A Rock Train for the SP Santa Barbara Sub

I am still working on track issues but it is getting close enough that I have set a date for an operating session.  I am working hard at getting everything ready.  One of the tasks I have almost finished is creating a train lineup of all the trains I want to run during the session.  One of the big problems is to actually put together all of those trains. 

One of the problems I share with some of my other fellow model railroaders is I purchase cars or kits that I think I will use on the layout long before I have my layout operating.  Now that I need them for the operation session, I need to find them and, in some cases, actually build the kits.  Down the road a bit I will weather them so they don't look like there have never rolled over the railroad.

 

The first train I put together is a special unit train since it was ready to run.  It represents a train I saw September 4, 2007.  That is over a decade after the era I am currently modeling so I hope the prototype police are not monitoring this.  The train was headed west to the Granite Rock quarry at Logan just railroad west of Watsonville Junction.  It was a solid train of  empty 100-ton Greenville hoppers designed to hold aggregate.  Here are a few photos of the train holding the siding at Goleta.

The train was long enough for me to use several overpasses

to view and photograph the train.

This shot is looking toward the front of the train. 

An SP hopper with the UP herald.

A Golden West and SP hopper.

Looking toward the back of the train.

Here is that rare view from the top, looking down into the hoppers.

Just months before, in May 2007, I had visited the quarry as part of the Pacific Coast Region NMRA convention.  The quarry was originally opened by the Southern Pacific but sold in 1904.  The same family still owns and operates the quarry.  The San Andreas Fault runs along the north side of the quarry.  This is interesting as just two years after purchasing the quarry from SP, it became the source of aggregate for concrete used in the rebuilding of San Francisco after the April 1906 earthquake. Here are a few photos from the quarry.

Here is the huge crusher at the working face of the quarry.

The conveyor at the left takes the rock about a mile west to the loader next to the Coast main.

Here is some of the rudimentary engine service facility.  Note the power truck in the center foreground and the Granite Rock hoppers and locomotive in the background. 

Here is a shot of the loading facility.  Hoppers and locomotives in the background.

Golden West hopper

Southern Pacific hopper

Granite Rock locomotive with a string of cars.  Our bus is visible extreme left.

They allowed up up on the engine.  Note the yellow caution sign just above the rear truck.

It reads 'WARNING All tracks in this yard are live. Any car can move at any time. Locomotive runs on remote control.' 

Here is a shot of the remote control.  Switches read 'FWD/REV' 'Train Line Apply Release' 'Headlight On Off'

Controls are visible on the left side.  Not quite as complex as my DCC throttles but quite a bit larger!

And finally, here is a short model of the train passing through Carpinteria on the Santa Barbara Subdivision.

Head end passing Linden Ave in Carpinteria

Middle of train

Rear of train 

Stay tuned for the next train. 

A Little More Light

After my last post here with the video of the test run, I received a comment from a friend in Louisiana suggesting I provide a bit more light for the layout. 

 

First some excuses...

The current lighting is simply two-tube shop lights to give some light to the room while I work on the layout.  It will continue to provide general lighting.  The comment made me think about some solutions.  Because this is a multi-level layout, there is space under the second level to place lighting for the first level.  There are also places over the second level where I could place lighting.  Because none of this space is extensive, I have been looking at using strings of LED lights.  I recently saw some work on another blog regarding the use of different colors or temperatures of the LED's.  Here is the link http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/13360

But the LED project is down the road a ways, so...

 

I recently posted some photos of the final run of the Atlantic Inland Railway http://spsbsub.blogspot.com/2014/09/last-run-of-atlantic-inland-railway-west.html

The next day Paul started taking down the layout.  In the process he has been selling off parts and pieces and I purchased 5 additional shop lights for use in the layout room.   

I added two lights over the garage door in that section that was extremely dark in the video.  I added another over the aisle between the Santa Barbara yard and Carpinteria.  To make room for it I moved the light that was there so that the space between the lights in this area is now 35" or less. The last light I put over the east end of the White Hills Branch which is over the east end of east staging.  I will not be using the fifth shop light so will be passing it on to another model railroad in the near future.

