September Update

Progress continues on the LA Division. I took a short break at the end of September to attend the MinnRail operating event which meant I had to cancel a work session. I had a great time at MinnRail and participated in 8 op sessions on 7 different layouts. 

I kept much of my focus on the build out of the new peninsula in the month of September. Again, as I built out the peninsula, I needed to account for supporting the main and upper levels above the staging yards.

Welding of the cross members had to be done in place rather than outside of the room. Generally, I prefer to minimize welding, cutting of wood, and cutting of drywall in the layout room, thus keeping dust to a minimum. When welding in the room, I use fiberglass welding blankets to protect the floor. 'Most' of the time they do a good job.

The drywall benches pictured to the right did a great job as temporary supports for the staging level frame. I fabricated more legs so I could get the benchwork frame off of the benches and free standing. 

One of the more satisfying things about getting benchwork constructed and installed is the removal of the blue tape from the floor. The tape was used to outline where the railroad footprint would be. As I complete sections of the benchwork, I remove the blue tape. It is a great feeling of accomplishment.

Having built the spline, I created an obstacle to work around. The risers supporting the spline are temporary and get moved around as part of the construction process. Fortunately, the 7 layers of spline are very strong allowing me to have greater lengths unsupported during construction. Once construction is complete, my plan is to support the spline every two feet. 

In the pictures above and right, you can see the extra legs on the floor. Some will be used to support the upper level at the end of the peninsula which will be completed in October.

It still remains to be seen whether I'll be adding additional legs at the 'U' end of the benchwork. 

Progress slowed as I had some problems with the welder. It was tripping the breaker too often. I mean way too often. After resetting the breaker one too many times, I decided to investigate why this was killing my progress. Apparently code now requires you to use an Arc Fault breaker. Guess what? A MIG welder works on the premise of causing an arc. So what does the Arc Fault breaker do? It trips on an arc! Doh!

I decided to earn my junior electrician badge and change out the breaker. Up to this point, I've never worked inside of a panel. I know how it's arranged and connected, but I had never had the opportunity to swap out a breaker.

After watching a few YouTube videos, I was prepared for the job.  I bought a non-contact voltage meter as a precaution. It is a great tool and highly recommended. It will also be useful on the railroad for tracing power.

I killed the power to the sub-panel and opened up the sub-panel and swapped out the breaker. Actually two breakers. All powered up without incident. The process is very straight forward. It should be noted that it is important to buy breakers that are specific to your panel. Fortunately, I got the heads up from the videos.

The real test was using the welder. I went back to welding and haven't tripped a breaker since! 

Now that I was past my power issue, the welding of benchwork continued.

With the welding complete, I was ready to start adding the deck (roadbed) for the staging level. In the mean time, I installed track in Ventura on the upper level. These are long tracks to each packing house surrounded by lemon groves.

Unfortunately, after laying the track, I had to halt construction on the upper level. I need to figure out how I will construct the  benchwork to go around the corner where the 101 bridge will be located. In the diagram above, it is just to the left, off of the diagram. For me, this bridge is an iconic landmark for the SP in Ventura. Much the same as the Montalvo bridge over the Santa Clara River is. The third bridge, the Ventura River bridge, is not modeled as I could not fit it into the space I have available.

Back to building staging. I began installing drywall for the sub-roadbed since most of the peninsula frame construction was complete. Of course that involved working around the spline again.

After much thought, I opted for a major design change. Another one... Originally, the splines were going to wrap around the entire peninsula and curve around from the far right side to the left and then go into the yards. That seemed inefficient and required a lot of spline to be constructed. Instead, I opted to 'flip' staging and have the mains enter staging at the far end of the peninsula, not the at the end of as pictured to the right. I will have my loop connecting the two yards (for staging purposes) at the wall end. 

This change saved a significant amount of spline and track. In order for this to be accomplished, I'll be using a 1 2/3 turn 2-track helix at the end of the peninsula to descend into the staging yards. In my October update, I'll provide a status on the helix progress. As of this writing, the benchwork is still being completed. 

With much of the benchwork complete, I decided to play around with designs for the staging ladder. To the right is one of 6+ designs. My considerations were how much can I reasonably compress the yard ladder and still install switch machines.

The next series of photos are the continuation of the benchwork top. I mud the drywall joints where track will be located. Lastly, I paint it to seal the drywall in preparation for the caulk. 

Apparently I've made significant progress. I finally ran out of paint in my 5 gallon bucket. So off to Home Depot to get more paint. I use PVA drywall primer and have it tinted gray. While I estimated that I'll likely only need another 2-3 gallons, I bought a 5 gallon bucket to be on the safe side. With the current price of paint, it was the better deal anyhow. I tint the paint gray to match the ballast that I'll be using. This will help to minimize visibility of any thin spots in the ballast.

With the deck mostly done except for the end of the peninsula, it was time to start laying track for Valley staging. It's amazing the amount of time I put into the design of ladder and flow of the track for staging. Ironically, this is the exit/staging only end. 

I opted to use insulated rail joiners at the turnout to staging track connection to electrically isolate each track. My plan is to have a timer for each track to enable power for a preset interval. This will keep the droning of sound equipped locos to a minimum when they are parked. 

Each turnout will be powered by a switch machine to make the routing easy and hopefully eliminate the need to reach in to throw a turnout. The Tortoise switch machines are all mounted to the top of the benchwork. They are connected to the turnouts with a phosphor bronze wire. My goal is to try and keep the maintenance required to a minimum and provide ease of use. 

In the picture to the right, you can see a test connection of the Tortoise to the turnout. The 'z' in the wire works as a spring to ease the tension on the turnout throw bar.

In order to provide smooth operation of the Tortoise, the roadbed is 'dented' to allow the wire to move back and forth without resistance. I just make some indentations with the end of a file. This method is simple and effective. 

With the ladder set, time to lay some track! Each track will be a minimum of 24' long. Easy to verify as 8 pieces of flex track will be 24'. The most critical track to lay is the one closest to the fascia. I was very concerned that it would end up being too tight of a radius. I was pleasantly surprise that I was able to achieve a 38" radius at the tightest part of the horseshoe. All tracks after that will naturally have a broader radius. 

The next series of photos are a progression of track being installed.

I spent some time laying out the other end of the Valley staging ladder too. The rerailers will be installed at this end.  Turnout --> insulated joiner --> rerailrer --> flex track.  

As part of the design, the two yards will be connected via a loop. This will speed up the turning of trains without hand involvement. I used the same design for the East staging yards on the Taylor Peninsula.

I starting building the ladder on the other side of the peninsula as well. This will be Harbor staging. 

Part way thru the process of installing the staging tracks, I used my last tube of caulk. I went to both Home Depot and Lowe's and neither sell the 12-pack boxes of clear Alex Plus caulk any longer. So, I bought a case. Hopefully that will be sufficient for the remainder of the railroad construction. Any extras can be returned.

It never stops. More feeders! Feeders were installed as well at Watson Center and Oxnard. At some point, I'll be doing more wiring.

I wasn't able to complete laying the Valley staging yard by the end of September. That will be completed in October. As will the Harbor staging yard. 

October will include the building of the helices. The designs are complete and I am having them cut with a CNC router. The materials were left with the CNC shop and will be delivered in October. Once in place, I will be able to finish the staging yard routing to the helix and complete the Harbor staging spline. Also, the helix on the Taylor peninsula will be completed. Stay tuned!