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+--- Thread: CP Scarborough Harbor Branch Line - HO Scale (/showthread.php?tid=385)
Re: CP Scarborough Harbor Branch Line - HO Scale - Gary S - 01-24-2010
Tetters, you've been busy! And that looks like major surgery too!
Re: CP Scarborough Harbor Branch Line - HO Scale - tetters - 01-24-2010
Thanks David and Galen. Lots to think about here. The 4 inch vent duct passes through a 5 inch hole in the deck. So the duct doesn't touch the layout structure and has about 1/2 clearance on either side. I was planning / thinking of getting some insulation to control the heat generated by the duct work. The layout sits about 2 feet above the top of the dryer and actually doesn't get that hot. Its the duct that I am most concerned about.
Hi Wayne. A roofless multi-storey building was also in the works for that area. Although it had not occurred to me that I could paint the duct black as well to disguise it. Leaving the dock doors open to allow air flow is also an excellent idea.
...and yes Gary...it was some major surgery. I'm just glad the patient pulled through.
Edit: Re: Dryer Pipe Heat: Actually for what it's worth, the dryer duct work doesn't actually get that hot. I've been doing some laundry for the last couple of hours and got up there and carefully checked the duct for heat. It gets warm, but I can comfortably rest my hand right on it, without it getting to the point where it too hot to keep it there. That said, I will still keep the area surrounding it vented, i.e. roofless building and some openings like dock doors such as Wayne suggested to keep air moving around the pipe.
Re: CP Scarborough Harbor Branch Line - HO Scale - tetters - 01-24-2010
Whew, finally got this relaid.
![[Image: DSC03484.jpg]](http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee118/tetters73/DSC03484.jpg)
After dinner tonight, I'm going to start spiking down some rail on two spurs located on the East leg of the layout. Almost finished the track work...almost...
Re: CP Scarborough Harbor Branch Line - HO Scale - Gary S - 01-24-2010
That turned out very nice. I like the new track arrangement. And I see that the switch survived its relocation!
Re: CP Scarborough Harbor Branch Line - HO Scale - ocalicreek - 01-24-2010
Excellent trackwork, indeed!
Model Railroads tend to be highly flammable constructs. How many of us have a fire extinguisher within reach?
Okay, safety notice complete. I'd still recommend insulation if at all feasible. I recall a comic in an old MR with a modeler in tears because he tried to bake a paint finish on plastic models. It'd really stink (maybe literally) should a nice Accurail reefer sit next to that vent for too long and gain an undesired warp.
Galen
Re: CP Scarborough Harbor Branch Line - HO Scale - tetters - 01-25-2010
Quote:Okay, safety notice complete. I'd still recommend insulation if at all feasible. I recall a comic in an old MR with a modeler in tears because he tried to bake a paint finish on plastic models. It'd really stink (maybe literally) should a nice Accurail reefer sit next to that vent for too long and gain an undesired warp.
That's a very good point Galen.
Quote:Model Railroads tend to be highly flammable constructs. How many of us have a fire extinguisher within reach?
Actually... I have two 5 lbs ABC extinguishers in the house. One under the kitchen sink next to the stove, the other one by the furnace, which conveniently is in the same locale as my layout.
Re: CP Scarborough Harbor Branch Line - HO Scale - tetters - 01-27-2010
I've been working on various items to get the layout up to speed construction wise. Just little things like installing feeders where I want/need to put them. Working on some other areas underneath the layout wiring wise, trying to button things up and make it neat and tidy.
I took stock of what I have left to get done too, and right now I figure I've got about 6 feet of track left to spike down. Which is not a lot, considering the amount I've work I've done once I got motoring. This figure though does not including the pier construction which I am planning as a seperate build. So to speak.
My layout also grew up a bit yesterday as I bit the bullet before the New Year and decided to get an NCE Powerhouse Pro Control Box w/ Booster & a Magna Force power supply from Tony's. This little dodad arrived in the mail yesterday. I wired it up in the evening, which now makes my Power Cab a Pro Cab. The difference is like night and day. With the Power Cab supplying the power to the layout, it took about 5 - 6 seconds for the cab to boot up and then provide power to the layout plus, the Torts were getting sluggish. Not a huge deal, seriously. However with the PH the boot up is nearly instant. I flick the switch on the power supply and it all comes to life! I was not worried about the 5 amps of power the PH supplies as I used 16 gauge stranded wire which is the mininum size recommended according to the manual. My Torts are running like tops once again and seem a bit snapper when accessed from the Cab. I have 18 Torts hooked up, with an expected total of 21 by the time the layout trackwork is done. Not to mention I have decoder wise; two Switch it's, two Switch 8's & four HFJ's all tied into the DCC buss. I also have a few other odd accessories that will also run off the buss as well by the time I'm done with it all. The PH will also allow me to run a couple more cabs should the need arise.
