July Update

Just like that we are a little over a week from July being over. In my opinion the month of an ops session always seems to go really quick, especially when there is work to do in preparation for the session. Lets take a look at work done on the layout this month along with a quick recap from my Friday operating session. 

UPPER HURON BACKDROPS
In my last post I briefly discussed the work planned to install the backdrop for the Upper Huron Scene which would allow me to begin full foreground scenic work. As tempting as it was, its important to always work from back to front in a scene... trust me I learned the hard way on others. 

Planning
Working with Dave at Backdrop Junction I selected his GEN-033H scene which was required for around 16' of wall. In short order it arrived promptly and I wasted no time unrolling and planning work to be done. 

The backdrops are offered in three different materials, I chose the adhesive vinyl which is pretty awesome sticks really well to my Eucaboard backdrop that is painted with latex paint. 

Pre-Install Prep

First thing once out of the box was roll out and take a look at the amazing print. The price in my opinion is well reasonable for the good quality pictures, material, and support from Dave to help deliver what I was looking for. The scene came in two rolls which had overlapping scenes on the end to allow for seamless blending. I prefer no sky, so with sharp scissors I cut it out.

Once the sky was cutout, I then used a sharp hobby knife and hold punch to cut out the leftover sky that is close to the trees and buildings. When I used my knife it is important to have a piece of glass behind to keep a hard surface when making the cuts. I did not do any of this on my couch as the photo shows above... Instead I would unroll about 2' of scene at a time and keep the rest rolled up. 

Install
The backdrop board is actually made up for 3 section of which the middle is removable to access my "East Staging" if necessary. In doing so I was able to install the first 8' of backdrop starting from the sugar beet plant working west at my workbench. Following the online video - align, peel the backing, and apply. I had to make a few slight adjustments but it applied really easy and as I worked right to left removed the air bubbles.... This is a great backdrop product!!  

Off-Layout Transition

From this photo you can see the backdrop is installed all the way past where the legs of the wye go "off-layout". Part of why I chose this backdrop was having the trees where the track left the scene. This allows me to use scenic trees and materials to help blend with a "tree canopy" type transition. 

Town Transition
Since I had leftover material I actually ended up removing some of the Sceniking crop scene I had to the right of the road and replaced with more of the field/tree backdrop from Backdrop Junction. Using Sceniking buildings I had cutout, foam board, and a foam hill I will have a nice blend from woods to the town of Upper Huron. 

The end product turned out great, I am looking forward to my next backdrop project which is a secret, but will no doubt help convey a better sense of location. Stay tuned to Fall posts to see whats in store. 
** Note the opinion of this product is my own as I purchased it and did not receive discount or compensation for this blog entry **

NEW MOTORS

Intermountain - GE ET44
While north of Denver for work I had a few extra hours, so working with my contacts facilitated a meet and greet at Intermountain Railway in Longmont, CO. Needless to say after meeting the great people there, seeing great work, and getting a tour I could not resist buying one of their new GE ET44s decorated for CN. What a great product, and it looks and runs great my Intermountain CN ES44. There are probably plenty of online reviews, but the detail is really well done on this motor along with the lighting. Currently it does not have sound but will be getting a 21 pin Tsunami2 later this fall. 

Folks as why not LokSound.... here is my response: with over 95% of my fleet Sountraxx equipped I am happy with their product offering. The product is plenty for me and I know the nuances of programming with JMRI to get the performance, reliability, sound, and consisting I expect. Competition creates innovation so I welcome and look forward to what Soundtraxx, ESU, and others continue to develop. 

Broadway Limited - DCC Trackmobile
For fathers days - the wife and kids picked me up a DCC equipped trackmobile by Broadway Limited. This is a cool little machine and as a friend of mine who has one noted "Folks either love it or hate it." Yep I concur with that statement. This unit has a home at Michigan Sugar's Upper Huron plant and will become more apart of operating sessions in the future. 

