchwork. There are legs on each riser that are attached to the benchwork by drywall screws.

To the right is a look at the first installations of risers. Because you cannot find non-warped plywood, I actually clamp the risers to a level to straighten it out prior to installing. I have some additional pictures later in this post. My cross members are 12" apart, so I'll be installing a lot of risers. As I'm using 1/2" drywall for my sub-roadbed, I want to make sure it has a strong foundation. The gap between the risers and the steel will be where all wiring is run. 

You can see that risers are installed and I'm working to my right. I use one level to clamp to the risers. The second level (on the left), is a spacer to allow me to check the level from left to right. You can see the level on top. So before installing the screws, I make sure it is level front to back and side to side. I then clamp the legs of the riser to the steel crossmember and install the screws. 

Here is another look at the risers being installed. It should be noted that I drill thru each crossmember for each of the 3 riser legs. I run the drywall screw in from the other side to ensure I have a strong attachment. Thus far it has worked very well and each riser is rock solid. 

Drilling all the holes is a pain. Something that I realized I would have to do based on using steel. My biggest casualty is broken drill bits. It's time for me to order more....

Another challenge is that since the benchwork crossmembers are only 12" apart, I cannot get a standard drill into the space in order to drill the hole horizontally. Fortunately I have a right angle drill. I've been using that with great success for drilling the holes and driving the drywall screws into the risers.  

When drilling into steel it is a good idea to use a cutting oil to reduce the heat generated by the drill bit and aid in cutting. I opted not to buy 'cutting oil', but rather use motor oil. Used motor oil. So after changing the oil once on my truck, I know have a lifetime supply of cutting oil. I dip the tip of the drill bit in the oil before I begin drilling. For each riser I do this for each hole (2 sides) of the square tube crossmember. It works well and I keep an old shipping box below where I'm drilling to catch the debris.




Here is a look at the benchwork with a number of risers installed. 

Same benchwork, different angle.

Here is the first piece of drywall installed. I opted to screw it to the risers. I soon noted that the riser ends were not all aligned. So, I removed the drywall and removed and reattached 4 risers. It is important that the risers are aligned as they will be used to mount the fasica. I hate doing rework, but it is critical that I take the time to do it correctly. So a bit of re-engineering had to occur.

Once all of the risers were re-aligned, I was ready to install the drywall again... However, I remembered the recommendation I received to use Liquid Nails to aid in the attachment. 

I opted to use combination of Liquid Nails and drywall screws to attach the drywall. Where the drywall joint are I am using 3 screws on each piece. 

It's now installed. Next step will be to paint the drywall my light gray base color which is similar to my ballast. Then roadbed will be installed and I'll start laying track. Finally! 

And one last step, order more drill bits! I opted to drill more holes in preparation for more riser installs and broke my remaining bit. Oh well. All future benchwork will have the holes driled on the drill press prior to welding. I wish I had thought of that earlier!