Isabella's Christmas

Trains are a-runnin'

After tweaking some turnouts, both mainlines are open.

Power, Lights, Action!

I assembled and installed the Control Panel last night.  It went very smoothly - the parts fit together the first time!  It is nice to finally have full control of blocks and turnouts.

Corporate Logo

The BFC RR is pleased to display its new corporate logo.

BFC = Blue Foam Central   : )

National Defense

Congratulations to Mike for his new programming job working for a defense contractor.  And now a part-time teaching job teaching computer programming at York Technical Institute.  I am so proud of you and happy that you are able to use your talents.

Swim, Ride, Run

Allie did the Santa Rosa Island triathlon on October 2nd.












She did a 600 meter swim in the Gulf, 18 mile bike ride down the National Seashore, & 5K run around Pensacola beach.  Great job!  I am so proud of you.

Eastern Women's Lacrosse vs. Alumni

Judy and I watched Katy's Lacrosse team play the Alumni team for Homecoming weekend today.  The game was a real nail-biter, but the Alumni pulled off a 10-9 victory with a minute remaining.  It was great fun watching her play.

Why, switch?

I have almost finished wiring the control panel.  It was time to light this candle (or at least power up the LEDs).  Looks great, right?









Well, sort of . . . You may notice that the lights are lit the opposite way the switch is thrown.  You would think that the left terminals of the switch are powered when the toggle is thrown to the left.  You would be wrong.   This  is a cruel joke.  Why, switch?

Now all I need to do is unsolder 12 LED leads and connect 12 criss-crossed jumper wires to fix this.  Gee, only 24 solder joints to go . . . Grr!

The Youngest Cowgirl

Isabella is officially the youngest Glorioso cowgirl.  She is sitting on my childhood "Rocking Horse." Of course, she looks much cuter than I . .

New Recording Artist

Today Judy and I accompanied Katy to a recording session for her upcoming CD.   She has composed and performed the Piano, Guitar, and Vocals on all the songs. Today she added lead and harmony vocal tracks.  It is really coming together.  I am so proud of her.

Control Panel

Here is the Control Panel with block and turnout controls in the center section, and room for transformers and accessory controls on the side sections.  I put it together with some old pine boards, masonite, a table saw and patience.








Even though I plan to use DCS and TMCC command control, I have concluded that it does not necessarily replace block wiring if you want to run conventional locos as well.   There are times when you want to be able to shut off power to a block.  So I am wiring to allow for command and conventional.  So much for keeping it simple.

Backlit to show the LEDs

Since I need block controls, I decided to splurge on the control panel.  I am wiring up the panel with 2 LEDs in each block (one red and one yellow) that indicate which “cab” (if any) is powering that block.  Also the controllers) for the z2500 switch machines (mounted on the panel also) have red and green LEDs which indicate which way they are thrown.





I did the track diagram with Microsoft Paint, printed it on photo paper, and sandwiched it between a masonite base and a 1/16" plexiglass cover.  The most tedious part was drilling holes in the masonite for the toggles switches, buttons, and LEDs, and cutting out rectangles to insert the Z-Stuff 2502 switch controllers.  The 2502s will be mostly hidden:  only their buttons and LEDs show.  The plexiglass only needed holes for the toggle and pushbutton switches.  On the paper diagram, I cut out circles for all the LEDs and switches with 3mm, 6mm, and 8mm disposable punch biopsies (think cookie cutters).

Paper template to lay out the holes and cutouts

Cutouts for the 2502 Controllers 

So the soldering begins. One half of the DPDT toggles select CAB A or CAB B for its block, and the other half lights up the corresponding red or yellow LED.  The LEDs will be powered from a 4.5V DC power adaptor through current limiting resistors.






This panel will be so cool that you won’t even need to look at the trains . . .

Running the Gauntlet

Judy and I took Tzar and Kaylee to Gettysburg for a trail ride.  The weather, the trails, and the scenery were beautiful.  Both horses did great, even "Running the Gauntlet."

You have got to imagine how scary this looks to a horse. Not to mention the riders' fear of impalement!












Come on Kaylee.
You can do it . . .

The Paper Chase

Judy and I did the Paper Chase today.  It is an hour and a half "race" that winds through woods and fields, up and down hills and across streams of South Branch Farms.  This is a twice a year event, where Bob Kinsley generously shares his miles of farm and trails with the riding community.  The weather was beautiful, Tzar and Kaylee ran well, and we had a great time.  Now, I am tired and sore . . . but it was worth it!

