Yes the RR is Still Alive

Been getting back into the swing of things on the RR here, now that the work picture has improved a bit.

Foremost, I have been quite eager for the release of the Wheels of Time PC&F Insulated Boxcars, especially in my home road... and picked my order of cars up from my favorite hobby shop today!

I am impressed with everything about these cars all the way down to the metal wheelsets and how they got the wheel profile correct (oh wait, those are BLMA trucks! ...with Athearn wheels?).  The only gripe I have at this point is the choice of steel weights for the few of us that actually use the MT couplers, and a number of them have unresponsive couplers over the uncoupling ramps that I will have to investigate.  These along with the few other road names I picked up are truly a welcome addition to the roster here.
I will be retiring and selling off all my Micro Train "FMC" SP / SSW dbl door boxcars now that these have arrived.  The MT cars were great for their time, but the dimensions are just too far off for me, and I prefer the old Roundhouse/Athearn and Fox Valley body styles for these.  The current stable of FMC dbl door box style here is heavy handed, so the new PC&F cars will help to balance out the fleet.  Already got my order in for WOT's second release (in SSW paint).  Rumor is one of my all time favorite cars will be released later and drain my wallet if a correspondence I had with Matthew is interpreted correctly....

 So, after the layout sat idle for an extended period, I encountered a few issues that appeared which I am going to try to blame on that A/C failure during last summer's heatwave.
Two of my mainline handlaid turnouts had a stock rail lift on more than just a few pc ties, but fortunately just a matter of reheating the joints and now back in service.  Those two turnouts are probably close to 15 years in service, so still pretty proud on how reliable and durable all the handlaid turnouts have proven to be over all the years.
Then I had a couple more flex track sections that warped and came loose from the benchwork, but once ballasted wont have a chance for a repeat offense.
The biggest fix was regarding one of the yard throats into staging. The #7 Atlas turnouts there have been causing locos to stall.  I really appreciate Atlas for their great strides in pushing N scale, but their use of production in China has left a few rough edges.  Hoping their next run of code 55 turnouts are an improvement for all my fellow modelers.  I am at over a 50% failure rate with the nine turnouts that I utilized in the Klamath Falls yard throat.  Power is not being routed through the turnouts, as their internal power feeds are not "hardwired".  I have had to drop numerous feeders to power dead rails on these turnouts.  Was contemplating being lazy and use a couple of their #10's for the Hampton expansion, but still on the fence if to go back to handlay as I push forward on the next phase of the expansion...
Other little fixes since the layout was dormant for so long was a few cranky Tortoise motors that refused to throw when reversing.  I only run about 5 volts to them to simulate that proto slow motion speed, so they were stalling for some reason.  Fortunately they seem to have come back to life after using them repeatedly for awhile.  Might have to bump up the voltage a bit more if it becomes a problem, but not real sure what is going on since it has worked fine for so many years previous...
Last little noteworthy fix was repair of the roadbed at Oakrdige siding where the trackage had developed an unnatural hump.  Appears that all the moisture from multiple workings of the plaster there had warped where two plywood sections joined together, so only solution was to reinforce things there with a piece of metal sheet stock.  Aint it pretty?  Someday yet more plaster will blend it all in.

 Meanwhile, been acquiring materials for the Hampton siding expansion phase, and currently have Ray's CAD overlay cut out and draped across each end of staging.  We are fine-tuning how the benchwork is going to come out of the helix and still leave K Falls and Portland Yard throats readily visible, and how to pull off the scenic aspects of this undertaking in what space there is to work with.  This project is all about adding another siding for operations, removing some of the down time inside the helix, while hopefully still getting some antiquated resemblance to this section of the RR.  The layout is not linear in configuration to begin with, but now that it has taken on the "G" shape configuration, it is one of my goals to make it as user friendly for the operator to be able to walk with his train and / or view signals from a perspective that makes it as clear and user friendly as possible.   The design is for some version of the crossing over Willamette River at the head of Lookout Point Reservoir (even if somewhat condensed), and a siding that holds the monster trains on the layout.  This whole concept is nothing like I have seen before, and it will be a challenge to pull it off, but I think there is some hope...

