June 2020 Journal

Trackwork

6/21/2020 - I installed the six Tortoise drives in sections U05-U06 after first prewiring them. I thought I was going to have to cut the 1x4 support piece, but then had a brainstorm -- all I had to do was to unfasten the support piece, slide it out of the way, and then resecure it after putting the Tortoises in. Easy peasy. I need to finish wiring the other four DPDT switches before I finish the installation. I think I will also cut fascia pieces so that I only have to cut a single hole through the fascia and 1x4 for the DPDT switch to be installed. 

Electronics / JMRI

6/1/2020 - As part of the JMRI installation, I soldered extension feeder wires to the six detection coils that need to be installed in the helix. Two of them will go into the new block 300 that I need to create, two will go into block 304, and two will go into block 305. This will bump the number of helix blocks up to 12 -- six in either direction. While this seems like a lot, it's really not. Each lap around the helix is 16-17 feet long, which is comparable to other blocks on the railroad. These blocks are longer since the trains will be running at "mainline speed" here, so having longer blocks works fine. 

6/7/2020 - I finished installing the feeders in the helix and getting them hooked up to the detection coils. I also took care of splitting what was block 301 into block 300 and 301. Block 300W and 300E now cover the track from the wall to the back of helix. After programming the Watchman board, it appeared in JMRI and I was able to add the remaining indicator tracks. 

In looking at the panel, there is a "temporary" link between block 204 (on the south wall) to blocks 305W/305E. In addition, on the lower deck, block 104 connects to block 300. This is only temporary until the peninsula is added onto the layout. At that point, there will likely be blocks 104-110 and 204-210, depending on how I lay out the track and blocks. 

Because there is a temporary link, I moved the indicator tracks for blocks 300-305 so that they connect with the turnout at the end of block 204. However, when I did that and started running trains through, it looked like the train was jumping from westbound to eastbound track. After I looked at the track, I realized that I actually had a right-hand switch and not a left-hand switch. Oops. Once I adjusted that and slid the tracks down, the train went where I thought it should be. 

Here's a snapshot of the new dispatcher panel as it stands now:

6/9/2020 - I did some work on cleaning up some kinks in the helix and adding the remaining feeders. After that, I tackled wiring up the microscopic DPDT switches for use with the Tortoises in the Glenwood (U5-U6) switching district. After a few failures, I figured out that I could bend the tabs out slightly to provide some extra space for the wires. I also soldered wires onto the 6 Tortoise drives that will be installed in this area. 

NMRA Achievement Program

6/5/2020 - After many hours of operating sessions, I finally got to the point of having more than enough hours for the Chief Dispatcher achievement. I had been putting off writing up all of the additional documentation on the layout, which is all documented here on the requirements document. 

While some of the NMRA requirements are focused on timetable-driven operations, going through the process did make me think about how the operations would work. A few things I learned/decided:

• The mileage I was originally planning was way more than was appropriate for my layout. Originally, I was looking at Minneapolis to Minot, which was around 450 miles. Instead, I adjusted the layout down to a much smaller portion of the CP mainline, about 240 miles. 
• For my branchline, I figured out that I could use the Twin Cities & Western railroad as the towns on that line. I have a pretty reasonable connection on the track schematic to connect the main to the branch, as well. 
• It made me think about the sequence of trains, especially now that I've gotten my car card system in place. 

I wrote up my documents and submitted them for review, so hopefully in a few weeks (or months), I'll have my second achievement certificate.