Building the SP Los Angeles Division: September 2024

August was a pretty productive month.

I've challenged myself to have the railroad ready to host at least one operating session for DesertOps 2024. The event will be at the end of October. DesertOps (www.azdesertops.com) is an operations event in the Phoenix area. Local layout owners host operating sessions for out of town operators. Attendees come from around the country to attend the DesertOps operating weekend. This year, we will have 13 railroads including both of mine. So, since I've committed the LA Division, I need to be my butt in gear and build this railroad!

In my last update, I was building out the benchwork for Coast Staging. That work continued in August. Coast Staging will be six tracks above Taylor Yard and four tracks along the window wall. The Ojai (oh-hi) Branch will cross the Coast Staging lead where the red arrow is below. That will likely be a custom made crossing. I'm a big fan of crossings and I like to add them where I can, but this one is necessary.

After installing the steel crossmembers last month, I was able to add the sections of benchwork along the centerline above Taylor Yard supported by said crossmembers.

The last step was to attach the frame to to the stanchions. This locked it all together.

Pictured right is the drywall lifted up prior to installation.

Before moving along, I needed to complete the wiring of Violet Alley. This required that I get up on top of the benchwork to do soldering of feeders and cutting gaps. Yes, I probably should have done it earlier in the process, but it didn't work out that way.

It's a good thing I still have those big sheets of styrofoam. Once again, no damage to the track!

Once the wiring was complete, it was time to install the drywall sub-roadbed above Violet Alley.

Installation of the remaining window wall drywall was completed. The benchwork stops about where it does in the drawing above. In order to continue the Ojai Branch along the wall, I need to get the track laid in Glendale below. That will wrap up in September.

Once the frame was complete, the risers were built in place. My method is add risers every 5-6' as anchors for leveling. I then add the remaining risers in between the anchor risers. This allows for better control of what is level and what is not.

Pictured to the right is Jason installing risers legs on one side of the peninsula. I was adding riser legs on the near side which required an even longer reach.

Here is a look at all of the riser legs installed for the anchor risers. All were leveled side to side and front to back, and prior to being attached to the steel with screws.

One challenge was finding a good center line. When I built the peninsula, I got close, but there is some variance. We tried a few different measuring tools, including a string line, to line up the riser horizontal surfaces or tops. I wasn't happy with the result.

It then occurred to me that I could use my laser level. The laser is a green laser and a bit more visible than a red beam in the daylight. Since it was shooting about 50 feet, I needed a reference point to align the beam. A target if you will. I ended up folding a piece of paper and added a vertical mark with a Sharpie to provide the vertical target.

Once the line was established, the anchor riser tops were attached with glue and clamped into place.

With the anchor risers in place and dry, the intermediate risers were added. They were easy to align as we used the 6' level as a straight edge against the anchor risers to ensure alignment.

The last risers to be installed were those connecting to the window wall stanchions. The challenge is that this benchwork must accommodate a curved track connecting to the staging yard.

With everything in place, the decking was applied to the staging yard.

The last thing prior to laying track was to get the 10 pairs of wires pulled for the staging yards. Of course the 'apparatus' was used to spool and twist the pairs. Each pair was taped together to make management and subsequent connections easier.

The trunk of wires will go through a hole in the benchwork at the far corner of Glendale. The trunk will be hung up and drop straight down when complete. And, the trunk will be hidden behind the coved backdrop.

Now it's time to get this painted and start laying track for Coast Staging!

In order to complete the benchwork for Glendale, which is left of the stairwell in the diagram above, I needed to build the benchwork that will cross the stairs. I have a notch in the pony wall to allow me to add the benchwork. This was part of the original design when the building was constructed.

I started by adding stanchions to the wall. I had modified the length of spare upper level stanchions. This was the easiest and most sturdy design. I had originally planned to weld a piece of steel the length of the stairway, but opted to build a wood structure and platform. This was then mounted to the stanchions.

In the picture to the right, I am installing the stanchions by lag bolting them to the wall.

Next was to mount the deck/bridge. I made custom brackets to connect to the stanchions. The design allowed me to easily run wire thru as well.

With the bridge across the stairway in place, I went back to Glendale to finish main level the benchwork.

The Glendale benchwork is complete and ready for roadbed and track.

Next, as a result of the stairway bridge completion, was to build the Burbank benchwork on the new peninsula. After crossing the stairs, the track will diverge to the Valley Line / Valley Staging at Burbank Junction. That will be another built with a spline descending along the front of the benchwork to Valley Staging.

In the picture on the right, you can see the horizontal cross member being added to the front. This area is tricky as I need to work around the spline that connects to Harbor Staging. You can see the spline in the background going along the walls.

