Author Archive: Scott

Almost a Mud Fest, definitely a RailFest!

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(warning – long post ensues)

With all the rain we had in Maitland on Friday night and Saturday it almost was a MudFest. The event got its name this year from the location. Maitland Nova Scotia is located at the mouth of the Shubenacadie River which looks rather muddy when the tide is out.

Setup began Friday afternoon about 3:00. We, the P.E.I. group, didn’t arrive until close to 4:30 unfortunately. We got to work right away and had the modules set up within a couple hours. By 9:30 the layout was pretty much up and running.

A “stitched” image of the layout (Ric Hamilton photo)

When we set up at trains shows the layout is much smaller (60′ – 80′ in length) and takes only a couple hours to set up. But with about 150′ of modules it takes a lot more time.

It was the first time we used my PS4 from Tony’s Trains Exchange and that took some time to get wired in. I was sure I had all the plugs installed so that the power phase would be right but somehow I messed up two zones and had to swap wires around at the board. At least it was a simple fix.

The crews get their instructions before the operations begin

Trying to sort out the shorting issue on David’s modules was another matter. We probably spent at least 30 minutes trying to sort it out. We finally rigged it so that it wasn’t shorting but the problem was not really solved. But, we were able to run trains.

The Fullerton kids
Some young railfans stake out Allegheny Paper as a great source of action.

Little did they know they’d get monstrous action!
(Check out the top of the building and the girl’s hand)

We left the school about 10:00 and went back to Will’s. Dave Thompson, Al Bishop, Ryan Nelson, and myself stayed at Will’s. Everyone else came back to drop off cars and arrange car pooling back into Truro where they were staying. Before they left we arrange the schedule for the next day. We were to meet at the school at 8:00.

The next morning I woke up about 6:00 and went into the house for a shower. I figured someone would be waiting to use the shower when I came out, but there was no one. Actually, there was also no sound of life from within the house at all. I went outside to see if Al and Ryan were up. Everything was very quiet. It was raining so I sat in the barn where there was some shelter.

Al and Ryan got up about 7 so I went into the house with them to wait. I was sure someone would wake up with all the activity in the house. But after half an hour we went back outside to wait.

David running a Port Yarmouth Turn. Some of these were too long!


Another Port Yarmouth Turn

At 8:00 I was getting a little impatient so I got Will’s phone # from information and dialed it. I guess that created a stir. Dave T. finally got up, followed closely by Will. We were at the school before 8:30 where everyone was waiting and a red faced Will had to take the heat for the late start.

The first thing we did was to get the coffee on (I was really croaking for one after having been awake for two and a half hours with no Tim’s within walking distance). We got the rest of the rolling stock on the layout and populated the industries with freight cars to start. We were ready to start operating by 10:30.

Al working the Hazard Bend Wayfreight.


Ryan running the Spring Valley Wayfreight


Shawn had worked out a great spreadsheet to create car movements on a modular layout. But never having seen the layout before he wasn’t aware of the length of passing sidings. Some of the trains were a little to long. But the nice thing about the spreadsheet was the flexibility to change things on the fly resulting in slightly shorter trains.

Operations went quite smoothly. We discovered a few turnouts in the yard that created shorts when locos went over them. They’ll have to be replaced before the next setup. Greg’s new Wye modules set worked quite well, except for a few shorting issues with some locos and the long reach required to throw the far turnouts.

A rare sight indeed – Steve’s got an almost empty yard!

Steve’s new 90 degree curve set looks great so far. He is using a new construction method found on the intern
et. It should create a fairly sturdy and lightweight module.

The PS4 worked perfectly except for about 4 times when it wouldn’t recover from a short. It would recover after I disconnected one of the leads for the zone. I figure it’s related to having several sound equipped locos in the zone at once. It was odd though because most times the PS4 would recover on it’s own. I will include a switch for each zone on the board to handle this situation a little easier.

One really stubborn situation we had over the weekend was some decoders that would get reprogrammed once in a while (usually after a short occured, but not after every short). What made it more interesting was that even though all three engines had different types, and brands of decoders they all got set the same way – Deceleration = 96, Vstart, Vmid, and Vmax = 0. Fortunately we had programmer set up connected to a laptop running DecoderPro so the fix was fairly painless. It was still a nuisance having to deal with it every 30 – 45 minutes. I’ll have to ask some of the experts on the DCC groups.

