December 30, 2011
Went to acquire a few goodies at MRO Electronics this morning, before they closed early due to new years eve (at least they were open, their main competition was closed for the entire week…) and when Cam and I got home, started work on one of the planned projects: the extension north from Mud Bay siding. Yes, the track did go a little further, but not enough in my opinion. So, we got to work with prepping the track board for Buckley Bay (a short single ended spur), and the track board and risers for the rest of the run down the peninsula towards the curve off the peninsula wall and onto the outer walls (the ones which still need shelf standards and brackets…)
After much work, decisions, and a new bottle of yellow glue (the previous bottle cracked in the middle…not easy getting air to compress and push the glue out), we have some more benchwork built, and ready for cork, track, and wiring.
December 29, 2011
Today, decided to get the tortoises on the port sub wired up fully, and connected to the control panels purchased for them. While somewhat finicky, I did actually manage to have success with using some unused and relatively old Cat3 cable for wiring up both power and control for those three switch machines.
Open house – great success!
So the open house on Wednesday was a great success. Cam arrived mid-morning and helped huge with getting things cleaned up and organized along with me, and Michaelea did a fantastic job tidying up the main floor.
Around 1pm, Cam and I started fixing a temporary loconet cabling thing and then Grant and Mike showed up. And then more came and went…we never did get that cable fixed to a point where we could power up the layout until much closer to four or five pm when everyone was gone, at least for a bit of time. Once done, all was powered up and then more came and went…
In total, I think we had at least a dozen people through to see the progress on the layout. Certainly some of you would’ve liked to be here but couldn’t due to distance, work, or simply being on holidays during this time of year. I understand. If you want to take a look, send me an email jon@calon.ca and we can try to set up a mutually good time for you to take a look.
Cheers!
December 21, 2011
A quick update on the shortest day of the year (even though it’s still 24hours long?)
Last night went downstairs after dinner and worked on wiring the port sub to the bus, which actually had to also be installed.
Also wired in the frog power to the three tortoise switch machines as well.
At some point will need to get some serious cleaning done before the open house next week. hint: if you haven’t got your invite yet, please send me an email (jon@calon.ca) for the details.
Cheers!
December 12, 2011
With the snow falling pretty much all day yesterday, decided to get some stuff done around the house and then went to the basement to get some stuff done.
Nearly finished getting the bus wires hooked up to boosters, hated the barrier block I was using to transition the 14ga solid wire to 14ga stranded wire, and ripped it out and replaced it with a terminal strip which necessitated crimping on a bunch of fork terminals. In the end, very much worthwhile for reliability. The old barrier block would’ve been prone to wires coming loose and falling out.
Also pulled the bus wires for the accessory bus and wired in the tortoise controllers in the south Parksville industrial area (National Silicates and the team track) and voila. That works now!
It was by this time that Cam had finished a rather grueling weekend of work and he came over to unwind and at this point I powered up all three boosters, making all track runnable. I gave him a throttle, locomotive and sprinkled a few cars around the layout and gave him the switching orders. Was really pleased to see the layout run smoothly and all the switching done!
A reminder for those who haven’t heard, I’m hosting an open house in a couple weeks. For full info, you’ll need to email me (jon@calon.ca) soon.
Cheers!
December 4, 2011
A quick update tonight before I retire for the evening.
I’ve been taking care of a few little things over the past few days. Not a whole lot of time spent on the layout owing to a few other priorities, but did manage to hook up the loconet on the UP5’s to the command station and booster on Thursday evening, though I’ll definitely have more work cleaning up once a few more bits are finalized. Just need to run power to the panels and all will be good on that front.
And tonight, installed a handful of bullfrogs. I must admit, the install of these things is quite nice compared to tortoii, and can actually be done on ones own! A nice thing happened once the fifth one was installed; all turnouts currently installed now have a positive lock on the points. Might be a bit of a challenge actually changing said points, but still being able to move cars through turnouts without fear of half the car going one way while the other half takes a decidedly different route is a good thing.
Cheers!
November 28, 2011
Been a little while since I posted an update, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been doing anything.
Though admittedly it hasn’t been a huge amount of work, every little bit will help. So far I’ve got a lot of feeders and frogs wired together through the installed bullfrogs, work done on getting the command station and boosters setup on a small shelf on the peninsula wall close to the helix, acquired a UPS for protecting the electronics, and oh yeah, built a few more bullfrogs. I’ve also installed and partially wired in three UP5’s, though more needs to be done for those to be usable.
Once I’ve got a fair amount of work done on cleaning up the existing projects I’m likely going to host an open house so everyone can take a look at the work to date. Probably going to be around Christmas, so I’d suggest sending me an email (jon@calon.ca) and I will privately advise on the address and time/date as the latter get nailed down.
Cheers!
November 20, 2011
Called Cam and Dan this morning to invite them on a hobby shop crawl (nice this city has several shops open on Sunday!) and then do some work on the layout. I picked up a proto 2000 sw9/1200 for the port alberni switcher, (needs a dip as I don’t think the alberni pacific paint scheme has ever been done RTR.) some decals for when the GP9’s are painted, and the latest edition of Railfan Canada which has an article about the E&N.
