GEC's Layout Progress

[Green_Elite_Cab]

For what it is worth, electrics have caught my interest at times. I haven't ventured into it though partly out of no place to do it and partly out of fear of getting in over my head. I would want it to be functional and I am afraid that's just too much work. before you get to run, I like to run it.
Les

Yeah, i think if i ahd the right tools it would be easier. I just got more wire for my catenary, and i'll be making anew bridge (the one on the photos had wire that was to thick in my opinion). I just wish i had a drill press so that i could make drilling into the rails easier. Nickel silver is tough to work with, especially when using smaller bits, and now that i'm using smaller wire, it will be worse. I do have enough wire now, though, to get a substantial section of catenary up, so we'll see.

I've finally got my Arrow and E44 electric working for DCC, although there are some issues i need to work out.

I've also nearly finished decaling the Arrow. Hopefully i can get the lighting taken care of soon.

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Its a month later, and i'm sad to say I haven't touched my trains in forever. I'm not quitting out on the hobby, but i just don't have the energy i guess (or the money for that matter!). Lots of stuff going down, and even though i have the time, i'm just not feeling it. I'm thinking if i do anything, it will be more track repair, and rearranging some crossovers.

The only thing i did do was add a throttle jack to the other side of my layout, so now i can unplug my hand held and move to the other side without having to pass the chord under the layout.

[MadHatter]

Here we go again!!

Looking forward to this!!!!

[LynnB]

try making a scratch building or thinking of ways to make the RR more interesting like adding a creek or a bridge maybe a new mound with rocks or trees.

[Ralph]

Its a month later, and i'm sad to say I haven't touched my trains in forever. I'm not quitting out on the hobby, but i just don't have the energy i guess (or the money for that matter!). Lots of stuff going down, and even though i have the time, i'm just not feeling it. I'm thinking if i do anything, it will be more track repair, and rearranging some crossovers.

The only thing i did do was add a throttle jack to the other side of my layout, so now i can unplug my hand held and move to the other side without having to pass the chord under the layout.

Occasional breaks from the hobby are not unusual for me. Depending on what's going on with the rest of my life the layout might sit for a few weeks without any activity.

Ralph

[eightyeightfan1]

A hobby is suppose to be a break from life. Sometimes you have to break from your hobby, for your life.

[MadHatter]

Sorry, my previous post was a lot off topic, didn't realise that we were already on page four. :oops:

Don't worry G.E.C. I'm going through the same as you- having a break from the hobby.
1st off, I was cut from you guys with my wife and I moving, now I have once or twice a week access- when I work nights.
My layout and half of my stuff are literally 100kms away back at my parents house and there just is no space at the moment to put up anything.

Since they broke in two weeks back and us finding out that we can get a bigger place for the same price that we are currently paying- my wife and I have decided to move again (the fact that our geyser burst last night has put fire beneath us and now we are looking hard).

Anyway stay strong- won't be that way forever.

[Trucklover]

Chris i find myself doing the same thing every once in a while, usually its just because i get bored of the layout or i have nothing to do because i need to buy more supplies lol.

[Green_Elite_Cab]

This is true i guess, but still, this hobby is to expensive to let sit and collect dust without use.

I think i just need a new layout to build, but i'm starting to not think that will happen. The more i look at it, the more i'm beginning to think that if i start something now, its not going to be finished in any real way until after i'm out of this house, and it might be better to not build anything to big. I'm thinking about building some sort of module or something. That is still frustrating, because it doesn't really solve the operating problems with my old layout (which is why i wanted so badly to build a new one), it just adds to the track work and gives me some more space to build structures.

wgrider is right though, i do have trees to plant! i should do that... then i'll work on those tracks (its looking like i'm going to have to hack up some more flex track, but we'll see).

[Trucklover]

Chris you mentioned moving out of the house soon for one of the problems thats holding you back, thats really the same for me, were the same age and getting to the point where we will move out soon. All the plans i have done for large layouts in my room have never actually started i think because i start to think about it and its not practical to start building a layout that will take me a few years to "complete". And by this time i will have most likely (lets hope lol) moved out of my parents house and into a place of my own. Then all that work has pretty much done for nothing, as i cant take the whole layout with me, and instead have to dismantle it..... Also part of the reason i have done 2 modules and started the plans for the M&ET modules (which by the way will finally get under way and started this weekend!!!!!!)

