Hope to hear more soon

More coming

Jeff --

Thanks.  For now, see: http://tinyurl.com/jffkexx

Free Lanced Model RR

I think I saw this on Facebook.

Who posted?

I'm not on Facebook, so it would be interesting to find who posted the SMR there.

We Want More

Don, looking forward to tales of the Southern Mountain.

Bill Decker

Alco power on the SMR

Keith Lane Shops on the SMR

The SMR fleet of Alco diesels includes 22 FA/FB units, and therein lies a tale.   The equivalent grade up out of staging runs to just over 4.1%.  (Equivalent grade is the actual grade plus a factor compensating for radius.  Joe F. mentioned this when discussing the rebuilt helix on his layout.)   Hauling trains up to 16 cars plus caboose requires 12 powered axles, i.e,, 3 B-B units or 2 C-C units.

The 22 FA/FB units were produced by LifeLike (before Walthers), bought at a sale, custom painted, and then later tested on the SMR when the helices out of staging were completed. That’s when the mechanism troubles became apparent.

First, 88 axle gears had to be replaced because of the now well known cracking problem.  But that wasn’t the only gear problem.  The heavy loading of the engines produced occasional gear slippage within the truck.  It turned out that the smaller of the 2 idler gears was about five-thousandths of an inch smaller in diameter than the Athearn gears they were cloned from in China.  That was enough to put the gears in only tip-to-tip engagement.  True Athearn replacements, 44 in all, solved that problem.

The third problem was discovered accidentally when my magnetized hole starter came in touch with the square bearings.  The bearings contain iron, as can be seen in the photo of the them clinging from the magnet.  That might not be a problem on most layouts, but is something to be avoided when running in heavy and frequent service.   Replacement required 264 pure bronze bearings from Athearn.

The final mechanism problem was improving electrical contact to prevent interruption of the sound in the FA units.  Wipers were made out of Tichy 0.015 Phosphor Bronze wire soldered to the metal side plates that hold the wheel bearings to provide constant contact.

The original LifeLike headlights were bulbs.  The bulbs are burning out as time passes because of the increased and constant voltage on the tracks provided by DCC as compared to DC.  The bulbs are being replaced by LEDs as they fail.  Otherwise, the fleet of 3-unit consists is providing regular and reliable service on the SMR.

We really do need a like

We really do need a like button, love your vision.

@Don Mitchell...

just wondering, are you the same Don Mitchell who had track plans in MR?    John

Answers

Steve -- Thank you for your kind comment.

John -- Yes, those plans were mine.

FM Power on the SMR (part 1)

No. 8, the Bluebird, departs Cielo Vista behind 2 SMR Train Masters.

There are 19 Fairbanks Morse engines on the SMR.  The largest group is composed of 9 H24-66 Train Masters, the “super power” locomotives of 1st generation diesels.  Six of these migrated from the Tehachapi layout of the La Mesa Model Railroad Club (LMMRRC), where I built them to serve as power for the required public operations in the early days of the San Diego Model Railroad Museum.  

The Athearn shells were slightly modified to reflect the 3 general appearances seen on the SP while in Black Widow paint.  Only the 2 shown below remain on the SMR, the other 4 having been given to a long time friend who is modeling the SP on a large basement layout.

SP 4802 has small number boards at both ends

SP 4813 has extended number boards at both ends

FM Power on the SMR (part 2)

Inside SP 4813

Making the Athearn TM’s perform well involved some minor work and one major change.  The minor work included stripping the mechanism down to its basic parts, cleaning off any old factory lube, replacing an occasional split axle gear, re-lubing with Nano-Oil, and substituting nickel silver RP 25 wheels for the original sintered iron wheels that had the pre-RP 25 profiles.

The major change involved replacing the original Athearn non-can motor with a coreless motor, the green cylinder seen in the photo.  These motors were found in a surplus electronics store by LMMRRC member Tony Andersen, and purchased in quantities of several hundreds.  They were huge bargains — less than $3 each for a tough coreless motor with the shaft mounted in a sturdy ball bearing.

