The Nerve Center

When I first conceived of this layout plan, there was one critical element that simply HAD to be there.  A reasonable representation of the shops and roundhouse at Hagerstown, Maryland.

This was the major division point on the Western Maryland, where the East Subdivision branches from Baltimore, Hanover and Shippensburg met the main line to Cherry Run, and then onto the Cumberland Extension to go west.  To support this nexus of east and west, the WM chose Hagerstown to be the location of its primary shops.

Obviously, there was no way for me to replicate the entire facility, especially since I also need to have a functioning model railroad yard in the same space.  But with a little selective compression, a lot of old Heljan roundhouse kits, and some very useful input from my on-line design committee, I came up with a plan that offers not only some of the operating potential of a division point terminal, but also the look and feel of Hagerstown.

My one cop-out, and admission that I can't fully do justice to Hagerstown, is that I refer to my facility as Ridgeley, which in reality was a much smaller yard at the west end of the Cumberland Extension.  This is appropriate, since my operations are more based on the west end than the Hagerstown area, although I do take advantage of thru trains from the east arriving with Reading locomotives on the point.

Anyway, the focal point of the yards will be without a doubt, the engine terminal and shops.  I want to convey the importance of Ridgeley to the operations of my railroad, and nothing can do this better than a substantial set of buildings, complete with interior and exterior lighting to demonstrate around-the-clock activity.

I think I'm getting close to that.  At the far left, you see the two arrival/departure tracks that will serve the yard which will be beyond the left edge of the image.  Next, there is a caboose servicing track, then the westbound ready tracks.  The Walthers 130' turntable anchors the scene, and is surrounded by the car shops and a 20 stall engine house.  The eastbound ready tracks are at the lower edge of the scene.

At the lower left hand corner, the first track to the left is the drill track, where the yard switcher can work cuts of cars in and out of the classification tracks, and the main lead from the main line through to the yard is next.

This will be a very active part of the layout.  As a bridge route with connections to the east and west, lots of run through power from the Reading and Norfolk and Western will make appearances here.  And the steep grades and tight curves west of Ridgeley will require different types of power than the lines east of the yard, so there will be a lot of reasons to change engines here.  Cabooses will also be swapped, as the Hagerstown pool will work east, the Elkins Pool will work west, and the foreign road cabs will have to be turned around and sent back to home rails.

All the while, the BL2 switcher will be slugging it out switching the yard building blocks of cars for various destinations east and west to keep that Fast Freight Rolling.  For me, this is the nerve center of the layout, and facilitates the type of operations I enjoy.  All of them.  I can put together a local to run up the hill to Thomas, or to the paper mill at Luke.  I can pick up a hot cut of cars bound for Connellsville and send them west down the Youghiougheny, or I can spend a busy hour or two shifting cars in the yard to build the blocks for next time.  It's all very satisfying to me.

The best part about using a fully functional model railroad yard is that you never run the same train twice.  Oh sure, maybe you've got a cut of coal hoppers that always seem to make the same trip, but you can even mix them up with the judicious use of car cards and waybills.  And for those times when I want to just send a train around in endless orbits, I have that option available as long as I pay a little bit of attention to a couple of turnouts.  With the staging yards I've built, at the end of the night, I can just bring that train (or two!) in for a landing, make a note of which trains are parked where, and I'm ready to run loops again, or have a full blown ops session the next time out.

Model railroaders who avoid yards are really missing out, in my opinion.

The Epic Battle

If you've ever built a model railroad, and who hasn't, you know there are a lot of things that involve mass production. Whether you're fabricating grab irons for your boxcar fleet, or installing couplers, or putting in switch throws, there's a fair amount of repetitive motions.

That being the case, you'd think that you could make your parts, set up the assembly line, and start cranking things out. But there's always that one piece that doesn't want to be like all the others. There's that one coupler box that wants to pop apart when all the other ones snap together tight. Or the switch throw, that no matter how much you tweak it the points just don't close one way or the other.

Such was the case last night as I endeavored to install the slide switches in the new engine terminal. I put in three with virtually no effort. Drill a hole, insert the throw rod, wire the contacts and in she goes. Then came Number Four.

I don't know if it was just getting late, or if the second cup of coffee wore off, or just what the problem was, but this particular switch just didn't want to go in. At first, it was a simple matter of the points not closing in one direction. This is usually fixed by adding a bend here or there in the rod. Well, that got it closed the way I wanted, but shot the other direction.

So I tried a different approach, running the throw rod through the handle the other way. Well, in handling the switch this time, I managed to break off one of the wires...so, back to the soldering iron. I put Humpty Dumpty back together, and still no throw. Grrr. Turned out the rod I used was too small for the hole I drilled, and it was slopping around just enough to keep the points from moving or holding tight.

One Bigger Throw Rod Later...

I carefully bent the rod to go precisely from the slide switch to the points, gingerly clipped everything together, then ever so cautiously pressed the slide switch into the hole in the benchwork... At which point the slide switch itself decided it was time to self destruct. As I could hear the little spring and contacts clatter on the floor, I looked up to the ceiling, uttered a few utterances, and decided it was time to go to bed.


