Sugarwood Blog

Well, the squirrels are still around.

Of last month’s list, I only completed one, maybe two.

• Build the 5 remaining turnouts for Purcell. COMPLETED!
  
  
• Complete the major track alignment for Purcell. Almost there!
  
  
• Pick a DCC system. I have CVP’s EasyDCC, which I built, including a computer power supply that provides 3.3VDC, 5VDC, 12VDC, DCC, and JMRI. Or I can use the DCC-EX that I have. I will need 12VDC for my lighting and 5VDC for automations.. Decisions, decisions COMPLETED! I’m almost certain.
  
  
• Install DCC, 12vdc, 5vdc buses
  
  
• Install feeder wires
  
  
• Connect the DCC system. Whichever one I pick.

I have pretty much decided on the CVP’s EasyDCC. It will have all the power I need, and it is setup for plug-and-play.

What did I get done.

I have completed building all of the turnouts for the layout. And, I have laid the track between Sugarwood and Purcell.

This short section of elevated roadway shows what I am thinking for a scenic divide.

The next three photos show that PrintPrint.ca has the long spur laid, the turnout to the Transload, and the beginning of the runaround.

And then there were squirrles!

Squirrel One

I got the programming bug and spent a considerable amount of time on my glass throttle, which I call Real Throttle. Real Throttle is similar to the Proto Throttle but runs on an Android tablet and connects to JMRI’s WiThrottle server. I will give more details in a later blog when I get further down that rabbit hole. I am rewriting it from what I had before to be on a development platform I prefer.

Squirrel Two

Work on Real Throttle led me down the hole of “What if someone who comes to one of my Ops Sessions doesn’t want to use Real Throttle?”

So, I started on a knob throttle built using the Arduino platform and will also connect to JMRI’s WiThrottle. Not only code, but 3D CAD drawings for a case. Another for the project section of this Blog when I’m further along.

Squirrel Three

In the top photo, another rabbit that took some time is the M5 STACK, which I thought would make a good knob throttle. The M5 STACK is similar to Arduinos, but instead of the DIY look, it comes in a ready-to-use case. I’m still considering using it for a knob throttle, but for now it’s just sitting there.

NMRA Business

On October 18 and 19, the Chilliwack Train and Hobby Show came to town. I spent two days talking to the 7th Division membership and recruiting new members. I also wandered around talking to vendors and catching up with friends.

Winding Down

With the completion of turnout construction, I will focus on finishing the major track alignment for Purcell.

The items on my list still exist, plus I missed one item in the list. Installation of the turnout controls that not only throw the turnout but also control the polarity of the frog.

Intending to have trains running by December, it is good that I have a week off for the US Thanksgiving.

Until next month.

Victor

Well, I completed most of the center section in September and started on the turnouts for the right side.

To Riverside

However, when I was preparing to lay the track for Ozzy’s Pets, I realized that, without the structures, the track might not be in the correct location when I got to building the industries. With that revelation, I decided not to glue down the track for the industries along the backdrop.

That started me on a side track to put together the structures for those industries. Most industries will have some form of kitbash. Check out the Industries page on the Sugarwood website.

The cover photo above and the following three photos show the center section less industries’ track. For operations testing, I will have track, it just won’t be secured in place until I have the building’s footprints set.

So what took up the rest of the month?

As the title says - Squirrels

I got distracted.

My friend Doug Hicks gave me some kit parts, including the Walthers’ Hardwood Furniture Company. However, the full building is too much. So, I cut it down to half the width. My initial thought was to use it as part of Ozzy’s Pets.

Ozzy’s Pets

But that didn’t work for me, so the building will now be part of PrintPrint.ca in Purcell.

PrintPrint.ca

As can be seen, I started on the loading dock. Squirrel!!!

Where is Purcell?

I also decided that the Sugarwood website needed to be updated.

In doing so, I decided the Sugarwood Industrial Railroad needed to be bigger than my 8′ x 10′ office.
See the website for the story, but the image below should help.

So, what I have been calling “The Bakery” and “The Center Section” is Sugarwood. The right side is Purcell. There will be some kind of a scenic divide running from the front corner to the rear corner on the right, separating the two areas. I am thinking a highway overpass, as can be seen in the cover
and PrintPrint.ca photos.

Oh-Oh Squirre!!!

I laid the major part of the Sugarwood Trans-Load spur, and I put the valance all around the layout.

By the way

There was VanRail this year, and I was busy all three days.

Checkout VanRail.org for more information.

• Friday, I dispatched Doug Hicks’ BC Rail Squamish Sub layout and attended the Social at Scott Calvert’s.
  
  
• Saturday, I dispatched Gary Hinshaw’s Tehachapi BC layout and attended the clinic after the No-Host dinner, “Less than Car Load Operations” given by Paul Clegg. This was a very enlightening look at how the railroads used boxcars. I have always tended to think that boxcars went from industry to industry. Basically, load to unload. And this tends to be true today, but before the 1960s/1970s was not the case.
  I highly recommend catching this clinic if it is given at any meet you may attend.
  
  
• Sunday, I was train crew at Anthony Craig’s Kettle Valley Model Railway layout.

All together a fun weekend.

Oh yeah, then there was the Victoria Train Show, where I displayed the NMRA, PNR, 7th Division table, and also had Smart Trains there,

Still no power. This month???

