Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine - Totally electronic, totally interactive, totally free - Premier issue: January 2009

Friday, November 14, 2008

Specifications and Details of the Klamath River Line

Specifications and Details of the Klamath River Line

A little information on the nuts and bolts of the Klamath River Line. I’ve listed stores, brands, and exact info where possible. I have also listed TIPS in areas where I have used techniques that are new to me, that I have incorporated or things that made life easier as I went along.


Southern Pacific’s Klamath River Branch Line at a glance

Scale” HO (1:187.1)
Size; 9’ X 11’ (excluding staging)
Prototype: Southern Pacific
Locale: Northern California’s Klamath River basin
Period: October 1983
Style: Pit
Mainline Run: 80’ total (40’ visible)
Minimum radius: 24” visible main, 22” all others, 18” staging
Minimum Turnout: All but one no 6 mainline no 4 all others & Snap switches for staging
Benchwork: Plywood frame built domino style
Height: 48” Basement, 52” main area
Roadbed: Midwest Cork
Track: Atlas code 83 flex, sectional and turnouts.
Scenery Base: Extruded foam base with cardboard strips as needed
Backdrop: Painted vinyl flooring
Control: Digitrax Zephyr DCC

In Depth Detail

Benchwork:
One of the many things that have improved since I was last serious about MR’ing is the use of quality plywood as benchwork material. I was able to get two sheets of ¾” cabinet grade plywood from Lowes for $38.00 a sheet. The best thing was they even ripped into 3” x 8’ strips for FREE!!! That’s 64 rips, took him over an hour and killed a new blade. I used a chop saw to cut the strips to the desired length. TIP: If you need even just two (or more) pieces of the same size, take the time to setup a stop block set up and cut them the exact size every time. It’s an easy thing to do and well worth it. All joints were screwed and glued. The legs are 2” x 2” with two 3” plywood strips as cross braces. I had enough material from the two sheets of plywood to do the whole layout, the leg braces, a few “do overs” and a little is still left over.

I’m not happy with the 2”x2” legs and will upgrade them in the future. The 3” frame work is covered with ½” plywood. Each section is either 24” wide or 18” wide. I wouldn’t go less than 18” for free standing units.



The Base:
It is double stacked 2” extruded foam. I went this route since I was originally going to have 3 different track levels in a total of 8”. This would have been the Basement section that was to be hidden at + 0” of the plywood, the Main section at +4” for a majority of the track and “The Loft” section which was the in the original RR&N plan as the Mine Loop at +8”. By this time I was calling this how I added 6 towns and scenery to my helix. The mine loop lost out. Quality of Run was the guiding factor here. It was just too little of an area to meld the backdrop and the main section with any quality or the mental vision I have.

If I was to do it all again, knowing what I know now, I would have one sheet of foam for scenery depth and redesigned the staging but that’s for another post. I did start out using caulk to “glue” the foam to the plywood and each section but I found this used too much caulk and was difficult to keep even. I went to yellow glue and found this worked well. I wound up using a total of 1 gallon of yellow glue for the entire project.


Backdrop:
The backdrop was originally to be 1/8” masonite with 1”x 4” supports. I was going to paint directly on the masonite. This wasn’t working as well as I would have liked. When in doubt, trust Joe Fugate. He used vinyl flooring as a backdrop material. I wound up mounting this over the masonite. This was a little flimsy for me so halfway through I switched to ½” plywood as a base for the vinyl flooring without additional supports. I’ll use this method in future efforts.

Shop around though, I found an 8’ x 12’ section of vinyl for $30 at Home depot while Lowes wanted $60 for a 6’ x 8’. I used the chop saw to cut the roll to size BEFORE I unrolled it. I tried several paint colors from my own from photos but couldn’t find a suitable color. I used Crescendo Blue from Wal-Mart for the background color (again trust Joe). It was $8.00 a gallon!

