Construction Update

I was able to spend a little time working on the modules this evening and made some good progress. I’ve got most of the track down, I only have two more sections to cut and then once those pieces are cut a third section still needs to be glued down along with some minor roadbed work before all of that.

I made an executive decision to permanently join the two sections, I had originally envisioned and built it as two sub-sections but it would have relied on four butt-joints, one of which having a slight curve which was becoming a bit of a problem. It will make the module more difficult to transport but since my wife and I are currently trying to buy a house I probably won’t have time to really bring it out for setups in the next year or two anyway which will give me time to fix the transportation issue.

Things are a happening at Murphy’s Cement Co

I’ve gotten enough track, hopefully, to finish laying track for the new module. I’ve started putting track down and also started building the structure for Murphy’s. I’m also working on the logo and I’ve come up with a couple of them but not sure what to use. If any of my readers has an suggestion feel free to let me know, otherwise these are what I’ve come up with so far as options:

Murphy’s Cement Co: Roadbed mostly down

I have had time to do some train related things but haven’t been very good at blogging. Since my last update I’ve started laying roadbed, cutting track, strengthening turnouts and modifying the industry plan.

First off I removed the LPG industry as there really isn’t room, I’ll save that for a later module. Once I got the roadbed down and was able to set some 50 and 60 foot box cars down where that siding will be it felt far too cramped for two industries. Instead I’m going to center Newman and Sons and expand that industry a little bit, perhaps with more outbuilding features.

Next up I started putting roadbed down, evidently there is a shortage of the cork roadbed going around but I think I have enough to get track down. I staged this picture of a small train that be the rails and industry itself to Murphy’s Cement Co.

I ordered some PC board ties from Fast Tracks (website, product page) primarily to repair some turnouts I was re-using for this project since the ends had some broken end ties. Now they are rock solid. I also used some of these ties to strengthen some of the track leading up to joiner tracks which I also was able to cut with the left over flex I had on hand.

For this turnout I just neeeded to replace the end ties as the plastic clips had broken and it needed some support staying in gauge.

This one was a little more work and needed to be extended about 7/8″ so I made sure it was bullet proof.

I’m at a stand still until my backordered track comes in. I’ve got some flex, a turnout, tortoise’s, and the kit I’ll use to build the cement industry all on order (unfortunately some of it ended up backordered so I’m stuck waiting). In the mean time I’m finally going to try and tackle CR23′s scenery.

Finally I need more moder boxcars to serve Newman and Sons’ and when I found a good deal on an Athearn Wisconson Central box car I just had to. After all the Missabe is now a part of the Wisconson Centeral (which is itself a subsidiary of the CN).

Murphy’s Cement Construction complete!

I managed to get the construction done on my module, I built it as two four foot sections for transportation purposes. As I mentioned the inner joint has copper tubes to help align them, basically to make it easier to get that joint lined up at setups.

For the legs I created a pocket out of pieces of leftover plywood, they actually stick out about 3/4″ below the box frame. This was intentional for two reasons, first the scraps I had were six inches long and they make a mini stand to keep the module just above the floor when it’s stored on the floor and won’t pinch any hanging cables. This is an idea I picked up at the Westminster show from someone else’s module.

More construction

I was able to make some great progress with the beautiful weather yesterday. I think I got all my cutting done and some assembly… Till I ran out of screws that is. I took some pictures of the alignment with copper pipe and how I’m using my Kreg jig to hide the screw holes on the interior of the module.

Murphies Cement Update

I got out to the garage to continue working on my new module, Murphies Cement (I’ve decided on the name), and made some good progress. Last time I mentioned I’d finished the legs. Tonight I got the last of the cutting done with the exception of leg holders and mounting locations for UP5s. The leg holders are on the list for next time but I’m going to hold off on the UP5s for a while since they can easily be added later.

Aside from cutting leg holders I need to get my Kreg jig and start building the box and attaching the top. Since I’m building this as a two-part module I’m also going to add some alignment guides. Thanks to some advice from my friend Ted I went with 1/2″ copper pipe going through copper pipe joiners embedded in each section (that will probably make much more sense with pictures). I’m also going to try using T-Nuts, boldt and washers as a replacement for clamps between the sub sections. The copper pipe will get it lined up and then using bolts to pull it tight, if it works it’ll be cheaper than buying another set of quick clamps.

