Photos from the US

 Here are a few photos of Steamtown at Scranton, Pennsylvania. Actually, it's a National Park and they are doing a beautiful job displaying and operating steam, diesel and even trolleys there. Well worth a visit!

Dismantling started - finally!

On November 19, 2011 I fine crew of dedicated people gathered in the layout room to start tearing down the layout. And tearing down they did!
In fact, I could hardly stop them as I had to leave for an appointment after more than 4 hours.
Thanks Wolfgang, Robert, Christian and Herbie for helping and essentially destroying what you built.

As 2011 draws to a close I'll be continuing the teardown process. In fact, as I write this post I have torn down the whole middle section. Only Avery east yard and the line between Roland and East Portal is still in place. I made several trips to the nearest garbage dump and I still  ahve a few auto loads left.
I try to salvage track, screws and every electronic gizmo as much as I can, but especially the turnouts don't really like to be ripped out - they frequently get distorted and damaged.
That's not nice, sure - but necessary!
I hope to be able to finish this work by January. When tearing down will be completed, electricity is next, for I have to change quite a lot of the cabling and lighting. When that is completed, I will store tools, parts and whatever is left in the new containers - and after that rebuilding starts, finally. Although I'm afraid that this is still a few months away.

Nevertheless, the next worksession will be held on Saturday, January 14th, starting at 2 PM (1400 hours).

See you!

I have shot  a few photos of the layout in dire straits - this is no beautiful sight!

At first, here is a view of the middle section - it is gone by now, but after the worksession this was waht's left of it:

In a hodgepodge of cables sits the rest of the mainline between Kyle and Adair:

End of track at Kyle:

 That's what had been left of Avery yard - the east yard (to the left) is gone by now.

This is a short post, shortly before I set sail to the U.S.
I'm afraid that I haven't done that much in the last few months. I'm occupied by my Job, a new gadget called IPad and many other things. So the layout is definitely on hold for now.

As this fall it seems to be very hard to reach our company's goals for 2011 I'll be doing next to nothing during the remaining 9 weeks to Christmas. But I belive that after the turn of the year, I'll have the spirit again.

Bear with me.
Michael

News - after a long time

Hi folks,

it could well be that many of you were wondering what happened to the layout or happened anything?

Yes and no.

I have not yet started dismantling, although it is not operable any more as I have severed the connection between the staging yards and the rest of the layout.

Unforeseen circumstances have stalled the project at the moment, but it will pick up again sometimes in October when I’ll start to build the dispatcher’s cabin.

Meanwhile, the electrical components of the 230V circuit were removed and reside now in a box outside the room. After the dispatcher’s cabin is ready, it will be the next step to plan and mount new cabling.

Stay tuned – I might be calling a worksession on October 22^nd , just days before I’ll be sailing to the USA again.

And we have something for you: Florian outdid himself with this film (split in to owing to Youtube limitations).

So sit back, take your favorite beverage and enjoy a last view of the layout:

Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_A0Jrz1YA4

Part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUp1DPIP-Gg

have fun & see you!

Michael

The Farewell Session

As I'm writing this post the last session of St Paul Pass I itself is history. Only 7 attendants (one of them late) appeared and that made it a very relaxed (some say too relaxed) session. The last time there were fewer than 8 participants was in December 2008! Due to the fact that only 2 through trains each way were running it was not too compelling for the dispatcher as there was a gap of 12 fast hours between them.
However, it is known that for a good session we need at least 10 people.

Since there will be a longer pause until the next session and for the first few sessions a large crowd won't be needed, this is not really a problem anymore.

Here are a few pics my son Florian and I made during the session:

This is the last track cleaning train at the beginning of the session.  I use the CR and 2 SP units that don't see use in many trains. Here CR 6338 will soon be splitting the signals at Kyle West switch.

A little while later we see it somewhere between Kyle and Adair

 and finally approaching Avery....

This small sawmill is a masterpiece from my son Florian (that was before he found out that there are girls out there...) It will be saved and get a fine place on the new layout.

The 936/937 job to Ethelton is seen here (at least the tail end) - in the background we have the gas tube ...oh my... it's in the way of level 3. I forgot it completely when planning the St Paul Pass II! Fortunately, the track will fit under it. It's not beautiful, but there is no way removing it...

