Newport Railroad Update 12/30/2023

Pretty solid week of construction given how little time I've had to spend on the model railroad. This end of the table required a 1'x8' section to fit the big bend. I had some help and got that built and installed. That's exciting because it means one end of the main loop is complete.

I'm particularly pumped to have this little sequences of switches. It's a #8 and then a #6. I'm a bit concerned about how anything besides giant steamers will stay powered through them but I guess we'll figure that out. I have not wired these up just yet. I was in a hurry to get them connected tonight. The #8 in the foreground will connect to the yard. The #6 will also connect to the yard but it's more of a run around track and not meant for make-up and break-up of trains. I think I'm going to go with Tortoise switch machines for these mainline switches.

So far so good on clearances still. I still need to measured out the overhang of a Visionline Big Boy. That's rumored to the be the biggest. It's interesting seeing the small steamers get around the big curves because they have very little overhang. As great as things look on this big bends, a lot of it will be covered by a massive hillside to break up the fast that this is a loop. The big steamers that will pull coal drags don't look as good on curves in my opinion, so I will tuck them away in a hill and conceal and access hole at the same time.

I'm working out final gcode files of the blast furnace and it's structure. I will be building the blast furnaces on the layout as they come off the printer and I'll post pictures. I just can't get over how many hours of printing are going to be tied up in each structure.

I've started on the flywheels for the blowing engines. I know vertical blowing engines would be outdated by the 40s/50s but I just think they're the coolest machines. The size and look is outstanding. It must have really been amazing to see/hear/feel several of them breathing at once. I hope to animate these too but noise is a concern. Plastic sliding on itself can make a ruckus at speed.

OK Bill, I see you! The track work looks solid. This is exciting to watch. Keep the progress coming?

Dave

Great progress!

Peter

Looks great Bill! Your backdrops look amazing too! Thanks for sharing and keep up the great work!

Once again, very impressive Bill. You have this very well thought out; with an eye to the future.

Jay

Thanks for the kind words!

The base (bottom most piece in the photo) of the blast furnace came off the printer today:

These photos really emphasize how much I'm going to need to work on lighting soon haha I'm nervous to take that on because I have never done anything with lighting as far as model railroads. Guess I'll be doing some searching here on the forum.

That's all the money I have for this until next month. I think I'll buy some more plywood and try to keep going with that. I need to decide on a method of mountain/hill building for this end of the layout too.

Bill, the track looks great.  You shouldn’t have any issues with smaller engines losing power goi g over #6 and #8 switches if wired correctly.  The furnace pieces look great!!  Keep up the good work!

Thank you all again! I was feeling embarrassed that progress was going so slow but I'm starting to feel like the planning was worth it now. It especially feels good to share my own work after watching your threads so closely.

The next piece of the blast furnace is expected to finish printing in....21 hours and 24 minutes. So maybe another update photo tomorrow night!

@Mark Boyce you think? I guess I haven't actually looked at the rails. But I may have some time to wire it up today and go for a test drive.

And there's the top of the blast furnace body:

I'm particularly pleased with how well I was able to hide the seam between the two main body pieces.

This seam was going to be hidden anyway with a catwalk but now it really disappears thanks to the added lines on the surface. Not too shabby for five pieces over all.

Unfortunately, I'm out of prepared gcode to print and I'm out of money for what I budgeted this month. I guess that's the end of the progress until next month!

It really turned out great!

Bill,

You're on the roll! This is a great time to work on smaller or larger projects but do so in a way that allows you to think about your next step carefully. I certainly would suggest you plan the lighting in these early stages of  your layout. They are like backdrops as far as the impact it will have on your layout.

Just as a word of encouragement, I started building my layout in 2005. I'm not ashamed to say I was not financially in a place where I could do what I want when I wanted to then. To be honest, I still am not but it's much better now. At the time, things went extremely slow and sometimes I didn't see my train room for months at a time. Shoot, I looked at my bench work for about 3 months before any track went down. During that period I took the time to learn a lot about various aspects of the hobby. Keep up the desire and enthusiasm and you will find that you will appreciate the future outcome more.

Dave

Thanks @Mark Boyce I appreciate it.

I will definitely keep on it @luvindemtrains. I have a lot to learn about the lighting unless I find a setup I can copy for myself. I will be able to keep printing parts to get the files finalized so that's good. Having a taste of running engines around the track I have will keep me motivated until summer I suspect. I would love to get a complete loop done before April.

