June Progress Report

Progress in June hasn't been a much as previous months. Lots of distractions...

There was progress on the SP LA Division. Benchwork has been added and more sub-roadbed installed. Of course one of the progress limiters has been building risers. I know I've mentioned it before and this continues to be a slow progress area. Many of the risers I have built in the past have warped and in many cases aren't usable. For the most part, I've  switched from 3/4" plywood to 1/2" construction for the horizontal surface as it is much easier to correct a warp when installing. OSB works well too, but with lumber prices of late, I'm having to explore all options.

First off it an extension of the main peninsula over the staging yards.

Just to add some perspective to the length of the main peninsula.

The main track roadbed has been added. In this case, the main is a key reference point. There will be track on the left of the main track feeding the mini peninsula industries and the industries on the egress peninsula. On the left of the main is part of the LATC (Los Angeles Transportation Center) which was the old LA Shops. 

In this view, you can see the turnouts marking out the LATC. My version is much smaller than the prototype, but I want to capture the theme

More risers were added to keep growing the peninsula toward the helix (behind and to the right). I will soon be working on welding the frame and installing the cross members to continue building the main level of the peninsula. 

Pictures on the left, are the risers and corner base awaiting drywall. That is the previously installed portion of Dolores Yard. Once the drywall is installed and a few more risers, Dolores Yard will be ready for completion.

Parallel to the wall will be the tracks for Violet Alley. There will be a wye to to access track to the left and right.

In this view you see the main to the left and the 'other' main serving Violet Alley. The track runs clear to the wall which represents the connect to J Yard. I don't have the space to add J Yard.

You can now see the roadbed extending to J Yard. I'll have to better photos of the wye down an the end in my next update. 

While I was in the process of moving some cars out of the way so I could put roadbed down. I put the Triple 57 (drawbar connected piggyback cars). I put them on and gave a good shove. i was blown away how far they rolled on level track. So much so that I decided to capture a video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4vpfmUHBYA

Granted, I did work to make the cars free rolling when I built them. However, I was blown away when I saw how far they rolled. 

I received the new Rapido SW1200 in June too. They are nice models, but some of the grabs look a little thick. I'm not sure if it's a function of paint or wrong wire size. There were a number of threads on the Southern Pacific Prototype Modelers group on Facebook. Some great info shared which saved me some research time in configuring my locos. I opted to use JMRI to program two of them. I do have a Loc Programmer as well on my programming bench. I plan to program the third loco using the Loc Programmer. I'll be interested to see the results in comparison from a programming perspective.

Here is the initial testing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjbQem8clQ4

And below are a couple of videos from an op session on the Lost Dutchman. Some speed tuning is needed. ...it was a last minute decision to video as I'm trying to run the train, clear the main, and video it. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehzhy2XcF2c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X2OmWzlU0Q

I also started acquiring parts to build a speed matching loop. Keith Robinson shared on Facebook that he was building one. The example he sited, which is from North Raleigh Model Railroad. Here is a link:  http://www.trainweb.org/nrmrc/pubs/AppNote%20Locomotive%20Speed%20Matching.pdf

I determined that the best course of action would be for me to make this using Digitrax as that is what Keith and NRMRC used. I acquired a collection that allowed me to harvest the DCS51 controller and Loconet controller. On another group I picked up a Digitrax PXP88 for the sensoring. I realize that reduces my blocks to 8, but I'm okay with that. The system uses JMRI to do the matching. Thanks to Digitrax Dave for his expertise as well. 

I'm waiting for insulated joiners for the Kato Unitrack that I'm using and then I'll begin assembly. I'll have more info in my July progress report. 

May Progress Report

Progress on the railroad has been great lately. Definitely a feeling of accomplishment as I watch my dream materialize. May had some slowing due to many non-railroad related issues, but progress does continue.

Progress toward Dolores Yard included the addition of some industries. I really like diamonds. Railroad diamonds that is. The Exeter Branch has a number of them. 

One phenomenon that has become more prevalent is that I now look as curves and wonder if they are too tight. I grab a radius gauge and realize that the curve is broader than I thought. This was especially true on the turnouts going toward the diamond. Turns out the radius is 26" or better. I've concluded that this is a result of my ruling radius on main being 39". So 24" looks really tight.  

In the photo to the left you can see the diamond in the background and the turnout entering Dolores Yard in the foreground. 

Below are photos of the construction of Dolores Yard. 

I ran out of benchwork, so construction of Dolores stopped. More risers to build. However, I was able to add another 8' of sub-roadbed to the other end of the construction. 

On of the last things to happen in May was to run the test train on all of the track. It's amazing how well the rail joiners carried the power. Well over 45' with just alligator clips and an old MRC ThrottlePack.

Excuse the quality of the camera work. I didn't consider it when I took the video on my phone. 

Up next are feeders and wiring. More benchwork and track installation too in June. 

.