Rises And Elevations

The first part of the benchwork has begun.

I made some L girders out of 1x2 and fastened them to the wall at 30 and 51 inch heights. The 51 inch was necessary to clear the light switch of all things, but that's about where I wanted it anyway, and the 30 inch is perfect for a table-top height HO gauge layout.

Or so I thought.

The first real bit of benchwork I built was a 3x6 foot platform for the Scenic Ridge layout that I am going to build as Nn3. It, too, is built from 1x2 strip wood, and with the foam on it measures right at 2 3/4". At 51 inches from the bottom, the top of the platform with the Styrofoam sheets attached is just under 54". That should be fine as long as I don't have any problems at the back of the layout, assuming I will have the long edge against the wall. 

Which you know I am going to, for no other reason than it will be difficult to reach at that height.

 Added to that is the fact that the entire layout isn't built at foam level, oh no. There is a 2" riser that goes on the top of the base board that sets track height, and then a 4% incline that adds another 2" before it's done. Because I'm building this in Nn3 I may be able to get by with substituting the 4% incline with a 2.5 or 3%, which will only raise the track another inch and a half. Still, that would be a 3 1/2" maximum track height, added to the 51" bottom height, added to the 2 3/4" base height, which puts the highest track elevation at 57 1/4" from the floor and almost 3 feet from the front edge.

Yep, I'm going to need a ladder to get to the back of the Nn3 layout. But it will look spectacular at that height.

Due to this, I'm considering putting the HO layout on the adjacent and opposite walls, which will put it under the widest part of the standard gauge layout instead of under the narrow gauge, where it would impede access to the back of the Nn3. I'm also considering a 3" difference in height between the standard gauge and narrow gauge sections, which would be about a 2.5% grade along the 10 foot wall, which is completely possible and would add a little interest besides.

I'm also considering sticking the Nn3 out from the wall, which will extend it six feet from the wall. At a 10 foot 10 inch room width, that would leave 4 foot 10 inches for the main section of the standard gauge and an aisle. Figuring at least 24" for the aisle leaves a 2 foot 10 inch bench depth for the standard gauge. This does give me enough room for a 15" radius turnaround loop for the standard gauge, especially if I consider curving the front of that section towards the wall. 

That would also allow me to put the grade along the same wall as the Nn3 layout will stick out from, which will not interfere with the turnaround loop on that end, and would also give me a nice level spot for the interchange yard on the layout spur going to the narrow gauge (which will be standard gauge... maybe... or maybe it will be a coal washing plant with the narrow gauge climbing down the grade to get to it.).

So many possibilities... but that's why I built the base for the Scenic Ridge layout first.  

Let The Fun Begin

 I have finally completed renovations on the train room. Mostly. Except for some trim work that isn't really important right now.

At any rate, that meant that trains must run in the new train room!

I am kicking around several plans, but one of the things that I have decided will absolutely happen is dual scales. Maybe even triple scales. I will have an HO layout, an N scale with Nn3, and for the third, the Nn3 may get the option of removable buildings so that it can become Z as well.

The only question is where to put the HO. I have debated putting it above the N, but I think I have decided to put it below. The HO will be at 30 inches (basically tabletop height) and the N will be at 54 inches. The HO will be tucked under a portion of the N that has very little operational requirements, so reaching over the HO to get to the N won't be a huge problem.

I decided on these heights so that I can operate the HO from a chair and the N will have enough room under it for the 48" high racks I have built to put my equipment cases in. The N was only going to be a foot deep at this point, but it will now be two. The tracks will be at the front and more space for scenery will be towards the back. This also gives me more room for the interchange for the narrow gauge branch.

Anyway, I needed to plan the benchwork, so the first trains to run in the new train room was HO. I set the track up and wired up the Empire Builder Digitrax DCC system that Mrs Hades got for me. As you may recall, I attempted to go wireless with that one and failed miserably. It worked with wired throttles, though, so I built some buss cables to run to the track, plugged in the throttle... and nothing. Everything SEEMED to work, the throttle showed the locomotive was selected, there was power on the tracks, but the trains did not respond to the throttle. They all made their normal background sounds, but none of them moved, and none of the throttle commanded sounds or lights worked.

