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March 2022
TConstruction By Month
A little help from my friends
Page 2
Let’s build a yard!
Staging is pretty much complete so let’s
build the Grand Rapids Yard (GRY).
This is level 1 of the plan and it is
located precisely over the just
completed staging yard. Here we used
the TTuB method because the top
surface of the yard will be
approximately 8” above the staging
yard. With thin benchwork, that leaves
a bit less than 7” clearance from the
bottom of the Grand Rapids Yard
benchwork to the top of the staging
yard. Not ideal but so far it seems to
work.
Here’s the plan, let’s build it!
Right - Here you can see the
GRY, TTuB benchwork sitting
in place ready for track.
Left - The north portion of
GRY is sitting in place
showing the tight clearance
over the staging yard.
Trackwork started
TTuB at it’s finest. Wiring at
it’s easiest. Note horizontal
braces to hold up thin
benchwork for wiring.
Started building the transition
tracks along the walls
connecting one level to the
other.
April 2022
More help from my friends!
The work crew doesn’t look too
happy
Andy working on north
GRY
Builder John at work in the
courtyard
Utilizing the TTuB to wire Grand
Rapids Yard. Works great!
Covered the staging yard below
with a tarp for protection.
The second span across
the door over the Grand
River.
Main GRY on the very left mostly
out of sight and the north portion of
the yard, later becoming the Grand
Rapids Industrial District is in the
middle of the pic. The shelf above
is a temporary storage spot for
switches and other materials.
Grand Rapids Yard is taking shape so it’s
now on to Cadillac, the next town north of
Grand Rapids. Above is the first pass at
fitting it in place and to the right, the TTuB method in Cadillac is in full swing.
May 2022
No major
construction went on during this
month, however I did manage to
install more transition track around the
walls starting from Cadillac (1), and
moving north above the Grand Rapids
Yard (2), behind the north
GRY (3) on the way to
Petoskey and finally up
to the door (4) just before
reaching Petoskey.
Just because no major construction took place in May
did not mean that nothing was happening. May was a
major learning month for me regarding Ardiuno and
electronics. This was a whole new ballgame for me
and I learned as much as I could about servos and C++
software. The result was a major improvement in the
staging electronics along with a new control panel for
the Grand Rapids Yard (see at the right).
I automated all of the crossovers in the GRY with
servos, which were quite a few, plus I added servos to a couple of hard to reach single turnouts
plus the 3-way switch. All of the other turnouts in the yard are manual throw, which I refer to
as finger flickers (Peco style turnouts).
I automated the crossovers because both switches need to be thrown to crossover. The yard is
a very busy place and usually has freight cars spread out everywhere and finding the manual
throw mechanism (Caboose Industries ground throws) for both turnouts can sometimes be
tricky. So now, one toggle throws both turnouts.
That’s about it for May.
June 2022
June was a real whirlwind. Benchwork for Petoskey and Mackinaw City
was completed and all joined together. The railroad was really taking
shape and resembled the final design contemplated. The guys pitched in
and we had track laying party. Track clippings were literally flying
everywhere as evidenced by the rather large piece that penetrated the
window shade (right)!
Left - the boys at newly install
Petoskey. Right - Mackinaw City
thin benchwork is being fitted for
installation. Below is Mackinaw
City ready to be connected up (but
before we tilted it up for wiring).
Right - the third and final bridge
across the door. Using the hand
clamps for all three bridges makes
the opening and closing very fast
and secure. Bridges up and bridges
down. June was a productive
month.
July 2022
Track laying in Mackinaw City happened in July. Andy
came over to help debug some track issues in Grand
Rapids Yard.
The Mackinaw City Arrival/Departure Yard benchwork,
will go over Grand Rapids Yard, but set back so as to not
bother the GRY operator or
interfere with operations. I set
that benchwork right on the
Grand Rapids Yard and
installed the track. I think the
trackwork is kind of neat and
so far it seems to work well
from a operations perspective.
August 2022
Mackinaw City is the August Project. Once the thin
benchwork was fitted in, corked and painted, I laid out the
track and marked where the Lake Huron water for the
“Chief” would go. After I cut that out, I put in the water
and the boat loading apron and we were off to the races.
The “boat” is actually a Walthers float which I will build
into the boat when I get “a round tuit”, but for now the float
is the boat because round tuit’s are hard to come by.
Unfortunately, the Walthers float is 3 feet long and I only
need a two foot boat so a performed surgery on the float
and now we have a 2’ long boat. No problem.
Of course, we utilized the TTuB method for the wiring.
Mackinaw City is good.
September 2022
Well there you have it. One rather complex model railroad built and operational in
way less than a year. There is a lifetime of things yet to do, but the railroad is
operational and we are getting things done along with having monthly operating
sessions. Model Railroading is Fun!
Overall shot of the layout on September
4, 2022 looking toward Cadillac
Grand Rapids Yard with no cars
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TConstruction By Month
A little help from my friends
One final note on the track layout.
We did not glue the track down we only used spikes. From experience, I was
pretty sure that after a couple of op sessions I would be making some track
changes and, sure enough, that is what happened. (removing spikes is a lot
easier than removing glue and ballast to adjust the track position!). Based on
actual operations, it is way easier to improve the track layout as opposed to
sitting at a computer doing the design. Ballast will wait until all of the track
rearrangement is complete.