This weekend weather permitting, I might try and build some shelving I've had planned for the benchwork beneath the layout in a couple of areas. Plus a new work station area to move my bench top sander and a small 8" drill press I bought with some x-mas mullah.
Re: CP Scarborough Harbor Branch Line - HO Scale - BR60103 - 01-29-2010
Tetters:
about 10 years ago I was operating on a friend's layout with DCC. He was powering the cabs with an old HO power pack that gave, I think, 2.5 -3 amps. We were having a little problem in that, when we cured a short, the locos would start up and roar off before the hand controllers finished resetting. Berndt Lenz suggested that it might be inadequate power supply, but the layout was dismantled before we fixed it.
Re: CP Scarborough Harbor Branch Line - HO Scale - tetters - 01-29-2010
BR60103 Wrote:Tetters:
about 10 years ago I was operating on a friend's layout with DCC. He was powering the cabs with an old HO power pack that gave, I think, 2.5 -3 amps. We were having a little problem in that, when we cured a short, the locos would start up and roar off before the hand controllers finished resetting. Berndt Lenz suggested that it might be inadequate power supply, but the layout was dismantled before we fixed it.
I'm not too sure what you are getting at here as hopefully the problems that plagued DCC systems 10 years ago have since been rectified. However, I bought the Magna Force PS which is recommended for the NCE PH by Tony's. So I'm not worried about the PS being inadequate. In fact, my layout actually runs better now.
If you are simply relating a story, that must have been a bit a hairy situation to have encountered! yikes!
Re: CP Scarborough Harbor Branch Line - HO Scale - Steamtrains - 01-29-2010
Actually, I think the bug persists...A couple of times I've managed to run a loco into a turnout set the wrong way
, and the ensuing short started a couple of locos off to the races...luckily they all ran off the spurs they were on, so no damage to them.... 
This with a D'trax Zephyr....
Re: CP Scarborough Harbor Branch Line - HO Scale - tetters - 01-29-2010
Steamtrains Wrote:Actually, I think the bug persists...A couple of times I've managed to run a loco into a turnout set the wrong way
Interesting. I didn't experince this problem with my previous track arrangement when I did the same thing while running just the Power Cab and it supplies a continuous 2 amps of power to the layout. When I cleared the short, everything was normal. No surprises there.
See here's the other thing to try fit in with this scenario. With my frogs now wired up to the Hex Frog Juicer Boards, no matter which way the points are thrown, the loco will pass over the frog and not short out the layout, like it would if say I had wired the frogs to the internal spdt switches of a Tort or a used a Caboose Ind. ground throw with contacts. The HFJ doesn't care which way the points have been thrown as the micro switch will automatically correct the polarity. In fact, I have derailed my locos a couple of times when I have not been paying close enough attention to have checked the points to ensure that I have them set properly for the approaching train. The loco will proceed through the turnout until it jumps the track and I'm standing there smacking my forehead mumbling "Way to go dumb@$$!!!".
I like this new set up actually, because as an operator it forces me to pay attention to what I am doing or else like in the real world I will have an "accident" which would cause damage, while costing my RR time and money to repair if a train derails.
I suppose I could try a hard short and see what happens when I remove the short from the layout, whilst having the emergency stop at the ready in case things do go crazy.
Re: CP Scarborough Harbor Branch Line - HO Scale - tetters - 01-30-2010
Plodding along here. Any work done on the layout is progress right. Most of the work so far has been underneath. I'm getting all the track feeders in and making sure the wiring is tight before I go ahead and start painting and weathering the track. I'd hate to do all that work and find out that I missed something electrically and have to mess up any scenic work I did.
I spiked down the two spurs leading in the corner of the layout during the week. I've always had a bit of a leveling problem with this corner of the layout and my newest incarnation is no exception. Spotting cars quickly turns into runaway cars, or rather, uncoupling is impossible.
So decided to get creative and design a "derail" of sorts. Except this does not derail the rolling stock, it rather just holds it in place.
The prototype.
![[Image: DSC03492.jpg]](http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee118/tetters73/DSC03492.jpg)
I was testing the waters with this. There are a couple of things I needed to improve on. The post or handle sits too close the rolling stock, is way too tall and secondly it doesn't look like something you'd see on the side of the tracks. The loop was fashioned as a means to get the tip of a bamboo skewer in there, but it was really quite unattractive...