Before I tear into the benchwork on this next phase, I am trying to make an attempt to push forward on some scenery around Oakridge to make it more entertaining for operating crews meanwhile, instead of the long trek across yet even more plywood prairies... I have made slight progress around the rock shed area, which could have been extensive progress if I had kept better notes.  I had trouble matching colors for the base coat on my plaster, as five + year old abbreviations were misinterpreted, resulting in plaster coloring that had to be reworked.  Got that resolved only to find that the brand new replacement scissors I ordered for cutting my polyfiber didnt work as well as the original set from the same manuf part #...  Yes they were made there also...  but stumbling along best I can with what I got at this point.

Art brought over some BLMA 89' flats recently for a test run on the layout.  We mixed them into a 23 car TOFC train (20 89' flats, 2 skybox and a hack), that runs regular on the layout, spreading them in different parts of the train.  We placed a couple right behind the head end, and a number spaced randomly throughout the rest of the train.  They revealed a minor flaw in the atlas turnouts that first had to be attended to.  The BLMA wheels were derailing on the stock rail where the notch is cut for the point rails....  after passing over this notch with a few light file swipes they performed flawlessly through the turnouts.  My helix is the ultimate durability test for trains, and the stresses were at their limit for these new cars.  The complete sets of BLMA cars worked well together, but we did have some uncoupling events up near the front of the train where they were placed between Micro Train flats.  The MT flats have varying height couplers for whatever reason, so this appears to have contributed to what uncouplings we had.  I have had to strategically place my MT flats in order where the couplers line up to avoid uncoupling.  The only major issue we had was with the lead BLMA car coupled behind the power. On some occasions the lead truck would derail, so not sure yet, but figuring this is due to a combination of body mount and fine flanges under extreme circumstances.  I run MT LP wheels and FV metal wheels on the MT flats currently in service on this train, and it is running at its maximum reliable length already.  Overall analysis is that the BLMA cars are going to fit in fine with their own strategic placement also.

In the sound department, I have been toying with my SD9's and the sound files I downloaded from John McMasters.  His units sound great in HO scale, but I am still stumbling along with mine here.  Digitrax seems to have forsaken the sound project side of things, and kind of dissapointed that in the last year little to no sound product releases have materialized from any of the manufacturers pushing the envelope for N.  I suppose economic conditions have some impact there...  The bright side on the sound department here is that Ray picked up an Athearn F45 in BN colors (with Tsunami) that will be living here.  

It makes the Digitrax sound effects seem kinda limp, but I am glad to at least have sound that fits into my other Hood units.  The F45 will take the lead and augment the current BN SD40-2 which acts as pool power heading up a manifest off the BN.  Currently working on how to read / write this loco with Decoder Pro, but once I swap my 12v PS with an 18v for the PR3, anticipating that it will resolve program issues.  Hopefully not going to turn into another "project"...

Lots more in the works...
Hope we can get back to more regular updates of the RR in the months to come.

Oct / Nov / Dec - Progress

I have not had time to work much on the RR for awhile due to work schedule, so it has not progressed much. I even had to terminate a few operating sessions that I tried to get off the ground, but it appears that maintaining a job is necessary just to keep the train room.
Back in September I had the Oakridge section and east side of the pass all prepared for scenery, and was making slow headway with minor plaster filling and re-contouring in that area.  Was just starting to work on the base color coats and geared up to add ground cover when I got transferred to another job...

I had to pull up all the masking tape off the rails when I found that it would be awhile until I had time to push further forward, and so the layout has basically sat idle since then.  Otherwise, I have been purchasing a few items here and there and doing minor tinkering.

I bagged a CMX track cleaning car on ebay for 40% off, that is ready for its first test run... 

