NTS & B Layout in Progress

NTS&B Merry Christmas 2011

2011-12-20T23:00:00.010-05:00

Another year has passed, and the layout has not progressed much. I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and Happy and safe New Years.

This years pictures are from the Lights Of Life, again.

NTS&B 2011 Piedmont Pilgrimage Open House

2011-10-23T23:01:00.010-04:00

This was my second Piedmont Pilgrimage open house. Everything went well, with only minor problems. I had one or 2 accessories and 1 passenger car that decided to give problems, but that was about all. We only had 47 people total this year (including 5 'workers'), as opposed to 52 last year, and had a few repeats from last year. It was loads of fun watching the expressions on the kids faces (even the big ones). Note for next year-Put goody tables in garage instead of on back patio.

This year I also had three visiting trains. John R brought his Illinois Central GP-9 which had not been run in something like 25 years (I had a lot going on, so my facts may be a little off). He also brought a kit car that he built and some scratch built loads that he had never seen run. Unfortunately, I just realized I didn't get any pictures of this very nice train.

Wayne C. brought a Williams E8 Bright Red Texas Special AA set with 4 - 18 inch passenger cars. Boy was she pretty. This one was my personal favorite, since I really like colorful passenger trains.

The star of the show was Wayne's Lionel Spirit of 1776 set produced in pieces from 1974 to 1976, that had never even been taken out of the boxes (yes folks, a brand new still in the box 37 year old train). The set included the U36B Seaboard Coast Line Engine, Caboose, and 13 cars (one for each of the original 13 colonies). Since the engine only has a single motor, it didn't have enough traction to pull all of the cars up the helix, so we double headed my engine to go with it. Here is what it looked like, and a short movie going down the helix.

NTS&B Jamaica Station Update

2011-10-11T22:58:00.006-04:00

Most of the time when I ask someone if they noticed the Jamaica Station, they say no and immediately start looking at the top of the layout (I kid you not, even X New Yorkers). I decided to add a platform at the front edge of the station, to try to get people to notice it easier.

NTS&B Bigville Underground Station

2011-10-08T22:51:00.004-04:00

The second underground passenger station (Bigville) is now open for buisness. It looks kind of empty, but has 40 passengers in it so far. Still have to add the station signs, posters, and other decorations, but that will have to wait for another day.

NTS&B Tunnel Signal

2011-09-11T22:47:00.007-04:00

Another thing thats a lot of work, with very little progress indication was the tunnel signal. These LEDs use the same circuit as the Subway signals, but are wired differently to limit the number of wires to the power and track points. The LEDs are put in sockets robbed from an old Christmas Light set.

NTS&B Starting Year 5

2011-09-02T22:36:00.001-04:00

Its hard to believe that I started the first (non helix) module of the actual layout 4 years ago. Last year didn't see a lot of progress. I mainly worked with adding buttons for lighting, and trying to finish up the Helix end of the layout when you first come in the door.

The old layout down was torn down, and parts are now in use in Tennessee. I also worked on the TMCC signal some and it is working fairly well on the Helix loop, but not so well else where. The Lego subway was installed, and the walls and lights were put in on the Helix end. Also, the subway track signals were completed. I am getting ready to work on the Bigville subway station.

We also participated in our first Piedmont Pilgrimage last Oct. Every one had a good time, and I am getting ready for the second one next month.

During the year we had a couple 'play days', in which a couple club members brought over some very nice trains to run.

This year I'd like to finish up ALL of the subway loop and lighting, and get the some more bench work done. Before I can do that, I still need to get that other side of the basement finished.

NTS&B Accessory Buttons

2011-08-15T22:43:00.001-04:00

Some things take up a lot of time to do, but don't really show up as progress on the layout. Switches to operate accessories are in this catagory. This month I added 8 new buttons, for a grand total of 18 buttons. In most cases, the buttons are overridden by slide switches at the control panels, for my viewing pleasure when no one is around to push the buttons.

