Modelrailroader.ca

I’m going to be spending some time tidying up the site. This site has been online for over 2 years now and have officially published 112 articles! During that time I’ve found that there are things that have become redundant and others items that are becoming increasingly important.

One of the more ‘major’ additions I made to the modelrailroader.ca is a ‘sitemap‘. This sitemap has replaced the ‘Links’ page. I’ve also removed the blogroll from the site.

I’m going to be reworking these link sections. There are far better ways to include links to my favorite sites – and/or articles – without having to create stagnant link lists.

Being a Google Reader and Twitter fan, it only makes sense that I include features native to these popular applications.

Stay tuned.

Woodland Scenic’s roadbed is too wide.

For the past year I’ve been staring at the rails on the NES, and now the WGR, trying to figure out why the track seems so crude and toy like. Originally I presumed it was because of rail size – having used code 80 on the NES. I changed rail for the WGR and the code 55 rail does make a difference, however the track still seemed to stick out like a sore thumb.

It wasn’t until I starting asking others for their opinion that someone finally pulled out a ruler and rendered a verdict. Woodland Scenic’s roadbed is between 2 and 4 scale feet too wide!

Next time you are near a level crossing, take a look at the rail, ties and roadbed and what you’ll likely notice is that the ballast falls away on a 2:1 slope just after the edge of the ties. If you compare that to the WS offering, it becomes apparent that the roadbed makes for a better 2 lane highway then track bed.

I want to make it very clear that I’m NOT trying to get too hung up on frivolous details. The WGR is not a mainline railroad, so the track should look less maintained. The same was true of the NES, however despite my best efforts, the track looked heavily traveled – due in part to the over sized roadbed.

I decided to trim the roadbed, drawing a large utility knife along the edge of the ties on a slight angle. I wasn’t too worried about getting the angle ‘just right’ as I assumed that the ballast would fall naturally and create the appropriate grading.

I trimmed a few inches of roadbed on one of the siding and added some ballast.  I’m happy with the result. What do you think? Worth the effort?

Having successfully overcome the “cheap turnout control” problem, finding a solution for the “cheap electrics” problem was a snap. I decided that rather then bother purchasing toggle switches to control my electric blocks, I would use regular household switches instead.

My house is very old, and in an attempt to preserve some sense of history we’ve tried our best to ‘back-date’ modern inclusions as best we can. Once decision we made early in our renovation efforts was to keep all the switches ‘bake-o-lite brown’ – thus I had a number of brown switches on hand. The dark switches will blend in nicely with the future fascia.

The plus side of the switches is cost – roughly $1.50 each. The boxes, switches and the faceplate cost under $10. As well, they are fantastically durable.

Anyway, not a particularly revolutionary idea, but an interesting (and frugal) alternative to conventional practice

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When I built the Niagara Escarpment System (my first N scale layout) I rushed the track and regretted the decision later. I didn’t bother to do a very satisfactory job weathering the rails – opting to give everything a quick spray of paint before ballasting.

I had been more concerned with the colour of the ties and overlooked the rails. The result was shiny rails that looked bigger then they really were – they stuck out like a sore thumb.

This time around I promised myself I would do a better job. The real kicker is that weathering rails is really simple, and only took a small part of an evening. A negligible effort for maximum result.

Weathering Rails:

I dampened a paper towel with a bit of ‘3 in 1′ oil, and gave the tops of the rails a quick wipe – only barely applying a kiss of oil. The oil acts as a resist and prevents the water-based paint from sticking to the rail heads.

The first colour I applied was a dirty black – black mixed with a bit of tan. I used inexpensive craft store paints dilluted with water. The first coat of paint is intended to paint the sides of the rails, thus, you need ensure that the airbrush is aimed at a low angle just above the roadbed.

Once the first coat of paint had dried, I applied alternating coats of grey, tan and brown paint directly above the rails in order to avoid painting rail sides. This coat of paint is intended to weather the ties, so I applied the colours in a random fashion with varying intensities, until I had achieved a look I was satisfied with.

Once the paint had again dried, I gently polished the rail heads with a clean paper towel – the paint rubbed away from the railheads effortlessly – thanks to the ‘3 in 1′ oil applied earlier.

As you can see in this image, the shine of the rails has been reduced signifigantly, and the colours are muted and will hopefully blend with the ballast well. The different colours used on the ties/rails are evident in the overspray.

Here are some more videos of the WHRC in action. I’ve also updated the earlier post to include preview images of the videos.

One would think that a simple railroad like the WGR would be easy to wire – and I suppose it has been ‘easy’ job, but it certainly hasn’t been a small job! Until I actually started soldering I hadn’t taken into account how much wiring I would need to do in order to wire each frog as well as isolate each spur. It has been more then I estimated.

That being said, the job has been fairly straightforward and I’ve spent the last week leisurely completing each section. I wired the Atlas code 55 turnouts as per the manufacturers instructions – using the hidden slide switch designed to control the turnouts to power the frogs. I also isolated each spur on the pike by cutting the rails using a cutting wheel on my Dremel tool. I think I will use common light switches to control the different electrical blocks; the cost of half a dozen light switches, mounting box and face plate is worth the same as a single toggle switch from Radio Shack. I’ve seen them used once before and they looked very handsome.

I didn’t bother to create separate cabs as I won’t be running multiple consists. Naturally, I could have simplified this entire process by having simply gone to DCC…

Next steps: Once the wiring is complete, I need to weather the track, install the bridges as well as the fascia. Once that is done I’ll be able to turn my attention to scenery.