At 15 feet, the new bookcase under Altoona yard measures a scale half mile long. The yard area is now 24" wide. I relocated the mains by cutting the foam roadbed and moving the entire assembly onto the expanded benchwork. The track alignment seen at left is only temporary, however, so trains could be run for grandchildren. You can see that there is now quite a bit of space between the passenger mains and the mainline approaching The Curve. The freight mains are currently near their final location through the center of the yard. This entire area is currently being reworked to fit the latest track plan. The foam roadbed you see here has already been replaced and will be the subject of a later article.
Latest Track Plan
The new yard is quite a bit different from Dave Smith's plan, although I did try to adapt the idea of separate receiving and departure tracks. The yard is now split into two sections separated by the freight mains. Left of the mains is the "eastward" section. To the right is the "westward" section. At the lower end of the yard (east on the layout) is the East Altoona roundhouse and steam locomotive service area. The three tracks to the left of the roundhouse are a proposed diesel house and service facility. The full circle roundhouse used at the real location will be replace with a semi-circle patterned after the facility at Crestline, Ohio. The helix showed at the lower right will not be completed for some time. Gallitzin and East Altoona are "temporarily" connected by a straight section of four track main.
I had thought of widening The Curve somewhat but the space between the yard and the helix prohibits any adjustment in that area. I would like to realign all the curves to an 18" minimum on the inner track, but that may not be possible.
Trains were running for Christmas, although they were very short "test" consists (locomotive an caboose) on all four tracks. My grandsons Lucas and Andrew didn't seem to mind. Once I told Andrew that the Glen White Shay was a logging locomotive like Ferdinand (from Thomas the Tank Engine "Misty Island Rescue") the little sidewinder became the star attraction. Andrew is the biggest railfan in the family (next to me) and like his grandfather is obsessed with the Iron Horse in any form. Lucas, while not as rabid as Andrew and I, still loves trains and likes to watch them run. Despite the unfinished state of the layout, it was still a hit and we spent a couple hours watching them run over the mainline.
The track in the yard area is now torn up and the new roadbed has been laid. The mainline should be open for operations again by the time the second wave of grandkids visits later this month.
The helix has been designed, but once again I have put the cart before the horse. While the materials to build the helix are at hand (5mm plywood underlayment on sale at Lowes) the track required for the helix will be a long time coming. 128 feet of code 55 flex is about 52 thirty inch long sections. At over $4 a pop it'll cost over $200. Aside from price considerations, the annual Christmas "deadline" is looming. The trains need to be operating before the grandkids visit over the holidays.
For the time being the helix will be bypassed by a straight and level, but temporary, connection between Gallitzin and East Altoona. I won't elevate any trackage until the helix is set in place sometime in the future. Because of the realignment there is a bit more running room in this area, but not the scale mile the helix will provide.
Altoona Benchwork
I incorporated Dave Smith's yard design into the Allegheny Eastern track plan as best I could. It still needs some work but I have a general idea of where the main lines will run on the new extension. The passenger mains still run separately from the yard, although they have been relocated to make room for some "scenery" to separate Altoona from The Curve.. The yard is separated into two "halves" on either side of the freight mains. I was also able to tuck the engine terminal, caboose, MOW and RIP tracks into a corner. All of this will be finalized after the mains are relocated and trains are running again. The bench work under Altoona has been extended by building a 15 foot long bookcase to support the tabletop. I recycled the cheap bookcases from my office/library/spare bedroom. I laid the bookcases on their side and stacked them. Some extra particle board shelves were added at either end. Pressure treated 2x4's (cheaper than untreated) were used to build a base and bring the height up to match the rest of the benchwork. I didn't bother to mount the bookcase on casters, the total weight of all my books would make the thing immovable even with wheels. The bookcase will house the rather large amount of railroad related literature I've collected including several decades of Model Railroader and Rail Model Craftsman. It will also serve as the location for the main control panel for the layout.
Altoona
While the Altoona extension adds only a additional 12 inches to the width of the layout, that's quite a bit of real estate in N scale. The available space for the yards is now about 24" wide and 15 feet long. The photo to the right shows the extent of the new section. The freight mains have yet to be relocated to the new route. The passenger mains will be realigned further to the left. The The area in the foreground is "East Altoona", now wide enough to accommodate the engine terminal where it actually belongs. There still isn't enough space for a full circle roundhouse like the prototype, but it will still be a fair size installation. Something equivalent to the PRR roundhouse at Crestline, Ohio.