You are doing great!  It may not seem like you are making progress, but planning correctly is progress.  Especially when you consider the alternative - doing something over again because it wasn't thought out.  That will happen (happens to me all the time) but trying to prevent that is a step in the right direction. 

George

You have the mindset and skill set to make continued progress. As Dave mentioned, don’t worry about the time. It takes all of us much longer than we anticipated.

Bill, excellent choice going with the Tortoise switch machines. With the Ross turnouts. I usually solder a wire to every isolated rail at the workbench. I use 3 different colors. It’s best to lay it in place and try to see where it is in relation to the joists supporting the plywood before you begin. You may have to move it a bit forward or back or change up where you plan to solder your wires to the rails. Once the wires are in place. I lay the switch in place and mark where the holes need to be for the wires to pass through. Center the throwbar. Then mark where the 2 holes in the throwbar are for the rod from the Tortoise. Drill the one you plan to use the recommended size. The other one. Just drill it big enough so you can see it from the underside. Maybe 1/16.
The instructions give you a paper template. You can buy a better one. But you could probably print one. Use the template to drill your mounting holes for the Tortoise. Thread the screws in and then remove them. That extra hole you drilled. Will help you orient the Tortoise so it is sort of on the same plane as to the path of the throwbar. Probably not super critical as I don’t think it’s mentioned in the instructions. I think it’s recommended to use a bit heavier wire for 3 rail than the one provided. I believe it’s 032 music wire. Pretty sure that’s what I used. But the last ones I put in. I just used the supplied wire that came with it.

You can install them buy yourself but it’s a lot easier if you have an assistant. You have to get the wire through the hole and then hold the Tortoise in place while you catch the screws. I’ve used doublesided tape to hold it while fumbling with the screws. Leaving the rod on the long side makes it a little easier. You can snip the excess off after it’s in place.

The Tortoise with it’s extra contacts comes in handy for turning on relays or signals. You may want to think of adding wires before you do your hookup. They are in place if you ever need them.

As far as being low on funds. Been there. You will be surprised how long some of these tedious jobs take. Lots of time involved. But a lot of times. Not much money.

I appreciate the encouragement everyone. I guess I should give myself a bit more credit for what I have accomplished in a short time.

I appreciate the insight @Dave_C. I suspect I'll buy on to get started and get some practice. Then I'll go from there. I would like to have working signals on this layout. Would the extra contacts help with that? I also would like to have LEDs at a panel or something to indicate which way the switch is thrown. Can I use extra contacts there as well?

I was planning to use ethernet cable to run power to the switch machines too. Sounds like that will be sufficient based on searches. Does anybody have an opinions on that?

I’m still buying as I go along.  In the past, when I bought ahead, often I changed my mind or was diverted in another direction and then never used some items.  I could have bought 3 more Ross switches last month, but I bought 2, since my wife had done Christmas shopping.  

Can I interest you in a bunch of HO plastic windows?  Se what I mean, the project was never completed.  😄

I've been burnt by buying ahead many times. I still need to sell some Bessemer and Lake Erie hoppers I have. It's a 6 pack haha

Bill, the Tortoise machines have 2 sets of auxiliary contacts. Yes you can use them for switch position lights or a relay if you need one to power or unpower rails to get through a switch or even to shut off track power to a siding. They have a common with NO or NC contacts. The connection changes depending on which way the Tortoise is thrown. Whatever you use as an input to them as far as voltage can go to your LED’s if you want something such as a dwarf signal. You can also daisy chain multiples together if you use a signal to let you know they are all in the straight position for a run thru. . You can also run your panel lights right of a DPST switch if that’s what you choose to run them. These switch motors are pretty cool as they can do more than just change the switch position.

@Dave_C sounds like I'll be quite pleased with them then! Having working signals would be a major accomplishment for me. It's something I always wanted on my layout as a kid but just couldn't figure out how to do it and we couldn't afford a signal for me to wire up anyway. This would be pretty awesome!

@BillYo414 posted:

I don't actually know how the younger me arrived at the name "Norgeville" @Scotie. I'm using it now since I couldn't come up with anything else but I have been kicking around changing the name to Newport. Newport was a small village between Struthers and Lowellville. It was bought and up bulldozed to become what would be the P&LE humpyard (I think the Gateway yard). This would have happened in the 1880s or so I think. I never knew the place existed until I was skimming an 1874 atlas. Pretty cool! Since my model railroad is based on an alternative fictional history, it might make sense to name it after a town that existed but it somewhat mythical.

That's the plan. I would prefer to cut down the 90 degree corner if at all possible. I'll try it once I get enough track to layout a circle.

