Rolling Stock Additions- Part 2

Now that the west end staging yard is operational, it's clear that I'm going to need a lot more freight cars to expand operations. I established a roster of home road and foreign road cars in terms of types and numbers many years ago, and I've been following that loosely in terms of what cars to add to the layout. One of the most glaring omissions has been flat cars. So I recently set out to fix that by building a few home road cars and weathering a few foreign road cars.

First up are the two home road flat cars. These are Proto 2000 kits that I picked up at a local show last Fall. I added uncoupling levers and distressed the deck using an Xacto saw blade. I also distressed the ends of the boards on the deck using an Xacto knife. The cars were weathered using artist's acrylics thinned with Windex. 

Next up is a Tangent Scale Models 50' GSC flat car decorated for the Pennsylvania Railroad. This is an absolutely beautiful model but it is a little fragile. I removed the deck pieces and weathered them separately using water soluble oil paints. I started by sanding the deck with an emory board in the same direction of the boards. At first it didn't appear to make much difference, but I believe some of the grain that appears in the final photos is a result of this process. This was my first foray into water soluble oils and I wasn't pleased with the end result. It looked too dark and more rust-like than I wanted, so I went back over the deck with tan acrylic craft paint. This got the base color closer to the washed out wood color I was trying to achieve. I then went back over the deck with a thin wash of artist's acrylic ivory black and Windex to highlight the gaps between the boards and to add a little more texture. The rest of the car was weathered with artist's acrylics.

The last car is an old MDC kit that I bought back in the late 1980's. I removed the cast on grab irons and plastic stirrup steps and replaced them with ones formed from wire. The deck was originally painted yellow and I had lightly weathered it. As this car was relatively new in my era, the deck wouldn't have been subjected to years of abuse out in the elements. The deck never really looked right to me, so I checked a number of sources of online photos and found several from which to work. After painting the deck with Floquil Primer, I came back and weathered it using artist's acrylics.

In the paint shop right now are some covered hoppers that have a special story associated with them- stay tuned.

The JR Standard

Years ago a member of the Rensselaer Model Railroad Society wrote an article about the "Green Dot Standard" that they had established for their freight car fleet. The goal was to have every car on the layout meet the "standard" which included metal wheels, Kadee couplers, cut levers, and other details that I've long forgotten. This concept came to mind as I was re-working some older freight cars recently. Now that the layout is being operated on a regular basis, having reliable equipment is imperative. And as I add new equipment or refurbish older cars, they must all meet the "JR Standard."

The JR Standard is named after Jim Rollwage, whose beautiful Denver Pacific line of the Union Pacific can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMUCKyocX-4. Jim was one of the first people to introduce me to operations, and I was amazed at how well his railroad ran. Everything runs smoothly, nothing derails (without operator help), the cars take little to no effort to couple together- in short, everything works just the way it is supposed to work. Operating on his layout is a joy- and it clearly showed me that one could have a layout that operates like this with a little work. Jim's secret is to repair anything that is wrong as soon as it turns up. If a coupler is a little low, the car comes off the layout and gets fixed. If there's a slight kink in the track, the tools come out and it gets repaired as soon as it's found. Over time, with this kind of effort, all of the problems get corrected and the layout begins to operate like it should.

Most of my freight car fleet was constructed with an eye toward detail versus operational performance. As a result, many cars had low couplers, wheels that wouldn't roll freely and other assorted maladies. Over the past year, every car has been pulled and put through the shop in order to make it sure it meets the JR Standard. Here's what is necessary to meet the standard:
1) Every coupler must be at the correct height and must operate freely.
2) Couplers must be lubricated with graphite.
3) All cars must have metal wheel sets.
4) All wheels must spin extremely freely in truck journals.
5) All wheels must be in gauge.
6) One truck on each car has little to no side to side play while the other has some more play in it.
7) Any car that is too light to track correctly gets more weight.
8) The treads on all wheels must be clean.

I've  settled on Kadee wheel sets and #5 and #58 couplers for every car. I've heard enough about problems with mixing different coupler types and manufacturers to realize that I don't want to go down that path. Fortunately, I've been installing Kadee wheel sets and #5's from the start, so I didn't have to go back and retrofit these items. The primary issues have been coupler height and/or operation and truck bearings. A little spin with a truck tuner fixes the truck bearing issues, and coupler shims and/or washers on the bolsters have fixed all of the coupler height issues.

There's nothing more fun than running a long train across the entire railroad and having everything work exactly as it should. Switching is also a blast, and just about anything that has to do with operating the layout is a joy. For the first time since I got into this hobby over 30 years ago, actually running the trains is as much fun as building them!

Thanks, Jim. 

