My first Hi Rail Layout

It looks like a really nice layout and that you have made good progress on it. I hope you post some videos of your layout when you start running trains. I've studied your track plan and it looks like you have plenty of opportunities for switching cars. I look forward to your future posts about your construction. 

Lot's of progress has been made in the past 5 days.

Built my Atlas Passenger Station, ended up using the "Chesterfield" Station name.

It seems I found a nice place for my K-Line Porter engine, and also a use for all the miscellaneous mini pieces that came with my Wye and O-72 Switches. Some atlas hairpin fence pieces are on their way to enclose the little display engine.

I cut out a section of the top piece of foam to form the trench for my road to dip down and run below the bridge. I then took the cut out section and carved out my angle. Still needs a bit of tweaking. Doing it by hand with has been a pure annoyance. I'll be buying a hot foam cutting knife soon and redoing the ramp. I have enough extra foam that i can use the existing cut as a template. But for now i'm liking where this is going. I lined the walls with Chooch Flexible Large Random Stone Wall strips. These are nice because they actually have the rock texture, not just a flat image, and the ends have bricks sticking out to allow pieces to be locked together. I also needed to cut out part of the girder bridge walls to allow my passenger equipement access without ramming into it coming out of the O-31 curves. I'll do some more fine tuning later, as well as cutting the other side to match. I do plan to get a center bridge support to put under the bridge in the middle of the road. Also, the grass is temporary for the road. Need to start looking into what all materials are available for decent looking roads.

Just finished drilling all my holes for the switch wires to run through. Ended up taking the back panels off the switch controllers and removing the wires. Poked them down through the drilled holes, and they'll be run to a little switch board i'm building. 

I'd love to find a way to make an actual board with mini switches over a map of the layout. This would make it so much easier to figure out what switch lever goes where. If anyone is knowledgable about how to craft one of these, i'd love to pick your brain about it! Something like this:

For now, my little board will work just fine. 

Thanks for checking out my updates!
Steve Lerro
www.KLtrainz.com

I found it hard to build a switch panel using the Lionel Fastrack switch controllers. They are quite large. I built a panel for operating the uncouplers, replacing the Lionel push-button with a more reliable, more compact design. I added the switches, using a switch number on the controller that matched the switch number on the turnout. Works well, relatively easy for visitors to use. I had the switch number placed inside the logo of the railway I am modelling (CP, Canadian Pacific beaver.

I created the track map by exporting part of the layout from RR track to a Jpeg file, then editing in Photoshop.

Can't help you with a mini-switch panel because I like the nostalgic look of the Lionel Switch controllers. They do take up a lot of space, but IMHO, the look is well worth it.

Of course, if you added a Legacy system, all the switches could be controlled wirelessly from the remote. I route the wire at the switch, itself, directly under the track and drill my hole in the layout so that no wire or hole is visible at the edge of the track, at all. You could go back and do that, if desired, and then patch all the holes. 

I've found the easiest way for re-connecting to the controllers is to put the black and red wires in the center holes at the same time and then tighten the screws down. Then connect the green and yellow wires, one at a time and position all the wires so they go on top of the small center loom.

If the wire is long enough to reach, you're all set. If the wire needs to be spliced, you have a few options. Generally, in that case, I leave the wire connected at both ends and simply cut and splice in the middle using jelly bean connectors or an old telephone 4 lug wall jack screwed to the underside of the layout. That also simplifies things if you ever need to work on them. If you're inclined, you can also purchase male and female 4 wire RJ11 clear connectors and a crimping tool and make a very professional looking connection.   

It is quite simple to substitute a SPDT on-off-on momentary miniature toggle switch (plus a red/green bipolar LED with current-limiting diode) for the OEM Fastrack controller:

Black to the center post, red and green to the outside posts, yellow to one LED lead and a 470 ohm resistor between the center post and the other LED lead.

Then install that in your control panel:

"U" is for remote uncouplers and "S" is for Fastrack track switch control. The unmarked toggles control my car-stoppers:

Very nice start. I like your choice of RR's too You sound a lot like me- after a lifetime of HO trains, this is, my first O gauge layout as well.

I used automotive pinstripe tape to lay my track plan on my control panel. Easy to apply and change if you change your track at all.

This was my original control panel- I've changed a few things but I don't have a more current photo. I run all conventional so the small toggles are track power for the sidings or blocks. Momentary buttons for un-couplers.

Looking forward to watching your progress.

geysergazer posted:

It is quite simple to substitute a SPDT on-off-on momentary miniature toggle switch (plus a red/green bipolar LED with current-limiting diode) for the OEM Fastrack controller:

 Black to the center post, red and green to the outside posts, yellow to one LED lead and a 470 ohm resistor between the center post and the other LED lead.

 

Life saver! I went ahead and ordered a bunch of those toggle switches and LED's with resistors from Amazon, and they worked perfect! The only issue I am seeing is that I need to leave my switches in the center position to allow them access to auto throw themselves if not aligned properly, which results in the the LED light shutting off. Guess i'll just have to be extra alert and make sure I manually have all the switches aligned properly!

I went to my local Walgreen's and had an 11x14 metal plate made up with a little track plan I designed in Adobe Illustrator. The toggle switches went in nice and easy. Not sure how it's going to pan out for the LED lights, but we'll see!

Now I just need to fabricate a way to mount this thing to the benchwork.

Again, thanks a million for the recommendation. It's exactly what I was looking for!

Looks very nice. You have accomplished a lot in a short time, now you can sit back and enjoy your railroad empire.  Thanks for posting the progress.  Nick T. 

Well done!