The Saturday evening slow-down. Our legs were pretty tired after standing for 10 hours!

Supper on Saturday was a barbecue in the rain at Will’s. We put Will outside with the barbecue while we set up a table and chairs in the barn. I think everyone was full by the end of it.

We went back to the school after supper to run a few more trains and called it quits about 10:00. Some of the folks staying in Truro enjoyed a video of trains running on P.E.I. that Shawn did many years ago. Then went chasing a real train in the Wentworth Valley. They had a slightly later night than we did in Maitland.

Hmm… a new fad in the memorial business?


Ray spends time railfanning.

Sunday started out like Saturday should have, although I still beat Will to the shower at 6:20. We had a great breakfast prepared by Sue Ellen, Will, and myself (I felt guilty sitting there not helping!) and got to the school about 8:00. We ran a few “formal” trains while we waited for the “public” part of the weekend started. Except for a few teachers that had some summer work to do, and Will’s family we didn’t have very many visitors.

Shawn enjoys running the yard.


Steve’s back in Hazard Bend

We started packing up about 1:00 pm and were saying our good-byes by 3:30. Everyone heading west met at a restaurant near Truro for a group meal to end off the weekend. We arrived back on P.E.I. about 7:30. By the time we done distributing and unpacking the gear it was about 9:00. My own bed sure felt good last night!

Dave has Port Yarmouth figured out finally!


Al switching the Spring Valley Turn


All in all it was a great weekend, as usual. It’s great that everyone in the UMG group gets along so well. I think it’s the informal nature of the group that makes it less stressful and a whole lot more fun. I’m looking forward to the Truro show this October. With all the new members and modules we are accumulating we should be able to set up unique layout with new modules no-one has seen before.

A common site during MudFest.


Coffee and spare locos were the order of the day.

Later!

Scott

Summertime Operating

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I guess it’s time to get back into the swing of things. Summer is not over, but I really need to get back into this on-line stuff. It’s been stagnant way too long!

I haven’t done anything new to the layout all summer. At least until this past weekend. I’ve had a PSFour from Tony’s for almost a year. I finally got around to installing it yesterday (sorry no pics of it yet). So far I only have two zones set up, Tidewater Yard, and the rest of the layout. Eventually there will be four zones: Bayside, Stevenville/Derwin’s Drop, Kenville/Chappellton, and Tidewater. The guys noticed a big difference last evening even with only two zones. The biggest difference was not having to press the reset button after a short.

The reason I finally installed the PSFour? UMG’s annual RailFest weekend is this weekend coming and we needed a circuit breaker. So I had to install in on my layout to make sure I knew it worked. And it did, flawlessly, right out of the box.

This year’s RailFest is called “MudFest, since it is being held in the mud capital of eastern Canada – Maitland N.S. We’ve rented a school gymnasium to set up our Free-Mo Style modules and operate the layout all weekend. It should be a blast!

You can see what the layout should look like, provided all the modules show up. There will probably be a module or two constructed at the last minute due to no-shows.

Anyway, back to last evening’s operating session. Summer operations are usually quite a bit different from winter operations in that fewer people attend. There’s usually two or three that have other things come up and one that takes the summer off completely. So, I have created scenarios for operations on the BS&T based on the number of operators on hand. For example if there are only two operators everything is switched by Wayfreights – TuB Rambler (East Bound) and Backwater Crawler (West Bound) and I run the staging train (Wholeinthal Turn) and the Transfer Turn. If there are three operators the third guy runs the two turns and I spend more time helping in yards or with helper service on Devil’s Ridge.

Derwin ran the Wholeinthal Turn last night. Here he is running past Chappellton shortly after departing Wholeinthal. Eventually you won’t be able to see the train running through this area because of buildings and other view breaks in front of the tracks.

Once he arrives in Tidewater he’ll hop in the company van and head to Bayside where he’ll make up the Transfer and run it into Tidewater. Back in Tidewater he’ll have to make up both return trains and run them out to their destinations. He’ll be a busy guy!

