Layout Progress

M

Myowngod

New Member
Jul 28, 2006
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New Jersey
My Dad and I have been building a layout for the past 6 months and here's a very short progress report of what has happened. It's in a space of 13'x16', and is based off of a John Armstrong plan "The PRR, Schuylkill Division".

The First shot is of the very beginning stages of construction... the backdrop. 9/20/06
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Here my Dad is screwin' the whole thing up (phillips head that is).:D I mean he's building some bench-work. 11/23/06
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This is the Bench work basics. 12/07/06
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And finally, let's jump ahead a few months... This is the latest track work I did on Thursday. It's the upper level main yard. 4/12/07
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As you can see we got a fair amount of stuff done in 6 months, while working sparingly on it. I live 2 hours away from him and work and go to school, so my time is limited. (who's isn't right?). But when I do get down there I make the most of the trip, usually working a full 8-10hr day on it before I have to leave.
To see a full progress report on it from the beginning go to (Link deleted-admin)
That should tell you the whole story.
I also have all my videos on Youtube.com http://youtube.com/watch?v=NKy4TGPMofU Click on the tab to the right of the videos that says "More from this user" to see all my vids.

Thanks for looking and will update periodically.
 

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Kanawha said:
Are you going to add spurs and industries along the main?
Click to expand...

Yes, but not so much along the mains. There is a branchline that hasn't been built yet. It leaves the yard next tothe roundhouse and snakes it's way around to the other side of the layout. I have industries along that line. There is only 1 spur on the mainline, it's on the left wall bottom. The original plan by Armstrong was heavily based on passenger service. My Dad is really into "just running trains", I would like to get more into the operational aspect of the hobby. Since he's flipping the bill for most of the layout and it is in HIS basement, the plans is leaning towards running trains more.

Check out the plan here http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showphoto.php/photo/31799/ppuser/5506
The green track is the branchline. That will justify the yard and any other switching revenue can be brought in from the 2 staging areas that can hold 5 medium-large sized trains.
 
It's been quite awhile.

I haven't been on this forum for a LONG time. I just hopped on and figured I would update you with some progress on the layout.

Here's a few more pix of a couple other control panel schematic I did.
The next section I tackled was a small panel near the Schuylkill river section. It will control the crossovers coming out of the yard from behind the roundhouse, and also the middle staging area that contains 3 storage tracks.
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And the final panel I worked on during this last trip was for the upper town area and the lower staging yard. The staging has 2 storage tracks in it, and the third outside track acts as a reversing loop.
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Here you can see the town area that the panel will handle. The staging is just behind the green fascia. The hill in front is a lift out section to gain access to the tracks below...just in case.:eek:
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Thanks for checking thinfs out.
 
Another video of the progress as of 1/16/2009. It covers all kinds of projects that are in the works. I also as about the positioning of my yard tower. It's an American Model Builders kit. I was going to put it with the long wall with all the windows facing the tracks in front of it. But I started to think it would be more practical if the large windows faced the main yard tracks to see what is happening in the yard. Some people have mention that they usual face it toward the front, immediate tracks. so they can do inspection of the departing trains. Any help would be appreciated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyT6EgKtqlc
 
My Dad and I started installing some of the toggle switch that will control all of the turnouts on the layout. They are SPDT momentary (on)-off-(on). I did all of the soldering of the wire leads at the work bench. I did not want to be under the layout solder 60+ switches with 3 solder points each, a total over 190. With hot solder dripping on me from above.:eek:OUCH!:eek: While I was doing the soldering my Dad was drilling the holes and putting in the toggles. Also connecting the common wire between all the toggles and eventually running the power to the turnout machine themselves.

I also installed a UTP panel from NCE to accommodate another throttle on the other side of the main layout. I noticed the throttle would not connect if it was plugged in before the initial boot up of the NCE PowerCab. Has anyone else experienced this?

Another projected completed was the installation of the NCE Auto-Switch. It controls the automatic switching off of the main track power when I change to program track mode. I isolated the stub end track near the main yard that is part of the passenger station area. I insulated it by cutting with a Dremel tool and CA gluing in a piece of styrene in the gap of both tracks.

My Dad and I both worked on installing metal wheel sets in many of the layouts rolling stock. This is keeping the track a lot cleaner... and just sound a lot cooler rolling around the layout, too. :D
I brought down quite a few acquisitions from eBay to the layout. You can never have enough rolling stock. ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB8IEENLeSk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdD10XzD6K0

Thanks for watching.
 
That's a pretty impressive layout you're putting together....Nice to see that "ol' men" & sons can still work together...Got my start that way....:mrgreen:

Do you have a track plan you might post so we can see the full extent of the layout..? And keep us posted on your progress....:thumb:
 
Here's a few pictures of the electrical projects described above.
1st here are the SPDT toggles installed in some of the control panels.
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This is the UTP plug-in for another throttle on the opposite side of the center peninsula, near the river area. I still have an issue of the throttle not connecting sometimes to the PowerCab system. It starts to boot up and stops in the 2nd screen. If anyone has any ideas what might be happening, your feedback would be appreciated.
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And finally the NCE Auto-switch is install.
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The track to the extreme left is the program track. It is in the station area of the main yard, measuring about 2ft long.
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I cut the track using a Dremel tool with the abrasive disk attachment. To further insulate the section, I CA glued some styrene in the cut and filed it to the profile of the track.
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I can't wait to get down there again and work some more on the layout.
Thanks for looking.
 
Enjoyed the videos...would love to see a video made with the camera on the train (can they do that)?
 
Maico Shark said:
Enjoyed the videos...would love to see a video made with the camera on the train (can they do that)?
Click to expand...

Thanks everyone for the + feedback.

Mr Shark, I never tried putting the camera on a flat car and make a video. The funny thing is I was just thinking about that last week. I just hop it can fit through the tunnels. I will definitely try next time I'm down there. Not sure when then will be though.
 
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