"West" Altoona
The extra width also allows expansion of the city portion of Altoona at the west end of the yard. Since the passenger main will move further "south" from its current location the city scape can be expanded a few blocks in that direction. The realignment will also provide additional room for the Altoona freight house and adjacent tracks. The prototype installation handled quite a bit of express and LCL freight and should add some interesting operation to the layout. I'm hoping that I can also extend the Altoona & Logan Valley traction lines to East Altoona.
Gallitzin
The main lines have not been relocated just yet, and there is new track to be laid between Gallitzin and East Altoona. This is the "temporary" connection until the helix is complete. I also need to reconnect the relocated section "east" of Tunnel Hill to the main line coming off the west side of Horseshoe Curve. I'm hoping to have the work completed and resume operations in the next week or so. It won't be complete by any means, but the grandkids don't seem to mind. Their eyes will still get big as saucers watching multiple trains making their way around the garage. Their happy faces have rekindled the wonder of this hobby for me more than anything else.
In our last discussion I was ranting on about grades and helixes and what not. The only real way to see if this idea would work was to mock up the beast shown at left using some foam board I had purchased for backdrops. With a 30" minimum radius this massive construct is almost six feet across. You can see that it takes up most of our family room. Fortunately the garage is a tad larger. The wide curves were necessary to produce the 1.6% grade I feel my locomotives can handle. I won't actually know if this is true until I lay track and run a few trains up that slope. My quartet of Baldwin "sharks" are typically assigned a twenty car train on level track. Hopefully they can make it up the hill with the same train.
Allegheny Eastern Track Plan
You can see from the floor plan to the right that the helix is a major component of the layout. The green lines represent the "east slope" of the Alleghenies and the scenery will reflect that. Gallitzin and its helper loop are level trackage and are shown in black. The red lines indicate the west slope (the helix) between Gallitzin and Cresson and points west. On the layout these tracks actually connect to the east end of Altoona and as such represent connections to points east. The helix tracks are long enough to serve double duty as staging tracks, but there is no plan to use them as such. Trains may "hold" on the helix while traffic through Altoona clears the tracks but only temporarily. I know staging is recommended for realistic operation, but I have opted to try another idea. A possible staging solution used on yet another N scale "Horseshoe Curve" based layout can be found in the October 2011 issue of Model Railroad Hobbyist. Currently, I don't see the major difference between staged trains and the "orbiting" trains I'll be using on the Allegheny Eastern. Staging does allow each train to be unique in consist and the use of prototypical consist for a particular train at a given time. Unfortunately, only so many staging tracks can be provided. Either way the layout runs a limited amount of trains per operating session. I want to create the impression of a large number of trains passing over the hill, not necessarily duplicate the exact car and consist of each train.
While reading the July 2011 issue of Model Railroad Hobbyist, I came across an extensive article on building "helixi". The helix in the article by Art Houston is quite tall. Way back when I thought the All East would be multi-level I could have used it as is. The construction technique can be used for any height helix. I like the idea of the laminated and staggered joints, but the "wastage" caused by using quarter turns of plywood goes against my grain.Still, the article caused me to rethink my own design. The trapezoid panels waste less lumber in one sense because they are straight. On the other hand the design makes them larger than what is actually required to carry the track.
By splitting the loops into ten 36 degree sections I was able to get the entire helix on one 4' x 8' sheet of plywood. I tried smaller trapezoids in several redesigns but wasn't satisfied. Each section still required too much width and required multiple sheets of plywood. I followed Art's idea of curved sections, but stayed with 10 per loop. I was able to get all 20 sections required for the entire helix on one sheet. I wasn't planning on using Art's overlapping joints, however, because the plywood at Home Depot run's about $20 a sheet. Serendipity stepped in at that point...I found the 1/4" plywood underlayment on sale at a local Lowes for about $11 a sheet so the redesigned helix will be laminated with staggered joints. The real helix will cost less than the mockup!
With the laminated panels the helix is 1/2" thick, more than strong enough to support the N scale trains and scenery. There is still 2 1/2" of clearance between loops making it easy to access the track and trains in the event of a derailment or repair. A major cost will be the track itself. The price of code 55 flex track has risen since I started the layout and is now about $4 or so for a 30" section. The four tracks in the helix will require over 100 sections! It might be possible to save money by using code 80 on this part of the layout, but it doesn't look promising. Last I checked the code 80 was just as expensive.
Work on the Allegheny Eastern has been at a total standstill. Life keeps getting in the way. This hasn't been a total loss, however, because sometimes these long pauses allow time for better ideas. Two major design elements have been modified.
