The Grand Plan!

Finally! The mysterious, top secret, hush hush, track plan finally revealed!

Judging by all the comments, emails, cards and letters we haven't received, yous guys aren't exactly dying of curiosity about the track plan of this dandy little pike! So without any further ado, here you go anyway:

Ta-Da!

Four city blocks of downtown traction action, featuring a Grand Union (or Grand Junction) intersection, all contained within a 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 foot layout. So whaddaya think? Worth the wait? Hmm? Yes sir! Worth the wait!

Dandy

Say Mister! Ain't You Forgetting Something?

I know what your thinking: "One minute your building cars, the next your installing the overhead. What happened to laying track?!"

     Well, the truth is, this layout was begun years ago (decades actually!). And as it turned out, traction modeling is not an entry level endeavor. The basics of model railroading should be mastered before delving into traction. So the layout languished in storage for well over a decade before conditions were right to dig it out, dust it off, and pick up again.

Historical photo from the time of no color. Brass car, lead folk, white plaster. We've come a short way over a long period of time! Photo circa 1988 Dan D. Sparks.

The track work was done way back then. So to help fill in this "track gap", I was able to locate some old construction prints. So in between wrapping wires and repairing poles and fine tuning track, I will scan some of these and post them for your eyeballs to devour. Yes sir! Post some old layout construction photos for your eyeballs to devour!

Dandy

Can't See the Layout for the Poles!

Line poles have been procured and planted perfectly in their proper positions permanently ready to provide proper support for the overhead as per the Proclamation :P .

1890's street runs from the lower left along the edge of the layout, intersecting with 1910s street in the center. This photo only reveals just half the poles on the layout! Its a forest of poles!

I thought I was done constructing poles until I saw this photo. Photos reveal a lot more than I would see with just me nekkid eye. The bracket arms were too long on those telephone poles, so I trimmed them down to a more reasonable length.

So now, finally, we are ready for overhead. Yes sir! Ready to string that overhead!

Dandy

Wrappers Delight

Wire wrapping - got to love it!

This cross span on 1890s street consists of four wire wrappings. One at each pole and two more at the hanger. The wheelsets with the pointer help me locate the hanger position to the correct height and centering over the track.

The technique I'm using to install the overhead for my layout pretty much follows the technique detailed at the Trolleyville site: Hanging Simple Overhead Wire For Trolley Pole Use. I deviated a bit with the type of wire though:

.010" Diameter Phosphor Bronze

Phosphor Bronze is a very good conductor of electrisicles, but there are some drawbacks with using this wire. Its more difficult to work with compared to magnet wire. Magnet wire is more flexible while the Phosphor Bronze is pretty stiff and easily penetrates the skin (my layout has literally been built with my sweat and blood!). Its tiny diameter looks real good, but hopefully this won't be an issue with carrying the DCC signals.

Nickel silver wire will be used for the contact wire since nickel silver is a very good material for transferring the electrisicles (just like nickel silver rails!).

I have also foregone the insulators for now, I have an innovative idea that I want to try out for that in the near future.

Alright, well... that's enough bloggerin' for now, I have a lot of wire wrapping to do. Yes sir! I have a LOT of wire wrapping to do.

Dandy

One Down! 999 to go!

The installation of the overhead has begun and shall proceed in earnest!

The first of many, many wire wraps.

Now that all the line poles are placed (which, by the way, fulfills one of the parameters of my New Years Resolution) the stringing of the overhead wires may commence. Yes sir! The stringing has commenced!

Dandy

I Thought Brass was Brass

But there is such a thing as "Soft Brass".

As it turns out, soft brass is totally unacceptable for use as line poles. 

And that's all I have to say about that. Yes sir. That is all I have to say about that!

Dandy

Simple, Stately, Line Poles

Getting very anxious to get the layout running again, I have fabricated a whole new batch of line poles.

Having the streets right on the edge of the layout means that the other sidewalk isn't there to plant the second span pole.  So my poles were originally built with these bracket arms:

But the tension of the overhead proved to be too great for the poles on the street corners and these bracket arms had a tendency to suddenly bend 90 degrees, ruining the pole. So I have decided to bite the bullet and add span poles along the edge of the layout.

These square milled line poles were very common pre-20th century.  Eventually they figured out that milled poles were more expensive to build and that un-milled poles are actually much stronger. So they fell out of favor fast and seem to be all but completely gone by the 1920s. I think that these square poles are actually quite handsome, you know, for a pole. So my 1890s and 1900s streets will sport these nifty poles.

 I fabricated my poles from solid 1/8" square brass stock. After I had painted and weathered them, I was won over by the Southern California Traction clubs practice of adding "eye-bolts" to their poles. Should my permanently attached span wire bend or break, I would be faced with some major repair. But seeing the ease at which the SCTC could swap out their span wire with this "eye bolt" method, well its obvious which method is superior. Yes sir, its obvious.

SCTC member, John McWhirter, posted a sketch on a Yahoo traction modeling group that depicts an effective method of adding "eye bolts" to line poles that I followed to fabricate my own. Basically its looping span wire around a track nail and then threading the ends thru a hole drilled thru the pole. The ends are bent to hold it in place for soldering. Then trimmed flush.

Here are my poles with their new eye-bolts installed. The soldering ruined the paint job near the bolts so I have some touching up to do before the poles can be installed on the layout.

Here is the first pole to be installed on the layout. Notice that the new eye-bolt isn't overly huge and helps the pole maintain its simple, stately elegance, you know, for a line pole. Yes sir! Simple, stately elegance, for a line pole!

Dandy

Tarnation Supply Warehouse

Building a Good Ol' Fashioned DPM Style Model for an Upcoming Project.

A bit of a diversion, how good does it feel to build one of these type of models again! Its been years for me!

The idea is to butt two of these "Schultz Garage" by Woodland Scenics models together to build a larger building...

Like this! They went together easily enough... except where the cement overflowed and dissolved some of the brickwork on the nearest corner. No worries! I'll think of something to hide that. The back of the facades don't have any detail, so since I have some left over wall material...

Sweet! This beefs up the wall and adds some more detail to the building.

I want a good old fashioned red brick color for the building. A lot of guys are using Americana craft acrylics for these sort of projects, so I thought I would give it a try. I went to my local Micheal's crafts store to get a bottle of "Americana Heritage Brick", but of course they were out, so I got the next closest thing, "Rookwood Red" with "Fawn" as the trim color. It doesn't really matter what color I get anyway, weathering will alter these colors dramatically.

See? Just adding a mortar mix already changed the color quite a bit. For the mortar I just rubbed on some Durhams water putty tinted to a light grey into the cast-in mortar joints. The building looks quiet stark this way, so its going to need to be toned down.

I gave the building a weathering wash which really toned things down and really brought out the detail (including the melted brick smudge on the near corner!). Most folks use an India Ink / Alcohol mixture for this, but I prefer a Bragdons Weathering Powders / Alcohol mix. It gives me a more dusty and dry look that I like for my Southern California set buildings.

For the windows and doors I used the same "Fawn" trim color.

And they were cemented into place. I'm thinking of doing something different for the freight door, so I skipped it for now.

There is a popular technique among craftsman where paper signs are sanded tissue thin so when applied to the side of a brick building they look painted on. So I thought I would give it a try. Its pretty tough to do and when my sign finally ripped, I stopped and glued them on. But I think it was too soon, they still look kind of thick.

I have some doors left over, so I thought I would experiment and see if I can make one look partially open...

I carefully cut out an opening and then filed it smooth up to the door frame.

The new freight door was painted and installed.

 Then the doors and windows received the same weathering powder / alcohol mix that the bricks did. Look how it really brings out the details. But now with that open door, I'll need some interior detailing.

With the last of the leftover wall material, I cemented them together to make an interior office space. I hate to waste, so this makes me happy.

So easy and effective.

The roof was constructed as per the instructions, but with longer pieces of styrene. But I'm not entirely happy with the plain roof, I mean, what kind of roofing material is that supposed to be anyway? So...

 A scale 3' strips of 600 grit sandpaper was cut and glued to the roof to simulate tar paper.

The "tar paper" was weathered with the Bragdon Weathering Powders.

Also of note is how thick the windows and doors are. The model comes with clear styrene to fit behind them, but I think it will just highlight that thickness. So...

 I've experimented with using Micro Kristal Kleer for windows in the past and wasn't too impressed, But for an industrial building like this, I think it might just be perfect! And it fits IN the window openings, not behind them. Its messy work, so it was applied from the back of the windows.

Micro Kristal Klear goes on white, but will dry clear. Being IN the window frames, this should help the window frames look thinner.

And there ya go! I'll come up with something to hide the melted brick thing when this building is put into its scene. But until then, this has been a fun little diversion. Yes sir! A fun little diversion indeed!

Dandy

Visiting the Saddest Place on Earth

I was, as all my friends were, very saddened by the closing of Disneyland in California a while back. So I enthusiastically jumped at the opportunity to visit the old abandoned park recently and well... It turned out to be the most depressing thing I have ever done.

The first thing that struck me was how overgrown everything had become. The perfectly manicured landscaping had gone downright bohemian.

Being a rail fan, the Main Street Station was one of my favorite places. I could still hear the Station Masters announcements: "Your attention please! The Disneyland Limited now arriving..." Fortunately that still lives on at Disney World in Florida which is still alive and thriving.

Despite the Disney Co's best effort to keep the park updated, the basic concept is very 1955. With every passing year, Disneyland looked more and more like a miniature golf course.

The Jungle Cruise has become, well... a jungle! Such an attraction had become less attractive ever since video gaming made visiting adventuresome places so much more submersive than just riding a boat with a stand-up comic with viewing the "backside of water" as the highlight.

Once hailed as the way of the future, the "highway in the sky" is now a relic of the past. I really had thought that monorails would have been everywhere by now.

This post might be a little off topic, but Disneyland was really a scale model layout. Main Street scales out to roughly 7/8th scale. A very large scale layout that you could actually walk around in. But Disneyland, just like model railroading, can't compete with the limitless virtual world. 

 So sad. The whole time I was walking around I kept hoping I would wake up from this nightmare and find it was all just an April Fools joke. Yes sir! Just an April Fools joke!

Dandy

#426 Project~ Making the Circuit

#426 Makes her shakedown run around the Southern California Traction Club modular layout setup:

And she ran beautifully all weekend.

She's come a long way from her years as a tarnished display piece. Yes sir! She's come a long way!

Dandy

#426 Project~ Energizing the Diablo

With the Diablo Mechanism firmly installed, its time to wire it all together.

I find soldering the wire to the trolley pole base a little tricky. The wire attaches to the brass bushing which inserts into a plastic insulator. The wire can't be soldered on ahead of time because then the bushing would be too fat to fit through the plastic insulator. The only solution I've come up with so far is soldering it in place fast before the plastic has time to melt.

The bushing is prepared ahead of time. First by roughing it up with a Bright Boy so that its clean and etched, ready to accept solder.

Then the bushing is tinned (hot solder flowed on). I had to keep it thin so it could still be slid through the plastic insulator. 

Then the wire is shaped and tinned as well.

Then I line everything up, add some flux and then hit it with the hot iron. Hopefully the wire and bushing will melt together before the plastic gets too hot. Remember to clean off the flux residue with some alcohol. Give the wire a tug to make sure a good connection has been made.

Each wire from the two bushings (double pole car) connect to one end of a Micro-Mini Connector plug from Miniatronics (50-001). The other plug of the connector connects to each pole of the motor. To help keep wires organized and out of the way of moving parts, one of the plugs is glued to the top of the motor (above), and the wires are bent accordion style. A rubber band secures the plug in place while the glue dries.

Testing the electrical connections is a simple matter of stuffing one power pack lead into the hole of one of  the bushings and the other lead into the other bushing. Give it some juice and (if all goes well) the car should roll across the work bench (which it did!). So now were ready for the test track. Yes sir! We are ready for the test track!

Dandy

Every Good Hero has a Side Frame

Installing Side Frames onto the Diablo Mechanism

Hollywood Foundry suggests a couple of ways to mount the side frames to the Diablo, but I'm going to go with soldering them on. Solder is good, I trust solder.

Ooh look at that texturing on those tabs! All that extra surface area will really help the side frames stick. I further cleaned and roughed it up with a Bright Boy.

Hot solder will really stick to this kind of surface. Flowing solder onto the surfaces to be joined ahead of time (tinning) helps make soldering easier and more reliable. I removed the cover plate from the Diablo and then tinned the surfaces of the tab and the side frame itself with a soldering iron.

 

After determining where exactly the side frame sits so that the journal boxes will line up with the axles, all I had to do was hold the two pieces together with tweezers and then heat the joint with a small torch. I could feel when the two pieces melt together.

 These side frames are on there solid. I never have to worry about them ever falling off. I cleaned the solder joints with some alcohol so that the flux residue won't corrode the joint.

Reattach to the Diablo and were all solid man. Yes sir! Solid man!

Dandy