Tweaks
PROGRESS UPDATES ON PAGE 2 - 7/15/2012
A quick "tweak" to my Iowa Interstate Grimes Industrial Track layout this week. But first, let me set up the story.
On the Grimes Line the Urbandale runaround is the only active one on the line in my modeled era. Since all industries/spurs are facing point for outbound movement trains will run up the line, runaround at Urbandale and work back down switching the customers.
I had planned the Urbandale runaround to match the length of my staging area. My logic was that if it fit in staging it would fit on the line. After all I was never going to run mammoth trains (or a least what's considered mammoth on the Grimes Line) so the extra space would be good insurance.
But after 6 months of solid operations I never needed the extra length. All my trains, even the mammoth ones, never came close to plugging the runaround. Then I realized I needed the extra space between Meredith Drive and the north siding switch so that a locomotive wouldn't trigger the crossing protection when running around. Meredith is a good half mile from the switch on the prototype and while it's a minor quibble I didn't want lights flashing and gates dropping until the train was good and ready to cross the road.
There's actually a prototypical justification for doing this. The Iowa Interstate did shorten the Urbandale runaround prior to my era. About 1000 feet was lopped off the north end and a new switch installed.
Long story short I finished up shortening the runaround by about a foot, gaining the space between it and Meredith Drive.
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The "before" shot. The wooden skewer is the planned clearance point for the shortened runaround.
Track is pulled up and trimmed. Using white glue to secure track to foam makes for quick and easy changes.
Rewired and glued back down, the runaround is secured to the foam and allowed to dry.
The new shortened runaround with the remnants of the industrial spur curving to the west. Note the planned location of Meredith Drive compared to the first photo.
I'm moving forward on basic scenery and working in the Meredith grade crossing and hope to have some more progress photos shortly.
James
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Comments
Looks good
Looks good
Greening Up
Moving forward on the scene the base layer of static grass and ballast is down at the Urbandale runaround.
This is the first of what will be many layers of scenic materials. It also represents the final long stretch of "wilderness running" on the Grimes Line, which means I need to move to working on the more industrial parts of the layout.
James
Grass
I like your base ground cover. What brand/color/length(s) of static grass are you using?
Rob Spangler
Farm Pasture
Thanks Rob,
I'm using Scenic Express Farm Pasture as my base. Two passes gives me the depth I want and the blend has enough color variety that I don't feel the need to add additional shades. I'll of course go back and add additional materials on top of this, but its a start.
James
NICE WORK
Looks great. Makes me think of my wifes hometown in Council Bluffs Iowa. So, where do you find IAS model locos? Did you custom paint them? I model the UP in the Council Bluffs area on my layout and i have seen IAS trains in and about the yard there. Would like to have a few on my layout as well. Not to hard to weather as they keep thier equipment looking brand new all the time. Unlike the UP.
FREE LANCE MODELING THE UNION PACIFIC FROM COLORADO TO COUNCIL BLUFFS IOWA
CLIFF MCKENNEY
ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?
Looking good!
James,
This is really looking good! Can't wait for the next set of pictures!
Rick
Rick
The former Richlawn Railroad Website - Featuring the L&N in HO / MRH Blog Eastern Standard Time
IAIS Motive Power
The Iowa Interstate locomotives are Athearn units released a few years back. I modified the shells to fit on an Atlas drive and detailed them following my friend Joe Atkinson's lead. Joe models the Iowa Interstate's Sub 4 West End from Atlantic to Council Bluffs, Iowa in 2005. His layout was featured in the 2011 edition of Model Railroad Planning.
For the record I consider my modeling a 2 and his a 9.94 on the scale of prototype fidelity.
The IAIS does a great job of keeping their units clean, but I need to dust up the trucks and fuel tanks to better match the prototype.
James
Shut off for crossing signals?
Reading this post reminded me that in the City Of Industry/Walnut area of So Cal the U.P. main has probably 6 or more grade crossings approaching the Industry Yard. Often a train will stop just short of a crossing waiting for clearance to enter the yard. When stopped as close as 5 feet from the crossing, the gates go up and the crossing signal ceases flashing. When the train has received clearance to proceed, the crossing flashers are activated, and the road allowed to clear of traffic, then the gates come down and the engineer blows the horn and starts the train to move into the yard. I haven't looked at the electronics involved, but am wondering how difficult it would be to put a switch inline between the sensor and the signal allowing the operator to shut off a crossing signal if working a train close to grade crossing where the road would not be blocked by a train?
Thanks for the info.
Thanks for the info James. I will see if i can find any of those athern units.
FREE LANCE MODELING THE UNION PACIFIC FROM COLORADO TO COUNCIL BLUFFS IOWA
CLIFF MCKENNEY
ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?
GCP Options
Not an issue at all.
I use Logic Rail Technology's Grade Crossing Pro to control my crossing signals. They allow either automatic triggering using photocells or IR detectors or can be manually triggered. Overriding the system is as simple as flipping a switch.
However...
On the prototype Meredith Drive is about half a mile from the north switch on the runaround, space I had to compress on my layout. While they've got no issue with triggering the crossing gates I've got to be careful. I didn't want to manually trigger the circuit since it's automatic on the real thing. Hence the need to shorten the runaround.
James