These motors, apparently pulled out of old tape drives, have a couple of drawbacks.  They were too wide to fit in Athearn narrow shells, and just barely fit in the TM shells.  The wear of the paint on “4813” can be seen along the motor cylinder at its widest part.

They are very powerful.  It is impossible to stop rotation by grasping the shaft with fingers, although it can by done by holding a shaft with pliers.  That power allowed filling up the shell with all the weight necessary to haul long trains up the Tehachapi grade.

The other drawback was that they were apparently designed for 6 VDC operation.  That was a worry at first, what with up to 12 VDC on the rails when Tehachapi was still all analog.  However, the excess voltage didn’t cause any damage under heavy use.  The 6 VDC limitation actually proved to be a benefit because, installed in the standard Athearn drive, the top speed was limited to about 50 scale mph.  That was a close match to the maximum timetable allowed speed on Tehachapi, and was an immediate cure for running too fast.  

A Soundtraxx LC series decoder was used for DCC conversion.  One end of the speaker is held in place by Blue Tack on the top of the truck, while the other end is held up by solid wire attached to the decoder.  Eventually, all the speakers on the SMR will be replaced by sugar cubes, but for now the sound is adequate.

The motor is mounted by using silicon adhesive to attach it to the frame and the standard Athearn motor mounts, providing a very quiet operation.  The flywheel initially came along with the Athearn motors as so was kept.  However, it really isn’t needed for smooth operation and so was not installed on any of the SMR FM’s.  

Likewise, not as much weight was added to the SMR engines.  They were balanced for tractive effort so that one TM could not pull the maximum 16 cars plus caboose freight up the ruling grade out of staging.  Enough weight, however, was added so that 2 TM’s could lift the train even with several wiper cars in the consist.

What are the specs on those motors

manufacturer or unit they came out of?  Courious to see if there are any still floating around.

Motors were unmarked surplus

The motors are completely unmarked, including inside as I found out when one had to be disassembled to find out why it stopped working.  The cause was a broken commutator brush, the only known failure in what is now about 25 years of operation.

The surplus store has gone out of business, but had no idea of the specs when we purchased the motors.  Strictly an as is deal, and when they were gone, they were gone.  We speculated they might be military surplus because of the olive drab color, but that really has no basis for proof.

The SMR still has a few left, but is hanging on to them for dear life "just in case".

Photo FX

Don - I'm already a big fan and own several of books with your bi-line. This project looks great and I enjoy the graphics theme. My shots are always modified in some way. 

Thanks for posting. I'll be lurking.

@Don...

I want to thank you all these years later for your plans published in MR. From your plan I built my first serious railroad. I did modify them slightly but I want to let you know they were well thought out for operation and modeling objectives. My layout was featured in the March 1997 issue of Model Railroader. I'm proud of that accomplishment and owe it, in part, to you because of your wonderful track plan.      John

Re: @Don

John --

Thank you for the kind comments.  There was very little feedback back when I was doing commercial layout design, so words like "well thought out for operation" are greatly appreciated.

You're welcome...

Don, it was the right plan for my 14' X 13' basement room. It was the right plan at the right time.    John

Pictures

Don ....

Those leading pictures are wonderful.  How did you do them? 

Dave

Re: Pictures

All work shown so far has been done in the Apple ecosystem -- iPhone/Pad/Mac/programs/apps.  Here's another shot to look at:

This is very similar to the the first photo on the blog, but there are slight differences in the positioning of both the camera and the train.  Those count to the viewing audience, as I think most would agree that 1st shot is preferable.

But the viewing audience is not the first priority on the SMR.  That priority is addressed to the operating crews, and visuals such as these are only momentary representations of the purpose of the layout — operation, specifically switching that includes classification and industry spotting.

The operating crew has to be enticed to participate, and then entertained to keep participating.  Thus, my 2nd rule of layout design:  
    Prototype railroads are built for profit or public purpose while model railroads are built for entertainment.

