Layout Progress - Agent's Desk

I finally have a desk big enough for my work! This has always been a challenge, since we have a relatively small house. It means that the workspace I've got is always doing double or triple duty, requiring me to move something I'm working on to make room for another.

Most of the time I have computer work to do, along with things I'm doing on paper, with books, etc., and of course I also like to be busy working on modeling things. I've always preferred a large desk, so with the reconfiguration of the Agent's workspace, I could finally install one.

The original plan was out of stock, although when I finally got a chance to look at the display pieces I was less than impressed. Rather than wait for the full solution, I could use the legs I had from Ikea for the old desk, and build the tabletop now. It's a solid core door cut to fit the space, and stained with an espresso stain, since the wainscot was spray painted espresso.

Although it may not always be evident, I do like to be organized. My problem tends to be that I work on too many things at once, combined with the fact that I don't have a place for everything to go while I do so. Now that we've made such great progress with the major construction in the basement, the stuff is all starting to have an actual home. Which means it can be quickly and easily moved out of the way when needed.

As you can see in the picture above, the desk is separated into work areas. The Agent's desk is intended to always be clear, for ops sessions. Between sessions, it's the actual desk space where I can work with paperwork, books, etc. 

My computer, important for my work, now has a permanent place along with my phone in the middle. This lets me always have access while doing other things. 

To the right is my modeling workstation. Whatever the current project is now has a place to stay, instead of me having to move it out of the way when I need to do other work.

My primary toolbox lives on top of a rolling cart that fits in the space just to the right of the desk, and next to where I've set up the modeling station.

My favorite part about having a home for all of these things (and various in progress projects) is that I won't have to be constantly cleaning things up before I can get working on something. While working on the RS-2s I still had to move them out of the way frequently, and then get everything back out when I had the time to work on them. So this saves a lot of time and effort.

Another part of the design as planned are several brush plates to allow me to plug things in without having to install outlets in the Agent's office.

This way I can run several wires through to a power strip that is in the space behind the Agent's office. I did have to remove the end of the vintage lamp cord, since it didn't fit. But that was easy, two wires to unscrew then reattach after passing the wire through the wall. I installed three of them so I don't have any wires under the desk, or in the way on top.

I installed cork on the side wall to use as a bulletin board:

I haven't decided if I want to have anything under the desk anymore. The initial plan was for a small bookcase base that would point to the left aisle. But I've rearranged book storage, so that's not necessary right now. I'll probably look at some sort of rolling cart instead if I feel I really need it. 

Now I need to work through the process of hooking up the vintage phone system and the Agent's office will be complete.

Another shout out to Chris, Dick and Pete, because this really wouldn't have gotten this far without them. Thanks!

Layout Progress - Circuit Breakers and Fast Clocks

This is the sort of work that I don't do nearly as well as I'd like, it's time consuming, takes me longer than it probably should, but it's got to get done.

I've been working on the sheet rock, the benchwork for the bulk tracks on the wall opposite Whiting St Yard, and painted the door New Haven #292 Warm Orange:

Like the rest of the basement, the walls will be New Haven #246 Silver Gray and the trim is New Haven #212 Hunter Green. I simply take the paint chips for the New Haven Color Guide (available from NHRHTA) and have Home Depot match the colors. Oddly, their machine was unable to match the Hunter Green this time.. Too dark they said. Fortunately, they had matched it for me 10 years ago, and I brought in a piece of trim that I had already painted and they were able to match that.

I'm also trying to engineer the swing bridge (my preference) or lift out to connect the bulk tracks to Whiting St Yard. I have the materials to install the grid for the drop ceiling too, so the room is coming together quite well, if slowly.

Wiring Circuit Breakers

While the construction is continuing, I've also completed some more interesting projects. These go much faster...

As I noted in a prior post, I ran a new bus line all the way around the room to allow both parts of the Berlin Line to be in the same electrical block. The lift out is where the two sections meet, but I didn't want to make an electrical connection across the lift out since that would require plugging/unplugging wires to operate and it's across the only entrance/exit to the basement.

