Model Railroad Blog

Layout Lifespan

It’s pretty easy to sub-consciously buy into conventional wisdom without  thinking through whether such an approach actually applies to our situation.  It may or may not.  The expected lifespan of a layout is one such example.  For many of us, when we set out to build a layout, it’s with the thought that it will be something that is around for a decade or longer.  If the model railroad is of any size at all, it would certainly take that long to get it to completion.  Several things can come up though that may such a long term approach an ill fit for some of us.  Our lifestyle may change long before we get close to completion. Moving to a different house being a prime example.  The more likely issue though is that our interests may change.  Three years in, something that holds more appeal may catch our eye.  If we are so committed to our one or two decade project we may have to constantly brush aside other opportunities.  Finally, if we put any time at all into the hobby our skills will increase over time.  Five years into a layout, it will become painfully obvious that the portion we are working on now looks substantially better than the initial work done with older skill sets.  Over time that can begin to grate on you.

Here’s where I’m going with all of this.  For many of us,  consideration should be given to layouts with shorter life spans, say three to five years.  By keeping the layout size and complexity manageable, we can get it up and running quickly, flog every ounce of fun out of it, and then move on to a new and exciting theme.  Such an approach will keep us energized and excited.  Shorter term layouts will be put together with a more consistent look because they represent a narrower band of our skills progression.    Turnouts, trees, bench work, and electronics can generally be salvaged keeping the cost down.  To be clear, I’m not talking about getting two months into a layout and then constantly changing your mind and never getting anything up and going.  I’m talking about driving a manageable model railroad purposely towards  completion in a medium time span, and then re-stoking the fires with a new project.

You’ve Come This Far

 I’ve gotten a number of emails in the past week illustrating progress on switching layout construction.  To a person each project looks fantastic, well designed, simple but efficient, and neatly constructed.  You’ve come this far, don’t shoot yourself in the foot now.  Next up for many of you will be the steps of painting the rail and applying ballast.  Both are critical in terms of the final appearance of the layout.   Both are almost impossible to correct if you mishandle them.  If you are using Atlas code 83 or Walthers track it is very important to paint the rail a darker color to downplay the out of scale spike details.  Rail brown (essentially a tan) or Rust (pumpkin orange) will highlight the deficiencies of the track and are incorrect color palette selections.  Don’t use them.  All you need are rattle can sprays of Floquil Roof Brown and Grimy Black.  Paint the rail and ties entirely with the Roof Brown first and then fog on the Grimy Black.  Do short stretches and immediately wipe the railheads clean moments after painting.  Keep your area well ventilated for safety and wear a respirator (a dust mask is not a respirator).  That’s all there is to it, Roof Brown fogged with Grimy Black.  (For those using Micro Engineering rail, going with lighter rail colors is less of a problem).

For the ballast it is all too easy to get lazy and run down to the local hobby store and grab some Woodland Scenics product.  Not only is their color and shape too uniform, it is tricky to work with.   You need to use natural rock ballast products from Arizona Rock and Mineral Company.    This product is not that hard to track down at large dealers and is easily obtained by calling the owner Phil Anderson directly.   Even for those of you in the UK it’s worth the effort to get the better Arizona Rock product.  Phil is a modeler himself and extremely helpful on the phone helping you pick blends.  I use a mix of N and HO scale “CSX/Wabash”.  Other good soils are ‘concrete’, ‘industrial dirt’, and regular ‘dirt’.

So folks you’ve come this far don’t fail yourself now!

Layout Room and Photography Lighting

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For layout photography lighting I use two fixtures containing tungsten bulbs. I remove the reflector from one of the fixtures and use that for the ‘sun’.

I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately as to what type of layout lighting is best. The answer really should be broken into two parts, one being what is the best room lighting and the other being what is the best for photography.

