Laying out the centerlines

Andrew came over last night and, after we'd finished installing the last Bullfrog, we plunked the staging planks on the window sill and laid out the staging yard.

Now, Pembroke lives in our guest room cum playroom cum office. So, the staging yard needs to look more like a window sill than a staging yard. That means, I want everythng to have zero, or near-zero height. It is all going to get painted white.

There will be four tracks. The center track, from which the other diverge, was fixed by the location of the curve coming off the visible part of the layout. There was enough room for 2.5 inch spacing of the four tracks, but that would have brought the front track a little closer to the edge than Andrew was comfortable with. So, we opted for spacing at 2.25",2.25" and 2.5".

The back track (nearest the window) incorporates a switchback so we can push a few cars out of the way without taking them off the layout if we want. There is also a crossover in the middle of the front two tracks to enable the locomotive of the afternoon train to escape on those rare days when we have run an extra freight. I discovered the need for this during the Brio operating session.

Looks great...

... and I wish I could keep my layout space that neat and tidy. Mine always looks like a tornado went through it.

- Trevor

"The back track (nearest the

"The back track (nearest the window) incorporates a switchback so we can push a few cars out of the way without taking them off the layout if we want.'

   I never thought of shoving unwanted cars out the window but now I know watch out below !  .DaveB

layout space that neat and tidy

Hi Trevor,

I wish it were true!  Your comment reminded me that I was at a good point to clean up, however.  So, I spent 15 minutes before leaving for work doing just that.  This helps:

I put everything to do with the current project in there. Once the drawers are completed, I will be able to put things away more, but until then I'm using this big bin.

shoving unwanted cars out the window...

No need for a hard hat, Dave.  They would only fall about 30 cm.  It's a basement window.

Still, it's murder on the couplers and air hoses.

Rene'

I hope the sunlight doesn't

I hope the sunlight doesn't come through the window!!

Sunlight

I'm not terribly worried about it. There is a 2' or 60 cm or so overhang above the window, and a vegetable garden right in front. 

The biggest problem is I've left the window open a couple of times now and found the sprinkler spraying through the screen!  Must stop doing that!

thanks

Rene

Rubber tubs to the rescue

Hi René:

Funny - I do that too  I collect tools and materials into a rubber tub and take the tub to the job site. I'm bad at unpacking the tubs afterwards, though...

Thanks for the photo!

-Trevor

Points Prototype

As you recall, the staging yard is on a wide window sill, and that means there is no room for Bullfrog or other switch machines below the roadbed. Because the room provides a number of functions in our house, we want to be able to make the staging yard look like a clean window sill, which means there is no place for a ground throw above the window sill either (although perhaps if they were painted white, they wouldn't be too objectionable.

I decided to think about flick switches, similar to Peco and Micro-Engineering. Actually, I've only operated with Peco in N Scale, but I do find the flick switches are very convenient and intuitive. Of course, being on the cheap side, I'm not about to go out and buy a bunch of turnouts and convert them to Proto:87. So, I spent a few days thinking about how I might achieve an over-center spring of my own.

The other change I'm making for the staging yard points, is in the switch rod. There is no need to use the 3D printed parts as on the visible layout. So, I'm going to use PC board throw bars. Others have found that the joint between the PC board and the rail is prone to failure, and so, I devised a method using pins. The points are soldered only to the pins, which means they can rotate freely.

Tonight, I spent about three hours putting a prototype example together. It worked superbly on the first try!

Some things I learned:

• You need to be careful to get the second headblock perpendicular to the track. Otherwise, you're putting pressure on the point-throwbar joint.
• The nub on the throwbar that interacts with the spring is .020" brass wire.
• The spring was formed by pressing it around a piece of .064" wire. It is not especially precise. It is .008" phosphor bronze sheet.
• As I'm doing six turnouts, it's going to be worthwhile to come up with a fixture for making throwbars and springs.
• It might be easiest to assemble the headblocks and throwbar on a piece of shim stock before having to worry about rail.
• The pin idea works well, but they're a pain to solder without soldering to the PC board as well. On one side, I filed away the copper at the pivot point, and that simplified matters substantially.
• The pins want to turn sideways. I shall consider drilling through the point to improve this behaviour.
• I tried simply bending the points, rather than providing a hinge at the heel. While this worked, I find it makes forming the wing rails even more challenging. I think I will go back to hinging the heel (in which case, do I still need to pins?