So I decided to figure out where I'd place the remaining circuit breakers, and rewire for those.

I had originally installed a switch to allow DCC or DC use, but now that I'm installing the PSX circuit breakers, it was time to finally remove the DC option. I mounted the circuit breakers for the main deck and the staging deck on the wall between the two.

This seemed like the best place to keep it out of the way, but accessible. To do so I used some scrap 1" x 3" lumber drilled into the studs, so I could mount the boards to a piece of Masonite across those, leaving space behind the board for wires.

Fun fact: the piece of Masonite was the test piece to see if it would work for building the helix. I glued two small lips (3/4" strips of Masonite) to stiffen it, and brought it to the NE Proto Meet and showed it to Bill, who immediately said, "I know what that's for!" He agreed that it looked like it should work, and I moved on from there. In this case, it was a scrap piece just the right length to span this location.

The main power comes up from the MRC Prodigy Advance unit on the shelf below, behind the board, and comes down to the input on the top left of the upper PSX circuit breaker. There are short connectors to the board below it, and then the output on the bottom left goes behind the board again, then up to run under the upper deck. This required yet another bus that I just ran to provide the power to the Stanley Works and Berlin Line. Between the center of the layout and the Stanley/Berlin Line circuit breakers there are three bus lines under the upper deck - the upper deck bus, the bus to the circuit breakers, and then the bus back from the circuit breakers to get to the other half of the Berlin Line. 

The right outputs go to the upper deck (upper PSX), and staging deck (lower PSX). Very simple, actually, and mostly required repositioning the existing wiring and allowed me to eliminate the DC/DCC switch I had installed.

Behind the agent's desk are the PSX boards for Stanley Works (top) and Berlin Line (bottom):

Access is through a window I cut in the utility room wall, which also provides better airflow to the furnace (which is needed). The input is the upper left, and the two boards are connected on the left. I haven't run the new Stanley Bus yet. The two wires to the left of the boards are the Berlin Line which will connect to the output of the lower PSX.

I tested them all, and power is flowing to the circuit breakers and not shorting. All of the feeders are ready to be soldered on the Berlin Line. I'm getting started drilling and pulling feeders for Stanley Works and the east and west sides of town. I'm also completing some track adjustments in staging.

To the left of the window the Berlin Line bus is connected to two terminal blocks, because I needed to run a bus to the three (!) different sections of the Berlin Line:

You can see that one of the bus lines goes back through the window, and then circles the entire room to get to the Berlin Line. The others connect to Whiting St Yard and the bulk tracks.

My initial plan was to separate the main line into its own circuit, but it's really not necessary. I still have to cut gaps for the different blocks as well. But I have 4 blocks now for short protection:

1. New Britain. This is the main deck, from just before you exit the top of the helix from Hartford, to just after you enter the helix toward Plainville. 
2. Berlin Line. This will keep the two switching crews in separate blocks for a lot of the session. This starts just east of Elm St on the Berlin Line, to the end of the Berlin Line Staging.
3. Stanley Works. Again, this keeps this crew entirely independent electrically from the others.
4. Staging. This includes the helixes.

The goal is to largely isolate each crew electrically so that if one causes a short, it won't affect the other crews. There will be times when both switching crews are working parts of New Britain (I think), and two crews will operate in the same block for through trains. But for probably 80% of the session, each crew is isolated electrically.

Installing Fast Clocks

Another project that has been a long time coming is to install fast clocks. I've looked at a number of options, but the key for me is that I wanted analog clocks. So I'm using the FCC4 by Mike Dodd. (He has a great website for his model of the Virginian too, although unfortunately it was dismantled when they moved. He is working on a new one.)

It's a pretty simple system. There's a controller, you can wire some switches for additional control to it, and then use modified quartz clock movements installed in cheap clocks. You can purchase the controller as a kit, and he also shows you how to modify the movements yourself, or you can buy them preassembled by Mike, which is what I did. I've had them for some time, and had a number of clocks ready to convert.

