This is the first section of track on the St. Charles Branch layout. It’s a part of the Southern Railway staging yard representing Appalachia, Virginia.
Yesterday was an eventful day in two ways. First, it was our first day under “stay at home” orders for COVID-19 in Colorado. Second, the extra time gave me a chance to hit a major milestone on the St. Charles Branch–the first sections of track!!!
The first piece was a section of flex track for the Southern Railway staging yard representing Appalachia, VA. I’m hand laying all the track on the visible section of the layout, but I’ll be using Atlas Code 83 flex track for the staging yards, helices and hidden track. The flex track is recycled from my former layout representing the Interstate Railroad’s Dixiana Branch, and I’ve got plenty!
Here’s the start of the first switch in staging. This one leads to two engine tracks alongside the staging. I’m using Tony Koester’s method which is outside-in.
I am hand laying the switches in the staging area, and I started the first two switches yesterday. I’m using the method Tony Koester outlined in Model Railroader a couple decades ago. As you can see, it’s an outside-in method and requires no fancy tools, just rail nippers, needle-nosed pliers, a flat file, a triangle file, a bench vise, soldering iron, and an NMRA track gauge. I’m using Micro Engineering Code 83 rail and small spikes here. The tool set is rounded out with a freight car truck to check things as you go.
First switch mostly completed. This shows one of the things I like about hand-laying: I can stack the points of the second switch right on top of the frog from the first switch.
It’s been more than 5 years since I hand laid a switch, but I’ve found it’s like riding a bike (I looked but couldn’t find where I’d put Tony’s article, so it was all from memory). One lesson I carried over from my previous layout is to pay special attention to two things on the frog: 1) make sure the track is at the tightest acceptable gauge at the frog, and 2) take extra time to make the rails line up perfectly with the point of the frog.
The staging level got a coat of black paint to prepare it for track. This panoramic view of the layout room shows the start of L&N staging on the right and the peninsula for Southern staging on the left.
While I’d never call COVID-19 a good thing, it has made for a lot more time at home and accelerated progress on the layout. Yesterday, I accomplished a major step by painting the entire staging level black. I chose black for the fascia and staging area for two reasons. First, black helps things hide that might otherwise be distracting from the main layout, and second, I’m modeling the coal fields, so black just fits. Not to mention, it’ll look really nice with locomotives in Southern’s tuxedo scheme! I’m very happy with the way the curved Masonite fascia looks in satin black. . . Darth Vader would be proud. I’ve heard people complain that you can’t fill gaps in Masonite, but I found lightweight spackling compound (the kind used to fill nail holes in drywall) works great. I was able to repair a few accidental gouges from a circular saw quite well. The most exiting thing about this step is what it means next–track! I should be hand laying my first few switches this week and laying
These pictures give you an idea of the large amount of staging I’ll have on the layout–probably 2-4x what I need, but better too much than too little. In the first picture, you can see the ties for the switches that mark the entry into the four stub tracks of L&N staging representing the town of Pennington. The Southern will hug the aisle on the right, and the staging yard representing Appalachia will begin just above the green container on the floor and form a reversing loop around the peninsula.
This is looking back under the stairs where the helix to St. Charles will sit on the unpainted lumber. The staging level will have a single track that loops around the back here to create a continuous running loop on the staging level since I won’t have one on the upper levels.
The second photo shows the layout’s other loop which will allow for continuous running on the staging level. I didn’t have this in the original design, but I was inspired by my young nephew’s visit to try to have something running in a circle for him to enjoy (he LOVES trains). Unfortunately, I didn’t have anything running by the time he visited, but I still thank him for inspiring this modification–I think it will pay dividends in the future for breaking in new equipment and entertaining kids. And hey, sometimes you just want to run trains in circles.
View of the overall layout area with the subroadbed for the staging level complete
Nothing too exciting for this update, but I am making steady progress. Last week I was able to finish all the subroadbed (7/16″ ply with 1/4″ “doorskin” under the tracks) for the staging level. Next step is adding some Masonite walls behind the roadbed to hide the studs and keep cars from falling.
Three of the first five turnouts to receive their ties on the layout
Today was exciting because I got to lay the first ties on the layout! While staging tracks will be prefab flex track, the switches will be hand-laid like the rest of the layout. You can see from the photo some of the benefits of handlaying–how else could I make this cool curved staging yard lead on an S-curve!