 

Here are some photos of the new lights.

Lights over the garage door.
This is a daylight photo but the lights make this area brighter even after the sun goes down.

 

The near light has been added giving additional light to the mine at White Hills (top left) and the east staging yard (bottom left) as well as the main line and siding at Goleta (bottom right) and Devon (top right)

 

The top light was added after moving the other light the other direction providing more light
for Surf, Carpinteira, and Santa Barbara

 

Getting Closer: Test Run

Well, I had the local club over for another attempt which usually means finding lots of problems and placing more red tape.  

The week before had been unseasonably hot.  This caused a short somewhere in my less than perfect trackwork.  I worked for several hours trying to locate the culprit.  I isolated the layout's sections and determined that it was on the upper level's higher section.  I got lucky and found a gap between track and a frog that was essentially connecting both sides of the track together.  The gap was widened and I was able to operate locomotives over the entire layout once again.

I had been running two 4-axel locomotives - a Kato GP35 and an Athearn F59PHI.  I ran them in both directions on the main and a few sidings.  Everything seemed to be working well. 

The club members showed up and I handed out a couple throttles so someone else could run and find the problems.  Everything  went well.  Then one of the engineers decided he would try something more challenging.  I had a short 6 car train sitting on the Goleta siding.  I had run it a little a while back but had put it in the siding.  The engineer of the GP35 decided to run the train so he ran the engine by the siding switch, uncoupled the train from the locomotive it was with and rolled it out of the siding and up to the lone locomotive.  Off he went with the train.

There were a few problems with the caboose which may be a little on the light side weight wise, but the train made it around several times.  On one of the trips, the engineer became a railfan and took some video with his cell phone.  We had to censor some of the background noise on the first half but here is the video:

You can also see the video on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CTgckMsOJI

The other club member, operating the F59PHI was jealous and not to be outdone, grabbed some Amtrak passenger coaches which were sitting in the Santa Barbara Yard.  The longer cars and non-Kadee couplers caused some difficulties but the passenger train did travel some distance with some help.  I guess I need to change those couplers.

So I am closer to an operating session.  One fellow operator, who has been clamoring for a session, suggested getting together for a short session and lunch.   I told him I wanted to get a little closer first.  His reply was:

             "Closer" never happens.  I've seen documented evidence of a
              train successfully running on the SP SB Sub. You are there,
              not close.  No one is expecting perfect reliability, especially
              at a first session."

I still want to tweak the trackwork a bit more and "test run" all the trains I expect to run, but I hope to have a session within a couple months.

Southern Pacific Santa Cruz Division

One of my big problems with the SP Santa Barbara Subdivision is that I really enjoy operating on other peoples layouts to the detriment of progress on my own.  This post is from Gary Siegel's Southern Pacific Santa Cruz Division.  I have enjoyed working on its construction and operating on the 'finished' railroad.

It is a 1:32 scale model of portions of the former narrow gauge South Pacific Coast Railroad from Santa Cruz to San Jose. [Originally, the railroad went all the way to Alameda, CA near Oakland.]
In the early 1900's the Southern Pacific standard gauged the line.  It became very popular in the 1920's with a train called the "Sun Tan Special" which ran from San Francisco to the beach and Boardwalk in Santa Cruz.  In 1934, SP stopped the passenger service and soon after stopped freight service abandoning the line in the 1940's.  Gary has modeled the line as if it were the 1970's.

The mass of the larger locomotives and rolling stock, along with the Tsunami sound systems make operations very enjoyable.  We usually run with a dispatcher who communicates with the crews via FRS radios.  The crews actually do work along the way, setting out and picking up cars at various stations.  At Felton there is a branch line to Boulder Creek and beyond.  We sometimes run passenger trains and almost always run a McKeen car for the passenger service on the branch.  Here are a few photos of the McKeen car.

McKeen car at Boulder Creek

McKeen car in the trees

McKeen car on the Boulder Creek Branch
passing under the bridge east of Felton

Here is a photo of a Baldwin VO-1000 working at Zayante.

