New Module -- Roadbed and Track, Part 1

The roadbed jigsaw pieces fit together

 In my last post, I mentioned next steps as working on the new module as well as completing some infrastructure work. I have, for the most part, focused on the new module in the last couple of weeks. However, before moving the module back to the sawhorses, I gathered up some of the tools and materials from the train room expansion projects and moved them out to the garage. In doing so, I was able to liberate the red work cart for actually working on the railroad. 

The puzzle is underway

I ended up piecing the roadbed together from a variety of materials. I had some cork on hand, but not enough to complete the whole module. I ordered some Walthers closed cell foam roadbed when I first ordered supplies for this project. Also, I found that I had one piece of cork turnout pad. Remembering my experience reclaiming modules, I used Elmer's white glue instead of Weldbond in case I would need to make changes. Again, I used a combination of nailing, clamping, and weighting to affix the roadbed materials. 

Putty in the gaps

With the assortment of types of roadbed and methods of attaching it, I had a bit of a learning curve. As I moved forward, I continued to double check with the track markings and the track itself. Facing turnouts and the full width foam were both new to me, so finding the one turnout pad in my bin of track parts helped. Clicking to enlarge the photos, one can see the pice of cork that I cut to fill a void. I traced the odd shape on a piece of paper and used it as a template. While it took a few days to fit the jigsaw pieces of roadbed together, it all came together. In this photo, I had just finished filling gaps in the roadbed and the screw divots with putty. 

The trackwork starts with the turnouts

With the roadbed in place and the cork painted an initial gray color, it was time to move on to starting the track and wiring. I started with the Peco turnouts. I have discussed prepping Peco turnouts before such as here or here. At this point I have isolated the frog and have a feeder soldered that will later run to the Tortoise switch machines. As I am using the switch machines on these two turnouts, I also removed the tiny spring in the turnouts. Back in my modular railroading days in Seattle, we discovered the possibility of creating shorts with the spring in place when using switch motors to change polarity. 

Now it is time to move on with fitting the track together and dropping feeders. As I solder the feeders under the rail as I lay the track, these two steps are taken together, rather than the typical lay track and then add feeders. I may take a brief break in working on this new module, as I will be prepping for a group clinic on weathering without an airbrush at my NMRA division's next in-person meeting.

TOMA Phase Two: New Module & Next Steps

Underside of the new module

The new module's benchwork is complete. Since my last post I completed the process of glueing and screwing the plywood top to the framework. After the glue dried, I drilled some holes through the framework to later run wiring. I also cut and glued on some wood spacers to support the fascia once it is time for that step. After those dried I went ahead and primed the underside with a latex primer. 

Now that the benchwork construction of this new module is complete, I revisited the penciled in track plan on its plywood top and started test fitting the track and roadbed. When I ordered track, turnouts, and roadbed a few months ago, cork roadbed was not available, so I went ahead and purchased some of the new Walthers closed foam roadbed. I also purchased Peco flex track, which I hadn't used before. Since I am using Peco turnouts, it makes sense to use their Code 83 flex track as well. 

By temporarily clamping the new module in place, I not only identified a slight angled gap between the modules, but I was also able to accurately position the end of the roadbed. In working with the Walthers roadbed, I found it to be less forgiving, perhaps because it is full width, with curving easily. I cut a small straight piece to glue in place here at the junction with the existing benchwork, ensuring that the subtle s-curve going through the fill would be from one length of the roadbed. Walthers says it can be glued, but does not specify what type of glue. I tried Weldbond. 

After the Weldbond dries, I will unclamp and move the new module back to the sawhorses to more easily work on finishing installation of roadbed along with the track and electrical work. I will need to review prepping the Peco turnouts before pre assembling the turnout section. Along with installing the trackwork, I will want to at least start some of the electrical work such as the track feeders and DCC bus with the underside easily accessible. Unlike the track and roadbed components which I ordered ahead of time, I'd better check my supply of switch machines and wire. I also have some infrastructure work to complete: hardboard for the backdrop and a new LED fixture for lighting will need to be purchased and installed as well as prepping and painting the floor before permanently bolting the module into place.  

