Working on Servos - on the Barr Yard staging (Lower Level)

Barr Yard -- on the B&OCT prototype is a major classification yard on Chicago's south side. Interestingly, it was a flat yard. B&O long-distance freight trains originated at Robey Yard -- a modest yard on Chicago's Near West Side. Almost all eastbound B&O freight trains stopped at Barr to drop off inbound cars. The exception was the New York Trailer Jet (NYTJ)-- a priority train that carried piggyback and reefer traffic. The NYTJ picked up reefer traffic at Robey and piggyback flats at Forest Hill -- a piggyback yard immediately south of 75th St. Tower. On the inbound side -- every freight stopped at Barr except the Chicagoan and Chicago Trailer Jet. 

The 75th St. Tower is the end of the modeled portion of the B&OCT in N Scale, anything railroad east of that point is represented by staging -- called Barr Yard. A more detailed discussion of the prototype will be the topic of a future post or two.

This much introduction was needed to give context to today's post -- which is about installing the servos which will control the routing of trains in and out of Barr staging. 

This project required outside help, provided by Steven Cox. Thanks Steven.

In addition to helping with the track plan design, he volunteered to write the software that drives the servos. There may have been an expectation that I would learn how to write code to operate an arduino nano. That never happened -- the job quickly exceeded my rudimentary grasp of the concepts of computer programming. I took one class in computer programming (Fortran) in the early 1980s when I was at the University of Maryland. At that time, the coding was put on to punch cards and passed over the counter to the students working at the computer center. My takeaway was learning how to operate a key-punch machine. That was a memory best forgotten.

I spent many Zoom meeting hours helping (watching) Steven develop the code. The software is ready for a real world test. 

And now things have moved into a realm where I'm much more comfortable -- setting up the hardware. For the past two weeks, I have been installing servo holders and servos at the exit to Barr staging.

Servos installed at Barr exit 

At the turnback end -- entrance to the staging -- the servos are already in. But, the servos need to be connected to the track.

Those connectors are mostly fabricated from paper clips 

and some servos need to be re-positioned because the holders are either too close to or too far from the track. 

screwing in a re-positioned servo holder

The two photos above show the servos, a wiring bridge and servo connections to a PCA-9685, which distributes commands to the motors. Next up -- testing the routes. So far, I've found a couple of servos are throwing backward and one servo is not responding at all. All these issues will be tracked down -- and will have to be documented. 

It will take a session or two with Steven to de-bug. The layout will have four staging yards that will use this prototype to control train routing.

Modeling the Model -- Thanks Vicki and Steve

The B&OCT in N Scale has been in the benchwork stage for as much as three years. That seems like a long time. To be fair, the project has dragged because of a design re-set. 

Steven Cox (collaborating from the Toronto, Ontario area) and I have worked on this layout design for maybe half a decade. I had started to build some of the benchwork for what had been the lower level. Before I got too far down the road, I asked for help from those who were likely to build this layout and eventually operate it. What did they see? What did they like? What did they not like? Any other suggestions?

Thanks to those who came over and gave thoughtful input. The main takeaways: the mainline could be longer, make sure there’s enough on-line switching and one staging yard occupied valuable real estate that could be repurposed as active layout. Steven and I created a “new” lower level to hold this staging yard — representing Barr Yard and the rest of the Baltimore & Ohio RR operating system. Moving the Barr staging yard opened up several opportunities. I got more mainline running length on what now became the middle level. The Brighton Park industrial area was moved from being under the active throat on Robey Yard on the upper level, the 49th St. interlocking tower was added (this one fully active on all legs). 75th St. tower was moved and has a better track arrangement. Last was the addition of a prototypical third main between 75th St. tower and 49th St. tower.

View of entering the layout area

According to Steve's track plan it looked good. But, I wanted a more three-dimensional view (rather than two-dimensional computer views of each level). A model would give me a better perspective on the space.

A view around the corner

I asked (conscripted) the Tuesday crew to help. In 2019, I decided to hold mid-day work sessions, rather than in the evening. Regular attendees included: John Sutkus, Ray Freeman, Steve Van Meter and Vicki Newcomer. I got a bunch of foamcore board and work started in November 2019.

Steve uses tomatoes as stand ins for operators 

The model showed me ways to build the triple-level section underneath the Belt Railway of Chicago’s 16th Street yard. It revealed in context the location of electric outlets, cabinets and windows. The model gave a chance to visualize operating crew placement and management. That’s what Steve Van Meter is doing in the nearby photo. He and Vicki were the primary contributors to this project.  

Not to understate anyone else’s contribution (thanks), but Vicki came over every time. 

Vicki Newcomer

She is a late convert to model trains. Originally a dollhouse builder, Vicki joined our model railroad build- and operating-group a number of years ago. She had a real talent for building structures. She built a small N-scale layout representing her hometown, Alameda, California. (The layout was sadly destroyed in a garage fire in 2019.) It was a fantastic showcase for her work. She shared her talents by taking on structure and scenery projects on other layouts. She was not single-minded. She had interest in all aspects of the hobby -- including operations. 

I got to know Vicki as we carpooled to work sessions hosted by other Tuesday crew layout owners. She decided to return to college to get an art degree. (Completed) She was building a glass (Crystal — as she called it) cottage in her backyard. (Completed) She rebuilt her garage after the fire, including a custom painted garage floor and pegboard wall. I helped with the wall. (Completed)

And she came over to help me build a model of a model. I had my ideas of how this would go, but I didn’t have the skills to pull it off. Vicki and Steve showed me the way. They deftly cut the foamcore boards, track plans that were glued onto the foamcore and we started to assemble the garage and each layout level. 