(Actually I helped him out a bit and did some sorting and made up part of his trains for him while he was out on the road)

Shawn is one of our summertime regulars. He’s operated with us the past few summers while he is on break from teaching in some exotic places around the world (like Taiwan, the Philippines, and Togo). Here he is getting the TuB Rambler ready for the trip to Bayside. It’s a fairly small train (5 cars) leaving Tidewater, but by the time it gets to Devil’s Ridge it’ll require a helper engine to make the grade up to Derwin’s Drop. He’s got a lot of work ahead of him since he has to pull all the east bound cars in the four towns along the way and put away cars that he has in his train for those towns as well.

Well, the way the evening progressed the Tub Rambler didn’t make it past Stevenville. Here it is parked on the Stevenville work siding. It’ll give me something to do while I wait for the next BS&T operating session in 3 weeks

Unfortunately, I got too busy myself to take many pictures so I don’t have any shots of Greg running the Backwater Crawler. He did make it all the way from Bayside to Tidewater though.

All in all I think it was a great evening for us. I certainly had fun!

Anyway, I’ll post a little something next week about our “MudFest” in Maitland N.S. this weekend. I’ll try to take lots of pictures!

Scott

The Summertime Slow-Down

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It has happened. Summer is finally here and with it are new things to be done, extra chores that aren’t required during the winter. Mowing the lawn, weeding the flower beds, and other outdoor maintenance tasks are taking time away from model railroad activities. There probably won’t be much progress on the BS&T until the fall, but then it will be crafting season. 🙁

I may not be posting many updates over the summer except perhaps some operating session reports, since we are still going to be doing that every Sunday evening over the summer.

Speaking of operating sessions, we had our first two man crew on the BS&T last Sunday. Greg and Ken MacQuarrie were the sole crew members. The two wayfreights did everything from yard work to local switching since, apparently, the local switch crews were on strike – or at Tim’s. Management even had to chip in to run the transfers and trains to and from “Points East”. I think a lot of credit goes to the crew to be able to complete a full session short staffed. Great work guys!

Anyway folks, have a great summer. Catch you later!

Scott

Picard Packers & Operations

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Finally – I have some pictures! The new building for Picard Packers is more or less finished. I still need to do some weathering and scenery work around the building, but here are some pictures of it as it sits now.

The main structure is made from sections of a DPM bulk pack. The rear of the building is just plain matt board since it will “never” be seen. The loading dock shelter is a modified Pikestuff car repair shop.

In an effort to try to make operations as stress free for operators as possible I am trying many different things on the BS&T. In these images you can see two of these things. The first is the multi colored sheet that lists the towns in each direction (East & West) as well as the expected order of trains through the area. The other new item on the valance is the track diagram showing the industries and sidings and their intended purpose. These items should help acquaint new operators with the layout and operations.

Speaking of Operations….

The BS&T saw it’s first operations since I completed service on the nearly 140 freight cars on the layout. The maintenance identified that almost 90% of the freight cars had wheels that were out of gauge, quite a few with trucks that were too tight to the bolster, only a few underweight cars, and a lot of dirty crud. There is a large pile of old wheelsets outside Fixum Car Repair as a result of this process.

As a result of the maintenence process there were certainly fewer derailments, especially at one pesky little spot on Daredevil Ridge. I think the new rule about stopping at the start of the grade and proceeding slow helped there as well. Part of the problem on the ridge was a turnout with points out of gauge. There were a few other derailments in Stevenville with the same cause. I’ll check those turnouts as I install ground throws on them before the next operating session.

The first operators to arrive last Sunday noticed a strange smell in the air. I had just completed wheel cleaning on most of the locos and the smell of rubbing alcohol was fairly strong. Dirty loco wheels was one of the things that caused problems during the last op session and I left it to the last minute, of course.

Well, that’s it for this update. Later!

Scott

Car Service

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My original plan was to work on the new building for Picard Packers last weekend, but since the next operating session on the BS&T is May 27th I decided my priority should be car service. So I’ve been working on that.

I’m checking weight, coupler height, coupler springs, wheel gauge, and cleaning wheels.

Most of the cars on the BS&T are weighted properly, but there are a few that are a little light. So I’m adding old wheel weights where necessary. Some flat cars and ore cars will be getting new weighted loads.

Coupler height has been an issue with lots of cars so it’s taking some time to get this one resolved. There haven’t been too many coupler spring issues.

Wheels and wheel gauge are another big issue. The wheels on almost every car are out of gauge – usually too narrow by a hair. As I’ve read, metal wheels are cleaner, but when they are dirty it’s a big job to clean them. Plastic wheels, on the other hand get dirty faster, but are a breeze to clean. Wheel cleaning is the dirtiest part of the process. Hmmm…. perhaps I should give Mike Rowe a call.

