Operating Dwarf Semaphore

Working Dwarf Semaphore HO scale model
The Black Mountain Local stops to reset the dwarf semaphore now that their work is complete

Semaphores were a common way of signaling trains on the Southern Railway. Semaphores were often used at stations to indicate whether or not the train was cleared to proceed or needed to stop (or at least slow down) to pick up orders. Semaphores were also used to protect branches when trains were working on them, and these semaphores were usually set by the crews themselves. The St Charles Branch employed three such semaphores to protect the lines RR west of St Charles. Here’s the exact verbiage from the Employee Timetable:

“At points shown below, semaphore signals will govern the movement of trains and engines. When track is not occupied, signal will indicate proceed. When in either position, stop or proceed, signal will be fastened and locked with a switch lock. When indicating stop, position will not be changed until train or engine occupying the track clears it and the crew of same restores signal to proceed indication. West of St. Charles—located at the junction between Bailey Trace and Fawns Branch lines.”

I definitely wanted to model this aspect of operations, and as a bonus, two of the locations of these semaphores correspond with long sections of hidden track on my layout, the hidden track between St Charles and Mayflower on the Bailey’s Trace Branch, and the helix between St Charles and Turner’s Siding on the Black Mountain Main. These would not only serve the purpose of adding more prototypical operations, but they would also serve a very practical function of protecting trains that can’t be seen without a dispatcher.

I learned from a former Southern employee who worked in this area that these were “dwarf semaphores.” I haven’t been able to find a picture of one of these exact devices near St Charles, so I Googled “dwarf semaphore” to see what they were all about. They operate just like the tall semaphores and come in both upper- and lower-quadrant designs, and most have lights. They only sit about 3-4 feet tall, though, and have a blade somewhere around 14″ long–that’s super tiny in HO scale! I picked a Union Switch and Signal upper-quadrant, two-light design. I didn’t see anything resembling this available in HO scale, so I set about building my own operating version from sheet brass and wire.

Working Dwarf Semaphore HO scale model
Faceplate and blade made from brass with the swivel wire soldered in place

I made a drawing of the blade and faceplate with the lights, sized it down to HO scale, and printed it on sticker paper. After sticking it to a sheet of .005″ brass, I was able to drill holes for the lights, swivel and actuating arm and then cut it out with scissors. After cleaning it up with a file, I bent a piece of .015″ brass wire, inserted it through the swivel hole, and soldered it to the faceplate. I drilled a hole for the wire through a piece of 1/16″ brass tubing for the base. I wanted to use fiber optics for the lights, so I soldered a 1/16″ long piece of tube to the tall tube angling up to where the light would be to hold the fiber optic strand. I painted the faceplate and tubing black, then made lenses by melting the end of a piece of fiber optic into a mushroom shape holding it near a soldering iron. A little red for the blade and a white sticker stripe and the faceplate was complete.

Working Dwarf Semaphore HO scale model
Completed dwarf semaphore model and lever mechanism

I mounted the base post in a piece of plywood and drilled a hole for a second piece of 1/16″ brass tube underneath the blade for the actuator arm. After inserting the faceplate and securing it with a bend on the back side of the tube, I had a faceplate that swiveled freely. A piece of .012″ steel music wire bent at a 90 degree angle at the end was inserted into the blade and the tube for the actuating arm. On the bottom, I made a lever for the actuator that raised the actuator just slightly while allowing for significant travel for the longer actuating rod connected to the fascia. I filed the end of a fiber optic strand so it would be parallel to the faceplate and inserted it into the little brass holder and through a hole in the base. A little silver paint for the post, and the tiny dwarf semaphore was complete!

One of the things I wanted to model was the use of switch locks. I found some Miniature Locks on Amazon that suit this purpose perfectly! I decided to use a slide-switch mechanism like I use for all my switch controls, but I needed a longer slide to enable the lock to go in front of and behind the control knob to “lock” it into either position. I found some old three-position slide switches on eBay that did the trick! The slide switch serves two purposes–it “snaps” into position to hold the control and semaphore securely in position, and it allows for the routing of power to LEDs, in this case some bi-color red and green LEDs that change color when the polarity is reversed, something easy to do with a slide switch. After mounting the switch to the layout using a piece of 1×4″ board, I drilled two holes in the slide handle and used .o62″ steel wire  to connect the slide to the lever under the semaphore and a separate rod through the fascia for the control knob, a 1/2 ball piece of wood.

Dwarf semaphore control mechanism with lock
Semaphore control in the “stop” position showing the red fascia indicator and lock

For the lock mechanism, I used a bar of 1/4″ x 1/2″ basswood with a hole drilled for the lock and inserted it through a hole in the fascia and benchwork adjacent to and just touching the control knob. The hole sits just ahead of the control knob when it’s pressed in and just behind it when pulled out. I also connected two LEDs to the slide switch and a 12V DC power supply. One LED is mounted behind and just through the fascia to serve as an easy indicator for the full-size operators. The second was inserted into a hole drilled in the semaphore base where it can shine into the fiber optic strand.

The result is a semaphore with working lights, blade and a switch lock. While the dwarf semaphore sits about 3′ from the aisle and is tough to see, it is pretty cool to have an operating model and a tiny little red or green glow that matches the indicator on the fascia. Now the operators on the St Charles Branch, just like their real-world counterparts, have to stop at the semaphore, unlock the lever, change the indication, and re-lock the lever before proceeding up the branch (and do the reverse on the way back). While I’m not sadistic enough to make operators lock and unlock every switch they need to throw, working with switch locks a couple times during a session is one more step toward replicating the actions required on the real thing, and it adds a little prototypical time to the work required. Oh, and it helps protect trains without a dispatcher which is pretty useful.

[Note: since I first published this post, I decided to reverse my control mechanism so “proceed” is pulled out and “stop” is pushed in. It just required me to reverse the lever used to lift the arm. I figured having the crew move the lock to the front of the pull knob where it’s more obvious makes more sense.]

Sound for a Proto GP7

You may remember Southern GP7 2187, a Proto GP7 I finished last summer. Well in addition to fixing the railings and steps for my 1970 timeframe (black and white instead of yellow), I decided to install sound. Now sound is something pretty new and intimidating to me, but after running a couple factory-equipped sound locomotives, it was tough to go back to no sound. I finally decided to just jump in! There are many great sound decoders out there, and everyone has their preference. I won’t claim to be an expert, but after doing some research, I decided to start with some Soundtraxx Econami decoders. As you might guess from the name, these are “budget” decoders that run about 2/3 the cost of a full-featured sound decoder from any manufacturer. The Econami is pretty basic, but it does have the key features I need, and it uses the same basic sounds as the more expensive Tsunami 2s. Best of all, the Econami Diesel version allows the user to select from a handful of prime movers including everything I need for my first-generation fleet: the Alco 244 for RS3s and the non-turbo EMD 567 for Fs, GP7s and GP9s.

21-pin NEM DCC connector mapping
Basic mapping of a 21-pin connector for DCC (use at your own risk)

Soundtraxx makes two versions of the diesel Econami, the larger ECO-PNP and the smaller 21-pin ECO-21PNEM. I picked up a couple ECO-PNPs, one of which was intended for 2187, but once I got the decoder, it was obvious that it wouldn’t fit without major modification to the large metal weight–I needed something smaller. After installing the PNPs in an RS3 (just barely) and an F3A, I decided I was happy with the sound produced by the Econami and a pair of mini cube speakers, so I looked to see if I could install the smaller 21-pin decoder in the GP7. The 21-pin arrangement is newer, and I was surprised at how tough it was to find a cheap 21 pin harness I could wire into the locomotive. You can find cheaper ones in Britain, but it was going to cost me an extra $20 to get one in the states–what’s the point of using the Econami if a simple harness was going to eat up all the savings?