These are not mutually exclusive (ex: Tehachapi), but the entertainment factor needs to be taken into account when creating the track plan and operating scheme for a layout.

FM Power on the Southern Mountain (part 3)

No. 21, the southbound passenger local passes City Yard on the way to the Cielo Vista station stop.  Apparently it was rushed out of the shops as the front herald didn't get applied

The SMR uses 2 Spectrum H16-44’s for power on the passenger locals.  The Spectrum’s are pretty good pullers, but they tend to suffer from SOS — Spontaneous Oxidation Syndrome.  Seems they run fine from Cielo Vista to staging but, if they are not moved between sessions, they just won’t start without a push from either a hand or another engine.

They’ve been through the usual SMR process of complete mechanism strip down, cleaning, lubrication, and addition of wipers but frustratingly spend a fair amount of time on the workbench.  Maybe things will change when more cars for the passenger local come out of the shops and the Spectrums will be required to run together.

The UP turn thrums its way past the KL Shops

On the other hand, the H15-44’s from Atlas are very good runners.  They came with Lenz decoders and funky green/red class lights, but have been modified with Soundtraxx LC and TCS decoders.  Still need white LEDs for the class lights, but those are in the “round-tuit” category for now.

The 3 shown in the illustration are assigned to a turn, so always stay on the north end of the line out of Cielo Vista.  The UP turn and the SP arrive in CV at the same time creating lots of action for the South Yard, City Yard, and Engine Shop operators.  It’s probably the biggest show in town.

FM power on the Southern Mountain (part 4)

No. 21, the southbound local, leaves Cielo Vista behind a pinch-hitting switcher.  The SMR 10-44's don't have steam generators, so a separate car devoted to that function has been added to keep the passenger comfortable.

The SMR has 5 H10-44’s that do most of the yard and city switching,  They occasionally substitute on passenger locals and branch turns.  Three are RTR sound-equipped DCC models straight from Walthers.  They have been re-painted into SMR colors, and have had weight added to increase tractive effort.

The other 2 are from different manufacturers, such as the 514 shown above.  Because they are different, how about seeing if you can identify the manufacturer's brand for the 514?  While you're at it, name the manufacturer of the coaches, too.

Industries

Sort of surprised no one took up the challenge of identifying the equipment on No. 21.  However, there’s been enough on SMR motive power for now to give an good idea of what it takes to operate the layout.  Time to move on to some of the industries.

Norton & Haibt Fine Furniture was kitbashed for the SMR by Dick Roberts out of some Walthers kits.  Dick is part of our local round-robin operating group and an outstanding scratchbuilder.   N&H was a change-up for him, both for using kit parts and for the size.

That size is part of my philosophy for industries on the SMR.  They should be large enough to justify both the amount and frequency of the traffic they see during the usual 3-hour op session.  For N&H, that means 4 specific door spots even though the loading dock is continuous along the spur.

Dick added a little detail touch to catch the eye.  One door opening is recessed back for an inch or so to add enough space for a couple of boxes and figures.  The back of the recess is covered with a perspective photo of the inside workings to create the illusion of great distance — just the thing to fit the philosophy of large industries.

Industries (2)

Here’s another kitbash of Walthers kits, this time by Dick Trotter.  Dick is another member of our local round-operating group, and a former Marine as well.  Thus the yellow and red colors of the sign atop the building.

There are 5 spots on the spur, which makes it one of the larger routing destinations on the SMR.  But there are other points of interest in this scene as well.  The green car (Linde/Union Carbide) is for industrial gasses and is classified by the AAR as a tank car.  You can’t always tell a car by its ”cover”.

The nose of the ALCO RSD-5 has an exhaust stack modified in SP fashion.  The loco is one of the SMR kitbashes, but more on that later.  For now, suffice to say that its regular assignment is the branch turn.

And then there is the fire hose shack at the end of the oil track and near the middle of the ordnance plant.  You might say the watchman has a bang up job, but that’s for later, too.

Photo filter

What's the name of the photo filter you are using on the photos to give them that "colored pencil drawing" look?