Making a home for the big silo. . .

Photo by &Drew via Flicker of Pacific National grain train loading at Narrabri "A Silo".

"Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made."
-- Otto von Bismarck

And for that matter, so is model railroad benchwork. Some modelers, I'll admit, are fabulous benchwork-builders--it's almost a shame to cover up their amazing spline-roadbed creations with trackage and scenery. I don't fit into this category. I take a little open grid here, a tad of l-girder there, and eventually, I get something that works. Like that helix--it was like wrestling with a pig, but finally I ended up with something acceptable.

Lance and I tackled the railroad above the helix last week: this will be the location of the large circular "A191 Silo" grain elevator which on the prototype is on the south side of Narrabri, near the triangle leading to Narrabri west. The actual elevator complex is really three components: the large circular "A191 silo", built in 1955; a two-silo-plus-headhouse elevator, added at a later date, and a large metal grain storage building. I'm modeling the first two. (Kieran Ryan's Silo Data page has a rundown of all circular "A" silos constructed.)



The helix has a lid, which almost floats above the helix structure itself, attached at four points to the helix frame as well as to the wall.


View of the silo area looking into the helix hole. Big "A Silo" elevator will fit into the semi-circular hole.


Better view of the trackage on the helix blob. The single track to the left will serve a Superphosphate distributor and oil jobber.

I don't yet know the actual dimensions of the prototype A Silo; in scaling off of photos, including Google Earth and Google's "Street View," it appears there's 18 cylindrical silos arrayed in a circular shape; i'm guessing the structure is around 250-300' in diameter; I've left an 18" radius half-circle cut out in the middle of the tabletop atop the helix, which I will be able to build the silo on at the workbench.

As of this afternoon, trackage is mostly down; the connection to the helix has been made; backdrop is up but not yet sanded or painted, and i'm ready to put the lighting valance over the top. Later will come fascia material enclosing the helix in a tidy sheathing with an inset DCC control station built into it.


Great view of the 19,100 ton capacity "A191" silo at Narrabri by Moximus via Flicker

After a Holiday Break. . .

I'd not done hardly anything to the layout in the past three weeks. E-mails have gone unanswered, projects half-completed on the workbench are buried under other bits of correspondence. . .it's really a tough time of year to get anything done.

But this too will pass after January 01.

I'm looking forward to getting back after it.

I did solder in drops for as much of the layout as I have track laid for, and amused holiday guests by running a loco and a few wagons back and forth.

And I decided, in the interests of expediency and overcoming decision avoidance to just stick some N-scale Caboose Industries ground throws on the layout, until such time I really honestly decide how to throw my points.

Now, back to the never-ending party around our house. Be back after the New Year!

Decisions, decisions. . . .

DON'T make me use these!

Model railway design should encompass more than just benchwork, wiring, track planning and equipment--one should also consider just how the railway will be operated. The method of operation and its various nuances will influence things like how (even with DCC) electrical blocks are divided up, and how points will be thrown.

For lack of anything cheaper, easier to use, or more elegant in design, previous layouts I've built have used Caboose Industries ground throws to align the points. They're certainly cheap and easy to install, but there's no getting past that they're large, shiny, plastic lumps in an otherwise prototype-driven world--it's the price one pays for cheap and easy.

There've been lots of home-grown alternatives as the best way to throw points manually (i.e., without resorting to electric motors), ranging from hand-bent springs above the benchwork to inexpensive Radio Shack switches mounted below, attached to the throwbar with a piece of stout wire and manipulated through the fascia of the layout with a wire or dowel. One non-electrical solution is the Blue Point controller, which installs much like a Tortoise motor (and almost costs as much!) but is manually operated; another option for manual control is offered by Modratec using "wire in tube" connections. My preference is for manual control of points whenever possible--it just seems more realistic, from an operating standpoint, for train crews to actually throw points rather than just flipping an electrically switch to do the job.