I installed the controller next to the PSX circuit breakers, and used a surface mount electrical box to house the switches. The upper left turns the power to the system on/off. The upper right starts and stops the clocks. The lower left is a fast forward switch (which causes them to run 17x faster than normal), and the push button resets all the clocks to your start time. There are dip switches on the circuit board to change the fast clock ratio, for now I have it set at 4:1, I might experiment with 3:1 as well.

Right now I have one clock I built into the fascia at the station:

There's a second clock at the agent's desk:

It also conveniently hides the seam between the two pieces of plywood. 

I installed a larger wall clock next to where the phone will be at Whiting St. Yard:

The square hole is where I'll run the wires behind the phone. This one is behind the door if it's open, but I don't anticipate having that door open during sessions unless somebody needs to go into staging for some reason.

I needed to order another movement and a couple of sets of hands. Once those arrive, I'll install one above the other desk, plus one in the center of the staging level. Basically I want at least one visible from all of the common operating locations. Since the staging will probably be behind a skirt/curtain, they'll need one. And if the crew is using the desk to work on paperwork, they'll have one right there as well.

The system supports up to 15 clocks. I have three of the smaller ones that I haven't used yet, and when we get to the next shakedown session I'll see if we need to put up a few more. I'm thinking that maybe I'll need one near Stanley Works, although they do have a clear view to the one at the station.

Roster - Locomotives - DERS-2c (RS-3) Locomotives

DERS-2c (RS-3) 529 in New Britain Yard with circus train c1953/4. Kent Cochrane photo.

Since I've started detailing and putting decoders into locomotives, plus narrowing my operating hours, I've started revisiting my research to verify what I'll need.

The DERS-2c (Alco RS-3) locomotives were delivered in 3 groups, 517-536 from August-September 1950; 537-546 in October-November 1951, and 547-561 in January-February 1952. 

Based on my notes from the past, I was planning on building at least six RS-3s, maybe as many as eight. Here's the info I've had on my site for years:

DERS-2c Assignments 4/27/52

526 - NY-2, YA-1

530 - NY-2, YN-1

531 - AY-1, YN-1

537 - 463

545 - 444

546 - 157, 421, 446, 472

DERS-2c Models

520

526

530

531

545

546

My initial choice for road numbers was based in part on the fact that I have four of Athearn 520. The Athearn is the most accurate option, although the cab windows are better in other models. But I have so many of this one because it's the only one released in the delivery scheme with the air-cooled stack. I selected four road numbers for the 1950 delivery, and two for the 1951 delivery since I have two undecorated models.

However, looking at the September 1952 assignments, there have been some changes:

 

523 - 444

532 - NY-2/YN-1

533 - NY-2/YN-1

538 - 467

555 - 446/443/458 (probably a typo and should be 448)

556 - 150/157

557 - 472

558 - 458/463

Now we're up to eight. But once I start looking at my schedule, that eliminates 448/458/467 along with NY-2/YN-1, eliminating 523, 533, and 538.

But digging a little deeper, the RS-3s were only in service on many of these trains until the Budd RDCs were delivered. So by November 443/446/458/460/463 were all handled by a new RDC-2.

That leaves only two RS-3s, 523 for train 444, and 556 for 150/157. So I went from 6-8 to only 2 RS-3s to model, one in each of the delivery schemes.

I'm still lacking engine assignments for 1951 (except steam, I wish I knew who copied that part so we could get the rest...).  In 1950, all passenger trains on the Highland were handled by RS-1s. It has been mentioned in several articles that they lacked the acceleration needed to maintain their schedules and were replaced "within weeks" but the engine assignments indicate they served the Highland Line passenger trains for at least 3 years, through 1950. In April '52 almost all of them are in yard service, after all of the RS-3s had been delivered.