Finally this morning, with a fresh cup of coffee in hand, I resolved to start fresh with a new slide switch. Five minutes later, it was done. And so it goes...

Eureka!

Just a quick note to update you...

The last of the public works crew has emerged from the manhole, and declared that the primary power bus for the mighty Western Maryland Western Lines is hereby complete. At least the parts that I needed to crawl under the yard for. (Still need to run about 6' between the sections on either side of the window).

The final major wiring project will be the control bus. That's all right behind the fascia, though, so it will go in pretty quickly once the necessary materials are assembled.

So, tomorrow night, God willin' and the creek don't rise, I can clear the aisles of all the crap that I pulled out from the gloom beneath the benchwork, and actually access the entire layout without fearing a broken ankle.

Once completed, the final section of benchwork for the yard gets installed...

Steady Rollin'

For the last two weeks, I've been making pretty steady progress on all the tedious work I described in the last entry. The main line is now complete, the drop leaf in front of the closet door has been constructed, tracked and wired... and even a modest bit of scenery applied.


I've also gotten to the point where I could re-install the turntable and get it functional, so the roundhouse will likely be moving to the front burner again soon. It's a big, unweildy beast, which I was hoping t0 be able to work on at the workbench, but it's fairly close to the aisle, and the table height is about right to be able to sit on a stool and work on it, so I'm okay with that. Wiring in the lights will be a bit of an adventure, but I worked out the kinks of my process when I did the Elkins Roundhouse from scratch a couple of years ago.

I'm going to install a 12 position rotary switch, which will allow me to leave the roundhouse tracks dead, with the ability to turn on two tracks at a time to move engines in and out.

I've also dreamed up a panel that will indicated the outbound switch positions in West Staging. I've already rigged them up to just about impossible to come out against a switch, but it will be fun to have a visual.

So, basically... where I am at this point is very nearly complete, at least in terms of infrastructure. The main line is complete from east staging, through the yard area, then to Cumberland and Maryland Junction. From there, the main proceeds around the peninsula, along the front wall, down the helix and into West staging. Also, from MY, the Thomas Sub is complete from there up through Thomas, up another small helix, and into Elkins on the upper level.

I can't wait to get all of this boring wiring and trackwork done, so I can get back to the scenery, the part I really enjoy!

Until next time...

Impatience is a Virtue

As a follow up to last week's entry, I have to confess that I've made a career out of placing carts in front of horses.

Adamant as I was about doing the messy, time consuming and virtually invisible wiring that needs to be done to make the staging yard under Ridgeley work properly, sadly it remains undone. I got all in a tizzy yesterday (my day off) and cut the panels needed to not only finish the main line, but also to situate the massive 20 stall roundhouse I've been fooling around with since last February.

Not to worry. Most of the panels remain loose, so I can still root around under the belly of the beast to do what still needs to be done.

...But not until a train is running the entire circuit...

Hopefully later tonight!

Less is Better

For me, yesterday's challenge was to get a train running the full route of the layout. Fortunately, Bryan and Dave had other ideas.

So, instead of focusing on my need for instant gratification, we focused on building a proper frame to ultimately carry the main line as well as the yard through the gap. So, it'll probably be a few more weeks, or perhaps days, before I can lay those last few pieces of track to connect the dots.

If I had one more piece of plywood on hand in the garage, we might have finished the job, but as it is, this is better, because I'll still have good access to the subterranean staging yard to finish up a few jobs down there before I close it all up.

Thanks to Bryan and Dave for making the trek down, and for keeping my eyes on the prize.

Company's Coming!

Once again the Railwire Field Service has dispatched another team of skilled craftsman to unleash their talents on the N Scale Western Maryland. Traveling from points all over the globe, including upper Delaware, they will be descending (or is it ascending?) on my attic to help me make the final push to get a train running fully from Point A to Point B.

Of course, this means several critical things have to take place today. First, the beer fridge will need to be properly stocked. Everyone knows that a machine works better when well lubricated...

Second, I'll need to get a rake and a dumpster to clear the aisles so we can actually move about in the room to get things done. This will be no small task. Since there are wiring projects to do, much of the junque that's stowed beneath the layout has to be pulled out. At the same time, there will be carpentry and track work going on above decks, so there's a need for floor space.

Somewhere amid all this confusion, hopefully we'll be able to check off the items on the "to do" list. These include:

• Adjusting and wiring the staging yard turnouts (hopefully I can get this done tonight, but don't hold your breath)
• Building the necessary supports to carry the new yard platform.
• Installing the remaining 24 feet or so of track to tie the two ends of the railroad together. (Maybe I should have some champagne on hand to go with the beer!)
• Then putting in the gazillion wire drops that will be necessary to make the whole mess work.

We've only got a few hours to work with, but based on previous experiences, I'm hopeful... confident even, that we will be able to accomplish great things in the time allotted.