Understanding "how" the New South Wales Railway operates should guide my decision. My cursory and admittedly flimsy understanding so far of NSWGR safeworking has led me to believe that nearly all mainline points are manipulated from a grouped "lever frame" where several points are thrown from one area. In some locations, these lever frames are located at the train station or staff office, and thrown by a station employee; at outlying areas at a station, train crews throw the points. Unlike US railroads, where train crews use a universal switch key to open locks at individual turnouts to set the points, the lever frames are unlocked using a "key" integrated into the same staff that gives them their authority to operate within a mainline track segment. . . thus, to be most realistic, I'd not use the Caboose Industries ground throws (which look horrible, anyway), and would opt for a model simulation of a ground frame (exactly what Modratec offers), or, barring that, at least grouping my point levers to locations on the fascia that would emulate what the prototype would do. . . ideally, they'd need to be unlocked using some sort of staff that also allows movement on the main track. Within shunting yards and away from the mainline and loops, single points are thrown, however, from levers adjacent to the points, much as in the US practice. And that's just the mechanical end of things--the modeler in me would of course want to feature the piping and levers and all that other stuff on the layout, even if static in nature, just to "look right." Then there's the issue of catch points, and . . . . .

This striving for prototype duplication leads somewhere else, too: how would one best model the staff system on a DCC layout? In reading descriptions of the operating rules and various scenarios on how trains were worked in the modeling press (and on line), it's clear that the staff safeworking system used in New South Wales is waaaaay different from what us Americans are used to. It would be easy, as a modeler living in the US, to just gloss over this difference: after all, if the trackage is based on Australian prototype, as are the structures and all the railway equipment, what harm will it do to run them just like we would here in the States? Modelers in the US are, after all, used to running trains a certain way. . .to learn a different way of doing so would really be a mind-blower! But if one does, indeed, strive to emulate the prototype with realistic track planning, judicious purchasing of equipment to match a specific time and place, the tabling of trains for operations to match what the real NSWGR did, etc., isn't it just dropping the ball NOT to model the safeworking system as thoroughly as possible?

These are the things that keep me up at night.

So while I go over and over in my mind on how to control the points on the railroad, let alone how I can create a model of an operating staff system, at some point, in order to get the damned thing operating, I'll have to make a decision. . .should I judiciously study if further, or just bite the bullet and go for a cheap, quick (temporary) alternative to use until the lightbulb goes off over my head, the "ah HA!" moment strikes, and I figure out the best way to deal with this?

Aussie modelers: what do YOU use to control your points?

Connecting the Top and Bottom

The Monster in the Corner, with test train. . .

Whew. Got the helix constructed, after three attempts. It's pretty solidly built--God forbid what will happen if (knock on wood) I get a plumbing leak in the wall void this thing occupies!
After two abortive attempts at building the thing, I took it down to the bare base and rebuilt it, taking care to measure the gradient on the climb upward, a task made quite a bit easier with my Husky "Professional 9"Multi-Function Digital Level with Storage Bag." This tool really made the helix possible to construct for an idiot like myself. Besides the usual visual bubble levels, this thing provides push-button access to a display that provides level in degrees, inches of rise to foot of run, and grade in terms of percentage.


Another view of the Helix. Sorry for the mess!


Husky digital level--invaluable for building a helix. . .

Irwin one-handed clamp: another must-have for helix construction.

The level helped keep us "honest" while laying the most important part of the structure, the sub-roadbed risers atop the base level. With the first level of roadbed secured to these at a constant 2.4% climb, it was mostly a matter of then adding level after level, separated by 3 1/2" high spacer blocks. Several blocks were held in place by clamps--including nifty one-handed clamps by Irwin--and each level's rise, in turn, could be measured and kept within limits.

It isn't perfect--you'd be amazed how little the difference there is visually between a 2.2% and 2.7% grade within an 18" run--but it is far more consistent than the first two attempts. Proof of this: a load test of a train of Auscision NGTY wheat hoppers behind a Trainorama 49 Class loco. The first attempt at the helix, complete with steep spots and a flat spot in front, found the loco barely able to take 9 cars and a brake van up the helix. The rebuilt version found it able to climb the grade with 11 cars and a van, and, with a bit of a running start, 12 cars and a van--a moot point, i'd guess, as the crossing loops will handle 10 of these cars, one loco and a van.

All that's left is cleaning up a couple of track joints, wiring track wiring feeders, and waiting for the upper benchwork to extend atop the helix towards the large circular sub-terminal. At that point, I'll secure the last 4 feet of upper level helix and work the vertical transition. Eventually, it'll all be encased by fascia panels. I'll likely add infrared detection sensors at the top and bottom of the helix for crews to be alerted when their trains are about to re-enter the visible portion of the layout.

