Union Pacific's N Scale Canyon Division....

[Sumner]

Thanks guys, I hope to quit messing around with the 'Lever Frame' project today and get back to the layout.

Hey Sumner , I can come and haul off that car lift that's in your way. More room for rails.....

Then what am I ....



.... going to do with all of that stuff above. The car lift has pretty much turned into adjustable height work benches. There was a time ...



.... when there was more interesting projects on it but at almost 79 now those days are over. In fact the last two vehicle oil changes weren't done here.

Sumner

[ChicagoNW]

Studebaker?

[Sumner]

Studebaker?

Yep, mostly a '53. We had a record at 253 mph with the older 'B' motor. Put in a AA motor and made changes to the car (partially shown there) and it should run close to 300 but never got a good track to run it on (rained out and salt was bad) and then we got old. I drove it to 218 in 2014 on a license pass (40% throttle) but we thought the motor might of got hurt so stopped. Took it home and it wasn't hurt, then it rained out when we went back and that has pretty much been it except for one later year when we could run but the course was so bad it just wasn't safe much over 200.

It was a good experience though, lots of memories.

Sumner

[Sumner]

Hidden Coal & Staging Tracks Pt. 4 & Lever Frame

Not too long ago some one mentioned 'Lever Frames' and I didn't really know much about them but after looking at the good Wiki article ( HERE ) I got hooked and wanted to see if I could come up with something similar. Not N scale size to be placed somewhere on the layout but a version that could go on the side of the layout next to a 'Yard Control Panel'. A number of them would be ganged together similar to what you would see in a control tower and each would activate throwing a turnout that is shown on the control panel.

There would be LEDs on the control panel and/or on the lever frame itself that would indicate which route the turnout was set for. I had recently developed what I call the 'Spring Switcher' switch machine that goes under the turnout similar to a servo and throws it with a simple fishing line running from it to the side of the layout. It doesn't need much throw on the control line so thought I could connect the 'Lever Frame' to the 'Spring Switcher' for turnout control. There is a video ( HERE ) showing the combination together throwing a turnout. These are parts that can all be 3D printed cheaply.

I also thought it would be great if the 'Lever Frame' could control LEDs on it and/or on a nearby control panel as mentioned above. I modified what I had designed to do that also. Now a version can be printed with two SPDT switches and a momentary push button switch along with hopefully a SPDT slide switch. This will allow it to operate a servo under the turnout vs. the 'Spring Switcher'. I'm thinking it might allow it to operate a number of servo operated switch machines that are commercially available but don't have any to test that idea.

So on with a few pictures of the 'Lever Frame' and then also I got back to laying cork on the layout. I'll print what I hope is the final version of the 'Lever Frame' controller today and soon try and get those print files up on my thingiverse.com account ( HERE ).


.



I probably have over 30 hours of design time into this at this point and have generated close to 700 files on my computer associated with it.


.


.


.


.


.


.


.



I read a number of posts on laying track and watched a number of videos and if you are starting I'd suggest doing the same. I kept going back to Joe's videos on track laying on his Sayrehurst Secondary layout. You can find one of his videos that I used ( HERE ) along with links to others.

I also have watched a number of his other videos and always enjoy his quick and practical approach to the ways he tackles things. At 79 I'm not sure how long I'll be doing this so I've looked for ideas that are practical and give fairly quick results. He puts down track pretty fast and that was high on my wants as I'd like to put down quite a bit as fast as is practical having a 6 foot by 24 foot area that I can work with. The following pretty much follows his procedures. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail myself as you can find that watching his fine videos.

I'm using Micro Engineering code 55 track and so is Joe so that was another reason I'm using his videos as a guide. He uses ME turnouts where I'll be using turnouts I've built myself. If you are using ME rail you might also find the video ( HERE ) helpful. The tool used in that video and what Joe uses is very hard to find the last time I looked. I found one in someone's old stock in Canada and bought it but since have designed basically the same item that you can 3D print and you can find the print files ( HERE ).