Sawing the Proto weight to make room for speakers
Taking 8mm off the height of the weight in the nose of the Proto GP7 to make room for speakers

So, could I get the 21-pin Econami to work without a harness? While it was a little tough to find info, I finally figured out the mapping of the 21 pins (thankfully German shares some commonality with English…). I knew it wouldn’t be practical to solder directly into the decoder (the pin holes are tiny and close together), but I thought I might be able to shape the wires to act as pins, so I ordered up an ECO-21PNEM. What I found was I could tin the wires on the locomotive, cut the end so about 2mm of metal was exposed, and then carefully insert the wire into the correct pin hole. While the connection is not bulletproof, it’s snug enough that the wires don’t come out easily, and if you can push the wire in until the insulation is flush with the board, there’s little chance of a short. For the extra wires (e.g., speaker wires), I used 30 AWG stranded wire tinned with solder–I had to use a little extra solder to get a snug fit, so a 28 AWG wire would probably work as well. Once I verified everything worked, I used a piece of electrical tape to hold the wires down and in-place.

Proto GP7 Econami ECO-21PNEM installation
Using a 21-pin Econami decoder without a 21-pin harness

Now for the speaker. Unfortunately, I decided to use the large clear plastic blocks for the number boards and lights, so the little room that was left in the top of the shell was taken up. I decided the best course of action was to take the weight off and remove about 8mm of metal height from the nose section with a hacksaw. After filing the cut clean, I was ready to install the speakers. I’m using the 11 x 15mm cube speakers made by Loksound. You can find a lot of sources for speakers this size, but I love that the Loksound versions come with different baffle arrangements including both short and tall and a base to install two speakers side-by-side (my preference). I built a double baffle with the short walls using CA and connected the speakers in series (16 ohms impedence). Yes, the decoder is 8 ohms and the speakers are 16 ohms. My research leads me to believe this is not ideal but is acceptable as long as I don’t run the amp at max, which I don’t–if you have a good technical reason why this is not a good idea and will damage things in the long-run, please feel free to post a comment!

So, in the end, I was able to fit a sound decoder and two small speakers into the Proto GP7 with just a small, one-cut modification to the body weight, and I’m really happy with the sound! I’ve got a Soundtraxx Tsunami 2 EMD diesel decoder now as well, so I’ll do a comparison at some point and let you know how I think the Econami compares. For now, I’ll enjoy the chugging sounds of the EMD 567 and hauling coal hoppers interrupted occasionally by the chimes of a Nathan M5! St Charles is now a much louder place.

Fast Clocks on the St Charles Branch

Fast Clock in the Layout Room
Fast Clock in the Layout Room

Today I upped the operations realism a couple notches on the St Charles Branch by adding fast clocks!… Ok, with only half the tracks built and with only one partial operating session under my belt, it doesn’t take much to up operations several notches at this point, but the fast clocks are still really cool! While fast clocks are an important part of operating layouts, I was surprised at just how few good options are out there, especially for analog fast clocks. There are digital options available that work with your DCC system (nice feature), but modeling the ’60s and ’70s, I felt a digital clock display would be too gross an anachronism, and I’m working hard to transport operators back in time when they’re on the layout. I even played around with creating my own “analog” fast clock using MS PowerPoint which actually turned out pretty good for what it is–it works, but it was never intended to be a permanent solution. Feel free to download the “Poor Man’s Model Railroad Analog Fast Clock” (below) and play around with it–it will function somewhat online, but it works much better if you download it. You can read more about it and download a digital version as well here.

Fast clock in the crew lounge
Regulator-style fast clock in the crew lounge. The FCC4 system let me retrofit this hand-made clock.

For the real solution, I needed a way to have multiple physical analog clocks all synchronized with an adjustable fast-clock ratio. I narrowed it down to two systems. The first was a WiFi system that offered both digital and analog clocks, but it was limited to a single style of analog clock, and I don’t really need MORE radio frequency waves in my house. In the end, I opted for Mike Dodd’s FCC4 fast-clock system. The FCC4 consists of a control board, three simple switches (run/stop, advance, and reset), and as many clocks as you need running off a two-wire bus. What intrigued me most was how Mike implemented the analog clocks–YOU buy the clocks, and he supplies the replacement mechanisms that will fit in just about any wall clock you can buy today. That feature enabled me to buy a clock for the layout room that had the style I wanted, AND it allowed me to convert a “Regulator” style clock made by my wife’s grandfather into a fast clock for the crew room (i.e., the rec room adjacent to the layout).

Temp fast-clock control panel
My temporary fast-clock control panel (the FCC4 is mounted in the background)

You can save some money by buying the kit version and assembling it yourself, but I decided to buy the assembled and tested versions of the controller and clock mechanisms, and everything worked like a charm (so refreshing in this day and age). I just needed to swap out the two clock mechanisms (a fun 30-minute project), add a few switches, and run several wires. Installation of the wires through the walls was the most difficult part of the project, but even that was pretty straightforward. In the end, I now have two fast clocks set to a 4:1 ratio that I can turn on and off, advance at a 17:1 ratio if needed, and reset to my session’s start time (5:30 AM for now) easily, and if I ever expand the layout into the spare bedroom next door, I just need to run a couple more wires and buy another mechanism to have another clock. I mounted the control board on a stud inside my helix space where it will be hidden from sight but easily accessible via a short crawl for troubleshooting or adjusting the ratio. The controls are on a temporary board for now–I’ll eventually install them in a recessed portion of the upper-level fascia to keep the switches away from little hands and wayward elbows.

If you need an analog fast-clock system, I would definitely check out the FCC4! Not only is Mike Dodd very responsive to questions, but he’s also a model railroader himself, so he’s designed this system from the perspective of an operations-oriented layout owner. I’m looking forward to my first operating session using the clocks where the times on train orders are more than just numbers on a  piece of paper!

 

Blue Sky in St Charles!

Painted lower level backdrop
Painted backdrop wrapping around the helix

There is now a pale blue sky in St Charles, VA! This past week has been “backdrop week” on the layout, and today I finished sanding and painting the blue color on the backdrop. It’s amazing what a difference the backdrop makes in giving shape to the scenes. This is also a big step because it’s one step further than I got with my last layout before I had to tear it down–it’s good to surpass the progress of the previous effort.

Masonite seam
There’s a vertical seam between two Masonite panels in the middle of this pick and an upper screw–can you find them?

The backdrop, like the fascia, is 1/8″ Masonite (or “hardboard” at some stores). I know a lot of modelers like Masonite because of its smoothness and flexibility, but over the years I’ve heard one repeated complaint: “it’s nearly impossible to fill holes and cover seams because nothing will stick to it.” If you’re worried about this, worry no more! I find that lightweight spackling compound (I use DAP Patch-N-Paint) works perfectly on Masonite. A couple of tips. First, make sure you countersink the screw holes so the screw heads are at least 1/32″ below the face of the Masonite to give enough depth for the spackle to work–this is tough to do without going through the 1/8″ board, but don’t worry if you have to patch an extra hole. Next, I apply a layer of the spackle over the screws and across any joints with a plastic putty knife to avoid scratching the Masonite. I clean it up a little with the knife, but messy is ok. After it dries for about 1-2 hours, I use a damp washcloth to scrub off the excess spackle. This usually leaves a bit of a depression in the holes and seams, so I put on a second layer of spackle. After this completely dries, I sand it with 150-grit sandpaper until it’s even with the Masonite surface and wipe it once again with a damp washcloth. Once painted, I have to look very carefully to see the seams, and the screw holes all but disappear.

For the color, I wanted a very light sky blue, enough to look blue but that kind of whitish and hazy blue on the horizon. I stood in Home Depot for 20 minutes with pictures of Appalachian scenes on my phone comparing the color to all the options Behr had to offer. I finally decided on this color in a flat finish (Behr calls it “After Rain”), and I’m pretty happy with it. If anything it’s a little more blue than I’d hoped, but the hue looks pretty natural, and it’s not too dark. Two coats with a roller gave the backdrop a nice even look. The backdrops are all ready to support some scenery forms now.

