PRR Panhandle 2.0

I have used No-Ox on my center rail so far and I've been really pleased with the results. I know my wiring is a work in progress but dead/low power spots have really improved since I used it. I haven't cleaned track in months either.

George, that’s good a plan worked out well!

Updated 8/23/2023:

Some random progress:

• Installed the bottom (short) wall panels of the pouring side on the mill.
• Have begun putting together the HUGE list of items I'm going to sell blowout for York;  lots of cool stuff.
• Replaced the DeWalt mitre saw's 90-tooth blade
• Organized my paints under the spray booth;  I think I threw out 30+ caps of spent cans!
• Got some tools (True Sander, Chopper) off the workbench and up on pegboard

All piddling stuff, but at least moving forward.

More when I know it, 

George

Huge Blowout for York!!!  We will be waiting to see that!  😄

Updated 8/25/2023 (more random progress)

• Work on the Open Hearth continues with the installation of the short, low (permanent) walls on the pouring side of the building.  These disguise the back of the inspection platform.  The installation of removable walls is even more important than I thought.  I had the teeming crane on the workbench for repairs (it fell and broke apart just after the photography session for the SMMSIG meet).  I was about to permanently install an end wall when I realized I had to account for getting the crane in and out of the building.  During long distance transportation or even just getting it on / off the layout, the crane must be removed to prevent damage.  Gluing in the wall would have been bad, real bad.  Fortunately, we caught that situation.
• Installed a number of H-columns horizontally across the ends of the Open Hearth building to increase its strength and provide points for attaching walls.  The wall panels will have magnets glued to their backsides and attach to metal strips on the framework.
• The seemingly never-ending clean-up of the workshop continues.  We continue to make slow progress, filing all the reference notes and photos for the Open Hearth effort.
• As noted in a previous post, I revised the track at north edge of the layout (eliminated one switch, moved another).  I am now sizing up the locations of the holes in the divider needed to finish the Staging Area and connect it to the Weirton Steel Yard.  Some track has been temporarily laid down on the bench work to help finalize the locations of the openings.  In the first photo below, the diverging track (the Empties / Loads / Reversing Loop) will enter the backdrop through what I am temporarily calling the "South Divider Building".   The straight track will enter the Staging Area through a yet to be cut hole.  Not sure how I will disguise that yet.  Its northern counterpart is hidden behind buildings and a highway overpass.
•  
• The second photo shows the relationship of the Strip Steel (rolling mill) mock-up to the South Divider Building.  To the left of the Strip Steel will be a pipe bridge and the Open Hearth will be to the left of that.

More when I know it. 

George

George, it’s great to see you starting to mock up the area!

@Mark Boyce posted:

George, it’s great to see you starting to mock up the area!

Thanks!  I completely agree!  I am so glad to be moving, ever so slowly, onto something else.

George

Hey George,

Looks things are "heating up" with your mock-up. I couldn't resist. Anyways, I was in Birmingham recently and took a self tour of this steel mill. Thought it would be appropriate to share.

Dave

@luvindemtrains posted:

Hey George,

Looks things are "heating up" with your mock-up. I couldn't resist. Anyways, I was in Birmingham recently and took a self tour of this steel mill. Thought it would be appropriate to share.

Dave

Glad you did share that, David.

George

@G3750 posted:

Updated 8/25/2023 (more random progress)

• Work on the Open Hearth continues with the installation of the short, low (permanent) walls on the pouring side of the building.  These disguise the back of the inspection platform.  The installation of removable walls is even more important than I thought.  I had the teeming crane on the workbench for repairs (it fell and broke apart just after the photography session for the SMMSIG meet).  I was about to permanently install an end wall when I realized I had to account for getting the crane in and out of the building.  During long distance transportation or even just getting it on / off the layout, the crane must be removed to prevent damage.  Gluing in the wall would have been bad, real bad.  Fortunately, we caught that situation.
• Installed a number of H-columns horizontally across the ends of the Open Hearth building to increase its strength and provide points for attaching walls.  The wall panels will have magnets glued to their backsides and attach to metal strips on the framework.
• The seemingly never-ending clean-up of the workshop continues.  We continue to make slow progress, filing all the reference notes and photos for the Open Hearth effort.
• As noted in a previous post, I revised the track at north edge of the layout (eliminated one switch, moved another).  I am now sizing up the locations of the holes in the divider needed to finish the Staging Area and connect it to the Weirton Steel Yard.  Some track has been temporarily laid down on the bench work to help finalize the locations of the openings.  In the first photo below, the diverging track (the Empties / Loads / Reversing Loop) will enter the backdrop through what I am temporarily calling the "South Divider Building".   The straight track will enter the Staging Area through a yet to be cut hole.  Not sure how I will disguise that yet.  Its northern counterpart is hidden behind buildings and a highway overpass.
•  
• The second photo shows the relationship of the Strip Steel (rolling mill) mock-up to the South Divider Building.  To the left of the Strip Steel will be a pipe bridge and the Open Hearth will be to the left of that.