Lastly, I have posted a video from the most recent run session on YouTube.  You can see the video here.  http://youtu.be/I24YowiGeMU

There are other videos of the SP Santa Cruz Division here:

You Tube video of SP Santa Cruz Division taken several years ago at a Parkinson's Association benefit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pBOQqt0e_s&feature=related

Cab ride east bound
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWNxnhISsLE&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

HiDef video taken from a GP38-2 on the SP Santa Cruz division [You may want to turn down the volume as the engine sound can be overpowering. Also you may need to adjust the resolution depending on the speed of your internet connection.]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blgMvDGlLG8&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

I am caught up on my late posts so there should be some progress noted on the SP Santa Barbara Sub in the next few weeks.

Aborted Operation Session

I often get very discouraged about my layout as I seem to come up against a wall - more psychological than physical.  Everytime I work on the layout I feel like I am not getting as much done as I need to.  Everything takes longer than I think it will, and if something can go wrong it does.

I did get in five more Tortoises.  I still have two more candidates.  I took
some breaks and wrote instructions for the yardmaster, assistant yardmaster, a couple of fixed switcher jobs and train briefs for locals, passenger, and freight trains.  The freight still need some work.

Several times I have hoped to have an operating session.  I have invited the local club members on numerous Tuesday nights over the past year*.  

Almost every time I try to get the railroad running and find more problems including shorts, loose rail, locomotive problems.  I will not bore you with a retelling of each and every attempt but here is what transpired one of the evenings.

I still was not ready when eight members showed up when the 7PM hour arrived but I explained the throttles and handed out three.  All were just locomotives - no cars.  One member took two Kato F40PH Amtrak units (one with sound) and managed a complete circuit of the layout.  That is about 330 feet and includes both levels and the helix up and down.  Another member took a GP35 across most of the upper level and down the helix and over some of the lower level to the Santa Barbara yard.  Another member took two tunnel motors from the east leg of the wye at Surf went away from the main and then back on the west leg entering the main.  He traveled west to Tangair where he pulled in the siding to allow the GP35 by and then came out to follow him back past the wye at Surf and down the helix.  We were having some issues in the helix so he reversed on the main and went over the complete upper level and then back to the helix where he went down to the first level and into the Santa Barbara yard.  All three engineers found issues with the trackwork and marked it with red tape so I have my work cut out for me.  We were operating for about an hour.  While all this sounds good, I am not sure I can count it as an operating session.

Here are some photos:

Paul, Jim, Art, John, and David.
David is the engineer on the two tunnel motors on the right.

Bob, Michael, and Joe in a deep discussion. 

And a short video:

          John even sings as the GP35 crosses the Santa Ynez River bridge.

*November 5, April 8,  July 8, and September 9

Last Run of the Atlantic Inland Railway - West

This last weekend I was privileged to be part of the crew on the Atlantic Inland Railway - AIR.  Paul Catapano's HO scale Little Rock Subdivision of the Atlantic Inland Railway is a freelanced eastern railroad set in July of 1952 in western West Virginia. The modeled portion of the road has a coal hauling base with industrial switching. Four coal branches coming out of staging drive coal traffic. A direct eastern interchange with the Western Maryland and a southern interchange via a secondary line to CRR, VGN, N&W, and INT provides a high level of interchange bridge traffic. Paul built the two story garage with the specific purpose of putting a railroad on the second floor. It is so large that he fondly calls it the “Garage Mahal.” The double deck 25' X 51' layout was built with a primary focus on operations. There is no helix but the second level is reached through a long grade requiring helper engines on all but the shortest trains. Stacked staging yards are beyond the modeled sections on both decks.

The layout has sparse scenery although Paul has put in some landforms and many structures or signs to designate specific industries. The operation uses TT/TO for traffic control and CC/WB for car forwarding. A Dispatcher is located downstairs, outside the layout room with a local Agent Operator in the layout room receiving and delivering train orders. Along with several yardmasters, road crews, mine runs and dedicated switching positions for a commercial district and freight house, there is a helper service crew for the grade between decks. Control is via wired and wireless CVP DCC throttles.

