We've Started the Scenery

It's been a while since we posted anything, mainly due to the holidays.  But we've been working on the railroad and have continued to make progress.  First off, we've now gotten all of the Tortoise switch control boxes installed.  There are 19 in all, grouped into three zones.  We also have two of the zones--the logging area and the town area--temporarily wired, so we can throw the turnouts using the NCE controller.  The yard area is not yet wired and the seven turnouts there remain in waiting.

Next up for the turnouts is to build control panels.  Our plan is to insert printed plans of the layout behind thin acrylic sheets and mount the assembly on a hardboard sheet for stability.  We will then install push buttons to control the turnouts.  Red and green lights will indicate which way the turnout has been thrown.  We will have three panels in different locations convenient for operation in the logging, town and yard areas.

The biggest news is that we have now begun building scenery on the layout.  We began with the hillside where the logging camp, forest and farming area will reside.  Several structures will go into this area--the logging camp buildings and facilities, a barn and farm-related items--but a lot of the area will be open forest with lots of trees. 

Jeff's grandsons Anthony and Aiden participated in the scenery-building.  We first laid strips of cardboard we ripped to about 1 1/2" wide on the table saw, creating a lattice.  We attached these to the plywood track base with staples and hot glue.  A word of advice: don't get the hot glue on your fingers; it will cause 2nd degree burns.  Don't ask us how we know.

With the lattice work woven into place, Jeff is stapling the joints to give the structure greater stability.

Once the lattice work was in place, we dipped plaster cloth, the kind used to make casts, in water and draped them over the cardboard, smoothing them down to fully engage the plaster and leave as seamless a surface as we could.  The boys did all the messy work of laying down and smoothing the plaster strips and had a ball doing so.  After the first round of plaster cloth set up, we put on a second layer.  When fully set up, this created a hard shell on which we can continue adding scenery.

Anthony (left) and Aiden apply the plaster cloth and smooth it down to get a seamless result.  This is messy work.  The boys loved it!

Our next job is to paint the plaster with latex paint--PPG Tobacco Brown--and then coat the area with Lou Sassi's "ground goop."  Once that base has been applied, we'll fully detail the area with trees, grasses, and the like.

The finished project, with two layers of plaster cloth.  We'll smooth this out with Plaster of Paris, then paint it Tobacco Brown and apply "ground goop" before proceeding to detail the area.  This is where the logging camp and farming area will reside.

We reported earlier that we are now running trains.  We have the "outer loop" pretty much debugged and track problems corrected, but the "inner loop" has a number of issues yet to be addressed.  We're happy to report, though that we've tested the reversing loops and the electronics seem to be working as intended.  We've tested the track with several locomotives.  Most are still set for the default cab number of 003.  We will soon reprogram them to their locomotive numbers so we can run multiple trains at once, something we've not yet tried.

So, while we've made a lot of progress in building the North Fork & Crooked Run Railway, there are still a lot of opportunities and challenges left for us to take on.  Stay tuned for updates.

Working on the electronics

Norm, Aiden and I were back working on the layout this week.  Norm finished up laying track and I helped Aiden drill holes for feeder wires.

drilling 1/8" hole for feeder wire

Aiden cut wire into 12" lengths for the feeder wires.  We made a mark on the bench where 12" was so that he could stretch the wire and then cut it.  

Measuring off 12" length of wire

cutting it to length

Once we had the wires cut Aiden pushed them through the holes.  He was just the right height to see the holes from the top and the bottom of the layout.

stringing wire from the top

and pushing them up from the bottom.  He also pulled them down from the top once in the hole.

Finally, a little playtime and getting a ground view of the layout!!  Aiden is a character!!

We're laying roadbed!!

A new phase of the NF & CR Ry. has begun....we are laying roadbed!!  The benchwork is complete and we have moved on to putting cork roadbed down.  It was exciting to actually start to see the roadbed start to take form.  We had experimented with running some trains up the grades and around the curves by just taping some track to the plywood but pretty soon we will start to lay track as well!

Norm putting adhesive caulk down onto the plywood.

We are using an adhesive caulk to glue the cork to the plywood base.  Norm spread the caulk with a putty knife following the centerlines that we had previously drawn.  Since the caulk would cover up the lines, we put push-pins along the centerline.  This also helped in placing the cork...we were able to just press the cork against the pins to follow the centerlines.

The caulk was easy to spread...but a little messy!

Once the cork was down, we used additional push-pins to keep the cork in place.  It was a little messy but it all went together well.  Next time....we will wear gloves!!

The cork went down onto the caulk and was pushed up to the pins.  Additional pins were used to held the cork in place.

Aiden even got into the fun and helped nail down a few push-pins.  He is having fun helping with the layout but I think he really would be happier running some trains!!

The supervisor even nailed some pins down!

Finally, some pictures of the roadbed at the end of the day.  We are doing the outer-loop first so that we can lay some track and run some trains.  It will be both exciting and amazing to watch that first train make a loop around the layout!!

Cork roadbed going around the outer loop

Close-up of the roadbed.

The Grandkids do some work and run some trains!

Just a quick update.....the grandkids, Anthony and Aiden were visiting today and got to help out on the benchwork.  Aiden (age 7) drilled the pilot holes while Anthony (age 10) put the screws in.  They really enjoyed getting on top of the bench and helping out!

My wife Ellen had a surprise for them.  She bought each of them an engineer's cap and red neckerchief!!  They even had their names on them..."Aiden" and "Tito" (Anthony in Spanish)  Of course, they had to wear the neckerchiefs around their faces like bandits!

After doing some work I put out a few straight pieces of track and let them have some fun running a couple of trains!!

Here are a few pictures that captured the fun we had today!!

Getting ready to work

Aiden would drill the pilot holes and Anthony would put the screw in

Aiden looking cute!

You can probably tell who is the clown in the family!!

Anthony went to town and had a good time

He loves to work in the shop

We even got underneath and drilled a few holes for future wires

running some trains

Aiden's turn

They are ready to run trains!!