A Signal Tower For East Branch -- Part 2

Workbench on Christmas Eve

Between the last post and Christmas Eve I made some progress with the Atlas switch tower. The tools, materials, and status of the tower are seen in the photo of my workbench. To get to this point during the buildup towards the holiday, I did manage to spend a few minutes on the tower on a number of different days. Since things had to dry and this was my only project, that schedule worked out fine. I will use a bullet list format with each bullet point representing a different day to document the progress.

• I scrubbed the plastic walls, base, and roof with 70% isopropyl alcohol using a toothbrush. After the alcohol dried, I painted the edges of the base with my standard "earth brown" latex paint. 
• I took the second floor walls out to the garage to paint with 2X Ultra Cover "flat gray" spray primer. As it was in the 30s, I brought the wall sections back into the basement to fully dry after spraying both sides of the walls. I lightly sponged a red and brown craft paint onto the bricks of the first floor.  
• I applied a control coat of Vallejo Wash "dark gray" to the brick walls of the first floor.
• Using Vallejo 70.992 Model Air "neutral gray," I painted the first coat onto the windows and doors of both the first and second floors of the tower. After measuring the thickness of the blue plastic door with calipers, I added .040 X .080 styrene strip to the top and base of the scrap box door in order to match the opening on the first floor wall. 

Today, as I write this a few days after Christmas, I returned to the tower revamp, but I will wait until I have made even more progress to discuss it in my next post. 

 

A Signal Tower For East Branch

At an in-person meet of my "new" NMRA division a week ago, I "won" a couple of somewhat dilapidated HO scale buildings as a raffle prize. One of them was an Atlas signal tower with a missing door and a loose wall. I decided that it would be a good project to get me out of a modeling funk. Adding a light and some interior details along with some painting practice might allow me to work towards a reasonable stand-in without the stress of underachieving with my self-imposed expectations on an expensive kit.

Possible location between the NP Interchange and 4th Subdivision mainline

By adding this structure here, I can also complete a first layer of scenery in the neighboring nearby couple of feet of terrain. These two projects should get me going again. Nothing too challenging with them, but I can get back in practice and hopefully see some progress. 

Atlas signal tower, partially disassembled

While it is not even close to a Great Northern prototype buiding, I have decided that it is a relic of the Bellingham and Northern Railroad that the GN took over. I found a Woodland Scenics Just Plug light in a parts drawer. As I mentioned earlier I will create some kind of interior for the second floor. The paint scheme will be the GN dark and light grey. The dark grey for the doors and window frames will help disguise the oversize window mullions, a trick I remember Lance Mindheim writing about somewhere. My first step was to further disassemble the building a bit more so that I can drill openings through the base and floor for the Just Plug wire. While this is not a contest level project, I hope it is just what I need to get back in the flow of actually working on the railroad!

TOMA Phase One: Modeling East Branch

The east staging now has a name, and the image above is the draft track diagram using the Copperplate font just as was used in the control panel at Nooksack. Unlike that control panel, it will just name the location and the tracks. The turnouts are manual; touch toggles will not be used here at the sceniced staging. 

East end of East Branch

Now that East Branch has a name and I have recovered from the MER convention, it is time to move forward with next steps. Two of the first steps are to paint the new track on the "run-around" extension and to paint the unpainted seam on the backdrop. The yard office, while complete enough to manipulate for positioning, needs to be completed. With those steps under way I can also finalize terrain dips and bumps, locations for roads or paths, and first layers of ground cover. To help keep me on track, I have created a next steps to-do list. 

Rails and ties painted on new runaround

Yesterday, I got started on my list by tackling the painting of the track here and the few places that new track had been installed on Nooksack. I have written about my process for painting track on this staging module before. One approach that I did a bit differently was to paint the ties soon after airbrushing the rails and ties. By the time I had cleaned the airbrush and related bottle, the ties had skimmed over, so I went ahead and painted the ties, mixing tie brown and grey craft acrylics as I went. While on a roll, I also unpacked some furnace filter trees to judge height and potential shadows on the backdrop, and after conferring with a photo pencilled in some outlines for later painting the gap in the backdrop.

Cleaning recently painted rails with wooden stick

As mentioned earlier, I painted the several patches of unpainted rail on the Nooksack module while I had the airbrush and paint out. After the acrylic paint had dried, but not really set up, I tackled cleaning the rails. I have found that the cleaned wooden sticks from my wife's favorite frozen yogurt bars are excellent for this task. Sliding them along the rails with two fingers and moderate pressure cleans the acrylic paint off easily. I am not sure how well this would work if the paint was allowed to set up overnight or if I was using oil based paint, but with freshly applied but dry acrylics it is the way to go.

This led me to consider one of the "research" sections of my next steps to-do list: track cleaning options. The frozen yogurt sticks are a keeper, but after doing some listening, reading, and YouTube viewing I am revisiting my track cleaning approach. 

I have been using abrasive foam blocks to clean the rail. I may continue to  do so after heavy scenery application, but my research suggests that abrasive blocks used regularly cause problems. They create micro scratches and, as Joe Fugate and others point out, the micro abrasions lead to excess oxidation from micro arcing of the metal wheels and powered track. One solution is polishing the railheads by burnishing with a stainless steel fender washer. I will pick up a couple of larger stainless steel washers the next time I find myself at the big box or hardware store. Many people suggest epoxying a washer wide enough to span both rails to a wooden block/handle. Obviously the track power needs to be off when this burnishing is happening! Joe Fugate again, points out a potential flaw to this approach. The fender washer polishing only hits the top of the rails without polishing the inner curve of the rounded rail, but the wheel is curved as it approaches the flange and this curve is a large part of the conductive surface. His solution is to also polish the rails with a stainless steel spoon burnishing along between the rails.

Cleaning the rail is not just for appearance and remediation after heavy scenery application, but for consistent conductivity and smooth running by removing dust and oxidation. Over the last few years, many online sources (Ron's Train's and Things is one) note the importance of using nonpolar over polar cleaners. Polar cleaners (typically containing some water) have an electrical charge and hence promote micro arcing and oxidation while nonpolar have significantly less potential for micro arcing and forming oxidation. A Joe Fugate Publisher's Musings in MRH explains this and lists some nonpolar cleaning solvents such as WD-40 Contact Cleaner, CRC Contact Cleaner and Protectant, and mineral spirits. 

Learning Points:

1. Wooden sticks for paint removal on rails
2. Abrasive blocks only for severe cleaning
3. Stainless steel washer and/or spoon for polishing rail
4. Replace polar solvent (isopropyl alcohol) with nonpolar solvent (mineral spirits) for solvent of choice for track and wheel cleaning

 

Backdrop Clinic Handouts

At the recent MER convention in Altoona, I gave the most recent version of my clinic on backdrops. The clinic discusses: 

1. A rationale for why one might use backdrops
2. Applications and materials for creating backdrops
3. Tips and tricks for realism with backdrops
4. A gallery of photos of model railroads I have visited with backdrop examples
5. A discussion of a new approach to evaluating "Background" as a part of the NMRA Achievement Program 

Due to some self-imposed technical issues I ran short on time. One of the audience members asked about access to the clinic, so I am attempting to make a downloadable version of my handout and a downloadable pdf copy of the PowerPoint slides available. This is an experiment forcing Blogger to work with Dropbox. The links should automatically download to your computer. Please use the comments to let me know if this approach works.

Link to download the handout

Link to download the PDF of PowerPoint slides

TOMA Phase One: Three Quick Updates

 1. Track Down and Wiring Complete on East Staging

Track down and ready to connect to the DCC bus extension

With my procedures for prepping the turnouts and soldering feeders under the rails, laying track and electrical work are interwoven rather than two sequenced steps. I have written about this process before, and it really does become easier after doing it multiple times. 

I did have one frustrating stumbling block that illustrates what I think of as the difference between remodeling and new construction. In fitting the new flex track into the glued down (well, technically latex caulked down) spur and mainline track, I had to peel up the existing ends and fit it to the new track. Track nails do not hold in the foam insulation board, and I did not want to be trying to adjust track on wet caulk. I should have worked from the existing spur track ends towards the new turnout instead of my standard procedure of working outward from the turnout. Adding to my frustration was the realization that I only had three Micro Engineering code 83 insulated rail joiners which fit nicely onto Peco turnouts, but are a bear to slip onto the Atlas flex track. Well, I almost immediately lost the third "spare" joiner into the ether as it flew off the end of a rail as I tried to force it on. While I had filed the ends of the rail, I had not made sure to have enough joiners on hand. I ultimately got the track installed with the last two insulated joiners. Must. Order. More.

The next day, the notion that "model railroading is fun" actually lived up to its reputation as the DCC bus extension, feeder drop connections, and Tam Valley Frog Juicer all wired up smoothly even though I was working under the layout. Having the right tools and materials on hand and having experience using them certainly makes things go smoother. I cleaned the rails and ran a loco over the new work. It ran smoothly, so I went ahead and soldered rail joiners. Again I cleaned the rails and ran a loco. It also ran smoothly. As I have a couple of sections of new (unpainted) track on the Nooksack module, I decided to run some experimental ops over the whole TOMA Phase One (Nooksack, trestle scene, and both staging sections) before breaking out the airbrush for final track painting.

2. First Operations Session

Having unpacked my Alco RS3 #229, I set up a west run of a freight extra from the, as yet unnamed, east staging. Using a switch list to organize the work, I arranged for pick ups and drop offs at the NP interchange, pick ups and drop offs at the trailing point switches in Nooksack, and some cars to continue on to Ferndale (in the west staging.) Using the switch list to list cars to be picked up and dropped off worked well. However, after almost immediately realizing that the Nooksack track had not been used or cleaned recently and that I hadn't cleaned the wheels of the RS3 since before packing it to move in 2021, I took a break to clean wheels and track. I thoroughly enjoyed doing some switching work, guided by just a switch list. I think that the process would work well with a second person, breaking the tasks up between engineer and conductor. 

