T-Trak Layout Update

I took a break after concentrating for several months rewiring the oldest part of my HO layout and came back to the T-Trak project. I did some electrical finishing work on some of the modules and began scenery. Here's Module 4, which I am doing as more or less inspired by Amtrak's Empire Connection on the west side of Manhattan. Here's a prototype photo of the area I'm following that I found on Google:

I found a more or less New York style brick building at a swap meet this past weekend and covered over the tunnel to hold it:

I discovered that there are reasonably priced Japanese N kits for modern style apartment and office buildings on eBay, so I will be expanding the city area with styrofoam and adding some of these to the scene. The brick building will get some weathering and maybe some kitbashed details, and it will eventually fade into the bigger city scene. I'm realizing that building scenery upward increases the apparent size of a layout.

Here is some scenery work in progress on the other side of the layout. I talked about European modeling eras a couple of posts back, and the T-Trak project here is intended to be Epoch VI, 2005+, featuring Amtrak and other passenger operation. One thing you can see in YouTube videos and DVDs is that contemporary rail rights of way are scrubbed pretty clean, with a cleared area on either side of the track. A lot of old trackside details, like telegraph poles, handcar sheds, and such are gone. Here is some Epoch Vi right of way in work on my project:

The grass is Busch dry grass sheets held in place with Elmer's School Glue. Here is the major trackwork on Module 1:

The problem with both Kato sectional track and the basic T-Trak scheme is that layouts tend to be closed ovals. The junction with an outside track via the Kato double crossover is a way of getting outside the closed oval, which I am thinking about in terms of expanding this basic layout.

Here's a video that shows, among other things, the advantage of T-Trak with DCC. Everything, two trains, one reversing direction, and a switch being thrown, is controlled by one handheld NCE PowerCab. No need for a control panel, no need to reach into the layout to throw switches, no need to select blocks, each module electrically self-contained with simple wiring, so the whole thing can be disassembled and reassembled like dominos.

A Couple Of Bachmann Projects

I mentioned that seeing on line videos of John Tews's Timber River Railroad rekindled my interest in ore operations. I've had two chances to railfan the former DM&IR, about 10 years ago. Looking for videos of current operation on line, I note that not too much has changed, but there are new locos, and most have CN paint. Among the locos now working the DM&IR are rebuilt SD40-3s. It's possible to find Bachmann CN SD40-3s on line for less than $50, and I got one.

This is a nice-looking loco. Overall detail is comparable to the 1980s Athearn bluebox SD40-2, and the price is comparable, especially considering it comes assembled, has LED lighting to the headlight lenses, and it has an NMRA 8-pin DCC socket. I was a little frustrated that no review on line, YouTube or elsewhere, showed the chassis. Here's a photo:

The biggest plus is the DCC socket and LED lighting, the biggest problem is no flywheels. However, if you insert a DCC decoder, as I did, you can program acceleration momentum CV 2 to 1 and deceleration momentum CV 3 to 1, and you'll get an effect almost the same as having flywheels. This should allow this loco to multiple in a consist with flywheel-equipped locos.

CN's SD40-3s in the 6000 series are actually rebuilt from SD40s. For now, this doesn't bother me, this is a good loco at a very good price. The CN emblem on the hood seems small, so at some point I plan to cover it with MicroScale black trim film and add a larger CN emblem. The photo below shows the loco with the trucks and fuel tank sprayed grimy black, decoder installed, couplers replaced with Kadees, and DCC CVs tweaked. Also shown is a new River Station CN hi-rail and a Custom Finishes set of detail parts for CN snow shields that I plan to add.

A while ago, I got a Bachmann WP GP7 on a special sale.

This is another nice loco at a reasonable price, more than comparable to the Athearn bluebox GP7 or other low-end geeps that have come out now and then from AHM and such. It doesn't have the detail of the Atlas-Kato or Atlas Classic locos, but it's less expensive (unless you can find a cheaper Atlas-Kato on eBay). The biggest problem is it has a Bachmann factory DCC decoder integrated into the electronics, and this doesn't support the NMRA CVs, which makes it nearly impossible to adjust speed settings and so forth.

I wasn't aware that NCE makes a BACH-DSL decoder that's a near drop-in replacement for the Bachmann electronics on this and other Bachmann locos that have their compulsory DCC decoder. (As you can see with the SD40-2, some do have an 8-pin socket.) Here is the WP unit with he BACH-DSL installed:

It took a bit of tweaking, but I got the loco to start smoothly at speed step 1 by increasing CV 4, the start voltage. Even as a solo operator, I can't say enough good about the ability of DCC to get locos to run at comparable speeds at comparable voltage.

European "Epochs" For Model Eras

I've always had an interest in European models. It helps that I'm pretty good in German (my wife will confirm that when we're in Germany, people for some reason come up to me on the street and ask for directions.) I can also hack my way through French.

But one thing that's always interested me is that the Europeans see modeling eras in a different but systematic way -- in German, Epochen, which more or less comes out as "epochs" in English. Here's a link in German to an explanation of European Epochs. A 30,000-foot view would come out more or less like this:

• Epoch 1: beginning to 1920. This covers the period when European railroads were organized under pre-Versailles principles (in German-speaking countries), owned by individual German states or the royal-imperial Austrian state. In France, they were private, as they were in the UK.
• Epoch II:1920-1950. This covers the interwar period and postwar reconstruction. In post-Versailles Germany, the railroads were unified under the central German state, while in many other European countries, German equipment arrived as war reparations or as a result of WWII dislocation. In France and the UK, the railroads were variously merged and nationalized.
• Epoch III: 1950-1970. German and Austrian railroads reorganized under postwar governments. Large-scale electrification. Adoption of standardized European computer numbers for equipment by 1970. End of steam. Beeching and BR blue in the UK.

  Epoch IV: 1970-1995. New generation equipment, luxury intercity passenger trains, decline of freight, spinoffs of regional and freight operations. High speed trains in France, Italy, and Germany. Reorganization and spinoff of operation in the UK.

• Epoch V: 1995-2005. Reunification of German network. New paint schemes. Expansion of unitary international high speed services.
• Epoch VI: 2006-present. Renumbering. Further spinoffs of operation, continuing decline of freight service, concentration of passenger in high-speed or base-level service.

Dividing US rail history into similar epochs is also food for thought. In the US:

• Epoch I: beginning to 1920. "Old time" or "Early rail" to USRA.
• Epoch II: 1920-1950 "Classic steam", early diesels.
• Epoch III: 1950-1970 late steam, dieselization, colorful diesels, wide variety. End of roofwalks.
• Epoch IV: 1970-1995 Big mergers, ACI labels, COTS stencils, rise of intermodal, Amtrak. End of cabooses.
• Epoch V: 1995-2005 Even bigger mergers, CN and CP extend into US, comfort cabs, new commuter and transit. Spinoffs of important lines to short line operators.
• Epoch VI: 2005-present conspicuity stripes, eco locomotives, graffiti, large-scale resignaling finally replaces SP searchlights, PRR position lights, etc.

As the Europeans do, it's possible to subdivide and rearrange here. A fun game.

Spring Railfanning!

The weather finally improved enough for me to get up to Cajon Pass, and I had a pretty good day. Here are two shots taken a minute or two apart from a new favorite location:

Two BNSF intermodals running upgrade right next to each other. Among other things, this shot shows how well ditch lights show up, and they show how much I like to see them working on a model. But wait, a minute or so later, we see this:

A UP Roseville-West Colton manifest heading downgrade in the same frame -- three trains at once! This has got to be some of the heaviest traffic density anywhere.

The scenery is starting to turn green after last summer's severe fire.