Track and Roadbed:
All of the track is Atlas Code 83. All but one of the turnouts on the main are #6’s. All of the other visible turnouts and the one from the main to Anderson Door and Window are #4’s. Almost all of the track is laid on Midwest Cork roadbed. The crossover and the yard are laid on 12”x12” cork from Wal-Mart. It was $4 for four 12”x12” sections. It’s a perfect match for the Midwest cork. TIP: One of the many improvements to MR’ing is the use of caulk to “glue” down track instead of track nails – this is the only way to go! A LITTLE goes a LONG way. I used yellow glue to glue the roadbed to the foam.

Turnout control is Caboose Industries 206S ground throws – for now. Some other hand throw will come later.

I used Micro Engineering brown ties to fill in the gaps where I removed ties for the rail joiners.

I made several templates of Atlas 24” curved sectional track soldered them together to mock up areas for track work. This was an easy way to go. I used a single, a double and triple to mock up track areas.

I used Woodland Scenic’s 3% grades. These are great if you only need a few grades. Takes the math right out of it.

Control/DCC:
The Digitrax Zephyr is a great little unit. It can handle most small/medium sized layouts – as long as you don’t have too many QSI units. It also has built power boosting for programming. There is a program track option. The Yard track closest to the edge is the program track. I had to get my 4PDT switch from E Bay. It was a hard to find locally or at a retail internet dealer for a decent price (Man do I hate Radio Shack- have they gone down hill).

Hand throttles include one DT400R Wireless throttle and two UT4 tethered throttles….. as well as the Zephyr itself. Wireless 128 step throttles walking along a sound unit is just unbelievable!!!.


Wiring:
I used 12 gauge solid wire for the bus. I like solid wire for the bus because it can take it when I cut into the sheathing when using the 3M 905 suitcase connectors; another great thing since I was last MR’ing. I used stranded 20 gauge wire for the feeders. It’s easier to fish around. I soldered them to the rail joiners facing centerline of the track. I put these on my flex track where I had a few ties removed for the joiners anyway. I drilled a hole in the middle of the track for the feeders to drop down. TIP: I taped the feeders to a skewer that I used to fish the wires through the roadbed, 4” of foam and the plywood. Worked great.

I didn’t do any power blocks since this is considered a smaller layout and I’m planning on having only one QSI sound unit – The Zephyr can handle it. Additional sound units will be less power hungry dummy units as sound units. If I was to do block control, I would use the 1156 taillight method, although it would be the 1142 for the Zephyr due to the rating of each.

Lighting:
Main layout lighting is provided by five 48” dual tube florescent fixtures. These are the cheap ones from Home Depot/ Lowes for less than $10.00 each. I use Full Spectrum bulbs in the 5000 – 6000 K range. By using full spectrum bulbs I get plenty of light at low cost. The upside is these don’t fade anything on the layout, don’t make everything look yellow, photographs very well and give everything a real outdoors & natural look. These bulbs are about twice as much as regular florescent bulbs but for under $5 a pack of 2 they are well worth it.


Portable lights:
I found I needed 2 portable lights while working on the layout. The first is a cheap desk lamp from Wal-Mart ($5) and a regular 75 w light (while we can still get them before the greenies make them go away). I use this to set on the layout when I’m doing small work items – putting in ground throws, soldering etc.

I also have a clamp light with a 75w bulb in it. This is great for under table wiring etc. I have used both at the same time for layout work too.


Location:
The layout is a free standing pit style located in the corner of the garage. It was to have 2 parts that were to be movable but the ROW committee has gotten a ten year lease to keep it standing at all times. I mention this because had this be the plan from the onset the construction would have been differently. Staging would have been different too.

There are 4 sections to the layout. The 4 sections are labeled North, South, East and West. The North and West sections are semi permanent. The South and East sections are movable and are mounted on wheels but see above.

Under this setup though I do have great access from the “big isle” to the hidden trackage. I can also make temporary staging as big as I want - as long as it stores well and is gone when not operating.
Life expectancy of layout is 10 – 15 years. Then I’ll be able to the Klamath Line justice!!!! is 10 –
15 years

No comments: