The Pine Spur Branch

The branch starts just beyond Waipahu (above) where, for a few years, the railroad experimented using Shay locomotives up the steep grade to the pineapple fields. The Pine Spur was off the Dole Yard (yup, the same Dole Pineapple Company) where another branch went out to the Schofield Military base and airfield. Since the enginehouse for the Shay’s we’re located in Waipahu, along with a siding to pass cars to and from the branch, this little plantation town was a must have in my 1:48 scale world. 

Depot Road (labeled “ROAD” on the map) went up through town to the Oahu Sugar Company above the station. 

Not all of this can be represented in my space but I hope to give it the flavor of plantation life in the 1920’s. 

The branch winds it’s way out of the junction and above town. Your thoughts and ideas are appreciated. I hope you will come along with my journey. 

Great subject for a railroad

Hi Neil,

I am really looking forward when you start building this. I like the concept you choose for your railroad.

Happy and successful building!
Mark

Backstage

My train room is filled with stuff from previous layouts, office equipment, musical instruments, a sofa and coffee table, tools, etc. so the first task was to build a new partition to hide the man behind the curtain and his staging tracks. 

This will make a nice storage area as well. The framed opening was an experiment to see/feel how a duck under might work. The jury is still out - not that fun, for sure. On the right is a drop leaf entry to the staging loop. I removed this and took it to the workbench. 

Not too concerned about the solder blobs as this is meant for durability and reliability more than aesthetics. Before too much longer some holes must be drilled for the switch machines. (Reminder to self!)

Kudos & Motivation

Mark: 

Thanks! I post here to get this kind of support. It is hard to focus on the steps when the layout as a whole can seem intimidating. How do you eat an elephant? I’m taking this one bite at a time. 

This morning I need to make some calls regarding the reverse loop electronics. A lot has been written online here and elsewhere but the added tracks in the loop adds some complication that I am not quite sure how to address. Will one AR be required for each track or can I wire the approach to auto-reverse instead?

Nice, Neil!

I look forward to seeing the OR&LC come to life. Do any of the your collection of pictures have a digital life online? I would really like to get copies.

A quick grade check??

Hi Neil,

just out of curiosity, before you get too far along, have you checked the grade you need to clear the tracks on the Y below the bridge?? Remember any bridge deck supports below track have to be added to the height needed to clear the top of the trains passing below.

Some rough figuring off your plan - If that's about 2' radius, then you have about 2/3 of circle to gain the height or about 8' or 96" of run to get the height you need. For a 1-in-50 or 2% grade, this only gets you about 2" of height. That's probably not enough for your planned On30 4-6-0's, unless you really toughen that grade up. At 4% you might just make it without the track deck timbers of your bridge wiping the safety valves off the top of your boiler, but you won't be towing much behind your loco. 

Maybe a "DUCK HERE" sign is needed on the approach to the bridge from each direction?? 

Interesting...

I've driven the roads (Kunia Rd, Kam Hwy, and H-2) between Waipahu and Wahiawa many times, and to say that slope is steep is an understatement. I wonder where the railroad grade was....?

Will be following your

Will be following your progress. Any tips on hand laying track?

Phil

Digital Photographs

Ken:

There are very few public domain photos available. I was lucky to mention my interest in Waipahu to a guest of our Inn from that area. She has an 81 year old aunt who was a teacher in the town for years and called to see if she would meet me. She was uncomfortable with meeting me but provided a box of books and publications she had saved for my information. The coincidental part came when I shared the photo of the stores visible on the right beyond the bridge (in the first post) had dwellings upstairs where she lived for many years!

We were able to find the steel bridge that replaced the wooden trestle (in 1923?) and take a shot looking at this area today.

Not much that resembles the old place but still cool. 

Making the Grade

Prof (and Jeff):

The track leading to the wye will climb from the shores of Barber's Point up to Waipahu Junction so that the spiral can begin over the staging loops below (about 5" clearance) and using a 36" radius it should rise another 5" at an easy grade of (2xPi)xR/5.5" or 2x3.14x36/5.5 = 61.66" per inch rise or less than 1" in 50" (actually 1.6% but the curve does add to the perceived slope). 

The actual grade exceeded 4% in places up the gulch (name escapes me now) and I hope to represent some of this climb as the branch works it's way up to the pine(apple) fields. 

Handlaid track

Phil (Hobbes1310);

I had to laugh when I read your post as I have been encouraged by your blog (and your user name is the same as my cat!). Your method of laying ties strips is the same as mine but, for small areas, I just eyeball the locations. Templates from Fasttracks are used as a guide since they have worked for me in the past. This area is all code 100 and I didn't want to buy new fixtures just for the staging turnouts so they are being built in place - right over the template glued to plywood. 

Normally I lay/glue pre-stained ties to Homasote strips for a ballast shoulder. Not all narrow gage lines were backwoods affairs and the OR&L was definitely a class one common carrier.

I get spikes from the Proto87 store as recommended by Rick, of Tuphe & Tumble Railroad, and like the size. They are a bit harder to use only because of their small etched metal size.

If interested I'll take a few shots as I lay the turnout components since my method is far from the only way but works for me!