The scene atop the helix should be visually interesting: a giant circular grain terminal, served by 2 tracks. A pair of tall concrete silo elevators will be adjacent to the circular structure, helping to hide the hole in the wall the mainline entering the helix makes. Here's a shot of the Grain terminal I'll be modeling.

About the new 'North of Narrabri' photo. . .

Inspiration strikes in the strangest places. The other day, while entering the spare bedroom, I was struck at the silhouette image of a train in the staging yard against the south window. This evening, I set up a few locomotives and grain cars and had at it against the afternoon sky. With a little Photoshop magic wand action, I was able to tranform what was a piece of plywood, some track and a few models into an image of a 49 Class locomotive, FWH grain wagons in tow, trundling back to Narrabri ahead of a summer thunderstorm in 1979.

I'd never been there, certainly not 29 years ago, but through the magic of good models, a digital camera, and some computer software, anything is possible.


The Helix
It just gets better. After asking "what of?" on an internet discussion board, one theory was put forth that the helix flattened out where benchwork sections were spliced together prior to assembly atop the risers. This seemed to make sense, especially when I noted that splicer plates were stacked three-levels right atop each other. . . and their locations coincided with the dreaded "flat-spot." I didn't have flattening problems with roadbed sections "field joined" atop spacer blocks. So, back to the beginning. I've stripped the helix off the base, will reset the sub-roadbed risers, and reconstruct the helix roadbed, staggering the splices, using 1/4 plywood for the splice plates, and measuring the rise once again to see that the grade remains more consistent. I'm determined to get this right, despite the additonal hassle.

Staging trains. . .

Here's a photo of the upper-level staging yard (we'll say it represents "Werris Creek") in the spare bedroom adjacent the layout area. It only needs wire drops to the power bus and it'll be ready to go (when I get around to operating the railroad, that is!).

The Werris Creek yard contains five tracks--one 7' track (long enough for 12 FWH and 2 branchline locomotive), two 6 1/2' tracks (standard length of my crossing loops), and two 6' tracks. There is room to add a 2 1/2' track accessed via a switchback if it becomes necessary (long enough to hold, I'd suppose, a 3 car DEB set). The lower level staging, representing Moree, will only require four tracks according to the working timetable. Since its' low height above the workbench will significantly cut into my work space, half of the staging yard will be removable.

As you can also tell by the photo, the workbench--hell, the entire spare bedroom--is a real mess in the wake of the staging yard construction. But that's the way it is when I build something: get the project done, and let everything fall (literally) where it may in the meantime.


The M. C. Escher Helix
What about the helix, you ask? Isn't it done yet?? Nope.

Soon after my workgroup departed after the initial work session assembling the thing, I hooked up a DC power pack to the track and hauled out a representative train to test on the grade. I'd hoped a single Train-O 49 Class would handle 10 new Auscision grain hoppers and a guard van with little slippage, but such wasn't the case. The helix, it seems, has a flat spot that runs around 24" in length and significantly increases the gradient on ether end of the flatter stretch. I cna get the 49 Class and hoppers up the grade, but it requires a real touch with the throttle. I'd hazard that a 48 Class, when it becomes available, won't do as well, given its (apparent) lighter bulk.

Why is there a flat spot in the helix? Beats the hell out of me. I've disassembled it once already, remeasured everything half-a-dozen times, scratched all the hair off my head, and rebuilt it. . . same result. I'm guessing perhaps there's some formula i'm missing for the initial vertical easements for the grade that are translating slightly upgrade and causing the climb to flatten out. Until someone can explain this to me, this is, I guess, how it will stay. It's never as easy as it originally seems to be!

Vacation Planning. . .
Got my vacation dates from work set, and Lance and I have purchased Qantas tickets to Sydney out of Dallas-Fort Worth departing April 7 next year. We'll have two weeks to look around, take photos, take notes, watch trains, load up on Aussie hobby goodies and--we hope--meet several of the fine folks who've helped us thus far with our modeling projects from afar. Maybe we'll even be able to operate a NSW-based model railroad? Or two?

'round and 'round in the corner

Pearre, Shane and Frank--the "Pie Guys"-- get the helix going. . .


And here's what it looked like last spring. Progress!

