Willow Junction -- Track Laying and Wiring

Finally, I can run trains from the East Staging onto the Willow Junction side of the layout. Why has this taken me so long? Well, I convinced myself it was going to be hard, so I kept doing other things. Also, I was trying to improve my technique, which meant combining what I had previously thought of as two separate processes, laying track and wiring, into one. By soldering the feeders under the rails, it hides the soldered joint, which is a scenic improvement, and by powering the frogs, the layout should operate smoothly. This forced me out of my comfort level forcing me to push myself into improving my skills. I know, one does not learn by avoidance, but through practice. I had a few bumps along the road, but what follows is a description of my process.

First of all, I chose to have the DCC system fully installed and ready to go before laying the track and wiring it. The good: I was able to identify a loose solder joint to one of the isolated frogs during the installation process, rather than later. I didn't have to tear up finished work. The bad: lots of rabbit holes and work to be completed before track could be started! The ugly: I did not understand that the "Frog Juicer" works on electrical "draw." In testing as I went, I convinced myself that something was wrong when the frog "polarity" did not change when the points were changed. The board does not make that change until it detects the "short" in the current draw from a locomotive going through the point. I spent a lot of time and frustration trying to troubleshoot a problem that was not a problem.

Feeder wire and track ready for tinning
on the engine spur.

The track in this portion of the layout is code 83 Atlas Superflex with Peco code 83 Electrofrog turnouts. The process for prepping the turnouts is described in an earlier post. When soldering feeders to the underside of the rails, a major difference is the amount of measuring and rechecking as one proceeds. Not only does the track have to be the correct length, but the feeders have to line up with holes through the cork and layout. The Atlas flextrack has three spots open from the underneath to solder feeders. If these do not work, gaps must be cut in the plastic between the ties under the rail. At the same time that the rail is marked for feeder location, the location for the holes through the roadbed must be marked. While a sharpie works well for marking, I struggled with remembering that one rail in this flextrack is quite willing to slide out of its original position when I wasn't noticing. By tinning the underside of the rail and the feeder with a bend in the end so it fits in the plastic gap, the actual feeder soldering goes quite smoothly. Triple checking locations is crucial.

Photo of draft wiring diagram with
approximate feeder locations marked.

As the track was installed, I would connect the feeders to the bus and the frog wires to the Frog Juicer. I used red and black feeder wire, matching the bus colors, to keep the growing collection of wire under the layout organized. I also followed or altered the draft wiring diagram to keep a record for future troubleshooting. I used green (or white with green added with a sharpie) for the frog wires. As the rails coming out of the frog were insulated, feeders were required between the turnouts. After finishing one small section, I would check it with a multimeter and with a locomotive before moving on to the next.  Once the entire Willow Junction side was working smoothly, I soldered the rail joiners and tested one more time.

Before I can paint the track, I still need to scrub rail joints with denatured alcohol and fit in missing ties. But, I now have a small switching area in which I can run trains as I move on with a bit more confidence to install the track on the rest of the railroad.

The 8 Cent Weight Fix

In setting up my rolling stock collection for the railroad, I noticed that I had a preponderance of Great Northern rail cars. In recent research (Jeff Wilson's Freight Cars of the 40's and 50's -- a Christmas Gift) I read that about 50% should be home road, 25% other neighboring roads, and 25% more distant lines. One of the few more distant line cars that I already own is an Erie gondola that I picked up years ago at a train show. The initial problem was that it was underweight when empty, so it would not meet the rolling stock standards that I have established for the layout.

The solution was in the coin jar. Adding eight pennies brought the weight of the car up to the recommended four ounces. In addition to meeting standards, I wanted to add some weathering to the car. I recently read a weathering-tips article online that discussed "not-so-empty" gondolas. What follows is a description of how I brought Erie 45232 up to standard and improved its weathering.

The first step was to glue the eight pennies onto the gondola's original floor with gap filling medium CA. Then using .060 styrene, I scored and snapped a new floor to fit over the pennies. Using an emery board, I sanded the floor to fit, and then glued it into place with the CA. After the CA dried I brush painted the interior of the gondola with Model Master Rust and Grimy Black flat acrylic paints. In hindsight, masking and spray painting the interior with a primer would have meant fewer coats of streaky brushed-on paint. I'm finding that brushed-on Model Master does not cover as well as Poly Scale did and it has a bit more gloss to it. By using Bragdon weathering powders as well as glueing in some strip wood and coal with white glue, I was able to detail the interior and freshen the weathering of the exterior of the newest addition to my fleet. The next step will be to scratchbuild a pipeload using straws; maybe I can keep that to eight cents as well!