THE HELIX
Helix
The minimum radius has been changed from 18 inches to 30. There are two reasons for this. The primary purpose is to allow enough trackage to provide a gentler grade between Gallitzin and East Altoona. Grades are measured in percentage. a 1% grade rises 1 inch vertically for every 100 horizontal inches. A 2% grade is pretty steep in railroad terms and the design engineers goal is to stay below that. This is also true for model railroads. I want the grade of the helix to be less than 2%.
The problem with a helix is not just the total climb between end points. Since the loops of the helix are directly above each other there needs to be space between each level to allow the for the height of the sub-roadbed, the roadbed, the track and any trains that use the helix. In N scale you could figure 2 inches or less for this clearance. I prefer to add some additional room for easier access to the track and trains. So on this helix I set the vertical clearance to 3". By using a 30" radius I am able to reduce the required grade to about 1.6%. The helix will climb a total of 6 inches using two loops 188 inches in length. This is a total of 356 inches or about 31 feet (almost a mile in N scale at 1:160 to 1). Not only do I get a gentle grade, I get an extra scale mile of main line run. The wide curves also make for better performance for my passenger trains and long freights.
The second reason for the wide curves is purely esthetic. An 80 foot passenger car looks a lot better rounding a 30 inch curve. If I had the space I would set all the mainline curves to a 30" minimum radius.
ALTOONA
Altoona
I wasn't satisfied with the overall design for Altoona until I discovered David Smith's plan for Ridgely Yard. His idea looked more like what I had envisioned for the yard area. I like the fact that the separate freight yards give me the general "feel" of the Altoona freight yards. I modified Dave's plan with additional tracks for the passenger mains. By flipping the plan around I was able to keep the engine terminal between the passenger and freight mains in East Altoona. The result will be a fair sized roundhouse and facilities. I'm hoping to create an overall impression of a large Pennsy installation.
This redesign requires the Altoona side of the layout be extended 12". I had originally thought I would just extend the benchwork another foot on cantilever supports. Having had some time away from the project it occurred to me that this wasn't the best idea. One of the things I wanted to do with the layout was create a place for a rather extensive collection of railroad related books and magazines. I was going to create shelves or something below the Altoona area for this purpose, but never really decided on a solution. Now the plan is to create three 60 inch long bookcases about 48 inches high that will support the Altoona extension. This will look much better than just 2"x4" legs with some shelves. It will also provide a space to display my railroad memorabilia and other knick-knacks. The main control panel for the layout will also be located in this area.
All in all the lack of progress allowed me to work out a few details and come up with improvements. Maybe it's a good idea to walk away from the hobby every now and then. Maybe you get too close to a thing. Whoever said "you can't see the forest for the trees" might have been a model railroader.
One of the best things about model railroading is the diversity. Building a layout can involve you in many disciplines ranging from carpentry to electronics. Sometimes this is planned, but sometimes you find yourself going off on a unexpected tangent. For some folks who prefer a linear approach to a project this might be frustrating. For me it keeps things interesting and fresh.
Tomix Track 4" R Versus Bachmann 11.75" R
The "realignment" of the Allegheny Eastern right of way stalled for a couple of reasons, but while I wait for a solution I can work on other areas. The last blog entry was one such case, I ordered replacement gears for some Bachmann PCC cars. Those gears have been installed and the cars tested. The tests included running the cars through several tight radius curves and showed that an unmodified Bachmann PCC can safely negotiate a 3 inch radius curve. Based on the tests, I contacted a company in Washington state that carries Tomix products. Tomix has a line of ready made street trackage for N scale trolley enthusiasts that includes a 103mm curve (a tad over 4 inches). I ordered a set of curves and straight sections, enough to make a small oval for further tests.
Altoona "Module"
This trolley experiment led me to thinking about the area of the layout that will represent "downtown" Altoona. Part of the realignment project requires cutting the extruded foam covering the table top back to the right of way. This means that the large piece of foam where Altoona proper will be located could be removed intact from the benchwork. I now had a ready made template for the site, which I carried to another bench (aka kitchen table). Instead of having to draw up a scale plan of some sort I am now able to layout the city and it's streets in "full size" using all those buildings I bought on clearance. I can use the actual Tomix track to check spacing and clearances and even run the trolleys. It's kind of a layout within a layout, a module if you will, that can be installed on the All East benchwork as an assembly.