The Nobel Horse

Horses came into my life through my wife Judy.  Riding has been her joy for the last 15 years.  But for me, not so much.  Well, at first, anyway.  I took some English riding lessons with her 7 years ago, and while it was very helpful, it just did not hold my interest.

Me on Barron

Things changed in 2006:  We bought two horses, a Quarter Horse Stallion (Barron) and his son, a Paint (Tzar).  Barron was the perfect "Husband Horse," meaning he is so well behaved that you could even put an inexperienced husband on him.  Fortunately, Barron was patient as I learned.  Allie, Dan, and I took turns riding him through woods and farms.  Now, I was having fun!

Judy on Tzar

Allie on Barron

Dan on Barron

But it wasn't until the next year that I was hooked.  I watched my first Polocrosse Tournament at Black Horse Farm in Felton.  I watched the US Polocrosse team play the visiting Irish team.  The sights and sounds of six noble horses racing up and down the field can't be described.  It can only be experienced.  I came away from that weekend thinking, "This is so cool, but I'll never be able to do that."  Or maybe I would . . .



Allie and Me



The following summer, the opportunity came.  Judy, Allie, and I joined the Spring Valley Polocrosse Club.  To say that it was slow at first, was an understatement.  I was still a beginning rider and it was a challenge to try to get Barron to move where I wanted while trying to scoop up the ball from the ground.  I had no racket skills and no riding skills, but I was having fun.  Then came the news:  There was a tournament coming up in 3 weeks.  Would we like to compete?  3 weeks into the sport, and we were headed for a tournament!  We walked, trotted, stumbled and fumbled that tournament weekend, but we had fun. 





The next couple of years Judy and I progressed in our riding and Polocrosse skills.  Barron did well as a beginner horse.  Tzar, not so much, so Judy leased Ria, a wonderful, fast, experienced Polocrosse horse.  We moved beyond trot, and now we were galloping down the field.

But I found that Barron had his limits.   He was willing and usually patient as he learned the sport, but as the level of played progressed, we were literally being left in the dust.  He just did not have the speed.  This became more apparent at the 2010 Bay Area Tournament.  We ended up with second place.  We played the 1st place team twice, and twice, Barron and I got pushed all around the field by a mare, who happened to have "For Sale" painted on her butt.  We looked at her that afternoon, bought her and took Kahlua home that weekend.  Kahlua won best horse honors that weekend.

Kaylee

As there was already a Kahlua on the farm where we boarded, we renamed her Kaylee.  She is a delight to ride:  energetic, fast, and sure-footed.  You just give her the lightest signal and she responds.  Did I mention that she is fast?  There is no feeling on this earth like the feel of racing down field or trail on a fast horse.  Oh, yeah, now I am hooked . .

How do you glue down Gargraves track?

After a few weeks of testing (ie., running trains around and around), I decided that it is time to glue down the track.  I am using the Woodland Scenics tacky glue.  It was a big pain, since I need to pull the track up about an inch or so (with the feeder wires attached), paint the glue on the underside of the ties, and then push it down and weight it down, all before the glue dries.  I could only do about 5 feet at a time.   How do you keep the track  down?  You weigh it down with an MTH Allegheny, of course.  And then any heavy object you can find.  Eventually, I figured out that it works better to apply the glue to the roadbed.  I have already covered all the ways NOT to do it, so it is going smoothly now.

Then I got to the crossover . . .
So, this was a pain, lifting up the crossover (with 4 tracks attached).  Of course, both center rail power pickups pop out (remember all my failed attempts to feed the center rails?).   Well, this was not going to work.  So, out comes the soldering iron.  Yeah, right!!  Did you know that the blackened center rail is the only metal in the universe that solder will not stick to?  Back to the drawing room.  Finally the solution comes to me:  Drill a hole through the vertical part of the rail, loop a copper wire through, and solder it to itself.  Success!!  And the solder even stuck to the drilled bare metal.

I fed the switch machine wires down through the table to wire them up, and then remembered that I don’t yet have a control panel.  So, that will be the next project while I am waiting for each section of glue to dry.  Fortunately, I have a borrowed Z-4000 to properly size the control panel.  I am going to try to keep the panel size down to somewhere less than half the size of the layout . . .

A Large Distraction

I found this Lionel Large Scale Gold Rush Special at a thrift store in DC.  It was bubble-wrapped together with a loop of track.  I wasn't even sure what it was at first, but, hey, it was only 20 bucks.  Turns out it was a nice "little" train.  It needed a few plastic parts which I have ordered from Brasseur Electric Trains.   





