N Scale Supply Depot

About 13 or 14 years ago, John Hill built a union army supply depot diorama in N scale. I contributed many of the figures, the sailboat and the trains for the diorama. Here are some pictures of the project.

While it was a fun diorama to look at due to the intense busy scene, many of the structures and models were built using war game parts, which are designed for robustness and not fine scale. Thus the models do look a bit clunky. This combined with the poor running quality of N scale 4-4-0 locomotives convinced me that modeling a ACW railroad in N scale wouldn't meet my objectives. Thus began my search for a better approach that ended up with the current O Scale project documented on this blog.

Working Brakes

In developing this large scale layout I wondered if I could develop a method of adding working handbrakes to the freight cars. Even though my trains will be short, roughly 8 to 12 cars, I will probably need two man crews as the link and pin couplers require the brake men to use two hands to couple. Adding working brakes would add additional work for the brakeman and would also be realistic.

Cars in this era had brakes only on one truck. Thus the linkage is pretty simple. Using some brass 1/16th inch rod and 1/32inch phosphor bronze rod I made a brake linkage based on drawings from White's book on early freight cars.

This video demonstrates the holding action and release of the brakes. Since it looks like they work, the question is, do I want to add working brakes to the whole fleet? It adds about one and half hours to the construction time.

Curve Radius Test Video

I was able to spend some time testing my new 4-4-0 locomotive, the USMRR Whiton. This locomotive did not run as well as the other two I had. As I observed it, I noticed that it was derailing the front truck on the tight curves in this part of the layout. The derailing was occurring from interference with the pilot truck and the pilot above it. I added some shims (0.045 inches) and stretched out the spring on the mounting bolt. This raised the pilot slightly and removed the interference. That seems to have fixed the problem. I am hoping that a back EMF decoder may resolve the slowing down problem on the curve.

I made the video using an iPhone 3GS. The location of the tiny lens on this camera allows for a really low "worms eye" view of the action

Three Trees

At last work can resume on the layout. The Steel Mill modeling book is done and submitted to the publisher. You can find some sneak peek photos by clicking here.

I tried playing with some trees tonight. The photo shows three different construction techniques. All three have hand carved balsa trucks. The left tree uses denuded baby's breath (gypsophila), the middle tree is supposed to be an oak that has not shed all its leaves. It uses wire armatures and Silfor fall leaf netting. Looks like the trunk needs some lightening. The right hand tree uses denuded Caspia branches. These are deciduous trees. I plan to try a loblolly pine next.

I was pleased that even just three trees have "presence."

One other thing to note, this is the tightest curve on the layout. Things run pretty well around it, though pushing cars with the extending link on the front of the loco can cause problems. We'll have to address that issue in the timetable special instructions.

New DCC system

This weekend marked the delivery of a new DCC system for the model railroad. Several local modelers decided to join forces and make a bulk purchase of the CVP Easy DCC system. I got a wireless starter package plus two addtional radio throttles, for a total of 3. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet as I am still working on the steel mill modeling book, but I am itching to give it a spin. I have used Easy DCC in the past at other layouts and it is, well - easy! This is especially true compared to my current 14 year old Digitrax system with its arcane buttom mashing. I know, the newer Digitrax systems are simpler, but after trying several systems out, I liked the Easy DCC best. Since there are now three other layouts in our area with Easy DCC, we can use our throttles at each other's layout.

Next step is to install some sound decoders in the locomotives.