Topographic Map Altoona, PA
Creating this module includes all kinds of activity. I started scanning Google maps online to get the general layout of Altoona as it exists today. This enables me to interpret the topographical maps I have from the mid-twentieth century. I have been guestimating the size and shape of the streets and buildings based on the topo maps and photos from various reference books. If I had access to Sanborn insurance maps I would be rescaling them to use as templates I could glue to the foam. The general result is that I am able to pattern a fair area of the layout after the actual city being modeled. The section will extend from just west of the 14th street bridge to the freight station a few blocks east and about two or three blocks north of the main line. It won't be an exact replica, there's no way I can (or want to) create one. I working towards an "impression" of Altoona in the early 1950's.
Altoona & Logan Valley, 1954
All the research indicates that the trolley line should run parallel to the PRR tracks as far east as "east" goes on the layout. This means I can place a return loop within the helix on that side of the layout. Pretty simple. Going west is a bit harder. The Altoona and Logan Valley did not run up to The Curve (although that would have been a great idea). It crossed the Pennsy mainline at 17th Street and meandered south to Hollidaysburg. There is also some evidence it crossed the PRR yard over Red Bridge (about 10th Street) to service East Altoona. Currently all the info I have on this is a photo taken in the 1940's of a streetcar on the bridge. More info is forthcoming, however, in the form of a book on the A&LV. I was also fortunate to have found a railfan's hand-drawn map on the Internet. The map was drawn in 1954 during the final days of A&LV streetcar service. The double loops above the center of the map is the are being modeled "City Center". As you can see, there is nothing east of the section I'm recreating on the layout. The line headed south after crossing the PRR main line at 17th Street.
11th Avenue Looking East
In the meantime, I'm working on the module, mocking up some street scenes using the Tomix track and some Design Preservations structure kits. There's nothing permanent yet, but the staged scene of 11th Avenue gives you some idea of what is possible. As I mentioned in the previous blog, the Bachmann cars have been modified to lower the car shell. While still not near the scale ground clearance, it is quite a bit lower and looks more realistic than the stock version. No modifications were required to allow the car to negotiate the 4" radius curves. The Tomix track is a start, but the streets will have to be built up to match. The street surface that comes with the track looks to represent concrete. I'm looking for a way to simulate the brick typically used in American street trackage at the time. I'm thinking brick paper might do the trick.Anything else would be too thick to use. There is also the option of creating my own street trackage using code 55 rail and molded plastic sheets of brick siding. That way I can produce even ighter curves to fit the streets of my miniature city.
There was a time when Altoona, like most American cities, enjoyed a flourishing rapid transit system. Typical of the breed the system started out with horse-drawn cars. By the "Gay 90's" electricity and traction motors replaced the animals. Around the turn of the 20th Century trolley lines came into their own. They plied their right of way with no competition from auto or bus. It was THE way to get around any city.
A&LV #72 and Sister June 1954
The Altoona & Logan Valley moved almost 12 million passengers over 2 million miles a year. As automobiles and buses became more common the fortunes of the company began a long slide downhill. Two consecutive World Wars saw a reverse in fortune, but like every other traction line in the country the A&LV was on borrowed time. In the mid 1950's the ride came to end. The last trolley ran in August of 1954. The streetcars were replaced, as in other cities, by diesel buses.
PTC #2590 at 40th and Woodland
On the Allegheny Eastern, the Altoona and Logan Valley still serves the citizens of the area. Unlike the real A&LV, which ran unique Osgood Bradley cars, the trolleys on the layout are PCC cars. These cars were designed by the Presidents Conference Committee in 1929 as the "ultimate" streetcar. They were supposed to fend off the competition from the cars and buses. Their streamlined design and newer, quieter equipment made them popular with riders. I have an affinity for the PCC, having ridden a few as a boy in Philadelphia. Of course, by the time I rode them they weren't quite as quiet, but I didn't care about any noise they made. They were trolleys! They also ran undergrouund in some parts of Philadelphia. These undeground sections were next to the subway portion of the elevated. You could transfer from the el to the trolley without ever leaving the tunnels. I can still remember standing on the platform with my mom and the way those tunnels sounded, felt and smelled.
Bachmann N scale PCC Streetcar
So it's no wonder that all the trolleys purchased for the Allegheny Eastern are marked for the Philadelphia Transportation Company. The A&LV trolley's were all white over orange and distinct difference from the PTC cream over green. Since I first saw articles in Model Railroader about model trolleys I always thought I would have orange trolleys like the ones in the photos. They were so different! Now I find myself attracted to the "plain old" green and cream colors of my youth. The trolleys are all Bachmann models purchased second hand on E-Bay. While this makes them affordable, it also means they have major problems with split gears. Fortunately Bachmann sells replacements with better gears. Just make sure you ask for them specifically when ordering. The fact that I now have a boatload of "bad" trucks for these little models turned out to be a blessing.
