Monk Subdivision - Running Trains! Or Almost...

My posting rate isn't that stellar due to a simple reason. Is wiring really an interesting topic?

A week ago, the long weekend was an excellent occasion to get immersed with the layout work and try to make things happen, which means to be able to run a full train all around the room. On Friday, I was able to finish the laying the main staging track until I ran out of track. Then, the next day, a few other sidings by purchasing some remaining track stock at BV Hobby. I didn't expect running low of track and joiners, but sure I did and I scavenged everything I could to make the project progress waiting to gather everything I need to finish my work.

A classic 1970s MLW CN consist over Abénaki Bridge

To celebrate that milestone, a prototypical 1970s CN Monk Subdivision diesel consist was assembled, with two Bowser Big Alco and one RS18. It truly made the concept shine though it was too soon to run around the staging track since it wasn't wired yet.

And since then, my life has been all about wiring track, soldering feeders and running bus wires under the layout. I'm using screw terminal blocks with connectors. It gives a more professional look while being much easier to work with and move around. I know I have already some trouble shooting ahead of me and not having to unsolder everything will be quite helpful.

This sums up my modelling life since two weeks

To be honest, I have a big picture of how wiring should work for the layout, but I'm kind of figuring it out directly under the layout. My approach is simply to do small sections according to my operating logic and come back the next day to extend it.

I also have been working on a control panel for the staging yard. The concept is to have each staging track fed individually and controlled by a switch to turn it on or off. I have many reasons to implement that system. First, I don't want all train loco running for no reason, particularly with DCC and sound. Second, I'm using my NCE Pro Cab DCC system which isn't designed to handle a dozen of locos under power. Thus, I figured out the best thing would be to store a train after it had made its appearance, shut the track off, turn on another track and run another train. This is also a way to reduce the risk of runaway trains in a room I'm rarely standing in it.

Ugly but efficient, I like the feel of old metal toggle switches

The panel is simply a scrap piece remaining from the 4' x 8' project. It may be replaced in the future by something more aesthetically pleasing, but right now, it is doing its job nicely.

I also implemented another safety device for the staging yard lift bridge. With a single micro switch, it controls the common bus wire directly from the source. If the bridge is open, all tracks in the staging yards are without electricity. I didn't want to only cut off some short sections before the bridge. My reason being that I'm not always standing in the staging yard and can't really see what is happening. On the main layout, everything is easy to monitor and the bridge there can be left opened without stopping operation if in "switching layout" mode and not running the entire loop.

The temporary train control station at Armagh

I've yet to see how much time will be required to finish up the layout, but it's progressing at a steady pace. I would love to see trains in action soon, but time will tell... and may need much more wire than I anticipated and some troubleshooting will require my attention. I also ran out of wire only to find out it is no longer available. If you have been following copper wire costs lately, I can confirm that the type of wire I uses has almost doubled price since 2024. My answer to that was simply to install more terminal blocks and plan better my feeder location. That way, I have been able to reclaim enough 18 AWG wire to make all the feeders I need for the staging yard. It will only be required to purchase some bus wire later on.

Monk Subdivision - Completing the Draw Bridge

First official train over Abenaki river bridge!

It seems the new schedule is bearing its fruits. Over the last few days, I have been able to lay all the track on the scenic portion of the layout and complete the basic wiring. It could have been a daunting task, but working little by little each days brought excellent results and made it possible to trouble shoot issues along the way.

Installing a locking device was high on my list...

However, as I often mentioned, this project isn't quite linear and I am constantly revisiting things done before to improve them. One of these is the draw bridge which required an extensive rebuild after the tragic incident earlier this summer. The first order was to find a way to secure the bridge when opened and after designing several complicated locking systems, I simply used a standard window hook which took less than a minute to install and provided the most intuitive and safe system I could wish for.

A simple hook was more than enough for that purpose

It was then time to rethink the wiring issues before laying track. My initial idea used electrical dowels by DCC Concepts but they had two major flaws. The first one is self explanatory and is linked to the fact these dowels are designed to fit together in a linear fashion. You push them together. However, with the draw bridge rotating motion, they never perfectly aligned and you could feel a strong force between them. Surface scratches showed how bad that non linear motion was grinding the metal and could ruin the connections in the not so long run.

The second issue was temperature and moisture variation. The dowels tight tolerance made them prone to misalignment, more tear and poor electrical contact. It was already happening... a single expansion of 1 mm made it impossible to lay the bridge flat and level with the layout. So, it was not a good option from the start and I had to find a way that could take into account the motion and the dimensional variation.