I must say, I’m going to miss taking pictures of the Mayflower Tipple mock-up with a nice white plastic insulation blanket as the backdrop… ok, no I’m not.

Main Helix Complete

Finished helix
The finished helix! From here it will traverse the concrete wall in the background before emerging at Turners Siding

Reached another milestone yesterday–the main helix between the main and upper levels is now complete! I have track reaching to 58″ off the floor. Like the helix between staging and the main level, I used what I call the “double pinwheel” method of building a helix (click here for a full write up on the double pinwheel helix). It requires only straight-line cuts, it’s very forgiving of non-precise cuts, and it’s rock solid.

The helix joins the town of St Charles to the towns of Turners Siding, Kemmergem, Monarch and Benedict on the upper level. The grade (3%) starts at the RR-west end of St Charles yard and continues up three turns of the helix. There will be another 15 feet of hidden track before the line emerges, so that’s effectively a fourth turn’s worth of elevation gain after the helix. Of course, when I built the base supports for the helix, I miscalculated something that had the initial grade into the helix closer to 4%. At first I was like, “well, maybe it will work.” I test ran a few locomotives up the first loop (all I had constructed upon discovery), and while my lightest locomotive could still pull 11-12 cars up the grade, I finally wised up and decided to fix it before it became unfixable. After dropping to 3% (lowering all the supports by 3/4″), the lightest locomotive could again haul 14 cars and a cab from a dead stop up the grade, the same limit as the helix from staging. I’m sure I will be glad I made this adjustment in the future! Measure twice, cut once… thankfully it just required loosening and reattaching some screws and only a few new cuts of supports to fix it.

It will be a little while now before I start the upper-level benchwork, but finishing the helix will allow me to install the lower-level backdrop, so the beautiful insulation pads will no longer be visible on the main level. I know that will be a big disappointment to many of you who feel the insulation just adds an extra layer of realism… ok, enough sarcasm. Building helixes isn’t fun for many modelers (including me), so I’m very glad this portion of the layout is now complete!

Modeling Paperwork – Moving Trains and Cars on the St Charles Branch

Operations, in my own words, is simply the means by which a railroad – or a layout – moves things to the intended location while keeping trains from colliding over a shared set of rails. Paperwork is an important part of railroading operations, so it stands to reason that paperwork should also be an important part of any operations-oriented layout. No one REALLY loves paperwork, though, so how much is enough? There are as many answers to this question as there are operating layouts, but I’ll share what I’ve settled on because I believe it strikes a pretty reasonable balance and works well for a sleepy coal branch layout like mine.

Paperwork set for the St Charles Local
Everything the St Charles Local needs to operate on the layout

My goals for the layout’s operations:

  • Replicate essential elements of the prototype’s operation
  • Make paperwork realistic without being overwhelming (and avoid tedious paperwork that serves no modelable purpose)
  • Make it easy for operators to work their trains like the prototype and get the cars to the right place with minimal training
  • Avoid creating any boring jobs on the layout (a dispatcher would be a boring job on this layout and thus would always fall to the host)
  • No car cards (I realize I’m tipping some sacred cows here…)

The first step was to understand operations on the prototype St Charles Branch. To help, I had photo captions, excerpts from articles, and some notes from individuals who worked in the area, but the real score was an Employee Timetable (ETT) of the Southern’s Appalachia Division circa 1970. Employee timetables are a critical piece of paperwork on the prototype. They list the scheduled trains for each line, the “class” of each train, the stations they run through, and their scheduled arrival times for each station. In a timetable and train order operations scheme, lower class or unscheduled trains (extras) must keep clear of higher priority trains in the timetable. While the timetable sets the basic scheme of operations, the dispatcher uses train orders for each crew to handle the details, telling them where and when they can work, what trains they need to meet and where, etc.

The Southern’s Appalachia Division dispatcher controlled far more than just the St Charles Branch, so a dedicated dispatcher for my railroad that employs 2-3 operators per session and no more than 2 trains simultaneously would be overkill. In the name of “avoid creating any boring jobs,” I wanted to see if I could completely simulate the role of the dispatcher in keeping the trains moving and separated without actually having a human playing the dispatcher on the layout.

Part 1. Moving the Trains

Employee Timetable

The Appalachia Division timetable listed one Southern second-class train each direction from Andover (the main coal-field yard near Appalachia, VA after 1965) to St Charles daily except Sunday (same crew with a different number for the outbound and return trips) along with one third-class L&N train each direction from L&N Junction to St Charles. All other trains, including the “St Charles Switcher”/”Black Mountain Local” mine runs out of St Charles would run as extras and have to steer clear of the scheduled trains.

Additionally, timetables list all the unique rules and procedures for that division including things like speed limits (20 MPH for the whole St Charles Branch) and instructions for working specific sections of track. One of the interesting sections in the Appalachia Division ETT reads as follows:

“At points shown below, semaphore signals will govern the movement of trains and engines. When track is not occupied, signal will indicate proceed. When in either position, stop or proceed, signal will be fastened and locked with a switch lock. When indicating stop, position will not be changed until train or engine occupying the track clears it and the crew of same restores signal to proceed indication.

  West of St. Charles—located at the junction between Straight Creek and Gin Creek branches.

  West of St. Charles—located at the junction between Bailey Trace and Fawns Branch lines.

  West of St. Charles—located on Black Mountain main near east end track No. 5.”

I had heard about one of these semaphores from a former Southern employee who once worked in the area, but now I knew exactly where they were located and how they were used. This was perfect for my layout because I could use two of the three semaphores to protect long sections of hidden track (e.g., the helix between St Charles and Turners Siding), and best of all, the crews do the work to protect themselves on these lines without the need for a dispatcher or hard-to-model procedures like a fusee or flag.

Clearance Card Example
Clearance card showing how many orders the crew has

Even with these semaphores, trains still used orders giving them clearance to run. Train orders give crews instructions and authorization to occupy certain sections of track and to meet other trains. The dispatcher issues the orders to the conductor and engineer of each train, and the orders can be given over the radio or passed along to the crew by an operator at a station along the way (this was the primary use of semaphores at Southern stations–to tell a crew if they could proceed or needed to slow or stop or pick up orders). I’m no expert on orders, but the two common orders on most railroads are the Form 19 and the Form 31, similar forms in content, but crews needed to stop and sign a Form 31 while a Form 19 could be issued “on the fly.” The Southern seemed fond of the Form 19 while the L&N seemed to use more Form 31s, so I decided to use both. With no dispatcher, I also decided crews would start their jobs by receiving orders telling them their clearances and any other special authorizations or provisions. The practice of picking up orders before moving the train is prototypical, but of course, the train orders were not enough paperwork for the crews by themselves, so the Southern (along with other railroads) required all crews to have a “clearance card” before departing. The clearance card tells the crews how many orders they have and the order numbers for accountability–paperwork, after all, is all about authority and accountability.

So, to get trains working when desired and to keep them from colliding, I would need a timetable, clearance card, train orders, and a couple of semaphores. The actual Appalachia Division Timetable is more than 20 pages long, but I really only needed the sections that 1) apply to the St Charles Branch, and 2) apply to model operations. I’ve created a very condensed, single sheet version of the Appalachia Division ETT which has a cover (having it LOOK like a timetable is important to me), a simplified recreation of the timetable for Andover-St Charles, and instructions such as speed limits, use of semaphores, etc. that would be relevant to a model operator. I used the exact verbiage from the Southern timetable in most places, so it has the “feel” and function of the real thing without requiring an operator to read a 20-page document before running their train. To give it even more authentic feel, I took the time to match the the fonts and formatting as close as possible to the real thing–this took a long time, but I feel it’s well worth the effort. While Microsoft Word or Publisher may seem like the best programs to use, I find it’s far easier to build complex documents in Microsoft PowerPoint where I can control text boxes and shapes better. By taking the time to match the feel of the prototype ETT, the layout’s timetable becomes more than just a source of essential information on schedules and rules; it’s one of many parts designed to transport an operator into the layout’s time, place and purpose. It reminds them they’re working on a piece of the Southern Railway, that their operation is part of a larger “Appalachia Division,” that they’re running a part of a transportation system and not a toy, and their train’s purpose extends beyond the modeled portion of the layout.