I wish this meant I was just days away from laying the first rail, but the ties are really just in preparation for the black paint that will be used for the staging level–better to paint the ties black with the rest than to glue them down onto paint.
Atlas 70T hopper upgraded to the layout “standard” which includes factory paint, modified grabs, a few details, and multiple layers of simple weathering
In addition to building the layout, I’m also spending some time building the hopper fleet to occupy it. I figure I’ll need somewhere between 100-200 hoppers. I’ve already modeled more than a dozen classes of hoppers for the layout, but the most numerous hopper will be a Southern 70-ton 3-bay hopper. The Southern had about 4,000 of these cars in the 1960s, and thankfully the Atlas Trainman 70T hopper is a pretty close stand-in.
The detail on the Atlas car is slightly above what you’d expect from an entry-level model with sharp paint, good rivets and crisp detail, but it still needs a little work to be ready for a prototype-based layout. Out of the box, the most detrimental feature is the chunky molded-on grab irons for the corner ladders. I’ve superdetailed a few of these cars by completely stripping the ladders and adding individual wire grabs, but it’s a lot of work for a middle-of-the-train car–not something I want to replicate on 60 cars. I’ve found I can improve the look of the ladders significantly by carving away the thickness of the molded grabs with an XActo knife, and it takes a lot less time and detail parts than adding wire.
Comparison of three Atlas hoppers including one straight out of the box (left), one with detail enhancements in progress (middle), and a finished car.
Additional details include a set of wire grabs on the end sills, a coupler cut bar, tack boards (scrap styrene), and a train-line hose made from a piece of stripped copper Cat 5 wire super-glued between two L-shaped pieces made into a box. While the wire lacks the detail of a molded plastic or brass part, it’s cheap, easy to make, and most importantly, it’s nearly indestructible (my last layout was littered with broken-off hoses). I also replace the plastic couplers with good-old Kadee No 5s. This was another lesson learned from the previous layout–smaller couplers like No 58s didn’t couple well on curves, and there are a LOT of curves on an Appalachian layout! The reliable operation is well worth the sacrifice in fine detail, though I’ll still likely keep the smaller couplers on locomotives and cabooses.
The final detail is the weathering which includes washes of black and grimy tan and light sprays of tan, black and rust via an airbrush. For some cars, I’ll also do some “restenciling” of the car data by painting fresh boxcar red over top of the washes and adding some decals.
Most of the detail enhancements are given to the ends of the cars
Being set in the 1960s and 70s, I’ll also need a few different paint jobs on the layout. Some will be the original black with Roman “SOUTHERN” lettering that most of the cars were delivered in. Several will be in the middle scheme with the older Roman “SOUTHERN” lettering on red. Most will be red repaints with the Most will be red repaints with the big rounded “SOUTHERN” lettering on the sides. For the Atlas cars, the repaint scheme often involves replacing the circular “O” with a more square “O” (the circles weren’t common until the late ’70s/early ’80s), removing the lube plates, and modifying the numbers to make them unique. I can usually remove letters, numbers and lube plates by repeatedly scraping a square XActo blade along the sides of the car. This mix of paint schemes and differences in weathering should add a good bit of realism to a train snaking through the layout.
Key Digitrax components on the layout including a DCS51 command station, PR3 computer interface, DCS100 (acting as a booster), and power supply
The last couple of weeks I’ve been working on the fascia and wiring for the staging level, and I’ve also installed the DCC system. It’s a lot easier to install when there isn’t a lot of layout in the way, and most of it resides on the bottom deck anyway.
I’m using the Digitrax DCC components from my last layout. While I have an upper-end DCS100 “Chief” system, I’m actually using a smaller, entry level DCS51 Zephyr Xtra as my command station. While the Zephyr doesn’t have the same functionality as the Chief, it’s got everything I need, and it’s much simpler to operate. Like my previous layout, I’ve mounted it on the fascia where it’s easy to access and can be used as a throttle for the staging tracks or for smaller visitors.
One of the simple throttle pockets for the Digitrax UT4D wireless throttles. It’s designed to hold two throttles while preserving batteries and protecting buttons.
