Nicholas and I had a great time at the Cincinnati train show. I came back with a heavier bag than I ever expected. I got to meet my TrainLife friend, Alex Kolesnikov, from DCCTrains. Not only did I get the LocoBuffer and UT-4 throttle I wanted at excellent prices, he had some Intermountain wheelsets and Kadee couplers at the best prices I have ever seen. Nicholas even ended up with a bargain on a new N-scale B&O hopper car. I had suggested that he consider if he likes one railroad over others and he thinks its the B&O.
I discovered two new vendors that I really liked, both are in the Cincinnati area but run completely different business models. Bob The Train Guy does all his business at shows and on the Internet. He had a great collection of items but what I focused on was some laser wood kits with good prices. I have never built these before but have been interested in trying this type of model. I got the PRR Standard Tool House from American Model Builders. Bob also had some excellent details for my scenes so I picked up some pallets and steel drums.
The other vendor was Hamilton Hobby, a traditional store front. I picked up 2 Bowser cabin cars (caboose) and a Coffman right clamp to hold building walls at 90 degees while the glue dries. I've wanted one of these clamps for quite a while and finally got one.
So now I am off to test the new UT-4 on the layout. Maybe tonight I will move the old kids computer and hook up the LocoBuffer. Then again, I can build the laserkit or the cabin cars ... decisions, decisions!
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Getting Ready for Cincinnati Train Show
Since I was out of town all week on the west coast I had a lot of time to think about trains but not work on the layout. I did a quick check for hobby stores in the area but could not find any and did not really get away from work early enough to stop by any. All this means I am really geared up for the train show in Cincinnati which opened today but commitments with the boys, I won't be able to go until tomorrow. Nicholas wants to go with me so I think we will be shopping for some HO models for Dad and N models for the boys.
Sometimes, these shows can be a little disappointing. Frequently they have lots of toy train and railfan stuff. I almost always go with a specific list of items, like Pennsy cabin (caboose) cars, or a specific Walther's building that I want to find at a bargain. More than once I have come home only spending twice the $7 admission fee which is disappointing. This year should be different as I want two DCC (digital command control) items and my favorite DCC vendor from Cincinnati will be there. I was posting about the show on TrainLife - a Facebook for train enthusiasts - and discovered one of the guys I was friends with and chatting back and forth is the owner of the store! Small virtual world, eh? I am looking forward to meeting Alex face-to-face and learning more about DCC from him.
I will post later tomorrow all the steals and deals I got. Wish me luck!
Sometimes, these shows can be a little disappointing. Frequently they have lots of toy train and railfan stuff. I almost always go with a specific list of items, like Pennsy cabin (caboose) cars, or a specific Walther's building that I want to find at a bargain. More than once I have come home only spending twice the $7 admission fee which is disappointing. This year should be different as I want two DCC (digital command control) items and my favorite DCC vendor from Cincinnati will be there. I was posting about the show on TrainLife - a Facebook for train enthusiasts - and discovered one of the guys I was friends with and chatting back and forth is the owner of the store! Small virtual world, eh? I am looking forward to meeting Alex face-to-face and learning more about DCC from him.
I will post later tomorrow all the steals and deals I got. Wish me luck!
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Operating Session Analysis
Eric D. and I did get a chance to run trains last week. He noticed right away the scenery changes I had made in West Staging - very rewarding! I walked him though my ideas for how we would operate the trains and overall things went well. I had done a lot of ballasting along the mainline since the last operating session so there were a few rough spots that required the pick to dig out the errant stones. Both of us seemed to have a problem running through switches that were turned wrong. At one point, I pulled the PRR wrecker I have and placed it on the maintenance of way (MoW) track. I don't recall Eric or I dumping another train after that.
To start, I had cars at all the industries except May Stern Furniture and I had 2 empty tracks in each staging yard. I had decided to only have one through freight from Greensburg to Pittsburgh, all the other trains would be locals stopping in Irwin or East McKeesport to drop off cars for the P&LE. I had the Irwin yard at about 1/2 capacity and could set out a train for either east or west at any moment. I continued my role as Irwin Yardmaster and also the local tuns for the Herminie mine run and exchanging cars with the Heinz factory and LAS Fabrics. After we were operating, I realized I did not have any plans for exchanging cars on the Irwin Industrials track. Operating these 3 sections of the layout was probably the biggest glitch we ran into. Below is a schematic showing this section of the layout. I was able to squeeze in H-1 and H-2 local runs to the mine in Herminie but because the mine tracks were full, I had to run light to pull all the cars from the mine then make another run to place them. I need to determine a scheme where I send a train out there a couple of times an operating session to pull each siding rather that service the entire complex (3 tracks) at once).