As far as room lighting goes, and I think this is what most people are asking, I don’t think it matters that much for normal viewing and running trains. I use ordinary fluorescents now and couldn’t tell you what temperature or CRI (color rendition index) I have in the fixtures as I write this. My ambivalence goes back to the early days of my East Rail layout. Given the small layout size I thought, why not go for the best, state of the art, fluorescents I could track down. I studied. I did research online. I drove across town to purchase specialty daylight fluorescents with a very high CRI. With much anticipation, I installed the bulbs, hit the switch, and……. I think totally underwhelmed would be the best way to describe the impact. I suppose it’s subjective but I didn’t think the time and effort optimizing the bulbs gave a proportionate visual payoff. From that point onward I stopped worrying about it much and just try to get fluorescent bulbs of matching temperatures.

The best lighting for photography is a totally different subject. For everyday room lighting, fluorescent are inexpensive and can light an entire room brightly and without throwing off a lot of heat. However….when it comes to photography they are a no-go. Photos shot under fluorescents are flat, lifeless, and muddy. They are awful. No matter how much time you spend in photoshop, it comes back to the old adage of, ‘you can’t polish a turd’. The good news is that excellent photographic lighting is very simple and inexpensive. You will need two tungsten bulbs from a photography store (say seven bucks each) and two inexpensive clamp on reflectors from the hardware store. Put a bulb in one reflector, clamp it to a chair back or trash can, put it several feet to your back and point it the ceiling. This will throw off a good canopy of diffuse light. Remove and discard the reflector from the second fixture and insert the bulb. This will be your sun. Hold it in your hand about four feet from the model and shine it down from a 45 degree angle or whatever sun angle you prefer. Experiment with different sun angles and distances. Set your camera on the tungsten light setting and aperture priority. I generally set the exposure compensation to +.75 or +1.0. Take some shots, see what you have, and make adjustments until you have what you want.

Capturing the Essence of Industrial Switching Operations

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When prototype practices are fully incorporated,  even a simple two car shuttle can make for an interesting mini session.

 

Much has been written about model railroad operations.  Typical subjects addressed include rights of trains, timetable and train order operations, and car cards.  However, somewhere in all of this discussion of the technical aspects of the operations chess game we lose sight of the most important goal of all.  Specifically,  how do we capture the essence and atmosphere of what we are modeling?  How do we make it feel like we are actually there and watching the real thing?  As with music, each operational type, whether it be mainline through trains, locals, or passenger trains, has it’s own distinctive beat.

Industrial switching operation is characterized by a slow, purposeful, rhythmic cadence.  Locomotive crawl at a few miles an hour as they pull cars from the deck and deal them with precision to the customer’s door.  The atmosphere is one of mass, momentum, and the sound of 2000 horsepower prime movers constantly throttling up and then cycling down…over and over and over.  There is the sound/motion disconnect of momentum as we hear the power rev up and exhaust billowing skyward long before we see actual movement.  There is the constant sound of idling diesel cylinders and air release as the engineer waits patiently while the brakeman walks, hooks up hoses, uncouples, and walks some more.  It…is….slow.

In the real world there is no way to speed it up even if you wanted to.  Model railroad operating sessions are a different story.  To watch a typical ops. session you’d think it was a trip to the dentist, to be dispatched and completed as quickly as humanly possible rather than drawn out and savored for the flavorful experience that it is.

One would think our model brakeman have the wings of Mercury as the engine screeches to a halt at a switch, the switch is instantly thrown, and then the loco. launches like a top fuel dragster down the spur.  The process is repeated at the same lightning speed throughout with total ‘mission’ focus.  In short order the layout owner rejoices in the fact that the job is ‘done’.  Wait a minute that didn’t keep him too busy.  The layout must be too small…..  No it’s not too small it’s just that nothing was done the way it really happens on an actual railroad.

So, how do we translate that to our switching layout?  First there has to be a desire to do so.  There also has to be  knowledge and awareness of how things really happen in the field.  Most grasp the concept of running the locomotive a little bit slower.  That’s only a small part of it though.  Everything should happen slower.  Let’s take a look at some things that will enhance the industrial operations experience.  All you will need is a good sound equipped locomotive, a hot cup of coffee, and the willingness to throttle one area of your life back into slow motion.

