More Progress

Didn't want to post until I had some substantial progress to show. I've been working on the cardboard "matrix" that supports the scenery. I've been able to rough in quite a bit of the layouts terrain...

Average

The "hills" at Average are a bit taller than I had envisioned, but the higher elevation was required by the addition of the separate two track loop. One unexpected result; the additional height creates a view block between Average and the rest of the layout. Makes it seem larger without having to resort to the backdrops I want to avoid.

More serendipity. I had to buy a 4' x 8' slab of 2" thick foam for a home project. Part of the leftovers found a home in Owertown...

Owertown

Some of the terrain I've been working on includes creeks and other water courses...

Ower Road Bridge Over Tacannee Creek

Another chunk of that slab went to Alpha where the Average Eastern crosses West Llanerch Creek...

West Llanerch Creek Bridge

East of Alpha the AE follows Iriquois Creek to Lake Elsinore...

Iriquois Creek and Lake Elsinore

The railroad runs along the shore of the lake and crosses East Llanerch Creek on a combination stone arch and steel girder bridge before entering Quotidian...

Girder Bridge Under Constructon

I pasted a new drawing in place on the Quotidian slab. Although I don't currently have the turnouts constructed I still laid track at various industries...

Quotidian

Just east of Quotidian the AE travels over and parallel to the four track tunnel...

Four Track Tunnel

Before reaching East End the little line passes Carbon Point and runs above the two track tunnel...

Carbon Point

Two Track Tunnel

I haven't done much work to East End, but I have been building up the mountain where the two mainlines cross. The empty inside suggested a natural name for it...

Hollow Mountain at Average

Making the two Class 1 mainlines generic gives me the opportunity to model a variety of railroads. My locomotive roster includes two bare DL109 mechanisms. I was able to buy a set of these ALCo shells off E-Bay...

DL109 Shells

The goal is to paint two of them for the New Haven and run them on the two track...

Future New Haven Units

I would like to use the other shells to create models of a very rare ALCo freight unit. In 1945 the company built an A-B-A set of  demonstrators. Although officially designated DL-202 (A unit) and DL-203 (B unit) the set got nicknamed "Black Maria" because of the rather somber paint scheme...

Black Maria

The locomotive was tested on the D&H, the New Haven and the Bangor & Aroostook. Before the tests were finished, ALCo introduced the FA. The FA went into production in 1946. The three demonstrators were scrapped in 1947.

That's all for now.

Regards,

Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad

East End

More progress. Roadbed is complete except for the turntable at East End. Trackwork is progressing, but things have reached a point where turnouts will need to be created.

As mentioned before, the layout is "generic". Even though the Average Eastern is freelanced, it's the connecting roads where the term generic has the most latitude. Currently, the Pennsylvania Railroad interchanges with the AE at Average. The PRR is just one of several lines that had a four track main. It could be the New York Central, Erie, Lehigh Valley or Jersey Central.

At East End the options expand quite a bit. There are literally dozens of railroads with two track mains. Two tracks however can also be found on single track main stems with long sidings. I recently got a deal on some locomotives lettered for the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western. At the moment, the double track Class 1 that connects at East End is the DL&W...

East End

It's pretty busy at the moment. AE #11 is just arriving with a short freight. Off in the backgtound, the Company Shay is picking up a string of empty hoppers to run back to the mine. A Lackawanna Geep is working the interchange track as a pair of F units rolls west with a mixed freight.

The F units are currently lettered for the Erie Lackawanna, a merger that didn't take place until 1960. That's a bit late for the period the layout is set in. Fortunately the paint scheme on Lackawanna units is the same. The units can be backdated by replacing the nose herald and the side lettering.

I'm beginning to rough in some of the scenery. I started at East End. I'm using cardboard strips for the basic landforms. I tried to make a general shape and the randomness that appears in nature...

Rough Scenery East End

Carbon Point

I also started roughing in the general layout of Owertown. The roadbed for the Owertown Transit Co. is in place and ready for track...