Eric was responsible for all the local trains including the traffic from east or west staging, which we basically alternated. This actually worked out very well except for the engine shortage. Since I only have a few DCC engines, I told Eric to turn them once he reaches his destination. OK, train lingo for a newbie! He literally picked up the engine, turned it 180 degrees and placed it back on the same track. I meant to take the engine from the arrival train and place it on one of the outbound tracks to complete a train. Once we worked out the communication glitches, we were humming along.
The P&LE run continues to be a sort of whatever-whenever deal. I had a short train staged, only four cars but they were all heading to interchange with the PRR. This meant that I had no room to pull the cars from the P&LE industries - Dailey Coal & Fuel, Pgh Brewery, Keystone Sand, and A&J Tool & Die.
So I ran the engine back light until Eric had a chance to collect the cars, then I ran back down and pulled all the cars from the sidings - of course, all going out to the PRR so again I ran the engine back to Eric light. Ultimately, we never delivered cars to those sidings.
So we had a good time and I think some of the ideas I tried in this session - trains on 3 staging tracks, locals ready to leave Irwin, no or limited thru trains - I will keep. Next I will concentrate on the traffic patterns around the Irwin yard - maybe the west bound local from Greensburg staging so handle the Heinz factory exchange with the eastbound doing the same for LAS Fabrics. Once I get those settled down, I will turn my attention to East McKeesport.
Oh, and I found two engines waiting for DCC conversion. Both are Atlas SW1200s that I have hesitated because of warning I read on potential shorts. I did not want to burn out a $20 board but then it occurred to me that I've had it for about 4 years so maybe it was time to take the plunge! Looking over the engines, I had started to convert one but forget where I left off. So now I have to trace everything! I REALLY need to stop procrastinating and finish the jobs I start!
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| Eric drops some cars on the P&LE Interchange before heading to Irwin, PA. |
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| Irwin Yard and surrounding tracks that in theory are serviced by locals originating in Irwin |
Eric was responsible for all the local trains including the traffic from east or west staging, which we basically alternated. This actually worked out very well except for the engine shortage. Since I only have a few DCC engines, I told Eric to turn them once he reaches his destination. OK, train lingo for a newbie! He literally picked up the engine, turned it 180 degrees and placed it back on the same track. I meant to take the engine from the arrival train and place it on one of the outbound tracks to complete a train. Once we worked out the communication glitches, we were humming along.
The P&LE run continues to be a sort of whatever-whenever deal. I had a short train staged, only four cars but they were all heading to interchange with the PRR. This meant that I had no room to pull the cars from the P&LE industries - Dailey Coal & Fuel, Pgh Brewery, Keystone Sand, and A&J Tool & Die.
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| Tracks in East McKeesport, red indicates the P&LE sidings with the staging off to the upper right |
So we had a good time and I think some of the ideas I tried in this session - trains on 3 staging tracks, locals ready to leave Irwin, no or limited thru trains - I will keep. Next I will concentrate on the traffic patterns around the Irwin yard - maybe the west bound local from Greensburg staging so handle the Heinz factory exchange with the eastbound doing the same for LAS Fabrics. Once I get those settled down, I will turn my attention to East McKeesport.
Oh, and I found two engines waiting for DCC conversion. Both are Atlas SW1200s that I have hesitated because of warning I read on potential shorts. I did not want to burn out a $20 board but then it occurred to me that I've had it for about 4 years so maybe it was time to take the plunge! Looking over the engines, I had started to convert one but forget where I left off. So now I have to trace everything! I REALLY need to stop procrastinating and finish the jobs I start!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Finishing a scene
Well, another major milestone tonight - I actually finished detailing West Staging. Now mind you, it's a series of building mockups but at least it looks like a complete scene. I was built a couple of trees (actually, I built about 6 and only needed 4 because they are so large!) to serve as a sort of view block between the "offline staging" and Rt 30 which is the start of the actual operating layout. Route 30 separates West Staging (Pittsburgh and points west) form "downtown" E. McKeesport.
To help break up the scene, I decided to create little roadside park. Now this scene is not actually complete, but you get a sense for what I am going for. I still need to string the wire barrier to keep the cars from going over the hillside, add more telephone poles (and maybe string wire along them as well) but I was able to complete the park scene complete with trees, a parked car, a couple of benches and people sitting around, resting from their long trip on the famous Lincoln Highway as Rt 30 was known in the 50s.
I think across the bridge I will put a small Mom & Pop grocery store - maybe even with a sign for Wilmerding! A few more bushes, more railing and finish grassing the hillside and I can move onto E. McKeesport.
In addition to finishing this scene tonight, I set up the cars for the operating session with Eric tomorrow. First, I pulled all the 50' boxcars (6 of them), reduced the staging to only 3 tracks in both East and West Staging representing 2 locals and 1 thru train each. Irwin Yard is pretty full (all four tracks have at least a couple of cars) but I think I can work through this in pretty short order as I have a couple of trains ready, one east bound, one westbound and the H-1 Herminie local which works the WCC Mine No. 4 spur. I have one more train staged, EREM-1 the P&LE run from Erie PA to E. McKeesport. After I set everything up I realize there were no cars on the May Stern/Stetson Convention spur.
