Best laid plans

I had planned to be well underway with the scenery work in this area by now, but I've been detoured. The discussion on another thread a while back about semaphore signals got me thinking about where the signals would go in this location - and guess what!

Take a look at this next photo - see where the signals need to go - just past the bridge!

The signals that go here between Sutherlin and Oakland on the prototype Siskiyou Line are two dual-headed lower quadrant semaphores. Here's a photo of the prototype signals off to the right.

 Each of these four heads needs to operate independently, and on the model I will be using four servos under the tracks in this location to operate each of the four signal heads. The servos are not huge - just over the size of a 1.25 inch cube - but there needs to be room for four of these babies down under here, and I need access to them for maintenance as well.

You notice the problem? There a joist and riser right at this location, and just below that is a 1x4 L-girder. Fortunately, the L-girder is just far enough back that it shouldn't be much of a problem, but that joist and riser has to go.

Besides all this, I really need to remove the fascia in this corner to provide access for installing the servos - and in fact, I really should make the fascia here removable so I can perform any needed maintenance on the servos later.

This all brings up my failure to plan ahead for signals when building the layout benchwork. Now I need to relocate a joist and riser - not an easy task when there's already roadbed and track on top of it - and a bridge install underway here, to boot!

So I got out my trusty circular saw, set the depth to just over 1/2" (the thickness of the fascia board) and cut through the fascia about 6 inches back both directions from this corner and then removed the fascia. Here's how it looked so far:

The things that need to happen here are:

1. Remove this joist, shim under the roadbed, and also remove the 1x2 on the front of the L-girder (mounting
    plate for the fascia). I ended up just cutting the joist off at the edge of the plywood on top of it.

2. Add a new joist behind the end of the fascia and shim under the roadbed to give track good support.
    Screw the fascia to the new joist.

3. Add a 3/8" riser (keep it thin to avoid losing space needed for servos) to the end of the roadbed just beyond
    the bridge abutment.This will stabilize the roadbed where it meets the bridge abutment and keep it from
    flexing.

Also, by removing this corner fascia, the board on which the bridge sits no longer has the rigidity it once had, so I also need to add a 2x2 under both L-girder and run it out for about 14" under the board to restore it's rigidity and keep the bridge and roadbed from flexing up and down. In the next photo, I've added all that.

You can see (1) the new joist behind the fascia board and going under the roadbed with a shim in place, and (2) the new 3/8" thick riser glued in place to add rigidity to the end of the roadbed. I've also added a 2x2 attached to both the back and front L-girder and extending under the board for about 14", to give it stability again. You can see that addition here.

This 2x2 is attached to the L-girders with 4" drywall screws.

Here's the final result, viewed from a higher overhead angle, with the signal location shown in blue.

I'm thinking there's room to mount the servos under the roadbed, according to this drawing ...

Next, I need to order some servos from TAM Valley and make sure everything fits. As I build up the scenery around this location using the florists' foam, I need to make sure and leave a large enough cavity I can install the servos, and also have room to get my hands in there. I'm thinking I need to make the hillside also removable just in case I need the room to work and the ability to see what I'm doing in here.

So that's my diversion from building scenery here. I think it's a much needed diversion, and the planning I do now will make getting the signals installed and working a LOT easier without needing to tear anything up in the process.

My goal for August is to get all the signals installed on the layout, but they won't be operational yet. That's a project for 2016.

I feel your...

Pain - Joe...

Going through it right now with the signaling install on our layout, fortunately I'm not using semaphores so if I have pesky bench work in the way all that is needed is my extra long drill bit and a hole big enough to pull the wires through.

I guess this is the trap of not factoring in signals, Tortoise's, Servos, and their location relative to bench work when planning and constructing...

Jas...

You know, Joe. . .

. . . these kinds of things are a lot more easily dealt with in S, O or G scale!

Seriously, it does point out that no matter how exhaustive the layout planning, contingencies are always in the offing.

Flexible servo pushrods?

I know this is hindsight, but couldn't this have been more easily solved using Jas's long bits and some flexible servo pushrods?

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__18815__soft_push_rod_Snakes_D3_x_1000mm_4pcs_bag_.html

Progress

It warms my heart that you actually get time to work on your layout.

i feared that you had so many irons in the fire that actually working on a layout would become a pretty low priority.

Of course, it leaves me fewer excuses . . . 

Marshall

Happens to the best of us....

....as evidenced by it happening here!  I can't count how many times I've had to redo benchwork and what not. Not that long ago I had to notch and then reinforce a joist as well cut solid plywood out from under the rails, to get an ashpit structure I hadn't originally planned for in.

Best of us?? Rather, All of us!

No one can predict the future so attempting to plan for every eventuality is futile. The trick is to create/utilize a construction methodology that facilitates modification so as to minimize the pain when change does occur.

It requires a greater upfront investment in time, planning, and construction but it continually pays nice dividends over time. Dividends Joe would appreciate at this moment. As the old Fram commercial said "Pay me now or pay me later". I for one prefer to pay forward.

Flexible servo pushrods

From the comments on this product ...

Sounds to me like just trading one headache for another. There's no magic here - flexible pushrods will do what they're designed to do: flex. Not sure that's going to give me the signal head performance I want. Flex generally isn't a problem when pulling, but pushing is a different story. Then there's the problem of connecting them to the rods on the bottom of the signals ...

If I do anything, I'm more likely to build a frame using 4 dowels in some guide sleeves to allow me to drop the servo mechanism down a foot or so, making it easy to get to, and that drops the servos down low enough space should not be a problem.

Even so, it's better to have some room to work with - there's still not a lot - maybe an inch or so of slop.

Steel...

Sorry, I didn't read the description on those before I posted. I was thinking of steel or cable based RC rods. I figured they would have allow you to mount the servos horizontally and not remove all that material. You've already done the work so it's a moot point, but RC pushrods would work well for this. Just maybe not the ones I linked to

If space ever is an issue...

...then there are probably smaller servos that have enough force to actuate a semaphore. I think TAM Valley sells the more typical sub mini 9 gram servo  but I'm sitting here looking at a much smaller 5 gram one I have for a micro RC plane project.

Michael