Great modern products offered in the marketplace that are superb. Well done to both manufacturers.

**Note opinion on Intermountain product during visit is my own. No compensation was provided for either product** 

JULY OPS SESSION

Wow I finally had my first ops session for 2018.... Only seven months in. None the less it was a great session with five operators and fourteen scheduled trains. This session was the first time folks got to see the work done on my Cass River and Upper Huron scenes. As a layout owner I enjoy having new things for my operators to experience so its not just the same ole M-BAPH train. One cool comfort item I added was the fold-down cup holders from Blue Point. Added five on the layout in key locations, and it was nice to see them used to make a session a little more relaxed. 

The whole crew - minus me troubleshooting a minor JMRI Ops issue.. Yes we had 6 guys in a room that is 13x12 essentially. 

Planning.... Planning.....BSing........

R-GEGL-21 switching up cars left by the M-BAPH-20 from day earlier. We didnt have a chance to run this one during the session, so I marked up and worked the customers at Grays Lake and Gerhard today. 

Michigan Sugar Plant at Upper Huron is now in full operation. Took me three years but finally got a good trackplan that gives the essence of big time operations in a selective space. Plant is serviced daily by L-BAUH out of Bay Yard which then spots / pulls in the storage yard. Trackmobile then switches cars into their respective locations for molasses loading, sugar loading, pellet loading, coke unload. We will look at this facility in more depth on another post, but due to space requirements sugar beet loads just stay on the storage track and are unloaded "off-layout" between sessions. 

Needing a refresh - updated my consist cards after seeing different folks and their formats. Consists are divided by YARD, LOCAL, or ROAD power pools. Single motors use full four digit address while two or more use a two digit advanced consist.

Since implementing JMRI Ops earlier this year, this was the first live session where it was used for train movement and switching. I had to say we were about 80% accurate on moves, reporting, and losing cars. Based on folks who use it, they told me - print out the entire online guide, read it once, read it again, and then read it a third time. No doubt complex, but achievable and customizable for your operation no matter how big or small. Between now and my next session will be making tweaks, but I wanted to show some of the paperwork involved.

Yard inventory - I printed this after the session was over and all trains terminated to reconcile cars. As you can see there were a few messed up or missing. 

Linehaul Train Manifest - an example of how I print my linehaul train manifests. Still some customizing and verbiage to change, but it gets the job done on a live paper manifest. 

Local Train Manifest - not wanting to deviate on the formating based on others best practices I have seen, the manifest notes what work is to be done for the R-GEGL.

So busy month, hope you enjoyed the update. Alot of great stuff in the works and will continue to share monthly on the happenings around the MCIS St. Clair Sub. Thanks to my operators and friends in other geographic locations who continually help make my model railroading experience one worth sharing with you. 

Stay cool - its 100+ here in Texas 

GM 

Early January Update

It is amazing at how fast the Holiday Season goes by. Seems like yesterday was Thanksgiving and now are here in 2017! Since my last post the St. Clair Sub has seen different types of activity. One great point of our hobby is variety. For example I do not feeling like working on scenery, so I can instead install a decoder, assemble a building, or just run trains. Lets take a look at happenings from the back end of December.

Christmas Acquisitions
I have to give my family credit, they do a great job staying in tune to what I like. It also helps when online retailers like Walthers and Mountain Subdivision Hobbies have wishlists that you can create and folks then reference. At any rate I was very fortunate to receive great model train gifts for Christmas

 From the wife and kids: Blair Line Fertilizer Supply Kit, 2017 Walthers Catalog, and resale DPM buildings from Ebay. 

From parents and grandparents - 30ga wire, Soundtraxx Tsunami2s, Currentkeepers, and Railmaster 28mm speakers.

Very grateful and blessed for fantastic model train items. If your family or significant other doesn't know what you want and especially if it is model train items, use those wishlists to help them find the right gift. Not to mention an easy way to help them dial into what you model.