Progress Update #3

The control panel for the west end staging yard is now finished as you can see in the photo below.

In the past, I have used Letraset dry transfer lettering and Chartpak tape for my panels. Once the lettering and track diagrams are in place, I spray the panel with a clear flat finish to protect everything. However, for this panel I wanted a different solution. Dry transfer lettering is getting hard to find and isn't easy to apply. 

The first place I went to look for alternatives was the Model Railroad Hobbyist forum. I quickly found a solution in a post by George Booth. You can read the post here: http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/7237. I printed the labels in Word and took them to Staples for lamination. I then cut them out and glued them to the panel. What a great idea- thanks to George for posting this idea on the MRH forum.

Speaking of lamination, I noticed that the train cards on the layout were beginning to show signs of wear after a number of operating sessions. In order to protect the cards, I bought some plastic sleeves to hold them. Unfortunately, they wouldn't fit in the bill boxes on the fascia. I mentioned this to Jim Rollwage, one of the regular operators, and he suggested I get the train cards laminated. Another great idea! All of the train cards were updated and printed on card stock. I then took them to Staples to get laminated. As you can see below, the lamination looks great and will protect the cards for a long time to come.

I'll bet there's something else around here that I could laminate...

It's the little details

Adding little details can really improve the overall appearance of just about anything on a layout. From uncoupling levers on freight cars to trash cans beside buildings, it's the small things that can really make a difference. I have a number of small detail projects either in the works or planned for the future, and as I wrap up other projects I make a little time to knock some of these out. Here are a few examples.

When I finished the article for Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine on constructing the small truck dump tipple at Big Chimney, I knew the scene was going to require some more detail. In addition to a small office, I wanted to add an oil tank next to the tipple. The oil was sprayed onto the coal as it was loaded into the hopper cars in order to keep down the coal dust and to help prevent the coal from freezing together in the winter. Robby Vaughn sent me several photos of Ajax Tipple on the Lott's Creek Branch of the L&N and one of the photos showed two small oil tanks. That provided the inspiration to get started on the project, and in short order the tank was in place next to the tipple.

It was always my plan to add some additional weathering to the ramp up to the truck dump at some point, but studying some photos taken by Everett Young of tipples in the Pikesville, KY area showed some other details that could be added. It was fairly common for additional planks to be placed on ramps along the path of the truck tires, and I added these to the ramp. I also added Highball N-scale black ballast and crushed coal all along the ramp. And as you can see from the photos below, I added a lot of additional coal and coal dust to the area around the tipple. The line between the gravel and the spilled coal under the tipple had always looked too neat, and the addition of the coal and coal dust was a big improvement in the overall appearance of the area.The photo below shows the addition of the planks.

And here are before and after photos showing the addition of the ballast and coal to the ramp and the area around the tipple.

For the small office, I scratch-built a structure using styrene and a window and door from the scrap box. The office is based upon the manager's office of the Crab Orchard, WV tipple that you can see on the coalcampusa.com website. Here's a link to the site: http://www.coalcampusa.com/sowv/gulf/crab_orchard/crab_orchard.htm. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the photo of the office. Some barrels and junk completed the scene.

To finish the area, I added some static grass and some junk to the path from the tipple to end of the gravel road. I also highlighted several areas where the road has turned to mud.

When I first saw photos of the yard speakers at Clifton Forge on the C&O, I knew I had to have some of these for Hollister Yard. These speakers were used to communicate  with yard crews on the ground before the advent of hand-held radios. The C&O used them at many locations across the system, and I'm told the L&N used them extensively too. At first I thought I was going to have to scratch-build them, but then I found a beautiful casting from Details West of the speaker. A little yellow safety paint and some light weathering and they were ready to be installed. In the photos below, you can see the speakers in the west end of Hollister Yard. Additional speakers will eventually be installed along the east end, too.

The small switchman's shanty at the west end of Hollister Yard was scratch-built based upon some plans of a NYC shanty that appeared in Model Railroader many years ago. Given the proximity of the structure to the tracks, it seemed that some type of protection was needed for personnel existing the building. I had seen photos of similar structures with old rail used for this purpose. I clipped a couple of pieces of Code 55 rail, painted them safety yellow, and them mounted them in front of the door. Now anyone exiting the building will be diverted from walking straight onto the tracks.

It occurred to me while writing this blog that the switchman's shanty would likely have the remnants of an old coal bin either next to the building or nearby. The bin would have become obsolete when the oil stove was installed. Looks like there might be another small project to add to the list.

Studying prototype photos can provide a wealth of little details that can be added to scenes around the layout. And not only can these little details can really improve the overall appearance of just about any scene, but they are fun to build as well.

