New Yard

 As I discussed in a previous entry, I had decided that the railroad really needed a much larger yard. The old yard was an afterthought and once I started operating from it, I realized its limitations.  Therefore, after some review, I opted to build two new modules, which totaled 10 ft in length. 

The Yard consists of a 5-track receiving yard using the Micro-Engineering ladder turnout system, a main line, plus two ready tracks for either building a train or taking one apart. So a total of 8 lines.  The last spur on the ladder will be storage for my vans.  Since the yard was planned to connect to an adjacent two-line module, an extra turnout was added to connect all tracks and make the yard accessible from two tracks. I don’t have room to make a ladder on both ends of the yard, which is a limiting factor, but when you’re out of real estate, you're out of luck until you can move into a different house.  Maybe the next house will allow for about a 20ft yard or larger.

After several weeks of laying cork and track, it was finally time to wire it.  Now I don't mind wiring, however, being under the layout night after night can be touch on the body, especially the eye sight.  However, I pressed on and wiring was completed late Saturday evening. Tested each track using several different engines and all was good. The final steps would be weathering the track and adding ballast. Started to weather the track at about 0100 Sunday using the paint pens I had purchased years ago. The plan was to avoid spraying all of the track and just apply some rust or grime to the sides via the pen method.  All good and I got two tracks done before realizing that it was late and I was running out of energy to complete.  Next morning I started to finish the weathering and actually loaded the yard with every caboose or van in Ontario Northland terms that I own, plus about a dozen freight cars.  Success!!! Completed the task by installing some ground throws.

This week I will start on some scenery work. I still need lots of cinder ballast to complete the track work and adjacent areas.  The green foam and sculptamold shown on the left side of the photo will become scrub grass and weeds, as well as some new trees to make a barrier for the module and regular basement storage items.

 

Upgrading the Lighting

For several months I've been following the various discussions on the MRH website about new ways to light a layout.  So let's take a step back and say that the KLR was originally designed using a combination of track and rope lighting.  Track lighting to cover the upper level (back when the rail way was a two-level adventure) and rope lighting for the lower level.  Track lighting certainly lights up the layout, however, the initial costs were high, as I had to run one track over the center of each module and most modules required 1-2 lamps per section, which is fairly pricey when the average lighting can runs about $10 USD.  Now add on the costs for special adapters to turn the tracks 90 degrees, add extensions, etc. and the system quickly becomes pricey.  Add to it that the cost of bulbs (which burn out fairly quickly, especially when you forget to turn the master switch off and everyone coming to the basement is turning the entire system on).

When I added the paper mill and Muskoka Lumber island, I used regular florescent lighting from a system that I had salvaged from a job site long ago.  Re-purposed yes but again not the best system as tubes tended to wiggle free and lose proper contact with traffic on the floor above, making it always questionable whether light would be present when you flipped that switch.

The last lighting used was the "rope" lighting found prominently in Christmas displays.  A bargain when bought on sale after the holidays, but mounting has its own challenges and I never quite liked the yellow-ness of the lighting in spite of them being white ropes.  So this was the first lighting to be removed.

On my layout, I've figured that I have around 100 linear feet to light. At 1 track light can per each 36", that meant that a minimum of 8 lights on my longest section.  All told, I think that I've bought 20 some cans of varying sizes.  Over the years I've switched from small 60-watt incandescent bulbs to 25 watt or lower LED bulbs.  I've also tried a few halogen bulbs, however they're pricey and really not well suited for this task.  

Enter my new favorite, the LED strip light. Weighing in at practically nothing and looking more like a strip of tiny bumps, the LED light strip comes conveniently packaged in a 10 meter rolled "tape" strip, set on a plastic spool.  Of course a transformer was also needed to take the 110 volt power to what is usable for the strip.  One strip operates on about 12 volts DC at around 1 amp or so of power, produces no heat to speak of and costs only $20 bucks (or LESS) a roll! And if that weren't enough, it even comes with a nice bit of self-adhesive on the back side so you can just peel-n-stick it practically anywhere you want it.  All I had to add was a strip of cabinetry molding to allow the lights to be slightly pointed downward and the job was complete.  Though truthfully the sticky tape part isn't really that good and you'll probably want to make other arrangements to hang it. For my layout I went back to the old tried and true hot glue gun and laid a small bead of glue about every 12 inches.

LED lighting installed on the back side of drop down valance over the island modules. Skyline in background is another set of modules along the wall

I'd say the project took me all of a few hours to install around my island section of modules and I'm very pleased with the results.  Definitely the next materials I will use when I re-wire the modules when we move to a new location.