Both the DPM buildings and Blair Line Kit will be located in Grays Lake, Michigan. The sound decoder items were installed into Athearn Genesis SD45-2s that have been de-rated into SD40M-2s.

New buildings on the corner of Main and Harrison Streets in downtown Grays Lake. 

CEMENT TERMINAL STORAGE DOME

As I begin to "rough in" the Graystone Cement Terminal at Bay City I wanted to find a way to give the facility a modern expansion look to an existing facility that had been there for some time. Searching Google for Cement storage silos led to alot of different types of facilities. But this one below in Arkansas caught my eye as a great opportunity to model. 

Photo courtesy of Penta Industrial 

Finding my prototype I then setout to find commercially available items to help scratchbuild this storage dome. An quick visit to Hobby Lobby provided discovery of 12" smoothfoam halves. 


 This foam halve should fit the bill nicely. 

Using a bendable straight edge and pencil I traced the center where I would cut the halve. Once traced a sharp foam knife made quick work of the cut. 

 Mocking up the storage dome adjacent to the primary silos of the Graystone Cement terminal.

Planning my next move on the dome will require the top cap of a Kroger Whipped Cream canister, Walthers conveyors, and Pikestuff Walls to build the drive in access noted in the prototype picture. This entire cement terminal should make for a fun scratch-bash. It has been some time since I worked on buildings in detail, looking forward to the work.

In addition to the dome I will be purchasing a Walthers Medusa Cement kit as the base with additional silos added from what I have on hand. A two track load out shed put together from Pikestuff components and a set of those new Alkem Scale Models security fence kits will wrap up the industry nicely. 

MT. PLEASANT "MAC" SHOP UPDATE

Like prototype railroads, the business, mechanical, and regulatiory necessity need requires locomotives to be maintained, rebuilt, upgraded, or retired. In the case of the Michigan Interstate our locomotive and car shop are co-located at Mount Pleasant, Michigan. MAC stands for "Motivepower And Car". Our team there was quite busier than Santa's helpers releasing three locomotives back into service before the end of 2017. 

MCIS 4570 and 4571 (EMD SD45-2) derating to (EMD SD40M-2)

Wanting to align fleet similarity for parts and maintenance the mechanical team took the opportunity to de-rate the only two 20-645 units to 16-645s. Both of the units had issues with their original motors and had been sidelined at Mt. Pleasant. With 16-645 motors installed the locomotives have been re-classified as SD40M-2s. At current time the locomotives we keep their original numbers 4570 and 4571, in the future they will be renumbered into the 4050-4069 series. 

Components Installed

Soundtraxx Tsunami2 PNP EMD Diesel (EMD 645 Turbo)

Soundtraxx Currentkeeper

Railmaster Hobbies 28mm round speaker

Soundtraxx Sunny White 3mm LEDs

3825, 4570, and 4571 in "High Bay" at MAC Shop

MCIS 3825 (EMD GP38-2) Electronic Upgrade

With completion of this motor there are now eight modelled GP38-2s of the total twenty five in the fleet. This unit was painted early in 2016 by Fogelsinger Rail into special paint honoring University of Mary Hardin Baylor. The CEO must know someone who graduated from UMHB... 

Components installed:

Soundtraxx TSU-1000 (EMD 645 non-turbo)

Soundtraxx Currentkeeper

Railmaster Hobbies DS1425-8 speaker

TCS Sunny White SME LEDs 

MKT 175 (EMD GP40) Sound Install

In addition to work for Michigan Interstate and its subsidiaries, MAC shops also does contract work. Earlier in December we installed a TCS Wowsound decoder with motherboard discussed in my last post. 

Prior to return customer delivery, locomotive was tested and calibrated in rock train service. This photo could be somewhere in Texas during the "Katy" days.