I also have more on laying the cork and track on my site ( HERE ) from when I build my test track.

If you came into the build here you can find the main index for the build ( HERE ).

Sumner

[WP&P]

Good job with sanding down the cork! I can't believe how long it took me to figure out that trick, I was always frustrated with the ragged edge that gets left on one of the cork strips and what that would do to the ballast shoulder profile. I always just put the ragged strip facing to the back, until it finally dawned on me that sandpaper was a thing.

[sid]

awesome cant wait. i want to print one of those up so i can play with the thing. i like building lots of stuff even if i dont use them. keeps the mind flowing stronger (i think ).plus some times i can get a different idea from some of these builds..... cant wait to see the whole thing come alive with running locos . its going to be awesome......... OH and thanks for sharing all these wonderful ideas as well... i do love various ways of thinking about different problem solving situations. very cool how every body has different ways of doing the same thing.....

[Sumner]

I was always frustrated with the ragged edge that gets left on one of the cork strips and what that would do to the ballast shoulder profile.

In the past I haven't used the rasp but your post got me thinking what might be another good tool to use to knock the shoulder down and I remember my trust old rasp. It works great, much faster than the other tools. I did the area in the circle above in less than two minutes. The long handle gives you good control.

Follow up with the 80 grit sandpaper, also really fast, and you are ready for spackling. From my car body work days I have a couple rolls of 80 grit paper that is sticky on one side for use with a long board sander. I like it better than regular paper as the backing is stiffer and works well when you fold it over. I'll also be using this on the long board after putting the spackling down along with it on some sanding blocks but above I used it as it is seen in the first image .

Sumner

[Sumner]

Hidden Coal & Staging Tracks Pt. 5:

Finishing up laying the cork and moving on to sanding it down to get rid the of the flashing on the shoulders and any other imperfections.


.


.



In the past on the test track I used the top two tools and the sandpaper to take care of the rough cork shoulders, especially the one on the one side of the cork after you separate them. I use a sharp utility knife at an angle on a flat piece of plywood I use as a temporary work surface. to separate1 the cork into two pieces. I got out a rasp I've had forever and gave it a try and...



….. I found it much faster and easier to use.



After doing the small area one night I did all the rest of the staging and the hidden tracks to the coal mine in probably 30 minutes the next day. I found that I could also use it on the top of the cork to level it out also. I probably could of moved on without using the sandpaper but went over the area very quickly with it.



When using the rasp and sandpaper check for any high spots where the cork pieces meet, especially the but joint on the ends and where you have added cork for the turnouts. This is very similar to doing body work on a car where you feel for imperfections. Lay you palm flat on the surface and run your finger tips along the cork surface (no across it) feeling for imperfections. I showed my bare hand above but you can actually feel the surface better with a light pair of gloves like in the next picture. The hand can feel imperfections of a few thousands of an inch doing this.


.


.



I vacuumed once after using the rasp and then again after using the sandpaper.



As I mention in the image above prepping the staging and hidden coal yard tracks followed by spackling it went much faster than I thought it would. I did it all in under 3 hours but was beat at the end of it. I'll cover the spackling on the next page.

If you came into the build here you can find the main index for the build ( HERE ).

Sumner

[Sumner]

Hidden Coal & Staging Tracks Pt. 6:

Prepping the cork for spackling and applying it.





.


.


.


.


.


.


.



If you came into the build here you can find the main index for the build ( HERE ).

Sumner

[Janbouli]

Maybe I missed something but why spackling , why not just ballast to the cork?

[Sumner]

Maybe I missed something but why spackling , why not just ballast to the cork?

Personal preference. I liked the way Joe lays track and decide to copy it.



He also paints it, which I did on the test track above. I might try camouflage paint this time and see how I like it. If for some reason the ballast or ground cover doesn't completely cover the paint hides the cork. I won't be ballasting this area as it will end up being hidden. This was just a warmup for the rest of the layout. It doesn't take much effort and seals/hides the cork to layout joint and I like the nice flat surface to caulk the track to.