Hopefully keeping it filled with cleaning solution will help with the track cleaning train, as chasing it around with an alcohol filled eye dropper was not the most efficient.  I have found that 70% alcohol on my Centerline cleaner cars seems to build up a residue on loco wheels and other, but not sure what is actually taking place there.  On-line reading tends me to think that the alcohol is partially breaking down the gunk and relocating it.  My Minitrix wheel cleaner was balking at removing this gunk from engine wheels, and the only thing that would remove it was running each loco in place over an alcohol soaked tissue.  So not sure what the best cleaning solution should be for the new CMX tanker...  Some reading indicates use of lacquer thinner might be better, or perhaps 90% alcohol instead.  My fear is in the weathered rail profile that I have painted with lacquer base paint, and how durable it will be with these solutions over the long haul.  Since I can control the drip rate on the CMX car, I am leaning toward the laquer thinner and see how that goes. 

Another acquisition I made on ebay was to get the 70 tonner needed for my Klamath Northern roster, which will be used between the KN interchange and the mill up at Gilchrist.  I couldnt resist the 70% off price on this puppy.  It needs the twin sealed beam and one of a kind door louvers, but pretty straight forward after that with the reefer orange paint and some custom decals.

Here is a proto shot by John Bauer of it at the mill by their chip loader (that for some reason has a shed over it unlike others I have seen... maybe that doubled as the engine house at one time?).

 Bachmann's version pulls fairly well on the flats, but after some extensive testing on similar grades and curves needed for this operation, I found that it will be most reliable pulling about five cars from Gilchrist Jct and up  to the mill.  It pulls seven on similar trackage here with minor wheel slip, but I should probably configure mill ops based on what appears will be the more reliable train length.  This operation ran a couple trains per day anyhow, so might be a kick if that fits into the operating scheme here once we progress to that point.
Here is a shot of KN's later GE 125 tonner with a shorter cut of cars, coming back from the mill (another one of John Bauer's fine shots):

Adding cars to be used for the last lumber drag that will eventually fill the train schedule.  Recently picked up a couple more Exact Rail out of production lumber boxcars with the yellow doors, and an old Columbia Cowlitz high cube box from LBF.  I have a couple units acquired for this train so far, but still need to find a couple more Kato SD45s, then put decoders in them all.

Last few weeks been acquiring some screen mesh, and sifting old plaster bits and pieces for some loose rock / talus on the east side of the pass.  Today I stained some sample runs of different earth colors...  so see how they came out tomorrow, then can adjust as needed.  This should get my scenery materials closer to complete for what is needed to finish the east side of the Hill (and possible upgrades to the west side later).  More later...
 Top of the list as soon as I see stability in the work schedule will be to call crews back from furlough.  Look forward to more good times moving some traffic across the RR, and hopefully then we can also verify that the latest operating scheme has been fine tuned correctly.

Happy Holidays

More Videos of the Layout, and....

 Now that I have been cruising Youtube and looking at all the SP N scale stuff, I stumbled on another vid of the layout my buddy Vinny digitized while here during a loose ops sess. 
Layout Vid
Looking forward to the next time you can make it out this way again there Vincenzo!

Other:
Came across a couple more issues that had gone unnoticed after that heat wave in the garage... on the day of the layout tour.  Had a "sun kinked" rail in the siding at Oakridge where power kept uncoupling.  After a closer look I was able to work the ME 40 flex track back into shape since it hasn't been ballasted there yet.  Resolved it after some further persuasion with a little ACC to hold it in place.  Then there was an electrical short in the staging yard where one of the rails expanded into a frog at a turnout.  I never finished soldering all the rail joints in staging, so some of the short rail sections need to get completed anyhow.  Later experienced another short on one of the Tortoise motor pwr circuits that I was unable to find, until Dan M. eyeballed a wire laying across another where they were soldered to a turnout toggle that controls the Weyerhaeuser plant.  Probably unrelated, but fortunately we weren't doing any switching that day anyhow.  Thanks Dan!

