Irwin Mockup

Jack was over this week and more creative ideas were flowing. First, we finally got some resolution around Herminie Hill, the only real hill on the layout. No pictures yet because I want to get more of the base scenery done but the rough shape is taking form and I was really pleased.

I think Jack would agree that the operating session was a disaster ... or at least we had more problems than ever before. I think this was largely because I had too many trains the the west (Pittsburgh) and east (Greensburg) staging yards and not enough cars in the Irwin yard to keep me busy while Jack ran the trains back and forth. A couple times we had to stop and figure out how to get one train out of the way from another.

On the plus side, we started talking about downtown Irwin. Originally I had envisioned a passenger station and a freight station. Well I am not really much of a passenger car fan and I was not really excited about putting trains with 80' cars together. Three cars and the trains would look huge on my layout and still not look like a true Pennsy passenger train.

In the photo above, the passenger siding has a couple of 1890s Overton passenger cars - the right length, wrong era. I was telling Jack my ideas for how I wanted downtown Irwin to look busy, not crammed with a couple of streets but still need to reach back to the switchthrow to the siding. We tossed around several ideas. I kept mulling over it the next day and decided I just had to mock up downtown Irwin.

The first photo shows the new industry on the left that will replace the passenger and freight station. I may still have a freight station tucked behind the siding for some less-that-carload (LCL) traffic, we'll see. Notice the cut building in front? I think I will detail the inside and make it look like the scene is cut right through. I moved a new building I got for Christmas to place the second road of downtown. I think opposite the factory I will have The Lamp movie theater with a moving light sign.

The original road, on the right and in the foreground below, has been there for a couple of years and the building on the far right will be Isaly's, a definite Irwin marking. In the view below, you are looking at Kay's Bookstore (after my mom) which will also have A. Saunders Financial Services (after Angie, studying Finance/Accounting in school) and Joe's Music next to it.

I really like how this is looking!

Staying Focused

One of the challenges I've always had is sticking with the current task. Take yesterday, for example. My original plan was to finish - and I mean FINISH - the wiring. This would entail soldering two rails to reconnect them and add the wiring for the programming track. About 30 minutes worth of work.

Ah, but first, I noticed that I forgot to clean the ballast when I worked on the Herminie mine. A few minutes with an old toothbrush and a vacuum cleaner and fixed. And while I was there, I fixed some of the scenery from when I shortened Track 3 and flipped the mine. And since I had the can of brown (earth) paint open, I painted the last strip of ground between Track 4 and the passing siding in the Irwin Yard. Yup, finishes that up nicely. Was bothering me that the pink insulin was still there in that tiny strip. Oh, and I should paint the north embankment for the Rt 30 bridge but first, I needed to cement the pylons that support the bridge, then I could paint the hillside. Nice, I feel better.

OK, now for that electrical. Lisa calls downstairs that it's dinner time. What? Where did the time go? And more important, I still haven't finished the electrical work!!!!

More Electrical Work

I realized this week that I am not done with the electrical work  but I am close. I need to solder two solder two gaps in the rails that lead to the LAS Fabrics spur but I also have to wire the Digitrax progamming track. Always something.

Power Routing Turnouts

I solved the problem with the 2 power routing turnouts that I reused from a previous, non-DCC layout I had built in the 90s. These turnouts, Shinohara (now Walthers) as I recall, were designed to help traditionally wired DC tracks to route the power to the selected track - either straight or diverging if the turnout was thrown.

Walthers has a good article on the web that shows you need to cut the rails just past the frog to isolate the rails and prevent a short circuit. Two quick cuts with my handy Dremel tool and electrical problem solved!
Unfortunately, I had cut the spur to the LAS Fabrics building so now that short section of track (from the frog to the new cut) is dead but a little work with a soldering should fix that up and then I can put away the electrical tools for some time to come.

One item that really paid off for me, was being extra careful with my wiring. Everything under the layout is red for the north rail (or furthest away from the front of the bench) and black for the south rail. I used 14 gauge bus wiring from one end of the layout to the other and I have several terminal blocks tap into the bus and route the power to tracks in that area using 24 gauge wire - again red and black. Even though I had completed the wiring in January 2007, I was able to quickly and easily add the new feeder wires with no shorts and little hassle.

WCC Mine No. 4

The latest working session involved reorienting the mine in Hermanie. I carefully cut the 3rd track (closest to the backdrop) rails and then the underlying cork roadbed. I used a large putty knife to separate the cord roadbed from the pink insulation but the track was decided stubborn. I only used white glue so I was surprised how well it held. Finally, with a snap, it came up and I discovered I was trying to cut through 24 gauge wire with a putty knife! I forgot that I soldered feeder wires each track at the end. Of course, had I looked under the layout first ....

Anyway, the quick cut-the-track and flip-the-mine took a little longer since I had to resolder the feeder wires but overall, it was a pretty smooth project and the additional openness is worth sacrificing one car length on the last track.

Next project is to fix the 2 electrical shorts with the power routing turnouts I reused!