3" Radius Test Curve
Because streetcars operate on much tighter turns than the typical Pennsylvania Railroad train can negotiate, all the curves on the model A&LV will be approximately 3" radius. I had heard that these little Bachmann cars would need to be modified to take such curves. I could test any modifications using the old trucks before I had to ruin the good ones. I tried a few different configurations on a test curve I built on a piece of styrofoam using Code 55 flex track. Then just for comparison I ran a trolley refitted with the new trucks. To my surprise it made the curve! Should have tried the working trolley first. I wasted a lot of time trying to find a solution for something that wasn't really a problem.
Micro Motor and Trolley Truck
I even played with the idea of building a N scale traction truck using a vibrator motor from a cell phone. These motors are so small you could almost mount them parallel to the axles, just like real traction motors. I'm sure this could be done in TT or HO scale, but in N scale it's a bit of a stretch. Instead I had planned to mount one in each truck. It occurred to me this might not be enough torque. Not a problem. there's enough room to mount two motors on each truck! Of course I no longer need to do this, but the idea has merit. Think of the applications for real miniature traction motors!
Stock Height (left) Modified (right)
It seems to me that the stock Bachmann car has the same huge overhang seen when a real trolley rounds a street corner. The ground clearance is way more than I would like to see. PCC cars ride low and almost appear to be sitting on the ground. By eliminating material from the top of the cast frame I was able to reduce the ride height without wrecking the mechanism. Shaving as little as 1/16th makes a visible difference in the overall appearance. I used a hand saw to cut the white metal casting. It took about two hours. Next time around I'll use my Dremel.
I'd also like to play around with live overhead. I've seen it done by other modelers. Building catenary in N scale, however, might be too great a challenge for these tired old eyes of mine. Just laying these tight turns through the streets of Altoona may be more than enough challenge for one lifetime.
Allegheny Eastern Track Plan
Not sure yet how the Altoona and Logan Valley tracks will be routed. East of Altoona, between the yard and the new helix the space is alloted for the Altoona & Northern / Glen White trackage. There is room on the track plan for some urban scenery including streets in west Altoona. The passenger depot and freight house are located in this "downtown" area which is about 3 feet deep and 4 feet long.
The new helix is being built with broad curves. The innermost track has a minimum radius of 18". The track plan shown uses that minimum in general. The actual curves are tighter, but I may realign the right of way. Currently I'm not happy with the overhang of 80 foot passenger cars on the tighter radus (about 14-15 inches). This would also male it easier to operate the longer J1a and T1 class steamers. You never know, I may hit the lottery and be able to afford one or two.
I finished the benchwork for the 5' x 8' extension. It's constructed the same as the rest of the layout. A grid of 2"x 4" supported on 2"x 4" legs on casters. The 53"-54" height was retained to provide space under the deck for storage. The subtop and foam were cut close to the track to enable portions to be elevated. The area around Gallitzin and the tunnels was cut free and rotated 90 degrees to it's new location just east of Horseshoe Curve on the extended framework. I would have liked a bit more running room between the curve and the tunnels, but there really isn't any space. The extra length of the main line is now between Gallitzin and Altoona, making operations a bit more realistic.
The New Helix Location
Unlike the rest of the layout some areas will be beyond the standard "arm's length" width. This space, however, is taken up by the new helix between Gallitzin and Altoona. The main line has also been lengthened on both sides of the helix. I'm hoping I created enough room for a gentle grade back into Altoona. The new trackage results in a longer approach to Altoona allowing space for the interlocking required there. There is also a bit more space for the Altoona Northern / Glen White loop and related trackage. Hopefully there is also room for the roundhouse at East Altoona. I've thought of reversing the location of the engine terminal to the "west" end of Altoona, but only if necessary.
Altoona Extension
The expansion plans also include widening the layout in the area of Altoona itself. By extending the entire side by 12" I hope to create a large enough area for the new yard plan. The resulting area will be 2 feet wide by 15-16 feet long. Should result in a pretty impressive installation. Won't be anything like the real facility, but it may convey some of the sheer scale of the place. The entire layout will need to be shifted a foot towards the opposite side of the garage to maintain the 24 inch aisle width in this area. Glad I put the whole assembly on wheels! Fastening the track down "temporarily" with track nails also proved a blessing. It's very easy to realign the right of way.