Southern Appalachia Division Model Timetable
My one-page recreation of an Employee Timetable for the St Charles Branch

Train Orders

Southern Form 19 Example
An example of my model Southern Form 19 train order

With the timetable in-hand, I now turned to train orders. Because there are very few trains running simultaneously on the St Charles branch, a single set of train orders would likely be sufficient for each train, and because all trains start at a “station” which, in reality, had an operator who could hand orders to the crew, it would be realistic to hand the orders to the crew when picking up the train. To create the train orders, I found images of actual train orders from my era online to use as examples for both the Southern and L&N. Train orders were often given in very simple and standardized language–easy to recreate and easy for a model operator (i.e., non-railroader) to understand. The Southern’s Form 19s were hand-written or printed in bluish ink on semi-transparent green paper, so I use a little color and underlying texture for my rectangle shapes to get this look out of a printer. I found some examples of Southern clearance cards and the L&N Form 31s in a book as well. Like the timetable, I took the time to recreate the Southern and L&N forms as painstakingly as I could in MS PowerPoint. The orders should remind crews they’re working for two different railroads, each with a distinctive culture and personality.

LN Form 31 Example
An example of my model L&N Form 31 train order

As far as what goes on the train orders, I try to keep it simple. The timetable mostly keeps the trains separated, so the most common verbiage is the train’s clearance between points on the railroad and the timeframe that clearance is valid. For inferior trains like the L&N’s CV Local (825/826), I’ll add extra verbiage like a reminder to expect to meet a superior train in St Charles and a reminder to use the semaphores for protection while on the western branch lines. I fully expect this verbiage to be refined as 1) I learn more about the prototype and actual orders used, and 2) I have more operating sessions and see what information the crews actually need to be successful at working and keeping their trains separated.

The scheduled trains on the St Charles Branch are “out and backs” which means they have a single crew and set of locomotives, but they’re technically two trains, one in each direction. This means most crews will have at least two train orders. The L&N crews receive clearance from the L&N dispatcher initially and run according to timetable on the Southern as far as St Charles. From there, they need to pick up a Southern train order to proceed railroad-west past St Charles and work the branches. I’m currently using a clip on the fascia near where the St Charles depot will go with orders to be picked up, and I’ll eventually have a semaphore at the depot I can set to tell the crews to stop.

Train Order awaiting pick-up
A train order awaiting pick-up at St Charles

So far I’ve got a way to keep the trains moving and separated without a dispatcher–time to move on to getting the cars to the right locations.

Part 2. Moving the Cars

There are many ways to move cars on a model railroad including tabs on cars, car cards with waybills, and switch lists. The benefit of tabs on cars is the tab (like a waybill tacked to the car) follows the car and doesn’t create a need to carry a lot of extra paper. It also doesn’t need unique car numbers, something important with model runs of single car numbers a couple decades ago. However, for me, tabs on cars is not an option because I don’t want non-prototypical things cluttering up my models and breaking the illusion of reality more than the models are already doing, and all my cars will have unique numbers anyway. Car cards with waybills do a great job of moving a car’s destination from location to location using the prototypical practice of a “waybill” and providing additional details about a car’s lading. On the downside, they require some training (like when to flip a waybill), they require extra space on the layout/fascia at each town, and they require operators to carry a bunch of cards along with their train–I’ve been at operating sessions where cards went flying, went missing, or got separated from their car leading to messes, “mystery cars” and operator confusion. Additionally, the movement cycles of a coal hopper are very simple, and the lading and load/empty status are self-evident taking away two benefits of car cards.

Switch Lists

SOU-switchlist-blank
Recreated Southern switch list for my layout

That left me with switch lists. Switch lists are used on the prototype, either hand written or computer generated. They’re used mainly on local trains that will be setting off and picking up cars (not really needed for a train that’s not doing any switching). The switch list is specific to a train and tells the crew where each car in their train needs to go using the car’s initials (e.g., “SOU” and “LN”), car number, and some sort of destination designator. They often have additional information such as the car’s tonnage and load/empty status. The switch list is built by the conductor FROM any waybills or other routing information the conductor may have, so a crew doesn’t really need the individual waybills if they have a switch list.

On my last layout, I created a master list of every car on the layout and its destination (call it a “master switch list”), and I provided crews with blank switch lists they could use to build a tailored list for their train, much like a real conductor would do. However, I soon found that only the most die hard members of the crew would take the time to build their own list. For now, I’m building the switch lists for my crews and making it part of their starting paperwork along with the timetable and train order. I use the front side of the switch list for the outbound cars and the backside of the switch list for inbound cars, so crews merely have to flip it over instead of building it. I may revert to having crews build their own (or at least portions of it) in the future, but for now, I view the USE of a switch list as essential paperwork but the BUILDING of a switch list as tedium which I’m willing to endure but not push onto my operators.

To create the switch lists, I built forms in my favorite graphics program (yup, Microsoft PowerPoint) that I print out 3-per-page, front-and-back on thick tan paper and cut out. I found pictures of both Southern and L&N switch lists online (eBay is a great source for pics of old documents like this) and created railroad-specific switch lists for crews (L&N version below).

Destination Codes

A key part of a switch list (and a waybill) is understanding the destination of the car. This can be done in many ways as long as each destination is unambiguous. Because a train usually performs switching within a town/station area, trains are typically “blocked” to group cars for each town/station–this makes it very helpful to include the town/station in the destination for each car. Once the car gets put on the correct train and taken to the correct town, it needs some sort of unique industry identifier, and for industries with more than one track, a unique track identifier. While you can use long-hand like “Mayflower / Mayflower Tipple / Empty track #3” as a destination, it gets a little tedious to write out, so like many other modelers, I use short-hand 2-letter codes for each town and a unique number for every track in the town. Here are my town codes for on-layout destinations:

  • SC – St Charles
  • BK – Baker
  • MY – Mayflower
  • TS – Turners Siding
  • KG – Kemmergem
  • MO – Monarch
  • BE – Benedict

I picked letters that not only make sense for the town name but are also hard to confuse with anything. For example, both “Mayflower” and “Monarch” codes start with an “M,” so I chose a second letter that would be hard to confuse with the other name (i.e., “Y” is found only in Mayflower and “O” only makes sense for Monarch).

Layout Fascia Destination Markings
Track diagram and destination markings on the fascia at Mayflower

For the second part of the designator, I could have gone with a second letter/number for the industry and a third designator for the individual track within the industry. Instead, I opted to only use track designators since it still gets the job done and cuts out an extra symbol. So, for a town that had two industries with 3 tracks each, one industry would have tracks 1-3 and another industry would have tracks 4-6. For tracks with multiple industries on a single track, I use “4B,” “4C” etc. for each destination. For example, at the Mayflower tipple, I have a place to spot boxcars or flatcars bringing in material on part of tipple track 4, so this destination gets it’s own “4B” designator to differentiate it from the tipple. Tipple tracks on the prototype inherently have separate areas for “empties” and “loads”–because an operator can easily see if a hopper/gondola is empty or loaded, I didn’t include this in the destination code. I also created a unique track designator for ALL tracks that could be a destination for a car and not just fixed industries–for example, I sometimes use the end of the main at Mayflower as a place to spot a covered hopper, so I’ve designated the last 12 inches of the main as “track 5.” When looking at a switch list, each car bound for a destination on the layout will have a short-hand 3-letter destination code like “MY3”, or in the case of a track serving multiple spotting locations, “MY4B.”