L.H.T. - Layout How To (Railcar Deck Rebuild & Base Weather)

During a visit to the train store last week I came upon the Laserkit wook deck replacement kits for various railcars. . Selecting kit #325 for Model Die Casting / Athearn RTR 60' Flatcar I knew that the only 60' HTTX flat on my layout could really use this upgrade.

Kit and Athearn RTR HTTX flatcar in need of a better deck...... 

 Chisel blade made quick work of removing the plastic tractor holders. These had been glued on a factory.

Plastic holders removed, use the chisel blade to ensure the clean is clean. 

 Before installing the self adhesive wood deck, I wiped down the plastic deck with alcohol.

Following the kits instructions, use the stake pockets to line up the wood deck and car. Looks great but too new.  

Wash of india ink / alcohol helped tone down the car and deck. 

The india ink wash helped give the car a nice base weathering. Using other techniques I will continue to weather to represent a 30 year old car operating in machinery service out of Midwest factories. This car will allow me to test out the Smokebox Graphics FRA224 reflective stripes. The deck replacement kit from American Model Builders is a great value, simple to install, and helps transform a plastic kit into a flatcar model. 

Quick update for a Quick holiday season. Now that we are in the new year its time to see where we are going in 2017 and where we went in 2016. My next post we will look at the goals I had at the beginning of 2016 and see where I landed in actually completing them. We will also discuss "State Of The Railroad" and how I plan to manage scenery on the layout. 

Thank you for stopping by to read my Early January Update. 

Happy New Year!

GM 

Soundtraxx Announcement!

Some of us Soundtraxx fans have been wondering with 2015 being their 25th anniversary, if new neat things were coming around the corner for us in the hobby.

Well thumbing through Facebook I came across a post from Soundtraxx announcing their Econami line of value sound decoders. I do not know much about them, but seems pretty awesome. This would bring together the high quality sound and lighting we have come to expect with Tsunami Decoders but at a price that is even more affordable in the model railroad industry. More to come I imagine in media, but what a exciting offering.

Following link will take you to the Soundtraxx Econami page:

http://www.soundtraxx.com/dsd/econami/index.php

Happy Friday!

GM

Not endorsed by Soundtraxx, literally saw it on Facebook and thought I would share being a big user of their product.

Layout How To #02 - Sound Decoder Install

The weekend is coming to a close and with it one of my summer projects Idiscussed in my early June update. This project was the sound installation into a pair of Proto 2000 GP38-2s. The work took sometime to complete over a few days, but the time and effort put forth were well worth it.

As in most learned skills it takes practice to get better and this is my fifth Soundtraxx install so I am getting there, as each install is unique in its own way. Lets walk step by step on how I brought these two second generation EMDs to life.

Preparation & Tools
For this How To we will be installing the following in each motor:
  - LED lighting
  - Soundtraxx Tsunami TSU-1000 (EMD 645 non-turbo)
  - Soundtraxx Currentkeeper
  - Railmaster DS1425-8 Speaker

When it comes to the tools list, the Soundtraxx installation guide and their online resources provide a list of needed tools to make the install go smoothly.
  - Soldering Iron / Rosin Core Solder
  - Sharp Hobby Knife
  - Jewelers Screwdriver set
  - Electrical tape (3M)
  - Heat Shrink Tubing
  - Tweezers
  - Silicone Caulk (GE brand that comes with a nozzle - easy to handle)

As you can see from shell removal to make a TSU-1000, Currentkeeper, and speaker fit we are going to need to make cuts to the frame.

Once you have your workspace and parts all setup I then move on to the dis-assembly process.

Frame Dis-assembly & Cutting
Following the manufacturers guidelines I dis-assemble the engine and layout all of the major components. It is also important to mark the wires for the left truck, right truck, (+) motor, (-) motor for decoder connection. For small parts such as light bars, screws, and detail parts I put them in a small Ziploc so they don't "disappear" during the project.

Neat and Orderly is the key.

