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ginzokid · ‎05-23-2007

I locked the other thread. There is some good stuff in there that probably has been reposted in other threads. I'll check. In the meantime, here's another place to write. B-)

barrysfp45 · ‎12-24-2010

What's that for Dave, to start the building or so he can put himself up for the night ;\ ]:) I guess I'll just be hanging around......:^O -- Edited by ginzokid at 12/25/2010 3:31 AM PST

dl85vette · ‎12-28-2010

Been busy working on layout. Determined to have it running by thursday and have a buddy over for a session. Most of the carpentry side of things is done on the up-n-over and even got one some track laid in a curve. Should have rest of roadbed down and track laid by tomorrow's end. Making good progress as I got my satellite radio (xmas present) blaring some good ole' tunes. Sped up the process by bringing the jigsaw in the trainroom for cutting, instead of me running back and forth to garage to cut. A little dustier and messier, but worth the trouble when I'm not spending more time travelling than working. 🙂 I haven't worked out the grade percentage but it looks steeper than 2% by eye but I think it still looks good. I'm kinda limited to 15-20 cars (yard length) and I got lots of 6-axle power so ~should be fine. The SW9, GP20, GP38 could be a different story. Helper action would liven the RR operation some.

ginzokid · ‎12-29-2010

Dave, First of all, you can figure out your grade easily. The formula is very simple. 1/8" per foot rise is a 1% grade. 2/8" (1/4") per foot is a 2% grade. 3/8" per foot rise is a 3% grade. Get it? Just measure a one foot length and then measure the height difference at the high end. It doesn't matter what scale you are in. So, if you have a 3/8" height difference at the end of a 3' run, that is a 1% grade. A 2% grade for the same 3' run will get you a height difference of 3/4" (6/8"). A 3%grade will get you 1-1/8" (9/8"). Just measure everything in 1/8" increments to keep it simple and divide by the length you have marked off. Second, have you tried Bullfrog Snot? It does increase your pulling power. B-) Oh I know the formula, I just meant that I never measured my linear footage of track to do the calculations, that's all. I just jumped in construction the table and too busy making the grade (clearances) so a double stack (train) could pass under the track. -- Edited by dl85vette at 12/29/2010 10:59 AM PST

dl85vette · ‎12-31-2010

After couple of 1 AM nights, my mainline track laying is completed. Hope to get some/enuf wiring done in 2 hours to get things running and a buddy come over for operations. yay!!

dl85vette · ‎01-01-2011

Mainline is done. My yard is dead so time to recheck wiring and fuse for that zone. My up-n-over is well, leaves room for improvement. It wasn't a steady climb. Over 110" run it works out to 2.5%, but a 50" section peaks at 4% !!! My modern 6 axle katos (which are on the heavy side) can chug up it ok. Haven't tried all locos yet. one of my GP20 runs as if the wheels are dirty, which could very weel be. May need more track feeders too. gotta go and back to the layout. arrggg.

dl85vette · ‎01-03-2011

I went Mike Holmes on my up-n-over yesterday. I salvaged the track and tore everything else up, except for half of the bench. I built a new (longer) bench to bolt onto existing to give me a proper run length for incline. It won't be an up an over, just a twist and curve winding track up an incline. I estimated this area should be around/at least 120 inches of track to climb 2 inches so a much better percentage vs motive power. ( one shouldn't need 3 SD70MACs to pull 12 cars up the grade) i will notch out the edge of benchwork to allow my tool chest (modelling tools) to roll under it. Plus the new bench is 27 wide so 3 inches narrower than the (original) helix bench so my work table area doesn't feel as cramped. There's some sections of the est of my layout that I'm not 100% happy with but it is easier and quicker to build the incline than to tear down everything and start over. (as much as I would love to pick Pete's brain and ask what you could design) Gotta run and go out for errands. -26C plus whatever the windchill is on top of that.

ginzokid · ‎01-04-2011

That's like a 1.7% grade. Nice! In the frozen north of Newfyland we are at PLUS 10C. About 50F. Want me to send some heat Dave? ]:)

dl85vette · ‎01-08-2011

Had well over 150 (170?) inches to climb 1.5 inch. So used about 120 so even an SW9 shouldn't have problems. On this subject, a reminder to pay attention to the plywood you buy. I picked up partial sheets of plywood from Home Despot thinking it was nicely finished spruce plywood until the time came to spike my flextrack down. Cripes!! ( I think HP on the UPC sticker perhaps means "Hard Pine". Shoulda had trackwork done yesterday morning until bending spikes, damaging holes in ties, finding a couple spots cuasing SD70 to derail one axle when I push it over track by hand. Then another issue when the hammer hit the rail of flex track and chewed it apart. So long story even longer, I had to use a dremel to pre-drill the holes in plywood before driving spikes. Yes beautiful benchwork, pain in the ass to lay track. Finished drilling/spiking today while truck in shop. Just gotta solder feeders an give this new track a go. I enjoy (scratch)building industries. Even enjoy laying cork. Tracklaying for indust park was fun. Working on this ^%^%$%$ plywood, priceless. (aka worthless) Cripes, even spiking rail on MDF went easier. (don't build on MDF either) Trains should run good as the curves are 12.5" to 14" radius. Ranting done. over & out. -- Edited by dl85vette at 01/08/2011 12:19 PM PST

ginzokid · ‎01-09-2011

Dave, Check out the tool in mskimmer album. The picture shows one apart and one together. Basically it is a slide hammer. The holder is a 1/8" square brass tube, 4" long, with a steel hook soldered to one side. The driver is steel wire, 6" long, bent to a hook at one end. The hammer slides within the square tube with a good thick rubber band as the power source. You pull up on the slide, place the tube over the nail and let it go. The higher you pull up, the stronger the hit on the nail. I have driven track nails through plastic laminate counter tops with this thing and of course it works great on MDF and plywood. You can control the pressure and therefore not bend the track ties. It usually takes more than one hit to drive the nail because you don't want to crush the track ties. These things are not hard to make if you can do a little soldering. B-)

dl85vette · ‎01-09-2011

I forgot about that tool. The mainline is done anyways. I have just a mining spur left and a couple short tracks in the indust park and that is spruce so easy driving. I was expecting the loop to sound hollow but ran some trains yesterday and it sounds solid and beings I took the time (as much as I didn't like it) to redo a couple sections to change location of joints, the trains run flawlessly through the new loop/incline. If a 6 axle Kato can go thru without a glitch then I know the trackwork is good. Need a "bad car" track for cars as I discovered a hopper would uncouple as pin too low and snags on the joint in a curve leaving the yard. Just need to cut my background lower and reinstall and then I work on on remaining track and finally SCENERY!! Almost wishing I had a continous loop as I just get into watching the train run the main and then it's approaching the upper yard.

ginzokid · ‎01-13-2011

Well folks, I'm about to be published. The Nov/Dec issue of Canadian Railway Modeler will feature an article I wrote in conjunction with my buddy George highlighting the layout we are building. We are not sure if it is the cover article or not, but we know it will be in there. I think this will qualify us for another notch toward the Master Model Railroader award. I wrote a sideline article to go with George's main article. Dave and Jack, you can look for it on the news stands at Chapters or maybe the hobby shops. I hope our early progress shows well. B-)

barrysfp45 · ‎01-13-2011

cool, you could always email me a copy of the story, I'd like to see it too ]:)

jamajack · ‎01-13-2011

Way to go Pete. I will see if They have it on the shelves and if so will pick up a couple of copies. Barry, if I can find a copy or two I will send it to you. Looking forward to reading it. Jack