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Well, i got some work done. the most major thing i did was to continue renovating and rebuilding my track. Last summer i built a whole new passing track and reconfigured the interchange track. Now i'm increasing the length of the original passing tracks, and I'm making the crossovers more friendly to smooth operation.

Here is the original track configuration. the double S-curves caused by the crossover and then the curves immediately afterward caused lots of issues, so i decided this had to go before i went further with catenary and such. I can see why they track was put together this way, since the original plan was for beginners, and in order to make my new idea work, some of the snap switches needed extra surgery.



I moved the crossovers to the ends of the curves, giving myself twice the length i originally had. This also has the added bonus of keeping the crossovers away from my catenary bridges. that makes constructing them easier, since all the crossovers are between catenary supports, where in the original, they crossovers were bisected by the catenary poles (requiring a third cross-span support)



I plan to replace the old switch machines with under-table ones, so that makes that easier. I'm replacing alot of the old (brass) sectional track with nickel silver flex-track as well, to improve reliability. As i said before, i had to do surger on the switches, which meant that i had to cut off the straight section past the frog on the diverging end as far as i could, in order to keep the mainline on the original right of way.

They are not connected by rail-joiners or anything, but they are anchored in place so that they stay lined up.



The only problems I'm having right now are catenary pole placement. In one spot, clearances are tough. in real life, catenary poles are 12' from the track center. While i might not always be 12 feet off, this one spot causes trouble, and I'm not sure how to properly address this tight clearance area.



In other news, here is my first ever tree! I formed and painted 20 other armatures, but i haven't added the foliage to them yet.



The tree looks nice next to the commuter station, but i think i'll need more trees in this spot.



Speaking of other models, i found this Athearn American Hardware Supply Truck, so i figured i better buy it, since it matched!



Still working on my Arrow III single care (haven't even gone back to the married pair yet), but right now i'm waiting to get the tools i need to build the pantographs, and i'm still tracking down fiber optics. This picture really shows how well the Alclad paints worked for this model. only the ends are polly scale stainless steel (which was intentional since they "brush" the stainless steel ends in real life as well).

keep in mind that i haven't added the pilots yet, so if it looks funny, that's why! they are part of what permanently mounts the shell, so i can't add them until i get the internal stuff finished.



Also started work on an F40PH-2CAT, which is standard diesel power on NJ transit. the rear platform on these units is overtaken by the HEP generator, so that explains why the rear is cut off. the rear piece will go on the end, and i'll use styrene to fill in the rest.



I also got a new work table, but you'd never tell from all the stuff left on it. I'm going to have to clean it off tomorrow! so many projects.....



Not pictured, but certainly news, is that i have just ordered the frame and truck side frames for my PL42AC. I might not have the decals, but the locomotive should be running soon.

Thats it for now, we'll have to see where i got next with all of this.

[LynnB]

Look out he's off and running.

[Puddlejumper]

PRR would not put a cat pole there in that tight clearance. The span would be increased for all the tracks. Looking at Baltimore, Bayview yard, there are spans from 1 to 8 tracks at a time. At Benning Yard, D.C. the track centers were extremely tight, with no room to ride on the side of cars, presumely to be able to span all the tracks with the cat poles. You would need prolly 20 or more feet beteen trakcs to put a pole there.

Don't know what amtrak would do, it seems a lot of the common sense that the PRR electric team had has gone by the wayside.

Dave

[Green_Elite_Cab]

PRR would not put a cat pole there in that tight clearance. The span would be increased for all the tracks. Looking at Baltimore, Bayview yard, there are spans from 1 to 8 tracks at a time. At Benning Yard, D.C. the track centers were extremely tight, with no room to ride on the side of cars, presumely to be able to span all the tracks with the cat poles. You would need prolly 20 or more feet beteen trakcs to put a pole there.

Don't know what amtrak would do, it seems a lot of the common sense that the PRR electric team had has gone by the wayside.

Dave

Yeah, i figured that would be to close, but the other tracks are just a freight siding. I don't think my loading dock is wide enough to accommodate a catenary pole sticking out of it. I have seen single poles that are double tracked, but then my catenary would not be as uniform. The only other thing i can think is to move up the catenary bridge. I didn't really want them to be to close together (i was going for every two feet on straight sections), but it would be possible to place a catenary pole on the other side the highway overpass from the other catenary pole/cross span. This would let there be enough room to realistically place the catenary poles that would be installed behind the camera where they should be. It might even be better, just to hold the wires more steady.

[MadHatter]

Hey GEC

Great to see some progress!