All this time I thought you named it Newport Railraod after Lake Newport Mill Creek Park!

Ron

Nah @PRRronbh haha I do need to search and find out how Lake Newport got it's name. I assume Newport was named because it was along the canal (it was a NEW PORT) but I only know of two or three mentions of Newport:

1. The current tax map for Mahoning County has Newport listed as the area
2. The first meeting of the pioneers of Youngstown (I think the meeting was 1879)
3. The Atlas from 1874

The Tyler Museum downtown has nothing besides these sources and the same checks out for the internet. The Struthers Historical Society has a little info but only that it was a canal town, very little is known about it, and a few of the farm houses on Coit Road might date back to the time of Newport.

So the lack of info makes it a perfect candidate for my model railroad

@BillYo414 posted:

Nah @PRRronbh haha I do need to search and find out how Lake Newport got it's name. I assume Newport was named because it was along the canal (it was a NEW PORT) but I only know of two or three mentions of Newport:

1. The current tax map for Mahoning County has Newport listed as the area
2. The first meeting of the pioneers of Youngstown (I think the meeting was 1879)
3. The Atlas from 1874

The Tyler Museum downtown has nothing besides these sources and the same checks out for the internet. The Struthers Historical Society has a little info but only that it was a canal town, very little is known about it, and a few of the farm houses on Coit Road might date back to the time of Newport.

So the lack of info makes it a perfect candidate for my model railroad

One Alice Baldwin Lewis donated 70 acres and sold to the park additional acres where Lake Newport was created. It was named for one of Alice's Revolutionary War -era ancestors.  Alice's great great aunt Mary Newport..  A dedication rock was located on the eastern side at the Dam.  In 1954it was moved to the new Newport Boat Landing.

From late 1950  until late 1955 Mill Creek Park and Lake Newport were literally an extension of my back yard!

Ron

I passed Mill Creek Park many times while our older daughter was attending college in Canton.  I drove back once and saw Newport Lake.  Thank you both Ron and Bill for the scoop.  Yes, you think of a new port like Freeport on the Allegheny River near me was named because it was a free port, then find Newport was a family name.  Finding the original names is interesting

@PRRronbh fascinating! I find this stuff so interesting. I will have to go see this rock for myself too.

@Mark Boyce finding the origin of names is one of my favorite things, without a doubt. It brings about so many interesting facts!

A window opened up last weekend and I had access to a box truck. My truck is gone so I seized the chance to use it and got myself some more wood from Home Depot. The yard area is about 75% built:

The plywood warped a whole lot when I got home for some reason. It sat for a week before I put it up. I'm hoping It'll straighten out a bit over time. It is so nice having more track to run on and being able to move locomotives between rails. I put together a mixed freight to move around to see how the cars roll. I haven't added the live coal loads yet.  I was able to open up the 2-10-10-2 and the 4-12-2 and really see what they can do for speed. I also added my first cross over:

I wired it up as I interpreted the instructions. All the locomotives make it across if they're carrying some speed. I have to do some reading (or someone can comment below) to find out if I can use relays to power the rails so my little 0-6-0T can make it across without having to sprint. I plan to use Tortoise switch machines. I'm starting to feel more and more confident with wiring. It's not that bad as far as powering rails. The double slip switch may be a challenge.

In the coming days, I plan on adding the double slip switch for the yard entry and I have to cut two 12"x96" strips to finish the depth of the yard. Then that leaves about four more 4x8 sheets of plywood to finish out the open hearth side of the layout. Then the dash begins to complete the loops. Having the mainline loops complete will be such an exciting milestone! Once I get all the track roughed in and looking good, I'll take it off and weather it. Then I'll paint the table surface dark grey and put the track back on and ballast it in. I'm hoping the ballast will allow me to use less screws to hold the track in place. I'm very pleased with the road bed performance but less screws will help minimize sound.

I won't be making any other purchases until the next credit card cycle begins. I need more switch machines, terminal strips, feet for the legs, wood, and track....so much track. I've abandoned the Atlas straights I had been using. They suddenly developed bad conductivity despite being clean. I'm not sure what the deal is but I'm just going to go with Ross anyway. I like the Ross products more and more as I use them and look at them. I wish I would have just started with Ross from the beginning.

No real news on the 3D printing front. I had to go back and redesign my hand railings for the catwalk at the bottom of the furnace. Now I'm redesigning the hand rails for the upper catwalk. I was going to just buy them from Plastruct but I thought it would be wise to be able to print them. I'm currently trying to get the casting decks (there are two parts) to print out repeatably and nicely but the have a tendency to warp or be a pain to get off the build plate. I also redesigned the braces that hold up the bustle pipe and they came out beautifully but I was hoping to post a pic of them on the casting deck. I will post it as soon as I get a good casting deck piece to print.

