Track plan

this is my rough track plan. 

A couple of years ago, there were plans of a major highway that might be built over my house.  That, along with my new fascination of the Illinois Terminal (check my other blogs), lead to a rethinking of my layout.  First off, I decided to go with modules, I guess the TOMA approach.  That would allow me to "easily" move my modules to another house someday without having to tear out a bunch of bench work.  Second, the modules will allow me to "flip" them over so that I can do wiring and other stuff underneath it relatively easy.  Because of the overhead catenary, I plan on using FastTracks bullfrogs to throw turnouts and power the frogs at the same time.  Flipping the modules will make that a little easier as well.  

The track plan - the middle 4' by 8' module is going to be my "in town" street running.  It will have a continuous loop so I can potentially run three trains at a time when guests are over.  I have also built two more 2 foot by 8 foot modules that will be staging for now.  Eventually, the city will have a freight house, a power plant, and an interurban car barn.  The outer loop will have a coal mine, industry of some sort, a grain elevator, and a brick yard.  The IT will have a 24" radius, and then the IC will be the outer loop with a 36" radius to run long IC passenger cars and steam locos.  There will be an interchange between the IT and the IC at the top.  This will be a proto freelance as I am combining different scenic elements of the IT.  All the equipment will be prototypical, just the location is freelanced.  I haven't settled on a date other than the pre-diesel era.  

At some point, I will have a lot of operations questions as I want to have the potential for good ops sessions, but that will come at a later date.  

Pics

This is what I've done so far. 

Here you can see my modules, which are about 53" at track height.  They are 1x4' frames with half inch plywood and half inch homasote glued on top.  They plywood is to support the poles for the catenary.  My curves in this city section are 10" which seems to be okay for most cars if I modify them a little.  This will be main street.  

This is my residential side of the module.  The tracks will travel down the middle of the Walther's brick street system with houses lined up along this side, and a Dairy Queen for my wife.  She loves Dairy Queen.  I had to file the edges of the brick street system to get them to sit just below the top of the rail, but I'm happy with how this is going so far.    

Ths is the business side of things.  In the foreground is the freight house with the spur for the power plant behind it.  The other end is the four tracks for the car barn.  They aren't glued down as I will probably end up scratch building something for it and changing the track layout.  Behind it you can see the other two modules which will be staging for now until I can get more modules built.  Ive got caboose ground throws in for now until I get around to installing the bullfrog turnout controls.  

Looking good. I like the use

Looking good. I like the use of the cross over.

Though I do not model the IC, I do have a keen interest in its reefers, as they frequented the east coast of Canada, which I model.

Downtown

Been working on my downtown.  Combination of Walthers and DPM kits.  This is the mockup. 

Anyone have any favorite downtown painting schemes?  This is late '30s to early '50's, haven't really decided specifics yet. 

Power Plant Building

I started working on my Walther's power plant building. I spray painted the interior coal bunker a gray color to simulate concrete and the generator stuff a flat black color. 

looking good

Please calibrate my understanding

@dcforbes,

you said:

  Because of the overhead catenary, I plan on using FastTracks bullfrogs to throw turnouts and power the frogs at the same time.  

Are you going to use the overhead to supply current to the trolleys? When most folks do that both rails of the tracks are the same polarity, so there's no need to flip polarity on frogs.

If the overhead is just scenic and not carrying current, then the frogs need polarity switching, and the overhead has nothing to do with it.

Memory fails me; did IT really use catenary, or just simple overhead? The latter is surely simpler to model.

I like your project very much.

DrJolS

Replies -

@ Scott - thanks - yes, I've acquired three brass, a class B, a class C, and a IT PCC.  Big dent, but its so different... guess I'm attracted to the differentness (is that a word?).

@ DrJoIS - Most places the IT used simple overhead, yes, my bad.  They did have some more elaborate catenary like stuff in places, but yes simple overhead.  My overhead wire will be a dummy wire.  I will be interchanging with the Illinois Central in places and need two rail for the Illinois Central line that won't have overhead.  Because of the overhead, I don't want people reaching in to try and throw switches, so the bull frog seems like a good way to go, two rail operation, powered frogs (will try and add capacitors as well), and don't have to reach into the layout to throw switches. 

Doug

I am now calibrated

Doug,

Your elaboration of what you're doing and why makes lots of sense.

Thank you for clarifying.

DrJolS

Power Plant progress

I've never really "painted" a building kit like this before.  I've watched several youtube videos and looked at several websites though, which has helped.  I masked off the concrete areas using blue painters tape.  I spray painted the brick parts with a red oxide primer from a spray can from Walmart.  I'm really happy how it turned out.  It really kills the sheen of the plastic kit. I'm still deciding what color to paint the windows... I'm leaning towards a forest green color, thoughts?  Next step will be to paint the lintels a limestone/concrete color. 

dcforbes, I do like a dark

dcforbes, I do like a dark green for windows, but also like dark browns. Have you decided yet?

Growing my train

This is my growing early Illinois Traction System train.  It consists of my Class A locomotive, my 3D printed gondola hopper, my Funaro and Carmalengo kit bashed hopper, two of my 3D printed ballast hopper cars, and my IT AMB caboose.  Now to find some plain gondolas....

Nice looking ITC equipment,

Nice looking ITC equipment, dc.