![[Image: DSC03493.jpg]](http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee118/tetters73/DSC03493.jpg)
So I disassembled the first one and went about making a new one. This one would sit further back from the rails and I'd try and make it look like a piece of track work equipment or machinery. There are three parts, the brass tube acts like a sleeve. The brass stock cut from a piece of square brass and filed flat leaving just enough to drill some holes and the 38 gauge piano wire.
![[Image: DSC03494.jpg]](http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee118/tetters73/DSC03494.jpg)
I soldered the brass sleeve to the bottom of the rail, slid in the 38 gauge axle or shaft. The derail part was slid onto the shaft and then I marked and bent the shaft to get a 90 degree elbow. Then the derail was soldered to the shaft, making sure that the derail and the "post" part of the shaft were at a 90 degree angle from each other and would allow the derail to nestle in between the rails when it is flipped down and the post would stick straight up or vice versa.
![[Image: DSC03495.jpg]](http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee118/tetters73/DSC03495.jpg)
I made a sign of sorts out of some brass stock as well and soldered to the shaft.
![[Image: DSC03497.jpg]](http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee118/tetters73/DSC03497.jpg)
Add some head blocks and voila!
![[Image: DSC03498.jpg]](http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee118/tetters73/DSC03498.jpg)
The mechanism acts like a catch. The sign post keeps the derail from continuing to flip over and allow the rolling stock roll on through. The derail catches the trucks axles about half way and actually doesn't look all that bad. If the derail is left up, and I'm spotting cars, the first axle to hit it simply pushes it down. The mechanism moves freely and requires little to no effort. If I want to pull cars off the siding, I simply back them off the derail, flip the sign post up using the tip of my skewer and continue on through. I imagine it will all look better once painted.
![[Image: DSC03500.jpg]](http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee118/tetters73/DSC03500.jpg)
But not so fast. There is always a catch. The all metal design does have a flaw as I found out when confronted with metal axles. The derail causes a dead short on the layout. The solution was simple. I chopped a couple of small pieces of styrene and used some CA to cement the strips in place on both sides. No more shorting, and it just adds another small detail to the mechanism.
I ended up making two of these. I don't need anymore really. Just for these two particular spur tracks. I suppose the next idea would be a way to figure out how to automate them somehow. I don't know if this particular design can be adapted, but I was thinking about it while building this little contraption.
*** I also inadvertently got my answer to this little worry some thought...
Quote:Actually, I think the bug persists...A couple of times I've managed to run a loco into a turnout set the wrong way
Since the layout went into dead short as a result of the derail contact with the metal axle once I cleared the short by using the ol' 0-5-0 method and allowed the PH to boot up.... nothing happened. No loco sprinted off, nothing. Other then the layout coming on-line all was fine. Which is good to know.
Re: CP Scarborough Harbor Branch Line - HO Scale - doctorwayne - 01-31-2010
Nice adaptation of a derail, Shane.
As I was reading, the thought crossed my mind about metal axles, but I see that you discovered it before I could mention it. 
Another method of which I've read for keeping cars from rolling away is to plant a nylon bristle from a brush between the rails. They're not very visible and they need to be only high enough to catch the axles. I've not tried this method, but I believe toothbrush bristles were suggested - they need to be pliable enough that cars and locos can be run over them, yet stiff enough that standing cars won't.
Wayne
Re: CP Scarborough Harbor Branch Line - HO Scale - tetters - 02-09-2010
Holy Schadenfreude!
3,500 spikes, 4,000 ties, oh my aching back!
If anyone gets pleasure by watching others suffer then here it is.
![[Image: DSC03516.jpg]](http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee118/tetters73/DSC03516.jpg)
I finally spiked down the last bit of main land track for my layout. I started last night and was feeling rather despondent about the whole effort so walked away. Tonight, after making the family dinner, helping my oldest clean her disaster area of a bedroom (still not done...yes its THAT bad!), I got an even bigger bee in my bonnet and had at this. The last foot of this was an absolute pain. I don't think I've felt as uncomfortable spiking down a length of track then I did tonight. I was just plain awkward to get at. Plus, I hate spiking from right to left, just a thing I guess.
Well enough whining. I honestly couldn't be happier!
No Golden Spike moment yet... I'm saving that for a special occasion. But I'll settle for a Silver. For now I will bask in the effort it has taken to get this far and prepare for painting and ballasting in the days ahead.
Re: CP Scarborough Harbor Branch Line - HO Scale - BR60103 - 02-09-2010
Shane: did you try a plastic tube for the derail instead of brass? Admittedly, you can't solder it ...
As well as toothbrush bristles, check monofilament fishing line. This will be long enough for any application when the toothbrush may not. For some reason, I have a reel of it at home.