After all that it’ll be time for roadbed (still have to get), track (on order), and tortoise switch machines (on order). It’s my first time using under table switch machines, and first time with tortoise’s (torti?) so I’m sure I’ll have questions on working with those. Once things start coming together I’ll post some pictures, now it’s just a stack of cut wood

Started Module 2!

My family  and I visited my parents this weekend to celebrate my oldest son’s coming birthday (Wednesday the 21st  he’ll be 6). When we got back this afternoon I needed to change the oil in my wife’s car but having just driven 2 hours I needed to let the oil cool down a bit so I started the woodwork on my second module.

Click for larger image

This module started as a no-name cement industry (I’ll be starting with the Walthers Medusa Cement kit), I’ve tentatively named it Murphy’s Cement Company as pictured. This industry will have its own switching lead for two reasons,, one it’ll give a little fiddle operations if there is a lot of mainline traffic, and two  uses a double slip switch I had lying around. All in all I ended up having to buy only one turnout as I had the rest left over from a previous project.

The second industry is Newman and Sons Tool and Manufacturing and is entirely free-lanced. I’m starting with a partial structure flat I started on a previous switching layout (obviously I will be finishing it at some point so it’s not a background flat). Finally I have an un-named as of yet propane distributer. I’m foreseeing full LPG tanks coming in and being unloaded into large tanks and then taken on to specific customers by truck. I’m looking for naming ideas, if you have any suggestions let me know.

Anyway, on to the status update. This time around I decided to change my strategy on legs, on CR23 I used an L-shaped leg when an adjuster block but for a number of reasons I’m not too happy with how they turned out. This time I picked up some 2″ x 2″ lumber and cut it to length. Then I used some T-nuts and elevator bolts I picked up at Menards (that’s what they were called at Menards). I got 8 legs cut, as it will be two 4 foot sections, and sanded. They were four short on the elevator bolts so only four legs are truly done.

All Cinched Up!

One of the last outstanding wiring items on my CR23 module was to get some cinch jones plugs. They actually arrived a couple days ago so with today off work I wired up the jones plugs.

I had been using the accessories bus plugs (trailer plugs) as temporary track bus plugs so i have to wire those back up and get a second UP5 and then the wiring is done!

New Module: Raging River

I started a new module this morning I’m calling Raging River (yes it’s a tad tongue-in-cheek). It was inspired by a picture I found on railpictures.net:

Photo taken by and Copyright Louis Becker. Photo used with permission

The locomotive in the picture is actually the first diesel recieved by the Soo Line in 1939, an EMD SW1. This isn’t a museum piece, it’s actually in use by ILSX for revenue service!

Since this is such a small bridge I’ve decided to build it as a mini-mo module, this decision was in part influenced by the fact that I had enough birch leftover from CR23 to do a mini-mo. It is 8.5 inches wide and 18 inches long, the actual bridge will be about eight inches of that.

The structure is very rigid being hardwood and using plenty of screws. I haven’t puttied up the screw holes yet so what you see are the holes generated by my Kreg jig. I decided on using a good solid support for the approach track and will use lighter weight materials for the scenic ground. The outer frame only dips about an inch and a half right now, I may increase that depending on how the bridge components look in the space. That is also why there is not yet any support for the bridge supports as I have yet to decided on what I’m using and what dimensions they will require.

CR23 Updates

I’ve been terrible at blogging lately but have actually made some progress on the layout. I’ve got much of the wiring done, I have all the loconet wiring done except one UP5 (I’ve got one, the standard calls for one on each side). That leaves just the track power which is basically just finding the right cinch plugs.

I’ve also made some changes in the scenery, I wasn’t happy with the way the Walthers road stuff worked out. The section that cross the track was a bit wider than the rest of the road kits so it didn’t look right and it would have been very difficult to fix, I wasn’t too happy with my paint job, and I decided I didn’t want a perpindicular crossing so I opted for an angled crossing.