| Author |
 Topic  |
|
Peterpools
Engineer
USA
12335 Posts |
 Posted - 02/13/2009 : 08:04:49 AM
|
Vagel and Don
I just finished reading every post from page one through 9 and what a terrific thread. Beautiful benchwork and exemplary carpentry skills.
Peter
BCT |
 |
|
|
AVRR-PA
Fireman
USA
4602 Posts |
Posted - 02/13/2009 : 10:18:39 AM
|
Thanks, Peter - much appreciated. I'm glad to be able to help. It's a good replacement for the layout I started that got "sunk" by a collapsed floor drain we can't afford to dig up and replace. And working with Vagel is a lot more fun that working alone in the gallery basement.[:-eyebrows]
The secret of success, though, is Vagel's ability to think in three-dimensions and hold this whole layout concept in his head. I'm not good at that - but when he has a concept, I can help execute it.
And we both like greasy diner food. What more could you want in a working partnership.
Don |
|
|
|
ChrisS
Section Hand
84 Posts |
Posted - 02/13/2009 : 3:50:35 PM
|
quote:
That K-27 looks rather at home in Pennsylvania! I'm really enjoying this thread, Vagel and Don. Nice to see other HOn3 people out there. |
|
|
|
Vagel Keller
Crew Chief
USA
722 Posts |
Posted - 02/13/2009 : 4:19:33 PM
|
Thanks, Peter and Chris. It's really amazing how fast this has all come together.
Vagel |
|
|
|
Vagel Keller
Crew Chief
USA
722 Posts |
Posted - 02/18/2009 : 8:04:10 PM
|
Don and I worked on separate projects today. Don cut the 90-degree corner at the end of the aisle on the Buchanan side and installed the new angled piece. Then he began the task of installing electrical outlets at 6 - 8-ft intervals around the layout. I finished the sub-roadbed follow-up work I had began last night on the n.g. branch: placing additional risers and supports to provide bracing at 1-ft intervals. Then, in FINAL preparation for laying and wiring track, I cut a gap in the sub-roadbed where Don's future wooden trestle will go.
Garth came by to see the layout in person, so I got to play host while Don continued toiling away ... I feel SO ashamed. Here are some snaps:
The corner, before and after:
It really makes a difference in easing the transition into the potential choke point of a 2-ft wide aisle way leading between the two peninsulas. No doubt it will prevent a few bruised hips, as well.
Here are some close-ups of Don's handiwork:
Here's Don posing as an electrician ...
... and overview of electrical work in progress:
Meanwhile, I hacked a gap in the n.g. branch sub-roadbed below Buchanan on a short stretch of straightness in the middle of a compound curve for Don's trestle:
The deck truss is one of two old Atlas snap-track thingies that I picked up in the "anything for a buck" box at one of those Hobby Shops in the trunk of some guy's 1938 DeSoto that you find at the West Podunk Odd Fellows Quasi-Occasional Model Train Show years ago. Cut the angled end panels away and you're left with a pretty reasonable (if you squint) facsimile of 1/2 of the East Broad Top's two-span deck truss bridge over Aughwick Creek (which is why I have 2). It'll serve as a "page holder" until the wooden trestle is ready.
Here it is resting on the framework I cobbled together:
And I couldn't resist bending some rail and taking a telephoto shot looking downgrade:
A bunch of us are getting together for a monthly quilting bee on trees this Sunday, and maybe there'll be some embarrassing photographs to post afterward. Talk to you then,
Vagel |
Edited by - Vagel Keller on 02/18/2009 8:08:24 PM |
|
|
|
AVRR-PA
Fireman
USA
4602 Posts |
Posted - 02/19/2009 : 06:30:26 AM
|
Hi, everyone --
Another fun day! I expect Vagel will be laying track any minute, if he hasn't already started. I know he has already sanded all the cork roadbed nice and flat.
I'm looking forward to building the trestle, although I wish it was going to be larger. 