That's all for now. I have really enjoyed shuffling trains around the current half baked track plan. I think switching is my favorite thing.

EDIT: I forgot to mention! The 0-6-0T really is a gem. It moves that entire string of freight cars (which include die-cast Atlas hoppers) without missing a beat. Even at the recently increased priced, that 0-6-0T is a heck of a locomotive. I really like it! I'm considering trying to extend its middle roller pickups via a permanently attached caboose.

I don't know if you happened to see it, but in Season 24, episode 8 of American Pickers, they went to Pittsburgh to pick a guys collection of foundry patterns. Later in the show, they were looking through some engineering drawings and I caught that some of them were for a mill in Youngstown. The scene occurs after they meet the artist working the the "gym" part of Connelley votech.

Wow, Bill!  You are really going to town!!  I should have gone ahead and painted track before putting it all down.  I wonder what happened to your plywood.

Bill, I remember many moons ago you installing the backdrop. Now with a bit of RR in front of it. That really looks good.

The Tortoise’s are a bit tedious to install. But you won’t regret it once they are in. The best part is the auxillary contacts on them. I wouldn’t run track power through them. But you can power up relays to power up your track rails. Being from an automotive background. I used the Bosch style relays with the built in mounting tab. Probably overkill but an easy hookup. Most of the action switching power to rails from what I remember takes place around the diamond.

While adding pickup rollers improves most engines. Don’t overlook the wheels themselves. Especially on something like a double x over. Especially with an 0-6-0. If your going to keep a permanent car coupled to it. You could probably add an axle wiper and tether it to the engine.

I appreciate the heads up there @Greg Nagy. My dad is an avid fan of the show so I'll have to see if he's seen it. Did they purchase the drawings? I wouldn't mind trying to track them down myself if they passed on them. I do a bit of historical collecting myself. I'm always searching for obscure Youngstown items.

I regretted putting track down without painting it at first @Mark Boyce. But then I discovered that track laying has a bit of finesse to it. The tracks don't exactly stay parallel to each other like they do in the design software I decided I'll rough in the track and get it all set before I take it down one last time and paint it. I'm guessing the plywood was bowed and then I didn't attach the wood correctly to un-bow it. I talked to a carpenter friend and we have some ideas to correct it.

It's a sight to see! @Dave_C I'm quite pleased with it. The built in auxiliary contacts were part of the reason I went with Tortoise. Their reputation was the bulk of it though. Anyway, I was reading yesterday that the switch machine itself is rated for a couple of amps apparently so I was planning to drive relays. I'll be going with something that isn't a pain to hook up, even if it is overkill.

I wouldn't have thought about the wheels. I would have assumed it was all an issue of the pickup roller. That's good to know!

@Greg Nagy posted:

I don't know if you happened to see it, but in Season 24, episode 8 of American Pickers, they went to Pittsburgh to pick a guys collection of foundry patterns. Later in the show, they were looking through some engineering drawings and I caught that some of them were for a mill in Youngstown. The scene occurs after they meet the artist working the the "gym" part of Connelley votech.

Seeing this post reminded me.  A local fellow that frequented the local model train shop would make and sell train T-shirts and sweat shirts and sell RR books.

We talked about Youngstown and steel mills a lot  so he had his eye out for things I might like!

These are some of the material he found for me.  And if I recall correctly the Republic Steel book he made by teaching the national archieves and made some books.  At the top there are two Bulletins from Youngstown Sheet and Tube.

Good stuff @PRRronbh! I think I have the orange copy of the YS&T Bulletins. I know I have looked through a number of them on the internet. It's always fascinating to see what was saved from Youngstown in the last 40 or so years. The plaque from the Anna furnace in Struthers (what my blast furnace design is heavily based on was saved and is at the Arms Museum. I had no idea!

Bill do you have any good images of "coke" and "dolomite."  I have some hooper loads want to paint up for coke, dolomite and Limestone.  As I recall coke was medium grey with shinny glit to it.  Don't think seen dolomite but think a medium light gray and maybe pinkish inside!

Ron

@BillYo414 posted:

Good stuff @PRRronbh! I think I have the orange copy of the YS&T Bulletins. I know I have looked through a number of them on the internet. It's always fascinating to see what was saved from Youngstown in the last 40 or so years. The plaque from the Anna furnace in Struthers (what my blast furnace design is heavily based on was saved and is at the Arms Museum. I had no idea!