Before Eric stops over, I need to jot down some notes on the waybills and the train composition - just to see if this scheme works a little better. Wish me luck!
I think across the bridge I will put a small Mom & Pop grocery store - maybe even with a sign for Wilmerding! A few more bushes, more railing and finish grassing the hillside and I can move onto E. McKeesport.
In addition to finishing this scene tonight, I set up the cars for the operating session with Eric tomorrow. First, I pulled all the 50' boxcars (6 of them), reduced the staging to only 3 tracks in both East and West Staging representing 2 locals and 1 thru train each. Irwin Yard is pretty full (all four tracks have at least a couple of cars) but I think I can work through this in pretty short order as I have a couple of trains ready, one east bound, one westbound and the H-1 Herminie local which works the WCC Mine No. 4 spur. I have one more train staged, EREM-1 the P&LE run from Erie PA to E. McKeesport. After I set everything up I realize there were no cars on the May Stern/Stetson Convention spur.
Before Eric stops over, I need to jot down some notes on the waybills and the train composition - just to see if this scheme works a little better. Wish me luck!
Monday, October 17, 2011
Preparing for the next operating session
I had a chance to catch up with Eric D. on Sunday during the Cub Scout meetings and invited him over this week to run trains again. This will be Eric's second session and about the 5th official operating session on the Irwin District. I have to serious projects that I want to finish before Eric comes over.
First, I have been working hard on detailing the West Staging area. While this is technically supposed to represent offline industries and staging in Pittsburgh, PA and points west, it is in fact very visible. As people walk into the basement, they can see the whole layout but West Staging is closest to them so it's important to me that is have some detail and at least somewhat completed scenery. I am almost done with the second new building "mockup" to add to the two industries already there. I have completed most of the grass scenery and added a couple of bushes to hide some of the rough edges of the scenery breaks. My final task is to complete some trees for the park on Route 30 and complete the line of posts that keep the cars from rolling over the hill ... about another two hours or so worth of work and I should be complete.
The second task is more difficult - fix the operating schedule. I finally determined 4-cycles for the 3 iron ore cars. Good deal. Now I just need to come up with something for the other 55 some odd cars that are physically on the layout! I did pull all the 50' boxcars to try and even things out a little bit. I am considering eliminating one of the industries on the P&LE in East McKeesport (probably Allegheny Cold Storage) for less congestion.
I'll post a photo before the operating session so you can see how far I got this week!
First, I have been working hard on detailing the West Staging area. While this is technically supposed to represent offline industries and staging in Pittsburgh, PA and points west, it is in fact very visible. As people walk into the basement, they can see the whole layout but West Staging is closest to them so it's important to me that is have some detail and at least somewhat completed scenery. I am almost done with the second new building "mockup" to add to the two industries already there. I have completed most of the grass scenery and added a couple of bushes to hide some of the rough edges of the scenery breaks. My final task is to complete some trees for the park on Route 30 and complete the line of posts that keep the cars from rolling over the hill ... about another two hours or so worth of work and I should be complete.
The second task is more difficult - fix the operating schedule. I finally determined 4-cycles for the 3 iron ore cars. Good deal. Now I just need to come up with something for the other 55 some odd cars that are physically on the layout! I did pull all the 50' boxcars to try and even things out a little bit. I am considering eliminating one of the industries on the P&LE in East McKeesport (probably Allegheny Cold Storage) for less congestion.
I'll post a photo before the operating session so you can see how far I got this week!
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Finishing a project
Below is a picture of my workbench from last night. This is the typical of my modeling work bench. In case you think you think it was hit by an errant missile from the twins Nir-Myss Ammunition Factory on the N Scale layout, this actually represents several started-but-yet-to-complete projects.
On the left, you actually see three different projects, stacked. On the bottom is a a collection of PRR books and a file folder of some notes on buildings and scenes I would like to reproduce. I need to load these details into the computer so I don't lose the ideas - would have been nice if I remembered to grab that folder before the last business trip! Next on the stack is some sheet styrene when I started to organize my scratch building supplies but quit in the middle because I could not come up with a better scheme. Next to them is some scale lumber I picked up this past week at Lyn's Junction in Lansdale PA.
On the cutting board, left to right, is a mockup building for West Staging; the front truck from an Athearn SW-9 waiting to be cleaned and the engine converted to DCC; another building mockup for West Staging, this time built from DPM plastic walls rather than foam board; the Chooch stone wall that will plug the tunnel entrance in Herminie; behind that is the drill and with the small cup hidden behind the buildings - I am making the barrier strip for Rt 30.
