May Update

Risers, risers, and more risers...

The month of May kicked of with a continued effort on benchwork construction and the installation of more risers.

Here are two views of the Taylor Yard risers installed. That set up another 24' of benchwork to be ready for drywall. 

Risers were installed on each side of the benchwork curve. As noted previously, I'm backing my corners with plywood to provide a strong supporting surface and provide a sturdy mounting point for fascia. 

Given the price of plywood, I've moved from using an full piece of plywood to using a smaller piece for the curve support (fascia side) and filling the rest with scrap to provide a level platform.

And more progress going compass west from Dolores. The risers are noticeably taller as I lowered the benchwork by 2" to allow the mainline to begin the descent to staging. Some changes to the original design made this less critical, but the benchwork was already installed. 

I'll be using spline to transition to staging. This design change from a few months ago allows me to eliminate a helix and simplifies the staging transition from the other side of the peninsula. I'm keeping my grade under 1.5% and as close to 1.2% as much as possible. 

I broke out the laser transit to begin marking off the upper level height around the room. The top of the blue tape represents the top of the steel.  If you look real close you can see the green laser beam in some of the pictures.

I'm planning to have the upper level pieces fabricated by a friend. He can bust them out pretty quick. Much quicker than me. 

My calculations are that I'll need 124 pieces of varying lengths of 12", 18" 21" and 24". The plates will be mounted to the wall and secured with lag bolts. I'm using a design very similar to what Paul Deis has used on his railroad with great success.

After finally getting the turntable bump-out in place and drywall applied, I filled in the drywall sub-roadbed around the right side and down Taylor Yard to the left. 

A good amount of drywall mud was applied at the joints and covering the screw holes. While this is a bit more than needed, I like how it cleans up everything. Although 'everything' will be covered with scenery. Eventually...

The area west of Dolores was also drywalled.

And everything received a coat of paint. 

The paint both seals the drywall and provides a consistent look. As noted previously, the color of gray is similar to SP ballast in the area. When it comes time to ballast, the color of the gray surface will help to hide any ballast 'holidays'.

We started with laying out the track plan for the area west of Dolores. Once the main track was drawn, the first part of the main track homabed was put down and the lines roughed in for where the rest of the track will be installed. The effort was aided by using turnouts to get a perspective and make appropriate adjustments. 

It's been my experience that no matter how precise the plan is, adjustments to the track plan happen when the track is laid.

To the right is a snapshot of the plan for the areas represented in the pictures above.

Next was to start drawing the lines for Taylor Yard. We started with measuring from the front and using a 6' ruler (or 2 yard stick) to draw it out. It's a 32' section of dead straight track. Needless to say, upon inspection it didn't look right.

I broke out a small laser which I had bought for a tiling project. It worked well to point out the flaws in what was drawn. That will now be corrected. Once complete and the backdrops are installed, there will be no sight line to tell if the track is perfectly straight or not. However, I will know, so I'm making sure it is precise.

One other item to share is a video from Ron's Trains N Things about cleaning track. His research shared some great insights. I've always been a fan of Isopropyl Alcohol aka IPA for track cleaning. Going forward, the only IPA will be my choice of beer. I'll switch to using mineral spirits when track cleaning is required. And will likely try Ron's No-Ox recommendation as well. 

To date, I have never cleaned the track on the Exeter Branch. I've been running op sessions twice a month for 14 years. I have no idea why this is the case. It continues to amaze me. When I built the railroad, I expected to clean the track regularly. This is possibly because the railroad is housed in a finished and climate controlled basement. The track is all Atlas code 83 with half a dozen Walthers curved turnouts. 

I do clean all the rolling stock wheels from the 'gray crud' every two years or so. This provides a good maintenance cycle for the equipment too. If track cleaning becomes required, I'll use the method recommended in the video.

For the new railroad, track cleaning may become important as I'm primarily using Peco code 83 track. The Peco may have different oxidation properties than the Atlas, so I may have to implement a track cleaning regimen. The build time for the LA Division is much longer than what it took to build the Exeter Branch which likely will contribute to track cleaning being necessary.

Here is a link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBYxjcTWCB0

If you have experience with Mineral Spirits for cleaning and/or have used No Ox, please feel free to share.

That's about it for this month. Work continues on the LA Division with more track being laid in June. 

If you would like to be added to my blog notification list (if you're not already on it), you can email me at spladivision@gmail.com 

April 2022 - Progress Update

As we rolled into April, it was time to get working on the new piece of benchwork to accommodate the Taylor turntable. At the end of March, I built the frame for the extension to the benchwork.

Next was to attach the frame to the railroad. That was accomplished along with adding 3 legs for support. It is strong as I have spent some time on top of the benchwork. 

I have received comments that I never show photos of my working on the railroad. We'll here you go. Once of the downsides of installing the extension first was the extra long reach required to install the risers on the existing benchwork. Good thing I have long arms. And, I ended up with a few cuts and scratches at the conclusion of my installation gymnastics. 

As I welded the new section onto existing benchwork, I didn't want to have the risers installed in order to avoid any welding related issues (fire). I always have a spray bottle with water near where I'm working along with a fire extinguisher. I hope to never use either.

To the left are the installed risers on the existing benchwork. Next was to add risers to the new section as show below.

I determined that I needed to back the entire area in plywood for additional strength. In order to do so it required setting the entire sheet onto the area to begin drawing the contours of the benchwork. Once I had it placed properly, two screws were installed to eliminate any movement while getting the cut lines laid out. Critical elements in the picture: turntable template, straight edges. Micro-Mark Rotape compass (great little tool) and the computer. The computer is critical for measurements in the design. 

Once the drawing was complete, it was down to the garage for cutting. I've committed to minimize any cutting of wood and steel in the train room to keep the dust to a minimum.

To the right is the plywood after cutting. I'm not sure what to call this shape. My wife thought it look like a rhinoceros. I though fish originally, but I think she had a better call. The square cut out in the bottom right hand corner is to align with the plywood already installed. 

Next up was to trace out the design to the drywall and start cutting. I may have mentioned in it the past, but the most effective way I've found for cutting curves in drywall is a metal cutting blade in the jigsaw. The fine teeth leave a nice smooth edge. This reduces the mess versus a drywall handsaw. 

You may notice that the plywood is offset from the edge of the drywall. This was done to mate with the drywall installed previously. As a rule, I avoid aligning joints. Thus a plywood joint / seam is covered by a solid piece of drywall with the drywall seem elsewhere.

Once the drywall was cut, the pieces were dry fit to ensure alignment was good. 

As you can see, all fit and lined up well. I knew I would need to remove the risers where the turntable will be installed. It was most efficient to do it this way which allowed me to trim out the risers easily. As noted above, I work to minimize cutting in the train room. In this case, I had to cut onsite. I used a handsaw to make the cuts. All went well and reinforced my preference of power tools!

I then installed the plywood top. ...and a lot of splice plates joining to the existing plywood top. As the risers were installed 1/2" lower to accommodate the plywood, I used a couple pieces of scrap in the back to ensure an even surface for installation of the drywall. 

Time to add some drywall.

I filled in the remaining areas and now have another section of benchwork ready for track. After paint of course. 

Last up for the month was the installation of more risers for Taylor Yard and the Alameda industrial area on each side of the main peninsula.

On the May agenda will be adding more risers, installing drywall sub-roadbed, and the continuation of construction on the smaller peninsula. And most importantly, laying more track! 

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