I did get down to the basement tonight, but I was distracted by the Lionel G-scale 0-6-0.  I have been trying to get it to run smoothly.   Instead of smooth motion, it goes thwack-thwack-thwack-thwack.  The idler gears wobble all over the place and one of the drivers was not squared.   I did a lot of unsuccessful tweaking, then I took out the idler gears and just had it drive using the drive rods.  More thwack-thwack-thwack-thwack.  Now I am out of ideas, so I put the idler gears back in place and reassembled it.  Success!  No more thwack!  Not sure how I fixed it, but I think that one of the idler gears must have been offset by one tooth.


So, now I have a fine running, fine looking "around the Christmas tree" narrow gauge train.

Women look at things differently

Planning for a "Hindenburg"

Layout was on hold for a little, but started on it again this AM.  I got out the MTH Passenger station and fit it plus one of the 2 covered platforms trackside (based on John's suggestion of shortening one track to a stub ending at the station).   It will work great unless there is a runaway locomotive, in which case the slaughter in the station will rival the Hindenburg disaster “Oh, the humanity . . .”

Gomez Addams would be proud.

Maiden Run

This was the maiden run on the mainline.  Here is the link:

Maiden Run

I have since put in the roadbed and most of the track on the locomotive servicing and passenger sidings.  Got the MTH passenger station fitting in nicely.  All I have left is the 2 industrial sidings in the center of the layout.  Then it will be scenery time.  Actually, then it will be time to get out John’s big articulated Allegheny, and hook up the z4000 and command control and just watch trains go ‘round and ‘round.

MTH Sinclair Gas Station

I just bought this MTH Sinclair Gas Station from a collection.  I have been looking on the 'bay for a while.  Now I just need to figure out where to put in on the layout.  These MTH buildings are big . . .

Doing things the hard way

I am still trying to figure out a reliable way to run a separate center rail power feed to each turnout in a crossover from one main to the other.  I want them isolated for running conventional control independently.  So far, I have tried wedging a wire into the gap in the bottom of the rail (not secure enough), soldering to the black rail (solder sticks to everything but the rail),  Bending track pins 90 degrees and soldering to them (see picture, but left too much of a rail gap, kind of a rail pothole, and then I broke the solder joint trying to install the turnout), and finally, wedging in a spade lug into the underside of the rail (required a little "plastic" surgery on the turnout, holding together for now).  If the spade does not seem secure, I will revisit soldering, this time using flux.

So, once again, I am finding a way to make things more complicated.  Kind of a model railroad masochist . . .

Laying track

Last week I unpacked and assembled the Gargraves sectional track.  And (pat myself on the back) the curves fit my carefully laid roadbed perfectly.  I measure and cut each section of straight or flex track, file the burrs and run a 1/16" drill into the hollow ends of the track.  I am thoroughly enjoying cutting track with my Dremel and a 2 1/2 inch diameter carbide disc.  Sparks fly as it tears through the metal with a high pitched screech.  Ahr, ahr, more power!

I am drilling holes through the table top for power feeds.  The feeds are 6" lengths of 18g wire with spade connectors crimped on.  The spades wedge in the underside of the split rail and I just insert the wires through the holes as I lay the track down.  I am not gluing any track yet.  I want to be sure it all fits and I want to be able to test it first.  At this point, I have 2/3 of each mainline done.  Tested the crossover a few times and no derailment. 

Old Gargraves Turnouts

I decided to update the older O-100 Gargraves turnouts that I am using as crossovers.  There was no way to attach switch machines.  So, time to improvise . . I cut out some of the plastic and made some wood tie extensions.   Just need to stain them and add switch machines.

Two steps forward, one step backwards

It is a challenge to bend Gargraves track.  I can bend an "S" curve and it will hold its shape just fine.  But an O-42 or even an O-54 won't stay.  And if I adjust the ties to straighten them, I lose even more of the curve.  Honestly, the problem is that I am trying to pre-shape track to glue it down, rather than screw or nail it down as is recommended.  The solution:  I am buying Gargraves sectional track for the curves and using flex-track for the straights, "S" curves and a few short curves on the turnouts.  Time to call Just Trains of Delaware.

In the meantime, I made up 42" and 54" diameter cardboard templates to lay out the track plan center lines.  The mainlines have 4" spacing on the straights, and 4 1/2" on the curves.  John brought over some 60' and 70' passenger cars and an MTH Allegheny to test track clearances.   I put the 70 footers on the 2 mainline tracks and I have an inch of clearance on the curves (real inches, not scale inches!). Of course, when I couple the cars on the same track, the angle from car to car would only be seen in a prototypical derailment . . .







