August operating session

I called the crew together to run the GC&SF again last night. A few of the guys couldn't make it, but we still had a starting crew of eight, which is enough to operate with a 6:1 fast clock.

Overall, everything went very well, although we had several problems with passenger cars separating. Many of my passenger cars have MTL trucks that I bought way back in the '70s, and they don't have the reverse-angle draft gear knuckles. They've been troublesome for quite a while, and I think that the time has come for me to do something about them.

Before the session started we had a show-and-tell from John C., who brought along his sound-equipped BLI PA locomotives for me to test out on the layout. The BLI PAs are the most accurate N-scale models of ATSF PAs available, but they don't pull as well as my LifeLike models (but then, what does?).  We cranked the sound right up (too loud, really), and were all very impressed by both their appearance and their sound. I have a few matters to look into, but it looks like I might get myself a BLI PA/PB set.

Here are some photos from the night. This is Darren collecting cars at Davis before making the run to Pauls Valley.

John C. (yard operator at Pauls Valley) is cutting the way-car from a southbound fast freight operated by Barry, before adding some freight cars:

Brendan is switching empty gondolas for loaded ones at Dougherty:

 

Vic is running the southbound "Ranger", which is being pulled by John C's PA/PB/PA lashup:

We were all impressed by how well these BLI locos looked and sounded:

So impressed, in fact, that I now have a PA and PB (both powered) on order.

Greg (yard operator at Ardmore) is switching cars while a northbound train of tank cars awaits the arrival of the southbound "Ranger".

Charlie's tank car train is sitting on the main track at Wynnewood waiting for the southbound local operated by Darren to complete some switching moves. When Darren has finished, Charlie has to swap some tank cars at the Kerr-McGee Refinery.

I think it was another great session, and I'm really enjoying seeing the GC&SF operated the way I intended. Thanks guys for coming over. The next session is scheduled for mid-October.

Thanks for looking.

Regards,

Ron

Another Wynnewood update

I've been doing a bit of work at Wynnewood lately, and the basic scenery is coming together. This photo shows the work in progress.  The roads are done, and I've made a strong start on the base ground cover in the gravel and grassy areas.  The area in the far distance is looking dark because the ground foam is still wet.

Here's how it looked a few days later, with the cars and structures set up in readiness for my operating session of 16th August:

I still have more work to do in the area behind the station, but I can't do that until I've decided what structures will be used there. I've also noticed that TrainCat is once again posting on the forums, and I'm hopeful that I'll soon be able to get some loading platforms for the refinery (they'll sit between the tracks where the tank cars are sitting).

Regards,
Ron

Car-card sorting shelves

I'm a big fan of car-card and waybill systems, but one of its weaknesses is the need for the operators to manage/juggle a bunch of cards in addition to running the train. It helps greatly to have 2-person crews, so one can drive the train and the other can handle the paperwork as would a real conductor. Then there's the question of where can the conductor place the cards so he can sort out what work has to be done. If the layout has no scenery then they might be tempted to place the cards right on the layout itself, but that's not acceptable if the layout has scenery.

To help my crews, I've installed shelves (for want of a better name) like this around my layout:

I stole this idea from Rob McM's "Pacifico" layout.

My shelves were made by gluing a 10mm strip of 3mm MDF board along the bottom edge of a 35mm strip of 3mm MDF. They were then painted and attached to the fascia using double-sided tape. You can get a better idea of how they're made from this next photo:

I contemplate that when a train arrives at a town to do some switching, the crew will place the car-cards for the cars to be switched out, or perhaps those to be collected, in the shelf nearest to the industry. Whatever works for the individual operators is fine with me.

My shelves haven't been tested in an operating session yet, but John F. has made some as well, and says that they worked out very well, and he received favourable comments from the operators at his last session (which I was unable to attend).

Thanks for looking.

Regards,
Ron

Operating session 14 June 2013

Last Friday we finally held the first operating session on the GC&SF for 2013.  I was a bit concerned about how things would go in Dougherty, Davis and Wynnewood, where I've been doing some scenery work this year, but as far as I'm aware there were no problems at all. One turnout at Big Canyon did cause some electrical issues, and we had some derailments caused by wheelsets dropping out of trucks (odd, since the cars are not new) and one problem with a coupler trip pin on a new Atlas car. But otherwise, things seem to have run very well.

The guys did a great job of running the layout, and it's always very pleasing to see it running the way I've intended it to be run. Thanks guys!

Here are some photos that I took on the evening. I didn't check my camera settings before taking these photos, and the depth of field is not good.

