Vince Valley - Wiring

I’ve been refraining from posting this article for about a month now. It was already written, ready to publish and then disaster struck in the for of MTB turnout motors, or should I say 2” thick foam roadbed. I’m not a fan of wiring because my brain isn’t wired for that kind of work. Yet, I wanted to try it out.  Give it a chance, at least do it once in my lifetime and call it done, case checked, been there done that. However, while everything went relatively smoothly, I didn’t expect foam to throw a wrench at my efforts.

Slicing the roadbed and cutting a mounting hole

Any switch motor will struggle to move points if mounted under more than a 1” thick sub roadbed. At 2”, forget it. You will need linkages in a way of another. Alright if you planned for that, but a really catastrophe if you didn’t like me. It wasn’t in my plan and dealing with rods and links wasn’t something I wanted for that layout supposed to be fun an easy. I try a tortoise, a MP4 and a bullfrog. They all relatively failed at the task and only one solution remained: cut a hole in the 1/4 “ plywood then carve out some foam to reduce thickness to 1”.

Wooden saddles

My idea was to build a wooden saddle that could be inserted under the roadbed. Under normal circumstances, just gluing a piece of plywood under the foam would have been enough to fix the motor, but since I was using foam splines, they were warping and flimsy when carved out. The saddle was required.

Wooden saddles secured in place

Fortunately, after making a jig and using my oscillating saw, I was able the cut the foam in a reliable and quite precise way. Everything was secured with a generous amount of caulk. Installing the turnout motors was fairly easy and everything is working fine at this point.

MP4 motor in place. I later enlarged the holes to make wiring easier.

However, it just confirms my hatred toward foam as a structural material. Let’s be honest for a minute. This building material is full of dimensional discrepancies caused by manufacturing. Add to that its natural tendency to warp, sag and contract with age due to degassing, it’s inherent inflammable nature as recently seen with Ken Patterson’s layout fire and the unnecessary complications it creates with turnout controls. I see little redeeming qualities remaining to outset these things. For good reasons, I’m phasing out that material from my modelling life, except for very niche uses where it performs as intended. The scenery and landforms will be crafted in cardboard, paper and other more traditional materials. That is deeply informing my choices for the future Monk Subdivision.

I want to credit Jonathan Jones for not having dropped the towel at wiring. He posted an interesting article about his wiring efforts a month ago and it convinced me to soldier on and move forward. I was quite near to trash the project altogether. But back with more positive things about wiring because not everything is dark and gloomy, on the contrary.

Up until now, I only wired layout by running bus wires and attaching feeders to each piece of rail. All that was connected to a DPDT switch which selected either DC or DCC power. Nothing more, nothing else and it worked. Turnouts were controlled manually with Bullfrog rods by Fast Tracks. Simple and elegant for modules. But this time, I wanted to experiment something I had never done with fancy panels, metal switches, display LEDs and electric turnouts. I even went as far as break the layout into 3 blocks for DC operation.

The lesson learned is that just adding a few gizmo makes the number of wires quadruple if not more. Not being the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to wiring, I decided to do it by baby steps. I have drawn diagrams to understand what I needed and built the parts I was the most confident first, starting with feeding power to the track, preparing the LED, installing the switches. I could easily lose track of all that mess if I was trying to do everything at once. In that regard, the UK YouTube channel Horsehay Railway Modeller provided a lot of inspiration. The way he twist wires together to create manageable cables that you can run neatly and trouble shoot in case of defect really made my life much easier.

At this point, I'm about 1/3 done. Turnouts motors still need to be installed and wired, and I have to create the auxiliary power system that will feed the LEDs indicators. Also, having built two control panels, one for each side of the layout, I will need to add another NCE Power Cab Panel to the yard. I'm already regretting not having made my secondary panel larger with DC and DCC plugs. Live and learn I guess! I decided to print another version of that panel to take that into account and to revise the track layout of the yard since turnout location was modified from my original plan when I laid track.

Vince Valley - Budget-Friendly Professional Control Panels

A few weeks ago, I started working on wiring for the small layout. I see it as a practice run before working on the more complicated Monk Subdivision. At face value, none of that work is required for the layout. I could have just installed a switch to select between DC power and DCC. But I wanted to try to create zone, control turnouts at distance and install a few fancy LEDs here and there with a neat track diagram.

 

My initial thought was to print a diagram and sandwich it between a 1/8” MDF board and a plexiglass sheet. I design the diagram with Adobe Illustrator using the real metal lever switches dimensions to make sure everything fit the board. Once printed, I built the panel base using a wood frame and a MDF panel. So far, so good. Then, I cut the plexiglass sheet to dimension on the table saw. I wasn’t that happy with the rugged borders, but some careful sanding took care of it.

 

It was just a matter of drilling the holes on the plexi. Something that I would say easy… until after maybe 15 holes, the sheet snapped and was ruined. It wasn’t the first time I experienced this. I was about to cut a new sheet when I checked it the MDF + Plexi assembly was thin enough to accept micro switches and it wasn’t! All that work was for nothing.

 

I explored my options. One was to simply paint or stick the diagram directly on the MDF board and not use plexi. I may use a plastic laminated paper sheet so it would survive abuse. Another idea was to print it on a self-adhesive vinyl sheet. I kind of liked the idea but the cost was starting to be high.

 

Then, I thought about using material such as the ones used by engravers and sign makers. A neat Gravoply diagram with predrilled holes would be perfect. I contacted a local engraver and he had many options ranging from $40 to $120. One made of printed plastic, another with Gravoply and finally, a more professional one make of engraved aluminium. The prices were alright for what I would get, but I discovered Staples was offering sign printing on their online print shop. One material, Dibond, was offered. It’s a sturdy 1/8” plastic core sandwiched between two 0.04” aluminium sheets. Quite sturdy, durable and dimensionally stable. For about $45, I could get two control panels printed on one 12” x 18” sheet. Sure, the diagram would be printed, thus less durable than engraving, but given this is just a test for a small layout, I felt it was alright.

 

Cutting Dibond is similar to styrene

After a few days, I picked up my panels at my local store. I was really impressed by the results. Quite sturdy indeed. Also, it can be cut to size with a cutter. After a few passes through the aluminium sheet and in the plastic core, it’s just a matter of score and snap. The material isn’t brittle, so the cuts are quite clean. You only need to file down the aluminium sheet edges to remove the burrs.

 

You get clean edges using the score and snap method

Drilling is also easy. Just use a slow speed to not melt the material. I had good results with various size of drill bits. Punching a pre-drill hole do help too. The plastic core is relatively “soft” and hold screws very well.

 

Installing the switches was easier than expected. I made sure to not scratch the printed surface with the hex washers. The NCE Power Cab Panel was dropped and screwed in place with small screws I blackened with bluing gun.

 

Half assembled panel with switches and LED holders

Honestly, I really like the professional look and sturdiness of this panel. I have taken care to protect the printed surface when I’m working on it, but it should be alright under normal circumstances. Sure, I wouldn’t recommend printed Dibond for intense use (club layout), but for my need it’s perfect. Keep in mind that at the end of the day, it cost me less than purchasing a sheet of plexiglass at the hardware store and my diagram was professionally printed on it. If you want a DIY budget alternative, I think printed Dibond signs are much better than the traditional approach. Plexi and/or charting tapes are, in many cases, a pure waste of time, money and energy.

Autosol - Make Your Wheels Shine

I have a friend who loves to refurbish and repair old bikes and other stuff. He often use a polishing compound called Autosol with is generally used to clean tarnished metals such as chrome, brass and others. It’s easy to use, the results are almost instantaneous and you only need and old rag.

 

Yesterday, I decided to file down the old counterweight on my Mantua 4-6-0 drivers. They are to modern and they had to partially go before I could apply new ones. When everything was removed, I look at the wheel threads which had been cleaned with SuperClean in my ultrasonic bath and thought it wasn’t looking good. Still a lot of tarnish, excessive wear, discoloration and, on the blind drivers, a serious amount of nickel plating having flaked off. Suffice to say this model had quite the good life back in the days.

 

Autosol is a polishing compound found in the aut parts department

Often online, you see people restoring old wheels using destructive or inefficient methods. They start with solvent, use Brite Boy, brass wire polishing wheels, sandpaper and all kind of unproductive techniques that make a mess and yield mixed results. What if I could simply put some Autosol on a rag, wipe and polish the metal wheels until all the oxidation and micro abrasion was gone.

 

Left wheel polished with Autosol, right one altered, scratches and missing plating

Sure I did and it worked much better than I thought. Very little product was used. The nickel plating started to shine bright again and the pitted spots disappeared. Even the blind drivers started to look more than decent. I decided to continue on the backside to polish the surface where I intend to had some pickups in the future. Once again, it worked perfectly. Then, I moved on the axles themselves and made them shine so they would turn freely in the brass bearings.

 

Brand new like the day the left the factory

Honestly, it was fast, safe and yielded excellent results. My fear is the wheels may be too shiny which could reduce traction. However, for any other use like car wheels, it’s impressive. I’m surprised to have never heard about that product used in model railroading. I will see if it impact traction, but otherwise, I see a bright (pun intended) future in this method to restore old wheels.

It must be noted that being a polishing compound, you need to clean thorougly the wheels after you have finish your job because it leaves an oily residue. In my case, I dropped the driver into the ultrasoni bath with isopropyl alcohol to remove all the residue that could have been left on the wheels. So Autosol is excellent but in these cases when you dismantle or restore a locomotive.

The Joy of DC

For a long time, I never cared about mechanics or wiring. It was something I couldn’t be bothered with and I always subcontracted it to my brother when I was a kid and friends later on. When something didn’t work properly, I would sideline it on the shelves and not care anymore. That approach gave me the leisure to focus my efforts on model building, scenery and planning. Sure, an attractive proposition. However, comes a time when friends aren’t there, or you need things to work right now or worse, the said friends won’t have the dedication to work on some weird proposition.

Since I’ve been working on Monk yard and other modules, I’ve had to become better at soldering and wiring. I’m not very good, but at least, I’ve reached a decent level where my work is passable and reliable. And if I mess something up, I know why and how to fix it.

The same wasn’t always true with locomotives. I would bash them, mess the electrical stuff accidently and get a poor running engine out of what used to be a decent model. Not a promising proposition when you wish to have good-looking custom locomotives to play with. Over the last few years, I’ve been watching a lot of people online that thinker with very old models, clean them, lube them, tune them and make them run better. Most of these people, including Darth Santa Fe, generally prefer to work with DC models. I use to laugh a little bit at that, thinking they did so since they were more interested in mechanical stuff than operation. But the reality is that you need to know that mechanical stuff first before dabbling with DCC.

And there is another aspect to that: the sheer simplicity of just having to lube a model, run it and have fun. DCC has become a real pain in the rear. Dealing with dirty track, poor sound, cutoffs and programming is extremely frustrating. This is something for which I currently have no patience. Also, as I often mentioned, I have a lot of old models that are DC and since they are oddballs, it makes no sense dumping $200 dollars of electronics in them. For this reason, I have embarked in fine tuning my DC stuff and the 4’ x 8’ layout is perfect for that.

On Sunday, I decided to work on a very old project. My pair of custom detailed Athearn blue box SW1200. I purchased the models back in high school around 1999 to replicate Chemin de fer Charlevoix switchers. However, this project never went nowhere and soon, as a teenager, I custom painted them in CN colors. During the pandemic, I dug out these poorly painted models, stripped them to their bare plastic and completely rebuilt them. It was a highly satisfying project, but I knew the drive was good… or so I thought.

Rebuilding my Athearn SW1200 electric motor

Fast forward a few years ago when I purchased replacement motors from Ebay. These were nice can motors that ran very well and relatively silently. I tried to replace a motor in one of the SW1200, but the surgery didn’t turn great when I grafted the flywheels. They weren’t balanced at all and made the drive jerky.

Last Sunday, I decided to simply rebuild the original drives and improve them. The original Athearn motor was broken into parts. I couldn’t reassemble it because the magnets touched the rotor. After some verification, I found out two plastic tabs that kept the magnets at the right distance were broken. Some styrene replacement tabs were glued in place and the motor was reassembled. Testing proved it was running as good as the untouched motor of the second unit. I was extremely proud to have salved a motor. After cleaning the commutator, adjusting the brush and oiling the bearings, it was back in action.

Cleaned, lubed and tuned trucks ready for reassembly

I then turned my attention to the trucks. Many sideframes had broken pins. I glued them back, inserted a phosphore bronze pin in them and put a nice coat of flat black on them. When I opened the gear tower and truck assembly, I discovered these parts had never been lubed, except for oil in the wrong place. No wonder they sounded like a coffee grinder! So everything went to the ultrasonic bath for degreasing and cleaning. I had purchased new Athearn nickel plated wheels years ago, so I proceeded to replace the sintered wheel with these new set. The trucks were lubed and assembled, making them running much smoother than ever before.

A coat of satin black on the frame really makes a difference

The last step was too degrease and repaint the metal chassis with satin black paint. I used professional grade paint and let it cure for at least 24 hours. At this point, I have refurbished trucks, well-maintained motors and a nice chassis. Everything will need to be reassembled and new LED lighting installed. These locomotives will probably never get a DCC decoders, but at least now they will finally run on a layout after being shelf queens for over 27 years. They may no longer be state of the art models, but this is not the point.

I’m getting more confident in my work and this is what matters. Developing mechanical skills is as important as the rest. I too often neglected that side of the hobby and paid the price. There is a lot of satisfaction tinkering with an older model and bringing it to its best condition. I’m discovering a new facet to this hobby and it’s much more relaxing and enjoyable that I ever thought. Somewhat, DC is really relaxing in a world were electronics, sound and complicated stuff is no longer a novelty or making any sense.

Fighting The Curve - How To Mess Up Your Turnouts

I hate mechanical stuff. It’s a well-known truth among my closest friends and relatives. I get the general principles, fail at implementing them and have no patience with troubleshooting when it last for too long and doesn’t provide immediate results. A good solution is to delegate these tasks to others, but most of the time, you are alone with your model railroading problems. So, I have to learn the skills, to work a little bit against my nature and be disciplined.

When I built the Merkiomen replica layout and laid the Monk Subdivision staging yard, I met a lot of issues with commercial turnouts. A lot… Many locomotives weren’t happy at all and I got frustrated and trashed a lot of turnouts, wasting time, material and money. I had no patience to deal with them and fix the issues.

With Vince Valley, I knew I didn’t want to relive that frustrating experiment. Track had to be 100% reliable. “Make it run like a dream” once said the guy editing a web magazine. He sounded quite patronizing and promised heaven, but in hindsight, Mr. Fugate was absolutely right. No amount of aesthetics wizardry and compelling track planning will ever compensate the gut-wrenching feelings of poor running. It pops the immersion bubble completely, unilaterally and irremediably. Curing track issue when the scenery is done is never an exciting endeavour.

I have a collection of random steamers of all size and I sure want them to run flawlessly on the layout and enjoy them, not get frustrated. And if I have to discard a locomotive because it’s unreliable when moving through a turnout, maybe it’s the turnout or track geometry that needs to be addressed and not the model to be shelved.

 

When track laying Vince Valley, I was a little bit cowboy with my turnouts. Most of them started as Peco code 83 Unifrog #6 for their electrical reliability, but I curved them to suit my needs. Curving the rails beyond the frog is generally safe. Curving them in the points area is starting to mess with the geometry. You play with the devil and he won’t forgive you. I know, I made that Faustian pact with him.