The layout has been operating since 2004, and last weekend was the last run.  I have been fortunate to run on the layout many times including a session as dispatcher.  Timetable and train order (TT/TO) operation is much discussed, but the AIR lives it.  It has interested and taught many of us in Southern California both the basics as well as the subtle nuances of TT/TO.  It runs on straight time - no fast clock to wreck havoc with switch crews.  Over the years, the dispatcher moved from the staging yard downstairs.  The Air added the operator position upstairs to copy train orders, issue clearances, and call in OS times at the various stations.  Train order signals were added at Summit, Pettigrew, and Athol, to inform trains of waiting orders they could pick up from the operator.

As with many model railroads, the crew enjoyed the camaraderie of fellow model railroaders.  We all learned together as Paul would always begin the sessions with reading the general bulletins and a "rule for the day".  We all learned rule 99 flagging to protect our trains.  Dispatchers became more expert and issued more complex orders, so as road crews we had to learn to keep up.  Members of the crew have moved to other areas but all keep in touch via the AIR Yahoo! Group.  

Paul and the AIR  participated in OPSIG and LDSIG events during the 2008 NMRA National Convention in Anaheim.  Model Railroaders from around the world came to visit.  The AIR was a major layout in both of the SoCal Ops events - 2012 and 2014.  But above all it was a place where serious operation minded model railroaders of Southern California would gather on a regular basis and lose themselves together in the hills of West Virginia in 1952.

We will miss the Little Rock Subdivision of the Atlantic Inland Railway, but Paul promises to build an eastern portion of the AIR  once he relocates and settles in.  We all look forward to that time and marking up once again on the AIR.

I took a couple videos of the last run.  They are over on YouTube.

Webster Springs Turn at Big Pool crossovers   http://youtu.be/zr7Z23vhUV0

Coal Train with Helpers upgrade at Salisbury  http://youtu.be/WDgH6KcElWc

Final run of the AIR President's Special  http://youtu.be/sR1K9_X0jKE

Here are a few photographs of the last run.

Paul reads the Bulletin and the Rule of the Day before making crew assignments

Part of the last crew - Fred, Dana, Ted, Ray, Barry, Chris, and Bill.

The Spitoon.  Inside are numbered tokens which are drawn during the crew meeting to assign seniority for choosing crew positions.

Ted working Littlerock Commercial while President Paul looks on.

Fred working the Wingedfoot Yard

The operator - Barry - on the phone with the dispatcher

The dispatcher - Al - on the phone with the operator

Dispatcher writing train orders

Matthew with the Webster Springs Turn.  Note the operations clock which runs at one to one speed.  Upper deck is Western Maryland Junction, lower deck is the west part of Pettigrew Yard

Pettigrew Yardmaster Bill at work

A crowded Pettigrew with Chris (helper engineer), Bill (Pettigrew YM), Paul (AIR President/owner) and Dana (engineer). 

Crowded Wingedfoot aisle with engineer Matthew, YM Fred, engineer Dana and Operator Barry

Salisbury Depot, train order boards, and westbound on the siding

Spooner's Cove

Pettigrew Engine facility with Ray and Bill in the background

Pettigrew Depot and train order boards

Littlerock Yard

Littlerock crew Stan, Paul, Jerry and Ted

Littlerock Yardmaster Jerry at the yard throat

Smiling Atlantic Inland Railway President Paul with a special presentation in commemoration of the final operation session of the Littlerock Subdivision

No Room For a Layout?

Well I thought I was going to post every couple weeks so I would encourage myself to progress on my layout.  I keep getting side-tracked and have done it again.

Last Saturday we had a meeting of the Daylight Division of the NMRA Pacific Coast Region.  I was organizing the meet and came up short one clinic, so I threw one together.  I will share here the thoughts presented at the clinic as well as the layout I built in a few hours to demonstrate the concepts.