I am using Woodland Scenics trackbed and it is so easy to work with.  It is partially split and I use a box cutter to split it the rest of the way, then spread Woodland Scenics Foam Tack Glue on the back of a half section and lay it along the centerline.  I pin it down with Woodland Scenics Foam Nails, then repeat the above for the other half section of roadbed.  It goes really fast.  Say goodbye to cork roadbed . .

Adding an extra foot (why planning ahead would have helped)

The benchwork extra foot is done and installed.  It took nearly as much work as the original 5X10.  So much for afterthoughts . . .

I am getting ready to lay out the track plan and glue down woodland scenics roadbed.   Also need to build a wooden jig or 2 to bend the Gargraves (a strong recommendation from what I read).  I am still not sure how well this is going to work on top of 2” of foam since I can’t screw down the track.  Straights will be fine.  For the curves, I am hoping that if I pre-bend the track and weight and glue it, it will be ok.  I will try a section, and if it fails miserably, I will pull off the foam and maybe add another 1/8” underlayment and put the roadbed and track on that.  I’ll have to give up on most of the below grade scenery, but I’ll cope. To be honest, a lot of things will be easier if I pull the foam off, but I have a pathological tendency to avoid doing things the easy way.

New Track Plan

I played around with my "elevated loop crossing over a flat loop" track plan.  Tried to connect the two at one end, but it just wasn't working.  So, now I am back on the web looking for a new track plan.  Good news:  I found exactly what I want.  Bad news:  I have to make my 5X10 table into a 6X10 table.  Out comes the saw . . .

Here is the layout photos and plan:

Mike's O Gauge Train Site

He did a tremendous job of modeling and design in a small space.  You would never know it was only 6X10 from the photos.  The layout even has a dual track mainline.

I made some changes to his plan to allow O-42 curves on the inner loop and O-54 on the outer.  But I am very grateful to Mike and I want to give him credit for his design and inspiration.

Testing Frankenstein

I stopped by Cool Trains on my way home from Lancaster yesterday.  In their "Yard Sale" area, he had the same MTH PRR RS3 that I missed buying at the Timonium show.  Also a PRR N5C Caboose and a little Z-500 transformer.  I made it home before our company arrived, but no time to test our the RS3.   They left around 10PM, Judy went to bed, and I headed down to the basement.   

Finally, I had a train to test out on my "Frankenstein" layout.  Why Frankenstein?  It has 2 loops of track loosely put together with one elevated O track, and a ground level O27 track.  Mixed in are some O-42s, O-54s, and some K-Line Super K track with ties.  Then I stepped back and looked at a bunch of dirty, grungy, used "O" track (even a few rusty pieces) and I decided I needed to clean it before running my new prize on it.  So out came the Scotch Brite pad, then the vacuum.  OK, got the wires hooked up, engine on the track.  I crank up the throttle, engine does nothing, power supply buzzes, and its circuit breaker pops.  Darn!  OK, take RS3 off the track, crank up the throttle, and it pops again.  OK, now this is a simple loop of track, no switches.  Nothing is laying across the track.  Why is the circuit breaker popping?  Not having any fun yet . . .

So I start inspecting the track closely, and sure enough, one straight section had 2 missing center rail insulators!  So I stole the insulators from an old piece of O27, put everything back together, RS3 back on the track, turn up the throttle and hear the sweet sound of an engine starting, horn blowing, light comes on, radio conversations.  Great!  Now, how do you get it to actually move?   So I am randomly hitting buttons, turning dials and It starts to move.  Never did figure out how to actually control it.  I did run it around the track a few times, but it was getting very late, the trainsounds were cranked to max. volume, and my son got home and I did not want to keep him up, so I quit for the night.

So before I went to sleep, I actually read the manual.  Very helpful . . .  There is a little more to it than "turn throttle, train go."

Benchwork does not need to weigh a ton

After much thought, the decision is made.  This O-scale adventure would start out small:  a 5X10 layout.  And it needs to be easily dismantled and moved.  Blue foam is now popular in HO and N, but could it work in O?  I came up with a design for two 5X5' lightweight 1X3" wood frames topped with 3/16" underlayment and 2" blue foam.

I built 4 "H"-shaped 1X3" legs and diagonal braces, bolted the 2 sections together, glued on the blue foam with latex caulk and the table was done.

It started again . . .

"Toy trains allow boys to be men, and men to be boys"

It was over the 2009 Christmas holidays at a family dinner, I wondered into my brother-in-law's basement.  Like every Christmas, he had his post-war Lionel train set under the Christmas tree.  A jet black steam engine on 3 silver rails, surrounded by a sea of green plywood, punctuated by an occassional Plasticville building.  I was drawn to the vintage transformer, just like the first time in my early childhood.  Power on, turn the throttle, and the steamer lighted and growled to a start.  I was hooked again.