 

Curving turnouts is a risky business

I mentioned recently I had a success ration of 50%. It went down to 0% after trying to improve things. Twisted plastic throwbars started to fail, the solid rail points were sitting higher than the stock rail, causing steam locomotives drivers to climb on them and derail. I also observed that curving the turnout affected sometimes the horizontally of some rails, particularly right before the points. It was a mess. I filed some rails here and there and made things worst. Then, I got fed up, picked up new turnouts in my collection and messed with them, getting the same horrible results. I tested them on the benchwork before replacing anything.

 

I cut the webbing on the outside radius

Then, I thought I should just removed the curved turnouts, replace them with straight ones and call it a day… sacrificing my easements in the process, which were of utter importance for larger steamers. All that would be a lot of work and I felt I had to try something else before committing to that “solution”. I took my worst turnout and carefully looked at it. For some reason, I had discovered an older Electrofrog turnout with hinged points didn’t have the issue of catching wheels. While I hate that design, I had to admit the point ends were much finer and were a snug fit against the stock rail. In comparison, the solid rail points of Unifrogs were thicker and protruding, even on brand new turnouts. That seemed to be a design/manufacturing issue that was just made more noticeable when messing up the turnout geometry.

 

More webbing cutting, except under the frog

Since the turnout was deemed busted, I took a small file and reworked the point ends, making then much finer and removing material that was sitting higher than the stock rail. Wheels stopped hitting the points and no longer climbed and derailed. However, the geometry wasn’t perfect and I could see the transition from the straight track to the curved points was not smooth at all. Again, with my file, I reworked the point a little bit over a length of ½” to 3/4” and got rid of that issue. Even my Rivarossi Casey Jones, a temperamental engine like its prototype, liked the fixed turnout. The throwbar would be replaced with a nice custom PCB one soldered on the points.

 

That left me with the yard entrance turnout that was still defective. There, the locomotives truly “kicked” the points, making a strong noise and making them shake quite a bit. It was unacceptable to have a yard throat compromised in such a way. It was visually taking you out of the experience and worst, a serious liability for operation. Since I had decided that turnout was to be replaced and probably a lost cause, I took my files and worked the points. This time, I knew what I was doing and where material needed to be removed or reshaped. It took less than two minutes. Using a long metal framed Atlas container flat, I tested the geometry and didn’t notice any weird motion, noise or brutal kick in the wheels. Could I have solved the problem? I took my Bachmann 0-6-0T, which is an excellent runner, but prone to showing easily geometry issues due to its short wheelbase. It would be a good judge. It worked flawlessly! Now was the time to put Illinois Central 382 to the task and well… it ran smoothly over the turnout.

 

Yard throat with custom turnouts... we shall see!

Not only I had saved my turnouts but proved the curved geometry I foolishly imposed upon them was working. I have still a few apprehensions and won’t glue or ballast anything until operations have been carried on for a much longer time, but I have troubleshooted my turnout problems and acquired new skills. I always shunned away from custom track work, but at the end of the day, it’s not that hard when you have the right mindset. Running out of turnouts to trash forced me to understand and repair what I had in hand. It would have been stupid to get rid of well-built turnouts which were only unreliable because I messed up the points. Repairing them was no different than working on a hand laid turnout, so I look at what the folks do when custom-building tracks and implemented their techniques. It worked. And I may be tempted to replace a few compromised Peco plastic throwbars in the future.

That said, in the yard, I had made a few cutoms turnouts and they are much more reliable than my first attempt, but the yard geometry is a little bit wonky and could cause some issues when switching and coupling cars. I'm never a fan of having a curve, then a small section of straight track then another curve. It's visually ugly and mechanically unreliable. Hence, I may be tempted to use 2 Peco Electrofron curved #7. They fit, have the right curvature, don't reduce storage space and are reliable once jumpers are soldered to the hinged points. Sure, laying turnouts was a steep learning curve even for an experienced modeller like me, but the learning was totally worth it. I feel I'm more in control of the result instead of just slapping components on an uneven roadbed and wishing for the best. Even small steps such as sandind the cork roadbed to make it perfectly level are things I didn't do and which have a tremendous impact on reliability and appearance. As I said to a friend, it's two steps forward, one step back... not bad if you ask me!