Corinth Paper Mill track work complete

Track gangs have been hard at it again in Corinth.

A week or so, the track gang arrived in Corinth to complete the paper mill track work.
After installing 4 additional turnouts and a bunch of flex track, the track feeders were then installed and tortoise machines that make up the Paper Mill complex.

All went according to plan and there is now plenty of room to switch the paper mill with a chemical siding, a box car loading / unloading space as well as a switch back that is needed for the pulp wood to be brought into the factory.

One challenge that presented itself was the install of the tortoise machine for the pulp switch back. As the track that heads down to staging was directly below it, I need to make an bracket and extension to hold the tortoise machine and throw bar.

Here is a picture of the piece of timber with the throw bar extension and tortoise machine installed.

Here is a picture of the assembly installed..

Here is a picture of the location that needed the special arrangement.

Now that the track work is completed at the Mill. This basically completes all track work on the layout.

A golden spike celebration is to be held on the 8th of November 2014. (in a few weeks time).

The progress on the build has been going at a steady pace since September 2013. So, just on 12 months all the timber construction is complete, including all track work and electronics installs for block detection and turnout control including panels for each town.

Before the Golden spike celebration I plan to have all the track painted ready for ballast.

Stay tuned..

Dispatchers Phone System - A solution

Dispatchers Phone system.

Over the last 12 months I have been looking into various dispatchers phone systems.

There are many types that people have used over the years including old phone systems or intercom systems.

About 4 or 5 months ago I purchased a bunch of hand sets that are used for mobile phones that are the black retro hand set type. I then found a way to interface them with a Laptop Computer audio port and effectively have a party line but I was concerned about the load on the audio port.

Recently a few friends (Rod Warren and Greg Johnstone) came up with the idea of cheap 2 way radio's and head sets (small in ear type) for their dispatcher systems.

These radios are available at very cheap prices on ebay so we dipped our toe in to see if they would work.

Yep they work nicely.. However, I was still keen to use the 8 hand sets that I had already purchased.

I managed to find a way to add a push to talk button to the hand sets and change plus so that they interface with the radios.. The hand sets have a 3.5mm 4 pin audio plug and the radios need a 3 pin 2.5mm audio plug.. So after some quick mod's I was able to test the theory and they work a treat.

The radio's also have a DC in socket on the top, so instead of running batteries in them all, I wired up a 9v DC bus around the layout to power the radio's. So now when the layout it turned on, then the radio's are also powered up also.

My last outstanding task is to find / make a mount for the hand sets. The radios will be mounted under the layout so there is no issue there. I have found a few mounts on ebay but they are cost prohibitive. So back to the drawing board on that one.

Here are a few pictures of the radio's and the hand set.

In order to make the hand set work in conjunction with the radio's I needed to add the push to talk button.
Here is the circuit diagram that I made up from disecting the head sets that come with the radio's. This is after I changed the plug from a 4 contact to a 3 contact 2.5mm audio plug.

Im looking forward to testing them out when I next have a open day..

More Electrical work - Turnout Panel revisions

Panels and more panels.

After my initial open shed and layout shake down, I had my version 1.0 panels installed on the layout but found that the buttons were too close together.

I set up each town to have one turnout panel and have now revised that to be 2 panels per town. I have now made up new panels and have made two per town. This enables the engineer to use a panel that is local to the turnouts that are located at each end of the town.

By making new panels, this has enabled the buttons to be spread out more and this then makes it easier to find the right button.

The panels are temporarily mounted on the front of the layout. Once the fascia is installed they will be mounted in the fascia and set back slightly so that the buttons can not be accidentally pushed when a person walks past the location. So the panels will not be so close to the main deck of the layout.
I have also separated the staging panels so that the button for each staging track. This enables a engineer to just line up the turnouts to exit the staging with out effective the return loop end.

Here are a few pictures of the new panels.

In my next update, I will provide info on the new dispatcher phone system.

Electrical Engineers arrive in North Creek

More wiring and tortoise machines.

After the successful completion of the track work in Corinth and North Creek, the D&H Electrical department arrived in the twin towns and commenced work in powering up the track and installing the 8 tortoise machines.

This work was completed fairly quickly and then before long the first train arrived at Corinth and North Creek and switching was completed.

Below are a few pictures of the event.

The next job will be to complete the turnout control panel as well as the track work at the paper mill at Corinth. At present the turnouts for the paper mill are just sitting there in order to plan the track layout there..

Thanks for checking in.

Track gang arrives in Corinth and North Creek

Last bit of track work on the D&H

The end of track work on the D&H is now in sight.
Over the last weekend I completed the cork install, construction of the last remaining 4 hand laid turnouts and the track work up from Saratoga Springs to Corinth and through to North Creek.

Per the pictures, the track work for the branch line is now completed as well as all the major track work in Corinth and North Creek.

The only remaining task in terms of track work is to complete the Corinth Paper mill. The only issue there is that I ran out of Atlas Code 55 flex again and need to go see my supplier one more time.!

During this week I will install the 12 remaining tortoise machines and the track feeders to the town.

Then work will start on the fascia's

Here are the pictures..

Thanks for checking in...

Ft Edward track work and Track power completed

Last Main line town completed.

Over this weekend, after visiting my track supplier (Thanks John Colliver) I managed to complete the final 5 spur tracks at Ft Edward and then power up those tracks.

It was a relatively small task that then enabled some test switching to be completed.

See the pictures below.

The next task is to update the turnout panels at Ft Edward and Saratoga Springs to enable the turnouts to be thrown from the panel.

Then it will be onto the North Creek branch line.

Thanks for checking in.

Track gangs hard at work adding timber ties

Filling all the gaps with new timber ties.

Over the last day or so, while waiting for more flex track supplies, I have been busy filling all the gaps in the main line track and around the turnouts with wooden ties.

As I am using Atlas insulating joiners rather than cutting the rail to form the block ends or gaps, the plastic ties that are part of the flex track tend to make the rail sit high due to the thickness of the plastic joiners. As such, when the rail was installed I cut the plastic ties out with the few to fill in later.

Well, later is now here and I have been busy filling all the gaps in the main line as well as around my hand laid turnouts.

The wooden ties are just sitting there under the rail and will be glued down either by the ballast or by the light dusting of rail tie brown when I come to paint the track and roadbed.

Here are a few pictures..

Thanks for checking in.