East Portal West switch is on the upper level and Hobo Ridge on the lower one. The name comes from the hobo camp at it's base.

 Adair and the cement mill.

Marmoraton Mining Limestone Works will be saved, too. It already has a place on my plan (level 1).

Marble Creek will not be a junction any more. This is the last #925 moving out of the tunnel. On the left are the first two towers of Kelly Creek trestle which will also find a home on the new layout. The white spot on the right is the hole I battered out of the gypsum mountain to find two missing locos. (Long story)

The other half of Kelly Creek trestle. I thought it was a good idea to separate the levels with a 2-turn helix. As it turned out this was not the case. 45 cm ( 17") radius combined with a more than 3% grade is taxing all locos to the extreme. Sometimes even 4 6axle SD40-2 are not enough. This is a part of StPP I that would have been changing anyway.

Here is a detail shot of the lumber cabin, made by my son Florian (before, you know...), complete with interior, for example a stove, beds and drawer.

 This is Mr. Lumberjack himself, sitting on his bed. In the background there is his nice lamp.

The last through train.....

Little Joe #22 waits for an assignment.

The area of the roundhouse with a few helpers waiting for trains that won't be coming any more....

The ready track with an NW2, SD40 and U23B

The wrecking track. The wrecking train will be moved to St Maries (where it belongs).

Wolfgang as an eager-to-learn Yardmaster has done a very good job to keep the yard clean...

SD40-2 #157 (with long hood forward!) arrives at Avery. The helper is uncoupled (just now - as you can see the 0-5-0 in the back) and will soon find an empty track at the roundhouse.

#932 in Calder. Seems that stealth NW fans are among us as we have a long hood again!

The next signal shows red-over-red, which is quite correct....

Mr Hobo and his friend are chatting. They sure hope that Sherrif Smith won't be coming along..

Yes, the Milwaukee even has modern concrete ties laid down....

 The US Forest Service loading track.

 The overpass at Calder which leads to the USFS track.

Yellow over red at East Portal

..the end of the line for now.

St Paul Pass II - Level 3

After exiting St Paul Pass tunnel, we are at an inconvienient height - that's why there will be steps located on the floor for the convenience of the operators.

Now, we are on the east side of the pass and have reached Montana at (1) when we leave the helix representing St Paul Pass.
At (2) we have East Portal siding and head straight for Bryson (3). Maybe, I should try to put more curves in this stretch?
The track between Bryson and Saltese (4) whith the low trestle should also be located nearer to the edge of the benchwork.
We pass through a last tunnel (it's here because it passes over the staging runaround track!) and arrive at Haugan, Montana (5) with the wye and the shed for the snow plow. (6)
There is no way to model the NP connection in any way, but I can live with that. And the wye is on the wrong side of the track, but again - I can live with that, too.
The track makes one last horseshoe curve and heads into East Staging (not drawn with all 18 tracks). To gain room for the second entrance the runaround track (7) runs over the line between Saltese and Haugan, but parallel to the helix coning from level 2. It crosses under the approach track of the helix at (1)

That's it - we have done a journey from Plummer Junction, Idaho to Haugan, Montana on the St Paul Pass II.

I'll have to plan how to make the central part (the long tongue) and think about how to make the duckunders but other than that it's pretty much straightforward.

Dismantling of StPP I will start after our video session in July when we'll have documented StPP I in all it's glory. The layout served me well for over 15 years. The kids have grown and start to leave home, I got older and wider, have a very good (and demanding) job, so let's do it.

Start of construction is scheduled for early 2012, I'll just make the new dispatcher's cabin and the relocation of the electrical components in 2011 to give me more time for re-thinking....

St Paul Pass II - Level 2

..and we continue our journey eastward through the valley of the St Joe river when our train emerges from the helix at (1) and continues to Kyle siding (2).

Between Kyle and the next siding at Falcon (4) there are 5 tunnels and 4 trestles. I'll have to lower the ground here to give the trestles some height.
Falcon is the place where our huge cement plant (5) is located - on the StPP I it was at Adair.It's now in the foreground and easily reachable, although it interferes with Avery west yard below, but that is one of the compromises that are necessary.

