An Hour Out and About

After lunch on Saturday I headed out to do a bit of railfanning sans Mrs. L4T. In the back of my head there was an idea that I may head to Superior to try and catch a CN train, but with Haines Road closed for the duration it seemed logical to travel by way of Proctor, just in case something was happening there. Sure enough, an empty was perched just south of the overpass, and the yard switch job was engaged in the never-ending task of shuffling cars to and fro.

If you look at the background very carefully, you can catch a glimpse of one of the remaining marron SD's working as part of the switch job. They didn't get any closer during my quick stop, so no better shots.

Next stop was Mike's Yard, in the hope BNSF would be switching the paper mill. They weren't, but I got a glimpse of the Rices Point switch engines to the west and went hunting. That power set proved to be elusive, and after a thorough search I came to the conclusion they had either vanished or headed home without me seeing it. I still had some intention of going to Wisconsin, but I followed the tracks up the interstate and sure enough, caught up to the light power returning to home base. A shot from the 27th Ave overpass.

 

 

 

You can see the tail end of a cut of cars in the upper right corner. That turned out to be a transfer behind a pair of GP's, pulled up to the yard office. My targets stopped right beside the transfer power, and I walked up on the Garfield overpass and shot the power sets from there.

 

 

 

By that time the hoped for sunshine was pretty clearly not going to show, and I was homesick, so after a stop at the hobby shop I headed for home. It was an entertaining hour or so. 







Rising like a Phoenix

It seems like a lifetime ago that I did this.

Over the last few weeks I have been working to undo that, a little bit at a time. Yesterday I shared a shot showing a bit of benchwork and some backdrop. Today I painted the backdrop. It's blue now, hardly worth posting a picture yet.

Readers might be interested in what is planned for the area, though. The basic idea is one side of a paper mill, with tracks for loading boxcars and unloading tank cars of chemical and kaolin clay. The paper mill will be modeled using building flats, just a few inches deep. First attempt at a trackplan looked like this:

It seemed like too little room for the spurs. I just wasn't happy with the arrangement. Since one spur was facing point and one trailing point, a runaround was needed. Then I was paging through Lance Mindheim's book on designing small industrial switching layouts and stumbled upon his idea of using a crossing to gain some space. That changed things up some, to this:

 

 

Now that's more like it. Keeps the runaround, but gives the spur more breathing room. I even added in one more track, for "off spot" boxcars. The loading area is on the left and tank car unloading will be on the right. Now to find an Atlas Code 83 19 degree crossing...

 

Next time I will try and share some more of the track plan, and outline the operating theory of the layout. Here's a hint: my track plan and operating concept have been heavily influenced by exposure to the Twin Ports. 

Progress in the Basement

Long time, no post. Thought I would share a little of what I have been working on lately. The layout room isn't done, far from it, but I do have the studs up all the way around, the ceiling installed in about a third of the room, and lighting operating in that portion as well.

I could no longer resist the siren call of an operating section of track, and so I have knocked together a bit of benchwork and started on a backdrop in the hopes of putting together the beginnings of a paper mill scene. The grand plan is for this to play a part in the larger layout, so it's not wasted effort. Here's a look at what I've accomplished to this point:

The theory this time is to use Code 83 track and turnouts for their better appearance. Having grabbed a handful of Walthers/Shinohara Code 83's some time back at what I thought was a great price ($10 each, new in box) I was a bit dismayed upon realizing that they were the old style power-routing turnouts, and not at all DCC friendly. Following a bit of internet research and toying around with an ohmmeter, out came the rotary tool, styrene, and super glue. It didn't take long to cut gaps and fill them with strip styrene, then file the plastic to the shape of the rail.

I think this will take care of the DCC issues. Basically I am creating dead frogs, which shouldn't be much of a problem as the Atlas turnouts I normally use also have dead frogs. We will see after I get some track down and feeders installed. These don't feed past the frog after surgery, so I will need to press the soldering iron into service before I can make any final judgements.

