PRR Panhandle 2.0

George....that custom painted bus is fantastic!

Peter

@Putnam Division posted:

George....that custom painted bus is fantastic!

Peter

Thank you, Peter!  Tommy Gilbert told me that was the hardest thing to paint he's ever done.  I participate in a monthly Zoom meeting with some other Pennsy nuts (mostly HO) and showed them the bus.  They were raving over it and asked where I got it and who did the paint job.  Tommy's probably going to pull out his hair.   I can't imagine trying to paint an HO version of this thing. 

"A man's got to know his limitations" - Dirty Harry     Which is why I had Tommy paint it; it's waaaay beyond my skillset.

George

Updated 1/31/2022:

Additional research has finally paid off in a clearer understanding of the Open Hearth.  It turns out that the extension of the building referred to in one of my recent posts is not the Cinder Yard.  It is an extension of the Pouring Floor.  The Cinder Yard was located behind the mill and was out in the open.  Someone who worked in the mill and walked that area daily put me in the know.  And because there are very few photos of that area (I haven't seen one yet), I wouldn't have known that.  After all the last time I walked that particular stretch of mill property was 1973.

Anyway, the clouds continue to part and despite my best efforts, clarity emerges. 

George

@G3750 posted:

Updated 1/31/2022:

Someone who worked in the mill and walked that area daily put me in the know.

Ya can't go wrong with someone sharing first hand experience of an area! That's a top notch source.

Updated 2/3/2022:

It wasn't very glamorous or photogenic, but I spent a lot of the day with a calculator, fraction to decimal conversion table, and my Visio program creating 3 views of an open hearth furnace - top, front (charging side), and rear (pouring side).  Along with accurate dimensions, I have found some Plastruct "shortcuts" to creating various prototypical appearances.  Tomorrow, I hope to start building the first of the furnace fronts & tops.  We'll see how that goes, learn from the experience, and then see if we can't apply those lessons to the next 3.

More when I know it. 

George

Updated 2/9/2022:

Spoke with Tommy Gilbert today and he confirmed the second bus has been completed and is being shipped to me.

It turned better than the first one, which I thought was spectacular.

George

The buses in Youngstown provide an important service these days but it would awesome if they were painted up like that.

Updated 2/10/2022:

• Work continues on the open hearth - sides for all 4 furnaces have now been cut.  I hope to cut the pouring floor sides (backs) and regenerative (checker) furnace sides later today.
• The glue sticks I tried for mating brick paper to styrene failed to hold.  Per the recommendation of www.thistothat.com, I tried some 3M No. 77 spray adhesive for applying brick paper to styrene; that seems to be working.  The paper was produced by the Evans Design program Brickyard 3.
• Speaking of Evans Design, I had a little design session on the phone with them yesterday.  In addition to the oven lights, I ordered several other circuits for various mill animations.
• Over on an O scale yard sale site, I picked up 18 sets (8 each) of rather obscure or old Plastruct theater seats.  They look a lot like waiting room seats.  That's good, because they are going to serve that purpose of all the 1:48 passengers waiting at the Steubenville PRR station.

More when I know it. 

George

@BillYo414 posted:

The buses in Youngstown provide an important service these days but it would awesome if they were painted up like that.

Back in my day these buses were on rubber tires but were electric powered from overhead .

Ron

Someone on Facebook just posted a photo of one of those buses on Wilson Ave (I think) with Campbell works in the background. Pretty cool! Looks a lot like the bus sitting up Woodland Ave in Youngstown in somebody's yard. I didn't know we had electric buses like that in the past. I find it very interesting!

@BillYo414 posted:

Someone on Facebook just posted a photo of one of those buses on Wilson Ave (I think) with Campbell works in the background. Pretty cool! Looks a lot like the bus sitting up Woodland Ave in Youngstown in somebody's yard. I didn't know we had electric buses like that in the past. I find it very interesting!

Nice thing about these creatures they just would "go" on the road.  They would go on the street in and around traffic.  As far as I am concerned a much better cost effective mass transit over a trolley and/or train.

Ron

Updated 2/15/2022:

• I am working on the fronts (charging door side) of the furnaces.  The first one is in progress.
• I'm on my 3rd re-design of the open hearth charging doors themselves.    Not been happy with them - they're a bit over-complicated.  But I'm working through it.  The photo of the prototype helps immensely.  When in doubt, check the prototype!
• A portion (but not all) of my Plastruct order arrived at the hobby shop and I picked it up.
• My Evans Design circuitry arrived today.  We'll try to test some of that tomorrow.

More when I know it. 

George

Updated 2/17/2022:

Life got in the way of much layout work today, but the 2nd bus did arrive.  Here are the pair:

A huge thanks and tip of the hat to Tommy Gilbert for his beautiful paint jobs.

More when I know it. 

George

Tommy did a wonderful job on those!!