I did jot down some steps to take to improve the experience, either just running solo or adding another person or two. Either labeled placeholder mockups of the industries or just labels to identify industries or spots in Nooksack are needed. The tape holding the lighted toggle switches in the control panel is not working consistently and needs to be replaced. Finally, make sure that locomotive wheels and all rail are clean before the session! 

#229 turned and ready to make up an east bound extra from the west staging

3. Freight Car Roster Update

While looking through boxes of railroad stuff in search of my locomotives I found the kits and ready to run rolling stock that I intend to add to my roster for the initial TOMA layout. I will have enough freight rolling stock to represent a reasonable mix of kinds of cars, railroads, and regional origin. The thirty-one car total should be more than enough to run, allowing for variety, and the total should allow for appropriate car flow at the proposed industries. 

I haven't really thought about my locomotive, passenger car, or caboose roster at this point. I have several locomotives that need decoder upgrades and all my locos other than #229 need some weathering. Both of those factors are potential gumption traps for me. To move beyond simple switching and just one train I will need to move beyond fear of failure and at least do some simple weathering and attempt a hard wired decoder install! Or not, and focus on structure and scenery work while enjoying some solo switching with what is there now.

Current Freight Car Roster with Railroad highlighted on cars weathered and at standard:

East Staging: Fixing the "Mistake"

Extension ready for track work and wiring

In a post from last month I discussed the possibility of adding an extension to the sceniced staging to provide a siding with run-around capability, stick to a more prototypical plan to GN practice, and create a coved end with the backdrop. After several weeks of indecision, I decided to go ahead and add the extension. Yes, this is temporary staging, but it will have a use through several iterations of TOMA section additions. Making the decision, I committed to working on the railroad pretty much every day, even if it is only for 15 minutes. 

Step One: I drew up a tentative track plan and scale construction plans for the 11 3/4" X 24" open grid benchwork. I made a cut list and cut the pieces and assembled the benchwork with wood glue and 1 1/4" brads using  1" X 3" and 1/2" plywood from stock I had on hand. With the wood shop finally set up out in the garage, it was a fairly easy project with the miter saw and brad nailer ready to go. 

Double checking before assembly on the workbench

Step Two: Using a 2" X 2" leg from my previous railroad as a pedestal, I clamped the extension into place. Experimenting with code 83 track and a Peco switch I had on hand, I laid out and marked the switch location and track center lines. Deciding to use cork roadbed here, I adjusted the height of the benchwork and carefully lag screwed it into place securely attached to the hollow-core door benchwork. I bolted the leg into place, although when I eventually move this staging to another location I will replace it with a narrow pair of legs. 

Benchwork clamped in place and marking the finalized track plan

Step Three: Wanting to experiment with a coved end to the backdrop here, I found an existing piece of hardboard that I had used for a corner of my "U" shaped previous layout. Using the notch cut from the bottom of the backdrop for the corner, I clamped the piece in place and marked where to cut it to create the end. Both that end and the joint with the existing backdrop are held in place by a wooden brace or corner trim screwed into the benchwork frame. 

Fitting the corner backdrop before finalizing the end cut

Step Four: Once the backdrop was in place, screwed into the frame along the back and tucked into the corner brace and trim piece, my next step was to tape and mud the joint and fit the cork. In the photo below, the first coat of mud has been applied and the cork has been cut, glued into place, and tacked down until the glue dries. 

Cork glued down and mudding started

Step Five: as seen in this post's opening photo, I painted the sky and plywood today. While I had the sky blue paint out today, I finished painting the yellow spray foam on the west wall seen unpainted in the previous photo.

Next Steps: I need to prep the switch, solder feeder drops and install the track, extend the DCC bus line, and after wiring and installing the track set up the airbrush and paint the track in order to catch the "fix" up with the rest of this sceniced staging. 

TOMA Phase One: Planning for Operations

While I have more involved plans underway for the operations on the larger 4th Subdivision, the first phase of TOMA with the town of Nooksack, an NP interchange, and staging at each end will necessarily have less involved operations.

The initial operations will include just one or possibly two operators with relatively short sessions until I add additional TOMA sections. Early this month, Lance Mindheim explored operations on a small model railroad design that helped me transition from considering the operations for the larger, future 4th Subdivision to focusing on planning the operations of the Nooksack TOMA section.
 

To start with, I will be fine tuning what is essentially a bullet list:

• Paperwork will be limited to switch lists with set outs and pick ups listed.
• No car cards, but I will be aware of industry needs when making switch lists
• All trackwork will be in yard limits, with yard limit rules in effect.
• Possibility of one scheduled first class train listed on train bulletin.
• Just one or two trains per session (at least to start.)
• Use a limited number of cars per session.
• Use labels for spots and industries until all buildings are finished.
• Not every industry or spot needs to be used in a session.