The Atlantic and Southern Build, Part 1

[ACL1504]

Tom,
Green with envy; never bored. 

Chip,

I appreciate you stopping by and hope I never let you get bored.

Tom

[ACL1504]

looking good , and giving me ideas. Thanks

Jan,

Thanks, much appreciated. Giving ideas and getting them is what our forum is all about. Well, that and great friends.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Beautiful work. First class all the way.


John

SBG John,

Thanks Butty, much appreciated.

Tom

[ACL1504]

I went with a semi-gloss as it is easier to keep clean. I used an ege shell finish on the last control panel and it very easily showed marks and smears.     Continued in a few.

Excellent idea, as you never know what them other  SBG fellers are gonna have on their fingers!
SBG Bobby may smear any thing from paint to whatever,
and SBG Cuse may smear onion juice, ketchup, and mustard, with a little ice cream mixed in for Jaime!!

Thanks Gamn from Lil Tommy! The semi-gloss turned out to be a great idea as I've been up against it installing the toggles and LEDs and left not one mark! I can't say that about the egg shell finish.

Tom

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I have a little update on the layout. Yesterday I worked on installing the nine tortoise turnouts on the South end. I had to install one from the top side as it was directly above a cross support 1X4 under the plywood.



Continued in a few. I forgot to crop the new pictures.

[ACL1504]

After getting the Tortoise turnouts installed it was time to get them all wired into the southend panel. I ran the wires to the panel after I finished installing the LEDs and toggles.



I tested each one as I installed the wiring and it all worked. Thank goodness.



I'll make a smaller control panel for the northend of the yard. The panel won't have the ON/OFF toggles as does the southend.

Here is a look at the wiring on the inside of the panel. It isn't "Vika Chandler" looking but neat enough for me!



Continued in a few.

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I'm using an old MRC Control Master 20 Power Center for the turnouts. It has more than enough power for the turnouts on the lower level. In fact, this is the same Power Center source I used to power all of the 110 Tortoise turnouts on my old layout.



I have many other options for the use of the power source as well. Note this is a power source with a hand held throttle.



The throttle has a speed control from 1 to 10. I can control the speed of the turnout throw with the throttle. As I install more turnouts, I'll increase the speed.

[S&S RR]

Tom


You have been busy. I think your wiring looks great. Vikas does have amazing wiring . I haven't posted any pictures of the wiring in my control panels since he post his wiring pictures.  I can't imagine what his sock drawer looks like. If you read this Vikas your layout is world class (we need more pictures) and next time you visit the F&SM don't look under the benchwork.

[Erieman]

Good Morning Tom,

Just stopped by to check out your progress. As usual , looking great. How about some more overall pics of both sides when you get a chance. Just saying. Keep up the good work. How many days until you are officially retired? You are going to like it. I'm going on year 6. Need to back some scenery, keep up the great work.

Frank / Erieman

[ACL1504]

Tom


You have been busy. I think your wiring looks great. Vikas does have amazing wiring . I haven't posted any pictures of the wiring in my control panels since he post his wiring pictures.  I can't imagine what his sock drawer looks like. If you read this Vikas your layout is world class (we need more pictures) and next time you visit the F&SM don't look under the benchwork.

John,

Thanks for checking in. I'm working on the second panel now. I've had five part time jobs since my official retirement in  December of 1998. OMG, it's been 16 years already. Where does the time go?

Needless to say, I'm very much looking forward to a FULL retirement.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Good Morning Tom,

Just stopped by to check out your progress. As usual , looking great. How about some more overall pics of both sides when you get a chance. Just saying. Keep up the good work. How many days until you are officially retired? You are going to like it. I'm going on year 6. Need to back some scenery, keep up the great work.

Frank / Erieman

Afternoon Frank,

Thanks for checking in and it was great Skyping with you this afternoon. I'll get more pictures going in week or so.

Tom

[Erieman]

Good Morning Tom,

Just stopped by to check out your progress. As usual , looking great. How about some more overall pics of both sides when you get a chance. Just saying. Keep up the good work. How many days until you are officially retired? You are going to like it. I'm going on year 6. Need to back some scenery, keep up the great work.

Frank / Erieman

Afternoon Frank,

Thanks for checking in and it was great Skyping with you this afternoon. I'll get more pictures going in week or so.

Tom

Good Afternoon Tom,

I  told you that you would like using Skype. Now i have to get a longer cord for the camera. This would allow me to show you so much more of the layout. The biggest problem that I have is the amount of bars on my computer. This room does not get good reception because of the wire screen built into the stucco exterior walls. Really like seeing the progress you are making on the layout. Looks great. So much to do, and so little time, but retirement will be a big help. You should be quite far along by the time that the NMRA nationals roll around in 2017.

Have a great day.

Frank / Erieman

[ACL1504]

I was able to get a little more done on the layout this past week or so. I finished the East staging yard control panel.



I also moved the Super Chief Command Control to this end of the layout. I'm using the Super Chief as I mentioned. I'm also using Digitrax PS 2012 for track power. This unit gives me enough power 18v/15A and will power the three levels.

I usgraded from the 100 to the DCS200 for the command station as this gives me 8A for the staging areas. I'm using the DB200+ for the addition power boosters for the levels. I'll have the upper yards, diesel facility and roundhouse on their own boosters.



Continued in a few.

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I also moved the MRC Power Command unit to this end. This unit controls the power to the Tortoise turnouts as mentioned earlier.

[ACL1504]

I've determined that I will be able to store 14 to 16 passenger trains on the East side. These will be either an ABA or AB units with 10-11 Walthers passenger cars. If I drop a car or two off each train, I can get 18 passenger trains on this side. These will be diesel only.



The West staging yard will be all steam. In the next two photos you can see I only have four passenger trains and a few freight with lots of space available.





The next two weeks will see me finishing the West staging yard, installing and wiring the turnouts and adding two additional control panels.