I have often heard people say they do not have room for a layout so the clinic was a presentation on small layouts.  These are some of the considerations for small and simple layouts.

Advantages of small layouts

• Complete in a reasonable time
• Limits cost
• Permits ultra-detailing
• Easy transport
• Easy to store

Some guidelines include:

• Focus on a single scene. 
• Include some ‘hidden’ or cassette track, or try a sector plate
• Good candidates are Narrow gauge, traction or industrial railroads 
• Pick a locale and era to suit your taste in scenery and operations
• Limit your setting and make sure it has operating potential
• Pick an appropriate scale and gauge to the space 
• Plan the details

Different ideas for a layout include a book shelf, puzzles [timesaver and inglenook], ‘Pizza’,  fit inside of a suitcase or inside a shoebox.

I was intrigued last year by Lance Mindheim's One-Turnout Layout article in the May 2013 Model Railroad Hobbyist. http//mrhpub.com/2013-05-may/land/#/95/zoomed

In the article Lance asks “How much layout do you need to accomplish what’s important to you and how much do you really need to be satisfied?”

What is wonderful about this simple layout is that lance also considers operations.  He manages to get lots of play value out of the layout.

Before I talk about the layout I put together for the meet, let me put in a plug for micro layouts popularized by Carl Arendt.  While Carl passed away in 2011, his ideas live on at  http://www.carendt.com

A whole group of enthusiasts discuss small layouts on the Small Layout Design Yahoo! Group which has 5133 members.  The group started October 2000 and can be accessed at https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/small-layout-design/info

I decided to put the layout in a shoe box.  

I had a few so I then went to find a base.  We do not have easy access to the blue or pink extruded foam so I ended up using some pieces of homosote and plywood.

As most of you know I model in HO scale.  My son used to model in N scale so I looked in the N scale supplies and found some track and rolling stock.  I did not have a small locomotive so I went on ebay and got a little plymouth switcher that I think is the wrong scale [I think this may be an HOn2 loco.] but fits on N scale track.

Thinking about what I wanted to do, I looked at Lance's article and thought about a paint plant I had seen out in Fernley,Nevada in the desert east of Reno.  Here is a photo of the Sherwin Williams Plant.

There are three tracks instead of two so I reduced it to two.  Notice the covered hoppers and the tank cars.  The tank cars bring in latex, solvents, and sometimes titanium dioxide and kaolin in a slurry.  The covered hoppers bring in pigments and sometimes the TiO2 and Kaolin dry.

As I said, I decided to use homasote and plywood for the base.  I placed the tracks on the homasote and marked where the feeders would go.  Then I removed the tracks, drilled the holes, fed the wires and soldered the wires to the bottom of the tracks.

On the bottom, I had cut in a channel lengthwise and drilled a large space to keep the wires off the bottom surface of the base.

After soldering the wires to the track and nailing the track in place, the wires were fed through the holes.  The two pairs of feeders were combined into one feeder and fed down the channel.   The wires were then covered over with blue painters tape to keep it in the channel.

Once all that was complete the base was put back into the shoe box.  Here is a photo from above.

Here is a photo down the track from the cut out on the side of the shoebox.

I needed to put some structures on the layout, so I pulled out some file folders and did some cutting and gluing.  The main building is just a big box.  I did several silos of different heights and used a penny as a tool to make the circles for the tops.  All of it was glued together with Aleen's tacky glue.  I also used the Aleen's to secure the structures to the layout.  All in all, nothing special but it gives the layout a reflection of the prototype. 

Here are two more shots one from above ...

and here is a track-level view of the inside of the shoe box from the side.  

What is missing is a photo of the 'casette' which is an 18" long single track that connects to the end of the shoebox and makes it possible to stage and switch the plant.

And finally, a view of the entire assembly.

Altogether, the shoebox layout only took about 3 hours including a lot of thinking about how I was going to proceed.  Not a lot of time and the layout is operational.  I can spend more time replacing the paper structures, applying scenery to the base, and otherwise ultra detailing the layout, but I should really get back to work on the SP Santa Barbara Subdivision.