I think that covers it.

Plans for October

• Build the 5 remaining turnouts for Purcell.
  
  
• Complete the major track alignment for Purcell.
  
  
• Pick a DCC system. I have CVP’s EasyDCC, which I have built that includes a computer power supply that provides 3.3VDC, 5VDC, 12VDC, DCC, and JMRI. Or I can use the DCC-EX that I have. I will need 12VDC for my lighting and 5VDC for automations.. Decisions, decisions
  
  
• Install DCC, 12vdc, 5vdc buses
  
  
• Install feeder wires
  
  
• Connect the DCC system. Whichever one I pick.

Until next month.

Victor

The first part of August saw the completion of the final module of benchwork and tying it into the layout.





Then it was on to connecting the Bakery tracks, which I have completed along with the industrial tracks in that area. I decided to go with Walthers Branchline Code 70 with wood ties. At $50 for 5, 36” pieces versus Micro Engineering Code 70 Nickel Silver Rail at $8 per 36” rail plus ties. That’s $80 plus ties for the same 15 feet of track. Cost and laziness won out.





I have three of the four curved turnouts connected to the slide switch mounts under the layout and rods through the fascia for control (The green knobs in the video above). The fourth one has been a bit of a pickle, as the throwbar sits atop a module joyce, so I have been trying to figure out a different way to connect the throwbar to the slide switch. I haven’t quite got it straight in my mind yet, but I think I will have to go back to Cs & Zs for this one. I’ll explain once I figure it out.


I installed the two left turnouts of the center runaround and connected them. Once I got to this point, procrastination set in, and one of my projects caught my attention. I’m also waiting on rail joiners, so Ozzy’s spur didn’t get laid, and no power connection.


As for the project, I bought one of these Treadmills off eBay, and I want to use it for speed matching my locomotives.





I drilled a hole in one of the wheel bogey ilders and used an IR detector to count pulses. Now, using a little math, I have a speedometer.





The foreground wheel on the left is the one with the hole. I have had an issue with erroneous pulses. I’m still working on that. An issue with traction as the locomotive doesn’t spin the wheel bogey ilder reliably. I found a product called “Bullfrog Snot”. It’s a liquid rubber product used for traction tires. It looks like it will work if I can get a thin enough layer on the idler.


I will be buying one box of track a month. I have my September box, so I should be
able to finish the center section and start on the right side, with the hope of having all
the track down by the end of October. I need to build three left-hand turnouts for the
center section, and have four quick strips printed. Once my order for rail joiners
comes in, I can complete the center section. In the meantime, Wiring is the name of
the game.


Until next month.


Victor

Welcome to the warm days of summer. The month of July saw significant progress.

First, I built the 5-foot module I teased last month. Then, I moved the on module I had here to its proper location.
Next, I retrieved the other two modules that I had stored and hung them, and voila.

Here is a closer look from left to right.

The last photo shows where the final module will go. I have the parts, but I still need to build and mount it.

I haven’t seen it done before, so I guess it is unusual. As I had entered my track plan in AnyRail, I printed it at 1-1 scale and pasted it down with Mod
Podge. That accounts for the colours.

I completed the three left-hand curved turnouts and CADed up left and right sweepsticks and had them 3D printed.
Then the right-hand curved turnout was laid for the interchange tracks.

You may have noticed the green knob in the lower right corner of the photo above. It is the control for the turnout. It is connected
to a side-mounted slide switch.

The slide switch fits into a holder I designed and had 3D printed.

After that, I laid in the three key turnouts of the bakery.

As can be seen in the photos, I have brought in some of the building flats from my old layout. Storage has bent them, but they give some
context as to size. They were made using a Cricut. I will detail that process when I start building the structures for the layout.

My next goal is to connect the interchange tracks to the bakery turnouts.

Followed by laying the rest of the bakery track, start on the central runaround track, the Ozzy’s Pets spur, and hopefully get
power to the tracks..

I am undecided about hand-laying the track or using flex-track. I used flex-track on the interchange tracks and handlaid the connecting
rails using flex-track ties. Hand-laying lets me reuse rail from the old layout. At $10 CDN a stick for flex-track, it is something to consider,
though rail is not any better at $8 CDN a rail. Using that math flex is the way to go.

Until next Month.

I have started with the interchange track because I had to wait for the lumber to build the 5-foot module. Also, it is the simplest section of the layout. I have the two tracks down and the backdrop up.

With that completed, I started making the Fast Tracks turnouts. The layout will require a total of sixteen #6 turnouts, six left, six right, three left curved, and one right curved. Another friend of mine lent me his Fast Tracks #6 jig, and I built a left and a right turnout. He did not have a jig for the curved turnouts, so I free-handed the one right curved turnout. I need to work on my soldering, but they all work.

Next, I started pricing the Fast Tracks Quick Sticks for turnout ties, at $10 US, I thought it might be worth it to see if I could 3D print some. I used Onshape to design the prints and exported them to STL files and printed the ties for a right and a left turnout. They came out pretty good, I think.

And finally, my friend got me the lumber, and I have built and installed the 5-foot module.

For next month, I’ll tie the Interchange shelf into the main layout and start laying track in the bakery. I’ll have to build the three left curved turnouts before that happens, and I’ll have to decide if I am going to handlay the rest of the track.

Until next month.