Yippee! Interlocking Turnouts All Powered

Yippee! The nine turnouts leading to and within Heyl Interlocking are all powered, and three of them have the indicator lights installed after today's work by Brian Post. You may remember from earlier posts this interlocking plant will allow trains to come from any one of four tracks - two from the lower level and two down the grade from the upper level - and proceed on any of the four tracks; I envision that on operating sessions, this will be one ops position by itself. The boards with the switches and lights are VERY temporary. I have found a professional sign maker who will laser-cut the panels and drill the holes at a reasonable rate when the time comes. With today's progress, about all that is left with the turnout completion are the remaining six lights, and installation of the final ten at Attica Yard. Things are moving along.

Scratch Built Engine House

When friend and Lexington, KY resident Allan Silverberg sent me a photograph of the RJ Corman engine house built from containers, I knew immediately there had to be one on the Paducah & Lake Erie. I started with eight 40' containers, glued them together two high and two end-to-end, and then set about making the trusses from styrene (top photo at left). I determined from the photo the roof had a 20-degree slant, and I decided I wanted the outside dimension to be 6" wide. This is meant to be a single stall engine house, although the prototype in Lexington is two tracks wide. After gluing the trusses in place on the containers, the next task was to build the base. The prototype has the track set in concrete, and my answer was to make a three-layer "sandwich".

Layers in my "sandwich" start with Woodland Scenics N-gauge 3mm road bed, topped by 2mm scrap plastic (compliments of Ken Heyl's finding it on a rail fan outing) to bring it even with the ties, and finally - yet be completed - topped with .020" styrene painted to look like concrete (paint is drying as I write this). That's the state of the project now (lower photo on left). Still to be completed is the roof, the front and back siding, interior lights, and exterior details that will include electric box, air conditioner(s), soda machines, etc. When finished, it will sit at the end of Attica Yard. This is my first scratch building effort; I have enjoyed it and plan to do more. As part of the project, I am writing a two-part "how-to" article for the National Model Railroad Association's (NMRA) Gateway Division newsletter with Part One having appeared in the Spring 2012 issue. Part Two will appear as soon as the building is done and in place.

Ops Session Changes Priorities

Guests of the P&LE for the first time this evening were the Gandy Dancers, a sub-set of the NMRA's Gateway Division that meets weekly at different member's homes. When they arrived, I had engines and rolling stock scattered all over the railroad to clear out Attica Yard; I asked them to take an engine(s) and return all the cars they could to the yard. It was an eye-opening experience. The railroad ran well, but it quickly pointed out the priority - a new rank order I might add - to be followed in the progression of building the railroad. It is amazing what a 30-minute, essentially unorganized operating session can reveal in terms of weaknesses of the system. It was a lesson I shall not forget, nor will I ignore in the future. The photo to the left is that of a kit bash by Ken Heyl and a remarkable likeness of the Station Inn in Cresson, PA, where we stay on our trips to the Horseshoe Curve. The one guy in our group that has seen the real thing recognized it immediately. Good work Ken! Now back to making that NEW priority list of tasks to be tackled.

New Addition to P&LE

Newest addition to the P&LE is this Trackmobile, compliments of neighbor and good friend Joe Voetter, who worked for the company for over 30 years and, as a sideline, developed this model which is now sold commercially. This little guy will have a number of places to be active, including the LKL Steel Works, the Paducah Engine Facility, or other places where one or two cars need to be moved short distances.

One of the RS3's out of the David James engine shop and Steve Morr paint shop is on the point of a CSX unit coal train. Love those unit trains. More work today with Brian Post on wiring, programming, and general tuning of the railroad.

Turnout Switches, Position Lights

Work is starting on installing turnouts, wiring control switches (DPDT), and adding panel position lights (bi-color LEDs). In a VERY temporary installation, top photo shows the control switch and position light on scrap piece of peg board. Eventually, the panel will be painted Plexiglas.

The lower photo shows the back of the panel and the wiring. The extra wire is to allow for flexibilty in positioning the permanent panel. We are using blue and white buss and lead wiring for the turnouts - the track buss and leads are red and black. Ultimately, the accessory wiring will be green and yellow.

The major electronic work is being done by local model railroader Brian Post. Brian can do in an hour what it would take me a day or more to accomplish, and do it infinitely better.

P&LE Roster

The P&LE roster is starting to build as power comes back from the David James engine shops in Brecksville, Ohio, and the Steve Morr paint shops in Ashland, Ohio. Here are five of the work horses slated for heavy duty. The two P&LE Alco's will work in general freight service, the heavily worn #1083 will see action in the LKL Steel Works scheduled to be built yet this year, and the two units in the back, purchased from the late Dave White's Buckeye Western Railroad, will work Attica Yard. Not in the photo are a pair of SD 40-2's in Conrail livery; they served as helpers out of Altoona in real life and will function the same on the P&LE, and three more modern road engines - two from CSX and one UP. Things are starting to pick up on the Paducah & Lake Erie. NOTE: To enlarge any of the photos in the blog, simply click on them.

Railroad Running Well

Primarily on the efforts of David James, the Paducah & Lake Erie is running well. David was here a short time last weekend, and again for two days here at the end of the week. The major issues we got accomplished were (1) adding leads from the ramp leading from the helix -- not a lot of fun, but necessary, (2) adding leads to power Attica Yard and the passing siding on the lower level, and (3) adding decoders to several engines. Yes, David even taught me, kinda, how to install decoders. The primary thing I learned is that if you've seen the inside of one engine ... you've seen the inside of one engine. We pulled five of them apart, and NOT ONE of them was like any of the others. But in the final analysis, all the engines with decoders are running well, everywhere on the railroad. It's just about time to start on some of the fun parts, i.e., building something besides track! More later, and soon!