Ogden & Cache Valley, Part II

[GPdemayo]

Nice to see some progress Doug, looking good.....

[Jerry]

Doug nice update!!

After watching this come together I've come to the conclusion that "THE LUMBER YARD" loves to see you coming!! 

Jerry

[Onewolf]

Doug nice update!!

After watching this come together I've come to the conclusion that "THE LUMBER YARD" loves to see you coming!! 

Jerry

The layout has around 485 - 490 linear feet of benchwork, so YES.  Lots of lumber.

[ACL1504]

Doug,

Good to see you are still working on the layout.

Tom

[KentuckySouthern]

I'm enjoying your layout work, well done. Keeping it as clean as you have would be difficult for me.  I like the foam you're using.

One of the commercial layout builders here in MI is totally, passionately opposed to Homosote citing its no longer truly flat and humidity soaking causes more unevenness in its surface. I've never used any. 

What ever you're doing it sure is a treat for me.

KS

I concur on the difficulty with finding good quality frame wood.  It's a nearly impossible to find any good "sticks" in the bins at Menards or Lowes. You are lucky if you can find 1 out of a dozen decent 1x3. I bought most of mine in the lumber yard nearby that were near trim quality.

[Onewolf]

I used 1/2" homasote on the previous layout for the yard/loco service areas and I found that I had to spend a lot of time/effort patching it to make it level.  That's why I switched 1/2" rigid foam for the new layout.  Not that the foam doesn't have issues:  the surface is very fragile (even a finger nail can cut into surface) and you have to be very careful when working on/above the foam.  Dropping almost anything results in a depression or surface gouge.

The issue I am currently fighting is getting new LED strips to match the color temp of the old/saved LED strip fixtures.  I am loathing the possibility of redoing all the LED strip fixtures with new LEDs in order to get 'matched'. 

[Onewolf]

I am still waiting to get additional LED strip lights that match the existing LED strip lights color temp. I found some and verified the color match, but they went out of stock. Supposedly they will be back in stock this week.

I have working on the 5 control panels so they will be ready once I start installing track/turnouts.

For the DCC track power/control there are the following components:
Digitrax DCS-240+ command station
(2) Digitrax DB-210 8 amp track power booster
(4) Digitrax DB-150 5 amp track power booster
15 DCC Specialties PSX circuit breakers
2 DCC Specialties PSX-AR auto reversing circuit breakers
Each control panel also has a RRampMeter inline between the DCC booster and the first PSX circuit breaker. The RRampMeters display the track power voltage (should be around 15 volts) and track power current.

The wires that come off the PSX circuit breakers are to drive remote status LEDs mounted on the fascia. For each PSX breaker there are 3 status LEDs: input power, output power, short status

[Rick]

That's a very neat looking install.

[Jerry]

I agree with Rick.  Very nice and neat for sure.

Jerry

[jbvb]

When I added PSX circuit breakers, I bought and installed the feeper part mentioned in the instructions.  It does make it clear when there's a short but all the feepers produce the same note, so my operators still have to look for the lit LED on the panel to see if they caused the short.

[Onewolf]

When I added PSX circuit breakers, I bought and installed the feeper part mentioned in the instructions.  It does make it clear when there's a short but all the feepers produce the same note, so my operators still have to look for the lit LED on the panel to see if they caused the short.

I run the PSX remote status LEDs to small panels on the fascia like these I saved from the previous layout. The top two LEDs are normally green and the lower LED is off unless there is a short detected and then it lights up RED.

 

[jbvb]

My first couple of op sessions after I started installing the PSXs I observed a lot of "why did my loco stop [poke it] Joe, is your loco working? [poke it again, push it a little way down the track] James, is something wrong with the DCC power?]  So I added feepers all round.

Back in the DC block days, operators pretty much had to know which panel's area they were operating in.  Much less necessary now.

[Onewolf]

I've been working on the lower return loop this weekend. I added additional 3/4" subroadbed and 1/2" Homasote from the lower return loop to the point where it will transition to the 3/4" plywood and 1/4" foam roadbed as the double track mainline exits the tunnel. The lower return loop is at 36" nominal elevation and the rest of the lower level is at 40" elevation so the mainline climbs at 1.37% as it exits the lower return loop.

There will be 8 track loops in the lower return loop ranging from 28 1/4" to 44" radius.  The outside (44" radius) will be considered the mainline.

The quality of the Homasote board is even more crappy then when building the previous layout 10 years ago. And it kicks up a ton of cellulose dust when cutting the homasote (over in the basement garage/woodshop area).

And then I caulked and painted the homesote. I am basically ready to start laying track! There was much rejoicing!

Keep in mind that all this track will be hidden under the city of Ogden.

And Adventure Kitty got up into the ceiling/floor joists this morning. I knew this was inevitable.

[deemery]

And then I caulked and painted the homesote. 

What did you use caulk for with the homasote?  Filling in joints?  

dave

[Jerry]

Nice update.  Don't forget the cat's up there!! 

Jerry