NTS&B Subway Signals

2011-08-01T22:36:00.007-04:00

Quite a while ago, I came up with a simple LED circuit to use as block signals in my underground loops. The first one worked perfectly, then remaining kept blowing LEDs. I finally figured out that I had to add a resistore on the track side for that problem, but then one LED stayed lit. This turned out to be caused by the operating voltage being much higher than the track voltage. Once I set them about the same, everything started working, and I fixed the other 3 to match. Here is pictures of two of them. The boxes are made from extra battery holders from $1 Tree Accessories.

NTS&B Mainline progress and another problem solved

2011-07-16T16:59:00.003-04:00

The layer between the mainline and winter level is now adjusted, attached and painted. For now, the replacement plaster wall is on hold. A little over 1/2 was ground off the winter table using a belt sander, and now the long car finally has a little clearance (see picture below). A column was added to upport the hanging trestle member and some moss was added by the wall. A panel was finally added to the subway, to give it more of a sense of 2 stations.

NTS&B New Old UP 2x6x6x4 Class A

2011-06-18T22:47:00.009-04:00

A UP 2x6x6x4 Class A spent the night in town, and caused quite a stir with the morning passengers.

Jennifer and Bruce bought me some used engines for Fathers Day. One is a Class A, which was made from 2 2018 engines. After a bit of tuning it runs on 0-72 track. When I get time, I will try to make it run on a smaller track.

NTS&B Some more visitors

2011-06-05T14:40:00.016-04:00

I am finding out that one of the things I like most about having a layout is having friends bring their toys over to play. Here are some pictures of the latest "play day".

Wyatt's #4501 Southern 2x8x2 Mikado from 1991

Les's 2368 B&O Dual Motor F3 A/B from 1956

Les's 2383 Santa Fe Dual Motor F3 A/A from 1958

Les thinking 'Boy I sure hope that bridge stays up there with my F Units'

Wyatt & Roger having similar thoughts about the other bridge.

NTS&B Progress

2011-05-30T22:30:00.000-04:00

Referring to the previous post. I replaced some of the cardboard between the mainline and winter layers with some of the backdrop material from my Temp Layout. Although this looks much better, I still might go with some kind of plaster between layers to make it look more natural. There is also one clearance issue with Scotties Monster car. If I go with the plaster backdrop, and can make a bit more room. Otherwise I may need to move a track about 1/8 inch, which may cause clearance problems with the next track.

Layer cover using from backdrop from temp layout

Clearance issue. Ohhhhh so close :(

My Temporary Layout

2011-05-28T21:46:00.010-04:00

My temporary layout actually started out in Bristol Tn in the mid 90's. It was then moved to Ga in 1998, and setup in 1999. The idea was to use it for a couple years until the other side of the basement was finished, and a new larger layout started. 12 years later, this has finally happened, and the layout has now been torn down. The layout's life is not totally over. A little of the backdrop will be used on my new layout. The remaining bench work and most of the track will be on its way back home to Tn for my daughter to reconfigure into a new, smaller layout. Below are a few pictures of the layout then, and now.

Tn Layout before moving in 1998

Layout in GA in 2005

Layout in GA today

NTS&B Some more challenges

2011-05-05T00:31:00.004-04:00

It's been a busy month, so not much visible progress has been made on the layout. Instead, I have been concentrating on a couple operation issues. First my friend Scottie brought over a 'little' train car so I could check for clearances. The car is a scale model of a modern Pulp Wood car, and is about 19 inches long, with the trucks right on the end of the car. My clearance checker is about the same length, but has the trucks set back in like a passenger car. His car has much more overhang, so caused me quite a bit of grief. It caused me to move a couple bridges on the outer mainline, and some support for the upper tracks over my figure 8 loop. Other than the inner main line, it will not run on any other loop at this time, and it is doubt full it ever will. A picture of the car, along with 15 inch aluminum and more normal 12 inch passenger car is shown below.

Monster pulp wood car next to 15 inch and over 12 inch passenger car.

