First Operating Session

On April 1, 2014 the Deer Creek and Susquehanna Railroad hosted its first operation session with HARM (Harford Associates for Railroad Modeling). About a dozen members came to see what I had been working on and several were quickly put to work operating some local trains using some orders that I had created using the program Switchlist for the Mac. The railroad itself operated quite nicely with only a couple of derailments or other user errors were reported. However, the train orders did take about twice as long to complete than what I expected. This is not completely a surprise, since the operators were not as familiar with everything as I am. All in all it was a good evening and gave me some insight into how others may run my railroad in the future. I will continue to update my switchlists and work on scenery and structures in the meantime until the next formal operating session.

Structures

Building structures for the Deer Creek & Susquehanna Railroad may very well be my favorite part of this hobby. This probably goes back to my early college years when I was an architecture major. There is just something about taking a box full of parts; doors, windows, siding, trim, detail parts, etc., and turning them into an interesting model that serves an important purpose to the railroad and surrounding scene. Structures give the trains somewhere to go, somewhere to stop and deliver cargo or people, a purpose. Some of the structures on my current model railroad where salvaged from my previous railroad and reused or repurposed as whole structures or cut up and used as background buildings or for kit bashing projects. The structures that I have built have been made of a variety of materials, such as wood, plastic, styrene and plaster, with wood being my favorite medium. There are a variety of manufacturers represented in my models, including Branchline Trains, Woodland Scenics, Bar Mills, American Model Builders, The N Scale Architect, Micro Trains, Blair Line, Monroe Models, Micro-Scale Models, (I am sure that I am missing a few) and a couple of scratch built structures. As manufacturers get better at designing and producing interesting kits, the possibilities seem endless.

Wiring

While completing the tracklaying, my attention turned to wiring the layout for control. I first decided that the electrical control would be through standard DC. At this time, I did not want to put the time or energy into fitting DCC decoders into all of my steam and diesel locomotives. I also had two handheld Tech II controls from my previous layout that I wanted to use. Initial power for the layout is provided by two 12 volt AC bell transformers, one dedicated to each of the throttles. Each transformer powers a bus cable that runs the length of the layout and is tapped at each town switching location, six in all. At each of these locations, the AC power is routed to facia mounted plugs for each of the handheld throttles, where it is returned to a separate set of bus cables as regulated DC power for the tracks. Also at each switching location, is a small control panel with controls for each block of track. The blocks can be controlled by either of the two throttles plugged in at any location. This allows two trains to be run simultaneously around the layout. This is plenty for this medium-sized layout of a shortline railroad. Turnouts are controlled by a simple pushrod borrowed from the model airplane hobby and featured in an issue of N-Scale (July/August 2007) magazine. The pushrod is connected to a Radio Shack DPDT slide switch directly below the turnout throwbar. This switch allows power to be supplied to the turnout frog and turn power on and off to sidings. This method is simple, but provides reliable and inexpensive control.

Trackwork

Once a design was finalized and the benchwork completed, it was time to begin laying track. As with any good plan, some flexibility in altering the master plan was necessary. Over the length of the layout, the track rises four inches from one reversing loop to another, while crossing over itself once. This created a maximum grade of approximately 2% with a minimum curve radius of 15 inches. To install the track, risers were attached to the benchwork and then half-inch plywood subroadbed was attached to the risers. In locations where there is only a single track, the plywood is only slightly wider than the track to allow room for scenery, while in towns and other switching areas, the plywood is much wider to accommodate complex trackwork and industries. On top of the subroadbed, is N-scale foam trackbed made by Woodland Scenics, which makes for a fairly quite railroad. The track that was used is made by Atlas and is their line of code 55 N-scale track and turnouts. Both flextrack and fixed length track was used with mostly #7 turnouts. Using this fine scale track did necessitate the changing of wheelsets on most of my rolling stock, but this just adds to the realism anyway. The track is attached to the foam roadbed using glue spread to a thin and even consistency. During the track laying process, extensive testing was done to insure that no kinks or other faults existed. A good running railroad is completely dependent on the quality of the trackwork. Next, comes wiring for the control of the trains.

Construction Begins

Before beginning construction on the Deer Creek & Susquehanna Railroad in 2007, the dedicated railroad room in the basement was completely finished. The main room that the railroad occupies is approximately 24 feet by 8 feet, with an additional area under the stairs. Other household items also must be housed in this space, such as the furnace, water heater, sump pump, and general storage. I also allowed space for a workbench and sink to use while working on the railroad. To complete the room, ample electrical circuits were installed, walls were drywalled and painted, the drop ceiling and general room lighting was completed, and the floor was covered. All of this made work on the railroad much more comfortable. Next, came the construction of the benchwork to support the railroad. I have used a combination of L-girder support, open-grid benchwork and shelf supports, depending on the needs of  a particular section. All of this was completed as modular sections to make disassembly at a future date possible. The subroadbed is cabinet grade half-inch plywood supported by risers. All of this should give the railroad a good foundation for many years of reliable operation. Now I can begin laying track.