Bob's Model Trains

Packing up for National Train Show

2016-07-02T11:10:00.001-04:00

Time to load up for the drive to Indianapolis.

Lil' Italy Yard, St. Albans VT

Milford Industrial, Milford NH

Ready to go!

2015-01-22T07:42:00.001-05:00

Lil' Italy is ready to go. Now time to start tearing things down and load up for the Big Show!

Amherst Railway Society Show 2015

2015-01-16T10:39:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been very busy working on the Lil Italy Yard and getting back into software development. Yup, I'm writing my first application in about 13 years. More on that later. Here's an update on my modules...

Next up is the Amherst Railway Society's annual model train show at the Big E in West Springfield, MA. This show is one of the largest model train shows in the country and I'd bet has more operating layouts than all but a few.

New England Free-mo will be there in force this year with a FANTASTIC layout! Some new modules are debuting as well as modules coming from Ohio, New Jersey and Toronto! Stop by the Mallary building (middle left, section 140 is where you'll find us) and have a look. If you want to run a train just ask. I'll give you a throttle and show you how it works.

Looking from the doubletrack end you can see my Free-mo adapter section to convert the yard to the Free-mo standard. I put a crossover here to add flexibility of trains flowing into and out of the yard. At the far end you and see the yard returning to a singletrack main.

The ballast of the yard is set to show the mainline verses sidings. The double mains are shown with the lighter color ballast. I used Arizona Rock and Mineral real rock ballast which is just an wonderful material to work with. LOVE IT!

Looking back from the singletrack end of the module toward the main yard. As it turns out, I have to rebuild this adapter before the show. While the track is square to the endplates, the track coming off the yard is not. This results in a significant enough kink to drive me mad that I need to fix it.

If you "eyeball" the track you can see the kink (well at least I can). It's going to be a quick and dirty fix as I'm running out of time before the show.

Another look at the yard towards the double track end of the layout. It's going to be a very busy place!

Hillsborough Re-Design Early October 2014

2014-11-04T08:15:00.000-05:00

Work on the Town of Hillsborough progressed. Today we focused on track design. I spent some time this weekend researching Hillsborough's railroading past (there is not much on the Internet about it) and made changes to the track plan as a result.

As the MEJ is focusing on operations, I've taken liberties on track orientation to meet my needs for operations. In the original design, I had a 3 track yard on the "north/east" side of the tracks. I wasn't sure what these would be used for.

I found a postcard from the early 1900s with Hillsborough's Depot featured on it. In the picture I could see there was rollingstock off to the side but I could not see the details of the track. Using the above picture from the Library of Congress, I was able to get a better idea on the tracks near the Depot and potentially what they were used for. I took this inspiration combined with my thoughts on operations for the MEJ to come up with this condensed/modified track plan for Hillsborough.

1 - Wilkins' Wood Products

2 - Freight House

3 - Team Track

4 - Hillsborough Depot

5 - Covered RR Bridge

6 - Wooden Trestle

In my modeling world, the flow is a little off but with space limitations I've really got no choice. I need the Covered bridge to be on a straight piece of track but I also need the Depot area to have some real estate as well.

To make this work I've had to swap the relative locations of the covered bridge and trestle. Not a big deal but for those who "know" Hillsborough they may notice things are off a little from reality. Not a big deal for me as I value operations over exact detail for the Milford and Essex Junction.

So with track plan changed, we got started laying out the Town.

Wordless

2014-10-15T09:56:00.001-04:00

Work Session 9/14/2014

2014-09-29T20:32:00.001-04:00

(Sorry for the out of sequence Blog post)

Today's session focused on building the bench work for the next town on the MEJ, Hillsborough, NH. Hillsbourough plays an important part of the physical sections of the layout. On either side of this town are Free-mo modules. Also critical to Hillsborough will be a removable section for allow access to the house laundry and storage. This removable section will be a challenge for sure.

Looking to the West/North you can see the bench work. I'm using a basic box with cross members supporting foam core "ground". Hillsborough back in the day had some interesting track features going through Town.

Looking toward the East/South in the distance you can see the Milford NH Free-mo modules. The section in the center of this photo is a removable piece. We've made this section to roll in and out of position by placing casters on each leg.

A couple of features I'd like to point out in the above photo. My first attempt at a rounded wall corner. Bill cut a piece of Luanne down to 3 feet by 8 feet. A couple of stringers are mounted to the existing knotted pine wall for support of the plywood.