More when I know it. 

George

Magnificent work, George!

Peter

@luvindemtrains posted:

Hey George,

Looks things are "heating up" with your mock-up. I couldn't resist. Anyways, I was in Birmingham recently and took a self tour of this steel mill. Thought it would be appropriate to share.

Dave

@G3750 posted:

Glad you did share that, David.

George

Dave, I can remember when I was in geography class in the mid ‘60s here in Western Pennsylvania the teacher told us Birmingham was the Pittsburgh of the South.  Steel was king then!

@Mark Boyce posted:

Dave, I can remember when I was in geography class in the mid ‘60s here in Western Pennsylvania the teacher told us Birmingham was the Pittsburgh of the South.  Steel was king then!

Dave and Mark - I was flying in and out of Birmingham in 1998 for work.  I can remember flying over the steel mills and yards.

Peter - thank you!  I still need to make all that happen.

George

Updated 8/26/2023:

Tonight, I cut the hole in the divider for the Staging Area's southern entrance.

I am toying with disguising this opening with a pipe bridge.  We'll see how that turns out.

More when I know it. 

George

Updated 9/8/2023:

Finished the lower, permanent walls on the pouring side of the open hearth.  Also pretty close to figuring out how the upper, removable walls will be attached to the building’s frame.

More when I know it.

George

@G3750 posted:

Updated 9/8/2023:

Finished the lower, permanent walls on the pouring side of the open hearth.  Also pretty close to figuring out how the upper, removable walls will be attached to the building’s frame.

More when I know it.

George

George you and Bill have been a "bad" influence on this Youngstown boy!  Like my true peers we wanted to get our High School degrees, move on to college, and have nothing to do with the Mills.  And this was 23-years before "Black Monday"!  In my case after change my major at a college at the other end of the state returned to Youngstown State where all engineering students had to take a Semester of Metalurg.  Us non-metallurgist did not like it!  But must admit it did help me at times designing Fire Suppression systems, then automotive systems and most of all in Nuclear Power Quality Assurance Supervise and Management.

But because of you two I am edging into everything "Steel Mills."

Now as I recall George you worked the Open Hearth at Weiton.  I have a Open Hearth process question.  Is Dolomite shoveled into the melt/heat through the charging door for a fluxing agent or is it the mound-up/dam the Dolomite at the bottom door sill ???

Ron

Ron,

I did not work in an open hearth.  It was shut down by the time I started working summers there between college school years.  I worked a summer each in the Tin mill, Blooming mill, and Strip Steel (rolling mill).

To answer your questions, go to YouTube and look for “Kaiser steel: open hearth scenes “ or something similar.

Or here's the link itself.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JS9MU6HI1Ds

There's a discussion about shoveling dolomite into the furnace.

George

@G3750 posted:

Ron,

I did not work in an open hearth.  It was shut down by the time I started working summers there between college school years.  I worked a summer each in the Tin mill, Blooming mill, and Strip Steel (rolling mill).

To answer your questions, go to YouTube and look for “Kaiser steel: open hearth scenes “ or something similar.

Or here's the link itself.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JS9MU6HI1Ds

There's a discussion about shoveling dolomite into the furnace.

George

That is a good movie in color from 1952.

Ron

Updated 9/25/2023:

• Ironed out a process for attaching large walls to the Open Hearth.  This is on the pouring side's external wall.  It's been a bit tedious, but I now have a way to do this that works and is fairly reproducible.  That's important when you're talking about 12 panels.
• All those wall panels have been cut to size and painted w/ flat black - inside and out.
• Figured out my approach to making the roof for the main building removable.  Most of the portion over the pouring extension will be fixed in place.
• I started painting the roof sections.  Just the pouring side (including the extension) will take 15 of the Plastruct 91512 roof pieces.  Six of those are painted;  the rest are destined for the paint booth tomorrow.

More when I know it. 

George

Updated 10/8/2023:

This update is a bit of mixed bag - some good and some so-so news.

• As reported in its own thread, the Open Hearth scored 112 out of 125 possible points.  That's very good and I am happy at having earned a Merit Award for the building.
• I am less than satisfied with the main building roof.  I built it in sections and they have shown a tendency to warp at the edges.  I am thinking about how best to fix that and have come up with a plan to redo the roof, and perhaps the ventilator roof as well.  As it stands, I think the exterior detracts from the model.  I hope to be able to reuse the Plastruct 91512 roof panels.  A total replacement would be a very expensive fix.
• The Strip Steel mill and the area around it have gotten another look and a more detailed plan.  I have changed the size positions of some of the pipe bridges.  A large pipe bridge will go between the Strip Steel and the Open Hearth and provide large pipes (blast furnace fuel gas) to the OH.  It will be mated to the Strip Steel building, which will be removable (opening beneath it).  Below is the new track plan.  In it, I simplified the area between Switches 18 & 19, confirmed the size of the Strip Steel building (31.75" wide x 25" long with 5 bays instead of the 7); it's shape has been retained (the gable between bays 2 and 3).
• 
• I started thinking about what materials would be needed for the Strip Steel.  I already have enough of the Tichy 20-pane industrial windows, but sheet styrene and roofing materials will be needed.

More when I know it.

George

That’s sad the roof sections are starting to warp some.  I’m sure you will come up with a fix, but hope it doesn’t mean a replacement which could be costly too

@Mark Boyce posted:

That’s sad the roof sections are starting to warp some.  I’m sure you will come up with a fix, but hope it doesn’t mean a replacement which could be costly too

Mark, it remains to be seen.  You pays your money and you takes your chances. 

We will get it figured out.

George

I wonder if your roof pieces need a sort of joist to stiffen them up and prevent that. That's a real pain to deal with!

I'll be watching your pipe bridge building. Weirton and Cleveland are the best small/medium pipe bridges I know because you can get up close to them. It's so nice to have a prototype to go off of Carrie Furnaces have massive pipes off the side of the building:

That's a hot metal car parked under the pipe for scale.

That stinks that the roof is warping. What the heck caused that, heat or the adhesive?

@Dave NYC Hudson PRR K4 posted:

That stinks that the roof is warping. What the heck caused that, heat or the adhesive?

For whatever reason, the Plastruct 91512 sheets are very thin and pliable.  They definitely need stiffening to hold their shapes.  Initially, I had put a styrene strip under the sheet where it joined the next roof section.  I was hoping it would hold up the adjoining section without the need for glue.  That hasn't worked.  I am looking at several options:

1. Gluing small lengths of square Evergreen rod 90 degrees to the seams to flatten out the warped sections.
2. Gluing all roof sections together to make 1 very long piece.  Might need to do Option 1 first, too.
3. De-bonding all roof sections from their stiffeners and then gluing them to 1 or more 12" x 36" ABS sheet (Plastruct makes this as well).  This would be removable, held in place on the roof by magnets (as are the current roof sections).  A strip of this long styrene (approximately 2.5" x 36") would be glued across the lower parts of the roof trusses to keep the removable section in place.

It would be great if Options 1 or 2 fixed the problem.  With Option 3 the de-bonding could deform some or all of the roof sections, which I would have to replace and repaint.

I will test these option after York.  Right now, the priority has become getting ready for the upcoming benchwork.

More when I know it. 

George

Updated 10/14/2023:

I have plenty of things to report over the past few days. As noted above, options 1 & 2 were applied and seem to have made the roof of the Open Hearth look a little better.  Given that I have plenty of work on my plate, that may satisfy me (for the moment).  My friend Price arrived yesterday (we're headed to York next week) to assist in a major benchwork construction effort.  In preparation for that:

• The final port in the divider was cut.  The Empties / Loads track was connected to the Staging entry track.  That involved the installation of 2 block breaks (insulating center rails), as well as track feeders 8.18 and 8.19 (both in power district 8).  The first photo shows the Empties/Load track.  Once beyond the divider, an operator will be able to swap loaded hoppers and ore jennies for empty ones.  Presumably exiting the backdrop (towards the viewer), loaded torpedo ladles and slag cars will proceed towards the Open Hearth and Standard Slag, respectively.
• 
• In the photo below, the straight track is the southern entrance to the Staging Area.
• 
• In preparation for the bench work construction, the Open Hearth was moved to a table farther away from the effort and covered with a drop cloth.  The finished areas of the layout, i.e. the immediate bridge area and its approaches, were covered with drop cloths.  Any trains not on the bridge were moved to the Staging Area for safe-keeping.
• 
• I also moved lumber out from under the layout to make it more accessible.  The 2x2's were also measured, marked, and sorted for ease of use.
• Earlier in the week, I created Visio plans of each of the tables (8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14) showing the components.  A corresponding list of components for each table was also made.  Below is the plan for Table 8.

More when I know it. 

George

Wow!  You and Price were certainly busy!  Have a great time at York!

@Mark Boyce posted:

Wow!  You and Price were certainly busy!  Have a great time at York!

We're just getting started.  Are you headed to the NMRA meeting tomorrow?

George

@G3750 posted:

We're just getting started.  Are you headed to the NMRA meeting tomorrow?

George

Oh I forgot to tell you.  My wife reminded me we have a commitment after lunch.  What happened to this doing what you want in retirement business??  It’s always something.

No, it’s not Bill’s friend’s/relative’s wedding!  😄

@Mark Boyce posted:

Oh I forgot to tell you.  My wife reminded me we have a commitment after lunch.  What happened to this doing what you want in retirement business??  It’s always something.

No, it’s not Bill’s friend’s/relative’s wedding!  😄

You know retirement is just about trading one boss for another, right? 

This is exciting stuff! Getting the open hearth set on the benchwork is really going to be a big moment.

@BillYo414 posted:

This is exciting stuff! Getting the open hearth set on the benchwork is really going to be a big moment.

Yes, it will be.  I am furiously pumping iron (weight training) in order to lift it! 

The darn thing must be over 50 lbs! 

George

@G3750 posted:

Yes, it will be.  I am furiously pumping iron (weight training) in order to lift it! 

The darn thing must be over 50 lbs! 

George

Wow!  😮  The back surgeon just told me I can TRY to lift more than 30 pounds!  😄

Updated 10/21/2023:

Wow, the last week or so has been a whirlwind!  Last Sunday was our NMRA Division meeting.  It went well and the speaker gave a great mini-clinic on Vallejo paints.  Monday was my wife's birthday.  We had a nice dinner out.  My buddy Price arrived on Tuesday and we spent Wednesday on benchwork construction.  Thursday and Friday were our days at York.  It was a great time and I found a few things:

• MTH PRR B70 baggage car
• MTH PRR N6b cabin car (yeah, I do have a few.  )
• 2024 PRR calendar for half price
• 2 Woodland Scenic building kits for great prices
• MTH 5-story building - when weathered it will make a great structure for Steubenville

We got back late Friday and spent today working on more bench work.  But the first step was to get the room ready and put the Open Hearth in its spot on the layout.  Let me tell you, that sucker is heavy.    It has to weigh close to 100 lbs.  It was almost beyond my ability to get it up to the required 50" height of the layout.  Fortunately, I installed those tail wheels on the platform and that made all the difference.  Once on the layout, Price and I were able to maneuver it into position. 

Here's the starting point (roughly).

This wonderful bench work construction process belongs to my friend, Price Bradshaw.  It's quick, simple, and results in extremely sturdy tables.  Here are some construction shots.  This is the underside of a table.  BTW, I always put lengths on my 2x2's;  it speeds up the build.

Stapling felt between tables adds some noise reduction.  The black mark indicates where a hole for a carriage bolt will be drilled.  We use those to hold tables together.

Leg construction looks like this.

At the end of today (Saturday), we had these 4 tables built and installed.  And we had fixed a couple of problem areas.

As as reported above, we also managed to man-handle the Open Hearth onto its spot on the layout.

I would like to thank Price for his knowledge and help.  This would have never happened without him.  Never.

More when I know it. 

George

George,

Happy Belated Birthday to George's wife and great post York fun. I'm happy your buddy is available to help out. We all know train buddy's are the best. The benchwork is  a true milestone. Thanks for sharing this great progress.

Dave

George, I’m glad you had a great time!  Happy belated birthday to your wife!  It is great you got to spend time with Price, and he helped you get some great benchwork done.  The open hearth looks great in position.  It is nice you included a photograph of Price, who I have heard you speak of many times.

Happy belated birthday to your other half!

That open hearth is imposing up there on the layout. An absolute unit!

Updated10/22/2023:

This phase of bench work, the Weirton peninsula, is done!  Price and I finished the last two tables today, including the cutting of an access hatch.  Here's what the layout looks like now.

My thanks again to Price for his invaluable assistance.

Next steps are (before starting on track laying and wiring):

• Deep cleaning of the train room (we seem to have made tons of sawdust)
• Get all the tools back into their places
• Replenishment of some saber saw and Sawmax blades
• Move items back under the layout for storage

More when I know it! 

George

That's awesome! You're full speed ahead now!!

Do you already have the track on hand?

@BillYo414 posted:

That's awesome! You're full speed ahead now!!

Do you already have the track on hand?

Hi Bill!

Yes, I have track, subroadbed (Vinylbed), and wiring supplies on hand.  I still need to finish the hatch mechanism and make a few cuts (elliptical cut for Standard Slag).

George