Barr Yard Staging -- another step closer to completion

I'm trying to take a different approach to building a model railroad.  Speed of construction is not the goal. Precision of the finished product is.

As I have discovered in modelling N-scale -- the tolerances are more precise and there's less room for error. Much to my surprise I can work in this smaller scale. 

With this approach in mind, this summer has been consumed with putting the final touches on Barr Yard staging. This has involved hours of testing the track.

For the most part, the testing went smoothly. An eight-car freight train made more than 90 circuits of the staging yard. It found tight clearances with wiring drops, a turnout needing a guard-rail shim, a switch machine to switch linkage needing replacing.

The big fix centered around the entrance to staging track 9. As the train entered the track, I was mildly concerned about the freight cars snaking on to the track. 

I assembled a consist with full-length passenger cars -- and boy did I see the effect of an inadvertant S-curve.

The cars never uncoupled, but it didn't look good. This will be a covered section of layout, so I didn't want to leave any landmines.

A track re-alighnment was required. 

Cut out the right hand switch that created the curve , installed a lefty on an adjacent track. Carved out the cork to provide a channel for the throw rod. managed to correctly bend a throw rod on the first try, updated the arduino data file and things are back in action.  The white styrene rectangle covers the throw rod channel. (See photo).

The last issue, which seems to have been resolved is fixing a dead spot on the frog of the switch leading into track 0.  I shimmed the reverse route guardrail and painted a dot of fingernail polish on the frog. 

The takeaway lesson -- this will be the only section of the layout built with PECO track. I have had good experience with PECO before. I decided to use PECO code 80 track for the staging yards because it would be more forgiving.

The flex track does work great, but the turnouts have their deficiencies. I have solved most of the issues, but I know that I will not use this system going forward.

The plan -- to be discussed in a future blog post -- will be to have standards. From a track perspective -- it will be Atlas Code 55, FastTrack #6 minimum switches. 

Here are a few pictures as things currently stand. 

This photo is looking at the entrance to Barr Staging. The track on the left is the return loop track. This track that will lead from the bottom of the helix, loop around by the wall and approach the staging yard ladder. Note the wiring bridges and servos in the background. In the background on the right is the control panel for the servo routing.  

This photo is looking down the length of Barr staging toward the staging yard exit. The Pennsylvania passenger train (on the right) has been performing yoeman work testing the trackage. Note the wiring bridge. This was originally intended to supply power to that section of track. Originally Barr Staging was built in 3 sections that would come apart. That idea was abandoned. The wiring bridge will remain as a power distribution system. The plywood panel beyond it is temporary, for now. It is stabilizing the uprights holding up the benchwork.

Barr staging exit. This shot shows the track and servo arrangement at the exit of Barr staging. Note the wiring bridge carrying power and communication to the servos and servo activition boards. The routing control panel is in the middle background. The servos are friction fit into 1/2" aluminum channel, screwed to the benchwork. The servos are shimmed with 0.01 styrene.

All of this leads to . . . 

The double-tracked helix (yet to be built) that will bring trains up to the scenicked portion of the layout -- at 75th St. tower. The pile of junk in the middle of the photo is where the helix will rise. 

Why all the wiring bridges and surface-mounted servos? The below picture should help explain. This is the L-girder support system awaiting Barr staging. This will be about 20 inches off the floor. No way am I crawling under that to perform maintenance. Hence, the deliberate progress on this first section of layout. Access will be difficult. So, get it right. 

The next step is starting helix construction.  More to come . . .

Layout development ideas -- from RBTB

The NMRA 2021 RBTB convention is over. A lot of hard work, got to meet some really great model railroaders. And I still have a bunch of videos to watch. I didn't even make it to 25% of the clinics.

From the clinics I did attend, I got a bunch of good ideas.

1. Layout concept -- I remain steadfast in my commitment to the B&OCT. Nope, not switching to narrow gauge, steam in the early 20th century or KCS in the 2020s.

2. Standards --From several clinics - including Joe Fugate's Make it run like a dream -- Very important to establish standards for benchwork, track and rolling stock. 

    Benchwork standard is 1/4" plywood over 1/2"x3" plywood framing. It will be sealed to minimize dimensional adjustment.

    Track standard - Staging -- code 80 Peco flex and Medium insulfrog switches. Visible track -- code 55 Atlas Flex and FastTracks #6. Grades 2%, Minimum radius - 15 inches.

    Rolling stock and locomotives -- Digitrax decoders, Atlas Locomotives (predominantly), eventually get to body mounted couplers. Before running on the layout: All rolling stock to have a basic coat of weathering, metal wheels, resistor on one wheelset, properly weighted, coupler height checked, wheels roll freely. (More to come on this).

    2A. The layout will have NCE DCC and signals. I suspect that my signal needs will be less than I had imagined. 

    2B -- TEST, TEST, TEST -- test everything multiple times, ensure that everything is solid and works properly. It will payoff when operations begin. 