When we got back to my place, work progressed on fixing a couple of other minor sunkinks and fixing a short on the layout. Two things discovered through that hour plus of frustration:
- The continuity on my layout is freaking fantastic!
- don’t use a piece of rail set between the ties as a temporary wheel stop.
Most of the Victoria sub is now fully wired and I’ve also even started installing the UP5’s into the layout, thanks to the silver satin cable and plugs I picked up from active electronics yesterday.
Cheers,
Jon
Sun Kinks followup
Further to yesterday’s post about the issue of sun kinks…
Spent a bit of time thinking what the heck was going on and then decided to lift a few spikes (turnout did not get lifted) and then cut the rails with a pair of rail nippers. When I put the track back down to see what sort of length was causing the buckle, it was very close to an eighth of an inch!
Unsoldered the section of track immediately to the north of the switch and then let the turnout rest. Thankfully, it straightened out almost on it’s own and with a few minor adjustments, is back to normal. A new section of track was installed after the requisite solder wick was acquired and left a little short with an expansion joint. The bullfrog controlling that turnout was also replaced, more to ensure an easier time with getting the feeder wires hooked up to the frog.
Inspections on other turnouts showed initial evidence of rail expansion and we’ll have to make sure we do a really good job of spiking down the turnouts with both track spikes and Peco track pins which extend all the way to the subroadbed.
I have a funny feeling that the basement is cooler in the summer than in the winter…
Sun kinks?
Well then. So much for “trackwork that never goes out of gauge.”
Came downstairs to do some wiring work and when I glanced over to the ballast pit spur to set down a reel of wire, noticed something rather odd. And there you have it, a sun kink/heat buckle at one of the worst possible spots.
I thought the basement was a relatively stable climate for the railway and now finding out that I need to adjust track laying practices to ensure there is some room for movement in the rail.
sigh.
Will post more as repair efforts are done.
Smartphone Friendly!
I host my own WordPress site. Until today, that meant a lot of people who view my site on a smartphone or an iPad got to view the regular desktop version of the website. Given the links and intended large size of the screen, this made for a poor user experience. (Those who host their blogs on WordPress.com didn’t have this to worry about…)
But starting today, those who access my site from a small device like an iPhone or an Android device can now see the content in a format much more suited to their screen, and is much better on bandwidth consumed in accessing the site, so your data plan won’t get smacked just from viewing the blog. Note that you will still have access to all the content, just in a different format.
If you have any feedback on this, either leave a comment on this post or send me an email.
Cheers!
November 15, 2011
Another quick update…
Last night I finished soldering the feeders to the track (not to the bus though) on the Victoria sub north of Parksville and then proceeded to install a few bullfrogs…
Specifically on the superior propane spur, the south storage track in the vicinity and importantly, the junction switch at Parksville. I will admit, having lateral adjustment on the bullfrog mounting is extremely useful. Yet another reason why I love these things so much!
November 14, 2011
Cam was ever so nice to make a side trip on his way to work, stopping at MRO to pick up some hook up wire for my layout. Two 100′ reels of wire for about $22. B&E would extract more than double that for the same thing. And I have to question why?
In any event, I picked it up from Cam after work. After dinner, I pulled some more bus wire, hooked it up to the main bus and the dropped a bunch of feeders, soldering about half of them to the track before heading off to bed.
Cheers,
Jon
November 13, 2011
A really quick update tonight. Spent about a half-hour spiking down all the fitted track on the Victoria Sub north of the Parksville Junction switch. On account of a lack of suitable feeder wire, I’m not likely going to get anything that direction done until I can obtain wire.
Not to say I can’t get anything else done, like installing Bullfrogs for instance, or getting an accessory bus done up to power the tortoises or the UP5’s…
Cheers,
Jon
11/11/11
Had to work today, so not as much progress as I was hoping. However, I did manage to spike down a section of the Victoria Sub immediately after the junction switch, and then pulled the fitted track up so I could prep the turnouts (ie: remove the throwbar and headblocks from the wrong side of the switch) and drill the holes for the throwbar as well as drilling a hole in the throwbar for the eventual installation of the Bullfrog.
I also soldered up the turnout for Buckley Bay.
Cheers!
Jon
November 9, 2011
Cam called this evening, from home, around 7:30. Most normal people wouldn’t give this a second thought, but this was rare for Cam. He works evenings during the week, so he was definitely home way early.
I said he was welcome to come over, and he did. I said I was in the midst of doing some work to get my spray booth up and operational, and while I was cutting plywood for the base, he continued working on the fitting of the track we started laying last weekend. I had originally taken a photo at the time we finished that task, and everything looks good, but the photo turned out like crap. Now we can drill the holes for the throwbars, get the track soldered together and wire it up. Now all the track is connected!
November 5 & 6, 2011
So I will admit that the fluorescent fixture wasn’t entirely all my work. Most of it was, but Cam did provide some assistance. Once that task was done, he got to work on sanding (and in some spots, grinding) the cork into the shape we needed for the Victoria sub, just north of the Parksville junction switch. Once that chore was done and the evidence vacuumed up, he got to work with fitting track.