"I tried simply bending the

"I tried simply bending the points, rather than providing a hinge at the heel. While this worked, I find it makes forming the wing rails even more challenging. I think I will go back to hinging the heel (in which case, do I still need to pins?"

    I solder the points to a PC board throw bar and use rail joiners as a hinge. This allows the point/throw bar/point assembly to slide a bit in the joiners to relieve stress. It's simple and very sturdy. For point springs check out the bent wire method that been around for decades, it won't power the frogs but you could buy a frog juicer for that if it becomes necessary. For a staging yard just cutting the gaps close to the frog might be enough for most locos to run across  dead frogs....DaveB

Bent wire spring

Hi DaveB

Thanks for the thoughts. I was thinking of you when I wondered if I would still need to hinge the throwbar if the heel was hinged.  

By "bent wire spring," do you mean a spring shaped like a staple, as on a Peco turnout?

Thanks

Rene

"By "bent wire spring," do

"By "bent wire spring," do you mean a spring shaped like a staple, as on a Peco turnout?"

     Hi Rene, Similar results to a Peco spring but hand built on top of the ties. I don't have any now to take a photo of but they are made by bending either a "V" or an "S" shape in a short piece of spring wire then bending both ends down so they can be placed in holes drilled in the throw bar and in a tie a couple of ties forward from the throw bar.The length of wire is designed so it applies slight sideways pressure to the points when thrown both ways. The thin wire is not as apparent in operation as one might think and would be fine for a staging yard. With frog gaps cut as short as possible you might not even need to power the frogs and could just throw the turnouts by flicking the points right or left, if powered frogs turn out to be needed then you could add frog juicers for a non-mechanical solution....DaveB 

Bent wire spring

Thanks, Dave. I see what you mean now. Anything goes in staging!

Rene'

Brass Pin Source?

Just wondering you source for brass pins with a small flat head?  Are they coated or solid brass?  I have found  steel pins coated with brass at Michael's and have had my wife search her sewing sources, however, I have not been successful in locating sold brass pins.  I was not very successful soldering the steel coated brass pin, as the brass coating wanted to peel off the steel pin.

For controlling the flow of solder to unwanted areas, I usually place a small piece of wax paper between my joints to separate them before soldering. 

kc

Painting the staging area

Thanks for sharing many solid ideas here, Rene.

If I may, I'd like to suggest going with a color other than white for your staging area. I was in a club that painted the staging areas white before laying track and over the years it has gotten pretty dirty looking. Once the track is down and wired, refreshing the surface with paint is not easy. I took this into consideration when I built my current layout and decided to go for a gray surface to go with a more industrial feel. I may have been influenced by Tim Warris' Bronx Terminal layout, too. In any event, the surface was painted with a latex gray before the track was laid. This is my staging yard.

After the track was attached to the surface and all electrical connections were soldered, each of the layout sections were taken outside and the track was sprayed with Krylon camouflage brown. Paint was removed from the railhead with a piece of 1x2 just after spraying. My current layout will not have any additional scenery application, but I think use of color here gives a good visual indication of a yard.

The layout sections here are two feet wide by four feet long with one through track set on the center line for possible use with Free-mo set ups. Track switches are controlled at the right side using Caboose Hobbies ground throws mounted on ledges and controlling rods below the subroadbed. This was inspired by Trevor Marshall's layout.

Using color for the surface of a staging yard can create a feel similar to the rest of the railroad but keeping it bare bones can be the indicator of a staging area. Just something else to think about.