The second problem I had I noticed during the last club meeting held here. My winter area accessory lights kept cycling on and off. The problem was caused by 2 houses containing color wheels to give the affect of Christmas lights were drawing too much current. My first attempt at a fix was to run separate power to them, and using an HO transformer to power up only those 2 houses. It turned out that the 2 houses alone were causing too much current for that transformer, also. I then resorted to changing out the light bulbs in the houses. It turns out they were both using high intensity 10 watt halogen bulbs. I swapped them out and used the standard Lionel 'Christmas Light' bulbs that are used in the newer engines, and putting the houses back to the original transformer. The bulbs draw a whole lot less current, and are still sufficiently bright enough to create the desired effect. The picture below shows 1 of the houses with its original light bulb.

Christmas house with original bulb

NTS&B Two ugly light bulbs for a neat picture

2011-03-24T15:59:00.013-04:00

A few years ago, Kathy bought me this neat picture of a 60's diner with parked cars.

The sign and cars all have LEDs in them, and it really looks sharp with the room lights on.

When I hung it in the train room, I discovered the problem that when you shut the room lights off, all you see is the LEDs.

The diner picture was taken at dusk, and the walls behind the picture are white, so it is very dark and hard to illuminate picture without lighting the whole room. After multiple attempts I finally decided to use a K-Line 2 light spotlight tower (#22326), and replace the bulbs with 2 Radio Shack 276-0017 high brightness (7000 mcd), low angle (30 degrees) LEDs. The result is shown above.

I started out with 2 burnt out light bulbs. I broke the glass out of them using a pair of pliers held in a trash can and wearing safety glasses. I put a piece of small diameter heat shrink over the wire going to the center post of the socket and soldered one side of the LED to the wire. I placed another piece of heat shrink over the other leg of the LED, and soldered a 2.2 K Resister to it. Then I soldered the other end of the resistor to the outside of the socket. I did not shrine either piece of the heat shrink, which allowed me to push the LED into the socket while keeping the wires insulated. The results was one ugly light bulb !!

I then screwed the LED into the light tower socket. I cut a piece of large diameter heat shrink (shown), and then placed it on the LED (no heat) so only the front of the LED is visible.

A view of the light Tower from the front. Notice the LEDs are very focused, with very little light from the reflectors. The left one does not have the heat shink sleave applied, and there is still very little light bouncing off th e reflector. The tower is in approximately where it will be permanently located.

View from side of tower with sleaves over both LEDs. Notice there is hardly any light visible from the side of the LEDs.

NTS&B Subway Progress

2011-01-10T21:59:00.002-05:00

Had a little time over the holidays, so started working on the walls around the Jamaica Station. The concrete walls are made from styrofoam sheets with the groves cut into them using a foam hot knife. The lamps were made from Model Power HO /N 12 to 16 V Wheat bulbs.

NTS&B Merry Christmas 2010

2010-12-21T21:20:00.001-05:00

Another year has passed, and the layout is still in process. I'd like to wish everyone a merry Christmas, and happy and safe New Years.

NTS&B Ya mon, the Lego Jamaica Station's open for business

2010-11-07T20:24:00.020-05:00

When our lone construction worker finally got off smoke break, the bricks and tiles started flying like you wouldn't believe. The station was up in a flash, and now customers are enjoying the brand new sparkling clean station.

Thank you, Mr Cross. (Our lone construction worker)

NTS&B First (annual?) Piedmont Pilgrimage

2010-10-16T21:45:00.000-04:00

Since this was the first time we participated in the Piedmont Pilgrimage, I decided to write this note to describe our experience for anyone who is thinking about trying it in the future. We had right at 50 people attend, but it was fairly evenly spread over the 4 hours. The maximum at one time was about 10 people. Everyone was very friendly. There were discussions about their layouts and mine, and many demonstrations on the few accessories that are currently on the layout. We had 4 or 5 people (including myself, Kathy, my son and his wife, and Ron S part time) working the open house. There were 2 people stationed on the main floor guiding people and making sure everyone signed in. The other 2 or 3 people stayed in the train room to operate the layout and chat with visitors. Having 3 people is the least I would recommend, while 4 and 5 worked out really well.