Peter

You have come to the right place for advice, our hobby's luminaries are all on board here.  You might try asking "gunrunnerjohn"* about your LED issues, he's an electronics genius and is always very helpful.

Its good that you used expandable benchwork.  You'll find that these things tend to grow.  Though O Gauge takes up twice the space of HO, you have the satisfaction of having the floor shake when a train goes by.  Gauging from your "profile" photo, you're a 1:1 railroader and you'll find a lot of us here, too.  I just wish you'd chosen "The First and Finest" for your road...

As a CNW Engineer used to broadcast across the entire Galena Division, every day, regardless of hour or assignment,

"Its a beautiful day to be railroading!"

Enjoy!

* https://ogrforum.com/member/gunrunnerjohn

Great job Steve!  I love your selection of motive power and rolling stock.  A lot of folks think it's not possible to have realistic operations in a spare room railroad.  With your roster and track plan, you're poised to prove them wrong!

How did you do your grass?  Is it a "grass mat" or the time-honored method of glue and green sawdust?  Either way it looks good, and I can't wait to see it operating with more details filled in.  I wish more folks would take the same approach to the hobby that you did!!

SteveLerro posted:

geysergazer posted:

It is quite simple to substitute a SPDT on-off-on momentary miniature toggle switch (plus a red/green bipolar LED with current-limiting diode) for the OEM Fastrack controller:

 Black to the center post, red and green to the outside posts, yellow to one LED lead and a 470 ohm resistor between the center post and the other LED lead.

 

Life saver! I went ahead and ordered a bunch of those toggle switches and LED's with resistors from Amazon, and they worked perfect! The only issue I am seeing is that I need to leave my switches in the center position to allow them access to auto throw themselves if not aligned properly, which results in the the LED light shutting off. Guess i'll just have to be extra alert and make sure I manually have all the switches aligned properly!

I went to my local Walgreen's and had an 11x14 metal plate made up with a little track plan I designed in Adobe Illustrator. The toggle switches went in nice and easy. Not sure how it's going to pan out for the LED lights, but we'll see!

I'm trying to figure out why your LEDs aren't working properly.

1) Are you using MOMENTARY SPDT Center Off toggle switches?

2) Have you wired one side of the LED to the Yellow wire from the track switch and the other side of the LED to the Black wire from the track switch? Something like this:

 That is a great looking control panel. I have control panel envy 

I noticed quite a bit of activity on this thread just this morning, so I think it's time for an update!

I managed to get my control board up and running, thanks to the suggestion made by geysergazer. So my issue originally was that the lights would go off when I put the toggle switch back into the center position to allow my track switches to utilize the anti-derailing feature. Turns out my issue was with the LEDs. I had bought from amazon, a 100pc 3mm Red & Green Bi-Color LED Diodes which had 3 leads coming off them. I spoke to a friend who is an electrician and he explained that I would need a 2 lead LED. So I found a pack of LED - 3 mm Red Green 2 Lead Bipolar lights at Linchfield Station and these did the trick! I wired them up exactly like geysergazer showed in his picture, and she's finally up and running! The walgreens metal sheet all wired up was mounted in a casing a local contractor put together for me, and is mounted to the side of the benchwork.

I had to do a bit of legwork getting the toggles to face the right direction and have them display the correct colors. I wanted them to be green when going straight through the switch, and red when curving off. So according to the board, my PRR A-5 0-4-0 is ready to leave the left engine spur and head out onto the mainline.

A had to do a little butchering of my girder bridge to allow the passenger car steps to pass through without smacking into the girders. Can't say I was too pleased with the results, just looks weird. So I checked around and found on eBay a custom 10" girder bridge made out of wood. I like this because the walls are much lower, and I can sink this into my foam, allowing anything to pass over without encountering a collision with the walls. I think when I get this new bridge all stained and in place, it'll look much nicer than the butchered fastrack bridge. BUT this also means Im going to need to cut more into my phone for the road underpass. It's already extremely low clearance as is, now the new bridge being sunk in will make it impossible to pass through. But that's ok, more fun messy work to do!

I also a bit of rearranging of my rolling stock. The cabooses are now located up front and the Lionel GLa's have been relocated to the back curved spur. I was having issues with having to make couplings with a caboose all the way back there on the curve and it wasn't easy. I figure now, the GLa's which are rarely used are on the back spur, and cabooses which I always need access to are up front for easy access. I am considering selling my 3 pack of Lionel GLa's and replacing them with an MTH MOW train. Maybe a yellow boxcar, flatcar and N6b caboose. I currently have 3 K-Line H22a hoppers and 3 K-Line H31b hoppers, which seems to be more than enough weight and coal for my little 0-4-0 and 0-6-0 to move around.

Like I said, not too much in the realm of major updates to the layout. The electronic switch board was a the biggest, and that was finished a few weeks ago. My next major endeavor is finishing the path under the bridge for the road, and then getting the stone walls installed, and working on getting the road fabricated. A friend of mine used his own little customized putty for a road, i'm considering doing that so it can molded to fit any path, it'll have some 3D looks to it, and it wont warp like if I used paper or cardboard. THEN the next major step is begin ballasting around the track. As seen in the last picture, there is an array of Woodland Scenic Ballast and Turf just waiting to be unleashed! I do have a Woodland Scenics grass mat down, but some 3d ballast and turf will really help!

Thanks again to geysergazer and everyone else who chimed in about the switch board! I couldn't be happier with it, and it definitely makes my life easier with throwing these switches!

Until next time!
Steve Lerro
www.KLtrainz.com

What track planning software did you use? I think that is an awesome track plan for a small space.

The original posts says it was designed in Rail Modeler Pro software.