Microswitches provide a more reliable mean of electric control

I decided that the draw bridge tracks would be permanently wired to the layout bus wires. Open or not, it didn't make a difference if it was continuously powered. The real sections requiring a power cutoff were the approach tracks on each side of the layout. To control these, I installed micro switches salvaged from a pair of Bullfrog turnout controls on the feeder wired of both insulated track sections. One on each side and activated when the closed bridge reach its final destination. If the bridge slightly contract or expanded, it has no impact on the contact with the switch, making it an ideal solution. 

Latex caulk applied to the bridge piles

The wiring was also rerouted inside the draw bridge to make maintenance and troubleshooting easier than wires buried in scenery. New access holes were cut for that purpose and I tried to keep it neat and clean.

No need for a complicated solution here...

I then proceeded to glue the steel deck bridge on the concrete piles using latex caulk. So water on an old brush was useful to clean up the mess. Only some touch ups will be required to weather these spots. The rest of the track was laid, wired and testes. And yes, it worked on the first try, which was more than I could ask for.

The completed bridge sitting in place

I had the pleasure to run the first train over it and it was gorgeous. Having the bridge on a diagonal line was the best decision I could make since it really create a dramatic vision when the trains are running over it. So far so good and it really is a motivating factor to finally see trains running over the entirely of Monk Subdivision after too many years of procrastination.

I won't regret that sweeping curve at all!

The staging isn't complete yet, but it's only a matter of connecting 6 feet of track, wiring it and installing a similar system of microswitch on the other draw bridge. Once all this is done, it will be time to address the few track geometry issues here and there to ensure perfect and smooth running of all locomotives, including the pesky big steamers. Had to order some extra track to finish the sidings and add a few staging tracks. As I said, I recycled a lot of old track, but I may need to replace a few damaged sections and rework some transitions where I added superelevation.

I can already say it will be a favourite scene of mine

Monk Subdivision - Laying Track & Summer Vacation

Progress has been slow but steady on the Monk Subdivision this summer due to a long road trip on Quebec North Shore, Manicouagan, Labrador, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Some real classic trains were witnessed without being scheduled into the program, which made it a nice serendipitous discovery. More on that in a future post.

Otherwise, I have adopted a 1-hour per day work schedule. It's long enough to progress while keeping my mind sharp and not compromising on quality. No idea about when I will complete the entire loop, but I'm far enough that I can run a train from Armagh to Langlois.

As a matter of saving some money and not encouraging overconsumption in my hobby, I've been reusing old Peco track from the previous layouts. Some had been painted, none ballasted. Good sections are reused, bad ones discarded. It's all about ensuring a smooth and reliable geometry for mechanical and aesthetical enjoyment of trains.

I'm working slowly, but steadily, following that old army motto of "slow is fast". As an example, I used masking tape to implement superelevation in my curves. That tape is a little bit unreliable when you stretch it around curved lines. Some was simply ungluing itself due to tension in the tape. My trick is now to lay it in place and cut it later with my hobby knife at 3-4 inches intervals. It removes all the tension and makes sure things stay in place.

Day by day, the loop is closing

It's a little bit weird to speak about so little progress, but at the same way, it demonstrates another point. I generally considered these steps to be technical hurdles to overcome as far as possible to reach the real hobby (paint, ballast, scenery, structures, etc.). With the slower pace I implemented in my life and the reduction of useless time spent online, these less savory steps are now the hobby itself. Laying track carefully is a mind soothing process and an exercise in precision. There is joy in doing that just for the sake of doing it.

Also, having finally discarded a lot of my big dreams - or should I say, delusions - it's much easier to reach to the basics that counts. I'm no longer focussing in laying all the tracks or wiring in one go, having the staging yard figured out right now is basically irrelevant, even the sidings are. As long as that loop of track is built in such a way it can be refined, expanded and modified, the main goal is reached. The rest is just gravy when the current steps will be done.

A small train is enough to give it life...

I used to be extremely nervous about having it all figured out with the layout, down to the type of screws holding the fascia in place. It's all irrelevant. It led to two undesirable outcomes: the accumulation of a lot of stuff thought to be required to "build the layout and motivate me" and worst, the loss of motivation when the proof of concept was going to far. Over the years, I have found out that projects I plan in minute details reach that point where my mind has built the thing in virtual in my mind. It has been figured out and made "real". Under such circumstances, building the real life layout is just a repetition of what happened on paper and in my head. No challenges, no fun, nothing... It's just a sterile repetition. On the other hand, if the planning process gets the basics done but don't go to deep into the details, my brain still has many motivating problem solving opportunities to keep interest high.

