Absolut Module

Absolut Module

By popular demand, I added fascia to the balloon module. It is just tempered hardboard (masonite). This thing weighs 63 pounds without cork, track or scenery. Because of the size and weight, it definitely will require more than one person to manage it.

As the module was leaning against the table, it occurred to me that it looks like those advertisements for Absolut Vodka.

Jeff and Bob want to add scenery, but I hate to store modules with scenery in anything but a horizontal position (It looks pretty funny when all the dust is on the left side of everything). Sure you could cover the thing with a tarp, but with the size of this thing, you could use a car cover. At least it won't be in my garage.

Blast Off!!!

Blast Off!!!

As we get ready for the NMRA layout tour in July, the boys from the N-Land Pacific really wanted a way to turn around trains without running the locos around on a passing siding. We came up with the idea of a simple balloon module.

A balloon track is something the real railroads use to turn an entire train. This photo is of the balloon track at Union Pacific's West Colton yard.

For our balloon module, we decided on keeping it to just one piece and compromising on the track radius. It uses a 24" door as the backbone of the module. There are 12" wide wings on the last four feet of the module so we can fit an 18" radius turn there. It took some engineering to attach the wings to the door without heavy bracing, but my design solution seems to have done the trick.

For the size of the beast, it is surprisingly light weight - for now. I was hoping to skip putting fascia on it because of the weight and the additional framing which would be required to keep the fascia secured. Bob and Jeff are proponents of the fascia as a place for mounting the turnout mechanism and throttle ports. They also want to do some scenery inside the balloon. They typically rent a truck to transport their modules, so leaving ground foam along the freeway isn't a worry. If I were storing and transporting this 25 square-foot beast, I'd just paint everything black and think of it as the backstage of the theater.

When I finish with the fascia, Jeff will take over construction with laying track and wiring. If it works out well, they want to build another one of these balloons. Since it is a club module, I probably won't be able to keep with my tradition of Spanish names for the module. If I could, some ideas are Globo (balloon), or Lazada (loop). My neighbor says the thing looks like a Space Shuttle Soap Box racer.

Alright Already! Sheesh!

Alright Already! Sheesh!

I've been getting comments and emails about the dry spell here, and before I show what I've been working on, I thought I'd point out the similar lack of progress on other model railroad blogs, like here, here, here and even here.

The N-Land Pacific group is getting ready for the NMRA tours in July, and we decided to build a utility module with a balloon track to turn the trains at the end of a run. Since this is strictly utility, the radius will depart from the standard and go down to just 18 inches. We should be able to turn an eight-foot train on a module that is 80" long, and 24" wide on the connection end, and 48" wide on the balloon end.

Last night I built the four legs for this module, and thought it'd be a good opportunity to post something here. I have completely given up on the idea of a leg made from a single piece of wood. There is too much warping and weight involved. These "engineered" legs are much lighter, and nearly bullet-proof. They are made of a strip of 15/32" plywood 2" wide, and another that is 1.5" wide. There are three, three-inch blocks, milled from a two-by-four with the saw still set at the 1.5" width. I mount a tee-nut with screw mounts (Rockler 68379) and use a 5/16" eye-bolt for the leveling adjustment.

I've used this leg design on several modules now, and I am convinced it is the only way to go.

Hide Your Children!

Hide Your Children!

I added a photo of a new module I started today. I named it after the mythical Mexican beast, la Chubacabra. The name fits because this thing is a monster! 17" wide and eight feet long, it is 45 pounds of fury!

Seriously, I decided to build it sturdy so that it could serve as a home base at shows and runs. There will be no scenery, just staging yard, programming track, engine/caboose storage tracks, a power strip, DCC booster, transformer, and refrigerated cup holders (just kidding about the refrigerated part).

The photo was taken before I added the endplates so that you could see the channels for storing tools, car boxes, etc. It is a couple inches under eight feet so it can be stood on end without hitting the ceiling.

The far end in the photo is ten degrees from square so that the ladder real estate is optimized. The mainline is the ladder track on the far end, and maybe the middle track on the close end.

To keep things bulletproof, I used Code 80 Peco turnouts and Atlas flex track with a transition to Code 55 at the ends. I'm going to ask Sherry to sew a large canvas sock to cover the beast when I transport it outside my truck. I'll be adding casters on one end so I can wheelbarrow the thing into shows and setups.

Everything you see in the photo was completed in about four and a half hours last night. With track, transformer, legs and wheels, this beast should end up being 50 pounds.

New Caboose

New Caboose

We just got a new caboose for the family's iron horse. After spending a great weekend car camping in a fantastic camp site, we decided it was time to upgrade from sleeping on the tent floor. I'm looking forward to some great weekend trips and maybe some longer trips too.

SoCal Railfan has GPS coordinates for most of the railfan areas around Southern Calfornia, so with a little coordination with SoCal Camping, I may find that perfect spot. Somehow I don't think my wife will be interested in camping next to the tracks, so I'll save those trips for the boys.

The Grand Experiment

The Grand Experiment

Last night I worked until three in the morning, so I skipped the office today. After waking up with the sun, I decided to play trains for a while.

Those things that look like cookies gone bad, are actually test blobs of the static grass. I put a handful of dirt in the bottom of a paper cup, made a depression in the center, and then poured in some plaster. Once it dried, I painted the plaster blobs Trail Tan and then tried different ratios of the Woodland Scenics static grass. I ended up liking the Honey Gold sprayed on and then mottling some Burned Grass over the top of it. Solid colors just looked like I took a giant hole-punch to a deer pelt.

I painted the concrete abutments, and then the canyon and other areas of the module. I'm pretty sure I will be repainting the canyon because it looks too Arizona Highways and not enough like the local scenery. Once that gets done, I will be adding lots of shrubs and some grazing cattle, barbed wire fence, creekside clutter and the usual trackside details. These elements will go a long way in making the grass look like something other than the back dash on a Caprice.

Design Improvement

Design Improvement

For those of you making your own "little-flocker" you might want to change the output pipe to this new design. With sustained use, the gap between the two barbed adapters collects flock and eventually makes a clog. This new design eliminates that problem. Just go to the electrical department of your local hardware store and get a 3" steel nipple (Westinghouse 70603) and a set of locknuts and washers (Westinghouse 70628). Use the rubber washers from the previous assembly to keep things airtight.