The D&J Railroad -- From Scratch


Got some more work done on the yard throat this evening. Had to stop so I could watch NCIS.
The container train is leaving on the departure track, being shuttled over to the intermodal yard while the freight cars are being shoved back in the classification yard from the fiddle track.

 
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More turnouts installed and linked up today.
A Freight peddler is inbound on the arrival track and is routed over to right hand running while the yard switcher, SD45 is still assembling trains.

 
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Finished the turnouts at the end of the yard.
Ran some trains through the turnouts to be sure they were aligned right and the slide switches worked right.
Now just have to apply track power to the frogs through the slide switches.
 
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Finally got around to spreading some ballast in the classification yard. I have one more container of the N scale ballast then I'll have to wait till the next train show to pick up some more. The yard track is code 100, but the ballast covers the ties and right up almost to the top of the rails. I have spread some other grade ballast in a few spots as you would find around repaired spots.

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Looks real good Ken. Nice to see the scenery coming along. I can remember when you first started the layout and really enjoy watching your progress.
 
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I remember when I first started building my current layout and had one memorable moment. I had laid some track and was in a hurry to run my first locomotive on the layout. I wired up the DCC and set a locomotive on the track and it ran so smooth as it traveled past so quiet and smooth. I totally forgot that the track not only dead ended, but it stopped at the edge of the bench work.

I watched in horror as my favorite locomotive traveled to the end of the tracks, too far for me to reach it and watched as the locomotive fell off the bench work. It landed down some three feet into a painter's drop cloth just inches from the concrete floor...no damage what so ever!

I still have that loco, a BNSF GP38 with DCC. Not my period or road, but I liked the color theme and the loco is a great runner.

Pure luck.

Ken, great progress on your layout. Keep sharing photographs of your progress.

Greg
 
Got the ballast pretty much leveled off all through the yard. There were some high places where the wheels would lift off the track a little. Not to much of a problem with rolling stock, but the locos would stop dead.

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Back to the Diablo Canyon Bridge.
I started work on the layout were the bridge will be installed.
The first step is to build the benchwork to support the scenery. I needed to establish where that bottom piece will go. I built these two temporary supports to hold the bottom platform that the scenery will be built on.

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The bottom of the canyon will be on the platform which is about 16" off the basement floor. All the wiring will be tucked under this bottom platform. There will be two plywood pieces on an angle that link to this bottom platform. Some of the work will require removing the temporary bridge that is in there now It's resting on the 2X4 that is under the end of the bridge. I'll delay that work until the bridge is finished and ready to be installed.

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Ken-- You have your work cut out for you. You almost need a deep canyon for that bridge to traverse - sort of like John Allen's canyon all the way to the floor. Still, you have to blend the window into the scene as well which does not go all the way to the floor.
Like I said - You have your work cut out ...
 
Ken nobody can ever say you shy away from big challenges.

I can't wait to see this one completed.

Thanks for sharing your empire.
 
I have a couple of questions about your layout Ken. What are the grades on the main line? It's hard to tell from the photos and video.

The second is, have you ever had a train wreck? I really enjoy out visits to our friends in Missouri and operating on their layouts. One of them is a bit larger than yours, and during operating sessions it is easy to have well over a dozen trains running at any time with dispatchers. He also has an operating signal system like yours, but due to operators lack of attention I have seen a few wrecks on the layout. The scenery is fairly complete on the layout and does limit vision if the operator does not follow his train. I have seen videos of multiple trains running on your layout at one time and have always wondered.

I see that there is sunlight coming into the window where the new bridge is going in. Are you going to block off the window to cut off the sunlight?
 
Chet - Yeah, there is the occasional inattentive train collision. Nothing major comes out of it unless it's a run through a turnout and into the side of other cars. That's where the damage to handrails happens. Only a few occasions at most when trains went to the floor. That is what prompted me to get the scenery going.
The steepest grade is about 2% and that is along the long narrow shelf like portion where it turns right and goes into the tunnel. The tracks coming up from staging to the mainline is right about 2% also. It's a long grade, probably more than 60' uphill and really makes the locos dig in with a long train. I have helpers staged down in the staging yard to come up behind and push when needed.
 
The wrecks the we had during operation sessions were usually what I guess you would call minor. Nothing making its way to the floor. The most common accident was an operator not paying attention to the signals and running a switch, sometimes cutting a passing train in half. If that happened, my friend would make them wear a dunce hat for the rest of the session or pass it along to the next person who screwed up. With most of the scenery complete, the operators had to pay attention to the signals and if an operator was busy shooting the breeze instead of following the train, they could easily miss a signal. One thing going for you is the desert scenery with fewer trees to make visibility better.

I can see where you would need some helpers pulling a long train up a 2% grade. I have noticed lower tracks in some of your photos and assumed that they were for staging.
 
Got into some more benchwork yesterday and today. This gaping hole at the intermodal facility has been bugging me for a long time. I'm going to expand the facility so the containers and vans can be spread out.
This is the area that needs to be filled in.

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Lots of containers to move.

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Area is cleared and ready for plywood.

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I went down there to do some cutting and fitting tonight but all my batteries for the jig saw and drills were dead.
Did a little work on the SD40T-2 instead.
 
Wow, two days in a row with progress.
Added the benchwork for the intermodal facility parking lot. The gap on the right will be filled in with scenery. The area to the left will also be ground cover. A fence will surround the facility.

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Added some real estate benchwork for a autorack loading facility. The tracks will come in from where ya can see the blue foam board. This will be a two track facility where at least two autoracks can be spotted on each track. A fence line will enclose this facility too.

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