To say the least, I was extremely discombobulated. I knew it wasn't going to work with the wireless throttles, but I decided rather than mess with it I would just swap out the DB150 from the Empire Builder with the DSC210 from the Evolution Express system that I just bought. To save some time hooking more things up, I just used the plug in throttle again instead of plugging in the UR93 duplex transceiver and putting batteries in the DT602D... and this time it worked perfectly.

This makes me question the problems I had with my previous DT402D wireless throttle. Since it worked when plugged in, and occasionally when unplugged, perhaps the problems weren't with the throttle, but with a failing, but not quite gone yet, DB150? Maybe there was nothing wrong with it after all, and I didn't waste my money on it, and it will work with the DSC210? (Or with the Zephyr, which can be used as a command station with other throttles/wireless devices connected by LocoNet, which is another thing I should have tried.)

I haven't had the time to mess with it yet, but the next thing I will do is hook up the UR93 and see if the DT402D will work with it.

The Fitzgerald Locomotives

Once again the Cotton Brute is in my possession. This time it requires no repairs. Instead, it is being operated, possibly for the last time (at least for a while), at the Danville Rail Days event in honor of late NRail President John Wallis. John had decided to retire the locomotive due to its age and relative fragility to prevent it being damaged or lost. It was destined to be put on display at a place yet to be determined.

As you may recall, Cotton Brute was restored for the NRail 50^th Anniversary celebration that occurred in 2023. The refurbishment was done at the direction of President Wallis in late 2022 and the restored and updated locomotive was run for the first time at the Danville Old 97 Rail Days (Danville has since dropped the “Old 97” designation) event in 2022. It seemed only proper that she should make her last appearance there before being retired.

But this story is not about that locomotive.

Along with the Cotton Brute, Jim Fitzgerald also built two other locomotives; Cotton Boss and Cotton Beast. The current whereabouts and disposition of Cotton Beast is unknown, but Cotton Boss is now also in my possession.

When I asked current NRail President Andy Zimmerman about the possibility of featuring Cotton Brute at Danville, I also recalled that John had mentioned having Cotton Boss for possible restoration. I asked him about this project and he replied that he did not know what the condition of the locomotive was yet, since both Beast and Boss were in possession of one of the club members helping the family sort and process all of John’s extensive collection.

Contacts were made, appointments were set, and both locomotives ended up in my hands. Cotton Brute was briefly tested to ensure its operability, and I finally set my eyes on Cotton Boss for the first time. The intent was to evaluate the condition of the locomotive for restoration and repair.

What we found was promising. The construction of the Boss is radically different from the Brute. Just like the Brute, the center section of the locomotive has been custom-built, but as far as I know there isn’t any depleted uranium in its construction. 

The ends of the locomotive are from a donor chassis, tapped and drilled to accept a series of screws holding it into the custom built center section. The trucks on this chassis are 4 wheel, not 6, so unlike the Brute the donor was not a U30CG. I suspect they, and the chassis ends, are from a Minitrix F9; the construction of the trucks, complete with the finger wipers at the truck ends, certainly suggests they are, but the rest of the mechanism does not exactly match photos I have found online. The Minitrix F9 is the closest I have been able to find, and it would only make sense that the trucks are from the same donor as the chassis ends.

The top of the locomotive consists of a series of three plates; two short ones on each end for spacers and one long one across the top that holds everything together and also holds the Sagami can motor in place. The locomotive ends slip over the center section that includes the tank in its construction. The inner two screws fasten the top plate to the center section. The two short plates are fastened to the end pieces and the long plate is fastened to the short plates with the two outer screws. The Sagami can motor hangs from the top plate with two screws, but in an interesting arrangement there are three set screws in a triangular formation that are used to adjust the motor orientation. This is necessary because there are no drive shafts; the ends of the motor shafts are fitted with one coupler end that fits into the other coupler end attached to the end pieces. There is no play to this arrangement, either it is right or it is wrong. I suspect this rigid requirement is the cause of what I found next.

The ends of the locomotive were loose and had quite a bit of movement. It was a quick job to remove the outer screws from the top plate, and the ends with the shorter plates attached slid out of the assembly. The short plate screws were then tightened down and the now solid ends were reattached to the center plate, making the entire chassis solid once more. It is my belief that if the motor is even slightly out of alignment, it will cause a vibration that will loosen these screws over time.