And it's here where I have to cheat a bit. In order to be able to pass under the cement plant the mainline is actually dropping a few centimeters here, while the long spur to the plant rises 1.7% in order to gain altitude.
The line continues on to Adair siding (6) which will only have a short log loading spur, again located near the edge to make it easier to access.

Behind Adair the loop follows - unfortunately it should be located west of Adair siding - but again....

The follows Kelly Creek trestle, whose footings will be located on the level below. If you take a look at the drawing of level 1 you might notice that the track is somewhat awkwardly curved between (4) and (5). That's because the trestle towers need space! And I won't repeat the mistake of StPP I, a tower footing exactly over the lower track.

And then it goes up to Roland siding (7) and into St Paul Pass tunnel (8), which is not open any more but represented by the third helix.

St Paul Pass II - Level 1

Level 1 is the upper St Joe River valley between St Joe and Stetson sidings.

We start at (1) where we leave the helix between levels 0 and 1.

(2) is Zane siding which we leave behind for Calder (4). In between there is a long tunnel at (3).
One of the lessons learned from StPP I is that an active track between an active yard and the fascia is not a good idea.

In Calder (4) was a small sawmill which will be modelled here.

(5) is Herrick spur for the loading of logs.

(6) is Pocono siding and (7) Ethelton siding, where another switching puzzle waits. It is here where Marmoraton Mining will be located. To make it somewhat easier a short runaround track will be located here.

And (8) is Avery West yard, with turntable and service tracks. I tried to locate it further away from Avery East yard (9) to make it a challenge for the yardmaster and have a startup job for guests, as they all will start as hostler here.

Following the track to (10) the grade up the pass starts and Stetson siding is higher than neighbouring Calder siding at (4).

Then follows Stetson viaduct which leads into the second helix uo to level 2.

St Paul Pass II - Level 0

Here is Level 0 - it depicts basically the broad St Joe River valley between Plummer Junction and St.Joe.

We start where we left Level 0, at (1). Here the track becomes visible and Code 55.

At (2) we reach the east switch of Plummer Junction yard. In reality, there was a small yard there.

At (3) is the focus of the action - it's where the Spokane line rejoins and the Union Pacific Wallace branch diverges. The turnout arrangement is nearly that of the 1970ies.

Plummer Junction is (was) a switching puzzle as follows: First the Metaline Falls job arrives via the Spokane line and backs it's train into Plummer yard and then splits it up between east- and westbound cars. Second, the UP turn from Wallace arrives and leaves the cars to be interchanged for the locos from the Metaline Falls job on the Spokane line.
Third, the St Maries-Plummer local arrives with cars bound for Spokane and Metaline Falls, which are taken over by the engines of the Metaline Falls Job.
Fourth, the Metaline Falls Job leaves.
Fifth, the UP turn to Wallace arrives and gets cars from the Plummer turn and leaves.
Sixth, road trains take & set out Spokane cars.
Seven, the Plummer-St Maries turn leaves for St Maries.

Operators demanded switching puzzles - here it is!

(4) is Pedee siding
(5) is Lake Benewah trestle - almost as long as it is in reality. It is such a beauty that I have to include it!
(6) is Silvertip Landing - at last a real destination for the log cars! It was here where logs were dumped into Lake Benewah.
(7) is St Maries.It had a lot of local industries (found them in an old shippers guide, but also in TMR. (The Milwaukee Roader - the magazine of the MRHA) So again, this will keep any yardmaster busy. This will be the homebase of the big hook (crane) and a small car repair shop.
Leaving St Maries brings us to (8), the wye of the Clarkia branch, today abandoned but very much alive here. One shortcoming is that it is on the wrong side of the track and the curve on the branch is very small. So this will be 4-axle engines and short cars country - which is correct anyway.
(9) is where the Regulus mill spur diverges (also on the wrong side of the tracks, but I digress) and a combination truss & girder bridge is located.
(10) is Omega siding
(11) is St Joe siding

and (12) is what I intended to never use again - a helix. The truth is - I cannot do without.
I will be using 60 cm (approx. 2ft) radius at a minimum and keep the grade at 1.4% plus it will be accessible easily.
 It's location forces me to use longer tunnels that were not really there, but cometimes you gotta compromise...
There are no spurs or industries on this level except in St Maries whose yardmaster has a corner all for himself.

St Paul Pass II - Level -1

The fun starts here - the lowest level will be at a height of 70cm (or slightly more than 2 ft). That's pretty low, but it's a storage level only. I hope I can use one rolling armchair at this height.

(1) is West Staging yard, complete with 18 tracks - just the same that it is now, except that it will get a second ladder. Today, it is one-ended only and that has proven to be a major headache. It costs precious time to rearrange the trains and it is not good for the locos to be handled every time.

(2) is a new storage yard for unit trains and unused cars, I hope that I can re-use Peco track from the old layout.

Between (1) and (3) is a long but straight ramp up to Level 0, which it reaches at (5), at which point the tracks will be 20 cm higher than before.

At (3) are the west switches of Plummer Junction, still hidden.

At (4) the Spokane-Marengo line splits from No.3 track and finds it's way to Level 0 separated from Plummer yard. This represents, as the name implies, the passenger line via Spokane and will only be used by passenger trains and the Metaline Falls Job and the Union Pacific's Wallace trains. All this - and the 2 yard tracks just visible near (5) will make Plummer Junction an interesting spot on the layout.

At (5) we've reached 90cm (approx. 3ft)  from the ground and the visible part of the layout.

I've changed a lot of my premisses of St Paul Pass I (StPP I):
First, the long hidden track I was to avoid at all cost on StPP I - I might be hiding a WebCam in there to help the engineers. What I've learned is: it is only important that hidden track is easily reachable, it's length is not important. I could have used a helix here but that would have gained me nothing.

Second, the orientation of the tracks: East is always to the right when facing the layout. There is no running against the direction and seeing the same scene twice, but from different directions.

Sprachenen>de GoogleDicKE

direction, quarter

What lies ahead

After talking with a nice guy from Wiengas, who assured me that the  replacement of the gas line that's going through the layout room will not be replaced within the next 2 years, but certainly thereafter, I decided to give it a go.

So, the last session on the St Paul Pass I will be held on June 18th. After that, there might be a limited video session to document the old layout, but after that it will be history.

The new layout will be having the following features (which will hopefully increase our fun):

Atlas Code 55 turnouts

Atlas Code 55 track on mainline

Handlaid Code 40 with wooden ties on selected sidings

Switching puzzles will be conveniently located near the edge of the layout. Most levels will not be deeper than 50 cm.

Cork roadbed, 3 mm high.

Intermediate blocks cut halfway

1.6mm diam. Bus wires

18mm Plywood as subroadbed, fastened to the wall by shelf brackets.

9mm Plywood as subroadbes in every helix.

I got my main ideas from Tony Koesters book"Designing and Building Multi-Deck Model Railroads", published by Kalmbach, ISBN 978-0-89024-741-9

After the Video session the layout will be dismantled and the rolling stock stored.

The dismantling procedure is scheduled to take 4 months at least. It will include several changes to the electrical outfit and the rebuilding of a blocked doorway.

About at the end of 2011 we will be able to start the new benchwork and lay the first tracks. A first test session with a few selected guests is scheduled for June, 2012.

Stay tuned!

A first glimpse

as to what might be coming.
My first tries with 3dPlanIt, the lower level of the new St Paul Pass line. On top is Avery. To the right is east, to the left is west.
Ethelton, Pocono and Calder are already where they should be.
This is a preliminary version, subject to many changes....
View the first try

The session of May 7th

..was rather uneventful. We managed to get 8 people together, which is about 4 short of what is necessary to have a dense, highly challenging timetable. And I admit, I have given up on making exact plans as to when a train is expected to run as with 8 operators you simply cannot stick to the plan. Especially if 2 come later and 2 leave early. Not to mention the no-shows.
Since the making of the plans was a rather time-consuming affair I've given up on that for now.

But that is only one side. The other side is that for those of us who are coming because they like switching are disappointed because without planning there is no reliable switching in Avery possible.
And then there are those who disobey the track warrants and continuously run red signals and into open switches.
As a matter of fact, that annoys me really. It’s like building a highway for everyone to use and nobody uses it. The red light on a signal is there because you must stop your train. Period. I cannot understand why this is so difficult to understand.
And it has bad consequences, too – the layout shuts down and after a dozen shutdowns everybody becomes annoyed, not to mention that the signaling system goes down and loses track of the signal aspects. Which means that they show false greens (results in another shutdown) or false reds (which taxes the dispatcher who has to talk everybody by the red signals).
Many problems could be solved by using the mind. After all, that’s what it’s created for. But I admit that the design flaws the layout has don’t help a bit. (See the other post of today!)
So let’s face the future…

Have I gone crazy?