You can also see there is a section of the bench work that is lower than the other sections. Hillsborough is going to feature a covered train bridge and a trestle in this area. Of course the limitations of my space does not allow me to replicate the exact track plan of the 1:1 but I'm hoping to capture the spirit of the Town and railroad.

So stay tuned as Hillsoborugh takes shape.

Work Session 9/21/2014-9/22/2014

2014-09-22T21:29:00.001-04:00

Moving on to Hillsborough! The MEJ is taking shape (slower than I like to see, BTW, is there a magic wand that I can wave and have it all done?) Hillsborough is the namesake of the "Hillsborough Branch" which extends from Nashua, NH to Hillsborough.

In the modern world (circa 2014), the track on the branch past Wilton is rough at best (OK even from Nashua is in pretty rough shape). North and west of Bennington, NH the track is gone and the branch just flat out does not exist.

The Milford and Essex Junction (MEJ) is another world. The branch exists and is very busy with rail traffic heading to Vermont, Canada and other points to the west.

Hillsborough poses a major challenges with the space I've been allocated for the MEJ. Our basement storage and laundry is located behind the layout. Hillsborough is designed on paper with a (relatively easy) removable section for access to this area. Below is a picture of the removable section.

The legs of this section are on casters. Releasing the clamps between Suburban Propane and the main Hillsborough town allows the section to be rolled out of the way.

Turning around you can see towards what will be the Town of Hillsborough. Hillsborough on the MEJ features a number of what (eventually) are some of the more interesting features on the layout. Planned are a covered bridge leading to a railroad trestle bridging the low land of the Town.

Hillsborough has an active local yard supporting lumber and a pellet fuel manufacturer. Plus a team track located at the Hillsborough Depot for customers in the area who see the value of rail transport.

Now with that all said, Hillsborough is going to be a section of layout the will remain unfinished for a bit (I suspect a year). With upcoming shows for Free-mo, I will turn my focus on the Lil' Italy yard once the Hillsborough track is down and electrically ready.

The Town will eventually have some of the more visually stunning elements on the MEJ. The raised track in this area features a covered bridge and curved trestle harkening back to the actual track of the original branch.

In the near term, I'll be using a 1/2" plywood base for temporary track support to connect Lil' Italy with the Hillsborough branch (look for a blog post shortly detailing "The End Game" with version 112 of the MEJ layout).

On 9/22/2014 we turned our attention from benchwork to track planning. Here, Steve, Bob and Bill start the rough planning of track placement.

Looking in both directions from Hillsborough, the track starts to take shape. Using full sections of flex track, you can see the design from xtrkcad transferred to the benchwork.

My short term goal is to have a track electrically ready through this area by Columbus Day 2014 so that I can host a run session with Steve, Bill, Bob and Dick to reward them for all their hard work. With the progress today I'm confident well be running trains in just a few weeks time!

Wordless

2014-08-13T23:05:00.002-04:00

Transportation Problem...

2014-08-11T14:13:00.000-04:00

When I decided to expand my module empire, I concluded that I would be able to transport the extra modules in my conversion van with efficient packing AND removal of the 2nd row of passenger seats (Captain style seats). The 3rd row comes out of the van super easily.

Today Bob, Dick and myself tried to take out the 2nd row of seats. At first we thought we had it. But then we realized, the seats are attached to a bracket under the body of the van that is above the gas take on one side and the muffler/catalytic converter on the other. We are convinced that taking the seats out may result in many, many hours trying to get things put back in.

So, plan "C" would be to rent a trailer when I want to bring all the modules to a show. While that is doable, I wasn't planning to rent a trailer every time I go to a show.

I do have a Plan "B" but I'm not sure it will work. I'm going to use bicycle boxes to build mock-ups of the modules and see if there is a way that they might be placed in the van and have it all work.

The biggest challenge in all this is that I decided to make Lil' Italy's main yard only 2 sections which resulted in modules that are on the very long side at 76". This is the biggest problem I need to solve without the 2nd row of seats coming out.

I'll report back when I come up with the cardboard mockups.

Work Session 8/3/2014-8/4/2014

2014-08-10T22:32:00.000-04:00

There's a ton to do to Lil' Italy to get it ready for the show. My goal is to have the main sections of the yard electrically ready for the show and do testing of the trackwork and electrical. There's still track that needs to be put down and as of 8/3, wiring is not started.