TOMA Phase Two Underway

Revised Phase Two Sketch

I left off my last post with a desire to revise my plan for Phase Two and start with the new benchwork. As seen above, I shortened the plan for the new module and came up with this working plan. 

After sketching the plan, my next step involved unburying the sheet of half inch plywood from the back of a pile of lumber in the garage and purchasing a new blade for my Skilsaw. Still out in the garage, I cut a two foot by six foot section to bring into the basement to work from in order to fashion the top of the benchwork for the now six foot long cut and fill module. My plan was not to just create a flat rectangular benchtop, but to incorporate a curved front as well as some lower sections for the "fill" to rise up from. Later I will create the hill with the cut on top of the plywood base.

Using measurements of where the track on the modules to either side will be, my layout plan sketch, and some track I drew out the track plan on the plywood. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you can see where I drew in the curved front of this new module. I started sketching in the track plan in pencil at this point as well, but I went over the curved front with a marker to make it easy to see. That will be the first cut with my saber saw. 

After cutting out the curved front of the plywood panel, I continued with drawing the track plan on the plywood. I first sketched in some initial ideas for the lowered section or ravine that will be cut out. I also did some basic calculations to get an idea of how low these dropped sections need to go. I have a trestle that I built from a Campbell kit years ago that I plan to use on the drill track. I also have a concrete culvert kit for the fill section. I wanted to make sure I had room for these. Then I cut out those sections that will be dropped below the rest of the plywood top. 

After cutting the plywood to its final shape, I started designing and construction of the grid framework. In this photo, it is completed and resting on sawhorses, ready for the installation of the top. To actually build the grid, I had the plywood on the sawhorses and laid out the "one by" pine panels on top of it. I used basic glue and screw techniques to put the grid together.  Having two drill motors made fast work of drilling and then screwing the parts together. 

In this photo from earlier today, the top and recessed areas are positioned in place, as is the trestle. After I took this photo I went ahead and glued and screwed the plywood top in place. One trick that I tried before final assembly was to reposition the plywood under the grid on the sawhorses in order to pencil in exactly where the grid frame pieces would be before reconfiguring the panel back on top. I also avoided positioning screws under future track locations as well as countersinking the screw heads, so they would be hidden under future scenery. 

I plan to continue working on this new section as a module as I find that it is much easier to complete some of the next steps by tipping it upside down or on edge rather than crawling under the installed benchwork. I need to complete some more prep work before installing this section as well; floor painting and extending the backdrop come to mind.

Basement to Trainroom Continued

Earlier this week I finished painting the foundation walls, completing one step of the transition to trainroom. While nowhere near as wet as last spring when the sump pump failed, the floor has a couple of areas where the existing green paint is missing and moisture is seeping in. A next step, painting the floor, will have to either wait or be done in sections avoiding moisture. Generally the "French Drain Canal" has been channeling the water to the drain in the far corner of the basement successfully, and the existing green paint seals the moisture away.

When my wife and I moved the Ferndale Junction module into place, she pointed out that, even with the fold down section, she felt it was too close to the well pressure tank and inlet plumbing. Her point is that we should allow room for someone to work if (or when) we need work done. So, we moved the module back a bit, and I have been sketching out a plan for a six foot rather than seven foot module for the new section between Nooksack and Ferndale Junction. I really don't want to set myself up for a serious "I told you so" situation. 

Next steps appear to be some floor cleaning and painting as well as finalize the plan and get started on the benchwork for the new cut and fill module/section. 

Staying On Track: Updates Continue

 

With the wiring and clean ups coming together in the basement/train room, I went ahead and unpacked the buildings from Nooksack and placed them in their intended locations. Having finished the background warehouse for the packing house scene, that area is ready for next layer of scenery such as ground cover application. However, before I jump into that I want to continue with the next phase of construction of benchwork and backdrop as it will be just to the left (west) of this scene.