Updated 2/17/2022:

Work continues on the Open Hearth.  I've made some decisions and changes in approach:

• I've decided that it makes sense to clean up and complete all the remaining roof trusses before continuing work on the furnaces themselves.
• There are 3 half trusses left to build. These will represent the Pouring Floor extension on the south side of the prototype. I can't determine exactly when the extension was constructed, but it appears in the famous 1957 photograph of the mill and valley.  It's visibly cleaner than the rest of the mill in that photo, leading me to believe it is very new, but I've no way to verify its actual date of construction.  So we're going to make the assumption that it was built in 1950.
• There is still no sign of the bulk of my Plastruct order.  Hobby Express has been vigorously pursuing the components through their distributors and other sources, but so far nothing.  The most significant of the missing parts are the 1/2" (2 s') H columns and all the column feet.
• Once the half trusses are done, and assuming the column components named above are still AWOL, all efforts there will go on hold and that particular workbench will be cleared of its jigs and tools.  It will become a holding area for the 4 furnaces which take up a lot of real estate.
• The center table will continue to stage materials for the build.  The remaining work bench will be used for the actual construction.

If it sounds like this model is taking up a lot of space, that is absolutely true. Over the past few weeks, I've cleared the workshop of other projects and cleaned up some storage boxes.  I was also able to deliver some items I had sold, freeing up more space.  That's good, because I'm still building pieces and sub-assemblies of the mill, with the floor and integration yet to come.  And we still have the electronics to work through.

More when I know it.

George

Updated 2/19/2022:

All 3 half-trusses are DONE!!! 

George

Excellent!!

Updated 2/24/2022:

• I am still waiting for my Plastruct order to be made ready to pick up.
• Did an inventory of my plywood sheets to determine if I had one that could be used for the Open Hearth’s base.  Decided to double-check the numbered plywood sheets against the RR-Track plan.  Good thing, too.  Discovered a slight discrepancy in the system.  However, I do have enough plywood sheets to finish the job as well as one which will work for the OH base.  I corrected the RR-Track plan and am in the process of correcting the spreadsheet with bench work tables & lumber.
• My older Brother fax / scanner / copier / printer decided to stop printing black even after receiving a new cartridge and cleaning.  I am looking into getting it repaired rather than replacing it.  A new printer that prints 11” x 17” sheets will be more expensive, not to mention a whole new set of ink cartridges and sacrificing the old ones.  So it's in the shop.

More when I know it. 

George

That's good you have enough plywood, but bummer on the printer

George, looking great!!! Spent 25 yrs in a steel mill here in Warren, Ohio remember it very well.

Jeff

@jjames9641 posted:

George, looking great!!! Spent 25 yrs in a steel mill here in Warren, Ohio remember it very well.

Jeff

Hi Jeff, was that Copperweld  or Republic by chance?

Ron

Hi Ron,

Republic Steel in Warren, later to be known as LTV, WCI Steel, Severstal, an finally RG Steel before closing down for good in 2012. It is now literally a field!! Copperweld still has some buildings standing but closed of course. What a shame

@jjames9641 posted:

Hi Ron,

Republic Steel in Warren, later to be known as LTV, WCI Steel, Severstal, an finally RG Steel before closing down for good in 2012. It is now literally a field!! Copperweld still has some buildings standing but closed of course. What a shame

I was born, raised, and matured in Youngstown.  I am sure you know that both Youngstown Sheet & Tube and Republic Steel were founded in Youngstown the last year of the nineteenth and first year of the twentieth.  What a loss that they are gone.

I was the QA Supervisor at ITT Grinnell in Warren beside Packard Electric for six-years in mid-70's.

Ron

@Mark Boyce posted:

That's good you have enough plywood, but bummer on the printer

Thanks.  I'm still weighing options on the "floor" for the Open Hearth.  It will be very heavy with that plywood and I'm not getting any stronger.

As to the printer, I have gotten maybe 10 years service out of it.  I would like to extend its life as I doubt a replacement will be better built or less expensive.

George

Ron and Jeff - thanks for chiming in.  The open hearth model is rather large, complex, and heavy.  Right now I'm working through some of its basics (mounting, strength, mobility - if any).  Unfortunately, I am still a long ways away from actually constructing the finished model.  Pieces exist, but there are still lots of walls and framework to assemble.   Right now, it's mostly a mental model. 

George

Out of curiosity I looked on Amazon for printers capable of 11x17 inch prints.  Found this one that doesn’t seem to be overly expensive.  Reviews as usual are mixed.

@G3750 posted:

Thanks.  I'm still weighing options on the "floor" for the Open Hearth.  It will be very heavy with that plywood and I'm not getting any stronger.

George

Using a piece of 1/8” Masonite with a little reinforcement underneath might help substantially with the weight issue.  I can relate to the “not getting any stronger” statement,  getting old, well you know.

GregM,

Thank you on both counts.  The Epson might be a good choice.  I do have over $100 "invested" in ink cartridges for the Brother at this point, so I'm hoping for a repair.

Masonite (I'm looking at 1/4") with reinforcement is exactly the option I came to myself earlier today.  A discussion with a local lumberyard (not one of the Big Box imbecilic incompetents) proved fruitful.  If they can locate a sheet of the stuff (apparently hard to find these days), I will pull the trigger.