First up I needed to lay the track of the bonus yard. This track does not have a specific purpose. Some of the possible uses might be for Locomotive storage, LPG or other volatile car loads, possibly a warehouse or just extra storage.

Soldering begins. I have decided to go all in with what I'm calling the "loose butt joints" for Lil Italy. The module sections have PC boards to hold the rail at the end of a module or section. I started by soldering the rail to the tie plates at where I'm splitting the main yard in half.

My experience is that you don't have to be too neat with this. Once the rail is painted and ballasted, any less then perfect soldering points pretty much disappear into the scenery.

Looking underneath the module you can see the main track bus. Track feeders are 22 gauge solid wire. I keep the lengths short on these wires. From the track feeds, I use 18 gauge stranded wire to get to the main track bus. The main track bus is 10 gauge stranded wire.

Color coding is critical to organize the wiring. Rail A is colored red, Rail B is black. Green is used for wires powering the frogs of the turnouts.

Dick went to town on the wiring. Here you can see the 3M suitcase connectors used to step up the track feed wires to the 10 gauge bus wire. "Pink" is use to connect the track feed to the 18 gauge. Brown connectors connect the 18 gauge to the 10 gauge.

You can also see here the Tam Valley Depot Hex Frog Juicer. The Frog of the model train switch is the "Y" in the center. Depending on which direction the train is going, the electrical polarity of the "Y" will need to be changed. This circuit essentially detects a short circuit at the Frog indicating the direction a train is going and instantly reverses the polarity of the Frog on the switch before the engine shorts and stops running.

The Hex Frog Juicer handles 6 turnouts. Below is pictured the Mono Frog Juicers I'm also using.

After 2 days of intense wiring on the first section, it's time for a test. Cables are attached together and the power button is flipped. Hey, look at that. We've got a headlight!

We quickly did a test with the locomotive to make sure we got everything hooked up correctly. We uncovered a couple of issues with dead track. Turned out some feeders were missed in the hook up process. Quickly fixed and viola, everything tested out just fine.

This is only the 1st half of the yard wiring. In the next couple of days I'll get the wiring finished and move on to my "List" of tasks to complete for Concord 2014.

Work Session 7/27/2014 & 7/28/2014

2014-07-29T06:42:00.000-04:00

Terrible weather the past couple of days lead to a great opportunity on Lil' Italy. August 17th is fast approaching and the module is slated to be in for a dry run at the Concord Model Train show.

I'm sticking with the technique I used on the other sections of the MEJ for track laying by using latex caulking to "cement" the track to the roadbed. A 1/8" bead of caulking is put down the centerline of the track to start. Next, I use a scrap piece of 1x2 as a spreader and basically spread the bead into a smooth flat base for the track.

I started at the north end of the yard by assembling the yard ladder. After that, I went to the south end to assembled the 2 sets of yard ladders. Pictured above looking toward the south end of the yard.

While the caulking sets, I use t-pins and alignment gauges to keep everything in place.

Above is the center section of the module. I laid full length pieces of flex track across the joint. The plan is to use a "loose butt" joint as I like to call them.

In a traditional butt joint for a section, the rail is solder all the way to the end of the section. A Dremel tool is then used to cut the rail and, in theory, the rails line up perfectly. In practice, my observation is that the joints are less than perfect.

In a loose butt joint, the section of rail across the seem are not soldered. The length of un-soldered rail is equal to the length of a rail joiner. A Dremel is used to cut the rail at the seem but now, the last 1/2" or so of rail is free to move.

When the sections are joined, the rail joiner is slid across the gap to hold the loose sections together resulting in a joint that is more tolerant of track that is not perfectly in alignment. I'll have more pictures of this in a future post.

Another view of the yard looking south.

And one final look looking toward the north. In the foreground you can see the preliminary work on the 3 sidings located at the south end of the module.

All in all, it is very impressive to me to see this come together. I look back at the design I did with xtrkcard, to printing the design out on 8.5"x11" sheets of paper, to marking the center lines, to putting the track down. So far, it has worked WONDERFULLY!

Of course running trains across the tracks is the true test. But for now, all I have to say is -- "I love it when a plan comes together!"

Work Session 7/7/2014

2014-07-14T16:57:00.001-04:00

Another great day of work. Target date is August 17th for the Concord NH model train show. The module will not be done but we hope to have it electrically ready for a shakedown at the show. Going to be close but I think we'll just make it.