I don’t expect operators to memorize these track numbers, so I place them on a track diagram on the layout fascia. Each town is clearly marked with its name and its 2-letter destination code. Each track is labeled near the turnout throw with its unique number. Each industry or destination spot is marked by a block at the intended spotting location containing its name and the associated track designator(s). In this way, an operator can arrive at a town, look at the fascia, and by checking the switch list know where each car in the train should go.

Track Chart

Most railroads also publish track charts for all their lines. The track chart contains useful information like grades and curvature, but it also includes a block diagram for each section of track with the town name and a diagram of all the tracks and their length–this diagram is often drawn in a blocky style using only 0, 45 and 90-degree lines. While crews on my layout don’t necessarily need to know grades and curvature, they do need to have a basic understanding of where towns are in relation to one another. For this, I drew up a simple little track chart of the entire layout for operators to use.

Track Chart for St Charles Branch
Simple track chart for my St Charles Branch layout

The track chart is laid out in “right = east” orientation and includes the town names (and short-hand designation) in the correct order. It also has a basic track diagram of each town, and I’ve depicted tipple and depot locations (depots are usually drawn on track charts, tipples are usually not). I’ve also included dashed lines for the hidden areas of the layout with letters that correspond to markings on the fascia to help crews better understand logically where their train is headed when they head out of the visible scene. The track diagram also helps them understand how to construct and block their train when heading west of St. Charles.

Blocking Instructions

Blocking Instructions
Southern Blocking Instructions for layout crews

Speaking of blocking a train, prototype trains aren’t put together in random order but rather are assembled into “blocks” based on the destinations of the cars. Switching and local crews are typically required to block their trains in a certain manner to make them easier to handle at the next station or by the receiving crew, so I want to simulate this on the layout as well. Trains waiting in staging are already blocked by me before an operating session (you’re welcome), so the majority of the blocking for crews is for trains taking cars from the upper layout to staging. I could have just left the blocking at “Southern” and “L&N,” but I wanted to give crews a little more prototypical work to do. In addition to the online destination codes, I’ve got multiple destination codes for the Southern’s offline staging yard representing Appalachia, VA (pre-1965) or Andover, VA (post-1965). The loaders in the vicinity of St Charles loaded mainly two types of coal: raw coal for the huge Westmoreland transloader in Appalachia and clean coal bound directly for customers (routed geographically south of Appalachia/Andover) or to connections east of Appalachia/Andover with the N&W and Clinchfield, so all cars that aren’t L&N have a destination code APP, SOU, N&W or CRR to be used by crews to block their trains prior to returning to staging.

The Southern produced a periodic document called Freight Train Schedules and Blocking Instructions. This book has a page for every scheduled freight on the railroad describing how it should be blocked including engines, cars by destination, and caboose. I’ve created a similar document for my crews. In addition to blocking by destination, I’ve also included blocking instructions that place loaded cars on the head end of empty hopper trains and empty cars on the back end of loaded hopper trains, a common prototype practice to improve train handling on grades and curves. I also add a couple basic instructions for the crew to help them understand the train’s purpose and their chores a little better.

Part 3. Putting It All Together

So, in summary, a crew on the St Charles Branch needs a timetable for basic train schedules and area instructions, a clearance card telling them how many train orders they have, at least one train order giving them clearance and specific instructions for their job that day, a switch list telling them where each car should go, a key for each town labeling destination tracks to match the switch list, blocking instructions to get cars ready for the return trip off the layout, and a track chart to help their brains understand the arrangement of towns and tracks. That sounds like a lot of paperwork, but it really isn’t. First, the “key” for each town is on the layout fascia, so they don’t have to carry it with them. Most of the other bits of paper can be combined into a single sheet. For each train, I build a single sheet that has the clearance card and train orders printed on the left, the train description and blocking instructions on the upper right, and the track chart in the lower right. Now, when you add the timetable and switch list, the operator only needs 3 physical sheets of paper. This is still a bit much to carry loose, so I provide each crew with a clipboard for their train. Clipped on the front is the sheet with clearance card/train order/blocking instructions/track chart. On top of that is the switch list. The timetable goes into a plastic sheet protector on the back for easy reference. Add a pencil and an uncoupling tool (attached by Velcro), hand them a throttle, and they’ve got everything needed to operate successfully on the railroad!

Clearance Train Order and Blocking Sheet
Single sheet for crews with clearance card, train order, blocking instructions, and track chart
Clipboard Timetable
The one-page timetable fits neatly in a plastic pocket on the back of a clipboard

One final note, when using model paperwork, operators need a convenient place to set things down or else they’ll either leave it behind (bad) or set it on top of the layout (more bad). For those who’ve been keeping up with the layout’s progress, you’ll remember the fascia pockets I build around the layout between the staging and lower levels–this is why they exist. No matter where an operator is in the layout room, they’re never more than about an arm’s length away from a clipboard pocket. How about the throttles? When an operator is handling a train solo, they need to be able to quickly set the throttle down to interact with the paperwork. While there are throttle pockets all around the layout, it’s even better if the operator can just keep the throttle with them. This is where the throttle lanyards that allow an operator to just drop the throttle and let it dangle from their neck come in real handy–this is perhaps the best $1.50 solution to a $25.00 problem on the layout so far!

Conclusion

I’ve taken a little more time on this post because I want it to serve as a more thorough article for those looking for ideas on realistic model railroad operations. I will never claim to have “THE solution,” and there are definitely pluses and minuses to my methods. I do believe this method, though, strikes a good balance that gives the die hard prototype enthusiast or ex-railroader enough sufficiently realistic paperwork to make them feel at home while being limited and simple enough to avoid intimidating newbies or weighing crews down with tedious tasks that only a small percentage of people find fun. While I will continue to refine my operations as the layout evolves, this method definitely meets my goals and needs for the short-term. I’m always learning, so please feel free to post your critiques, feedback and better ideas in the comments section! I’ve also included some jpegs of the blank forms below–feel free to use these for your own personal use. The easiest way to “fill them out” is to copy the images into MS PowerPoint or similar program and create a text box on top of the image.

Lanyards for Wireless DCC Throttles

Throttle Lanyard for Digitrax UT4
Wearing a UT4 throttle

I’m continuing to capture little projects on the layout as I think about them. I bought a “spare” Digitrax UT4D utility throttle recently and was reminded of the modification I’ve done to all my UT4s to make them more user friendly. I use the UT4D 2-way radio throttles because they’re light, very easy to use, and the wireless makes them very convenient to use anywhere on the layout. Despite this convenience, there’s still one major problem with the UT4 (or any walk-around throttle for that matter)–where do you set it when you’re not using it? This is not a problem when you’re done with your train as I’ve got plenty of throttle pockets along the fascia in which to stash them and plug them in to keep the batteries from draining. But what do you do with the throttle when you need your hands for other chores like uncoupling and paperwork? This is a major consideration for a switching oriented layout like the St Charles Branch.

On my last layout, I came up with the idea of attaching a simple anchor for a clip-style lanyard. It does require drilling a couple holes into your throttle, but it’s only through a narrow part of the plastic casing and into the battery compartment, so it’s not a threat to the throttle’s electronics. The anchor is made from .025″ steel music wire which you can pick up at most hobby stores. Lanyards come in many styles, but I use the lanyards with the “bulldog clip” that doesn’t swivel and provides a very easy pinch mechanism to attach and release the throttle such as the ones in this link (yes, I get a little commission if you use this link, and it doesn’t cost you anything extra to use this link–thank you).