On the right are 2 box cars that need to be completely refitted with couplers and Intermountain wheelsets. These came from my old underbed layout and I found them in a drawer of "things-I-don't-know-what-I-will-do-with-these". On top is a car that happens to be a duplicate on the layout so I need to change the last 3 digits of the road number with decals. A tedious but 20 minute job that at this point is about 6 years in the making!
Scattered along the back are some park benches I started to paint, the fishermen Vic W. gave me for the Bait & Tackle Shop as soon as I finish the scenery there ... right after I finish the B&O bridge, Herminie Hill and ballasting the mainline! Further to the right is a wide variety of paint and supplies in a bewildering array of disorganization.
But hey, look at all the tools neatly arranged on my desk! I'll finish these projects in no time ...
On the left, you actually see three different projects, stacked. On the bottom is a a collection of PRR books and a file folder of some notes on buildings and scenes I would like to reproduce. I need to load these details into the computer so I don't lose the ideas - would have been nice if I remembered to grab that folder before the last business trip! Next on the stack is some sheet styrene when I started to organize my scratch building supplies but quit in the middle because I could not come up with a better scheme. Next to them is some scale lumber I picked up this past week at Lyn's Junction in Lansdale PA.
On the cutting board, left to right, is a mockup building for West Staging; the front truck from an Athearn SW-9 waiting to be cleaned and the engine converted to DCC; another building mockup for West Staging, this time built from DPM plastic walls rather than foam board; the Chooch stone wall that will plug the tunnel entrance in Herminie; behind that is the drill and with the small cup hidden behind the buildings - I am making the barrier strip for Rt 30.
On the right are 2 box cars that need to be completely refitted with couplers and Intermountain wheelsets. These came from my old underbed layout and I found them in a drawer of "things-I-don't-know-what-I-will-do-with-these". On top is a car that happens to be a duplicate on the layout so I need to change the last 3 digits of the road number with decals. A tedious but 20 minute job that at this point is about 6 years in the making!
Scattered along the back are some park benches I started to paint, the fishermen Vic W. gave me for the Bait & Tackle Shop as soon as I finish the scenery there ... right after I finish the B&O bridge, Herminie Hill and ballasting the mainline! Further to the right is a wide variety of paint and supplies in a bewildering array of disorganization.
But hey, look at all the tools neatly arranged on my desk! I'll finish these projects in no time ...
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Lyn's Junction Hobby Shop
Recently, I was on a business trip just north of Philadelphia, staying in Lansdale PA. I found a wonderful hobby shop, Lyn's Junction, that I suggest anyone in the area stop in. Friendly staff and quite a selection for HO and N scale. In addition, they have a large stock of Digitrax supplies.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Current Happenings
Sometimes when I look at the layout I get a strong motivational push to finish something. Other than Dailey's Coal & Fuel, East McKeesport is pretty bare waiting for me to replace the cardboard May Stern Furniture with a real building and I have an idea now how I want West Penn Power to look. The rest of East McKeesport ... not so sure.
But the started projects. Downtown Irwin has construction paper roads and taped together buildings. Herminie has the half-built WCC Mine No. 4, the rough shape of the hillside, a three-quarters-painted B&O truss bridge and in the shadows Vic's Bait & Tackle resting on paint - no scenery.
Last night I spent some time on the West Staging section with the goal of getting something finished. This is the first part of the layout that people see when they walk into the basement so I thought it would be appropriate to complete this scene. I have two building mockups and need two more which I started to build. In the scene there will be a small section of track coming out of the backdrop with a cut boxcar to give the illusion of depth. Since this scene "ends" where Rt 30 crosses the layout, I did a little more work on the scenery there as well. This could be interesting and I'll post a photo as soon as I have something worth showing.
But the started projects. Downtown Irwin has construction paper roads and taped together buildings. Herminie has the half-built WCC Mine No. 4, the rough shape of the hillside, a three-quarters-painted B&O truss bridge and in the shadows Vic's Bait & Tackle resting on paint - no scenery.
Last night I spent some time on the West Staging section with the goal of getting something finished. This is the first part of the layout that people see when they walk into the basement so I thought it would be appropriate to complete this scene. I have two building mockups and need two more which I started to build. In the scene there will be a small section of track coming out of the backdrop with a cut boxcar to give the illusion of depth. Since this scene "ends" where Rt 30 crosses the layout, I did a little more work on the scenery there as well. This could be interesting and I'll post a photo as soon as I have something worth showing.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
A Look Back
I was organizing some family photos when I discovered a couple of pictures from Sep 2003 of the layout in the building stage. At the time, I had planned a large peninsula (about 4' x 8') to jut out from East McKeesport and add to the mainline length. This would wind around the pennisula then curve into the west staging yard. Below you can see the peninsula ready for a sheet of sub roadbed (pink insulation sheeting).
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