Part bags, extra weights, wiring diagram for the harness that was not used. It helps me to sketch out my wiring for the LEDs ensuring I dont wire them in backwards...

The TSU-1000 is setup to allow the use of a JST to NMRA 8 pin harness to make installing in DCC ready engines easier. In the case of 3833 the socket that the harness could install into is no good and 3827s socket was tossed in favor of hardwiring a NCE decoder many many years ago. That is ok with plenty of wire to work with coming off the new decoder the hardwire will be a snap.

Marking on the frame where the cuts will be made with a Dremel rotary disc and hacksaw.. This part can become labor intensive and the metal from the cutting will become hot - dont forget PPE - safety glasses, gloves!!!!

From the photo the area to remove was planned for, marked, and removed. Once the cuts were complete, I used a bench grinder to smooth down any rough surfaces on the frame. 

Frame Re-Assembly & Decoder Install

Once frame modifications were complete it was time to re-install back on the locomotive chassis and feed all of the existing wires through their respective channels before beginning the decoder install.

SPEAKER

From this point forward I followed the Soundtraxx instructions step by step through the decoder installation process. On these models the radiator fans are open which allows for the perfect spot to get the sound out of the engine. The Railmaster speaker being used (DS1425-8) is setup with its own baffle enclosure so all that was needed to help provide the best sound quality was a good seal between the front side of the enclosure and the open radiator fans. This was accomplished using the GE silicon caulk a day before so keep this in mind when planning your install to seal the speaker in the day before if you go the silicon way.... Remember alot goes a long way. 

Photo above shows the speaker installed with silicon between the front of speaker edges and radiator fan. Additionally I added the silicon on the bottom of the enclosure visible to provide a dampening effect in case the enclosure vibrated against the shell and extra securement. 

LIGHTING
For the LED lighting Soundtraxx Sunny White LEDs were utilized in conjunction with the light bar that is used with the proto 2000 setup. Following Soundtraxx instructions to properly wire in a 680 ohm resistor I think used heat shrink to attach the cut down light tube and led lighting assembly as one piece. This helped to minimize any light leakage as well. Photo above shows the rear headlight and photo below shows the front headlight.

Additionally on the front headlight I used black electrical tape to minimize any light leakage that could occur around the numberboards or cab windows.


TSU-1000 DECODER & CURRENTKEEPER
Once the decoder was hooked up to the rail pickups, motor, and currentkeeper and test was performed to ensure everything was in working order. The Currentkeeper comes with instructions for installation into the numerous different Soundtraxx decoders, be sure to read these directions to know where and when you need to install this item.

As you work through the decoder installation process try to keep your wiring in order and not let it get to tangled or jumbled up. You will be happy you did this when you are wrapping up and putting the shell back on. Depending on how the wire was orientated some of the solder joints were end to end while with a piece of shrink tube slide over or the ends paired side by side, twisted, soldered together, and covered with shink tube. Note: Just like in the instructions - tinning your wires makes the process work much more efficient. I would say "faster" but this is not a race and quality is key for a successful install.

Bundling & Shell Re-install
Once all of you connections are complete its time to make a final test to ensure the motor is still working but also the lighting and sound operate. If all of these items test out fine, then its time to bundle your wires together and tape down to avoid anything getting into the gear tower or drive train. This part can be tricky making sure all of the wires get up in the shell and not stuck on the sides so take your time.

Enjoy
You just spent upwards of 2-3 hours completing this quality - now it is time to enjoy your work. Ring up the power desk and advise another motor is back in the pool awaiting assignment.

 MCIS 3833 idling at Bay Yard after being setout off the M-MCBA-27 which picked the unit up at Mt. Pleasant last night. 

Soundtraxx and Railmaster Hobbies both have great products and when combined together as done with these two EMD GP38-2 installs it is a win for the modeler!

Thanks for stopping by - stay tuned as we go into July..... videos as promised in my Early June Update hopefully should begin to materialize.

GM