Track centerlines added to the cork. Setting out the tie plates getting ready to install. It is critical that the track be perpendicular to the section ends so that the yet to be built leaf can be put into place.

Dick and Steve setting turnouts in what we hope will be the actual location on the cork. A sharpie is used to trace the outline of the turnouts. This is needed so that we can get the location of the holes for the frog electrical feed and potential turnout machine piano wire.

Tie plates are down and the 2 sections are test fitted to check alignment. LOOKS GREAT!!!

Lots going on here! In this shot you can see turnouts have been modified for DCC and Free-mo standards. I'll have a tutorial coming up soon on modifying a Peco Electrofrog turnout to be compatible with the Free-mo standard.

Dick and Steve checking out the alignment of the turnouts on the Lil' Italy module. We're all happy with how thing look so next work session the plan is to start on final track laying.

Work Session 6/30/2014

2014-07-08T22:59:00.004-04:00

You'll notice I've changed the title of this post to a work session. Looking into the future, this seems more appropriate as a "build session" seems to imply there is construction going. In reality, I can see there could be any kind of work going on. So from now on I'm going to call working days what they are -- "Work Sessions".

Lots of "work" accomplished today. The mirror image section was completed and plywood top was attached with cross beams set (remember these are spaced to allow for the potential addition of switch machines at some point.

Peco Elecotrofrog turnouts arrive en-mass! Call me biased but short of hand laying with Fasttracks, I think these turnouts are great. If you're not handlaying turnouts, go with the Elecrofrogs. Yes there is more work than an Insulfrog but you'll enjoy smooth running locomotives at every turnout.

Let's get going on some roadbed I've decided to go with a more traditional construction technique for the yard. While I am TOTALLY satisfied with the Woodland Scenics foam roadbed, there seemed to be a shortage of the sheets of roadbed right when I needed it. So, I went with cork sheets as it was in stock and my first show of Lil' Italy is fast approaching.

Lack of stock anywhere on sheets of foam roadbed is the only reason I went with cork. The foam really is a great product and if there wasn't a deadline looming, I'd have waited out for the foam roadbed.

Cork sheets are laid in place for Lil' Italy.

And now what to do? I need to get the print out translated to the cork roadbed. Or do I? I decided it was probably best to place turnouts and draw actual track center lines on the module instead of relying on the xtrakcad printouts. I was afraid there may be slight variances to the angles of the actual module from the plan and this would effect the design.

Laying out the turnouts of Lil' Italy against the plan. From here I will draw out "actual" track center lines.


The southern end of Lil' Italy yard. Looks great! Wow. What a great classification yard this will be.

We left off here. Next session I'll get the actual center lines drawn in and we'll start the process of (I hope) getting some track down.

Build Session 6/23/2014

2014-07-02T22:27:00.001-04:00

What a great work session this week. Steve, Dick, Bob and myself focused on the benchwork of the Lil' Italy yard. And what success we had. Bob is a MACHINE on the chop saw. Ask for a piece cut to a certain length, turn around and WHAM, he's back.

The framing for the 2nd section, a mirror image of the first, was done in less than 1 hour.

Legs were made and we just had to see how we did. We positioned the 2 halves together and got them clamped. WOW! Now this is without the leaf and it's looking way bigger than I expected. In fact I think we all got a little excited about Lil' Italy was going to bring to the MEJ (eventually).

And now for the bracing. The 1/2" plywood top will need bracing. And I am not quite sure what the future may hold for the module so I want to make sure I account for the potential of switch machines.

As a results, the cross bracing of the sections can not be standard spacing as the switch machines will be at irregular intervals. Besides using the printouts of the track plan to "see" the yard before laying the track, I also wanted to make sure that potential switch machine locations

Spacing is not ideal but I think it will be adequate for the plywood top. Time will tell of course but I'm very confident that everything will be fine.

We continued on with our build session and got the plywood on the 2nd section in place. I honestly wasn't expecting to get this far today so I have to admit I was unprepared for our progress.

After everyone had left for the day, I printed out the 2nd section track plan and laid it out on the plywood top. WOW! getting the first look at the yard in real life I can see there is a problem --- I NEED MORE TRAINS CARS!

I wanted to confirm the storage of the yard from what I saw on the computer. I was seeing on my screen eleven 50' box cars for fit on the longer sidings. I wanted to see this for myself. And yes, I can confirm, the box cars will fit!