Owertown: OTC Tracks

Quotidian needs a new full size drawing. I used the peninsula as a work area and the old one got pretty beat up. Once I have the drawing laid out I'll start on the track. 

Average is straing to take shape. The roadbed for the yard is all down and ready for track. I also got a start on the turntable pit and base for the Average enginehouse...

Average Enginehouse

I tried to keep the track well in from the edges of the benchwork this time. Lost a lot of equipment to the unyielding concrete floor.There are still some places where tracks run too close to the brink. On the aisle side of these areas I have constructed what I'll call berms. I used 1" thick extruded foam strips. They look like walls right now. The idea is to shape them so they look like steep banks or rock cuts...

Berms

I made some more electrical connections and got power to all tracks, including the Q Company. Unfortunately the MRC throttle I was going to use for the Q is damaged so the Shay wisn't running yet. Anyway, I fired the layout up and ran some trains...

Regards,

Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad

The First Train Leaves Average

Trackwork continues just about everywhere, but it is now possible to run an Average Eastern train from Average west to East End. The yards at either end aren't finished, but most of the mainline is complete. I spent the day on various layout related chores including connecting the Atlas DCC system for the AE...

Atlas Commnader, A Lenz System

The DCC I use is first generation, but it supports 99 mobile addresses and 99 accessory decoders. I actually own two of the Atlas Commanders. The second one is used to program decoders at the workbench...

Workbench Decoder Programming

The Connie doesn't have a decoder yet.  I was able to run it using address 00 which is reserved for DC locomotives. I made a quick and dirty video of the first run...

I had thought the video went longer, but it only follows the train to Owertown where I stopped to clean the tracks. Sorry.

The DCC system also includes some walk around throttles...

Walk Arond Throttles

 The throttles can be connected to the system at various locations using XpressNET jacks...

XpressNET

So far there are only two XpressNET connections. One is located at Quotidian, the other at Carbon Point. I plan to add several more creating connections at Owertown, Alpha and East End. The Average Eastern is the only railroad on the layout to use DCC. All the other roads, including the Q Company and Owertown Transit use DC throttles.

Regards,

Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad

The Fourth Level

Today I elevated the roadbed for the Q Company. This is the last of the "mainlines" on the layout and forms what might be called the fourth level. The highest track on the layout, it's passes over the other "railroads" at seven or so inches above the deck, about 60" from the garage floor. This summit will be the location of the #10 Colliery...

Quotidian Company Right of Way

The elevation is complete into East End. It's a pretty steep climb back to the mine, I'm not sure what the grade is. The curve into East End is pretty tight by layout standards, maybe 10 or 12" radius. Since the traffic consists of short cars a wide curve wasn't really required, nor was it desired. This is a mining operation after all. The largest motive power Q Co owns is a class B Shay...

Q Company, East End

When I elevated the Q Co, I also rebuilt the taller supports for the Average Eastern roadbed. I wasn't happy with the haphazard stacks of random styrofoam. I cleaned everything up and made sure everything was the way I wanted it...

Revised Vertical Supports

While rebuilding the vertical supports I also worked on the 2% grade climbing east out of Quotidian. This is where the spline meets the slab on an angle. I tried different ideas including a styrofoam ramp...

"Styroramp"

Wasn't what I wanted so instead I cut the slab so the spline could slope into it on a 2% grade...

Spline - Slab Transition

I also went around the layout removing temporary screws and driving new permanent fasteners. The permanent screws are countersunk into the top of the roadbed...

Swappmg Fasteners

I used a razor blade to shave and scrape any excess glue or styrofoam from the top of the roadbed...

Cleaning The Top

Finally. I added ballast strip. I cut my own from sheets of cork using a 1" aluminum straightedge and a utility knife. Lining the straightedge up with the side of the cork gives me the width I need for a single track...

Cork Cutting

To apply the ballast strip i lay down a thick bead of tacky glue and then spread it with a spackling knife....

Spreader

I lay the cork on the roadbed and then "massage" it a bit. I hold one end and smooth the strip out with my fingers. I keep working it as I go along. This seems to help the glue set up quicker. It gets stickier and holds the cork better. This is especially true in curves. I stretch the cork out as I work it around the curved sections of roadbed....

