PRR Bellevue Sub Build

[PRR Modeler]

Afternoon All,

Thank you Dennis and Greg for your kind words and following along.

Greg- You have no idea about the bushes .

Since the last post I finished the scenery below the back elevated track. Originally I had planned the back high T/O to go to the private coal trestle requiring a decline run of around 16 ft. After some thought I decided to instead have the incline (In this case) from the right hand reverse loop only requiring a incline run of 6 ft. and does not run in front of the viaduct bridge. The existing T/O was too hard to remove so I put in a short siding where helpers could go after helping trains. Not a perfect solution but workable. At some point I may cut back the siding and put a tower in. I'll see.

The wife is pushing hard for a pond in front of the viaduct bridge which I'm pushing back on because I've put in 3 or 4 water features and they all looked like crap.

I also modified the track behind the RH. It had a very noticeable S curve. The track was originally laid after the RH was in place. I played with it and was able to make the S curve shallower. Before the 2-8-8-2 would have some wheels come off there when running at 25 smph. The repair allows the loco run through at 40 smph without derailing (I usually run at 25 smph). The loco is happy so I'm happy. I'll finish the scenery tomorrow around it then I can start on the lower track work.

I've decided to wait on ballasting until the main line is completed and tested. I have about a third to go.

 

[Judge]

Curt - Good progress my friend.  I particularly like your forest, although it is difficult to see because of the trees.   

[PRR Modeler]

Afternoon All,

Thank you for following along Judge and the kind words.

I tried posting the other day but forgot to resize 1 photo so I lost the entire post and decided I was done at that point.

Today I'm posting the track work I've been working on the last week. The mainline is now completed and I finished the 2 interchange tracks that sit at the head of the peninsula (where the yard will be).

Picture 1: The left side T/O ladder. The mine in the background will be sitting in that area.

Picture 2: The foreground track is the mainline. The T/O in the foreground goes to the future yard and possibly a couple of business's, the T/O in the background will go to the mine.

Picture 3: The right hand T/O ladder.

The 3 tracks have 6 sets of buss feeders and have been checked electrically but not with locomotives yet. I plan on doing continuous running to do testing now that the mainline is complete before ballasting the upper level track.

As you can tell some of my roadbed is wonky and needs fixed .

[ReadingBob]

Coming along nicely butty Curt!  I sure hope I can get to see it in person some day.   

[nycjeff]

Hello Curt, you sure are making great progress. It's a lot of work, but it will all be worth it in the end.   Jeff

[ACL1504]

Butty Curt,

I agree with the others, moving along nicely. The track work looks very smooth, great job.

Tom

[Dennis Bourey]

Curt, I agree with the rest. Look's like your getting ton's done...Dennis

[PRR Modeler]

Afternoon All,

ReadingBob, Jeff, Tom, and Dennis thank you for the compliments and following along.

Today I started testing the mainline trackwork and the 2 interchange tracks will all my diesels. I ran each loco (or consist) in 1 direction for 3 laps then reversed for 3 laps for a total of 6 laps and did the same thing for the interchange tracks. The great news was there were no issues other than what I caused flipping T/O's.

Here is what I tested:

Athearn Genesis F3 ABA, FP7 ABA, GP7 AA
Bachmann BF16 AA, 44 Tonner
Athearn F7
Walthers H10-44
BLI NW2

Tomorrow I hope to do my steamers.

[ACL1504]

Curt,

Very impressive roster of motive power! Looks good and congrats on the runs.

Tom

[PRR Modeler]

Afternoon All,

Thanks Tom. I really appreciate it.

Today I did the same type of testing with my steam roster. I did discover 3 issues when running large steam. On both loop arounds I had to do a little track fiddling and on one T/O going to a interchange track I needed to anchor it down better. I was pleasantly surprised with the interchange track T/O's having no issues with the 2-6-6-2 or 2-8-8-2 except the one T/O.

The steamers I tested were:

LL Heritage 0-8-0 and 2-8-8-2
Bachmann Spectrum 4-4-0 and 4-6-2 (K4s)
Bachmann 0-8-0 and 2-6-6-2 (both are my Dad's)

On a strange side note the 4-4-0 always ran like crap on my last layout and I almost didn't test it (but I did) and it ran beautifully. I don't know if it was higher track voltage, better track work or a combo of both.

All the locos tested (diesel and steam) except for 2 have sat for close to a year and all ran great. I was really surprised.

Next up is track painting then ballasting the upper level track.

[PRR Modeler]

Afternoon All,

Today I painted the remaining installed track and did a sample ballasting of track.

I'm using WS Med Mixed Gray with WS Cinders mixed in since all my track is in a division off the main ROW. I've also seen pictures of track with a edge of cinders.

[jerryrbeach]

Jeff,


I like the pics of the motive power in front of the rocks.  The rockwork blends nicely with the greenery.  Your ballast reminds me of the Erie Lackawanna line past my grandfather's farm.  It never had anything but cinder ballast until dieselization.  Then came the stone on top of the cinders, so a nice touch with your approach.  To this day the line still shows cinders on the shoulders of the right of way with the stone ballast around the ties.  (The line is now operated by the New York Susquehanna and Western.)

[PRR Modeler]

Afternoon All,

Thank you Jerry for your kind thoughts and remembrances.

Since I've posted last I have ballasted the elevated track and retested it, and today I gave the track in the Engine Service Area a black wash then cleaned up the track and T/O's.

This morning I was laying in bed and a idea came to me how to make a reverse loop on the peninsula. Originally I was planning on doing a wye but just didn't have the width for it. The issue was getting the 2 entrance T/O's far enough apart for it to work. Then I figured since that was out I would just have a stub track yard.

This is what I came up with. Obviously this is just a concept drawing with incorrect T/O geometries. Also the loop around is tight at 18" radius (max width is 39").

This will give me 3 reverse loops. The TT, inside the right hand loop (follows it around), and around the front of the peninsula.

Another plus is I already have a PSX-AR wired in and a reverse loop buss run down the peninsula from when I was still planning on a wye.

Sorry for the crappy drawing and photo.   

[Dennis Bourey]

I like it Curt. Dennis

[Jerry]

Curt it's looking real fine.  Nice looking scenery.


Jerry