Meanwhile having fun playing with the WiThrottle App to make the I-devices act as throttles.  Originally it was just my kid with the Ipod Touch so I wasn't that interested...  Pretty easy to work with to acquire trains and I like the throttle speed controls....  Good times working on the RR.
More on using your Iphone with the App:
WiThrottle

First Youtube Vid Posted

Cobbled together the sound units and strung a bunch of cars together to make my first youtube vid.
It runs a bit faster than the original, and the sound level is a bit low (so Crank It Up! for the full effect), but hopefully can figure all that out as I move forward...
It's just a Railfan's perspective of one loaded lumber drag with midtrains grinding up the pass.
A good motivator to push forward on that scenery... as soon as work gives me some of my life back.
Enjoy!     :)
Here is the link:   Midtrain Helper Video

Sound Decoder Update

Got the latest batch of big SD units programmed with the 645 turbo prime mover sounds (Dgtrx SDN144A0 decoders), and satisfied with what they can do for now... no not Tsunamis with Big speakers, but still a kick.
Trying to tweak the speaker output a bit to get more bass, as I note the programmed sounds are really cool when the power travels through cuts and tunnels as they traverse the layout, but a bit lacking out on the plywood prairies. One thing that has helped so far, was inverting all the speakers with the magnet facing out.  It makes a noticeable difference in getting rid of the higher "jet airplane" syndrome that these smaller speakers seem to produce.  Considering making some styrene baffles to see what affect it has in further efforts to produce more bass...  later.
A couple minor issues yet to resolve with Digitrax's "sound time-out" feature when the units are dispatched from the throttle...  They work fine solo and perform as intended with CV 11 @ 06, but when I consist them with UniVersal consisting they won't shut down at all, so still working on a solution to that issue.... 
Then loaded the non turbo 645 sound projects into a couple SD9's (more SDN144A0 decoders)  from John McMasters spj files.  I have yet to play with the CV settings at all on these units, but kind of baffled with the default that they start up with now...  They go through a series of prime mover and non prime mover sounds when the track first powers up, but I have yet to take the time to read more on his settings and program to see how they follow...  So far the non turbo sounds are pretty cool, so hoping I can get them dialed in without issue, then can address minor issues with differences in the GP / SD actual implementation...  more to come as we are just getting started in this aspect of the hobby.  Probably sound will take a temporary back seat once I get these dialed in, as want to push forward more on the layout itself even though there is a strong current pulling me back toward sound, diesel detailing, etc, etc...
And a shot of Klamath Falls staging yard as trains await their crews for the PSR layout tour this weekend:

Summertime Blues

Our air conditioning died last week and had to go without it for about three days until we finally figured out it was just the capacitor for the condenser fan had failed, but that was when it reached over 105 degrees outside for the whole week.   :(
The layout is used to having climate control along with the rest of the house, so it got well into the 90's in the garage during the afternoons.  This morning I noticed that the layout did not like seeing those temperatures, as a string of boxcars in the new staging yard were leaning significantly to one side from some severe expansion issues.  I have to do a thorough check on how the whole layout fared, but so far only appears to be that one Atlas flex track section where a rail popped out of the ties.  I was worried about the slip rail in all the sections of my Atlas code 55 flex while installing it, as that rail was excessively loose compared to any other flex I had dealt with before.  Fortunately I was able to carefully push the rail back down into the spike heads, so maybe that is better than the whole track section getting distorted and ripped apart....  a little track cleaning with a few test trains should verify if all else is well.

Meanwhile been working way too much overtime at work to get much progress on the layout as I had hoped, but on the brighter side still been able to tinker with a few more sound decoder installs.  The sound fleet now is up to six units, with 2 Cadillacs (SD9's), 3 Tunnel Motors, and an SD40-2 ready for programming.  The PR3 is here, but have yet to actually load any sound projects.  Here's a couple pics of the latest install into a UP Kato SD40-2 that will be used as a pool unit:

Sounds a lot better than the other GP38 default sounds currently in my Cadillacs and Tunnel Motors, that's for sure!  A lot of my power is EMD 645 prime mover equipped, so this unit is a lot of fun to have working since the first actually sporting the correct sounds on the layout!