It's been over a month since I last posted on this blog; don't take the lack of any reports as meaning there hasn't been any activity--on the contrary. While waiting to get some "experts" over to the house to help me assemble the critical helix linking the two levels of the railroad, I was busy with other things:

• October meant the completion--at least for now--of the Namoi River bridge. It's "good enough" for right now to run trains over, as it has been painted and Micro Engineering bridge flex track attached atop. I've still got to add the guard rails, various details (such as nut-bolt-washers), etc to it, but that can wait until I go back at some point and scenic the river area. For now, it's operable, and at this point, that's good enough for me.
• Also used plans of the Narrabri passenger station to make a rough illustration board stand-in structure, again, until i get around to scratch building a permanent structure. I built a very crude refreshment room, based soley on a few photographs.
• Finally got around to fabricating and installing points on the upside of Narrabri West's yard, and laid the mainline down along where the station there will reside. I've got around a dozen points left to fabricate for the upper level, which, thank God, puts me well over halfway done for the upper deck.

The biggest construction milestone has been moving ahead on the helix. I'd never built one before, so this also has been a big challenge for my admittedly limited brain! The helix is 60" across with a 27" radius curvature linking decks 16 inches apart with four inches between levels. . .that works out, accounting for vertical easements on the top and bottom, at around a 2.4% gradient. A single 48 Class SHOULD be able to pull a 10 car grain train plus guard van around the helix. . .this is just an assumption based on what a 47 Class pulled in trials on a friend's layout. We'll see next March, I suppose!

This past evening, a number of my modeling mates, which call themselves the Thursday Night Pie and Jazz Society (which has nothing to do with pie nor jazz), met at my place to help get the helix built. Consider this the model railroading equivalent of an Amish barn-raising. I don't think our group has met in at least a year, so it was good to see those who could make it: Frank Treadaway, Pearre Davenport, Chris Atkins, Shane Murphy and Donovan Furin all gave up an evening to help the helix get around 70 percent completed. So far, so good. It appears my limited math skills worked this time. Thanks, guys!

Before building a helix, there's a ton of prepwork involved, so thanks to Lance Lassen's hard work, I had the basic parts ready for assembly: a free-standing frame for the helix to sit atop was constructed out of the "hole in the wall," four sections of helix benchwork, pre-assembled, with track laid atop them. I chopped a few dozen spacer blocks to uniform length and the railroad room was picked up a bit to make it semi-habitable. Most importantly, deep-dish pizzas were ordered to fuel the work crew.

All veterans of helix construction debate what's "good enough"--Chris, Shane and Frank.

I had been undecided whether to use "all-thread" steel rod in the helix construction over the less-fussy, cruder-looking, but quicker to assemble wood-block spacing method. Expediency won out over finesse, and after three hours of work, the crew had assembled three of the four levels of the helix as well as hung the "Werris Creek" staging yard benchwork in the adjacent spare bedroom.

Construction Timetable
The holidays are fast approaching, and with it, considerably less time to be devoted to playing with toy trains. I had set a goal to have the helix installed and ready for the lower-level benchwork to go in by Thanksgiving, and hopefully I'll meet this goal. December, rightly so, will be given to family pursuits, but I hope to sneak away to maybe instal switch motors on the mainline points, perhaps completing track wiring on track already laid, and installing the guys of the EasyDCC system. Then it's into 2009, with these monthly goals:

• January: Complete benchwork and trackbed for Narrabri sub-terminal grain area; complete upper-level trackwork (with exception of loco depot); complete trackage and wiring in Werris Creek staging yard; build portion of lower-level benchwork that would allow a temporary "Moree" staging yard. Completion of these steps would allow tabled train operations to begin.
• February: Complete lower-level benchwork and backdrops on Edgeroi-Gurley section; build lower-level staging yard; finish upper-level lighting valance and finish work exterior of helix.
• March: Complete basic landforms and roadbed on lower level. Install lower-level mainline
• April: Two week trip to Australia, beginning April 9. Install lower-level lighting and trimwork.
• May: Finish lower-level trackwork with construction of goods, silo and stock pen trackage.

This should bring me to summer and its many diversions from the layout room. But by this point, the railroad will be fully operational, electrically and in terms of track plan. Everything beyond this is cosmetic: tidying up the visual impact of the layout and bookshelves, the commencement of scenery, and scratchbuilding of structure. But I can certainly take my time getting the last 30% of the layout completed. . .maybe I'll get around to actually detailing, painting and weathering locomotive and rolling stock?