Doing 1:1 wiring isn't exactly exciting, but it will be very nice to have quad boxes at regular intervals under the edge of the layout - it's worth taking some time away from actual modeling.
It was fun having Garth come by for a visit. He took some photographs which he'll add to this thread when he has some free time.
Don |
|
|
|
Garth
New Hire
USA
12 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2009 : 10:11:59 PM
|
I had a fun visit to the layout the other day. Vagel didn't seem to mind a bit taking time to give me a tour! The work he and Don are doing is really impressive, except for some of Don's mitered joints. He's just not fussy enough about them! [:-angel]
Here are some photos:
The view of the layout from the front door.
The same part of the layout viewed from the other end. Doesn't Don look pleased?
The rest of the layout - the site for the roundhouse and turntable, and the railroad museum.
A first for this thread - the two builders seen together.
I'm really looking forward to seeing what the layout will look like in another few months. Who knows, I may be inspired to install a decoder in my Westside Lumber Co. Shay #15.....
Cheers,
Garth
|
|
|
|
AVRR-PA
Fireman
USA
4602 Posts |
Posted - 02/21/2009 : 06:51:16 AM
|
Thanks, Garth! Great pictures. And I do hope you put a decoder in that locomotive and come over and run it with us.
Don |
Edited by - AVRR-PA on 02/21/2009 06:52:54 AM |
|
|
|
Frederic Testard
Engineer
France
16455 Posts |
Posted - 02/21/2009 : 7:12:03 PM
|
Nice work, Vagel and Don.
Is this a simple impression, or is the hole for the turntable a huge one? |
Frederic Testard |
|
|
|
AVRR-PA
Fireman
USA
4602 Posts |
Posted - 02/21/2009 : 11:32:25 PM
|
Hi, Frederic --
Thre's nothing wrong with your eyesight - it is in fact huge. Vagel can explain more, but there's a space/time warp built into this layout. The area around the turntable is a modern museum of old PRR equipment, including T-1's and the like. You pass through the worm hole and pop out on the East Broad Top. I'm working on modeling the time warp - not sure how to weather it.
Don |
|
|
|
Vagel Keller
Crew Chief
USA
722 Posts |
Posted - 02/22/2009 : 09:24:29 AM
|
Great pictures, Garth. Thanks for posting them. Did you notice how I carefully planned the n.g. branch so that the right/engine side of a Shay would be toward the aisle with the tender on the down-grade side?
I took the liberty of downloading and PhotoShopping Garth's portrait of Don and Me to bring your's truly out of the shadows imposed by the backlighting from the windows:
Frederic, the hole is for the Walthers 130' turntable to handle the big Pennsy steam that will cohabit the roundhouse with the D16sb (4-4-0), E5a (4-4-2), and H6sb (2-8-0, which will actually serve the 1930s interchange with the Blacklog & Shade Gap Eastern. Actually, it could get interesting with the daily ore drag off the WM branch trying to dodge all those railfan photo run-bys and "rare mileage specials."
To set the record straight, I'm not modeling the East Broad Top; the B&SGE is "inspired" by the EBT, and some of its structures and equipment will appear on its property, but that railroad is on the other side of the mountain.
Vagel |
Edited by - Vagel Keller on 08/31/2009 11:33:17 PM |
|
|
|
Vagel Keller
Crew Chief
USA
722 Posts |
Posted - 02/25/2009 : 7:13:28 PM
|
Well, today was finally THE DAY! Track work began at 10:15 AM and when we broke for a very late lunch I had installed 30 ft. of HOn3 track and made a successful test run. I'll go back and put in all the feeders next Wednesday; once I got in a rhythm today I just kept nipping, fitting, and spiking the flex track. Frankly, I was amazed at how time consuming it could be to lay just 10 sections of flex track. But being deliberate -- butting tangents against a straight edge and double checking to make sure no kinks developed at rail joints on curves -- took time and paid off.