The trains ran for almost the whole 4 hours, with only 2 or 3 5 minute breaks when no guests were there. Reactions to the layout was lots of smiles, a couple “Wows”, and even one highly excited “This is awesome, I’ve never seen anything like this in my whole life” at the top of the voice of one of our young club members. There were only 2 train accidents, which to my sons delight were both caused by me. Luckily no trains hit the floor, or even made it off the table. The fast acting #91 breakers were a life-saver, since they shut down power as soon as the derailment occurred, so the trains didn’t keep driving themselves right off the layout (Thanks Train Dr. Ted).

We planned snacks and drinks for about 50 people. The weather was great, so we set up the food on tables on the back patio outside the train room. Out of the 24 bottles of water, my son was the only one that drank one. Only 1 bottle of soda and 2 bags of cookies were opened, so we had way too much food and drink. Three of the 4 boxes of donut holes were devoured, but I’m fairly sure it was mostly by the ‘help’. We stopped at another layout in the afternoon, and they had a bowl of Halloween candy. That appears to be a much more reasonable approach. The good news is my wife has some extra cookies for her quilting club meeting.

The overall experience was fantastic. We had numerous small children, which were all very well behaved and supervised. A couple people even talked about wanting to come back next year. So, would I do it again next year? If we are invited again, and depending on the timing and other commitments, You Betcha :)

NTS&B Jamaica Station Lights

2010-10-01T17:13:00.009-04:00

The Under Ground Lego Station has been re-named to Jamaica Station, in honor of the Station on Long Island. Construction of the station is underway but going slow, since there is only 1 construction worker. The LED lights are now in, waiting for the station, which may come even sooner than planned.

The lonely construction worker hard at work

A confused engineer stops at the in-process station

Panel of the station LEDs (Bottom/Front view). LEDs and fixtures are from a string of Christmas LEDs

Panel of the station LEDs (Top/Back view)

NTS&B Does the NTS&B like Post War Trains?

2010-09-25T23:31:00.008-04:00

Sounds like a simple enough question. But the answer kept me busy all day on 2 switch tracks. Many post war operating cars have slide shoes that pick up power form an extra set of extra rails between the standard rails (yes that makes 5 rails). These shoes hand down a little between the tracks, and some brand of switch tracks will catch the shoes and try to pull them off. So far, I used all Gargraves 0-42 switch tracks, and Ross Switches for the bigger radius switches. After having many problems with modern engines with the Gargraves turnouts, I decided to try 2 Ross 0-42 switches. The Gargraves switches have all been repaired, and I have not had problems with post war shoes on the 4 postwar cars I tested, or with modern equipment.

The Ross 0-42 switches both had the 'pull off the shoe' feature. Per Ross, the postwar power pickup shoes catch on sharp points in the black rails in the switch. Their recommended fix is to taper black rails with a file, or insert track pins and bend them down like a ramp. I decided to use pins to reduce metal filings, but ended up having plenty anyway.

I also discovered an additional feature with the Ross switches. The power rollers on my post war trains are wider than the modern ones, and kept shorting out on the switches. Per Ross website, extra power rail was used to make it easier for them to supply power through the switch. The problem is, the rails are close enough to the ground rail that the wider roller creates a short circuit. I decided to insulate and cut the extra rail. Below are slides that showed where cuts had to be made to fix both problems.

Although I can't say for certain that all shoes and rollers will now work, I can say that the cars I tested now should work an my whole layout, except on the unmodified main line switches.

NTS&B TMCC Signal Work Started

2010-09-17T22:21:00.010-04:00

The Lionel TMCC (remote control) has problems when 1 track passes over another, unless extra earth grounding is provided. Some engines will remain at a constant speed when they lose the TMCC signal. Others, such as my K-Line Allegheny either stops, crawls, or goes wide open.