Sumner

[Sumner]

As usual I'm working on too many different layout projects at the same time. I haven't put anymore cork down yet as I had to come up with final track locations leaving the hidden staging on one side and coming out of a tunnel and across a small canyon on the other side so wanted to make sure of what I was going to do in those areas.

On the one side (physical south side) there are three tracks that come out of the hidden staging area.



Two are parallel and are the double track main in that area. The other comes off the main via a #6 turnout so enters the mountain and tunnel portal there at an angle to the other two tracks.



The portals are a loose adaptation of the ones on UP's line to Salt Lake City north of where I live. I have the two portal and a one portal in concrete and will put the print files up later. Also doing something similar where the portal looks to be mixed sized stone.

On the north side of the hidden staging two mainline tracks exit a tunnel and ...



... cross a small canyon. I also wanted to get this more or less mocked up before laying the cork there also so designed and printed a bridge. I could of stopped there and laid cork but wanted to give a first go at scenery so continued on and started work on the canyon.


.



and stopped when ....



... I got as far as above.


.



I made a second curved turnout that I'll use with the other one or maybe use some place else. Still need to figure this out so I can lay all the cork at the coal mine complex.


.


If clicking on the image above doesn't start the video use the link ( HERE ).

I'll post a fair amount more about all of the above on my other layout threads here and on my site soon.

Sumner

[Sumner]

Two Tunnel Portals to Staging Pt. 1...

Before laying more cork past the staging yard I needed to finalize the tracks coming out off the hidden staging on the south side of the layout. There are three tracks there that go in or out of two tunnels there. One tunnel has the mainline tracks to the staging and the other is a single track that comes off the mainline at an angle and also goes to the hidden staging.



I used Fusion 360 to design the two portals along with some retaining walls. The portals were then printed on the Ender 3 Pro filament printer.



I designed the portals loosely based on portals I seen on UP's line that goes from Denver to Salt Lake City via Grand Junction, Co. There are a number of tunnels along the Price River as the railroad ascends to Soldier Summit. I'm not sure if there are any double track tunnels there are not.



I probably won't put these print files up unless someone wants them as the left portal is at an angle to the double track portal due to the track coming from a #6 turnout just out of the picture. I will put up print files for a single portal and double track portal that look like the ones above.

I also started cutting a rock face from the foam board as shown above. Still a lot more work to do on that but I think I have a start that I can work with down the road.



To do the rock work and after watching Dave at Thunder Mesa Studios doing rock work in foam I bought the Woodland Scenic how wire foam cutter above. I have mixed thoughts on it. The yellow slide switch on mine can be inconsistent but works most of the time I push it. Can't remember why but I had to take it apart and don't like the way it is constructed and would be hard to change the slide switch out for a different one (I was going to try doing that).

It does cut well and I like the deeper throat on it compared to the next one so if it works it probably is a good deal for someone especially if you don't see the need to cut a lot of foam. I'm going to have to cut a lot of it considering there is scenery that has to be made down both sides of the 24 foot long layout. It was $40.



Venturing on I decided to invest $30 into the 3 in 1 kit from Gochange on Amazon and bought the tools above. I haven't used the right one much since I had the Woodland Scenics with the deeper throat. Mainly have used the tool on the left with the shorter hot knife. You can use any of the three on the handle to the left. The straight tool is nice for cutting into the foam to create features once you have it cut to a rough shape using the first knife. It works well.



The combination of the two above would probably have been fine if my layout was smaller but it isn't.



Researching tools I came across the Hot Wire Foam Factory sculpting tool shown above. It is unique in that the cutting wire is much heavier than on the two preceding tools where you stretch the wire taught between the two arms. You can shape the wire on this tool into about any shape you want and it will stay there and cut that profile in the foam.