There was at one area, Champaign-Urbana, IL where the IT ran under wire over the IC Champaign-Havanna branch from Staleys into Champaign and then the Wabash, Champaign-Sidney, branch on to Urbana where they went on their own right of way. Good opportunities to run steam and diesels under wire before they went diesel in the 50/60s.

Barry  

@ Barry

Thanks.  That was kind of my original idea in making the change.  It seemed neat to have steam, diesel, and electric locos all on the same layout.  However, I am finding the earlier Illinois Traction stuff very interesting, so thinking about back dating some, but who knows.  

Loco painting

Well, taking the first plunge into painting a brass locomotive.  This is a GHB Class B Illinois Terminal locomotive.  It has been disassembled to get it ready for painting. 

I do look forward to seeing

I do look forward to seeing your endeavors regarding your brass project; keep us posted.

My First Brass Paint Job

So... Finally getting around to getting my brass Class B GHB Illinois Terminal locomotive painted.  The brass parts were soaked in a 50% water and 50% store bought vinegar for about 20 minutes.  Then it was rinsed with water and dried with a hair dryer.  It was then sprayed with a gray automotive primer spray can.  

The roof of the Class B is a red oxide color, so I used a red oxide spray paint primer and painted the roof.  You can see the alligator clips I have on the end of skewers to help hold the parts that will be painted.  

Below, the truck frames and base has been painted black with Scalecoat engine black.  I have cut the weight in half at a diagonal 45 degree angle to make space for the Digitrax decoder.  Also, the brass coupler heads have been cut off and a hole drilled into it.  Then the Kadee coupler was cut and inserted into that hole and glued in place so that I can have working couplers.  

Below is the initial test run with the Digitrax DCC decdoer installed.  Seems to run really well.  

More painting.

I attempted to mask off the roof before I spray painted the sides Brewster Green purchased from the Illinois Traction Society.  I had a couple of leaks onto the roof.  I used some Windex and Q-tips to get the majority of it off as the green paint is water soluble.  I then sprayed some of the Red Oxide spray paint in a container and used it to brush over the area.  

This is after the paint fix on the roof. 

Looks great!

Always been a fan of the IT (used to run by my house in Edwardsville). That paint job looks spot-on!

Finished Painting

The painting has been finished.  The frame and marker lights have been painted Scalecoat Engine Black and the window frames were painted a maroon color, forgot the name of the paint I used.  Next step will be to use Future Floor finish to clear coat it, then apply decals for the Illinois Terminal using Resin Car Works decals.  

Very nice Doug

You sure dodged the bullet on fixing that run onto the roof.  Here's a tip you might not be aware of.  After applying the tape to the roof (make sure it's dry so you won't peel it off) spray a line of roof red along the edge of the tape.  This way the red will run under the tape which is no big deal.  Shoot the green over the red and remove the tape before it is totally dry.  Give it some time to set up first.  Another thing to think about.  The pigment in automotive primer it very large compared to model paint.  Automotive primer is thicker because it usually sanded before shooting the final color on the car.  This thickness will cover up and hide a lot of the small details on engines and rolling stock.  it is much better to use spray cans of primer intended for model use for this reason.  I like Krylon rattle cans but only use them on structures.

I really like your new brass locomotives Doug.  I know they are a lot easier to work on than your first steeple cab.  I gave up on mine.  It never did run as good as yours.  I decided to make a static model out of it and just park it next to the shop building......or mount it on a flatcar as though it's being shipped to a new owner or a rebuild center.

Looking forward to following your layout build also.  You've sure got a lot done this last year.  I'm sure it will keep you busy for a long time.  Keep up the good work Doug and thanks for taking the time to share it all with us..

@ Michael

Thanks for the info on painting and taping.  I will certainly try that the next time I attempt this.  As far as the class A loco, still don't have it "running" - that is one of my next projects is to get the decoder installed in it and see if I can get it working well.  And then there is the brass Class C also...

You comment about getting a lot done stuck me as funny as I feel like I haven't got much done...  My goal for this year was to get the layout to where I could start installing the overhead wires in January, but I'm not going to make that goal.  Right now I'm just trying to get these four locos (class A, class B, Class C, and an S2) a decoder and get them running so I can move some freight cars around this 10" curve of the middle module.  I'd like to get some operations stuff going which I think will help motivate me to get more scenery done. 

The prequel...

This is how I found the class B loco in the box.  The foam was seriously degraded. 

This is the loco after I had dusted it off a little.  A couple of brass details had fallen off of the roof.

These are the details.  The couplers and the trolley poles are in the bag.

I did take a picture of what it looked like before messing with the mechanism.  It seems to be a really simple yet very effective system.  The two can motors are mounted vertically on the trucks and a worm gear drives an axle, which then turns gears inside driving the other axle.  So, all four axles are powered.  One side of the wheels has a pickup that goes up to the motor and the other side goes to the frame and then wires take it up to the motors. You can see the original weight in the back which I cut at a 45 degree angle for the decoder to fit.

This is the initial test with the decoder to make sure it worked okay, which it did, before I took it apart to paint it.

Here you can see the original brass coupler heads which I cut off and replaced with the Kadee coupler heads.  Also, I have soldered the roof detail back on.

Nice Job Bro!

Doug,

Nice job on the painting.  Looking forward to the decaling and video of it running around your layout!

Dave F