Well, you might call me that. Honestly. But read on.

As the few operators that stayed until the end of our session of May 7^th already know the St Paul Pass line will be rebuilt from the ground up. The thought occurred to me when I was thinking about the long planned extension into what was a separate room long ago. No matter how I planned the location and elevation of the tracks – it was not going to work in any way. Either I would have to move both staging yards again and make them less accessible or move the dispatcher’s desk or both.

And then, after more than 50 sessions, all the design flaws have been showing their ugly faces:

• The staging yards themselves are a headache with them being connected only on one side.

• No consistent direction. On every part of the layout there are at least 3 levels mixed. What had looked like a good idea 20 years ago did not work out as expected. The engineers are to be expected to know where they are going and what the next station will be, yet they are often confused by trains on the next level, which are coming against them but in reality go in the same direction. The other way around is much more serious as the engineer has no way of knowing that the train going in the same direction is actually coming against him.

• St Paul Pass and its vicinity are in reality nothing like the Colorado Rockies. It’s more rolling hills with few rock faces covered by trees. Due to the different levels all integrated into the same scenery the small horizontal distance between the tracks leads to a huge vertical distance, which in turn leads to large rock faces everywhere. That not only looks out of place – it is.

• To steep grades for the trainlength
  I followed John Armstrong who said: “Model locomotives haul more than they should on grades, so grades should be somewhat exaggerated.” Obviously, he thought of 10-12 car H0 trains and not of more than 30 cars in a train in N scale. And for sure he did not mean to apply this rule to helices. It is more than challenging for the operators to get over the 3%/45cm radius helix on the upper level. We have had far too many derailments and other problems there. None of us is slim enough anymore to get in there which results in damaged cars and locos whenever we have to rescue a stranded train.

• Accessability
  When I had been installing the signals, I cursed myself for having to crawl under the layout and soldering over head or in barely reachable spots. I swore I’ll never get under the layout again. But as I’m getting older (and wider) how long will I be able to crawl down there? So this would have been needed to get solved anyway.

• 2 of the 3 big industries currently operated are not within easy reach. This results in frustrated operators and damage to the scenery.

• The dispatcher’s desk is too big, resulting in the occupation of valuable space. If it was smaller and more isolated it would be much better.

• I did not use cork as a subroadbed, but leftover foam which is used as a base for flooring tiles. It seemed a cheap and perfect solution then, but it is too soft in the long run, resulting in all kinds of problems with the turnouts. Especially those turnouts that are hard to reach.

• I do not like Peco turnouts and track any more. Not because they are bad or poorly designed - beware! - no, but they are not designed for DCC and they do not work well with modern, slim wheel treads and besides that I had to modify every turnout to make them safe for operation. Code 80 looks huge and the ties are too big. 20 years ago, that was all that was available. But now with the fantastic looking Atlas Code 55 track....

And the master argument ("The mother of all arguments") is: At my current age it is hard to do, but I'll manage. In 10 years from now I might feel too old to do it again. So it's now or never.


Everybody is encouraged to challenge this decision. I'm looking forward to intense discussions. No timeframe has been selected yet.

Fun&Work Session April 20th,2011

The week before Easter is usually slower going and with John beeing eager to test the Zimo sound decoder he had built into the Atlantic we decided that it would be time for having some fun again and called a work&fun session - which meant that we tested the Hiawatha with sound first and than did some work.


I got John interested in Milwaukee Road modelling and he bought himself a Hiawatha set from FVM. He got it earlier than me, but I wasn't jealous. (Well, maybe a bit!) He promised to tailor the sounds for the Zimo decoder he prefers due to his contacts to Zimo. And he went a long way to get it as accurate as possible, he bought a few DVDs to get an idea how the Atlantic sounded and he downloaded airhorn sounds from a website to get everything right. He kept his promise and had it ready in time for our session.
And I must say - it was amazing! I could watch the loco for hours going through the yard and around the layout. The photos of that event are on the Flickr photostream!
We will do a video session someday to get a really good impression of this awesome train, which is a real piece of art with it's design and the amazing details. Fox Valley Models did a really good job on that one and I sure hope that it is a commercial success for them, encouraging more projects of this kind. To be honest, it helps that there are just 3 different models in this train: The observation, the cafe and the rest - the coaches are of the same design as is the parlor car.