Anyway, I am about 1/2 done of this. I will finish over the weekend, hopefully, and get back into buildings and scenery next week.

Later!

Scott

Posting For No Good Reason

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I am creating this post for no reason other than to thwart some of the emails I will receive if I do not. Ha!

Other than working on freight cars this week I haven’t done much on the layout. Last Sunday I started a new building for Picard Packers – putting some of my DPM Bulk Packs to good use. I hope to get most of it finished this weekend.

In the way of pictures I will cheat and post some I didn’t use last week.

I’ve decided to call this area “DareDevil Ridge”, at least until I think of something more suitable.

I haven’t done much in the harbour area around Chappell Seafood in quite a while. But this should make a good “before” picture.

I have done a little bit of work to the Fred-Ex building. A couple weeks ago I put a foundation under it and started working on a fence along the street. Eventually there will be a fence all around this building with gates for freight cars and trucks to load and unload.

So, there it is – a post just for the sake of making a post. I should have some pictures of the new Picard Packers factory next week. The old one has been cut down in height and placed in the town of Stevenville where it will be the Corporate Headquarters for the conglomerate.

So, until then….

Scott

Better Late Than Never

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I know it has been more than a week since my last update. I’m sorry, okay!? Life has been a little busy lately.

I finally got to the basement on Saturday and spent about 6 hours there. I went down with the intention of working on cars – checking weight. wheel gauge, couplers, etc. – but saw all the stuff not unpacked from the Moncton train show. So, I went about doing that and saw half a box of trees that I hadn’t unpacked and thought I’d put those in Stevenville. Well, I figured Stevenville needed a little scenery work before I planted the trees. Four hours later I still had not worked on any cars but part of Stevenville had grass, there’s a bit of a weedy mess around the tenement, and the main line tracks through town are ballasted.

Then I decided I’d install a bolt alignment system for my main lift-out. I needed something very long in order to be able to adjust them through the benchwork. So, off to Canadian Tire to pick up a couple 8″ eye bolts and nuts. The nut is countersunk and epoxied into the main support for the lift out (centered side-side and front-back). The eye bolt goes up from the bottom of the benchwork into the nut. A few turns and no more shims needed. Works like a charm! So far I haven’t had any horizontal alignment problems. The notch for the lift-out is a very snug fit from side to side.

Since I’m in the tip giving mood, here’s a floor covering solution I found. Tired of sore feet and legs from standing for long periods in a room with concrete floors? I got these inexpensive anti-fatigue mats ($10 for 4 sq. ft.) at WalMart, but I’m sure other stores carry them as well. You really notice the difference when you walk form these onto bare concrete.

Sunday was spent doing an actual cleanup in preparation for the operating session that evening. I took 2 shopping bags of compostables and 3 bags of waste out to the cans! After 4 hours of work the train room sure looked tidier than it had! The next cleaning project will be the staging room/dispatcher’s office/storage room/paint room/… (and it’s only 6′ x 8′)!

I hope I have redeemed myself with this post. Happy modelling!

Scott

Moncton Train Show – Apr. 14, 2007

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Last week I was busy getting ready for the Moncton train show so I didn’t get anything done on the layout. So, for this update I’ll post some pictures from the show.

The weather didn’t look good Friday morning, it was Friday the 13th afterall. The snow started falling early and got heavier as the morning progressed. Then the wind started picking up. We didn’t want to start out on the drive just to get there and find out the show was canceled or we couldn’t set up that day. It is a 1.5 hr. drive, on a good day, and a $50 bridge crossing, so we wanted to make sure things were going ahead. A few hasty emails confirmed the show was still a go. Fortunately the snow stopped around noon and turned into a very light rain. We were on the road by 2:00.

We arrived and started unpacking the trailer about 3:45. Jean and Ryan showed up shortly after we did, so most of the modules were there and we were able to start setting up. By 7:00 the skirting was on the layout and trains were running. We still had buildings and details to add to the modules but we could do that in the morning. Supper was waiting for us at Jean’s house. So, off we went for pizza and a layout tour at Jean’s. Jean is progressing very well on his first layout. We were all quite impressed. Great work Jean!