Ballast Strip

As I progress down the right of way I will constantly go back over the previous sections and make sure the strip is smooth and level. At this point the remaining lengths of finished roadbed are ready for track.

Regards,

Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad

New Spline

Since I've used up the recylcled spline I decided to create new roadbed in Average. I thought I might go over the process again. The construction has gotten a lot simpler since the PRR layout. The spline only has to hold a single track. Much easier than the four track beast required before.

Building a new spline meant cutting new styrofoam strips that I could laminate. I have some good size pieces of the 1/2" thick material so I used that. The "styrospline" is pretty easy to make. I use 2" high strips that I make with a homemade cutting tool...

Cutter Guide

The tool is an 8' long aluminum straight edge. It's used for guiding circular saws when ripping 4' x 8' plywood. I bought this one decades ago, but I think they may still be available. The straightedge has been modified by bolting on an 8' long piece of aluminum channel that serves as a stop. It's set at 2". I place this cutter guide on the styrofoam sheet so that the channel is up against the side. The sheet is cut by a razor blade mounted on a scrap piece of aluminum (mine is from a Xacto miterbox). I bent the piece so that it slides along the guide...

Blade Carriage

I make one pass with the blade and it cuts most of the way through. I then break the strip off from the rest of the sheet...

2" Strip

It only takes a few minutes to cut a 4' x 8' sheet. I had enough styrofoam to make about 120 linear feet of spline strips. That's 60 feet of single track spline...

Spline Strips

Laying up the spline is just as easy.  I decided to redo Owertown so I started the new spline just east of Owertown Road. I simply butted the new spline up against the old. The length of the first sections are offset to make sure the joints are staggered. Typically I make one about half as long as the other.....

Spline Butt Joint

The strips are laminated together with tacky glue. This glue stays sticky for quite a while and gives you time to adjust the strips. I use short drywall screws to clamp the strips together until the glue dries. The screws can be left in place or removed and reused....

"Clamps"

The spline is held in place by capturing it between 2 1/2" drywall screws. Using these screws I can hold the spline straight or set the direction and radius of the curves...

Forming Curve

It didn't take too long before I was around the curve and headed west into Average. The results in Owertown are quite a bit better than the recycled spline sections...

Owertown: New Spline

Owertown: Recycled Spline

Before I laid up the spline in Average I made sure my "drawing" was lined up and pinned down with thumbtacks...

Average

When everything was nice and straight I continued construction. I did not use the 2 1/2" screws in Average. The tracks are almost dead straight.and the vertical screws are not really necessary. Besides I need to work on the adjacent yard tracks. It helps if I can move things around....

Average: New Spline

The only "mainline" left to build is the Q Company roadbed from the mine. How do I create an elevated spline? The truth is I don't. I lay up the spline on the top of the benchwork. Once the spline is constructed I elevate the entire thing. It's backwards from conventional methods, but it works.

I start the Q Co spline at the location of the turnout for the powerhouse siding. Once again, I use a butt joint...

Powerhouse Siding

The powerhouse siding is actually the beginning of the Q Co.trackage.The powerhouse is over the same tracks that serve the mine. Empties going into the mine come out of the power house. Loads going into the powerhouse come out of the mine. So the spline will run from the siding all the way to East End.

There is a slight problem with laying up this particular spline. The Q Co tracks are the highest on the layout, level four, if you will. How can I build it on the benchwork with the other three levels already constructed? The solution is simple. I just build the spline like I would normally. At the loaction where all four levels cross I don't glue the joint. I just capture it between the screws. This way I can disassemble the spline, remove it and reinstall it where it actually belongs....

Slip Joint

The spline gets completed all the way to East End. Because the thing is so flexible I can make adjustments and set the curve radii. I use the tall screws to hold it in postion...

Q Company Roadbed

Once the glue sets and dries the spline will retain it's shape. All I need to do next is create vertical supports.

Regards,

Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad