To top of page

Return to Home page

Continue on to the Brief History Page

My wife and I moved into our new house in the Spring of 2020. The house had the right facilities for both of us, a studio for her and a discrete one car garage for me. Let me offer a very brief history of my ‘serious’ model railroading life. It started out in the late 1970’s by building a nice operating layout in my Michigan basement. The original Chicago & Mackinac Railroad (C&M) occupied about 700 square feet or so of the basement, with a mainline of a bit over 300’ and with remote dispatching. It could handle a crew of a dozen or more operators, operated for a bit under 10 years and it hosted over 100 operating sessions. A move to California and a growing family took priority over model railroading for a number of years, but in the late 1990’s with the kids grown up, educated and out of the house, I negotiated the rights to a 420 square foot California basement, also known as a garage, and I built the C&M II, a nice, partial mushroom designed 300’ mainline operating model railroad. It operated for a bit less than ten years and hosted scores of operating sessions, including 4 Bay-Rails events and a Pro-Rail event. The ideal crew size was around 8 or 9 operators, limited only by the size of the room. Then there was another move and a considerably smaller layout, the C&M III, hosting dozens of op sessions, including one Bay- Rails event. This brings us to our most recent 2020, and hopefully our last, move and enter the Chicago & Mackinac IV.

[Click on images to enlarge & for caption]

Click here for the Design Page Click here for back to top of page Click here for the Home page

Check out a brief discussion of the design concepts on the new C&M IV on the Design Page.

Particulars: Room Size = 10’ x 17’ North is always to the right Minimum Mainline Radius = 22” The higher the elevation, the farther north you are Maximum Grade = 3% All switching areas are 2’ deep Mainline Length = 140’ Hard to reach/operate turnouts are powered by servos Operators Needed = 4-5 All other turnouts are “finger flickers” Track Height = 38” - 57”

Go to Top of Page

Return to Home Page

As mentioned earlier, none of us are getting any younger and one of the goals I set for building the C&M IV was to get it up and running quickly. Although I enjoy the building aspects of a model railroad, like design, benchwork, track laying, wiring, electronics, structures, scenery, etc., my most enjoyment comes from operating it. So in this case, fast is good. Once it is operational, I can take my time finishing up all of the scenery and other details that will enhance the visual aspects of the operations.

In addition to a quick build, what else do I want to incorporate into the design? What elements of operations do I like the best? Here are a couple things: - Longest possible mainline run - Lots of switching - Some through & passenger trains - Plenty of staging - Wide aisles

The “Blob” My dedicated railroad room was only 10’ by 17’ and it had an overhead garage door and a personnel door to deal with. More on that later in the construction phase. Although I like the idea of having a center peninsula with a turn-back “blob” to increase the mainline run, having only a 10’ wide room eliminated that possibility. I plan to have 2’ deep benchwork around the walls and I require a minimum of 3’ aisle width, so with a 24” minimum radius, I just ran out of room. 2’ on one wall, 2’ on the other wall, 3’ aisle on each side of the blob and a blob of at least 4’ wide. That requires a minimum of a 14’ wide room and I only have 10’. One could skinny down the ‘around the wall’ benchwork near the blob maybe down to 1 foot deep but that still requires a room with a minimum of 12’ width plus that would encroach on the switching element of the design (item 2 above). I will not compromise on the aisle width so the peninsula and blob were out. The “no-lix” If you have ever seen my previous layouts you would know that I am not a fan of utilizing a helix. Without going into the details of why, the helix is out. So the around the room “no-lix” is what is required to maximize the mainline length (item 1 above). A long mainline gives the illusion of your train actually going somewhere so, even though the mainline would not be all that long, it’s length would be maximized going around the walls of the room. In previous layouts, I have used the no-lix and, although not ideal, it served the purpose of increasing the mainline. My model railroad runs from Grand Rapids to Mackinaw City which are approximately 220 miles apart, so my 140’ mainline is compressed way more than I wanted (twice as much as previous layouts) but it beats a mainline run of once around the garage for a total run of 54’.

So after nearly wearing out my 3rd PlanIt software and creating volumes of track plans, I came up with the design below. Starting in Staging, the lowest level, each level increases in height, so the higher the benchwork, the further north you go. North is always to your right as you look at the layout and operators work so as not to interfere with each other. With certain exceptions, no operating areas are directly over/under each other. The actual track layout in each area has changed slightly from the original plan and has been tweeked a number of times as the actual track was laid, but you get the idea.

[Click on the images to enlarge]

Level 0 - Staging Level 1 - Grand Rapids Level 2 - Cadillac

The layout was designed in layers that I call levels. The track plan above is a dump of all of the levels, which as you can see, is very busy and very difficult to distinguish what is going on. So below, I have included a track plan for each of the 5 levels so you can better see what is happening. Click on the image to enlarge it. Each level is higher in elevation than the previous level and a transition track, usually on a grade, connects the towns/elements/levels together. At all times you can see your train so you know things are moving along properly.

Level 3 - Petoskey Level 4 - Mackinaw City

Click on above image to enlarge the track plan

C&M IV Track Plan

3D images from 4 different angles - click on image to enlarge

Well, how did I do? To summarize: - Maximized the mainline run to the extent that the room size would allow - Maximized the switching possibilities - Allowed for through and passenger trains - Maximized staging - 8 relatively long double ended tracks - Maximized aisle space - 6’ aisle

Oh yeah, one more thing. I did not want to crawl under the layout to build it. That required something new and out of the box thinking for me. More on that on the Thin Benchwork page.

Continue to the “Thin Benchwork” Page

T Layout Photos and it’s operations

Here are some random photos of the layout as of the end of 2023. There are lots of “placeholders” from previous layouts, waiting for permanent structures to be scratch built. Changes are happening constantly.

City of Cadillac

City of Petoskey

Grand Rapids Yard

Mackinaw City Yard

TThin Benchwork A new concept for me The TTuB

As mentioned earlier, no-one is getting younger, especially me, so in addition to quickly building the Chicago & Mackinac IV RR I did not want to crawl under it to build it. Rolling around on a mechanics roller cart, smashing my head on the benchwork, dripping solder on my forehead just doesn’t appeal to me any more, as if it ever did. Finally, it is hard enough getting down to under the benchwork levels, but it is getting almost impossible to get back up! Soooo, it seemed to me that the normal benchwork that I knew how to build, that being L-girder and open grid, generally violated the “no under the benchwork” idea. Plus, as the plans indicate, there will not be much room between levels on the railroad so adequate reach for maintenance, etc. was also a concern.