We had to find out how the Atlantic would perform over the 3% grade up from Adair to East Portal - with 6 cars. This small 4-4-2 managed to get them over the pass without stalling and slipping and it still had reserves. Of course the cars are a bit on the light side so this is not your really heavy freight train in need of 4 locos!


So, yes - it is able to get it's train up the mountain and therefore the next session will see a double-headed excursion train with double sound or two trains meeting somewhere!

Of course, we did some work, too. Wolfgang planted trees and the rest tried to organize the next session by loading cars, placing locos and shuffling cars around with the good old 0-5-0.

And we discussed the oncoming extension for which construction will start this summer.
I hope, everybody had some fun!

Looking into the future

Our 51^st session was a cold one – it has had near-zero (Celsius) temperatures and fog here in Vienna for the past few weeks and it gets cold in the cellar. (The minimum is 10 degrees, which is not that cold. But after a while the coldness penetrates your clothing. Tea does only help for a short time.)

On the bright side is the fact that it is only one more month until spring is here, but that is not the point of today’s post.

There were a few things to note: We had a new dispatcher during second shift who did particularly well as I expected. We were too few operators to test him really but he had also no help because of that. And we had a new yardmaster, for whom I hope that the experience was not too bad. It will take some time to clean up Avery yard but that gives me the opportunity to play between sessions.

I note some downward development with our operating sessions and I have yet to find out what the reason is. Or is there more than one reason? The layout is operated in earnest since 2003 and it is more complete than ever and 2011 will see the completion of the lights, the buildings and industries and the CTC panel, after which only a few hundred trees will be missing.

To my surprise the signals usually work as intended, only the shorts are still annoying – most of them would not be occurring if the operators would really watch out for red signals and turnouts thrown against them. Unfortunately, we do have too many derailments which has many reasons: the FoxValley metal wheels are one of them, or to be precise: they have such small wheel threads that they do not work well with Peco turnouts as they all fall into the huge gap at the frog.

But that is still not the point.

The point is that we have in 2011 too few operators to make a really good operating session. And we have far too few helpers during work sessions to make good progress with landscaping.

Speaking of work sessions - Granted, there is a core of about 5 to 6 people who try to attend work sessions regularly, but the work sessions themselves are far and few between. We have not found a system that is flexible enough to guarantee progress. How can we achieve that? If I appoint a date for a work session, far too few people show up – not even those who had encouraged me to find a date. A viable alternative would be to decentralize the organizing, i.e. define projects (e.g. planting trees or re-working bad landscape) and hand over the keys to those people pursuing the goals of the project. On the other hand, I even tried to do that about 2 years ago without success. There was mild interest, but nothing came out of it.

I’m certainly open to any suggestions here. And I do know that not everyone was made to work on models.

The other point is the attendance to operating sessions. We have lost 2 members in 2011 – one through death, the other through not showing up for more than a year. We will lose another one soon, another 3 show up once in a while, often not for more than a year and they usually do not answer on my invitations. (Which is impolite in my opinion.) Than there are the ones that say they would be coming but do not show up without any explanation. That’s rude.

Now, let me get this straight: I have built the layout mostly on my own for my own enjoyment and those of my children and I really don’t care if I’m operating alone or with 1, 2 or many operators. I do it for enjoyment and I could very well play a session as a single operator. But I wanted to open it up for interested fellow modellers and give them the opportunity to enjoy too, expecting nothing more than a bit help now and then.

But when there are more people around, expecting to have fun too, travelling far to attend the session and too few others show up it’s not fair to them, not me.

So re-shaping is in order. There are many possibilities: Change back the date to Saturday evening, enforcing no-show policies (e.g. if one has not shown up for a year or not responded to invitations three times, prune them from the list), make a new round of advertising to find more modellers, change the date to something other, e.g. Sunday evening, operate only every second month instead of monthly, or increase the interval between sessions to 6 weeks,…

I’m open to suggestions up to a certain point, so let’s face the future!