At this point in my life, I'd rather build than dream. Monk Subdivision proved me since early this year that making mistakes in that hobby isn't the end of everything and it's generally a matter of spending one evening correcting the situation.

I can't promise when trains will run on that loop, but I'm already having my fun making my mock passenger train longer and longer as flextrack is added everyday!

Monk Subdivision - More Roadbed

 As I reassemble the splines in a slightly improved location, I have to make a few adjustments. The original splines were built when, for a short while, I envisioned to have the station in the foreground and the team track in the background for visual interest. It was a fascinating idea, but I left it alone because the foreground buildings would be a real nuisance during operation, having the team track far away behind the traffic was not optimal and the most intricate facades of the each structure would be invisible, which would be... self defeating.

This change of plan means that the outer left curve in Armagh (West) was build with some compromises due to being a passing track but the inner curve was the right radius. I cut the spline where both the main and passing track had constant radius to remove the discrepancy. To save on material, I cut away the funky old passing track easement to the turnout and only kept the inner portion that had the right 42" radius with a large sweeping easement to the turnout.

On the right corner (East), it was just a matter of matching splines

That salvaged piece of spline was then reattached to the outer track, making a beautiful constant 42" radius for the mainline, which was always the goal.

In the station area, the old splines fit perfectly

I could have saved myself some troubles and relaid the splines from scratch, but that would have meant to buy another sheet of MDF, rip it into strips and build a new series of splines. The recycling option was interesting in the measure I got my desired radius without compromising on the geometry. If such a compromise would have been required, I would have built new from the ground. Track geometry is the place where half-baked efforts and cheapskate strategies never pay of.

Swapping the outer spline for the inner spline in the right corner

Monk Subdivision - Reinstalling the Roadbed

After rebuilding the bridge and adjusting it a bit, it was time to finally reinstall the roadbed aka the splines. I had carefully cut them in sections for storage a year ago to make it easier to rebuild the layout. Unfortunately, I recalled I had buil them according to a different track geometry. 2 years ago, I had in mind to have the station in the foreground and the passing track near the backdrop. However, plans have reverted back to having the depot facing people in the aisle.

A mockup always help to raise your spirit!

It shouldn't take too much work to adapt the splines since the curve radii are corrects. However, I still had to build from scratch the pesky S-curve entering the staging after Lake Therrien. This is probably the most tricky area of the layout. Since I want to run passenger cars and large steamers, I have no choice but make sure the straight transition is over 13 inches and that my curves all have a generous easement.

The track leaving the staging is a 28" radius. I wish I could use a large one, but there is a limit to what can be achieved with the staging. With this tight geometry, not mistakes can be made. So, instead of build the spline right on the layout with a part inserted into the wall and no way to really figure out the radius, I decided to draw a perfect template on a sheet on plywood, drive locating nails at regular intervals and use that as a tool to build the MDF spline. When done, I installed it temporarily and checked the alignment using Kato Unitrack curved tracks. Mind you, I was less than 1/4" out of alignment in the staging room, meaning it was well within building tolerances.

Gluing some cork before installation

Before installing the spline, I glued some cork at the end to ensure I could align the roadbed with the fiberboard in the staging. Installing the spline was a child's play, using some cardboard template to make sure the alignment was perfect.

Installed and ready to glue

All in all, this step proved to be much easier than anticipated, which was a great relief. But it also made me think about the future of the layout, my level of energy and my desire to run trains in a smooth and simpler fashion.

Reverting back to a saner and simpler staging concept

At the end of the day, my philosophy has been rehashed and tested again and again in this blog. Vince Valley just cemented my hatred of complicated wiring, how this stuff can take all the joy from the room. It also thought me the chances I will operated complicated scheduled trains are very scarce. For that reason, I removed the complicated crossover that made it possible to reverse trains. Sure, it was excellent on paper, but execution was complicated, made DCC and DC use incompatible and was a source of derailment even in the best conditions. I decided to reduce the number of available tracks, get rid of the troublesome curved turnout and have a nice and simple staging yard. Sure, trains won't be reverse, but I also have enough loco and rolling stock to stage enough trains in both directions to be happy. Wiring will be simpler and if I ever decided to do some automation, things will be far more user friendly.