Dcc wiring for the Atlas Midland Central

[Ericsauto]

Thanks for the tips. I Started working on the layout a little this weekend. Did not start the benchwork for the Central Midland part. I decided to get the grades , track and bridges done for the old part of the layout I kept.

With your guys suggestions I have taken some of the tough grades out of my old layout. Even though I would prefer to have less grades I think this is going to help a lot. I will posting some pictures this week of my progress on my personal gallery. You can follow it as I progress if you want, it will have a RSS feed to it.

I made some progress this weekend and can't wait to get the rest going. But it will have to be as I have time over the next few weeks because we have some weekend trips planned. I plan to have it wired and running by the end of the year. Stay tuned.

 

[Ericsauto]

As promised I will post a link to my site for the progress on my new layout.

http://gallery.me.com/pohlmans/100125

What you are looking at is what I have left from my old layout. It had 18 radius with some tough grades. It now is 22 and 24 radius with the grades a little smoother. I have already tested a few engines on it it they climb pretty good even with a load on them. This is the part of the layout that will attach to my modified version of the Central Midland. The track is all Atlas code 83 and I will be using Tortise switch machines. Most of the lower loop will be going through a tunnel. The Operating Drive in will be located on this part of the layout. I welcome comments. I have few more things to do before I build the Central Midland part. The New benchwork I should have started sometime next week I will keep my web link updated. The basement has new carpet and new paint so I am excited to have a new layout to put in it.

Here are a few pix from the site.

 

[UP2CSX]

Eric, the photos at the link show up fine but the ones embedded in the post are just red "X"'s. Are you using a Mac? If so, the embedded pictures won't show up correctly unless you use the standard HTML code of IMG and /IMG tags in square brackets at the beginning and end of the link.

Looks like you are making some nice progress. Even with the same grade, easing the curve radius will help a lot. Flange friction is as real for model trains as it is for the 1:1 scale trains. The sharper the curve on a grade or the transition to a grade, the more flange friction will increase the drag on the train, hence lowering the number of cars that can be handled by one locomotive.

 

[Ericsauto]

Yes I am using a Mac. I am at work now so I attached a few pix from here. The rest are on the Gallery Link. I will get used to doing this soon , I hope.

Yes I have been using some flex track to make some easements. That is what I have read. When you have a grade make the curves softer and ease into them. Lowering the number of cars is what I had to do before. I normally don't run over 15 rolling stock on my old layout because it was the most I could do and it did not look real on the smaller layout. I think after I get some of this done you can see the modifications to the plan and it won't look so congested ( I hope)

Thanks for the input.

Eric

 

[UP2CSX]

Eric, very nice weathering job on the bridges. I wish I had enough space to put on of those in. I guess my timber culvert for my dinky creek will have to do.

Using flex track to get best curve radius is the way to go if the rest of the track is headed up or down grade. Even on bigger layouts, a 30 car train looks really long, so you don't have to aim for pulling 85 cars up the mountain. The key is to have enough view blocks so the viewer never actually sees the whole train at once. It creates the optical illusion that you have a much longer train. That road that curves under the bridge makes an excellent view block if you line it with trees, combined with some trees along the top of that cut.

 

[35tac]

Reverse loop

Well we finally got the PSX-AR installed on the yard exit. What a diiferance from the MRC units. Two wires from the buss to the unit, two wires to the isolated section and done. Loco tests indicated it works fine. We do get a momentary glitch from a W&LE Paragon SD 40-2 but the two Athearn units are smooth as silk. Whats up with that? We ran out of time so the next test is a train. Should have done this sooner. Thanks for the help.
Wayne

 

[Ericsauto]

Just wanted to let everyone know that I just purchased this from MicroMark

If you are math loser like me , this helps a heck of a lot.

Last night I was working on my "tough" grades trying to reduce them and this thing works wonders. I have a point on this layout that measured 3.75 % grade!! Now I have already widen my curves to help and put in easement track but I really would like to drop this a bit. Without all the complicated math and figuring I just put this on the track adjust my road bed and keep sliding down the track to measure.

Within a few moments I was able to shim the road bed and drop the highest point to 2.86 % grade. Still a little steep but it will sure make it nicer than the 3.75%. Tool cost a bit but it works for everything . Pretty slick.

