Poplar River Branch RR
Photos/Figures
I know you want to cut to the chase, so here it is.
Overview
The PRB is a freelance N-scale railroad, based on several protoypes and as
my first layout it's intended mostly as a learning tool. I chose N scale
for the simple reason that I had very little space.
The PRB incorporates several scenes from my life, and I've designated
the time as 1976. There's the Iowa farm (prototype was on this
page before the disk crash), Maryland's Calvert Cliffs, one of the
islands in Maryland's Mattawoman Creek, Cameron Station and the yard in
Alexandria,VA, a typical southern Maryland swamp, an Iowa grain
elevator, 'Beerworld' and small steel industry from Pittsburgh, and the
barbershop beside the NEC at Seabrook,MD.
A Work In Progress
The PRB is not finished. Things left to be completed include several
structures, TREES, swamp vegetation, and all sorts of little details.
Construction
Construction is 3/4" plywood with 2x4 framing. On top are up to 5 contoured
layers of 3/4" beaded styrofoam secured with fender washers or Liquid Nails
(LN), with plaster filling in the gaps. Roadbed is cork glued on with LN
and flextrack is also glued on with LN.
The shop area is fixed, but the rest is hinged along the gulley,
and folds up against the wall, providing access to the
wiring, switch machines, and turntable motor. Side panels attach to
prevent damage and a plastic sheet attached to the ceiling beams keeps
out dust from upstairs traffic.
Switches are Bachmann, heavily modified and with the switch machines
mounted under the table. Remaining track is all
LifeLike code 70, as it has a nicer rail cross section than others.
The track is divided into blocks, with directional switches and turnout
switches imbedded in the track diagram to provide an obvious correlation
between switch settings and behaviour. Each block has a switch for either
of two cabs. The shop area is a single block, and each individual track
has an on/off switch to activate it. Multiple engines can be in the shop
area but I can still select which ones are live without overkill on the
wiring. Wiring is 16AWG with feeders every 2 ft.
Equipment
Engines include Bachmann steamer, Bachmann F unit, and a LifeLife BL2.
The BL2 and F work and crawl well (The F needs a few laps to warm up),
the steamer has two speeds, stop and full throttle. The shop crew has
never gotten around to repainting any of them. Rollingstock is
predominantly Bachmann with a bit of Atlas.
Logical Operation
Traffic is generated by a homemade computerized waybill/cartracking
program. Industries generate requests for incoming and outgoing shipments
based on periodic needs and a bit of randomness. Any empty requests that
can be satisfied by a car already at the industry are automatically
satisifed. The interchange yard with the outside world is handled as any
other industry. The program also tracks how long cars take to be loaded
or unloaded, where they are, if loading/unloading have been delayed due to
respotting, and when they're available for reuse. At a low frequency,
cars can be randomly bad-ordered requiring a trip to the shop. Car orders
that go unmet show up next time with the time overdue highlighted. It is
up to the operator to figure out which empties to put into service, which
routes to use, and what order to switch the industries so everything gets
done in a timely manner.
If It's a Learning Tool, Then What Did I Learn?
The value of runaround tracks for starters. The wye doesn't have a
completed third leg, so runarounds must use the yard and anything in
the yard gets pushed onto the main, then returned afterward.
If the wye leg were extended, then the wye could be used with an early
train for trailing sidings and a later train for facing sidings.
Were the layout to be completed to the right, the interchange track
would be redesignated as the main and the wye track designated as the
interchange track, and then I'd have real problems running around
without fouling the main.
The team track should have the switch at the far left end, not the middle.
The placement was intended to make operation a bit harder, but that
crossover eats a lot of clearance, requring the yard to be emptied,
especially if combined with a runaround. It also requires maintenance of
the extra turnout.
There's no benefit in buying poor quality track. If it doesn't work
the benefit/cost ratio goes to 0 anyway.
There are lots of losses in a long throw linkage... a switch machine
intended for direct connection to the throwbar may not have enough
throw to overcome the losses after relocation under the table. This means
a machine working happily but no point action, argh!
Short diesels will make 7" radius turns, but they don't like it.
Liquid Nails works well so far (5 years).
Model Railroading is fun!... when you're not busy tuning up a switch machine
with a hammer.
![A [Hinge] Gulley Crossing](gulley.jpg){kind=link}
