Paul's Work Session 1-10-10

Paul did a great job with the write up on the NCIOG blog about the work session at his home. Here's some video & pix of the great evening.


Since I haven't seen trains running on the layout, Paul was nice enough to run a loco around to show how well it tracks on his beautiful graceful curves & trackwork. I wonder if we should always start (or end) our Friday night sessions with some trains running (when possible).



Keith is hard at work making the wall angle brackets for the shelf on the upper portion of the layout by using a completed unit as a guide.


Mark worked closely with Keith and the two worked very well together. Ken is taking care of the glue situation as Bob looks on.


What's Bob so happy about??? GLUE!!! He about wet himself when he saw a HUGE bottle of TiteBond!


Friday nights are about fun as much as work. Mark enjoys Glue Bob's reaction to that sticky stuff.

Paul explains things to the crew for attaching the angle brackets to the wall. What you can't see is that Keith had just finishing threatening to slap me for a "supposed" smart remark. Can you believe that I would ever make a smart remark?



Here the guys are attaching the bracket to the top of the benchwork. The 22 caliber nail set was used to attach the other end to the concrete - POW!



It's always nice to have an extra set of hands. Bob was nice to take this picture so that nobody thinks I was just standing around all night eating yummy ham sandwiches.

While everybody else disappeared SOMEBODY has to do the work, so that's me. (Actually a posed picture)

Here's is a closeup of one of the angle braces installed. Nice and sturdy.



Here I am again WORKING. (Another posed picture shot with the self-timer).


Ken & Steve got the boring job....get it? Lots of holes to be drilled and Steve actually drilled the edge off of the paddle bit.

That's Bob to the rescue sharping the blade bit with the handy-dandy moto-tool.


Now where does this wire go??? Ken quickly figured it out and strung a bunch-o-wire.


Paul in deep thought....or day dreaming about his future empire?



Bob's working with the yellow 12/3 that will be used to hook up the 3-way switches for the layout lighting.


Who left this wire here? (ANOTHER posed picture).

Wire everywhere. The loco cable and the 12/3 got installed on the layout.

Bob insisted on taking this picture because it took he and Steve 20 minutes to PUSH the loco cable through the tunnel.

"Now Paul, the thingies with the green on the end are clamps...can you say clamp?"

Great time, missed you Scott!

Writer's Cramp

I haven't updated the blog in awhile because I've been working on writing an article on how to carve foam to make retaining walls. I don't know if / when it will be published. Below is a picture of the wall made for the article. If it ever gets published I'll post a link.

Operations at Keith's 1-8-10

The NCIOG met at Keith's Friday night and we finished up early. This gave us an opportunity to run trains on his great layout. With the miles of scale track it was funny that three of the trains ended up in the same area at the same time and some had to take a siding. Somebody (we won't mention his name) ran a double red signal! The video below is the train running around the recently sceniced area that Keith as a "Scenery Newbee" did an awesome job! Great fun for all!

Shield built & in place

With the water damaged ceiling in danger of possibly falling I built this temporary shield that I could put in place over the layout. The flat piece is a 4' x 4' x 1/2 piece of plywood with the legs an assortment of scrapes including 1 x 2, 1 x 4, and 2 x 2. I already had the corner gussets "in stock" from previous bench work. The shield is complete at this point. Although the legs are not sturdy, I couldn't use cross bracing and be able to straddle the layout.



Having double doors to the layout room was one of my best decisions that keeps paying dividends! My original idea to install this was to just pick it up, turn it "legs forward" and carry it into the room where I would gently place it over the layout. I quickly abandoned that idea when it became apparent that I'd probably knock half of Hoovertown down in the process!



I decided to take two of the legs off so that I could carry the unit into the room legs down. Before removing the legs I labeled each with a sharpie so that the would go back in the same place (sometimes even I have a good idea!)

Before making the move I positioned the removed legs roughly in place and used a clamp on one to hold it upright.

I carried the unit into the room and set it down resting on the detached legs. Next I crawled under the layout and attached the legs with my screw gun. I even brought extra screws with me in case I dropped one I couldn't reach (another good idea - 2 in one day!)

Here's a view looking up from the floor - you can see the bad spot on the ceiling. I have about 3" clearance between the top of the bridge and the shield. Now I can sleep better not waiting for a possible CRASH! in the trainroom.

A thank you to Scott for his offer to re-direct our Ops group work session to my house in case I need help.

Hosed again!

I was walking by the doors to the railroad when I heard this disturbing sound......drip....drip.drip.drip...with only a few seconds between the drips. Upon investigation I found out that I had a water problem with water dripping from the ceiling and a big puddle on the floor. An investigation as to the source found that it was coming from the laundry room above. The floor underneath the washer was wet, but I couldn't find any leak. I filled the washer with water and skipped to the empty cycle and still no leak. I repeated the fill cycle again and this time let it run through the entire cycle. This time during the spin cycle the washer rocked a little and I could see water squirting out of where the supply hoses attached to the input fittings. I used a pair of pliers to tighten the hoses on both ends and now no leaks.

The hoses obviously were tight originally, but with time the rubber washers had compressed and/or the fitting loosened. A word of warning: If your train room is downstairs and your washer is above, make sure to check those hoses!

Now I've got to build a shelter out of plywood to go over the railroad just in case the drywall decides to let go. The shelter will also stay up during the repair process to protect the railroad from falling drywall.

First Craftsman Kit - Farmhouse

It's still under construction, but this is my first attempt at a wood craftsman kit. I've enjoyed building it and when you consider how long it has taken me so far, that's a lot of bang for my buck when you consider the purchase price and hours of enjoyment. I still need to do touch up painting, add the chimneys, do some weathering, add interior detail, and add lighting. This will occupy a special place in the Hoovertown residential district.