Don was here all day, as well, but his electrification project kept him under the bench work and we stayed on opposite sides of the bench work from each other to avoid stepping on toes. Installing all of those outlets is going to take another 2-3 work sessions, he thinks, but after schlepping extension cords all over the place to keep my soldering iron hot as I worked along I agree that having a socket every few feet will make the effort worthwhile.
Here is a photographic chronicle of the first day of track work, starting with the 18"-radius loop tacked in place before spiking.
I wanted to avoid having to solder joints on curves, so I soldered three 3-ft sections together on the work table, then we tried to bend the whole thing to fit the curvature. Mistake! On that tight of a radius the tie strips wanted to twist the track, and it took both of us performing some very interesting gyrations to gradually work the 9'-long strip into a 200-degree curve with straight tangents at either end. On another piece of flex track Don noted that the tie strips were tied together in groups about 6" long by plastic splines and suggested there would be more give in them if they were separated into smaller bunches. So from that point on, I flipped each segment over and subdivided each tie strip into three smaller bunches. Also, I pre-soldered the sections into pairs rather than threes before laying them out on the roadbed.
Here I'm spiking the track in place on the grade up to Buchanan.
I use Atlas track nails, about 1/2" long, with holes pre-drilled through the ties between the rails with a No. 64 bit in a pin vise. There's just enough resistance to hold the nails in place by friction when pressed into place with the butt end of a heavy pair of tweezers.
I prefer Micro Engineering track over Shinohara; the latter has pre-drilled holes for spikes in the tie strips, but the track itself is very stiff, and the holes are so small they have to be bored out anyway. Care in pressing the nails home avoids pinching the gauge and the round nail heads disappear in the shadows when you ballast and weather the tie.
Shortly after he snapped the above picture, Don asked, "Hey, Vagel, do you have alligator clips on your DCC power leads?" I replied, "Yes, I do, and I'm reading your mind." Here is the very first run of a locomotive on the B&SGE! The stupid engineer forgot to turn on his headlight for the photographer, but he wasn't violating the law ... it's only 1938, after all.
Here's an overview of the track in place at day's end:
Time for a test run with my most temperamental pieces of rolling stock, pushed and pulled.
Coming out of the gloom behind the backdrop ...
Around the loop ...
Onto the grade ...
At the bridge ...
To the end of track.
What's really neat is that at a prototypical rate of speed it took more than 2 minutes to cover the 30' distance. That's bang for the buck!
In closing, here are some pictures Don took at our weekly grease-fest at Ritters Diner:
Breakfast 24/7 ... who could ask for more!!!
See ya next week,
Vagel |
Edited by - Vagel Keller on 02/25/2009 7:36:09 PM |
|
|
|
AVRR-PA
Fireman
USA
4602 Posts |
Posted - 02/26/2009 : 07:30:07 AM
|
Another really fun day! Even though I spent most of the time doing the electrical rough-in, I kept an eye on what Vagel was doing. It was, of course, a whole lot of fun to see and hear that narrow gauge locomotive operating.
Instead of a boom box, Vagel keeps a couple of factory-sound-equipped locomotives simmering on his test track. I don't have anything against boom boxes on the job, but listening to "Fireman Fred" is even better. [:-bouncy]
Next Wednesday, I believe some of Kevin Kuzman's turnouts will be installed, allowing the whole narrow gauge loop to be completed. I should be able to finish the 110vac wiring and get back to 1:87 work.
Time to head out.
Don |
|
|
|
Frederic Testard
Engineer
France
16455 Posts |
Posted - 02/26/2009 : 4:29:55 PM
|
| Great progress, once again, Vagel and Don. When I see how fast the flex can be laid and locos can run, I'm even having second thoughts about handlaying... |
Frederic Testard |
|
|
|
Mike Hamer
Engineer
9345 Posts |
|
|
Topic |
|
New Home for the Blacklog & Shade Gap Eastern