Enter the Thin, Tilt up Benchwork (TTuB) concept. This may have been tried & used on other layouts, but it was a foreign concept to me. This benchwork, unlike the normal benchwork methods, would be very easy to tilt up, but would it withstand the rigors of operating a model railroad? My final model railroad will have to last as long as I do (which I am planning on being a decently long time) and the thought of the benchwork turning into a pretzel-like pile of wood or sagging like I do occasionally, did not render a good picture in my mind. After giving the TTuB idea a lot of thought, if it works it will solve or at least mitigate a couple of issues. First it will eliminate crawling under the layout (at least during construction) and eliminate solder dripping on my forehead. By easily tipping up the benchwork, I could wire it while in a upright position (or sitting on a chair) not laying on my back. Second and maybe more importantly, it will give me more separation between levels on the railroad, maximizing the reach in height on the lower trackwork. As it turns out, the only major reach in problem area is for staging. The two concepts, thin and tilt up, go hand in hand. You can’t easily tilt up L-girder or spline benchwork, but thin benchwork tips up easily as you can see from the photos. My layout is set in Michigan where things are pretty flat, so the building of mountains is not needed. The main theme of the layout is switching and two main “towns” and two yards are the main elements of the plan. Yards and towns in Michigan are pretty flat, so all of the “towns” and yards are 2 feet deep, 8 to 10 feet long or longer and are secured to a ledger board on the wall, so one long side of each benchwork piece is totally solid and secure from warping. The thin benchwork concept is quite a simple one. I used 1/2” plywood with 1x4’s glued and screwed flat horizontally (not vertically) around the edge with additional 1x4 bracing across the middle,. When finished, the flat pieces of benchwork are 1.25” thick as opposed to 5” or more of open grid benchwork. The front edge of the benchwork pieces are secured by legs anchored to the floor. On some pieces of benchwork, like the front of the main yard, we glued and screwed a 1x2 vertically the entire length to add more strength to the front of the piece, leaving the benchwork 1.5” thick at the front edge. Some may think that legs in the front of the layout are a negative and I understand that thought. However, since space is very limited and I have way too much stuff, I use all of the space under the layout for storage, which is covered up with a fabric skirt. Out of sight, out of mind. We did cheat a bit and used a more conventional approach to the lower level and attached 1x3 lumber vertically to the pieces of plywood to give additional strength. Since there was not going to be anything under that section of benchwork, the change in favor of additional rigidity was a good choice. Another advantage of TTuB is that while the benchwork is tipped up, you can add all of the under benchwork items that are needed without crawling on the floor. In the photo to the right, you can see the pull out drawer for my command station, installed while we were in a standing position. Also, to the far left of that photo, the white thing on the benchwork is a control panel for the turnouts and occupancy detection indicators in staging, all easily wired while the benchwork was in a vertical position. You are asking, yeah but what happens when something doesn’t work, you will have to crawl around on your back to fix it. Well that is probably true to some extent, however, I have mounted all, or at least most of, my turnout control servos and detection equipment on top of the layout, close to the benchwork edge for easy access (see photo at right). I have already replaced one servo on the bottom level with very little problems because it was mounted on top, not on the bottom, of the benchwork and close to the front edge). For the most part, the only thing that would need to be repaired under the layout is if a wire broke or became loose. I view that occurrence to be extremely rare and if it happens I’ll brake out the mechanics roller and have at it, maybe I’ll ask my sons to do it!!!!! My team’s track wiring prowess is pretty darn good so I am not worried about under the benchwork future wiring problems. So far after several operating sessions the benchwork is holding up well.

This is a sample of the TTuB concept. It is in the tipped up position ready to wire.

[Click on images to enlarge]

To top of page

Return to Home page

Continue to the Construction by Month-1 Page

TConstruction By Month A little help from my friends

I spent many, many hours designing the layout and changing and changing and changing it until I finally got something that I thought would result in a fun layout to operate. I began construction in November 2021, but before I could actually start building, one major issue needed to be addressed. All of my designs had the main line running around the garage walls, past the personnel door. Unfortunately, the door, like most external doors, opened in, which was not going to work. So I hired a young contractor and he made it right. Now the personnel door opens out and the garage now fits my plan!

Now that the door situation was fixed, the next thing that needed to be done, after cleaning out the garage, was to secure a frame in front of the main garage overhead door. Since there would be no wall to secure the benchwork, something solid needed to be built to support that part of the layout. Photo to the right shows the first step to securing that wall. To the left you can see the staging yard benchwork (lowest level) which is slightly thicker that most of the other benchwork, starting to fit into place (left side of photo) as well as the wall in front of the main garage door coming together. On the right you can see the second part of the staging benchwork fit into place securely on the rock solid support wall. The support wall is very solid, as it is firmly secured to each side wall and bolted together. I don’t like bare wood so I try to paint all viewable wood surfaces as soon as possible.