Click on the picture for a larger view.

Christmas Present Early

I've been wanting a steam engine for the layout, but I've got a couple of tight curves so I had to choose a little loco to go around the curves. Since I'm modeling in the 60's & 70's it's after steam, so this loco will be for excursions. Bachmann has this nice little 4-4--0 with sound that fits the bill. It's not L&N, but then it's not uncommon for excursions to "run what you got". It looks & sounds great on the layout. Who knows - maybe I'll backdate to the steam age and become a steam convert?

Click on the picture for a larger view.

Gettin' the Kinks Out

From the beginning I've had a kink in track in the mainline going around the Matthews freight yard that I've tried to ignore. I was doing great with that until I tried to run my new (Christmas present) Bachmann Spectrum 4-4-0 locomotive through the kink. The front "4" wheels derail almost every time they hit the kink. Poor trackwork will eventually catch up with you!


Here's another view of the kink shown on the right track by the turnout.



Here's the tools I used to fix the problem. The alcohol is 90% which is the same stuff I use to wet areas before I apply white glue when I'm doing ballast or scenery.

The good thing about alcohol is that is will quickly dissolve dried white glue, and since I used track nails to secure the track and not contact cement, the removal was a simple matter of wetting down the ballast and landscape around the track section I needed to remove.

After allowing the glue to work a few minutes I went to work with the scraping using various tools including a screwdriver, putty knife, and dental tool.

I had the vacuum handy and cleaned up the loosened material as I went along.

Next I pulled out the track nails using my track cutting pliers.

I used my Dremel tool with a fiber reinforced cutoff wheel to cut the track. I used a fiber reinforced cutoff wheel instead of standard cutoff wheel for two reasons: 1.) The reinforced wheel doesn't shatter like the non-reinforced wheel, and 2.) the reinforced wheel is larger in diameter making it easier to make a right angle cut through the track.

So, once you cut the track, how do you undercut the plastic ties so they can be removed to allow for the track joiners? It's easy to remove the ties when the track isn't in place because you can just snip them with your cutters and slide them off the end of the track. With the track in place there isn't any way to easily cut up through the plastic tie joiners. I solved the problem by heating the tip of my dental tool, sliding it up under the track and through the plastic piece joining the ties. I could then easily slide the ties off the end of the track.

Here's a view of the cut before I used my hot dental tool technique to remove the ties. The joints have to be offset.

Here's the area cleared of ballast and track. I also cut back the plaster scenery area to the right to allow for a larger radius turn.

Here is the new track in place with the rail joiners soldered on both ends.

And the finished (not painted or ballasted) product with the kink gone. The new 4-4-0 locomotive runs though the area without a hitch!

I learned my lesson on track laying - do it right the first time! If something is not right after you lay the track, fix it right away.

Piedmont Pilgrimage at the Richlawn Railroad

The Piedmont Tour included the Richlawn Railroad on Sunday, November 1st from 1pm until 5pm. This is the second year on the tour, with the major progress on the layout in the mountain area which didn't exist last year. As visitors entered they were able to see a pictorial history of the railroad along with information sheets about the concept and future.
Click on pictures for a larger view.


My chief operator/assistant this year was Charlie Crawford (right)who did a fantastic job of keeping things running while I was able to spend time chatting with the visitors. Charlie really "earned his pay" late in the afternoon when some gremlins entered the trains and we started getting some "hickups" that required switching out some locos. Later examination showed a combination of dirty track & loco wheels. This is interesting as I did a "wet" and "dry" cleaning of the entire layout and locos that morning.


My other operation/ assistant was I.D. Jackson (left) who kept busy backing up Charlie, keeping an eye on things, and chatting with our guests. Speaking of guests, "Coalfinger" Ken (right) from our NCIOG group showed up to offer support and talk L&N to another "Old Reliable" fan (me).

The visitors trickled in at the start and we had a number of visitors from the neighborhood as this was the first year I put flyer on all 37 house's mailboxes in our neighborhood.

It was great to see a number of small children (future model railroaders?) and everybody did a great job of "look, but don't touch". The camera car was a hit with both the children and adults as they could see themselves on TV!

Many of the visitors commented on the mountain area and liked the waterfall and lake area. The group below is looking at the Matthews freight yard where there is alot of potential action with locos and rolling stock.

"What scale are those buildings on the mountain" was a popular question. The answer is they start as HO down at the bottom, reduce to N scale half way up, and are Z scale at the top. The Z scale vehicles at the top are actually charms used on a charm bracelet. They're only $1.23 at Hobby Lobby instead of $$$ from the model railroad suppliers.

George Potter's wonderful N scale layout was on tour the same time as ours, and just like last year we had flyers for each other's railroads with directions and pictures. It was a popular handout and many of the visitors had just come from George's or were headed there next.

We had a "jam" of people for a period of about an hour were we had up to 15 people there at one time! The railroad room was full of people and people had to wait outside for their turn. This gave them time to visit the refreshment table and have a seat in the waiting area. Is that Joe in the hat??? He was a first time visitor and it was great to have him visit and give his input.

With the two running trains speed set correctly, Charlie stepped out of the room to allow more space for the guests. Speaking of guests, another member of the NCIOG, Paul stopped by to visit and also dropped off some stuff I left at Bob's. Thanks, Paul. His layout is on the tour and he and the NCIOG group have been working hard to get him ready.

It was a very successful open house with a total of 63 people with 44 of them not being member of the NMRA. I believe we helped promote model railroading and had a great time doing it by spending time with our guest listening and talking to them.

A special thanks to Charlie Crawford, I.D. Jackson, and the Piedmont Division for allowing us to showcase our layout on the tour!