Eric

Brass pin source

My brass pins come from a film canister in my workshop.  As they're in a film canister, they must be at least ten years old; I have no idea where they came from originally.

However, they are plated.  I've not had any difficulties soldering to them.
 

Painting the staging yard

I don't know about that.  I had a staging yard which I painted black.  I simply laid the track on the plywood, and then (after testing, wiring, etc.) painted everything with cheap black latex paint.  Before the paint dried completely, I cleaned the heads of the rails, and trains ran just fine.  I don't see why the same wouldn't work for white paint.

White staging area

Hi Eric,

I can see why you would be concerned: I wouldn't want dirty old trains like those on my nice clean staging yard either    (Seriously, nice looking weathered equipment).

I'll keep it in mind, but I do want the staging yard to look more like a window sill than a yard.  Having said that, I have to figure out how the transition happens.  The end of the layout is going to be left deliberately free so people can put stuff there (I'm calling it the place where you put your tea).  So, what colour should that be?  I was thinking it is the dark brown colour of the fascia, but then how do I transition to a white window sill, and where?

Thanks, Rene'

Window Sill

Rene',

Could you treat the staging yard just as you would a window sill in the rest of the house?  By that I mean, if the other window sills are 3/4" thick and project out from the wall by 1" and are painted white, then do the same with the staging yard.  Either lay track on top of or embed track into the surface of the sill, and paint everything white.  Make an abrupt transition from sceniced layout to painted window sill, so that visually the sill looks straight and rectangular, as it should.  Treat the area beneath it as you would any other wall in the room, rather than having fascia, etc. as on the layout.

Window Sill

That's my plan, exactly!  Stealth staging!

No tea on the layout. If they

No tea on the layout. If they need to put it down put it in their pocket. If people are putting liquids on the train layout it will not be white long. Also what are you going to do with the trains? A white windowsill will not look like a window sill with 4 trains parked on it. It will look like a rail yard. If you senic the thing to look like a yard people are likely to treat it and what is on it as a model, and not something like the potted plants and nick knacks that populate so many window sills. I would thing you would want hands to be kept off the window sill and the trains. Just my 2 cents worth.

"put it in their pocket"

LOL  I think some of you must not have to share your train space!

Pembroke's trains all come home to roost at the end of the day.  So, assuming I do not stop in the middle of an operating session, the only cars left on the window sill will be the handful of cars for interchange.  Even those can be put away or dragged onto the layout if the room has to fulfill its guest room function.

As for "the place to put your tea," while it looks like a piece of model railroad right now because it is unfinished plywood and is connected to the layout, it is not actually the layout.  The trains only sneak across a corner of it on their way to the window sill (also not the layout).  It will be finished (either stained or painted) with a durable finish like any other piece of furniture where you might put liquids and a bowl of cherries.  I also know that my partner needs to have a place to put train stuff that I might leave elsewhere in the house.  Designating a flat surface like this will hopefully keep that stuff off the river, which looks a lot like a place to put your tea, but is on the layout!

Cheers,
Rene'

Ties

I've been spending most of my recent train time trying to get the turnout controls to print. The good news is that it looks like they're going to be sufficiently robust. The bad news is the original design had a lot of overhang, and would come off the 3D printer bed at the least provocation. A couple more iterations should do it. However, all that virtual work is not very satisfying. So, it was a nice break to have Andrew over last night to work on the staging yard. Together, we got all the PC board cut and temporarily glued down. There will be no ties in the staging yard. The plan is, once the turnouts are running, we will trace these PC boards, pop the track off (it is glued down with PVA and should come up easily) and route out recesses for the boards. Then we will glue the track in place. We also managed to mostly prepare the springs and throw bars. These will be inserted after the stock rails and closure rails are all soldered down.

Hiding the rails

Rene',

If you have a sufficiently small router bit, you might consider routing channels for the rails as well.  That would allow you to set the rail heads flush with the top of the board, which would help keep the staging yard looking as much like a normal window sill as possible.