Tactical Errors

Sometimes, I think we read about the experience of others, not so we can learn from their mistakes, but to prove to ourselves that they are mistakes. Maybe it's just me.

I did not finish the basement, like most model railroaders suggest. I did not put up the backdrop before the benchwork which is why I was crawling around underneath the layout with an offset screwdriver attaching the backdrop in the 6" gap between the benchwork and the wall. Difficult, but I did get all the backdrop mounted and I decided then and there I would use bolts & nuts to attach the lighting valence.

Attach the lighting valence. How the heck am I supposed to slide the vertical supports between the ceiling and the backdrop. Dang. This may take a beer to figure out. Or two.

Vic's Bait & Tackle

Vic's Bait & Tackle was something new for me. I've built several Walthers and DPM plastic buildings and even built the LAS Fabrics Co. from DPM modular parts. Vic's is made of cardstock with a laminated a sample building from Model Train Software. Their Model Builder software allows you to create your own buildings with various simulated designs - brick, clapboard, masonry, etc. I downloaded their sample Bait & Tackle shop because I wanted to see how this would work for me since I want most of my buildings to be unique to my layout and not easily recognizable to veteran modelers.

As I was assembling the model, I began to consider where I would place this. I thought in the shadow of the  large B&O truss bridge that separates the active layout area from the east staging yard would be perfect. Through some careful scenery work, I could suggest a dirt road leading past the small shop on the way to Keystone State Park which was where my dad would take the family fishing.

I added a couple of details to the building. First, of course is the custom sign, after a great friend, co-worker, and of course, avid fisherman. Although I don't think Vic would be too excited about the pan fish and sunfish I recall in Keystone Park. He's more of a bass and salt water fisherman I believe. I added the 7-Up soda machine that my son, Joey, made fun of because I paid $4 for it. HA! It was 1/2 off when I paid that. It came with a 6 pack which I placed on the porch and a woman on a bench. Some scenery and maybe a row boat leaning against the building and it will look great!

I was all set to start the scenery work tonight, even though I did not get downstairs until after 9 PM. But apparently, I need to first mop up this puddle of water on the floor. Hmmmmm,

Let There Be Light

As I've mentioned before, I am a procrastinator ... especially with something new. I have been wrestling with how exactly to add lighting the lightout from what type of bulb to how how it should be over the layout and how long the valence should be to hide the bulbs. Just too much.

My first attempt was to use a 2 light four foot fluorescent strip and I had planned to space them about every 2 feet. I noticed this created some serious shadows so I decided I should go with a single bulb four foot strip basically lined up end-to-end for continuous lighting. Well, the single strip light fixture was $15 compared to the $10 for 2 .... huh? That tempered my enthusiasm so it took me about 3 weeks to get the $45 worth of lighting. Then I was reading the install instructions. I have determined that when manufacturers try to present information in 3 languages all they do is make it confusing - universally. Finally, yesterday, I just tackled the job. It actually worked out and now I have some nice lighting over East McKeesport. I still need to paint the valence sky blue and since I have to install 6 more valences, this project will be stretching out for a while as I attempt to spread the investment but I like the results so far.

Motivations

I was hitting a motivation slump. I did putz around yesterday with the buildings and sidewalks in Irwin, laid the roadbed for the B&O bridge across Herminie Hill and I did manage to finish the mockup of Pittsburgh Plate Glass in west staging (Pittsburgh) but I've been somewhat blah. In fact, Jack was coming over this evening for an operating session and I had not realigned the cars from the last session.

Nothing like a friend to motivate. After dinner I quickly moved some cars around, looking for that elusive balance. I don't have the 4-sided waybills completed yet nor have I established the balance for number of cars on the layout versus the staging yards but I'm learning. I pulled four cars from the layout and managed to get things where I thought they would work before Jack showed up. And he came bearing gifts.

I'm not talking about the 6-pack. Ok. That too. But he was at the local hobby shop (Smitty's) and found a girder bridge for lettered for the Pennsy and a sweet box car that I did not own. Naturally these will look great on the layout but I have a special place for the girder bridge. The May Stern & Co. furniture factory I am modeling in the corner of East McKeesport (in reality in North Pittsburgh) had a rail line to a second story freight door that crossed a road via a girder bridge. Perfect! I'll have to blog about that building with some photos one of these days. Thanks Jack!

So ... you may be wondering how the operating session went. Even if you weren't I'm going to talk about it. The trains from east and west staging worked well as did the work in Irwin. I only have 2 throttles so I work Irwin yard with runs to the Westmoreland Coal Company Mine No. 4 in Herminie twice a day (which is one operating session). Jack runs the trains from staging, both thru (direct from one staging to the other) or locals (stops at different locations to drop or pick up cars). All of those went pretty well but the P&LE train continues to be the challenge. And we never serviced 3 of the sidings. I need to spend some time on this.

Well, a couple of things have come up for next week so I won't have as much time to work the layout but I'll have some thinking time to work out a solution. And think about starting the May Stern building ... and what other mockups I want in west staging ... and finish the Irwin stores I started ... and build the interior for the WCC mine ... and ....

Ah. motivation!

Random Tips, 1

As I was putzing around various tasks this weekend (yes - all of the pink insulation is now some shade of dirt brown), I was thinking about what I would do different if I started a new layout.

• I built all 12 module tables - either 2'x4' or 30"x4' - with a mitre box and hand saw because I was too cheap to buy a power mitre saw. A year later I ended up buying one for a home remodeling project.
• Templates help build the modules quickly. Once I cut the two 4' long pieces and 4 cross pieces, I had a template to drill 4 holes for threading wires and then another template to bolt the boards together square - well, my typical 87 degrees square.
• The pink insulation is a great sub road bed  but paint is some earth color before laying the cork roadbed and track.
• Paint the cork road a shade of ballast grey before laying the track.
• "Rust" the rails (paint the viewable sides a rust color) at the workbench before installing.
• More than 2' deep is really deep! East McKeesport is 30" deep and I have to really stretch to get to the West Penn Power / May Stern Furniture siding along the back.  
• Fascia 8" and backdrop 28" works well for me.

There are a couple of things I would not change or at least I am still on the fence.

• Layout height of 50". For a model railroad, this is pretty high. It means the layout is chest high for me so I am never looking down on my trains. 
• East and west staging yard. Like most modelers, I wish they were longer but having yards at either end of the layout is very convenient.
• Domino benchwork. After reading an article by Dave Barrow, I thought this was a very clever idea. I don't build the whole 2'x4' scene at the bench before installing it but it was a convenient way to cut and build the lumber portions in the garage rather than in the basement.

My final tip, if any other model railroader is reading this. Do it. I fretted away too much time worrying about wiring the track, installing DCC, backdrop and fascia lengths, and tackling scenery projects. I could have been operating trains years ago!

Second final tip - a friend or two will help you over that indecisive hurdle.

Juxtaposition

Two events coincide over the last few weeks for a rather pleasant experience. First, due to circumstances beyond my control, I was working from home rather than going into the office. This would be a nice thing under just about any conditions but what made it really great was that we moved my office from the spare bedroom to the basement (and moved Lisa's sewing space into the bedroom).

This move not only gave me more room to spread out my office, but it is really inspiring - both to my work and my hobby - to occasionally pause, look at the layout, and consider the next steps. I wonder if my co-workers realize that's why I am distracted on the conference calls?!