And this is all without the 'leaf" section.

There was one strange thing the print out was showing me when it was put down. It seemed to be 3" too short. WTF! How could I be off by 3 inches?

After scratching my head, re-checking the xtrkcad and realigning the printouts, it dawned on me. I did a rookie mistake. When I took the measurements from the CAD drawings for the dimensions of the framework, I forgot to subtract the width of the endplates from the number. Each endplate is 3/4" times 4 = 3". Oops!

So I'm back to the drawing board to figure out how to best fix the plan and still be within the boundaries that I now have as a physical limitation. This is a minor set back at best. I think it's going to work out in the end for the better...

You would think I would learn...

2014-06-24T22:36:00.003-04:00

I am working on a (soon to be released) Blog post about our most recent work session for the Lil' Italy yard and I was having a hard time coming to grips with something. As you will see shortly in the pictures, my 1:1 track plain from xtrkcad is off by 3" for the Lil' Italy yard.

Just figured it out. It appears as though I made the same mistake twice. The "long" side of the module in the CAD drawings is 74" long. Turns out I cut the side piece 74" long. WRONG! The endplates overlap the side panels which means I should of cut the 74" side at 72.5 (to account for the 3/4" birch on each side).

When you do that twice (each section is off by 1.5") you get 3". The exact amount the printouts are off by. CRAP! As you will see, the sections are basically built and are very difficult to re-work to match up with the CAD drawings.

So, the extra 3" does effect the (what I call) "north" end of the module and it will need re-design to make it work. Back to the drawing board.

Funny thing is I did the same exact thing when I built "The Depot" for my Milford modules. Resulted in the module being 1.5" longer than I expected. Not an issue as it was a straight module. Looks like I made the same mistake again.

You'd think I'd would of learned something from my last mistake...

Lil' Italy Build Session June 15, 2014

2014-06-23T13:16:00.000-04:00

Benchwork is moving along on the main sections of Lil' Italy. I've decided on a more traditional construction methodology with 1/2" plywood for the top instead of foam board. Yes, the sections will be heavier. But I may at some point install switch machines and having plywood to work with is easier for mounting if/when I install machines.

This is the xtrkcad drawing of the first section we are working on. This side has the bulk of the turnouts for the yard and includes a 3 track yard which at this point does not have a definite function. There was space there so I added in this auxiliary yard. I can see it being using for
locomotive storage and possibly van or RIP use.

Below is a shot of the benchwork in progress. 3/4" Birch plywood ripped at 6" is used for end plates and sides. In my opinion, this results in strong sections (yes, they are heavier). The top is a 1/2" plywood. As you can also see, The legs are clamped to the section. Leg pockets will be built in the next session.

Above is looking at the same section from the other side.

Here's a close-up of the temporary leg bracing. I'm continuing to make my Free-mo module legs all to the same spec. This makes all legs of all modules interchangeable.

And finally, I couldn't wait so I had to get the xtrkcad printout down on the top to see how much I was off by. Here's the first look at Lil' Italy -- well at least in print. This is going to be a rather nice, functional yard I can see already.

The good news is that the printout confirms that everything is going to fit in the real world pretty close to what xtrkcad said it would. And that's a huge relief. Next week the "North" section of Lil' Italy gets constructed.

Next up, Lil' Italy Yard

2014-06-16T23:10:00.001-04:00

Inspired by the Italy Yard in St. Albans, Vermont, "Lil' Italy" hopes to be a significant focal point whenever it is put into operation. While the track plan is not identical to the real world yard, Lil' Italy attempts to capture the "feel" of classifying trains at Vermont's busiest yard.

This project serves 2 purposes. First and foremost, Lil' Italy serves as the main termination point on the Milford and Essex Junction. It's 2nd purpose is to be a classification yard for the New England Free-mo group. The multi-tasking functions of Lil' Italy proved to be a challenging design problem.

For my home layout, I am restricted in space and track layout. As a result, Lil' Italy in the Milford and Essex Junction (MEJ), is going to consist of the 2 large sections in the middle (left and right of the yellow section). Entrance on the right side of the yard is a single track. The entrance on the left is a double track.

You will notice that the mainlines of the home layout sections are not centered on the endplates. This is obviously an issue if Lil' Italy is to also be used as a Free-mo module as mainline must be centered on the endplates. Thanks to a tip, I have a plan.