My orange one is from Nov. 1952 the yellow one Oct. 1954.

Ron

I do not have any usable pictures of either. I think the only coke pictures I have are of the coke when it's being pushed. I mostly collected photos of the blast furnaces because that's where I started. I'll keep an eye out though. The Library of Congress is a treasure trove of that stuff. The archives at the Museum of Industry and Labor probably also would have what you need. I would assume you're right about coke since it is basically pure carbon (as I understand it). But I don't know too much about dolomite.

I would have to check. My copy is at my parent's house (my grandpa worked for Sheet and Tube as a fire chief so we have his copies that his kept).

More progress on track and table. Most excitingly, I managed to level out the bowed pieces of plywood to the point where I'm satisfied! I ended up going with a 2x4 on the underside.

I bought some terminal strips to start getting setup for wiring but setting up track and putting up more table really sucked up most of my time. I was surprised. My layout uses a few sections of custom track or flex track and that was an unexpected difficulty for me. I'm used to sectional track where you put it down and go. So I've had to do a lot of measured and double checking before I screw the track down. No big deal. I would say I acquired a new skill!

On with the photos...

here is my newly un-bowed plywood:

Here's the benchwork I added:

I really like the track work here and that's mostly because it took forever to get the alignment where it should be:

And here's some of those fun double track mainline shots:

You may notice the 2-10-10-2 isn't on the tracks. It seems to have chewed up its own gearbox. Not sure what that's about but I'm looking into it.

I cannot seem to get the casting deck for the blast furnace to print no matter what I do. It either warps or comes out looking terrible on the corners. My last two solution ideas are keeping the bed temps elevated through the print or replacing the nozzle. The casting deck is kind of important to holding the structure together in the model so splitting it into smaller pieces would be trouble. Kind of a bummer. I wanted to start putting the furnaces up. I did get the highline arches and girders prototyped. They look great but I want to get a few more done before I show off haha

Looks great!  I find Gar-Graves flex track to be hideous to work with.  There!  I said it!  I used some earlier this week!  It is miserable compared to HO and N scale flex track.

I am so sorry the Pride of the roster failed!  Hopefully it won’t be too expensive to repair.

@Mark Boyce and I find the Gargraves is louder than Ross! But Gargraves is a decent product. Atlas flex track is literally painful to use. Or I did it wrong. Either way, I'm still pleased with the Gargraves flex! I'll be a Ross fanboy for the rest of my life though. I love it!

I'm not so certain it actually has a problem after I looked at it some more. It seems the issue is somewhere in the linkage. It's just tough to look at both sides at the same time! I'm not an iguana.

Despite the issues, I did take about an hour to do some switching and make sure the track doesn't have any issues. The innermost of the three lines isn't actually part of the track plan. It's just storage for rolling stock for the time being. The switches all seem to be performing great!

Bill,

Looking good! Hopefully you're able to get the 2-10-10-2 sorted out.

Some of my plywood was warped too, all salvaged from one of our job sites. Screwing it down to the 2x4 framing straightened it right out!

Josh

@BillYo414 posted:

More progress on track and table. Most excitingly, I managed to level out the bowed pieces of plywood to the point where I'm satisfied! I ended up going with a 2x4 on the underside.

I bought some terminal strips to start getting setup for wiring but setting up track and putting up more table really sucked up most of my time. I was surprised. My layout uses a few sections of custom track or flex track and that was an unexpected difficulty for me. I'm used to sectional track where you put it down and go. So I've had to do a lot of measured and double checking before I screw the track down. No big deal. I would say I acquired a new skill!

On with the photos...

here is my newly un-bowed plywood:

Here's the benchwork I added:

I really like the track work here and that's mostly because it took forever to get the alignment where it should be:

And here's some of those fun double track mainline shots:

You may notice the 2-10-10-2 isn't on the tracks. It seems to have chewed up its own gearbox. Not sure what that's about but I'm looking into it.

I cannot seem to get the casting deck for the blast furnace to print no matter what I do. It either warps or comes out looking terrible on the corners. My last two solution ideas are keeping the bed temps elevated through the print or replacing the nozzle. The casting deck is kind of important to holding the structure together in the model so splitting it into smaller pieces would be trouble. Kind of a bummer. I wanted to start putting the furnaces up. I did get the highline arches and girders prototyped. They look great but I want to get a few more done before I show off haha

The backdrop really adds a richness to the whole scene. Well done!

Peter