The not quite golden spike....

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
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I reached a major milesotne of sorts today. I now have a closed loop of track. The loop is about 500 feet long. Unfortunately, most of it will be hidden from view when the layout is completed. Of course there is a lot more layout left to build. The next step will be to power up the remaining segments, about 200 feet, and debug the radio signal used for command control.

I have been spending a lot of time working on the layout lately, which is part of the reason I haven’t been spending very much time on the forum. Something suddenly got me motivated. I think it was the layout tour I went on back at the end of April. Since then, I’ve been pouring in the hours, at least 50 per week.

Back around Thanksgiving, I put out a call for help. I did get one taker, but he has a busy schedule, and I haven’t seen him for a few months. At one point, I thought I was going to get a bunch of his friends to join in. They seemed quite interested when they came to visit in January.

While we were talking, one of the guys asked point blank,#### "What will it take to make trains go?"I thought for a moment, then waved my arms, pointing around the room, to illustrate where the track had to go. Until that moment, I had never considered putting in a temporary cutoff to close a loop.

The 7 feet of track on the pink foam forms the cutoff, and is only temporary. It will be removed when the track on the next peninsula is completed. The turnout at the right of the photo was not part of the original plan, but will remain as permanent, and will be hidden under a highway overpass which the scene called for anyway.

Once everything is running smoothly, the next project will be to sofit in the ductwork, and build the upper deck, then lay the track.

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Good work. [^] And good luck!

3

Sweet Elliot!!!

Nothing is finer than watching trains run, even if it is circles!

I can’t wait to see more

Gordon

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Thanks Adam and Gordon. I still have wiring to do to get the full loop running. That may take a couple of weeks yet, but at least the track is down. I have been running trains back and forth to test everything for a couple of weeks now.

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Elliot,
I have been watching your progress since I joined the forum. You have accomplished an incredible amount of work with obvious craftsmanship. Even though I have my hands full with my own layout, if I were up there in your country, I would be banging on your door begging to help you. Keep up the work, but prevent the old nemesis of burn-out.

Glad your “high balling” forward.

REX [^][:)]

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Sounds like you’re making progress! I’m looking forward to future reports.

Ya gonna have this thing wrapped up by the end of the year??? [:D][:D][:D]

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Very impressive indeed!
Terry

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That’s one big layout[:0] I bet it’ll be really nice when you get some trains running.

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Very nice! Wish I had that kind of space to work in.

–Randy

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Now that is what I call a layout. [:D]

When you finish it, you should have a REAL PARTY. [;)]

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Great work Big boy, very eeemmmmprrresssieeeeve.

Ned a bit of info. I am going DCC radio next mont, what did you mean by DE-BUGGING the radio ??

Keep up the great work…John

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Do you ever get any sleep ?.. You go man…

trainluver1

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Thanks Guys!!!

Rex, I’m a bit more of a “hack” than the photos let on. I rarely use a tape measure anymore. Of course as long as the track works smoothly, everything is fine. Lionel trains are very forgiving that way, with their large flanges and oversized knuckles. I still follow basic principles with curves, grades, and turnout placement, and try not to rely on their toy nature. At this stage everything is going to pretty much get covered with scenery, so I don’t worry about perfection.

As for burnout, I have been there a few times on this project already, but the juices seem to be flowing pretty good right now.

Grande Man, end of the year? Not a chance. I’m glad you were just kidding. [;)] Beside the fact that there aren’t enough hours in a year for one person to fini***his, money is also tight right now. Fortunately, I have a lot of materials stockpiled to keep me busy without a lot of expense.

Randy, just remember that large spaces are both a dream and a nightmare. It takes a lot of time and money to fill them. Then you have to maintain what you built.

Jim, the whole point of this layout is to be able to host operating sessions. That’s a party once or twice a month, as soon as I get enough done. Maybe within the next year.

John, The debugging that I’m talking about is specific to Lionel’s version of command control. If you are talking about radio throttles for DCC, I haven’t heard of any real problems. The Lionel system uses two different radio signals. One at 27Mhz for the throttles to signal the command base, and a second signal at 455Khz that the command base sends out through the ground rail to the trains. It is the second signal that I’m having trouble with. I’m still learning about these radio signals, and trying to get the engines to recieve them cleanly. They have an antenna inside them, which appearently needs to “see” ground as a reference. You won’t have any of these problems with DCC.

Trainluver, yes I sl

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Oh I know about the double-edged sword that is big space. But I work slowly, it’s the only way I can afford to have what I want int his hobby. If I stuck with cheaper locos and cheaper rolling stock, i could go faster. It’s been a year now since I started and I still don’t have even an 8x12 ready for ballast yet. All the track isn’t down, no backdrop yet, no fascia yet, pink foam is still pink, no control panels (so I have to reach under and manual move the Tortoises), etc. But I can ru trains, and I go back and forth between layout work and kit building and DCC installs, I like variety. If I spend weeks and weeks at once thing I get bored, I have to set it aside and work on somethign different. Luckily there’s ALWAYS something different in this hobby.

–Randy

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Yup Randy, that’s what happens. This is supposed to be a hobby after all, not a race. I cheat by not having a lot of outside responsibilities, so I can devote more time to the project. Fortunately, I have a good supply of cars, but I have to show some restraint when it comes to new rolling stock purchases. I’m not sure if it is possible to have too many cars and engines. I could really use more engines for a layout this size. Maybe when the construction is done.

I too bounce around between projects as my mood changes. There is plenty to do, and it all needs to get done sometime.