On each side of the yard, there will be Free-mo "adapters" to convert to the standard needed at a setup. On the right side, there is a simple single track adapter that simply offsets the endplate to center the mainline.

On the left side, the initial adapter is for a Free-mo double track. I've also planned another module to be a Free-mo double track to single track adapter. Problem solved. Now Lil' Italy can be used at a Free-mo setup.

One last design element of the yard is the ability to expand it with a "leaf". The leaf fits in the middle of the yard to extend the length of each track. This I hope will be valuable at a Free-mo setup. In the above diagram is shaded in yellow. This is an optional element for the yard and is not required for the yard to be operational.

I'll detail in a future post how Lil' Italy fits into the MEJ track plan. While constructing the yard, I will be focusing on Lil' Italy as a Free-mo module. Follow along as my newest module is built in the coming months.

Free-mo Springfield 2014

2014-06-10T06:52:00.001-04:00

Very cool Loco view of the NE Free-mo Layout from January 2014 at the Big E. I have 2 scenes in the video. The first is "The Pasture" which at time code 01:54 is a module depicting a scene that I'd imagine in Colchester Vermont with Ben and Jerry's cows, some hiking trails, and kids flying kites in a field.

The 2nd part are the Milford sections (time code 06:50) that I've built depicting my current hometown and the lightly used Hillsborough Branch. Milford is not in the order of the real world but it works just the same. If you know Milford you may recognize this scene.

There's also a "Fly By" at 12:10 (Milford) and quick look at The Pasture at 13:25.

And at 6:06 (which spells bob btw), I get a staring role ;-)

Milford Electrically Ready

2014-05-18T17:02:00.001-04:00

I made great progress in my Milford Free-mo module in the past months. In January I was able to have the first operating session on the MEJ with the new module.

First train pulls into the electrically ready Milford in Free-mo module titled "The Depot".

Looking west down the mainline

One of the business that will occupy the Milford module is Souhegan Cycleworks, a local bicycle shop that in the real world is located 1 block off the tracks. A great friend Steve took a Walther's Cornerstone kit and customized it just a bit to bring SCW to the HO world.

If you look in the building you can see an actual shot of the real bike shop. Steve had me take a picture that we scaled down to HO. Steve took the photo and placed it inside the building BUT he set it up so the picture bows in giving a 3-D effect to the image. He then added in some figures and a counter with some customers and staff and viola, SCW comes to life. Very cool.

I'll post some more pictures of the Milford Free-mo module at the "Big E" in January 2014 shortly.

Very Difficult Times

2014-04-30T21:31:00.000-04:00

Shortly after my last post, I got word that my Father (who had been in the Hospital) was in very serious condition. A couple of weeks later my dad past away.

My father was the reason I got into trains in the first place. Dad built my brother and I a train that was big enough to ride on -- in 1968! My brother and I were the coolest kids on the block. We had a train that you could ride on.

Dad also got me started with modeling. From aircraft models to trains, my dad was always getting me something to build.

The past few months I've stepped away a bit from model trains. My dad would have my head if I didn't get back into building my empire. I know he always wanted to have a "dream" layout but couldn't. He saw what I started last summer and was thrilled with where I was going.

I need to get back to building my empire. I'm sure dad is saying "What are you waiting for. Life's short."

Miss you dad. Wish I could show you in person the awesome layout that I'm going to build.

JMRI WiFi Throttle Box Project

2014-01-04T13:50:00.000-05:00

JMRI brings amazing capabilities to DCC layouts. It really is a great piece of open source software. One really cool feature offered by JMRI is the ability to use most Smartphones (iPhone and Android) as a wireless throttle. I have to say there is nothing more convenient than grabbing my phone to go play with my layout.

At the upcoming model train show at the Big E in West Springfield, Ma, I am hoping to do a test of Smartphone throttles on the NE Free-mo layout. One of the issues with this setup is that you do need to have available some extra hardware and software to make it all work.

Now for me, having JMRI server software, a WiFi Access Point, laptop and a Loconet USB interface is not really that much to bring. BUT, I'd love to build a little dedicated box that is the WiFi Access Point and JMRI server in one unit -- and it's only the size of a credit card (heck let's go crazy way not make it part of a module disguised as a cell phone tower -- hmm).

Can you say Raspberry Pi!