All for now, soon I will try and get some track plans posted and describe the operating scenario I have developed.

What's in YOUR Wallet Basement?

Kind of a joke of a title. I always loved those commercials.

Anyway, one of the reasons posting has been non-existent for over a month is my preoccupation with planning and construction work on the latest version of the West Central Minnesota Railroad. Whether it is trying to learn how to use AnyRail, reading John Armstrong's Track Planning for Realistic Operation, or actually putting up walls, I've been able to occupy my spare time with little left for blogging or railfanning.

Having staked out a little less space than I had for my last layout (about 16' by 19', versus 11' by 42' in Wadena), I sensed the need for two levels. That brought about the question of how to get trains from the lower level to the upper level, and vice-versa. There were two basic ideas-a "nolix", or building a grade into the track as it travels around the room, and a helix, which wraps a bunch of track into a spiral to allow trains to climb between levels while keeping the grade manageable. The debate between the two has consumed many electrons, and each has its place, but I decided on the helix. Here's why: I wanted to have areas with no grade for switching on each level. After building two vertical curves on my last layout, I didn't relish the idea of multiple vertical curves this time, not to mention that the level areas would eat up footage that was needed to keep grades manageable with the "nolix" concept. Ergo, the only option left to me was a helix.

There was one other reason I wanted to build a helix-I think they are cool, and I wanted to see if I could build one. As a matter of fact, I got so excited about it that I broke my own first commandment of layout building-finish the room before starting on the layout. Sure enough, I have a huge pile of ceiling tile waiting to be installed, and here I am twiddling around with a helix.

As of yesterday, here's a shot that gives an idea of my progress:

Currently I have almost two and a half full turns done, including track laid. These things eat up a lot of track. In fact, there will be more than 60 feet of track in the four full turns I am planning to raise the track 16". The grade works out to almost exactly 2%, but the trains will pull harder than that due to the additional drag of curves. 

When it's all done, there will be threaded rod supports all around the helix, to allow for precise adjustment of grade and make sure it's sturdy. Those are planned to be the final items installed. 

Today I got so excited that I made up a 6 car train, including two bay covered hoppers and 89' auto racks, and ran it up and down the track I had installed a couple of times. The 30" radius seems adequate, but the cars have to have good couplers and the trucks need to be installed correctly (one fairly tight and one loose). I have already found a couple of cars that needed a trip to the RIP track for adjustment, but got the whole thing running nicely after 15 minutes or so. The Athearn RTR GP38 had no problem with this length of train, so it looks like the grade will be manageable. 

So to answer the title of the post, a helix is what's in my basement as of now. More to come. Next time I may have a more polished track plan to share. 

Nosing Around in the Fog

A  clearing forecast and decent temps combined with the offer of a guide seemed to create the conditions for a dream railfanning outing this morning, so I took advantage of the situation and was out the door before 7:30 AM. After a short stop at to say hi to Dan's wiener dogs, it was back on the road in foggy conditions, just right to catch a train looming out of the gloom. I was driving but taking directions from the fearless leader, and he guided us to a meeting with four EMD's right off the bat, including a blue and yellow visitor to the ports.

 



With CP accounted for, it was off to Black Bear where a fantastic trestle was shrouded in fog when we arrived. The twenty minute or so wait for the train allowed all the fog to clear out, yielding the finest-lit shot of the day as CN "land barge" struggled by with two big units up front and a couple more mid-train. Six hundred and sixty some axles, with lots of loads, had these engines groaning as they worked the train out of the basin.  

 



The upside was that slower progress made for an easier chase. We were able to beat the train to this secret location even when it involved a short run that left my legs rubbery. The photo may not be much but the sight and sound of the train cutting through the fog was pretty cool. I've never thought about how hard trains have to work heading out of Superior toward Wisconsin, but apparently hills ring the Twin Ports.  

 



 By this time, I had worked up a healthy appetite and the Escape was thirsty as well, so we headed back to Superior to fill everyone's tanks. After stops at Holiday and McD's (and a few well-chosen words about the lateness of this year's McRib), it was back on the road, to check out what my old friend the BNSF was up to. 28th Street Yard was strangely unoccupied when we drove up, with only a couple of units present, but the railroad fixed that in a minute when a couple more GP's backed a cut of cars into the yard. The fog was back in force as I shot the action. I do find something uniquely compelling about these foggy day shots.

 

 Of course no railfanning outing in Superior is complete until you at least do a roll-by inspection of the engine servicing facility. Today, we were lucky enough to catch a crowd of EMD's, of various vintages, paint schemes, and wheel arrangements, being prepped and fueled for service. I couldn't resist.

 

Finally, a swing around the yard and down past the elevators produced nothing new. However, I did get a valuable tip about a photo location for boats loading grain at CHS. Today it was the "American Mariner" filling up. Even got a tiny bit of fall color in the corner of the shot.

And with that, our three-hour tour had ended. Not stranded on a deserted island, either, but just minutes from home and already dreaming of the next chance I have to get out and look for trains around the Twin Ports. Thanks, Dan, for the tour and all the info you shared. It's appreciated.

Alive!

The first ten days of the month went by in a blur, with a trip to Michigan for work followed up by the movers coming and packing up our household goods the following Monday and Tuesday and delivering to our new home on Wednesday. I managed to fit a couple of fun-filled unpacking days in last Thursday and Friday before getting up at 4 AM Monday to head, once again, to Michigan. Now I'm back at my new home in Duluth and Mrs. L4T is here with me, and all is well with the world.

My Mom and Dad stopped to see our house on the way to Florida for the winter on the same the movers arrived. We decided to go for a drive so I could show them where I work and sneak in a little railfanning, which is how I caught this "critter" at the end of the day, working the storage elevator in Old Town Superior. Since we were in a bit of a hurry I had to settle for this shot, someday I would like to get him out in the open.

The heir to the Look4trains fortune was next to visit, and help unpack over the weekend. Since he also needed to see my office, and do a bit of touring around the area, I again managed to sneak in a train photo. This time we were passing the west end of the BNSF pellet yard at Allouez and found a DPU sunning itself while I suppose the train waited to dump. Out came the Pentax and captured the sight.

What a difference between Friday evening (above) and Saturday, shown below. Coming back from Superior, a transfer was leaving Rices Point and a short trip down I-35 let me catch him as he passed through the gloom on the way to Grassy Point. Can't be sunny all the time.

Finally, one more at Allouez, another DPU sitting at the entrance to the yard. This time it was an ACe, but even though the power was nicer the weather wasn't.

That's it for the month so far. Pretty slim pickings but it sounds like the weekend might be at least partly decent so there's that. Wish me luck in my new digs.

Memories

As my time in Wadena draws short (when I leave today, I won't be back here to live, the movers come tomorrow), I can't help but think back on the time spent here. Wadena is where I got really involved in railfanning, and where Mrs. L4T and I lived when she encouraged me to buy my first "real" camera.

 

6 years ago today, there was a coal train leaving Staples headed for Superior. With no knowledge of things like scanners or ATCS, railfanning was a hit and miss game. That fine day I was lucky to catch this train as it ventured onto the Staples Sub, led by a triclops 60M. A scene that will likely never again occur, it seems a blessing now that I was able to witness it then.

 

 

 

There are some things I will miss about Wadena. Having grown to love the Staples Sub, that's one thing, and I have a few good friends here in Wadena that I will miss. No longer being able to host an ATCS server is a regret. The disassembly of the first edition of the WCMR was a bitterseet event. All in all, though, I'm real excited about the future and look forward to what it holds.

 

Thanks to everyone who has been a reader, hopefully this blog makes the move well.