Just in the last few days I picked up some 1 by lumber for benchwork construction. I started by cutting to length before glueing and screwing together some 1 x 2 and 1 x 3 boards to form an L-girder.  The back edge of the new section will rest on this L-girder shelf. I discussed this new section, designed to create some scenery and connect the Ferndale Junction module with Nooksack, in an earlier post. As implied by the placement of the L-girder shelf, the new section will continue with open grid construction. I explored a couple of other benchwork approaches, but decided to stick with open grid benchwork with a couple of adaptations. I do plan to drop part of the plywood below track level to create the bottom of a lowered ravine section of the cut and fill scene. I may also use a subtle cookie cutter technique to create a bit of incline for the yard lead track. A third adaptation will be a slightly curved front edge to this section of benchwork, anticipating future expansion plans where this area will accommodate a narrow aisle. While the benchwork here has all been pretty rectangular, I did build a curvey, multilevel section in my attic layout in Meadville. The next steps with this section include extending the backdrop and cutting the plywood (or cardboard template) to shape, so that I can finalize the track and framework plans. 

While the painting of the basement walls is still not complete, I did finish this section between the laundry area and the furnace a couple of weeks ago. If I would just knuckle down and do it, I have only one section of the exposed foam coating of the stone walls left to paint. Granted it likely will be the trickiest, with lots of pipes and other household infrastructure to work around, but it should be doable in one day's work. While the area behind the new section and Ferndale Junction's walls are painted, I should paint the floor and do any hydrostatic concrete repair before the permanent installation of those modules takes place. As I paint the walls, it just makes me more aware of how beat up and unsightly the floor appears. Prepping and painting the floor is a bit of a gumption trap, but I must bite the bullet before I make it even harder for myself by fixing more benchwork in place. 

Ingleton Updates

Ingleton with fascia and Power Cab installed

The last time I posted about bringing the Ingleton shelf back to life, I listed six items to work on in checklist form. Over the last few weeks I have completed the first two.

I saved  a piece of beveled siding that the previous owners used in the bar area of the basement to use as the fascia. After trimming it to the correct length, I couldn't decide how to best attach it to the shelf. It is seen leaning against the shelf in this photo.  Without some form of support, I was convinced that a connection between the 3/4" shelf edge and the narrow beveled edge of the fascia would be flimsy at best. Also seen in the photo is what I decided to do--I glued a 1" x 2" along the bottom of the front of the shelf. My thinking was that would give enough support to the fascia after it was screwed in place. 

Before attaching the fascia, I figured out the appropriate size opening for the NCE Power Cab throttle panel, marked it, and cut it out, remembering that I had limited wire length to work with from the existing bus wire. Also before attaching the fascia, I applied the first coat of SW Andiron, my standard fascia paint color. Then I clamped the fascia in place and attached it with drywall screws and finishing washers before applying a second coat of paint. 

Since the shelf already had the DCC bus installed, completing the installation of the Power Cab system was quite easy. The supplied wall wart cable plugs into the back and the two track wires screw into the green clip that then also slides onto the back of the panel. I found that using a white pencil to mark the screw hole locations on the fascia works best with my dark fascia color. The mounting screws are not included with the package, but I have a collection of screws on hand. I followed the NCE guideline of having the LED to the bottom and plugging the flat wire into the left port. To finish the installation after mounting the panel, I also drilled two holes in the fascia and attached dowels to hold the throttle when it is not in use. This can be seen in the initial photo at the top of the post. In that photo, one can see that a valance is needed to limit the glare from the LED lighting for the Ingleton shelf.

I am hesitant to move much beyond planning for the valance by unpacking rolling stock and structures before I have more presentation or infrastructure work done. Again, looking at the initial photo at the top of this post, more painting needs to be completed behind Ingleton's stud wall. Also, cleaning up the base of this stud wall might be connected to a desire to paint the floor. The green floor paint is starting to get pretty beat up looking. On the other hand, if the desire to run some trains becomes overwhelming, Ingleton is ready!

Prep for TOMA Phase Two

While work has continued on the basement to train room transition, I have also continued with planning and preparation on phase two of the TOMA approach to the 4th Subdivision. I gave a brief introduction to my thinking in an earlier post. To the right in the drawing above will be a new section with a cut and fill as well as a pair of turnouts. On the left, based on modules brought from Meadville, will be "Ferndale Jct." the interchange with the Great Northern mainline and the interchange yard. Over the past few days, I have given serious thought to having the two turnouts (entrance to the yard and yard lead) in the new section be signaled as an interlocking plant. If that plan develops, it will be a whole other series of posts!

Painting the foundation wall behind its location was a first step in preparing for the Ferndale Jct. addition as well as a first step in the continuing improvement of the appearance of the basement. A five inch roller seems to be the best for covering the foamed stone foundation, followed by stippling with a three inch brush. I still have one section of wall to paint, with the corner behind the well water tank appearing to potentially be particularly tricky. I need to pick up a short wooden handle for the roller. I may need to convince my wife to wedge herself behind the tank for painting the far corner. 

While the new section with the cut and fill is still just in conceptual planning phase, I have been working on the modules making up the Ferndale Jct. yard and interchange. So far, I have been removing track, ballast, and scenery from areas that will require a change in track location. Ballast, cork, and track attached with white glue or scenery cement are fairly easy to remove after soaking with isopropyl alcohol. Sculptamold is a little harder to remove, but comes off with some moderate effort with a chisel and a painter's 5-in-1 tool. As I think I mentioned in an earlier post, ground goop is like concrete; it requires chiseling with a hammer. After the rough removal, I have been going over the area with an orbital sander. I think I am at the point that I can place these modules temporarily in place to finalize the measurements and sketch the benchwork plans for the new section. 

In addition to the prep work for TOMA Phase Two, I have been working on cleaning and organizing the basement. Just a couple of days ago, I removed the last patch of nails and cobwebs from furring strips over what I had set up as the agent's or dispatcher's two years ago. It may be where I set up operations on the Ingleton shelf; we will see. I do need to keep plowing through with the painting and organizing. Cleaner, tidier, and brighter all are a draw down to the train room. 

Ingleton Revisited

One intended consequence of having the electrical work finally finished and making headway in cleaning up and organizing the basement will be bringing the Ingleton shelf back to life. Honestly, it has fuctioned more like a junk drawer than a small switching layout since work started on the 4th Subdivision nearly four years ago, mainly due to my removing the command station for use on the larger railroad. Last summer I picked up an NCE Power Cab system with the possibility of revitalizing Ingleton in mind. 

With the electrical work completed, the Ingleton shelf has power and a ceiling receptacle for lighting; I can move forward again here.While my initial main focus moving forward will be on upgrading the basement into an inviting train room, Ingleton will again be in play. One role will be as a practice plank, experimenting with some new scenery techniques. Another role will be in switching practice, whether as an Inglenook puzzle or as a few spots to switch at the edge of a yard a few decades before my railroad set in 1954.

Checklist:

• Fascia
• NCE Power Cab install
• Scenery
• Rolling Stock
• Additional buildings
• Valance

Basement to Trainroom Updates

Our electrician came by this past week and finally finished all the upgrades. These include:

1.  Six LED lights for basic basement lighting  mounted in three bays of the basement with separate switches for each bay.  
2. Eight plug in receptacles installed in the ceiling for train lighting as the layout grows. The switch in the center of this photo is for the train lighting. 
3. The glowing "UFO" appearing nightlight (which can also be in full light mode) controlled by a switch at the top of the stairs. 
4.  Not seen in any of this post's photos are the new circuits to my paint booth, the sump pump, and the dehumidifier. 
5. Several other upgrades and repairs finalized the electrical work.

 Between his parent's health issues as well as mine in the fall, it took months to actuallly get four days worth of work finished. Still, it is very motivating to have it finished. Yesterday, my wife and I took the four older florescent tube fixtures that had been removed and five contractor bags of ceiling tile, out of commision wiring, and other rubbish to the dump. The general basement clean up is underway, but a lot remains to be done. 

Today, while organizing what needs to be moved to the garage, I took the edge banding and miscellaneous screws and nails out of the plywood deck of the former "bar." I had been thinking that I could use it as part of the TOMA phase four "blob." In my planning it will have a 30" radius. Placing the cleaned plywood on sawhorses, in the planned location, I sketched out  the radius. In double checking the marked piece with my scale plan, it appeared to fit. Since it was all laid out, I went ahead and cut it. Phase four is quite a ways away, but I am reassured that my plan is working, and I can store this reclaimed piece of plywood for that future day. 

I still have a lot to do before I move onto construction of the phase two TOMA modules mentioned in my last post or my plan to reenergize the Ingleton shelf. The cleaning and organizing that I have been doing as well as having bright lighting make a huge difference in terms of keeping the motivation going. While at the big box store yesterday I picked up some concrete hydraulic leak repair mix to attempt my floor levee creation along the French Drain canal. I will also want to paint the foam insulation on the foundation walls in the last portion of the basement before extending the railroad into it. I may also try painting the basement floor. Even before those tasks, I should rework the shelving and paint storage in the laundry area of the basement. 

Staying on Track: Updates and TOMA Phase Two

Over a week ago, our electrician was able to spend a couple of days working with us. Several projects have been completed and most are at least started. Hopefully he will be able to finish up next week. One of the new general lighting fixtures in the basement is seen in this photo. He has all six of the hard-wired LEDs installed. He has all the boxes roughed in for the railroad lighting and the wire strung for those as well, but those receptacles or any of the switches are not in. I have been removing the detritus left over from the ceiling tile removal (some tiles were removed by the previous owners and I just completed removal of the balance). I have most of the nails and tile bits removed, with about one more session needed on the ladder to finish. You can see the nails and tile bits on the furring strips in the photo taken before I removed them in that section.

The rolling stock and buildings remain packed up, and the completed benchwork is under tarps while drilling, hammering, and removal continue overhead. The general lighting is much brighter, and I am making some headway in cleaning up after our messy work as well as visualizing what the future train room might look like. We have numerous bags of debris to move out of the basement, but with our recent 18 inches of snow and weeks of below freezing temperatures, we have been slow moving it out to the garage to store until the township's "spring-cleaning event" aka free junk gathering. Once the electrical work is done, I want to paint the remaining basement walls including where the planned phase two of my TOMA plans will be located. 

I have been sketching out some ideas for the phase two segment. In the sketch, the right segment will be a new module, mainly focusing on scenery, including a cut and fill. I am thinking that the benchwork will be grid framing with cookie cutter plywood as the subroadbed. The middle section will be a module that I brought from Meadville, although it will have some additions and changes. For example I am adding a runaround, and what was the front will be the back. 

On the planning sketch, I have added a two foot square addition to the left, basically to keep a linear standard with the yard tracks here as long as my Nooksack passing track. This addition utilizes a corner module brought from Meadville seen in this photo. As a corner module with scenery, I found that I needed to clear it down to the plywood base. I made several discoveries or observations in doing so. Cork and ballast applied with white glue can be removed by saturating with isopropyl alcohol and prying with a painter's 5 in 1 tool or heavy putty knife. Sculptamold is also fairly easily scraped off. Ground Goop, on the other hand, is difficult to remove, requiring heavy chiseling and sanding.

I have been spending time in the basement most days. While on one hand, a lot of it is infrastructure work rather than modeling, on the other hand, many of the work days have been significantly more that just a few minutes. The condition of the basement has been a major gumption trap for quite some time, and I see a light at the end of that tunnel. 

Staying on Track: Nooksack Switch Control Redo

 

NP interchange, one of the new control touch toggles

In a post last fall, I discussed changing from a control panel to individual controls for the switch machines in the turnouts in and around Nooksack, thinking that it would be a more prototypical approach. In a post earlier this month, I mentioned actually getting on track by regularly spending time in the basement with the new switch control system as one of the potential projects. 

Having earlier removed the control panel and ordered "Mini-Cup Toggles" and "Extension Cables" from Barrett Hill Shop, the first step was to remove the "Direct Base" from the front of the fascia. As seen in the photo, I identified the bell wires coming from the different switch motors before disconnecting them. I also sketched a quick diagram of red and white wire order, so that the LEDs in the toggles would show green for mainline and red for diverging route when everything was completed. I went ahead and disconnected the wires labeling them by turnout number.