The wheels were cleaned and the mechanism lubricated, and then the locomotive was placed upon the rails of my humble 2x8 foot oval layout. Power was fed to the rails (DC only) and for the first time in who knows how long, the mechanism moved. I ran it several times around in each direction and it performed flawlessly. I did note a bit of vibration, indicating that perhaps the motor alignment could use some adjustment, but this was beyond the scope of my investigation so I left it alone.

I searched through the N Scale Locomotive Encyclopedia (I am ever grateful for this fantastic resource) and determined the shell is from a Lima FP45. This model did not have porches molded to the shell, they were instead a part of the chassis. The sides of the shell do not completely cover the chassis so about an eighth of an inch of the chassis shows beneath the bottom sill of the shell. There was the remains of one porch, without a doubt from a Minitrix U30/U28 due to the similar appearance to the Cotton Brute porches, that looks as if it was attached to the bottom of the shell. Glue remnants on each end of the shell indicates there was a porch on each end. The porch pieces were reassembled and re-attached to the front of the shell.

Amusingly, in the same box, were the missing air tank end pieces to Cotton Brute’s tank. As you may recall, those air tank ends were replaced with solid ends because donor air tank ends could not be found for the one end that was missing them. They are un-needed now, but it was interesting to find them in the box nonetheless.

President Zimmerman was apprised of the condition of the Cotton Boss, and I received the clear signal to complete the cosmetic restoration. I have the parts to replace the missing porch and end railings and refresh the paint on the tank, but since the Boss will likely not see any operational service she will not receive any of the mechanical upgrades that her more famous sister did. It will instead be restored cosmetically while her mechanical components remain operational on analog power only.

The restoration will, of course, be documented here. 

Gutted

 Of all the things I had on my mental bingo card today, this was not one of them.

 I just opened the following email about ten minutes ago from the President of the North Raleigh Model Railroad Club:

"I am very sorry to have to share the news that we have lost a good friend, mentor, leader, and a pillar of our club with the passing of John Wallis last night.  We only have limited information so far from John's son, but by all appearances he passed peacefully in his sleep last night.  

I have known John for 22 years and some of you for much longer than that.  I will miss his kind nature, quick wit, our Hurricanes hockey conversations, his encyclopedic knowledge of railroading and everything related to model railroading, and his eagerness to share all of that knowledge with anyone who was interested.  

Our club will absolutely miss the person who was a constant leader since 1980.  Whether he happened to be serving the club as an officer or not he was always the person who stepped up when something was needed and kept the club moving and growing.  

When we have more information to share about any arrangements, I will pass that along to the club."

John was also the President of NRail, and he was the one that arranged for the restoration of the Cotton Brute for the 50th anniversary of the founding of that organization. He was a mainstay in the model railroading community, and N scale in particular owes a great deal of its popularity to him.

We have a show this weekend. I just saw John on Friday as I was helping to set everything up. I didn't go today because I was doing things around the house. It won't be the same to not see him tomorrow.

Rest in peace John. Thanks for everything. 

The Trouble with Digitrax, PT III

 In two of my previous posts, I detailed some issues I had with Digitrax DCC systems.

To sum up, I prefer my NCE PowerCab for daily operations due to its simplicity and intuitive ease of operations. The problems I run into with my NCE are that it doesn't play nice with TCS decoders (which I use exclusively in my older Atlas locomotives) and when I program on the programming track I lose some cab parameters and have to set the cab back up. These issues are annoying, but minor, so I've decided to live with them, although one of these days I will likely send it in to have the cab parameter problem looked at.

The Digitrax Zephyr starter system is likewise easy to operate, especially for someone just transitioning from DC. I own the oldest of the sets, the DCS50, which has since been replaced by first the DCS51 and then the DCS52. They all have a single knob that you turn for engine speed, and a lever for forward and reverse, just like a DC throttle pack would have. The only difference is the keypad, which is used to enter the locomotive address and operate the functions as well as programming locomotives.

The problem is that the DCS50 doesn't show throttle settings in steps or percentages, so it's nearly impossible to set two locomotives to the exact same speed setting for speed matching. Also, the Digitrax systems as a whole don't seem to be as user friendly when programming locomotives as the NCE system is. The Zephyr is somewhat easier, but it's not easy to program advanced features since it is, after all, a basic starter set, as well as being very old. I'm sure that the newer versions are better; the DCS52, for example, has a larger liquid crystal display screen that shows much more information than the DCS50's sectional LED display.

