Progress Report 02/25/12

Hung more smaller pieces of drywall and installed some of the plastice channel to support the fiberglass tiles along the wiring channel or race.  I believe this is easier than putting up masonite sheets and screws. For now I have left the light cans un-covered to the wiring is done.  Leaving the 16 inch space occupied by the lights open, allows you to shift the fiberglass tiles back and forth to get access to the plugs for lighting.

Also installed some of the rope light hooks for the blue rope lights.  These are attached on the wood strip that secures the valance.  Also intend to start cleaning up all the trash from removing the old light and valance wood frames and roll up the unused rope lights and clips.  Then if time is left will continue to remove the old stuff from the ceiling, moving wires, and getting ready for more drywall which I will get Tuesday morning.

Some Layout Building Good Practices

From Mar-Apr 2012 O Scale Trains, The Bayshore Lines: The Espee in Switzerland by Juerg Luetscher, page 5:

"Over a period of 25 years Guenther has built a total of 12 modules.  His working principle is to complete one module before going to the next one.  Over the years this has given him a lot of fun.  Focusing on one specific module, changing the work activities from bench work to track laying, to wiring, and to the completion of many highly detailed scenes avoids the feeling of repetitive work."

Recently I have expressed the same feelings but have not practiced what I preached. Hopefully I will change my habits and try to finish selected sections starting in the East at South Bend.

Also: http://www.trainmaster.ch/XCV-15-15.htm

Progress Report 02/20/12

The CFLs on 16" Centers.  Also the 7 inch Valance

Looking from the aisle side of the layout.  Please excuse the mess.

I installed the sockets on 16 inch centers as shown.  I mounted the 7 inch valance with a 1 x 2 at the top and bottom.  I also added a 2-1/2 inch Masonite strip on the bottom to control light overflow into the aisles.  I have not painted the ceiling yet but it is white to begin with.  The lighting is set back from the front of the layout about six inches at the most.   The inside surface of the valance is painted white to reflect more light.

Light is fairly even across the whole scene and to my eyes appears bright enough to represent day light.  I think if I increased the center to center on the sockets I might loss some of the evenness of the lights.  It means about 30% more sockets and bulbs but it does look very nice.  If you feel the Masonite on the outside you can barely tell where the bulbs are so I don't think there is any safety issue with the bulbs being about 1-1/2 inches from the surface of the Masonite.  I could space the sockets a 1/2 inch more from the valance and insert a piece of 1/2 inch insulation in there with the foil side facing towards the layout.  This would insulate the Masonite and reflect additional light.  But may not be worth the trouble.

Progress Report 2/18/12

Yesterday I tried building some lighting strips.  I am not happy with the results.  I also looked at using metal or vinyl gutters.  Don't think they will work.  So I talked with the CEO (Julie) and we think the directional track lights will work the best.  So here is the plan.
Continue to cover the entire ceiling with drywall leaving a 12 inch access area (wiring channel) for wiring.  Also continue with the switches that control local portion of the layout to cut down on electrical costs and heat when working on a given section.  And continue to install aisle lights using tubes and cans with CFLs in the cans.
Paint the entire ceiling blue that matches the backdrop blue.  Install track lighting and paint if blue also.  Install either 13 W or 20 W CFLs in track lights.  In some instance also install CFL spots or floods where extra lights are needed.  Install the the track lights, per John Armstrong, in one direction e.g. 45 degrees to the East or West to create direction shadows based on either Morning or Afternoon, but keep it the same around the layout.
Below is a photo of how I want to light the railroad.  Of course there is no perfect solution other than outdoors, but at least this will provide good lighting.  Later perhaps add back the blue rope lights using a reflector of some sort for night running.
 Photo is of David Stewart's A & O Railroad 1.0.  David has since started a much larger railroad.  http://www.aorailroad.com/

Progress Report 02/15/12

Today Warren, Jim, and I hung four sheets of drywall to begin the process of drywalling the layout room.  We are leaving a 12 inch and 16 inch space between the sheets for Aisle lights and access to wiring for the railroad and for the layout lighting.   On each side of the wiring channel will be long strip lights/valance combination enclosing CFLs in the 2700K color temperature to light the layout.  This housing will also include a blue rope light for night time effects.  They drywall over the layout will be painted white to maximize the lighting.  The portion over the aisles and the lighting enclosures will be painted black to match the fascias.  This will be done on a 16 foot section in front of South Bend to see how it looks.  If for some reason it doesn't look right, then it will be repainted white.  Photos to follow when this test section if finished.