The primary purpose of the RS-3s was to complete the dieselization of the NH (along with the C-Liners). By November '51, had the RS-3s bumped the RS-1s off of Highland passenger service? I'm going to guess that yes, some of them had been replaced already, since they were being serviced in April 1952 with locomotives delivered in 1951; 537, 545, 546. 

So that gives me a roster of 5 RS-3s:

523 - 1952

537 - 1951 - delivered 10-19-51

545 - 1951 - delivered 11-9-51

546 - 1951 - delivered 11-8-51

556 - 1952

While I haven't set a specific date for operations, I know I'm thinking early November, and a Monday. If I set that to the first Monday in November, then in 1952 that's November 5. Which leaves me with a roster of 3 RS-3s: 523, 537, and 556.

I like that not only because it reduces the number of locomotives needed, but it also puts the layout in the middle of a transition. An RS-3 is running on passenger service, but so is an RS-1. In 1950, train 157 is a DERS-3 (H16-44) and 131/136 is running with a DER-1 (DL-109), so each train has different motive power if I carry those forward.

Only one is from the 1950 group, but if I can get a good match for the Pullman Green used on the Athearn model it won't be hard to mask to paint the hood top

Structures and Scenery - How Big?

One of the things that I've noticed over the years is that non-railroad portions of many layouts are under scale. In particular, this tends to be the case for roads, trees, and structures. I'll address roads and trees at a later time, but let's look at structures.

Many times structures one model railroads are undersized. This is particularly true of industrial structures such as factories. Why would this be? 

To start with, a lot of commercial structures seem to trend towards compressed. This makes some sense, since they want to make the building capable of fitting on more layouts. Not everybody has the space for very large factory buildings, for example, and I believe the most common layout footprint may still be a 4' x 8' sheet of plywood. One or two large industries fill up a lot of space on a layout that size.

There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but I really like the idea that sense of scale with really large industries. Particularly when modeling railroading's past, it's a reminder of the sheer scale of industry that was spawned by the industrial revolution. For example, the Stanley Works and Russell & Erwin smoke stacks.

Of course, big industries take a lot of space. And other compromises come into play when building a model railroad. For example, if you're building a double-deck layout, the clearance can often limit how big you can go. But my general approach is to start with a scale footprint, and then make modifications from there.

Right now I'm tweaking the corner to the east of Elm Street. New Britain Yard, between Elm and Main Streets, is modeled somewhere between 70% and 80% to scale. I haven't measured things in a while. While this seems very high, there are still compromises that must be made with even that amount of compression. We'll see what impact that has when I get to building the structures.

But east of Elm St is worse, because the track has to curve back around to the helix. As I've noted, on the prototype this section of track is curved the opposite direction. So nothing can be in the exact place it should be.

So how does that affect the scenery, particularly the structures? As it turns out, City Coal & Wood, later City Supply, can be modeled almost entirely to scale. The placement of some elements might be a little off, but overall it can be modeled very faithfully. 

As you can see in this picture, I've cut out footprints of the two main buildings. These are fully to scale and will fit pretty well. Here's a reminder of the prototypical layout. Note that the coal bins, the footprint on the right, is already gone in this photo.

So the oil tanks can be modeled, just not in the exact location. I can probably add a bit of the structures across the parking lot, which are still part of the same industry. But what's different is that Swift & Upton/New Britain Lumber Company won't be in the correct location behind it. Instead, it has to be next to it as the track curves away from the first industry on the layout,

Furthermore, it's clear that the prototypical length of the lumber sheds won't fit at all. They would cross over the mainline, and it leaves no room for the stacks of lumber that are outside. Clearly this will have to be shortened or, more likely, run into the backdrop. 

Fortunately, these are very straightforward and plain structures. There are no windows or loading doors, no real features that would indicate that the model is compressed. Most of the time, this is much more complicated.