I use a lot of welding blankets for protection. A squirt bottle of water is on hand for minor issues. I have a fire extinguisher for major issues. I pray that I never have either!

Once the front cross member was added, I did a final mounting of the stairway bridge.

I continued building out the benchwork for the peninsula adding steel crossmembers. As the crossmembers were added, the benchwork became very sturdy.

I constructed a boatload of risers for the peninsula. They are laid out and ready for installation. Many custom length risers were created for the corner areas of the peninsula.

As I have been cutting a lot of steel, I needed a good method to pick up all the metal bits off of my back driveway. It wasn't a worry until we got the new puppy. Who eats everything!

I purchased a magnetic sweeper from Harbor Freight Tools that was doing the job. However, it was a pain to clean off the metal shavings it had picked up. The magnet is strong. I want to keep the bits for scrap metal loads too.

Time to fire up the 3D printer! I made a sleeve that fits over the sweeper. The magnet still picks up all the bits of metal, and now they easily release from the magnet when the sleeve is removed. Problem solved!

Back to construction.

As I noted above, the peninsula in the area near the stairs is a complicated build due to the spline. This benchwork needs to be strong and provide ample support for the single track helix which connects the main and upper levels. Thus, a lot of time was spent building out an overly strong structure. I want it sturdy enough to support the impact of operators bumping into it.

First off, I needed to create a durable template to mock up where the helix would be placed. Fortunately, I saved the cardboard box from a garden shed we recently purchased. I taped the pieces together and cut out an 81" diameter circle template.

I placed the template on the benchwork and adjusted it to identify the optimal location. Once satisfied, I marked the boundary onto the steel. My plan was to get it laid out and then cut pieces of OSB to provide the horizontal surface.

I added a rectangle onto the template representing where the OSB sheet would remain uncut providing a support surface for the drywall sheeting to be added later.

This will be the connection to the Anheuser-Busch brewery benchwork along the window wall.

With the benchwork marked where the OSB will be placed, it was time to build out the benchwork support structure.

With the exception of the far end, the peninsula construction was complete. Next was to add risers and most importantly, the base for the helix.

I started with riser plates in Burbank where the connection to the stairway bridge starts.

Next was installation all of the pre-built risers.

Using the cardboard template, I marked and cut out the base area for the helix. The base is comprised of two sheets of OSB.

It was a couple of trips up and down the stairs to mark off where the opening will need to be cut. As a reminder, I try to avoid ANY cutting of wood and drywall in the train room. I have had to make some cuts, but the cutting has been kept to a minimum.

Once everything looked good, riser legs were added to the steel crossmembers and the base was ready to be mounted.

I made sure I had ample clearance where the spline runs along the window wall.

I installed the track onto the spline going around and under the benchwork prior to completing installation of the OSB top.

Since the track on the spline is essentially hidden, I opted to add 'fencing' along the spline. This will be used to keep any equipment that might derail from falling onto the floor. I added fencing on both sides of the track.

I ripped strips of 1/8" acrylic into 2 1/4" strips. When installed, the fence rises about an inch above the railhead. This should work well as I only need to stop equipment from falling to the floor.

Ripping strips of acrylic on the table saw was a bit messy. Almost snowy. But with a temperature of 110+ when I was cutting, I can assure you it wasn't snow!

To mount the acrylic I planned to glue spacers to the spline and then attach the acrylic to the spacers. I needed to make a boatload of spacers.

Pictured to the right is a box of just over 200 3/4"x3/4"x1/2" spacer squares.

The spacers were installed along the spline every 18" or so. I quickly found out that trying to install the acrylic onto the pre-mounted spacers wasn't going to work well.

Time to create and move to Plan B!

Plan B was to screw spacers onto the acrylic prior to attaching it to the spline. Glue was applied to each spacer and then the entire 8' piece of acrylic was added onto the spine and clamped in place while the glue dried.

Pictured right and below show the acrylic attached. The acrylic is white and the green handled clamp is visible at the end of the acrylic.

With the acrylic attached, I secured the top to the risers. The result is a very solid base.

I was finally ready to begin adding drywall sub-roadbed. I stared on the window wall side of the helix. This included the Anheuser-Busch area. The red arrow in the diagram above is where the benchwork is 1/2" higher to the left of the arrow than the right. This was intentional as I lowered the benchwork under Pacific Scrap when installed earlier this year.

And drywalling began.

I'll point out a lesson learned: As you can see in the picture, the bus wires have been pulled prior to adding the drywall. It's much easier to add the bus before the installing the drywall. Too bad I didn't figure that earlier in the process!

With drywall installed on one side of the peninsula, I began installation on the opposite side. First was to install more acrylic on the spline and then follow up with the drywall.