Little Hell Gate Progress

A few months ago, I introduced my project of building a T-Trak corner module that would be based on the Little Hell Gate bridge portals on the Bronx side of the Northeast Corridor Hell Gate route. It's taken me longer than I expected to get into the project, partly because I had to spend some time figuring how I was going to kitbash Kato N viaduct track with more North American style piers, and I wasn't completely sure how things would work out. Since this part of the Hell Gate approach runs over a city park, a lot of the scenery would involve a grass mat and some parklike trees.

I ordered a Masterpiece Modules corner module with recessed deck, assembled it, and figured out how to create recesses in the ends to incorporate the Kato viaduct sections while keeping the Unitrack at deck level for compatibility with other modules. Here's the current status:

The underside shows my current practice with modules that could potentially be used with others at a T-Trak meet, as opposed to those I build intended only for my own home layout use. My main interest here is to use the Unitrack joiners as the primary DCC bus connector, and to connect both tracks on each module electrically to minimize current interruption due to glitches connecting modules. However, the T-Trak standard involves BWWB wiring (using the Kato Unitrack wiring color code), with the parallel tracks wired for opposite polarity.

I prefer BWBW wiring so I can use crossovers between tracks. But without a way to switch to the T-Trak standard, I can't incorporate any of my modules with the two tracks electrically connected BWBW at a meet. So I've wired in a DPDT toggle that allows the module to be switched from BWBW, my home standard, to BWWB, the T-Trak standard, should I ever take one of my modules to a meet. (This is not a sure thing, though. However, the DPDT toggles and terminal strips have been salvaged from the old DC block wiring on my HO layout, now DCC, so the hardware costs me nothing even if I never take my modules to a meet.)

The pigtail at the bottom is for installation of an NCE Illuminator that allows me to use Woodland Scenics Just Plug lighting components run off the DCC bus. This also eliminates the need for electrical connections between modules other than the Unitrack joiners.

The object of this module, again, is to feature the strange portals that Gustav Lindenthal designed for the Little Hell Gate bridge:

Following the practice I found useful with my Amtrak Springfield, MA station module, I worked from photos and estimated basic dimensions, and then I made mockups from scrap material to see how things would work out. Here's an overall view of the module with mockups mounted to get a first picture of how things fit:

On one hand, this is reassuring, since it's plan that the portals will be the main feature of the module. Then I worked some more to see how the mockups matched models and known dimensions:

Well, the ACS64 doesn't seem too far off, and the wheel off the track doesn't take away from the overall size estimate. However, I then took a photo of the mockups against known dimensions, the nominal NEC catenary height of 22 feel, and the clearance of overhead structure standard of 25 feet:

So it lloks like I'll need to add about 5 scale feet to the height of the basic portals below the strange pediments. I'll also need to give them a wider stance. The next step will be to create a final drawing and build the actual models, which will be from 1/32 basswood, with the upper shapes formed with spackle and sanded to final shape, topped with wooden craft beads. But at least I'm feeling more confident about the project than I did a few months ago!