3. Goals and To Do List -- need two sets of goals -- long term and short term. Need to do lists to support the goals. The to do lists are those projects that can be picked up and set down in less than an hour and those that take 90 minutes or more.

4. Layout design -- I'm pretty happy with the layout design. 

    Need to check on the whether I have enough crossovers on mainlines. 

    Need to add a Brighton Park crossing view scene on the helix connecting the upper level and middle level. (This will provide operational interest and give operators a chance to check on train progress while in the helix.) Predominantly, the signals will be set to proceed. But may have a restricted or even stop indication. 

5. Operations 

    The highlight of the layout are the interlocking towers. They are a part of keeping train runs interesting. These might be operated remotely. Let others play.  

    There will be switch jobs and yard jobs. But, there will be a big need for transfer runs. These enter and exit the visual area from many locations. They will pick up and drop off cars at the main yards. They will need to navigate a busy mainline, need to follow signals. 

    Passenger trains will always get the priority and will run to whatever timetable and time system is decided upon. The B&O passenger trains will have to visit servicing facilities -- so it's not just a simple run onto the layout and run off. 

    Communications -- another major emphasis is communications. The tower operators will need to report train passage to other operators, yard masters and the dispatcher. They may be the point of contact for road crews. Eventually there will be some kind of phone system. But, there's more to this -- Yardmasters will expect to report car counts to the dispatcher -- who will be assigning locomotives to over the road freights. the dispatcher will have car counts from inbound transfer runs -- no surprising the yard masters. In fact -- that's a big goal -- as problems arise -- they are properly communicated across the system and a team approach is taken to solving problems. The goal is to minimize surprises. 

6. Documenting the layout -- This blog is one tool that I expect to use to keep ideas and document layout progress. I may try to post videos. I dropped in to a breakout room talking about YouTube videos during the convention. I was encouraged to try making some videos. Ok, here goes -- look for one by the end of the week.  

7. Keep perspective -- No job is outside my capabilities. I have friends who can offer advice and help. This will be the largest layout I have ever attempted to build, but in context of others, it's on the large end of medium. It's very achievable and probably in a shorter time frame than I might think.

8. Take a break -- work on my logging layout. I have an HO logging layout -- in the steam era. That's an opportunity for a diversion. 

A new feature for this blog -- I will close with a goal and an update on a previous goal.

New goal - complete track testing of the Barr Yard Staging by July 26.

Progress check - Barr Yard staging testing: 39 of 140 forwards runs complete, so far. Another 70 reverse runs to complete. The first 39 runs revealed the need to paint clear fingernail polish on the frog of switch 0 to eliminate a short. Switch 3 at the turnback end had one derailment -- cause unknown. 

Testing the servos and replacing two more switches

I'm doing things differently. 

The old way was ready, fire, aim. Hope I got close to the mark. Or I didn't know what I was doing. 

Today, I'm trying it the traditional way -- ready, aim, fire. And I'm working more on process in an effort to get a satisfactory final product. The old way was to try to be careful and hope that I get a good result. That worked a number of times, but when it didn't I'd get frustrated. The new approach reduces the pressure I put on myself to do it right and perfectly the first time. The goal is to improve my skills and reduce the luck involved in the process. 

The projects that are the subject of today's blog: testing the servo installation and replacing two more reclaimed switches. First testing the servo -- A success! To be clear -- Steven Cox is a great coach. He suggested that I set up a test bed to ensure that my servo installation and linkage to the switches work. When the Barr staging is properly installed it will be difficult to maintain -- not impossible -- just difficult. The idea was to ensure that the servos and linkages are robust enough to handle the load. How would we know? I built a testbed that was designed to see if the system would break.

Steven whipped up some arduino software code that would throw the turnout normal and reverse every 1.2 seconds. I set it up and left it alone for 3 hours. What would the result be?

When I came back -- the servo and linkage were still doing their thing -- after more than 9,000 switch throws. I doubt I'll ever throw the track switches in Barr yard that much in the life of the layout. Check out the results. 

Testing the servo and linkage to switches 

This video shows the testbed in action. 

the servo test results - three hours, more than 9,000 switch throws. 

That's the first part of this tale. The second part is that I need to replace two more track switches -- on the Barr exit throat. This is my fault - twice over. The first switch I cut the throwbar short so it would not interfere with a nearby switch. I had a spare switch in the track bin. A quick fix -- just unsolder and pull off the rail joiners on the surrounding track. 

That's when things went awry. The soldering iron was nice and hot, the first three rail joiners came off easily. The last was on one of the frog rails of an existing Peco insulfrog medium LH turnout. Insulfrog = plastic frog -- susceptible to heat. A tight spot, I put too much heat on for too long and the frog melted. ARGHH!!! Thank goodness for the internet. I found an online retailer with supply -- ordered four replacements (I might need an extra or two). Now, I'm waiting for the merchandise to arrive and can finish the staging yard. 

 One other development, the data file has been updated for the Barr exit throat. The switches now throw the correct way. Yea!! So, two big steps forward -- two minor steps back. I'm ahead. See you next time.