So far I leave mine most of the time shaped as shown above. A gentle curve on the left side of the wire and more of a right angle on the right side. Using one side or the other and the angle of the tool you can sculpture a lot of different features into the foam. I love this cutter. It as right at $100 with the power supply. The power supply puts out a lot more current than the other cutters so heats fast and cuts fast. Needs the current in order to heat up the thicker wire also. The tool by itself is under $40 but you need a an adequate power supply to operated it. They have the kit with the items above with the fixed power supply that I've been more than happy with. You can pay more and get a kit that has their variable power supply if needed for your situation.

Since I now have the power supply I went ahead and ordered (don't have it as I write this) a tool that looks like the one above but has the thinner wire and a throat depth that I think is close to the WoodLand Scenics knife but also other features that I like. It was about $25. I also ordered a 3 inch straight knife like the one I've been using from Gochange. From what I can see it will cut faster with the more powerful power supply. It was $30. In hindsight I would of ordered these items from Hot Wire Foam Factory to begin with if I had know what I do now. If you are going to do a lot of foam work I'd look into them. They have different packages to choose from.



I'll go into more detail on the next page about using these tools.



If you are going to do rock work check out Dave's YouTube Channel ( HERE ) he has a lot of good tips. One was to use a wire brush like above to create smaller striations in rock faces and you can use it to shape the ground and other features.



Another tip from his is to purchase an inexpensive heat gun like above. On the high heat it will melt the foam back if left in one spot long enough. Use it to round off sharp edges if needed. I will blow the foam away and soften the features you want to soften. Great tool to use.

I have a lot of rock work to create since I'm modeling the canyon and mountain terrain from where I live and I'm sure at some point I'll not want to see another piece of foam board but so far I'm enjoying this and the tools above are a good part of that.

If you came into the build here you can find the main index for the build ( HERE ).

Sumner

[Sumner]

Staging Canyon Pt. 1:

In order to lay cork past the hidden staging on the north side I needed to figure out how long a bridge was going to be in this section of the double track mainline. I could of laid the cork and even the track and cut it out later but the situation gave me an excuse to dive into scenery a bit and see if I liked it or not. I didn't finish the small canyon completely but feel good enough about it to move back to the laying cork and hopefully rail also stage.


.


.


.


.


.


.


.


.


.



If you came into the build here you can find the main index for the build ( HERE ).

Sumner

[Pencil]

The paver sand is a neat idea! I'm curious to see how it works as ballast.
I found some cheap grout I'm hoping will do the same...

Curtis

[Sumner]

I'm curious to see how it works as ballast.

I did do some short tests on it a ways back....







More info on that testing here ..

http://1fatgmc.com/RailRoad/Trackwork/page-40.html

I found that others have used it also. One concern that has been brought up is that there are magnetic pieces in it. I found that to be true running a magnet over the sand out of the bag but once wetted and after it has set up I can run a magnet over it and don't find any particles on the magnet. It dries extremely hard and firm. I'd suggest before using it that one should preform their own tests and reach their own conclusions. I started with some from a broken bag at the lumberyard where they said take some at no cost.

I only found two colors I liked for the layout. The brown and a gray. I'm going to try the brown as ground cover a number of places with the gray as ballast. Might reverse that in a yard area. Also have some grout tint coming that Luke Towan uses mixed with real dirt ( Like HERE ) to change the color of dirt and might try mixing it with the sand before spreading and wetting it to see what effect it has. Also thought I could use it with the natural sand and earth from where I live.

There is what is locally called 'blow sand' not far from the house. It is extremely fine sand from the local sandstone formation that forms in dunes in some areas and isn't hard to find. I used it when sandblasting the metal down on my street rod and it is less aggressive than the sand you can buy for that which can warp a panel if you aren't careful. The blow sand was slower but no problems with it warping a panel.

Sumner

[NtheBasement]

I tried sand once but the look of the shiny clearish quartz crystals made me choose an alternative. I went with WS, sometimes combined with sanded grout for that time-to-reballast look.

