Monday, October 26, 2009

Magnets, Buildings, and Pancakes. What do they have in common? Check out the latest update on the Dragonfly!

Time to update the blog with progress on the railroad. The wiring for the programing track is complete. I have also finished the wiring for the lift out section. I will post some pictures but for now I can describe what I did.

I mounted two magnets under the lift out section on the benchwork with the opposing plates attached to the bottom side of the bridge. I then attached wires from the plates through the composite bridge section (3/4" plywood and 2" of foam) to the rails on the lift out section. The magnets mounted on the benchwork adjacent to the bridge seat were then wired to the main track bus under the railroad. When the lift out section is in place, the contact between the magnet and the plate completes the circuit and power the track on the bridge. Seems to work very well and avoids plugging and unplugging jumpers... or worst yet forgetting to and then removing the bridge and the wiring too!

The Great Train Exhibit was in town this past weekend. Our son Carter and I decided to go! We had a great time! After a quick stop at McDonald's for some of those famous pancakes, we were off to the show! We went with very focused intentions- STRUCTURES. I had a list of structures to buy for the various industries on the railroad. We worked our way through the maze of booths and tables searching out and recording prices for the various kits. We managed to find some great deals and purchased 4 kits. We were able to find a petroleum facility for Standard Oil Company in Walnut; a grain elevator for L.D. Spaulding Grain Company in Walnut; and a lumber company for E.W. Houghton Lumber Company in La Moille. The boys had a great time!

Future projects on the list include:
Build some structures (something that I have not done... for a long time!)
Paint the fascia (probably Pullman Green)
Paint the track
Begin to fill out Car Cards and Waybills and begin trial operations! Yahoo!
Scenery (again, something that I have seldom gotten too on the last two railroads I have built.)

I am very please so far with the outcome of the railroad. Careful planning, patience, and proven construction techniques have built a railroad that is operationally solid. I am eager now to move on to the next phase... SCENERY. Check back often to see how that is going!

That's it!
Scott

Monday, October 12, 2009

Update

The cool temperatures have settled in and work on the railroad has picked up. I have completed wiring all of the drops from the tracks to the power bus. Recall that I am using a Lenz Set 90 DCC system, so the wiring is very basic and almost too easy! I wired almost each section of track. I say almost because there are some runs of continuous flex track where several sections have been soldered together and in those areas, I have only run one set of drops to the power bus. Basically every piece of track between turnouts or stub-ended sidings has power wired to it. This makes for a very very smooth operation. I have not experienced any stuttering of locomotives, headlight blinking or stalled engines.

My next project is to wire the programming track for the DCC system. A programming track is used to program or encode the decoder in a locomotive. This involves things like the address for the engine on the DCC system and other variables that can effect the operation of the locomotive. The program track needs to be either completely separate from the railroad (i.e. mounted on a workbench) or part of the railroad but electrically isolated from the rest of the railroad. I have decided that the interchange track at Walnut would be a good place for the program track on my railroad.

In order to use a track that is physically attached to the rest of the railroad, I will have to electrically isolate it from the rest of the railroad, as mentioned above. To do this, I will cut the rails and use CA glue to glue in a small piece of plastic to act as an insulator. The next step is to wire a toggle switch that will control the power to just that piece of track. The toggle switch is a three-position switch with the center position OFF. The center terminals on the switch will be wired to the track. One side of the switch will be normal track bus power, allowing for normal operation. These terminals will be wired from the normal track bus already in place under the railroad. The other side of the switch will be wired directly from the Command Module and will be programming track power. This switch will allow me to then move a locomotive onto the programming track under normal operations, reposition the toggle switch through the off position to the programming position, program the locomotive, and then return it to the normal position and run the locomotive back onto the mainline.

That's it for now!
Thanks,
Scott

Friday, October 2, 2009

Photos Photos Photos!

I have finally taken pictures of the progress made over the last month. Click on the links below to redirect you to a specific album. I think most pictures tell the story, but if you have a question, please ask!

Lift Out Section
Benchwork Fascia
Lenz Set 90 and Electronics Shelf
Homemade Track Cleaning Car

Thanks for stopping!
Scott