Look for some new pictures by the end of this weekend , the building begins tomorrow morning. I can't wait.

 

[UP2CSX]

Eric, that's a nice little tool. Sure makes it easier to figure real life grades than measuring and calculating. 2.86% is still steep but a lot better than 3.75%

Wayne, that's the advantage of never buying anything from MRC. It works and it's simple. Make sure the loco wheels and track are clean. Auto reversers need to sense polarity changes in a microsecond, so dirty tracks or wheels can cause those little blips.

 

[Ericsauto]

Update to Central Midland

Okay as I promised here are a few of the pictures of my layout. I had a great time this weekend and busted my butt getting a lot of this done. Unfortunately I ran out of lumber, but i found enough to keep busy. I started at 7:00 am on Saturday morning and finish working around 4:00pm. I started back on Sunday and worked until 4:00pm again. I think I really got a lot done. The first picture is before and the next are after. You can go to my gallery to see all of them and I will keep them up to date as I go. This layout was a Hell of lot of fun building. I know Atlas has some unreal ideas on layouts but this layout being designed by John Armstrong you can tell has some quality built in it. I change a few things from the plans but I did it mainly by the plans. I used 5/8 laminated plywood instead of the plank board as they recommend. Being in Ohio I was afraid of warpage. Plywood would not warp as bad as Plank board. So here it is , let me know what you think. A lot more to come and I am happy that it is adapting to my old part of my layout so easy.

 

[beiland]

You are right about Atlas with the steep grades.

I know that is the problem I have to deal with. I had 4 % grades on my old layout and I handled that by running two powered engines or making sure that I used traction tires.

I found out by buying better quality ( Higher Dollar) engines/ locos that they will handle the grades much better that the cheap stuff. Yes it cost me a lot more for the hobby but it makes it so much nicer to run them.

Hello Eric,
Glad to find someone else working on the 'Central Midland' I did one as well but with less modifications than you:
http://www.modelrailroadforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8141&page=2

Mine keep much of the original tight curves and big grades, but most all of the decent quality diesels doubled headed could handle the grades with long trains.

I also got in the habit of running two steam locos doubled headed. I just made sure they were from the same manufacturer so they would run compatible (no DCC at this time). I was particularly found of two IHC heavy mountain C&O models. In fact I began to like these better together than one long articulated loco.

BTW, I also was able to run big articulatives on this stock plan as well. I've run the Big Boy by Rivarossi as well as their Allegheny. I had to raise my single track truss bridge just a bit to allow the bell on the Big Boy to clear when running beneath it. And I think I had to shim the whole freight yard 'plate' up just a bit to give a little extra headroom underneath.

And the class A, 2-6-6-2 from Broadway does fine as well.

I agree that this layout crowded, but you sure can pack a lot of different sences into a relatively compact layout. I think John Armstrong did a great job on this little/big layout design. I only wish I had larger radius (min 22, preferable 24) curves to run some of my other BWL steam locos.

 

[beiland]

I change a few things from the plans but I did it mainly by the plans. I used 5/8 laminated plywood instead of the plank board as they recommend. Being in Ohio I was afraid of warpage. Plywood would not warp as bad as Plank board.

Much of my layout had been built with 3/8 plywood which did warp. My solution was the edge glue 'paint stir strips' onto selected edges. I used those 1/4 inch ones that were obtainable at a local chain hardware store. In one case that reinforcement makes a barrier (fence) down the back side of the freight yard, and gets disquised in the propane storage facility. in another case there are reinforcement stips on the underside of the turntable plate. Those paint stirs along with Elmers wood glue came in real handy as reinforcements.

You might see two of those strips here....1) whitesh end of black colored strip by caboose...2) pine colored strip over in front of spherical tank and running right up between two propane tanks

There are the double headed steamers as well

 

[Ericsauto]

I have two BLI Hudsons that I can do an easy consist with and they pull the grades fine. I am redesigning the grade coming off the double bridges this weekend. I am going to try to try to straighten it a tad bit more to handle the grades a bit easier. After I get done with it I will post some more pictures. I have seen your layout on E-bay before. Reading the posts you and the other people wrote about the Central MIdland sure helped me plan a lot better. I think I will be happy with this layout after I get the bugs worked out.