Here are the rest of the steps:

  1. REMOVE THE 9V BATTERY FROM THE UT4!!!
  2. Cut a piece of .025″ steel wire about 2″ long
  3. Bend into a squared-off “U” with the bottom about 1/2″ wide (just wide enough for the lanyard clip with about 1/32″ of slack) and each side about 3/4″ long
  4. Mark the bottom of the UT4 throttle case for drill holes–make them the width of the U and centered within the “groove” of the plastic
  5. Drill 2 holes into the case–use a drill bit that’s slightly oversized so the wire slides freely without rattling
  6. Insert the wire “U” into the case and attach a lanyard to the bottom of the “U”
  7. Push the “U” into the case as far as it will go and then back off just slightly (“U” extends approximately 1/8″ from bottom of throttle case)
  8. Bend the ends of the “U” that are inside the case outward to mark where the bends need to be
  9. Remove the lanyard, push the “U” as far as it will go into the case and bend the ends inside the case with needle-nosed pliers until they are parallel with the case bottom
  10. Extend the “U” outside the case then reinsert 9V battery, pushing it up against the top (antenna side) of the throttle as far as it will go

You should now have a clip anchor that retracts into the little groove when the throttle is set down on top of it that extends just enough to allow a lanyard to attach when picked up. It doesn’t get in the way of anything if an operator chooses not to use a lanyard, and it provides a secure way to let the throttle dangle when not needed. I’ve been using these mechanisms for years and have never had a catastrophic throttle drop (your results may vary ;-). Similar techniques may work on other throttles as well, though I’ve only tried it on the UT4D.

Southern Whistle Posts on the Fascia

Southern Whistle Posts on the Fascia
A couple of Southern-style whistle posts on the fascia track chart

I thought I’d share a little addition to the fascia–Southern whistle posts. I never thought about this on my last layout because none of my locomotives were sound equipped. Now that I’m moving toward sound, I wanted a way to tell crews when they need to sound the horn for grade crossings. On the prototype, posts are set up on either side of a grade crossing to give the crew enough time to sound off their loooong, loooong, short, looooooooong blast of the whistle or horn. While most railroads used a white sign with a prominent “W” for this purpose, the Southern used a vertically elongated white sign with a stripe, a stripe, a dot, and a stripe (for long, long, short, long). I decided I wanted my posts to be Southern-esque, so I created a simple black-and-white version from basic shapes in MS PowerPoint, sized them to about 1/2″ high, and printed them on a label sheet.

I cut them out and placed them about 15-18″ from the sites of future grade crossings (I have no roads modeled yet) which gives crews about 4-5 seconds of warning at 10 scale MPH, probably about right for the areas where these grade crossings reside. After placing the whistle post stickers on the right side of the track diagram (making them horizontal), I added a little 1/2″ piece of 1/32″ white graphics tape representing the post for the sign to ensure operators can tell which direction the sign is pointing. Once I have scenery, I’ll add some real scale whistle posts trackside, but for now, these will give crews one more prototypical thing to remember while operating their trains.

Lower Level Fascia Complete

Lower Level Fascia
Lower level fascia complete and awaiting a few labels
Looooong switch push rods
Push rods can indeed be used for distant switches (48″ here) if properly guided and reinforced

This week’s project was completing the fascia for the lower level. I love the look of the curved black fascia and track diagrams. I’ve detailed fascia elsewhere, so I’ll stick to what’s unique here. While the switch mechanisms can be partially installed prior to fascia, it takes the facia being in-place to install the manual switch control knobs and push rods. While most of the mechanisms were pretty basic, there are three switches more than 30″ from the fascia on the “RR east” end of St Charles wye where the tracks emerge from the helix and staging. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to use the push rods for long distances, especially since two of the switches are beyond 36″, the length of the .062″ steel rods I use. The trick with the push rods is the longer they are, the more they tend to flex and bend (and, in turn, not throw your switch mechanisms). This can be partially rectified by using additional brass tube guides in wooden blocks along the rod’s path, about every 12-15″ or so. That was good enough for the first mechanism that was <36″ from the fascia.

St Charles Fascia
St Charles wye has two insulated tracks where engines might tie up

For the longer rods, I decided to try connecting 2 steel rods using a 6″ piece of 3/32″ brass tubing and Gorilla Glue. I use the Gorilla Glue to attach the wooden knobs to the steel rods, so I know it’s got at least SOME game with metal. Since these rods will be hidden by scenery, I decided not to trust glue alone, so I lightly bent both the tube and steel wire about 1″ from the end of the tube on both sides–if there’s one thing I’ve learned, even a slightly bent .062″ wire does NOT want to pull through a 3/32″ piece of brass tube! Once I added the bends, the mechanism is solid as a rock! I’ve now verified that the manual push-rod controls are viable to at least 48″ from the fascia–not bad at all, and all remaining switch controls should be well under this length.

Another unique feature of the St Charles fascia is the addition of two SPST toggle switches that isolate two of the tracks from the wiring bus. A while ago, I detailed how I did something similar for my staging tracks so I could easily silence sound locomotives when they’re not actively involved in the operations. St Charles was often home to a mine run, so the pair of mine-run engines hung out on either the “house track” or aptly named “engine track” adjacent to the depot. Since these are the only tracks on the levels with scenery where I anticipate parking locomotives, I decided to give them the same insulation and toggle setup as the staging tracks. While I will likely rarely use these, I figured it’s SO much simpler to add them now than decide I need them after-the-fact.

 

2021 Year-End Review and 2022 Goals

Lower Level Wiring Bus
The layout as of January 2021

Sometimes progress on a layout is painfully slow, especially for those in a stage of life with kids at home and full-time work. Time working on the layout comes in fits and starts as it takes a back seat (as it should) to other more important priorities. It can be discouraging to look at the accomplishments of a single evening or even a week and say “wow, I only laid three feet of new rail…” or “wow, all I accomplished was new Kadee couplers and cut bars on two hoppers…” I’m certainly not breaking any new philosophical ground here, but to really see progress, it’s important to look further back and see how far we’ve come.

First L&N CV Local
First multi-train operating session in December 2021

While 2021 will be etched in my brain as “Year of the COVID – Part 2,” it will also go down as a significant year in the life of the St Charles Branch with many important milestones. When the year started, the layout was essentially a staging level, a helix, and a lot of benchwork for the main level–not a single rail had been laid on what will eventually become the part of the layout with scenery. By the end of the year, I had the first real operating session with multiple trains and all the paperwork. Here are some specific milestones:

  • All the rails on the lower level complete (not an insignificant milestone for 100% hand-laid track)
  • First “scenic” elements on layout (Bailey’s Trace bridges for St Charles wye)
  • Several locomotives completed (F3A, GP7, GP35, GP38AC)
  • Several unique hoppers completed (CofGa short-taper offset, INT “hand-me-down”, SOU 100T “articulated” hopper)
  • First mine run (Drew and Dan Bourque – Mayflower tipple)
  • First multi-train operating session (Patrick Tillery and Dan Bourque)

Like reflection on progress, goals for the future are also important. While the layout will always take a back seat to other priorities, here are the things I hope to accomplish in 2022:

  • Complete main helix between lower and upper level
  • Complete and paint lower-level backdrops
  • Finish benchwork for upper level
  • Build basic terrain for lower level
  • Lay track for at least one tipple on upper level
  • Have at least 3 more operating sessions to include first train to upper level

We’ll see at the end of 2022 how I did at meeting these goals. Even if I don’t complete them all, it’ll still be fun–Happy New Year!!!

First Multi-Train Operating Session

First L&N CV Local
Patrick Tillery stops at the St Charles depot while running the first-ever L&N CV Local

I’d like to thank Patrick Tillery for informing we he was coming over Monday night to check out progress on the layout which became the catalyst for the first multi-train operating session on the St Charles Branch! Despite some major obstacles such as having to reach under or across the layout to throw switches and a couple turnouts and cars that were acting up under their first real use, we managed to run 3 trains: the St Charles Local, the St Charles Switcher, and the L&N’s CV Local. These are the three primary trains on the layout during “busy times” across all eras of the layout–the timing of the trains may vary, but each serves the same basic function.