Getting ready for the PSR layout tour here in September, but not sure if I am going to make it putting the sound units into service with the constraints...  maybe they will give me a break at work     :)

Taking Things up a Notch with Digitrax Sound Decoders

Since expanding the layout, I have found the need to build more trains and also find more motive power to pull them.  I am finally pulling old power (and rolling stock) out of boxes as well as purchasing others to balance out closer to SP's '78 roster, and putting decoders in them...  so why not try some sound decoders?  MRC was out from what feedback I got from others, so I started looking at the Digitrax drop-in decoders.  On a recent visit to Ron Sipkovich's Cajon Pass layout, I had the opportunity to hear Digitrax's 645 prime mover and other sounds used in the SD40-2 first hand.  With its small speaker, this decoder did not match up to the Tsunami or Loksound decoders that I have heard in N scale cowl units (bigger spkr), but if I could stuff a 10 X 18mm speaker into an N scale hood unit, I was pretty much sold, especially considering there was no major milling and I got the same performance and reliability as their non-sound counterparts.  Latest acquisition to the fleet here that needed sound, were a set of Intermountain Tunnel Motors.  Since receiving some help from fellow Forumites on the Atlas forum (thanks Tivo), I found that the Digitrax SDN144A0 (used in Atlas GP38), was a possible candidate for the Tunnel Motors.  So I bought a few to verify as a worthy prospect.  It is pretty close to a straight drop-in install, with only a few minor issues to resolve.  I had to modify the frame halves by carefully prying the ears to get the .024" needed for the thicker decoder board.  Don't get too crazy or one can easily crack the frame ears.  I have encountered this before, and in some cases I will take a Dremel cut-off wheel to open the gap a bit more.  After taking the calipers to the shell and speaker widths, I noted that it was a tighter fit than I was comfortable with, but pretty close.  I wanted to be able to disassemble the unit for maintenance without the 10 X 18mm speaker getting stuck inside the shell, so some filing of the speaker and the body shell were in order.  Removal of about .010" overall, and I was able to slide the shell on and off smoothly.  So far I am happy with the user friendliness of the decoder settings and feel like I have adequate control of all the sound levels.  With the speaker sitting in the back and partially under the decoder, the sound still resonates pretty well.  I got the volume on max for some of the sound schemes, but toned down for others resulting in an acceptable balance for the layout's ambient room noise.  Still have to load the 645 sound scheme files in this version, but once I get the PR3 programer here, that should be easy enough.  The headlight has to peer over the capacitor that sits in the front, so it is a bit dim and needs further work, but I have to revisit sometime soon to add more full SP light packages on my lead units anyhow...
...and a pic showing how the components fit:

After tackling a Tunnel Motor, I decided to try an install with the same SDN144A0 decoder in an Atlas SD9, but more filing (speaker and inside of  shell), and headlights still to reckon with.  On this unit the decoder was too thin and ended up being too loose between the frame tabs.  Instead of trying to shim with styrene, I ended up adding a small amount of solder to each decoder pad for more reliability.  Another fairly straight forward install with no major modifications.  I took the previous decoder out of the SD9 and swapped it into a GP40-2 that has now been added to the fleet.  As time permits, I will push forward with lighting effects to include more SP light packages, and also put some premium sound / speakers in my early Kato power (Loksound and larger spkrs in U33Cs and other SD's), but short term these drop-ins are a quick and easy way to get sound started on the layout.  For now, just my lead units will have sound, but hearing a full consist roll by on Tim Dickinson's BN layout (each with its own distinct characteristics), has pretty well hooked me at this point... so there's no stopping me now!