North Pole Loop: Helix Portion: Today I started working on the North Pole loop, to see if I could get it running properly. My Polar Express and PA1 run fine, but indicates the lose of signal. The Allegheny wont run at all. It runs fine on the ceiling portion, but wont run at all on the Helix and graduated trestle, and has a little problem on the lower return loop. I first started on the helix, with a ground wire ran up and down the 4 inner posts. This helped the inside loop tremendously with the Polar Express. It had signal at all points on the inside rail (where it lost most of it before), but still had a couple dead spots on the outside loop. I next tried the suggestion of a club member, and dropped only a single line down the center of the Helix (and removed the others). This had about the same effect as the original attempt. The Polar Express and PA-1 had no problems on the inside, and a couple weak spots on the outside. In either case, the Allegheny would not run. I finally ended up using 85 feet of 2 inch wide aluminum furnace tape and attaching that to the earth ground. Although the Allegheny won't take commands at all locations, now at least it has enough signal to remain at the programmed speed and not stop or take off wide open.

Trestle and Lower Loop: I still have more work to do on the trestle, since the Allegheny won't respond to any commands on most of it. I ran a strip of aluminum tape under the winter level under the trestle, but apparently that is still to far away from the track to fix the problem. I then ran a 30 Gauge wire through each trestle riser down one side, laid it next to the track and under the carpet on the lower loop and then through the trestle on the other side. That didn't help the North Pole loop, but the PA1 ran better through the mainline yard underneath it. I then attached the dropped ceiling framework to the ground. No help. Lastly, I ran an earth ground on top of the platform of the cable stay bridge. No help there either. It appears the Allegheny is going to be as good as it gets.

Of course, even though the trains are running well, that doesn't mean the engineer is paying attention. While testing the TMCC on the GG1, I lost track (no pun intended) of where the Polar Express was. Looks like I need to revisit the end-of-train warning car I was working on :(. At lease it proved out my theory on how the trains would derail on the Helix.

Mainline Yard: The PA-1 is now behaving very well, but the Allegheny won't run very much at all on the mainline. It went from ignoring commands in the yard, to going wide open on one of the raised portions with nothing above it. Oh well, that'll have to wait for another day (or month)

NTS&B "Under Ground Lego" Station under construction

2010-09-03T01:34:00.000-04:00

A friend at work is big into Legos, and is helping me design and build my "Under Ground Lego" station (actually its more like I'm helping him). Preliminary designs have been completed, and construction will soon be started. The worker on the right is admiring his handwork for the station so far, that new commuters are already standing in line to use.

NTS&B Starting Year 4

2010-09-02T21:21:00.004-04:00

Its hard to believe that I started the first (non helix) module of the actual layout 3 years ago. Last year saw progress with Tinsel Town and the 'spring time' sections. which are about done (for now). It was also the first time the layout was opened up to the club. Progress is getting a little slower, because we've also been having some 'play' sessions with some club members, instead of just working on it.

This coming year, the progress will be less noticeable. The main thrust will be in taking the old layout down, and finishing the other side of the basement. The main goal for the NTS&B this year is to get the TMCC signal working correctly, the 'spring time' power station and controls completed, and working on the subway and mainline stations. Its doubtful any new bench work will be started this year, but who knows, stranger things have happened :) This year is also going to be the first time it is opened up to the public, by participating in the Piedmont Pilgrimage in mid Oct.

NTS&B-Some Classy Visitors

2010-08-31T01:10:00.010-04:00

The NTS&B had some classy visitors running on its rails over the weekend (I believe the official term is 'varnish'). A few friends came over and brought a few 'toys'. Here are some pics of some very nice old equipment, that all still runs like new, and look as good as they run. Only problem was, they ran so good they ran back home :)

Circa 1947 2025 Pennsy steamer with modern train sounds tender pulling some old 0-27 passenger cars.

Dual Motor 2363 F3A/B Illinois Central from 1955-1956 on bottom front. Dual motor 2367 F3A/B Wabash from 1955 on bottom back pulling original early 1950s freight cars. Dual motor 8580-8582 A/B/A Illinois Central from 1985, 1987 pulling 4 car City of New Orleans aluminum passenger set

6416 Boat Loader Car with original boats (1961 to 1963)

6561 Reel Car with original loads (1953-1956)

A better picture of the 2363 F3A/B Illinois Central from 1955-1956

A better picture of the 2367 F3A/B Wabash from 1955