November 2021

We built a lot of benchwork in November (left) utilizing the TTub method. Things were getting pretty exciting, watching the benchwork go in and imagining what the operations would be like. On the right, the benchwork for level 1, the Grand Rapids Yard is coming together. It is just sitting there to see how it will all fit together. Even with all of this activity, I found time to catch a minor league hockey game with my two sons. The Stockton Heat won the game. That’s what happened in November, a very busy and fruitful month on the C&M IV.

December 2021

It’s time to lay some track. We have both parts of the staging yard benchwork fit in place with a piece in the middle to joint both sides. All flat sections of benchwork are covered with cork making track laying a bit easier. So we start laying track from the south and from the north and meet in the middle (at least that is the plan!). Steve started in the south and Andy and John started in the north. It was critical to have this track rock solid, as access to it after the Grand Rapids Yard level is added will be limited.

Photo to the left is how I planned to install the Arduino controlled switch machine servos on the layout. I used the 1/2” aluminum channel for mounting the servos, but I did not end up using the micro switch (which would be for LED control). I ended up using the Arduino programming to control the LED’s so the micro switch was not needed. That made the servo installation much, much easier.

January 2022

January was a relatively slow month for layout construction, however, I built my layout power supply from an ATX computer power supply. It provides a tremendous amount of amps at 12 and 5 volts, which is what I will need to power my servos, LED’s and arduinos (left). I also developed part of my block occupancy system for staging. I am using both current detection and IR detection. IR unit is photo to the right. More on this latter. Lots of Arduino & electronics learning going on during the month

February 2022

Back to staging - wiring it all up. John and Andy are busy wiring up all 8 tracks in the staging yard. We utilized the TTuB method (Thin Tiltup Benchwork). Check out the photos below of the tilted up benchwork in action and see how easy the wiring process was. Good connections are essential to avoid heading under the layout in the future.

Mouse over photos to see caption Click on photos to enlarge

The two staging sections were connected in the corner by a “keystone” section and wired together as shown in the photo on the right. Unfortunately, we violated the measure twice and cut once rule and the south staging section was built too long, so the keystone section certainly did not end up the shape of the PRR keystone, however, it did work. The connecting wiring was bundled and eventually hidden behind the skirting.

Above you can see the drop down bridge spanning the outside opening door in the garage. I used the hand clamps (I think that is what they are called) to snap the bridge in place. It makes for a very secure fit and is very quick and easy to raise and lower. This bridge connects staging to the GR Yard. On the left you will notice a micro switch that controls the current to the tracks on each side of the door. When the bridge is lowered, power is removed from the tracks to prevent trains plunging to the floor. I do not use capacitors in my locomotives so they should stop before a disaster occurs (I hope).

At right, the temporary staging control. The yellow LED’s are current detection, the red LED’s (none are lit in the picture) are IR detectors showing a train fouling the switch points. The push button controls the route lined for the switches and the green LEDs indicate which track is lined. An identical panel is located at the south end of the staging yard and controls the south end switches. A yellow LED was subsequently added to detect the staging yard approach track.

Finally for February, we completed the 8 track staging yard and automated the turnouts with servos controlled by Ardunios. Since I knew there would not be much room to reach in to the staging yard for maintenance (because benchwork was going in right over it and my “never have to get under the layout” rule), I mounted the servos on top of the staging yard very close to the front edge of the benchwork. Should the servos need maintenance they are easily reached without an under the layout jaunt. As mentioned earlier, I used 1/2” aluminum channel into which the servos fit snugly and makes for easy removal should one fail.

To top of page

Return to Home page

Continue to the Construction by Month Page 2

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

Click here to return to the top of this page

Click here to continue to the prior construction page

Click here to return to Home page

1

4

3

2

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.

To see a Cheezy video of the first run of the layout click HERE

Videos & Updates

Here is a Cheesey Video Update This is an update as of December 2023, (about a year after the first video below) of the status of the Chicago & Mackinac Railroad. The layout is still a work in progress, but coming along slowly but surely (very slowly and not too surely).

Click here to return to home page

Here is the first Cheesy Video of the layout