June/July Update

I didn't write a June update as a good portion of the work completed was wiring. Not too much to show. More feeders, more bus lines, and more sub-bus connections to the feeders and the bus. 

We also got a Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy who consumed a lot of my time in June. His name is Dennis. He was 12 weeks old when we picked him up. The picture to the right is Dennis the day after we got him. 

The picture below is last week. Yep, he's growing! We expect that he'll likely be over 100 pounds. That's a lot of dog food and lawn clean up!

I did get some time to work on the railroad though. 

As a result of the progress in May, I was able to work the on the east side of Oxnard. This included finishing up the east end yard ladder and the Ventura County Railway (VCY) connection and track. The VCY track is in green.

I started by extending the VCY roadbed from Oxnard and around the wall going to the left. I quickly realized that I had an issue. I had originally transitioned the roadbed from the main track height (0.24") to 0" which is directly on the benchwork. Whoops, that needed to transition down to the siding height roadbed (0.125"). 

To correct this, I removed the homabed transition strip. It came up relatively well. I used a new transition that went the the siding height and continued to the VCY. 

In the upper right corner of the diagram above is an industry where the another transition strip is used to transition to 0". The track is laid directly on the drywall there.

I continued the homabed for both the main and the VCY in front of the two windows as I proceeded railroad east. Left in the diagram above.

With the homabed in place, I was ready to finish up the Oxnard Yard and lay track going east. 

I had to get the VCY interchange track installed first as that would allow me to complete the main track through the yard. 

As you can see on the right, the VCY track is installed. The main is as well. The homabed to the right of the main is the siding at the yard. The body tracks are being laid out toward the fascia. 

Track laying continued. 

 

And finally the Oxnard Yard is complete. Now onto the next section of track. 

As the main track proceeds east, it transitions into a super-elevated curve. Since the VCY trackage was on a broad radius as well, I opted to super-elevate that too. And, it just looks cool!

The design includes a long spur on the fascia side of the main, It is connected back to the Oxnard Yard. Rather than have dead straight track, I added a brief S curve to break up the flow bringing it track closer to the fascia. The track is next to the ruler/straight edge. 

The roadbed and trackwork stopped at the corner as I had to cross the window. I again used steel crossmembers welded into place to cross in front of the window. I then built the risers in place.

While doing some planning for operations, I came up with additional changes to the VCY track plan. This changed Port Hueneme and how it will be worked. I was also able to squeeze the VCY shops into the design. 

Port Hueneme, pronounced why-nee-mee, was a Naval Base and the home of the US Navy Seabees. "Seabees provide a wide range of construction in support of operating forces, including roads, bridges, bunkers, airfields and logistics bases; provides responsive support disaster recovery operations; performs civic action projects to improve relations with other nations." 

In later years, the base opened up the port for commercial shipping. This became the delivery port for ships carrying Mazda cars and trucks.

I'll use Port Hueneme primarily as a source for autorack traffic, and some mixed freight too. I can also route construction equipment and supplies for the Seabees and the base in general. 

Port Hueneme will be staging and the track will route around the helix as you can see in the picture above. I'll be using spline for the Port Hueneme track. 

In the picture below, the VCY shops area is the right edge. The helix between the main and upper levels will be under the television. The Port Hueneme spline will wrap around the wall from the window to the wall on the left under the TV.

At this point, the benchwork on the upper level stopped because I needed to build out the peninsula in order to tie the peninsula upper level and the wall upper level together. Before that, I need to build out the main level of the peninsula. And before that, I need to get the existing spline mounted and graded. Let the spline mounting begin!

I'm keeping the spline grade to 1.35%. . That will provide me with ample clearance below the main level after some creative benchwork construction. 

In order to cross the window, I cut plywood and made a L bracket for the crossing. That was attached to the wall and the spline was mounted to it. All mounting screws are installed horizontally. 

Once I crossed the window, it was time to use a combination of wall and post mounts to hold the spline in place as it went around the helix. 

One of the challenges of a multi-deck layout is providing ample lighting between levels. I'm not a fan of having to use a flashlight to read car numbers. I realize that may be necessary at times, but I want to avoid it. My goal is to ensure that I have ample lighting making everything easily readable. 

My room lights are LED and have a color temperature of 4000K. I like the lighting color as it looks very natural. 

For the lighting under the upper level, I decided to go with LED string lights. They have a newer style called COB which has a built in diffuser. The result is a solid string of lights without shadowing from individual LEDS in the strip. I found some online and gave them a try. 

As you can see in the pictures, the lighting looks bright. Maybe too bright. For testing, the strips were clamped into place and 'sort of' angled for the best diffusion. 

I was pretty happy with resulting light. But, upon further inspection, I found that the lights were brighter at the beginning of the strip and dimmer at the end. As I inspected the end, I could clearly see the individual LEDs. That wasn't acceptable. 

Needless to say, I was a bit disappointed. It got worse when the power supplies kept shutting down and restarting. It was time to return them all of it.

I should note that the strips were 24 volts and 32' long. This may have contributed to the problem. I'll be testing another strip that is 12 volts and only 16' long. I also ordered higher amperage power supplies. I'll likely have test results in the August update.

Construction continued on the peninsula end of the Taylor Yard peninsula. This will allow me to connect both sides of the peninsula. In the design, I need to build a structure that will house a double track helix between the staging and main levels. The main level benchwork about will be about 300 degrees around the helix to connect the two sides. 

A lot of time went into the engineering and the construction of this structure. It must be structurally sound and not move if/when bumped into. I do not plan to mount it vertically to the ceiling either.

As you can see in the photos, the frame is being constructed to support the helix platform that will be the base for the helix. It is two 180 degree halves. The base must provide structural support around the entire 360 degrees. 

And there you have it. The frame is completely enclosed and has become very sturdy. Up next will be to add risers along the horizontal frame for the main level. That will be in August. 

More build out of the main level on the new peninsula happened as well. Since the Harbor/Valley staging tracks are below, extra caution was taken and welding blankets were used to cover the track. 

Some of the spots were more like a cocoon covering the area only exposing the steel to be welded. 

Some additional pictures of the peninsula main level construction and the addition of cross members.

In order to continue the work on the upper level and Coast Staging railroad west of Ventura, it was important that I build out the benchwork across the windows. I followed my updated method with steel and building the risers in place. First was to mount the steel. 

You'll notice the styrofoam on top of the track. It is for protection of the track as I'll be climbing on the benchwork to do the welds. 

Once all the windows were crossed with steel, it was time to install the frame for staging on the Taylor peninsula. This will be a 6 track yard. 

In order to begin the installation, it was necessary to attach cross members to each of the legs. The legs are spaced 5' apart. 

In one of very few action shots, I am welding the cross members to the legs/posts. It was a big stretch. On styrofoam of course.

The frame was then attached to the leg crossmembers. I'll be adding another 11' to the length in August. The frame is also attached to the window crossmember welded in earlier (above).

That wraps up this update. I've been working diligently on the railroad and hope to have the basic railroad complete by mid October. That won't include the bells and whistles, but I'll be able to start moving trains on the railroad. In the mean time, it's back to work!