George

Updated 2/27/2022:

Work continues on the furnaces (application of brick paper and installation of internal LEDs).  I have also started on the smoke stacks.  A couple are painted and I am in the process of scribing joints (rings) into them.  I am also locating holes for flashing warning lights.  Plenty to do, but I'm hoping the safety cages and ladders show up soon.  I would like to declare victory on some part of this giant build.

More when I know it. 

George

@GregM posted:

Out of curiosity I looked on Amazon for printers capable of 11x17 inch prints.  Found this one that doesn’t seem to be overly expensive.  Reviews as usual are mixed.

Epson Workforce Pro WF-7310 Wireless Wide-Format Printer with Print up to 13" x 19", Auto 2-Sided Printing up to 11" x 17", 500-sheet Capacity, 2.4" Color Display, Epson Smart Panel App

3.5 out of 5 stars 10

$219.99

Epson is a great printer but do yourself a favor and get an eco tank instead of this model with the cartridges way cheaper ink wise. I have both and eco tank was worth every penny.

@Shawn_Chronister posted:

Epson is a great printer but do yourself a favor and get an eco tank instead of this model with the cartridges way cheaper ink wise. I have both and eco tank was worth every penny.

We have an eco tank Epson.  It seems to never run out of ink!  I would think they have one that prints on 11x17 paper

Thanks Shawn and Mark!  If the Brother is kaput, I will certainly look into it. Those cartridges just kill me - ink prices work out to be thousands of dollars/gallon! 😳 The technician still hasn’t been able to look at it yet, but I am expecting an appraisal tomorrow.

George

Updated 3/1/2022:

I am working on the smokestacks right now.  I've drilled small holes and am now trying to thread very long leads with LEDs down their length.  Very tedious and difficult.  The next time I have a brilliant idea like this one, somebody talk me out of it, OK?  

George

@G3750 posted:

Updated 3/1/2022:

I am working on the smokestacks right now.  I've drilled small holes and am now trying to thread very long leads with LEDs down their length.  Very tedious and difficult.  The next time I have a brilliant idea like this one, somebody talk me out of it, OK?  

George

I take it giving up now is not an option!! 

@Mark Boyce posted:

I take it giving up now is not an option!! 

Foolish boy!  "Did we give up when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?" 

George

@G3750 posted:

         

Foolish boy!  "Did we give up when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?" 

George

    No we didn't give up when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor!!! 

Updated 3/5/2022:

• Positioned the base of the Weirton Steel Open Hearth model (part of the base is visible on the left side of the photo below) on the layout to determine exactly where the model would reside. It’s a big footprint!  But I was able to finalize its position on the bench work.  This will help determine all the other buildings’ positions relative to it and the divider.
• With the base of the mill on the layout, I also determined the position of an access hole that will be used to service the model. The Strip Steel building will sit next to the Open Hearth on top of the access hole.  It will be removable and while large, hopefully relatively light.  The access hatch is outlined in blue Sharpie.  You can see that I measured at least twice.

• Found what Fastenal calls “Type B Connector Bolts” on their website. These have a flat, thin circular head (with a hex socket) and are often used for “knock-down” or easily disassembled furniture (the stuff often made of melamine).  These will jut up from under the base and hold the “Lean-To” in place on the model.  After disconnecting wires entering the main structure at its terminal strip, the “Lean-To” will be removable for separate transportation.  This is necessary, otherwise the model won’t fit through standard 30” width interior doors.  The Lean-To will hold electrical components, power supplies, the Arduino, and all the smokestacks.  It will be anchored on a 6” wide piece of poplar.  I ordered the bolts and flange washers.  They will arrive at the local Fastenal outlet for pickup sometime next week.
• I briefly toyed with the idea of cutting out the bench work top around the base of the Open Hearth and fitting the base down directly onto the frame, but rejected the idea. Doing that will make the model harder to move on / off the layout (not that it’s going to be a regular or easy operation).  Instead, I plan to install handles at the rear edge of model (jutting up from the base) and a fixed caster dipping into a hole cut in the bench work.  That will allow a person standing in the access hole to lift the model so that the caster sits  on the bench work.  The model can then be pulled forward and off the layout from the front.

Not that there's a lot of visible progress to show for all the steam that's been pouring out of my ears (i.e. thinking), but I'm hoping that with this planning out of the way some real forward momentum can be achieved soon.

More when I know it.

George

That's a giant model if that's a yard stick in your photo!

I would like to make a few of my models movable so I can stand in the center of my layout if needed. I'll be watching closely!

I noticed the yard stick too!!  I agree making accommodations for moving a model that size need to be made in the planning stage.

Mark, unfortunately a model like that needs a certain size.  Bill knows this because he works in a mill and he's building an Open Hearth as well.  You can't show the interior if your furnaces, tracks, and ladles are crammed in on top of each other.  The alternative is to just show the outside of the building and compress it even further.

George