However, since my club runs Digitrax, I have to program my show locomotives on that system due to the difference in track voltages between the two systems. Locomotives speed matched on NCE aren't necessarily going to be speed matched on Digitrax, which causes operational difficulties on show layouts. Therefore, I needed a more capable Digitrax system for programming, and to that end I purchased a Super Empire Builder Xtra, or rather had one purchased for me.

I had been using it successfully to program my locomotives, but one day I decided I wanted to run cordless operations. To that end I purchased some used throttles and interface panels, none of which have worked the way I wanted them to. To further complicate things, I hooked the Digitrax up to a loop of track to program my newest locomotives and, due probably to operator errors on an unfamiliar system, failed miserably, and had to program them with the NCE system (which, for reasons I have already extensively detailed, won't work so well on the club layout).

That brings me to this; a set of locomotives I couldn't program properly, a set of throttles that are virtually useless, and no way to run wireless if the cell phone setup doesn't work for whatever reason. So, finally, in desperation, I have made a purchase of a complete new Evolution Express Duplex Radio Starter Set, which should include all that I need for wireless operations as well as providing the proper throttle to run at the club shows.

I have almost decided that my new layout, which will be about 3 times bigger than my existing one, will use the Digitrax system because I now own so much Digitrax equipment. Digitrax did do one thing right in that all of their systems will work together with Loconet, so I can set both the original Zephyr and the DB150 from my Super Empire Builder starter sets to be boosters. 

I can use the Zephyr exclusively in the yard as the hostler's throttle and put the DB150 over on the mountain turn-around loop, sprinkling the various control panels around the layout and installing the LNWI module for cell phone ops. That should give me plenty of operational flexibility, and I should be able to use all of my throttles on IR if nothing else (I would have to purchase a UR91 interface panel to use the radio function on the 401R throttle).

I will then keep the NCE system for the Christmas layout and for various smaller projects that I may decide to get into. I have also almost convinced myself to build an HO layout on a shelf above the N, so that would be a perfect use for the NCE system. I would have to use a stepladder to get to the rear of the HO scale layout if I decide to build it, but that's a minor concern. It would also give me a nice place to mount some lighting for the N scale.

But first, I have to get the train room ready to build benchwork, so I'm off to do that now. 

Scheduled Delivery

Three more modern locomotives, an AC4400CW, an SD70Ace, and an SD90/45MAC, all in Union Pacific paint, are scheduled to arrive today.

I don't know why I'm doing this to myself. At this rate my modern diesel roster will soon outnumber my steam roster. 

Observation

 Drywall finishing work is a lot like modeling. You spend a lot of time waiting for things to dry.

Where the closet wall came out there is a lot of variation at the joints where the old closet wall meets the old room wall. On one side the door frame occupies much of that joint, so the variation is not as pronounced. Just above the door is worse, but not really so bad.

On the other side of the room, however, the surface of the room wall stands about a quarter inch proud of the surface of the closet wall. To make things worse, the drywall on the room side is crumbling along that edge, so it isn't firm against the wall studs in that joint area.

To remedy (but not really correct) it I am sanding the room wall down into the plaster about an eighth of an inch at the edge, feathering out six inches or so. I will then build the closet wall out about an eighth with drywall mud to match the sanded surface, feathering that out six inches or so as well. When I am done I should have a 12 inch surface, six inches on each side of the seam, that gently transitions from one surface to the other. 

The wall will never be straight all the way from corner to corner, so my goal is to simply smooth the transition and then I can disguise it with benchwork and scenery. In order to get it done, however, I am having to drive or pull nails and sand about 2 vertical feet of the wall at a time along the seam and then fill with drywall mud. Because the mud is so thick it takes a long time to dry. I will then have to sand that down, fill in the low spots, let that dry, sand it smooth again, and repeat as necessary to get that smooth transition. 

I expect this will take a few weeks on the days that I am not working. Fortunately there is still much to do while the wall dries, so that time is not lost completely. Perhaps by this fall I will have the room walls finished enough to paint, then I can start building the layout.

If it was easy everyone would do it.