The rebirth of the Canyon State RR
#46
(06-13-2019, 07:54 PM)BR60103 Wrote: Ballasting is the last thing before tearing the layout apart to move house.  (Youngs's rule)

Seriously, though, I like to run it for a while before ballasting. Most of my scenery is removable from in front of the tracks.

Good point, I like that idea of waiting a bit. On my last layout, I did the ballasting up front, and wound up moving some track afterwards. A most difficult and messy task for sure. My next step is wiring though, and yes, I'm sticking to DC, I don't have the funds nor the patience to convert to DCC. My biggest interest is in creating scenery anyway, running trains is secondary, but still important.
Don (ezdays) Day
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founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
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#47
Once the track is down, wired and tested and trains have been run over it in both directions then I ballast.
Mike

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#48
Got a kick out of Amazon. Just did a search for "model railroad ballast", and found that they were selling a bag of ballast without "expert installation" for $7.99. Optional installation was $114.03/unit more though. Awesome That also included reinstalling the light fixture. A real bargain, somebody puts down your track ballast and fixes you florescent lights as well (it's in the description). Waiting

My concern is that after the ballast is down, changes get a bit difficult. But then, wait too long and that's not easy to do either. I'll be a while before I get to that point anyway, I just hope that once I do get it all down, that there are no changes or surprises after that.
Don (ezdays) Day
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founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
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#49
(06-15-2019, 09:15 AM)ezdays Wrote: Got a kick out of Amazon. Just did a search for "model railroad ballast", and found that they were selling a bag of ballast without "expert installation" for $7.99. Optional installation was $114.03/unit more though. Awesome That also included reinstalling the light fixture. A real bargain, somebody puts down your track ballast and fixes you florescent lights as well (it's in the description). Waiting

My concern is that after the ballast is down, changes get a bit difficult. But then, wait too long and that's not easy to do either. I'll be a while before I get to that point anyway, I just hope that once I do get it all down, that there are no changes or surprises after that.

Don. I glue mine down with a mixture of 50% Elmers white glue and 50% windshield washer fluid. any time I need to lift a section a liberal spray of windex and in 5 minutes the section will lift right out, then I scrape the leftover up and maybe even shop vac whats left.  Ballast so close to the min here is cheap even though they doubled the price from 5 dollars a ton to 10.     
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#50
Wow Charlie, bunches of ballast there. Now, based on what you can buy ballast for I've found it as low as $3.00 (5# for $15) a pound, up to $16.00 (1/2# for $7.99), a pound meaning it can range anywhere from $6,000 to $32,000 a ton. Almost as profitable as selling printer ink.
Don (ezdays) Day
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founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
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#51
(06-16-2019, 06:23 AM)ezdays Wrote: Wow Charlie, bunches of ballast there. Now, based on what you can buy ballast for I've found it as low as $3.00 (5# for $15) a pound, up to $16.00 (1/2# for $7.99), a pound meaning it can range anywhere from $6,000 to $32,000 a ton. Almost as profitable as selling printer ink.

Or testors paint....
There was enough here, once screened and dried, to do my layout (over 1000 feet of HO, and I donated some to 5 other people. The larger size that wouldn't go through the screen,  was donated for a large Lionel display put on by some friends, and I still have about 10 pounds of HO, and about 100 pounds of fine ( that went through the splatter cover screen) that would be quite nice for N.      Charlie
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#52
I was one of the lucky donees, and the ballast looks great...

[Image: Peco%20turnout.jpg]

I later picked up some similar material locally, and after screening it, used it near the Mount Forest engine terminal...

[Image: PECO%20TURNOUT...%20002.jpg]

Wayne
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#53
The ballast looks great, I may be another one to use it, only in N scale.

Started to wire, and just thought I'd pass on something I've been doing for  a while now. I'm drilling through a couple of layers of foam and two sides of a hollow-core door, and found an easy way to get the wires through, using straws. I don't know if this is a common way to get the wires from one side to the other, so it may not be unique, but here it is anyway.

I drill a 1/4" hole through everything then push the straw through the hole. I then push the wire through and tag the end. The wires will eventually go to terminal strips. I'm using solid wire, so it's easy this way. I did use stranded wire at one time and found it was easier to push the wire through the straw first before putting it in the hole. This all saves lots of frustration and frayed wire ends. Once the wire is cut to length, I just pulled the straws back out, leaving the wires in place. I was even able to color-code the wires using different colored straws.

   

   
Don (ezdays) Day
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founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
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#54
I use doorbell wire is it comes red and white together for .06 cents a foot (.03 per wire) and it is solid not stranded so it is very stiff, When you straighten it it will go thru a 1/4" hole thru those layers with no problem but if you use stranded wire then the straw is a good work around.
Mike

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#55
(06-18-2019, 06:31 AM)Tyson Rayles Wrote: I use doorbell wire is it comes red and white together for .06 cents a foot (.03 per wire) and it is solid not stranded so it is very stiff, When you straighten it it will go thru a 1/4" hole thru those layers with no problem but if you use stranded wire then the straw is a good work around.

I've used stranded in the past, but I've got a 1,000' roll of #22 solid security wire (red/black). You're right, I probably didn't have to use the straws this time, but I think it made things go a bit faster anyway. I like the solid wire, easier to solder to the rails. I used to have a long drill bit with a hole in the end. Security system installers use it to drill a hole and fish the wire back out at the same time. After several moves, it, like a few of my other tools, have disappeared. Not to worry, I'm not doing much in the way of security installing anymore and I have straws to help wire my layout... Thumbsup
Don (ezdays) Day
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founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
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#56
Took a break from doing trackwork to put together a control panel. Here's what I came up with. The panel is a sheet of copper-clad circuit board material, the graphics was printed on my printer using a clear sheet and it's topped off with a sheet of non-glare acrylic. Got some wiring to do, but the pushbuttons will light up when it's working.

   
Don (ezdays) Day
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founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
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#57
Nicely done Don!
Mike

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#58
(07-12-2019, 05:27 AM)Tyson Rayles Wrote: Nicely done Don!

Thank you kind sir. We made security graphic annunciators and control panels in our business for around 25 years, unfortunately, I don't have any of the tools I used to have to make them, so I'm limited to what my printer can put out and a few meager workshop tools. To me, it's just about the right size anyway. Now I have to look around to see if I have a way of connecting it to my layout wiring. My wife used to do all the wiring and soldering, but unfortunately, she is unable to do any of that now, so the panel wiring is my job now.
Don (ezdays) Day
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founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
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#59
Been a while, but I've been puttering around when I have the time. The track is all down and I plan on ballasting as I go. I wanted to start with the chapel that I scratchbuilt for my old layout. it is a 220 scale of one that is up in Sedona, Arizona. I had a mine entrance under it on the old layout, so I added some height and now there's a short tunnel. Sedona is surrounded by red rocks and I wanted a backdrop behind the chapel. I start one using extruded foam. I took a shot as I got the first glue-up. I wanted to do progress pictures, but I just forgot, so you have the before, and the after is behind the chapel hill. I have some cleanup to do on the chapel hill, it got over sprayed with black wash a few too many times when I was adding to its base.

   

   

   

   

   
Don (ezdays) Day
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founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
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#60
Great progress Days. Great color on the rock spires too.  I too keep forgetting the progress pictures so I don't have much to post on my layout, but work is continuing. 
Charlie
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