These tiny little computers have enough computing power to do quite a bit. There are folks that use them as their home WiFi access point. There are others that run JMRI on them to have wireless throttles. But I have not found anyone who has tried to combine the Wirelss AP and JMRI.

So I'm going to give it a go as my first Raspberry Pi project. I'm calling it the JMRI WiFi Throttle Box! You will still need a Loconet interface as well but combing the JMRI server (in headless mode) and Wifi access point will make setting up WiFi throttles so much easier than what we have now.

Stay tuned, let's see what happens with this...

First Big Mistake on Hendrix

2014-01-04T12:58:00.000-05:00

Well, I had a fairly major issue to deal with on the Hendrix module. Turns out that the track on what would technically be the north or west end of the module was not centered. Of course in Free-mo this is bad as the tracks won't line up. I was only off by about 1/4 inch but a huge mistake.

I could see what happened and came up with a plan to move the mainline and re-do the curve for the half of the module that is effected. Luckily for me I use Laxtex caulking to hold down the track. I had "heard" that if you wet the latex it will become pliable and you will be able to remove track if ever needed.

Well, when I used water on the caulking and letting it soak for hours, nothing. Kind of makes sense to me as if this was the case the caulking in our bathroom would be gummy all the time. So I went a little more aggressive - rubbing alcohol. Worked like a champ. Well except for one small problem.

I let many hours pass so all the alcohol could evaporate. There was still caulking on the ties so I decided to go with white glue to re-attach the track and roadbed.

Usually white glue dries fairly fast. No luck. After many hours it was like a gel. Then it dawned on me. There was alcohol that soaked into the foam roadbed which is causing the white glue to not dry but gel. ARG!

What to do? Well, I decided to try something to see if it would work. I use a Micro Mark's same as glue for my plastic models. What the heck, let's see.

Did the trick. I applied it on the track and roadbed and in a matter of 1 hour all was good. Wow, what a scare that was.

Deadlines are Looming...

2014-01-04T12:56:00.001-05:00

I have 2 significant milestones, err, I mean deadlines, for January 2014. I have about 20 feet of new modules that I'm working on and they need to be done by January 24th!

Deadlines are a blessing and curse. They are definitely nice for motivation in order to get things done. But they are also a curse as there is a date that is committed to and items must be complete before the deadline.

Deadline #1: January 8, 2014 First Ops Session
I have committed to an Ops session on Wednesday, January 8th. That means that the layout and new modules need to be electrically operating by this date.

Deadline #2 January 24th, 2014 Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show
A huge Free-mo setup (well for me anyways) that I will have almost 30 feet of modules at. 2/3 of this is brand spanking new!

So I'm off to the basement to finish up electrical wiring and face plate installation. I'm pretty sure I'm 98% certain on deadline #2. Deadline #1 is going to be tough...

This

Construction Mode Again

2013-12-11T20:05:00.001-05:00

I'm back in construction mode again building new modules for the MEJ. And of course there's a looming deadline...

In the distance is the new Hendrix module featuring a 90 degree turn and 2 industries.

Here you can see the spur for a yet to be named cement company. Here a small local freight will bring sand and gravel to the plant on a regular basis.

At the opposite end of the module are the 2 spurs for Hendrix wire company. The right spur will be a shed for unloading plastic pellets. The longer siding is also for pellets into storage tanks that will be located at the end of the wire plant.

Also under construction is "Railroad Pond" located between South St. and Union St. in Milford.

This module features Walker's automotive, a trestle built a long long time ago, a couple of houses and a church. The church is going to feature bells ringing. Not sure how the bell will trigger. I'll figure that out at some point.

So as you can see there's a lot to do. Time is short as I have about 6 weeks to get the modules looking respective. Man, there's a ton of work to do.

Miford Depot Out of the Box!

2013-10-29T21:03:00.002-04:00

My Dad gave me a great present after a recent trip to see my man cave/train room -- the kit that I was dreaming of for Milford Depot! Well time is ticking and I need to get this kit rolling. So out of the box it came tonight. I wanted to do a test fit on the layout to make sure it would fit where I wanted it to go.

Above you can see how I basically leaned 3 of the walls together to get an idea of the size of the actual kit. Everything looks perfect!

And for kicks and giggles, the first LCL delivery came into the freight end of the Depot.

It's going to be tight but it all looks good to me! I can see from the pieces that this is going to be a very, very involved kit. PERFECT. I love a great challenge!