The St Charles Local is a scheduled train that runs between Appalachia/Andover, VA and St Charles. In leaner times, it serves as the mine run for the St Charles area branches. In heavier times, it serves to shuttle empty hoppers to the small “yard” at St Charles and pick up loads retrieved by the St Charles-based mine run. This is the “big train” on the layout and the only train to ever be assigned more than two locomotives.

The St Charles Switcher, known in some eras at the Black Mountain Local, is the mine run based out of St Charles that serves the area loaders. It picks up empties dropped off by the St Charles Local and plies the numerous branches and tipples dropping off empties and picking up loads. This train is the star of operations on the layout and the only train that will normally have a crew of two (conductor and engineer).

First LN CV Local at Mayflower
L&N CV Local runs around its empties at Mayflower with Patrick at the controls–the C420 is still in TC colors

The L&N Cumberland Valley (CV) Local is the only other scheduled train on the layout. This train works the old L&N mainline between Corbin, KY and Appalachia, VA including the modest coal loadings of the Middlesboro, KY area mines and the St Charles Branch. The L&N has trackage rights over the portion of the St Charles Branch from L&N Junction (Pocket), VA to the ends of the branches beyond St Charles which it reached via a short L&N branch between Pocket, VA and the L&N’s CV mainline at Pennington, VA. Despite several loaders in this area, the prototype CV Local never seemed to need more than a single locomotive, an RS3 or a C420, to handle the handful of hopper loads bound for the L&N.

Last night’s operating session took about 2 real hours. Patrick took the first train, the L&N CV Local, up to Mayflower to swap out 4 empties for 5 loads. Leading the train was Alco C420 400 still in Tennessee Central colors (it’s bound for the paint shop soon, but the L&N used ex-TC C420s on this line because they were the lightest on the railroad). The CV Local had to first stop at the depot track on St Charles wye to pick up an extra set of orders from the Southern dispatcher. This job took about 40 minutes from start to finish. After the L&N CV Local cleared St Charles, the St Charles Switcher with me as engineer showed up with 18 cars – 16 empties, a covered hopper of fertilizer for Mayflower, and a boxcar for the team track at St Charles. It took about 20 minutes to assemble the loads from the previous day and replace them with the fresh cars in the tiny 3-track yard. A derailment kept the L&N CV Local waiting for a few minutes until the superior train on the timetable was finally able to depart for Appalachia.

With the home rails now to itself, the St Charles Switcher left the house track next to the depot to serve four tipples with Patrick as engineer and me as conductor. We worked the two local tipples first, JAD Turner and Cavalier, before swapping out the boxcar for a now empty flat on the team track. With the locals taken care of, we swapped roles and picked up the remaining empties an the load of fertilizer and headed up the branch to Mayflower. At Mayflower, it took two sets of run-around moves to place the empties above the tipple and swap out covered hoppers on the tail track. One more run-around set us up to work the stub track at Baker before assembling all the loads and departing town. A little blocking back at St Charles yard rounded out the job which took nearly an hour.

All told, we got 2 hours of operations out of just 1/2 the layout–not bad! Despite working out a few kinks in the rolling stock and trackwork, the overall track arrangements worked well for the jobs–they required enough moves to keep operators thinking and having to make smart moves without being frustrating for lack of sufficient track. I underestimated how handy it is to have a wye for turning trains working the yard instead of having to run around the length of the train. It was also the first major use of paperwork on the layout, something I’ll describe in more detail in a future article.

I’m so glad Patrick was up to playing guinea pig for the first session, and I’ve now got a new punch list of stuff I need to fix before attempting this again. All part of the learning process!

Major Milestone – Lower Level Track Complete

L&N taking a test spin
L&N RS3 100 takes a trip around the wye at St Charles
St Charles yard tracks complete
Completed St Charles yard tracks

Hit a major milestone yesterday: the lower level tracks are complete! I completed the first scene, the end of the line at the Mayflower tipple, several months ago, and the last few months I’ve been working on the long scene at St Charles. St Charles – the branch’s namesake – was home to a wye, a depot, a couple small tipples, and a three-track “yard.” St Charles was also home to a mine run when the tipples were busy, so this is the central scene on the layout. All told, the St Charles scene is about 26 linear feet long and required 14 hand-laid switches (about 1/2 of them curved) and a couple of bridges.

Electrically, I made the entire Mayflower branch an auto-reversing zone for the wye. Can I just say the On-Guard AR solid-state DCC auto-reversers are awesome? The switching of polarity on the wye is absolutely seamless and unnoticeable–I highly recommend them! I also isolated a single rail of both the “house track” and “engine track” in the middle of the wye and will place a switch on the fascia. This will allow me to turn the power off to the two tracks that would hold idling power in case any sound locomotives get annoying. Next step is fascia and switch controls.

Mini Golden Spike?

Mayflower leg of St Charles Wye
Overview of the Mayflower leg of the St Charles wye

Celebrated something of a mini golden spike this week. I completed the mainline track for the Mayflower leg of the wye in St Charles. With this bit of track installed, trains can finally run up from the staging level and to a tipple (Mayflower). It’s not much in the grand scheme of things, but its a milestone nonetheless. Next will come the Monarch leg of the wye with its house track and engine track followed by the two yard tracks above the wye. Getting pretty close to having all the track on the main level installed.

I learned a good lesson on hand-laying track. The frog needs to be electrically isolated by cutting the rails on either side of the frog. To keep the frog and rails aligned, I spike both sides of the cut before cutting. When I wired everything up and applied track power the first time in this new section, it immediately shorted out. I could hear a soft click coming from one of the switches. Usually this means one to three things 1) I wired a feeder to the wrong bus, 2) my cut didn’t make it all the way through or 3) the point rails somehow slid back together with the frog. A check of all three of these things was good, but when I dropped the feeders from the point rails, the short cleared–it was still somewhere on this switch. After a few minutes of jiggling random things and staring at the problem, I finally figured out that two of the spikes that were holding separate point rails down near the frog cut were touching even though the rails weren’t. Go figure, metal spikes attached to metal rails conduct electricity… a quick repositioning of one of the offending spikes did the trick.

Ties Laid for St Charles

St Charles ties overview
Overall view of the wye at St Charles including the house track and engine track inside the wye and the bridges over Bailey’s Trace

After a nice and productive summer focusing on building models (thank you St. Louis RPM meet for the motivation), I’ve returned to working on the layout. The next step is a big one, the scene of St. Charles, VA. This is the central scene of the entire layout. This is where trains emerge from staging, the site of the local station and engine tracks, the small yard for the branch, and the wye taking trains either up to Mayflower or Kemmergem, Monarch and Benedict. While I could have modeled these tracks in pieces, I decided to do the entire scene at once to avoid further stalling and to limit the need for multiple coats of stain on the ties (takes forever to clear out the smell!).

I’m using basic cookie cutter construction. I lay down 1/4″ door skin ply and draw out the tracks using templates and a piece of flextrack with thumbtacks to hold it in place. After cutting the upper subroadbed, I then trace the pattern only 1/2″ plywood staggering the seams. For this scene, I cut out all the 1/4″ ply to make sure everything fit, then cut the thicker ply. Construction so far is proceeding according to the plan, though I did make a modification to the track plan–instead of having the two small coal-loader tracks butting into one another, I reversed the siding on the wye to place the switch along the benchwork instead of in the back corner where it would be tough to reach. The prototype siding in this area appears to have been double-ended, so it’s not a big deal either way. As a bonus, the new arrangement allowed me to get a few more cars’ capacity on these sidings.