Another signature structure will be the freight house. Fortunately it looks like I'll be able to model that do scale, a full 7 1/2' in HO scale. I'm going back to the Sanborn maps to cut out scale footprints for the other structures I'll be modeling, and use that as a starting point to see what will need to be compressed for each of them as well. Part of the art of model railroading, is figuring out how to compress things without losing the character of the scene. Most of the structures are still a ways off, but it's good to revisit the plan and see how things fit together while I'm (re)finalizing the plan, gluing track down, and dropping feeders. Because after that's done I'll get to work on ground cover, roads, and ballast. Knowing the footprints of the structures will be important to get worked out before I do that.

Good Enough

A common "standard" that is promoted in model railroading is "good enough." But what does that really mean?

It means whatever you'd like it to. That is, you decide when a given model is "good enough" that you're happy with it.

We all have to decide how much time, effort, and money to put into whatever we're modeling. In addition, our own skill level may be a limitation, although we always have the option of paying somebody else to do what we feel is beyond our skills. For example, hiring Pierre Oliver to build your resin kits. Many people pay to have decoders installed for them. I know a lot of folks that have paid others to finish their brass steam too.

Many modelers have different bars for different things. I've seen layouts with exquisitely detailed scenery and/or models, with sloppily applied ballast. It's not uncommon for modelers to put more effort into locomotives, cabooses, and home road cars than those or foreign roads. Although I think this often has to do with the information readily available, although the internet has changed that considerably.

For me, "good enough" is a moving target. Many of the compromises I choose today are "temporary" and I intend to address them in the future. For example, for most RTR cars I just put them on the layout as is. And for plastic kits, I often do the same with the idea that if I had purchased them RTR, they would have just gone on the layout. That doesn't mean I won't go back and make modifications, add missing parts, etc. Just that I'm not doing so now.

This also applies to things that are beyond my skill set right now. As my skills improve, I'll go back and upgrade things at a later date.

Other times, projects go on hold while I accumulate the information or parts I need. This happens because I often have more opportunities for research than hands-on modeling. Chris and I joke that the curse of prototype modeling is that once you know, you know. I'd rather not know that K-1-d #479 has Southern valve gear, and that it was the locomotive assigned to the New Hartford local. But I know. And I care...for now.

When I get to the point that I'm getting my steam ready for operation, the model very well may retain the Baker valve gear that's already on it. At least until I, or somebody I can pay, can replace it. It might never be altered.

Because the reality is, I'd rather know and choose not to make the modification, than not know.

My goal, though, is for everything to be modeled as prototypically as possible. The trains, the track, the scenery, and also things like the movement of trains, operations, and the paperwork too. I've been going over some of the operations and paperwork recently, but what is "good enough" for my physical models?

I know what my capabilities and standards are for diesels now that I've completed the RS-2s. Locomotives, cabooses, and passenger cars are the three key types of equipment that I'll need to be able to operate regularly. So those are where I'll continue to focus my equipment modeling for now. Freight cars will be primarily RTR with whatever issues they have, and I'll address that later on. But the ultimate goal is for everything to meet the standard set by those locomotives.

And I think that's ultimately what 'good enough' is - the point where your capabilities, resources, and goals meet. That doesn't mean that you're limited to your capabilities and resources today, though. Stretch yourself. Work on the things within your current skills now, and as they improve, you can grow into your goals.

An example? Stanley S-1. With some encouragement, particularly from Dick, I'm moving more toward scratchbuilding it entirely. I've got several potential chassis that I can use, but they aren't quite right. What's changed? I think that it is a combination of the few structures I've scratchbuilt so far, combined with finding creative approaches for scratchbuilding small details for the RS-2s. At this point I think that scratchbuilding steam is still beyond my current skillset, but it's growing. In the meantime, I've gotten to the point where I understand how I can go about it. What pieces will be needed, and how to fabricate them. One option is to start with a kitbash, then either upgrade that, or scratchbuild it afterwards. But if I'm going to scratchbuild it, then I might as well put the time that I would use kitbashing into something else. 

I can operate without it, using 'leased New Haven power.' But now that I've put the effort into the RS-2s, I'm not sure a kitbash for the Stanley locomotive is good enough for me anymore. In the meantime, I have a layout to complete...