Until a part of the layout ceiling is completed, work has been halted on the CTC panel.

A new video on the South Shore

This 1958 video shows the removal of the second track in Michigan City streets.  The removal of the second overhead wire, and the re-alignment of the remaining track to the middle of the street.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cgi0jTa0t0&feature=related

Progress Report 02/01/12

DRYWALLING THE CEILING:

Jim, Warren, and I started the process to drywall the ceiling.  In the front part of the layout is where most of the wiring and cables were.  We IDed all the cable and took them down from the ceiling.  They will be rerun through the joists so they will be out of the way.  We also removed all the track lights that were mounted to the joists.  They will re remounted to light important parts of the layout.  Warren removed a good bit of the rope lights from the ceiling.  We will be mounting all the CFLs in theater type strip lights which will light most of the layout and provide about a 6 inch valance rather than the 12 inch we have now.  Also the Blue rope lights will be attached to those strips for night time operation.

We will start the drywall in the front of the layout first.  For the time being the ceiling will be white.  We will reconsider the use of black over the aisles at a later date.  When finished we will have hung about 60 sheets of 4 x 8 drywall.  But the layout will have a more finished look to it.  That is what we are trying to gain from this very big project.  We also plan to hang drywall over the portions of the mine area Warren is working on as that will be the hardest to reach.  The unfinished portions of the layout will be much easier to do.

Update as of January 14, 2012

This week several projects were worked on.  Warren has made some additional changes to the mountain East of the Mine #2 at Norton.  He has added a four foot coal seam.  As the seam flows West it will widen in the area of the mine and tipple.  Below is an overall photo and a closeup of that area.

The close up of the coal seam.

Below is the 2nd Model Board in position with some of the signal repeater lights lid.  Below the board is the SUSIC with 6 DIN32(Input) and 12 DOUT32(Output) boards.  The gray flat cables attach the board to the SUSIC.  They are eight wire cables and one can unplug the board and take it to the workbench when needed. The track diagram, the repeaters icons, and the lettering was all done with Visual Cadd V5, then expored as a jpeg reversed, and then printed on 8.5 x 11 inch Label Paper.  Then 5/16" and 1/4" holes were punched with a hollow punch to clear the LEDs.  It was then carefully applied to the board.

The second photo if of the left side of the model board showing more details.  Please excuse the slight focus problem.

Update as of January 4, 2012

As of today we finally have the first of four panels installed and operating in the CTC machine.  The following photo shows that first panel.  All of the LEDs in the panel are operational.  We have some minor logic thing to be figured out.  In one or two cases I believe that an LED may be in the wrong hole.  But without a helper it will take a bit of time to be sure.  The track diagram and the lettering on the model board was done with a CAD black on white, then exported to a JPG after doing a reversal to get white on black.  Then the jpg was printed on 8.5 x 11 inch label material and applied to the board.  The holes for the LED were created in the label material using a 1/4" and a 5/16" hollow punch.  I had tried two kinds of tape and just couldn't get the hang of it.   Here is the photo.

Also here is the back of the second model board.   I built it so that I could unplug it and work on it at a workbench.  The small printed circuit cards at the top of the board allow me to use CAT5 RJ45 patch cables to hook it into the CMRI SUSIC boards.  The numbers and letters indicate which SUSIC board and port they get pluged into via a CAT5 cable and a similar PCB with a Molex connector on it.

Also today Jim wired some more of our little breakout boards shown above and some of the SCC (signal Control Circuit) boards that will control our lineside signals and are also used in the CTC machine.  Warren continued to work on part of the Norton mine area adding a seldom scene item on a model railroad, a Coal Seam.  Photo below.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR and Progress Report December 23rd, 2011

Wishing all of my followers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.   Christmas and model trains kind of go together in my mind.  However it is a busy time of the year but we are continuing to make progress on the railroad.   For all practical purposes one third of the CTC board is installed and operating for testing purposes.  I do have to complete the track diagram, signal designations, and location names on the model board.  I expect to complete that next week and will publish a photo as soon as it is done.  The Norton area is progressing nicely and I am beginning to finalize the plans for the mine tipple based on the Norton, WV coal mine.   Stay tuned and stay safe. Jay