The rest of the throttles are UT4D 2-way wireless throttles connected through a UR92 wireless receiver/transmitter. Even though everything’s wireless, I still use several UP5 throttle plug-ins around the layout. This allows someone else to bring and use their favorite Digitrax throttle, and it allows an ops session to go on if the wireless is acting up. Each of the panels has an adjacent throttle pocket that perfectly fits the UT4D throttles (those who visited my last layout will recognize these). This not only gives the operators a convenient place to set the throttles, but it protects the buttons and also promotes the plugging in of throttles when not in use to preserve batteries.
I’m using three sources to power components. The first is straight wall power, and this powers the UP5 panels to supply keep-alive power to the throttles (preserves batteries while the layout is off). The second is switched power for the DCS100 and UR92, and the third is switched power for the Zephyr command station and a PR3 computer interface. I kept these separate so I could turn on just the “Z” and PR3 when I’m programming locomotives.
Functional diagram of the Digitrax setup on the layout
One lesson I learned from my last layout was to keep a functional diagram of the Digitrax setup so I could easily determine how the components are wired together even when they’re covered by the layout–it’s a great aid in troubleshooting!
The staging level benchwork took just under a month start to finish. I guess I could have finished it in about two days if I didn’t have a job or family. . . a month’s good.
First, I want to apologize to all of you who so kindly posted comments just to have them not show up! I hope I’ve fixed my settings now to get notifications so I don’t leave anyone hanging again. The comments are there now, so thanks for your patience!
The benchwork for the staging level is now complete. I was worried that I would run out of pieces of 1×3 from the old layout, but now that I’ve built an entire level of benchwork, I’m not worried about that at all. The layout is small enough that it really doesn’t take that much lumber to frame a level.
The next step will be installing the basic wiring bus and plywood for the staging tracks.
This was the trickiest portion of the benchwork because I had to build it around an existing stud wall. The wall does provide a great way to support the layout, though.
Here’s a look at the benchwork for the two “blobs” where the circles will go and the aisle between.
Today was a big milestone on the St. Charles Branch–I installed the first sections of benchwork! I’m building open-grid benchwork from 1×3 lumber recycled from my previous layout. I started with the staging level (~30″ above the floor) at the reversing loop.
Two is better than one
Making some progress
The first four pieces of open-grid benchwork are in. This will house the staging yard set on a reversing loop under the helix.
The layout is going into an unfinished space, and I don’t want it to look so unfinished when everything is done. Most of the walls will be covered with layout, but there’s one corner by the entrance that will be exposed. I’ve never done any framing or drywalling, so I figured “how hard could it be?”
Here’s how the entrance corner of the room looked when I started. This area is the only part of the room that won’t be covered in layout, so I wanted it to look a little nicer.
The studs along the wall were already in place, so all I had to do was build a frame around the steel beam (pretty straightforward. Now for the drywall. I watched a lot of YouTube which helped, but nothing can quite prepare you for heaving a full sheet of drywall over your head and holding it while you try to put enough screws through the board into wood to keep it there. Despite my best efforts at marking the studs, I missed enough to have the drywall ignore the screws that were secure and come dropping back down on my tired arms–I came up with some pretty creative non-cuss words to share my joy! Thankfully the walls were MUCH easier!
YouTube was again my friend when it came to taping and mudding the drywall. If nothing else, it at least helped me get the right tools for the job, and I found it a moderately soothing chore. A little sanding, a little spray texture and a little gray paint, and the corner mostly looked like it was finished with the rest of the house.
I added a frame around the steel beam in preparation for drywall
After the drywall installation but before the mud and tape
The corner is nearly finished–just need some trim and carpet
Here’s the rest of the room where the layout will go. I’m using 2x3s set into the concrete to hold the layout
I also needed a way to anchor the layout to the concrete wall that made up about 2/3 of the room. I decided to use 2x3s spaced about 18″ apart and set into the wall with nails fired from a Ramset. They’re quite secure!
The final pre-layout touches included installing a couple of cabinets and a counter top I’d picked up from a local recycling store and adding some carpet. For the carpet, I just used a roll of surplus industrial carpeting 4′ wide and laid it down with some carpet tape in the areas where the aisles would be. There’s still some trim work to do, but the room is ready for some benchwork!