JohnF and JohnC (Pauls Valley yard operator for the evening) at Pauls Valley. JohnF is waiting for his train to ascend the grade from north-end staging.

Here's Rod with the northbound passenger Train 6 at Wynnewood:





















Train 6 is arriving at Pauls Valley, where southbound freight Train 37 operated by JohnF is being worked by yardmaster JohnC:

Over at Ardmore, yardmaster Brendan is removing cars from the Ardmore local freight, operated by Noel and Dennis (out of shot). Noel is selecting the car-cards he has to hand over to Brendan.





















Brendan is using his iPhone to run locos using JMRI and WiThrottle.  The system also works with Android smart phones running Engine Driver.  If you have a spare wireless router and a smart phone it's a great addition to an existing DCC system (wireless or otherwise).

Here's another photo of action at Ardmore, which turned out to be the only picture that I took with Dennis in it. What is Dennis doing?

Greg ran the Pauls Valley local freight.  In this picture, the locos and caboose have just arrived on the house track, behind the depot.

These photos taken by Greg show what can happen when a train's driver doesn't notice that a wheelset has come adrift from its truck:

The guilty driver (that would be me) was ridiculed for his lack of attentiveness, in the time-honoured tradition:

And over at Pauls Valley, someone forgot to realign a siding switch ahead of the northbound Kansas Cityan:

It looks like safety standards are slipping on the GC&SF!

Thanks for coming over guys, and thanks also for running the layout so well.

Ron.

Another Wynnewood update

Well, I didn't achieve my goal of having the base scenery down at Wynnewood by the end of May, and with the next GC&SF operating session just a few days off I have packed away my tools and equipment so I can get the layout back to operating readiness.

These photos show what I did get done, and trust me when I say that many hours of work went into getting this done! The first picture shows that I have installed the main roads and the brick and concrete bases for the depot and various industries. The large pads in the foreground are for the Kerr McGee refinery. I've also marked out where some secondary roads will go, but not yet built them.

 

This photo shows how the town looks with the (mostly unpainted) buildings in place, and cars spotted.

I want to install two or three of TrainCat's  tank car loading platforms on the concrete pad between the two rows of tank cars, if they ever again become available.
  
Thanks for looking.

Regards,
Ron

Wynnewood progress report

As today is the middle day of the month, I thought I should post a progress report on my plan to have the base scenery at Wynnewood done by the end of the month.

My temporary job as manager of the Akoonah Park camping ground is taking up a lot of my time, so I'm well behind schedule. Actually, it's not so much the time the job requires, as it is the frequent 30 minute interuptions to the day.

Nevertheless, progress has been made.  I've worked out where the roads will go, and made a start on them.  I've also built the core buildings for Martin Fertilizer and Musgrove Lumber.  The original plan was for Musgrove Lumber to have a row of buildings along both sides of the rail siding, but after experimenting with cardboard mock-ups, I feel that having buildings on the aisle side of the track will make it very difficult for operators to work the siding. I'll ask the guys what they think when they come over for my next operating session in mid June.

I've also installed the foundation and "brick" paving for the depot, and slightly realigned the station siding.  And I have painted the rails - the mainline got two coats of rail brown, and the secondary tracks got a coat of rail brown followed by a coat of red-brown.

I still have a lot more prep work to get done before I can start laying the ground cover. If I can't finish it by the end of May, I have a 'hard' target of getting it done before the June operating session.

Regards,
Ron

Martin Fertilizer, Wynnewood

I've set myself the target of having the base scenery done at Wynnewood by the end of this month. That's a big challenge for me as I haven't even built the core structures for Wynnewood yet, or even decided where they (or the roads) will go.

So, over the past two evenings I've been building Martin Fertilizer. I was planning on using a structure I made for my N-trak module, but decided I wanted something a little bigger, and more like the real building.

Courtesy of Google Streetview, here is the real Martin Fertilizer:

And here is my model:

I had to estimate the dimensions.  And I should have referred to the photos more frequently than I did because I missed one door completely and placed another in the wrong place.  I've left the roof off until after I paint the building and install the window glazing).

This building is not served by rail, but the location of the disused siding at the rear of the building leads me to think that it once might have been. That's certainly enough evidence for me to exercise my modellers' licence.

I will be modelling Martin Fertilizer in earlier (and hopefully more prosperous) times.  I believe that the siding behind Martin Fertilizer once extended beyond W. Seminole Street.

In the top right-hand corner of the last photo you can see some of the sheds at Musgrove Lumber, which is the next industry I have to model.

Regards,

Ron