Building the bridges over Bailey's Trace
Laying bridge ties for the shorter bridge over Bailey’s Trace

The toughest part of this scene is the pair of bridges across Bailey’s Trace at one end of the wye. On the prototype, there was a plate girder bridge just over 50′ in length on the main, and a shorter plate girder bridge (about 25′) which adjoins a curved bridge portion which appears to have been joined with a short wooden trestle on the curved portion (it’s all been redone with ballasted decks now). I used a 50′ Micro Engineering bridge for one section and cut down a 30′ ME bridge by one section on the other. I hand-laid the bridge ties using a template I drew up on a piece of paper. Next will come the concrete supports so I can attach the bridges and lay the rails across.

It’s encouraging to see progress in the layout room again, and I will definitely have my work cut out for me between now and Christmas hand-laying 14 switches!

How to Build a Central of Georgia 55T Offset Hopper

CG 55T Offset 14
14. Final weathered hopper, side 1

I’d had my eye on this project since the first time I saw a picture of one of these cars online. There were two challenges that held me back. First, no one made the right decals. Secondly, no one makes this car, so it would be a pretty major kitbash. It’ sat on the “someday” list until K4 Decals produced a set of good looking decals. The main excuse was now out-the-window, so I had to bite the bullet and figure out how to kitbash the car. The challenge is the shallower and steeper offset angles–they’re very distinctive and different from the angles on common twin hoppers like the old Athearn and newer Atlas models. The only thing that looked close were the angles on the old Athearn blue box quad hopper. I had one sitting on the shelf, so I took a closer look. It turns out the angles are perfect, as are the rivet strips and rivet patterns along the ribs. So, how to turn a quad hopper into a twin.

Cutting down a quad hopper to make a twin sounds pretty straightforward. If you don’t care about having an extra rivet strip, it is! Of course, I had to care… sigh. There’s an extra rib between the rivet strips on the twin compared to the quad, so I had to figure out how to get the extra rib in there. Turns out, there’s just no way to do it with a single shell (or I wasn’t smart enough to figure it out), but it was possible using two shells–2 quad shells to make a 1 twin… makes sense. I guess technically I could make 2 twins with 3 shells, so I did keep the extra pieces in case the bug strikes again.

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2. Cut hopper bodies

Picture 1 in the gallery shows the two original shells, and you can make out the pencil lines where the cuts need to be. I chose a spot between rivets to give myself a chance of saving the rivet detail in the putty and sanding step later. Using a razor saw, I cut each shell into three pieces as seen in picture 2 with the black hopper providing the ends and the red hopper providing the center. After cleaning the bays off what would become the center, I glued the ends to the new center piece as shown in picture 3. This step is the most critical of the whole project, and it took some filing to get everything square. I used plastic model cement to give myself time to line up the pieces–it’s crucial to get the sides aligned so they’re “level” across the gap. A gap is easy to fill and sand flat, but only if the sides are even with one another.

Once this new shell had dried thoroughly, I removed the top chord. The top chord on the original model is pretty chunky, and it would be easier to add a new one across the gap than try to fill every gap on top perfectly. It was pretty simple using a No 11 X-Acto blade swiped repeatedly under the top chord resulting in the shell seen in picture 4. Next, I filled the gaps with modeler’s putty. Using a combination of the back of an X-Acto blade and fine sandpaper, I was able to get the joint pretty smooth, and I was careful to stay away from the rivets as you can see in picture 5. This was also a good time to remove all the molded-on grabs with a combination of nippers and X-Acto blades. I found the corner posts and ladder posts to be really thick, so I whittled them down a little on the back side with an X-Acto. I also trimmed the top of the bottom sill near the ends to make it a consistent thickness instead of a taper like the model.

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7. New styrene top chord

Next I worked on the center sill and undersides. First I cut the center out of a single underbody to shorten it to the right length and joined the ends together with glue. After it set, I used a large X-Acto chisel blade to remove some the material as shown in picture 6. I left a little strip to hold the hopper doors on. Next, I added a new top chord to the shell. I didn’t have the bag to verify, but I believe I used Evergreen HO scale 2×6 for the sides and 2×8 for the end to get to picture 7. I added four corner caps made from .010″ sheet styrene and rounded them on the top and on the corner after they dried using a file. Moving back to the underbody, I removed the existing mounting “blobs” for the brake gear, and in their place, I added angles from the bolster area to the corners using strip styrene (this was a pain, but I found if I cut them to the approximate shape, glued them with plastic cement, then press fit the underbody onto the shell and maneuvered the angles into position while the glue was still wet (I didn’t glue the underbody to the shell yet). When the angles had set, I added the brake parts including some brass wire for piping and a bracket for the reservoir made from sheet styrene as shown in picture 8.

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10. Finished interior

The interior of the car was challenging. I went ahead and glued the underbody and doors in place first, then added some styrene square rod above the doors to get it even with the model’s center sill piece. The new center slope sheets were cut from a single piece of styrene, and I used a pounce wheel to put some rivet lines into it to match the end slope sheets. Because of the ribs, the new slope sheet didn’t quite reach the sides, so I used bits of styrene to fill in the gap between ribs as seen in picture 9. Next came the not-so-fun part of turning the flat center sill ridge inside the car into a tapered one. I don’t have interior photos of one of these cars, but I can’t imagine using a flat top when you want the coal to exit the car. This step was not fun. Not one bit. Lot’s of measuring, cutting, folding, and taking back out and cutting again. My pieces ended up being too wide, but I just glued them on, let them set, then trimmed them to the width of the ridge in the shell with an X-Acto blade. Some styrene strips to make the angle braces and the interior was complete as seen in picture 10.

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11. Final details added

Now I was ready for all the little details that you can see in picture 11. I drilled holes and installed all the grabs, making the long grabs on the non-ladder side from brass wire. I added coupler cut bars to a bracket made from styrene and an eye bolt. I made tow loops from brass wire, and I made a new brake platform from bits of styrene and some brass Apex roof walk material. I added the brake line along one side using brass wire and eye bolts. I added some tack boards from styrene on the bottom sill. I added train line hoses made from copper wire from old Cat 5 cable glued between two styrene angle bits (makes for an indestructible train line). A kept the molded on steps as I needed them to be durable for layout handling, but I used an X-Acto blade to shave them down a bit in the back to thin them out. Finally, I added a little buckling to the top chord using a 100W lightbulb held to the styrene for a few seconds and then pushed down using the handle of an X-Acto knife (be careful, the styrene melts really quickly). It was finally ready for paint (picture 12).

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16. Final hopper – interior weathering

I first sprayed everything black, then gave it a couple coats of “burnt sienna” for the boxcar red. Because the paint was very flat, I sprayed it with a couple coats of Testors Glosscoat (rattle can) to prep it for decals. The K4 decals worked really well and had just about everything needed with the exception of an ACI label I stole from a Microscale data set. The K4 set looks like it’s designed for a 33′ car, and this prototype is a 34′ car. I ended up cutting the road name into “CENTRAL,” “OF” and “GEORGIA.” I place the end lettering first and then centered the “OF” between them, a little more spaced out than the decal sheet. I used about 800 applications of Micro Sol and Micro Set and pushed the decal firmly onto the body using a damp paper towel until everything was nice and snug over the rivets and on the body as seen in picture 13.

Weathering was a three step process. First, I dry brushed a little dark rust color both inside the hopper and in a few spots on the outside using a picture of this specific car as a guide. Next I gave it a couple of washes with very thinned black and then tan paint, wiping it off down the car (like rain streaks). Finally, I airbrushed some black inside the hopper and underneath followed by a couple coats of tan, hitting the trucks and hopper bays harder than the body to get the final model shown in pictures 14-17.

I’m very happy with how this project turned out, but I’m also very happy I don’t need a fleet of these cars. Many will look at this car on the layout as “just another offset hopper,” but I’ll always know the extra work that went into building a more accurate model of a neat prototype.