Construction Update #2 - Track, Power & Trains (Running)

The Track Gang Arrives

October 23, 2024

Sheet cork, purchased from Amazon, was glued down to the pink foam and then the main track and two sidings were laid out with a Sharpie and straight edge.  Hopefully the cork will help reduce track noise. 

 

Here is a picture of the West end.  The footprints for the free standing structures were cut from copy paper.  The bulk fertilizer dealer is on the far left; the depot is on the right.  Several miner changes were made to the track plan during this process.  There will be three packing house fronts along the backdrop.

 

Walthers Code 83 turnouts were used so the last tie at the end of the rails will need to be removed to allow the rail joiners to slip on.  I saved the ties, filed off the tie plates and spikes, and set them aside for future use.  They will be slid under the rail joiners after the turnouts are glued in place.

 

I also like to solder the power drops to the bottom of the rail, instead of the side, before the track is glued down.  This insures that a "blob" of solder doesn't unrealistically show up on the side of the rail in a photo.  Before the leads are soldered to the bottom of the rails, I roughen up the bottom of the rail.

The leads and rail are tinned and then the leads are soldered to the bottom of the rails.  As can be seen in the following photo, the leads will eventually be covered by ballast.

 

Holes were drilled directly beneath the rail, the leads were passed through the bench work and the track was glued in placed with Aleene's Tacky Cement.

 

A Depot for Redbanks

The prototype didn't have a depot at Redbanks but I decided to include one anyway.  Originally I thought I would build a American Model Builders Southern Pacific Type 23 Depot for Redbanks.  Instead, I have decided to use a modified Type 22 depot I started but never quite finished to represent the Southern Pacific's depot at Paso Robles, CA.   Modifications included the addition to the upstairs living quarters on the left, the roof and the restrooms on the far right.  Changes were also made to the baggage room which included adding to its length and rearranging the doors.

 Here is a picture of the original kit.

 

Testing locations with "Mock-ups"

The original plan was to use the Showcase Miniatures packing shed shown below to represent Redbanks Packing (Barr Packing).  But, after building a quick mock-up I decided it was much to small to represent a major shipper on the Visalia Electric.

As a result, I decided to add on to the "packing shed" portion of the structure.  Here is the end result.  The addition line is just to the left of the reefer.  It took about a half an hour to cut, assemble and paint.

 

Getting Trains Running

October 26, 2024

The layout is powered using a NCE Power Cab.  A small box was built to hold the control panel and the box was then screwed to a shelf located in the bookshelves below the layout.  The leads were then connected to a terminal on the back of the box and....  Trains were running.

The next step involved making up some car cards and mounting the car card box to hold them.  The box was made from stryene and the car cards and waybills came from Micro Mark.  Now, anytime I want to run a train I can do so with absolutely no preparation. 

We Honest Grade Crossing Signals

Since shelf layouts tend to be small switching layouts, builders often look for methods to slow the pace of operations.  Since it is not unusual for the prototype to trigger grade crossing signals on branch lines or industrial leads manually, I thought such a installation on the Visalia Electric would add interest and enhance operations.  The process normally requires the train to stop prior to the crossing, manually trigger the signals and wait a predetermined amount of time before crossing.  A toggle, mounted on the fascia will be used to trigger the signal circuit.  The package shown below was purchased on ebay for $40 including shipping.  It can also be purchased with sound, for $60, which I find becomes annoying in short order.

About 3 weeks in and trains are running!

Your comments, suggestions & questions are always welcome

sdepoio@outlook.com