[Sumner]

The Hot Wire Foam Factory 3” hot knife and sculpting tool came in that I'll use instead of the Woodland Scenics and Gochange tools. Tested them out and like how fast they heat and they work great.



I didn't want to have to plug and unplug them from the power supply so made a little 1 to 3 adapter so I can have them all plugged in at the same time if I want. They have longer cords than the other tools I have so that is another bonus.

Sumner

[Sumner]

Perimeter Buss Wiring Pt. 1....

Buss wiring. How many different ways has this been done? Lots and I'm sure someone else has done the following also. I'll be 79 in a couple weeks and can still get under the layout but hate to do so even thought I've designed it so there is a lot of room under there to move around and I can use the body creeper I made. Do I want to go under there and how much longer will I be able to is the question. On my test layout where I got familiar with how I wanted to lay track and which switch machines I might use I also ran the main buss around the outside of the layout's fascia. Doesn't look as cool as if it is hidden but it sure made track wiring much easier to do. Most all of it was done standing or sitting in an office chair at the edge of the layout. To wire track sections or frog I'd drill a hole or holes where I wanted a drop and another hole between the + & - buss wires. Put the 'drop' wire through the hole and a ways under the layout. Reach under the layout from the side and pull the wire over to the side and put it through the hole at the buss wire. Strip and solder it to the appropriate buss wire. Cut it back at the track and solder it to the track. Your done and you never went under the layout.



Above is a picture of the test track and I did the same for switch machines that are controlled at the side of the layout and that have a SPDT switch on them that can power the frog. Drop the frog lead and take it to the side and wire it to the SPDT switch and the switch to the buss. Above you can see the frog wiring and the track feeder wires attached to the buss. Also there I used insulated wires but decider to try uninsulated this time to avoid having to strip it although that wasn't that hard. I moved the wire clamps closer together and they are 3D printed. You can find them with other 3D printable clamps on my thingiverse account ( HERE ).



.



Spending 20 minutes making the tool above really speeded things up. I'd drill the four pilot holes. Use the length of the tool to go to the next four, drill them and move on. Could drill the holes for a 10 foot section in a couple minutes and they were perfectly spaced when I screwed the wire clamps to the fascia.


.


.


.



Next when I get my power district boosters and circuit breakers in I will come back and drill a hole between the two buss wires at some point and bring the wires from the circuit breaker and solder them to this section of buss wires. The layout is going to be divided into 8 districts so there will be 7 sections of buss wires like this around the perimeter and I'll put one underneath for the upper level tracks down the middle on both sides of the center backdrop/divider. So I will have to go underneath for the upper level tracks.



As you can see above the bottom two wires are #14 wire for the DCC buss and the upper two wires are #16 for the 5 volt buss that can be used for servo switch machines, LEDs and anything else that can run on 5 volts.



When I finish the track in this area (hidden staging) I'll replace the upper level that goes above it and there will be another buss there as that area is on a separate circuit breaker that this area. They both will be on the same booster.



I'm not trying to convince people to take this approach and probably wouldn't of myself if I was 20 years younger but I'm not and some of you might not be either. This might provide a way for you to continue enjoying the hobby if going under the layout has been a game changer for you.

If you came into the build here you can find the main index for the build ( HERE ).

Sumner

[ChicagoNW]

It reminds me of the way homes were wired before insulation became required. My only concern is shorting of the exposed conductors. While your belt buckle may not line up with the wires, another persons might. If not a buckle a piece of jewelry, like a hanging chain, might muck things up.

If the mechanicals get tiresome, you might box the beltline in. It doesn’t have to be square, the top with the various controls be at an angle. The bottom doesn’t have to be solid. Just have supports that keep the angled panels in place. The gaps between supports allow quick access. You could even reduce the number of supports by attaching the control panels with piano hinges, making easy to flip up for more extensive work.