Vicki was more than a match to the task. Her artistic skills were barely challenged. She came up with an easy, inexpensive and creative solution to represent the layout's helixes. The layout will have four of them. The model only shows three, however. She got a couple of deli containers and cardboard coffee cups. We cut them to height, pulled out the hot glue gun and put them in place. 

Vicki and the completed model

I just reviewed some of the pictures of this project and found some that included Vicki. As I looked at them, her contribution became apparent. The whole project was more enjoyable because of the good conversation, patient teaching and a successful outcome. (See nearby pictures.)

Vicki died in January 2021 of a brain tumor. Because of the pandemic, the last time I saw her was in early 2020. 

Vicki, you really touched my life. You were a great friend. You demonstrated a great attitude. It was fun to spend time with you. Everytime I saw you, I smiled. Thanks for being a part of my life. I will miss you a lot.

The B&OCT in N Scale. An introduction.

The above is a clunky title for a model railroad. It is not snappy but it is descriptive. Guess what the layout depicts? The Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal -- modeled in N-scale.

Many of my model railroad friends have been making great progress on their layout during the pandemic lockdown. I have moved in fits and starts. I just attended the Bay Area SIG meet (at the end of January) and a recurring message was to get working and hold myself accountable. One way I'm looking to do that is by publishing a blog. My goal is a post per month, two would be great.

Another goal -- put in at least an hour per day working on trains.

There's a groups.io related to the layout and there are a few posts about the layout there. That doesn't seem to be the proper forum for these personal musings.

First, a little about me: I'm 58 years old, living in the San Francisco Bay area. I'm a semi-retired business journalist. I've been a life-long train nut - model and prototype.

I've built a couple of previous layouts. This started with the obligatory 4'x8' plywood central hosting my first HO Tyco train set. The last operating layout was the Linden Park -- in N scale. I switched from HO to N scale this century. The switch was dictated by a lack of space, a desire for new challenges and a switch in prototype interest. The main driver was the lack of space. 

I started in HO with an interest in the Santa Fe passenger trains. In 1989, I moved from the suburbs of Maryland back to my birthplace, Chicago. There I met some like-minded model railroad friends. We worked on a friend's layout and railfanned at interlocking junctions on the southside. There, began my interest in belt line operations, industrial switching and yard ops. And the B&O was of primary interest. I had been exposed to it when I grew up in Maryland. 

My goal with the B&OCT in N Scale (nope, still doesn't trip off the tongue), is to re-create those belt-line operations. The layout will be much more prototypical than its predecessor, the Linden Park. I have to have some freelance elements because of compromises related to limited space in the 20'x20' garage where it is housed. I'm okay with the compromises -- in its planned state the layout will have three operational yards, four interlocking towers (two cosmetic), four represented railroads (Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal -- B&OCT; Belt Railway of Chicago -- BRC; Manufacturers Junction Railway -- MJ; and the Pennsylvania Railroad's Panhandle Sub-division -- PRR) and hopefully a lot of Chicago flavor.  

Let's get to it: 

The layout is set on the Western Ave. corridor of the B&OCT and PRR Panhandle. The time is February 1971.

Why?

Henry Freeman has bugged me for a few years about my wishy-washy approach to location and era. There’s not much I can do about the physical plant available to me, so I can’t re-create the prototype – unless I build out into the garden. (I don’t want to go into that negotiation with management. We have a pretty good arrangement today.)

Then there’s the issue of era. My original era concept was sometime after Chessie was formed but before Conrail. That’s when I ran into problems. Chessie closed Robey Yard in 1974. So, traffic in my part of the B&OCT world died. I’m not building a model railroad of abandoned track.

I still want to run some scheduled name passenger trains on the railroads that populated Chicago. There had to be enough of them to interfere with freight operations. That pushed the timeline back to before May 1971 – the Amtrak creation date. That was also pre-Chessie. Maybe I could fudge running Chessie System equipment – nope. I'm not willing to make that compromise. I am more of a stickler for detail than I had expected.

It was when Rob Mantler referred me to the Bluford Shops railroad history timeline that my decision solidified.

So, I pushed further into history – February 1971. Here’s why.

1. Emphasizes the more of the purity of the B&O. The Chessie System merger is an idea but three years from execution. So -- bye-bye all Chessie System equipment. (See future post about re-painting locomotives and rolling stock).

2. Can still run B&O & C&O (Pere Marquette) passenger trains. Though at this time they are originating from the C&NW's Northwestern Station. I’ll have one Penn Central (Pennsylvania) passenger train – on re-route out of the north end of Union Station.

3. I’ll have more crossing passenger trains – on the ATSF, IC, Wabash.

4. I’ll need a lot fewer covered hoppers. More freight travelled in box cars – including grain.

5. February 1971 – is pre-Amtrak, post Burlington Northern and also at a time of year rarely modeled. There will be slush, crappy gray snow, poorly plowed streets. No green trees – they will be bare. No flowers.

6. In 1971, Norfolk and Western goes with NW herald. Grand Trunk turns blue (albeit in December), Bicentennial diesels start appearing.

This decision gives more clarity. Now on to the execution.