March Update

March started out with completion of the whisker track installation around the Taylor Yard turntable. I highlighted the issues I had with the installation in the February Update. I may determine that I need a 2 or 3 more whiskers, but I'm not trying to fill up the entire space. Then again...

Jason had suggested during a work session that maybe I should put some locomotives on the track to see what the facility looks like. I first dismissed the idea, but then it began to grow on me. I ended up creating my version of March Madness, SP Los Angeles Division style.

Out came loco after loco to populate the tracks. The ready tracks are on the fascia side of the turntable. The service tracks are on the backdrop side of the turntable. 

It was fairly time consuming to: locate the storage boxes for the locos, carefully unbox them, and then place them on the rails. There isn't a lot of space between the ready tracks. I needed to be extra careful to avoid liberating detail parts from their mounting locations. 

The results were pretty cool. If I do say so myself. Think Tim Allen: "Arh, arh, arh"

The next day I decided while that seeing all to the locos in place was very cool, I needed to fill the caboose tracks to complete the picture. I added 12 cabooses to the tracks and am happy with the result.

While I was at it, I opted to add more locos to the loco facility and the shops tracks too. Wow, it got even better! 

Once the fun was over, the painstaking process of boxing everything up had to take place. I used that process to get decoders installed and programmed where needed. Couplers changed. Locos lubed and ready to return to their box. 

The majority of the progress was wiring. and the work continued to be under the layout. The addition of the sub-buses under Taylor Yard felt more like a gymnastics exercise as I had to bend myself between the lower staging level and Taylor Yard. That has been completed and there rest is easy going. Until I complete the other peninsula with lower staging. That's a few months away though.

We did have a go at starting the upper level. In a past update, I shared where all of the pieces of blue tape were placed on the walls to represent where the upper level will be located. All of the marks were re-verified for correct height using the laser level. Adjustments were made as needed. Next was to mark where the wall studs are located. We used green tape for that. 

All of the stanchions were fabricated a few months ago. After a lengthy session of cleaning the oiled steel and predrilling holes for the risers, it was time to begin installation of upper level stanchions. A simple jig was made to place the stanchion at the proper height. As a note: I'm trying to keep the general thickness of the upper level at 2.5". That is stanchion, riser, and sub-roadbed. This design will provide adequate space for the track bus and any additional wiring. 

To the above right is a placed stanchion. Note the paper attached to the wall is to deflect and direct the debris from drilling into the wall. A coke flat that is placed below the paper to catch the debris. 

With the holes drilled, it was time to mount the stanchion. I'm using 1/4" lag screws that are 2 1/2" long. Each screw is lubricated with liquid soap. This is the same method I've used to attach the main level of the railroad to the walls around the room. I use an cordless electric impact wrench to drive the lag screws into the wall.

To the right is the result of the first attempt. 

Obviously, the screws snapped. One frustration is that we worked very hard to center the screws in the wall stud. Because of that, it makes it even more challenging for locating the 'replacement' screws as the shafts of the broken screws are permanently imbedded into the wood. 

As mentioned above, I've been using the same lag screws for the entire railroad's attachment to the walls. The only difference is that I'm running the lag screw through 1" steel tube before it enters that wall. In this case, I'm only going through 1/8" plate. One theory is that since the lag screw shank is wider than the screw threads and about 3/4" long, the shank is stopping when it hits the stud and still trying to turn, causing it to snap. This hasn't happened elsewhere as the 1" tube provides the space for the shank, so only the screw threads enter the wall. 

Going forward, I have two options: 

1) Test elsewhere (under the main level) drilling the normal pilot hole, followed by a larger drill the diameter of the shank to the depth of the shank. Then attach a stanchion and see if the lag screws snap again.  

2) Use 5/16" lag screws. These have a shorter shank that will not go past the drywall into the wood. However, this will require that all stanchion mounting plates are redrilled to accept the 5/16" screws. 

I'm planning to start with option 1 and if it is successful, then I'm good. Option 2 will be my contingency plan. I'll have a status update and the result in the next blog update. 

That is all I have this time around. I hope you've enjoyed this brief update.