Train Dynamics

An EMD GP38-2 weighs 125 tons, considerably more than your SUV.  Even with 2,000 horsepower, it takes awhile to get rolling and it takes a while to stop.  It’s not like a Porsche Boxster where you hit the throttle and go.  By contrast a Lifelike GP38-2 weighs ounces.  It takes some fiddling to get it to move and react like the real thing.  As we operate our model engines it’s helpful to keep in mind just how much 125 tons really is!

Typical model motors have a huge amount of top speed that is completely and utterly useless to us.  For our part we really only need the 0 to 30 mph end of the scale.  The 30 to 250mph isn’t of much value is it?  We’d like to have a fair amount of turn on the throttle knob in that 0 to 30mph range.

Every model has different operational characteristics so use the following settings for general guidance only.  They may be a bit much for other units.   In my case I’m using a Soundtraxx Tsunami decoder in a Proto 2000 GP38-2.  I start first with momentum and deceleration.  For this specific model I set the momentum very high to a value of 160 (out of a max of 255).   As high as that number seems in some cases, for this application it doesn’t feel like overkill (in other locos it would be way too high). Although it would be realistic to set the deceleration to an equally high value, I really don’t like to do so.  I want total control of the stop function so set deceleration to a relatively low value of 30.

A very handy, simple, and often overlooked feature of many decoders and DCC systems are custom speed curves.  In basic terms a speed curve allows you to easily input a setting that totally alters the top speed of the locomotive as well as the intermediate speed points in between 0 and top end.    In most cases a few keys strokes inputs the curve and you have what feels like an entirely different locomotive.  My DCC system (EasyDCC) uses linear curves (other types are logarithmic and exponential).  I selected curve 6 which gives a top speed of 60% of normal.   I use 28 speed steps instead of 128.  With a little practice and a light touch on the throttle the momentum, speed curve, and 28 steps combine to create a situation where you hear the prime mover rev up for a few moments before the engine starts to move.  (With 128 steps I would get movement as soon as I so much as breathed on the throttle).

Throttle use really does require a mindset of a light touch and relaxed patience.  Spinning the knob like a ship’s wheel and catapulting your locomotive, drag racer style, at every move isn’t very “railroady”.  Get in the habit of just cracking the throttle and ‘waiting’ for movement rather than spinning it and ‘forcing’ movement (which usually requires frantic back spinning of the throttle to compensate for your impatience).

Top Speed

In most switching environments it’s unusual to see speeds in excess of 25mph.  Usually they are much less than that.  This should be in our mind at all times.  Anything over that speed is just not very realistic.  The pay off is that slow speeds effectively ‘stretch’ smaller layouts (well actually they would stretch a big layout too).

Pauses in the Action

Most grasp the idea of cruising down the branch at a relatively slow speed but then quickly pick it up a notch when it comes to car move,rments. Slow applies to everything, speed AND movements.

I mentioned ‘mission mode’ earlier.  Model railroaders really do have a bad case of it.  They focus on getting the job done and getting it done ASAP.  If that’s your cup of tea go for it.  Get that nasty op. session over with so you can go mow the lawn!

In the real world though there are a lot of pauses in the action.  In most cases it’s because real brakeman, as much as they’d like to, just can’t fly.  They have to walk.  They have to get out of the cab, walk to the switch and throw it.  They need to walk to the car and uncouple it.  They need to walk to the industry gate and unlock it.  They need to walk back to the locomotive.  They get extremely ticked if the train takes off and leaves them without waiting for them to walk back.  All this means that there is a substantial amount of time where the engine is just idling waiting for tasks on the ground to be completed.   On a model railroad you know where the line is between relaxation and boredom.  What’s the rush though?  Take a pause between moves.  Stop your engine, go warm up your coffee and come back.