In childhood, it started in 1959 with a battery operated HO train and a small loop of track.  I don't remember much about that one, other than my dad putting a cigarette in the smokestack so my train would smoke.  I asked him how I was going to get the train to smoke when he wasn't there, so he blew some smoke into a jar and gave it to me.  I was pretty excited about that until I tried to use the smoke.  I was disappointed, but fortunately, I did not take up smoking . . .

But the best memories were that American Flyer S-gauge set on a 4X8 table.  I still remember the Rocket Launcher car that would remotely launch.  Another direct hit on the Plasticville school building!  Hmm . . . today I would be reported to the Department of Homeland Security.  Then there was the Tie Ejector Car, remote switches, track with real ties, and the bright yellow rocket sled with the pilot ejection seat.


But somewhere around 6th grade, I was ready for serious model railroading.  I sold it all in a yard sale, and took my $45 and bought N-scale equipment (wonder what the AF equipment is worth today?  Ouch!).  I could fit a lot of railroading on that same 4x8 table.  The table was on pulleys and could be hoisted up or lowered down from the ceiling.  It had multiple mainlines, crossovers, and block wiring.  Well, I got the cork roadbed and the track down and then discovered girls.  So, the layout was hoisted up to the ceiling and collected dust for a few years before going the way of the yard sale.

Trains were absent for the next 17 years until 1983 when my wife noticed my interest in my friend Phil's trains.  She bought me some HO Athearn trains.  Little did she know how obsessive I can get in this hobby.  We were soon to move, so I got to work on a small switching layout.  The next year we moved to Hagerstown and the switching layout became a 4X6 tabletop layout.  I had way too much free time at my Public Health Service job, so some days I spend assembling Athearn kits and painting Woodland Scenics models. 

After 2 years, we were back to York.  The house was a fixer-upper, but it had a full, unfinished basement.  Oh, yeah!  But the house came first.  We worked like crazy painting, wallpapering, gardening, and then finally I finished off the basement.  In the meantime, I found the perfect track plan in RMC, so I finished off a 11x13 train room.  Benchwork was built from Pallet lumber.  Return loops ran through the wall and into the furnace area (causing great embarrassment to Judy as she had to have the furnace guy crawl under the track to do his work).  I painted blue sky and clouds on the wall and managed to lay about half of the track.  Layout work was punctuated with dragging Judy and the kids to train shows, Steamtown, Strasburg, and East Broad Top.  She really was a good sport about it.  But, alas, the family grew to 6, life got too busy, and the trains collected dust until they were put into storage when we moved to a new home in 1999.

So, back to Christmas 2009, staring wide-eyed at those vintage Lionel trains.  I had a few of my own that I picked up at train shows.  There was a Marx 666 Steam Loco and a mix of Marx and Lionel cars, a Lionel transformer, 6 turnouts, and way, way too much old O27 track.  Should I get back into the hobby?  I have the time now.  Not only that, I had a grandaughter soon to be born.  It is settled.  I needed to get back into trains -- for her!


It was back to train shows.  I called my friend Dave who had invited me to TCA York a few years ago.  He gave me an update on the hobby and we went to a Greenburg show.  I bought a few Lionel cars and Plasticville buildings and did a lot of looking.   It was then that I found out that in O Gauge, you can model classic postwar or scale hi-rail.  I was fascinated with the postwar trains and especially the accessories, but then there were those incredibly detailed Scale Locomotives with command control, smoke, and sound. At the World's Greatest Hobby show at Dulles, I saw the latest scale offerings from MTH, Lionel, and Williams.  This was going to be a hard decision.  One of my friends, John, was a big MTH fan.  We went to a couple of train shows together and he quietly showed me the virtues of scale MTH.  Suddenly, my Plasticville buildings looked too small because, well, they WERE too small.  The decision was made.  Scale Hi-Rail it was.  But I was still going to make room for some of those cool post-war accessories.

Now I was beginning to realize just how big these trains were, and how much room they require.  But this time I wanted to actually finish a layout, so I was definitely going to go small.  I settled on a 5x10 foot design with a high track and a low track.  I built the table, topped with 2" of blue foam and laid out some tinplate track.  I arranged and re-arranged the track, but I wasn't satisfied with the design.  So, I was back on the web looking for new designs and I discovered a 6x10 dual mainline layout with beautiful mountains and scenery.  I made a few design changes to allow O45 curves on the inner loop, and O54 curves on the outer.  The plan was set.

So here follows the trials and triumphs of layout construction.  I hope it brings smiles, laughter and a few tears . . .