Meanwhile I was busy getting the three turnouts ready to go, which for one of them included getting it soldered together, and for all three, gluing up the skeletons to the quick sticks, cutting the isolation gaps for the frog and otherwise making them ready for the layout. We managed to get the storage track fitted together and pushed cars from the Parksville yard all the way into the helix, so in some respects, the connection has been made to join up all the track, however, the main track isn’t fully fitted, nor have we got anything really spiked down.
Murray also came up to inspect the progress and was quite pleased. I was certainly happy to have him up too.
Today was a slightly quieter day. I came downstairs with the intent of getting some other stuff done and accomplished:
- construction of the last bullfrog I have in stock. Need lots more though.
- built up another four boxcars. Easy kits too. Even better is the fact I obtained them for two or four bucks each. And then spent more than that per car on changing out couplers to kadee #58’s with whiskers and metal wheels…
- submerging three GP-9 shells in 99% isopropyl alcohol. I hope they don’t come out worse for wear…
- starting on a turnout for Buckley Bay.
Overall, a relatively nice and productive day.
Cheers,
Jon
Let there be light!
Ever since we changed the track plan and eliminated Wellcox yard, the lighting plan was already decided on. As such, Parksville and arrowsmith siding were always a little dark.
This morning, I rectified the problem with the installation of one more light fixture perpendicular to the rest of the fixtures in the basement.
I think it works wonderfully!
October 30, 2011
“The bridge is in!” Cam came over after noon and we made Really Good Progress on the middle deck. Specifically, we’ve got benchwork and cork installed to connect the Victoria sub pieces together, which when track is all laid, would connect all track laid to date. We even got things ready for the superior propane – Parksville spur in as well.
So stoked! Cam even suggested once we’ve got enough stuff done that I should be looking to host an open house to show off what’s happened thus far…
Cheers!
October 23, 2011
I received a phone call from one of the hobby shops I deal with advising my Intermountain wheels were in. Goodie…I can take the plastic wheels out of the new boxcar kits I’ve assembled and turn them into scrap loads. Not that I’m likely to ever do that since wheelsets likely wouldn’t have been changed out anywhere other than Wellcox yard on the island…
Gave Cam a call in the early afternoon, woke him up, and then advised we’d be headed out. Stopped by Eastridge for the wheels, found they didn’t have any needed Peco track pins and went to Ewok Emporium (aka Chinook & Hobby West – South) for those. Bought all six bags of them since I’m quite likely going to need that many (and more) for the rest of the layout.
Did a bit of railfanning down at the spot and had a bit of lunch, then back to the house for some additional work on the layout.
Accomplished was a fair bit more wiring/soldering work, cutting isolation gaps between power sub-districts (I’m subdividing the four power districts on the layout to further protect the remainder of the layout from the inevitable shorts) and getting a couple Bullfrogs installed on the siding switches at Bryn.
All in all, another productive afternoon. Once things get wired into a command station/booster, and bullfrogs installed at Parksville, I can actually do a little switching. Whoo hoo!
Cheers,
Jon
October 22, 2011
A brief update for today. After running a few errands, had Cam and Dan over for a few hours early this afternoon to get some stuff done.
Turns out, mostly electrical work on the laid trackage. Dan dropped feeders on the Bryn section, Cam spiked down a couple feet worth of the trackage south of Bryn, and afterwards, while I was finishing up soldering the feeders to the lower helix, he stripped and prepped all the feeders onto the bus wire. I followed afterwards with soldering all the wiring together. Still more soldering to do, but had other plans this evening. Will likely get more done tomorrow…
Lessons learned
Spent a few minutes (well, okay so it was closer to a full hour) down in the basement and tried to figure out what task to take care of. Figured a few more feeders could be hooked up to the track and found some begging for some long overdue attention.
Months ago, Dan took on the fun task of crimping feeder wires onto big ring terminals and then getting them into position on the main helix. I finally got around to actually attaching them to the track. Well, half of them….more or less. You see, it’s great to have access to both sides of the helix so the black wires can be soldered on easily from the outside and then go into the inside to solder the red wires to the inside rail.
Except for the fact there’s no easy way to solder the black wires to the track when you can’t be on the outside due to a wall. Oops.
So when we start in on doing the upper deck helix, we’ll solder feeders on when the track is more exposed…
Cheers,
Jon
October 9th, 2011
So the previously disconnected track around the peninsula end of the middle is now connected! With yesterday’s installation of the two curved turnouts leading to the Parksville team track and National Silicates (along with their associated tortoises), Cam and I got all the trackage laid, spiked down and feeder wires hooked up to the track (still needs to be hooked up to the bus mind you…) and then worked all the way to Bryn. So for the time being, we have trackage from south of Bryn through to the port sub past Parksville.
Excellent progress!
Really offset Tortoise install
Here is the switch leading to the Parksville team track. On account of the one-turn helix underneath this track, we couldn’t put the switch machine underneath the trackage as per normal custom. As a result, we fashioned some funky tube and wire contraption to ensure there is adequate pressure on the points. The turnout will be controlled by a signalogics switch control.
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