Real tasks

Out of ignorance modelers skip a lot of real tasks that, if incorporated would add interest and extend an operating session.  For example, in some environments crossing gate protection alone doesn’t instill a total sense of confidence in the engineer.   Even you are in the right, peeling a Camry off of the pilot will result in a lot of paperwork back at the office.  For this reason it’s common at some intersections for the engineer to bring the loco. to a complete stop at the crossing, lay on the horn, and then inch across.  The use of fusees to protect grade crossing movements is becoming more prevalent.  Model versions of the fusees are easy to install and add an interesting dimension to operating sessions as you halt the action and activate the warning device.  These are just two examples of practices that can be added that add interest without feeling too contrived.

To give you a sense for how this can all play out on a model railroad I ran a solo op. session on the Downtown Spur this morning.  It is common on the prototype to have a case where the graveyard shift can’t get all of the work done.  The morning shift will then handle any leftover mop up duties on the spur.  I set up a similar morning shift clean up session that, on the surface seemed incredibly simple.  One car was to be spotted at Florida Bottling and an empty at Trujillo was to be swapped out for a load.  Drop two cars, pick up one.  No tricks.  No gimmicks.   The length of the session?   A full 50 minutes!

You would be amazed at how much incorporating momentum, slower speeds, pauses, and real world tasks will enhance and extend the operating experience.   And that’s what we really want isn’t it,  a better experience that lasts longer.  We want the sensation of actually being there.

Enough Rope To Hang Myself

I was sixteen when the model railroad bug bit in earnest.  In the early years of the hobby EVERYTHING is interesting and we really want it all.  At that time my parents were on a two year overseas sabbatical and we lived in a small apartment.  Our Cape Cod house in the states, complete with basement, was rented out until our return.

While overseas, I poured through my Model Railroader magazines over and over until they were threadbare.  Since our apartment was small, and a temporary arrangement, I limited my hobby activities to building freight cars and small structures.  That was a productive enough use of my time.  So far, so good.   In retrospect I did have room for a small switching layout and should have built one as a learning platform.   We returned to the states my junior year of high school with my enthusiasm for the hobby at fever pitch and moved back into our old home.

That’s the point where my dad gave me the rope…enough to hang myself.  “I’ve been thinking.  We really aren’t using the basement that much.  I’ll tell you what, if you want a third of it for a layout, go for it.   I’ve got a lot of leftover lumber from my woodworking you can use for the bench work.”  Our basement was about forty feet long with a completely unobstructed run along one wall.

In a matter of days I had my track plan drawn up.   In this case the word ‘plan’ is a real stretch.  It certainly didn’t approach the most remote boundaries of anything that could be called a design with purpose.   I was going to fill every inch of that sucker up.  I’d read about hand laying track.  Nothing but the best for me, that’s the route I would take.  The fact that I hadn’t hand laid so much as an inch of track before was just a minor obstacle in my mind.   Having a forty foot long spaghetti bowl track arrangement laid tie by tie, spike by spike, that would be a sight to behold…onward soldier.

The bench work went up fast enough.  Soon, I was off and running to the next step, the track.   Hmmm, not as easy I thought.  After a few weeks I got the first turnout done.  Time to run a train through that turnout.  Well….that’s not working so well.  It looks like a turnout but is acting like a derail.   I’ll lay some flex track (which is what I should have done in the first place).  Some success, trains are running.  Second problem … where are they running to? The track plan was totally meaningless.

To make a long story short, the entire project collapsed under its own weight and complexity, lack of purpose, and wildly unrestrained ambitions.   It was a blessing though.  It was a critical lesson learned at an early age.

In terms of personality types I’ve been told I’m a “rescuer”, always trying to save people from themselves.    As you read through my blogs you might think I have something against large layouts,  I don’t….as long as the builder has some previous layouts under his belt and knows what he’s getting into.  Far too often though  I’m seeing an adult, new to the hobby,  stringing the proverbial rope up to my boyhood oak tree as they embark on that voyage to build the ‘huge dream layout’ as their first effort.    In these cases I typically have flashbacks to that first layout of my teenage years and have the impulse to scream “don’t do it. “    As I get older though I realize more and more you need to let people make mistakes and hopefully learn from them.   Some will leave the hobby in frustration, never to return.  Hopefully, more will learn from their missteps and adjust.