Three down and... a bunch more to go.

Progress continues on the west end staging yard. I decided to hand-lay the turnouts in the yard primarily because I enjoy this activity and I have found them to be extremely reliable. In the photo below you can see that the ties are in place for the twelve turnouts and three  are complete. 

Once the two remaining turnouts on the ladder on the right hand side of the picture are finished, I'll lay the track to the end of the staging yard. This will give me three tracks total for now. I only have three tracks in the east staging yard that are usable, so this should suffice until some turnouts are replaced  there. It's also become apparent that I'm going to need more motive power and freight cars in order to effectively utilize both ends of staging. Right now, the power off two westbound movements that terminate at Hollister Yard is used for eastbound movements that originate there later in the session. If this power moves off the layout into staging, new power will be needed to replace it.

There seems to be a natural flow about this that occurred completely by accident. As new units and freight cars are added to the layout, new trains can be added. Once the existing staging tracks begin to get filled, new ones can be added, and so forth and so on. Now if I can just get John Miller to part with a few more of his freight cars...

From Mine to Market

Moving coal is a big part of operations on the Chesapeake, Wheeling & Erie Railroad. In fact, it's the primary reason for the railroad's existence. The coal comes out of the ground at locations in West Virginia and Pennsylvania and is then gathered at numerous marshaling yards where it is weighted in preparation for shipment to its ultimate end user. From the marshaling yards, it is forwarded to several large coal classification yards. Once classified, long trains of loaded coal cars are sent to either Tidewater ports or ports on the Great Lakes. As the time frame of the layout is is 1976, the railroad is straining to meet the demands of the "coal boom" taking place at this particular time in history.

Previously, we looked at how freight was moved on the CWE using card cards and waybills. Coal moves similarly, but with a few distinct differences. The cards used for loaded coal cars are based upon the waybills that Ted Pamperin described in the February 2012 issue of Model Railroader. If you register with the MR website, you can download his waybill forms, which are Excel spreadsheets, here:  http://mrr.trains.com/how-to/articles/layout-planning-and-operation/2011/12/waybills-for-your-own-model-train-layout. I made a few changes to Ted's form, including the addition of a small box in the upper right side for the TIBS symbol.

The waybills above are for loads that originate on the Sand Fork Branch and will be picked up by the Sand Fork Shifter. Note the TIBS symbol in the white box with the red lettering. The loads from McHenry Coal Company are headed west (TIBS symbol Q1) while the loads from Consol Coal and South Branch Loader are headed east (TIBS symbol B1). The crew of the Sand Fork Shifter isn't concerned with where the loads are headed as they only need to pick up the loads and return them to North Pierce. This information is shown on the Train Card for the movement.

Note on the Train Card that the crews are only instructed to pull loads at each location without any reference to TIBS symbols. Once the loads are returned to Hollister Yard at North Pierce, which serves as the coal marshaling point for mines in this area, the Yardmaster will block the loads according to the TIBS symbols. The crews only need to make sure that they have a waybill that corresponds to each loaded car at the mine. 

In order to get empty hoppers to the mines, the railroad uses Empty Mine Car Route Orders, which are also described in Ted Pamperin's article and included in the Excel spreadsheet available from MR. I made a few changes to the form, including the addition of the TIBS symbol for each mine as indicated on the order below.

These cards are located at North Pierce and Nelsonville at the start of each session. The yardmasters know that they will have to supply empties for the mines based upon the information on these cards. The train crews receive these cards in their train packets, along with any other car cards and train information, prior to departure. In the example above, the Sand Fork Shifter will need to supply 6 empties to McHenry Coal Company (TIBS symbol I13) and 3 empties to South Branch Loader (TIBS  symbol I11) at Irma. Once the loads have been pulled and the empties spotted, the crew will leave the Empty Mine Car Route Order in the bill box, in this case the one for either South Branch Loader or McHenry Coal Company.

The waybills are printed on regular paper and inserted into plastic sleeves in order to make them more durable and easier to handle. The plastic sleeves were purchased from Everyday Plastics (http://www.everydayplastics.com/). The addition of these waybills and Empty Mine Car Route Orders has provided some more realistic looking documents and has helped improve the overall operation of moving coal on the layout. Many thanks to Ted Pamperin for preparing the article and sharing the Excel spreadsheets.

Video Tour of the Layout

Peter Thayer and his father William came by several weeks ago to visit the layout. William is the brother and Peter the nephew of Stuart Thayer, a good friend and one of the regular operators on the Chesapeake, Wheeling and Erie. Peter did a video tour of the layout while he was here and yesterday he posted it on YouTube. For those who are interested, here's a link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwCGD92m1s8.

Hope you enjoy the tour!