After supper we were off to Dave Wood’s for an operating session. I, stupidly, left my camera in the van. Damn! There would have been some very good pictures. Lots of fun! Dave’s layout is very nice and chock full of operational activity.

We got back to Ryan’s a little before midnight and hit the hay.

We arrived at the show venue about 8:00 Saturday morning. We started putting buildings, trees, and other details on the modules, and added our emergency module when we determined the last guy was not coming. We were ready just as the doors officially opened.

The day went very well, although the relatively poor weather kept some people from attending. We saw lots of old friends and met some new ones. We had a great time as usual.


I wonder how many lies are being told!
Brian and Jean survey the show as Ryan talks to Doug Whitman.


Brian and Greg talk to attendees while some other UMG members take a break (right, in the background)

One of the things we love about train shows is talking to attendees. We try to answer all questions, and if we can’t we try to find the answer. We also love to provide an opportunity for someone to try running a train. We go along with them as breakman and give them a taste of model railroad operations.


Some views of the UMG layout.

The layout at this show was an arrow shape (very different from past shows). We try to not have the shame shape we’ve used in previous shows. The main part of the layout was 40′ long and the edges of the arrow were about 20′ long each (total 80′). This layout was definitely fun to operate.


Some details on Brian’s Northern Light and Power module

We try to keep modules fresh from show to show by adding new details, but some modules are in their 5th season. We’d like to rebuild some of them to keep the layout fresh looking. So, our goal is to completely rebuild, and redesign, about 20′ of modules (Hazard Bend) for the Truro show next fall. The Northern Light and Power module is one of them.

Well, that’s all for this update. I hope to have new pictures of the Bayside and Tidewater nest week.

Scott

Ground Throws & Montain Scenery

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Well, after the 1st anniversary operating session on the BS&T I vowed I would install ground throws on all my turnouts before the next op session, before I did any more scenery work. So far all the turnouts in Chappellton and Kenville have ground throws installed (about 30 turnouts). Then I hit a snag. I have no more ground throws! I might strike a deal at the Moncton show, so until then it’s scenery time!

I started at the tunnel coming from staging. The basic land forms were done a few weeks ago so all I add to do was color the earth and add details. This is what it looked like when I started. Pretty bland.

And this is what the area looked like after a few hours of work.

It’s amazing what happens to a picture when you have the white balance settings in the camera wrong. The layout lighting in these two pictures has not changed, but look at the difference with the white balance set for fluorescent (left) and auto (right).

The long grass is an idea I got from Harold Minkwitz. It is faux-fur from Wal-Mart dyed with Dye-Na-Flow fabric paint.

I’ll be getting ready for the train show in Moncton next week so I’m not sure if I’ll have an update. I will next week though with some pictures from Moncton, at least.

Scott

1st Anniversary Op Session

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Last Sunday evening marked the 1st anniversary of operations on the BS&T. The week previous was a mad rush to get things back together and cleaned up from two months of scenery and rearrangement work. Add to that figuring out how operations would work with the addition of the new staging area.

First of all I must apologize for not getting any pictures from the evening. Between trying to figure out the operating scheme, helping the operators figure out the operating scheme, and running a train once in a while, I didn’t have much time to take pictures.

So, here’s the train/job line-up:

Bayside Yard
Tidewater Yard
Stevenville Local
Chappellton Local
Kenville Local
Derwin’s Drop Local
Hotshot Freight (turn)
East/West Transfer (turn)
East Wayfreight
West Wayfreight

Things went fairly well, overall. There were a few track issues. Not all the ballast was cleaned up through some turnouts which caused a few problems until it was cleaned out. The over-center springs on some turnouts are a little weak. I will be adding proper ground throws to most turnouts over the next little while (as of last evening, all the turnouts in Chappellton have ground throws).

Early on in the session the Chappellton switcher developed some mechanical difficulties and a replacement loco was called in from Kenville. The repair crew had a look at it on Monday, fixed the problem, and moved the replacement back to Kenville.

The operating scheme must change to reduce the minimum number of operators required. Actually, I think I’ll have a couple scenarios I can use depending on the number of operators that show up. I’ve got it down to as few as 4 people (4 very busy people), or as many as 8 (16 with brakemen).

Anyway, at the post-session review the guys said they had a great time. The things they said they would change were mostly related to turnouts that the ground throws should fix.

So, until next time!

Scott