Remembering that the panel would be reversed when mounted on the back of the fascia, I reinstalled the wires from the Tortoise turnout motors to the "Direct Base." Then I reinstalled the unit, screwing it to the back of the benchwork 1" X 4" behind the fascia. As the fascia was pretty beat up and I didn't want to replace it, I resorted to spackle to plug the holes and otherwise smooth the damage from removing the control panel. Luckily, I was working on the railroad for a limited time, but regularly. Rewiring the base unit and testing took some time, as did waiting for the spackle to dry, sanding it, and later touching up the paint. 

As long as nothing was directly behind, I chose to drill the 1" holes lined up in front of the turnout throw bars. In a couple of cases, I had to veer a little off to clear an obstruction.  I also wanted a consistent level above the bottom of the fascia. After marking a point 2" above the bottom of the fascia with tape, I first drilled a small hole through the fascia and frame at that point. Then I used a 1" Forstner bit to drill the holes lining up the center point with the smaller hole. While the Forstner bits are more expensive and slower than spade bits, the holes are clean and accurate. 

In this photo, one can see the cup touch toggles as they come from Barrett Hill Shop. I also ordered some extension cables as the mini-cup toggles come with a relatively short three wire cable. Luckily I had calculated closely enough with the number of two and five foot extensions that I had ordered. When I first made my order, Kevin offered me a good deal on the mini-cups if I returned the original touch toggles from my control panels. He is very helpful, and has a reputation of working with folks to solve their problems.

 In this photo two of the Mini-Cup Toggles can be seen in place. Although I had one kerfuffle with two of the wires slipping out of their clamp in the base unit, with a little patience I was able to solve that problem. In doing so, I found another feature of the Direct Base. The blue wiring clamps actually slip off and on on posts, so I was able to reattach the wires easily to the blue wiring clamp freed rather than working in a really tight space behind the fascia. 

Looking at the original photo at the top of the post, one can see that the fascia there still needs some touch up. I will need to remove the fascia to complete the water and other scenery in that section, so I chose to not attach the toggle cups with acrylic caulk at this time. They are tight enough to stay in place, but can be easily removed for fascia touch up later. I also want to dress some of the cable wires, so they are more hidden from view. Other than that they are all working, so when we ever get the electrical work done, they are ready! 

Back On Track in 2026

 

My last few posts from 2025 discussed the railroad in the basement being on hiatus. One step towards getting back on track in 2026 consists of having model railroading itself not be on hiatus. No matter the status of the basement and still incomplete electrical work, I can spend time at the workbench. In this photo, I have mounted some 1/16th inch wood to the roof and started trimming some Bar Mills shingles to complete the roofing of the wooden warehouse. I initially started construction of this warehouse back in July, but work on it has been in fits and starts. Roof shingles and installing the windows should finish it.

Actually building the habit of spending at least ten or fifteen minutes most days is the first major step to getting back on track!

Looking back over my posts from 2025, a major issue and gumption trap stemmed from taking a one section at a time approach to prepping the basement as train space. Definitely connected to that were the 2025 sump pump failure and electrical work's glacial pace. Our electrician had family illness, hospitalization, and death causing delays, and I had hospitalizations as well. We still haven't gotten the planned work done. While the rolling stock and buildings are safely packed up, limiting what can be done, some work definitely can be done, either on the workbench or in other train room prep. 

Another step that I could take, now that the holidays are over, is to redo the switch controls as I discussed in an earlier post. I am pretty sure that I have everything that I need on hand. The work would largely be under the Nooksack benchwork, and the completion now would set me up for being able to actually run trains once the electrical project is finished. While working under the benchwork, I could also revisit my plans for revamping the DCC cab bus. The East Branch segment does not have a UTP panel.

Midwinter is an ideal time for model railroading and to get myself motivated. As noted above, I have projects to work on now, and I have projects to work on after the electrical work is done:

• Complete scenery in sections of the Nooksack and transition to East Branch areas.
• Paint walls and prep space for Phase Two of Nooksack.
• Revisit the Ingleton mini layout. 
• Organize storage and work on train room "presentation."