Reverse Loops

Neil,

If I understand your track plan correctly there is a turn-back loop shown in a light pencil line, and a wye entry to a spiral shown in dark pencil.  If that is the case you have two places to address reversing the polarity/phase of the track power.

On the turn-back loop you could double-gap the rails at the turnout shown in red and use a DPDT switch connected to the switch motor or throw-bar to reverse the polarity/phase.  Include the frog with the center loop rail as shown in the inserted sketch.  Simplicity.

The wye will be best served with an auto-reverser with suggested double-gaps shown in blue.

Auto Reverse

Dave:

Thanks. I actually have four tracks in the loop for staging. At each end are three turnouts and motors so the possibility of a kiss approach is there but one of the goals of this layout is to learn JMRI and use that to automatically route trains over the visible portion of the layout while I run the branchline. As long as the computer can pull the right train out of staging and head it in the right direction then how the reverser works isn’t important. 

I think (not a good sign) that an auto reverser couple simply be from the foul points of each staging track as trains enter or exit the loop. Tam Valley duel frog juicer may be able to do this but I will need a circuit breaker in line to test! 

The wye seems to throw a monkey wrench in this however as I imagine the other end of the reverse section would end at your blue line. Clearly I am confused about what to do. The easy out is to get more frog juicers. 

Hello NeilEr

Nice to meet you. Since you are from Hawaii have you ever run into a guy named umauma (sp?)?

You remind me a lot of him. Judging by your picture I would venture a guess that you might be related. Have you noted any large pods appearing in your layout room? 

By the way, your drawings look a lot like his too. Arkies (phonetic spelling) always seem to draw like that. Don't know if they called them that when you were in college but where I was for the first 3 years you were either an Arkie or an Aggie. Later at Berkeley labels weren't as important as learning how to stay out of the tear gas. 

I really do like that smile on your picture! If there were pods involved they seem to be benevolent.

Frogs, Pods, & Umauma

Hey Rick! I had to chuckle since I thought that my username change would go pretty much unnoticed. Yeah, I know the guy “umauma” better all the time. Growing up my family always called me neiler (and still do) and umauma is just where I live. I named my fictitious railroad Umauma Railway & Navigation (UR&N) with  tongue-in-cheek since it had several meanings. My wife hated it. 

The picture was part of a selfie that my surgeon took of us during my last visit. After nearly a year since a bike crash that landed me a vacation for eight days in the big white building, with room service and hourly wake up calls, I have been deemed repaired. Cycling is still really important to me but is relatively new compared to my love of railroad modeling. Priorities changed. 

I hope we can meet when I am in Sac for the NNGC in September. You are an artist and I, as an aspiring arkie, always admired your work. My professional life has shifted as well and work for government with all its warts. Speaking of warts, what about frogs and pods? I need some professional help!

the wye

as an Alternative you can isolate one leg of the Wye between the turnouts. On the return loop you can isolate the track between the staging  turnouts and the junction turnout.

Bob Harris

The Harris Solution!

Bob:

Ive been wondering if that would work. The only issue I see is if there is a train in the passing siding between the wye and the reverse loop. Would it’s direction change or is that invisible to the decoder?

This Is Exciting

Neil,

You have reinvented yourself and your railroad for sure. Somehow, I missed your opening day of this new blog. I had noticed the new user ID in another thread.   This stuff you are now into is exciting and it’s going to be fun to follow for me.   I’d say your room looks great - at least you don’t have an old truck sitting in yours like I do in mine.Can’t you exercise a little free form and add a turntable somewhere for those narrow gauge steamers?

Reinventing myself and AML

Steve:

I guess I wanted to open a new chapter so changed my username. Glad you are following along!

The announcement for this weeks on AML ViewerPost was a bit of a surprise! Yeah - that’s me. 

Looks Like...

The track plan looks very similar to the Sierra Pintada in MR of many years ago.  I wish I could remember when but it would not be a waste of your time to check it out.

Regards,

Ed

Sierra Pintada

Thanks Ed! 

For those that have access to the MR database, here is the link:  http://mrr.trains.com/-/media/Files/PDF/trackplans/2018/04/HOscaleSierraPintadaWestern.pdf

I haven’t posted the rest of my track plan that includes the second deck. It is too easy for me to get off track and head down as rabbit hole. For now this section of the layout is my focus but hope this weekend will provide some time to get more benchwork done and ready to move forward. 

Wrong Sierra Pintada

Neil,

The Sierra Pintada I was referring to was very similar to yours with a "Y" and a grade up to a mine.   I will try to find the time to find it this weekend.  Don't know how the italics happened but "no harm, no foul".

Ed

Smoke break

Well I don’t smoke but the union allows a break every couple hours so ... 

Lower Level

Upper level 

The branchline winds up behind the main until passing in front of the door where it becomes the upper deck. Any ideas for a transition?

Out of Waipahu, on the lower level, tracks both go to the staging loop. One direction would represent Aiea, Pearl Harbor, and on to Honolulu. The other direction would be Barber’s Point and Naval shipyard, and on to Haleiwa. When I have a barn for an layout space and a pile of money ...

The Right Sierra Pintada

Neil,

Check MR, Dec, 1965, page 40 for the beginning of the series.  

I hope it helps.

Ed