modeltrain

Coil car project finished

pbtrains — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 15:17:23 +0000

This week I finally finished my Railyardmodels coil cars. Work was slow so I had time to decal and weather the cars.

I’m happy with the way the cars turned out. Now on to the next project, building a plastics plant.

updates on projects

pbtrains — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 18:50:31 +0000

I have 2 projects to update everyone on. First is the car project from Rail Yard Models. I have the cars built and painted, they are just waiting for decals.

For my first time building a craftsman kit like this it went very well. The second project involved moving a building.

I wanted to change the scene around the grain elevator to include the area where they keep the overflow of corn. They put it on the ground in a fenced in area until they have room in the elevator.

I had no idea what to use for the corn, but then it hit me. Why not use yellow corn meal, after all it is corn. My main concern was with it getting moldy, but I have enough glue in it to prevent that from happening ( I hope ). The building I moved also found a new home.

I just happened to fit perfectly it my city scene that needed one more building. Well that was my changes for the week. Hope to have more done by next weekend.

Welcome to the CM&W railroad

pbtrains — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 14:22:04 +0000

I’ve wrote about this before, but wanted to reintroduce people to my model train layout. The CM&W stands for the Central Minnesota and Western. The layout is based on a old Great Northern line from St. Cloud MN to Fargo ND. The portion I model is from St. Joe MN ( just outside St. Cloud ) to Dalton MN ( just east of Fergus Falls MN ). The layout occupies a 18 by 11 foot room in our basement and has 3 different levels that the trains run on.

All 3 levels are connected by a helix, so a train can travel the entire length of the layout. It takes about 15 minutes for a train to do so.

The scenery on the upper level is complete and I’m working on the middle level. With in a year or so all scenery should by complete and then I can go back and make touch ups or redo areas that I don’t care for.

The road job

pbtrains — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:54:47 +0000

For my operators who just like to run trains from one end of the layout to the other, I have the perfect job for them. On any given day in my model world, there can be 3 trains that run the entire length of the railroad. The first being a BNSF unit grain train coming from Fargo ND. It travels over the Otter Tail Valley to Fergus Falls, that’s where the CM&W takes over. It goes on to Albany and takes the branch line to Pierz MN where there is a large elevator that is part of the BNSF shuttle train network. Peirz is actually a hidden staging track, so once the train is hidden away the operator can grab train number 2. This train is a unit coal train from St. Paul to Fergus Falls. Coal is barged up river to St. Paul, then loaded into coal cars. The CM&W has trackage rights over BNSF for this move. On the layout, the train goes from the lower staging yard ( St. Cloud ) to the upper staging yard ( Fergus Falls ). The third train is another unit grain train. This one is run for the Otter Tail Valley from Fergus Falls to Savage MN where grain is loaded into barges for a trip down river. On the layout this operator would start with the BNSF job then move over to the road jobs. Since it takes about 15 minutes to go from one end to the other, if all 3 trains run it will take some time to finish. Keep in mind that this is a single track railroad, so meets will have to be set up with both locals too. All this together will add up to a great time with the train guys.

The East local

pbtrains — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 13:48:35 +0000

The East local is the larger of the 2 locals because it carries the BNSF interchange traffic. It starts switching trailing point spurs in Sauk Centre, then Albany, and Avon before coming to St.Joe. Once in St. Joe they make the interchange with BNSF. When this is done the crew will take a few minutes to reorganize the train for the trip back to Alexandria. Most of the switching will be done on the way back as this is the way the switches were laid out. When the crew arrives in Alexandria they have to sort out the cars for the CP interchange. The rest of the cars will be delivered to the industries the next day so they can be put on a siding. After they bring the engine to the engine house it is time to call it a day. This run will take a operator about 1 hour to complete which I think is long enough.

The west local

pbtrains — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:40:32 +0000

The west local is the smaller of the 2 locals leaving the Alexandria yard. With only 3 towns en-route there is not much switching to do. The first town is Brandon, here Barrier products loads 60′ boxcars with lumber. Next on the list is Evansville, where a grain elevator and a oil distributor need cars. The local leaves the grain cars for a unit grain train that will pass later, but spots them where the unit train can grab them because of the track arrangement. Last but not least is the ethanol plant in Dalton. They have a Trackmobile so they leave the loads on the passing siding. All our crew has to do is grab the loads and leave the empties on the siding. This being the last town, the crew can head back to Alexandria, the only work left would be if West Central Oil in Evansville still needed to be switched out because it’s a trailing point spur. If no work is needed it’s back to the yard where they will break there train and sort the cars. BNSF cars in one track and CP cars in another. When done they bring the engine to the engine house and call it a day.

CM&W yard job

pbtrains — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 15:56:20 +0000

The main job on the CM&W is the yard job. The CP rail drops cars in the Alexandria yard at night and it is the yard jobs duty to sort the cars and switch the local industries. Also the East local brought cars from the BNSF the day before that is added to the mix. There are 6 industries in Alexandria that need to be switched out first. This will take 2 operators about 30 minutes to do. After this is completed they need to make up the East and West locals. All cars for the BNSF are added to the East local to go to the interchange in St. Joe. All cars for the CP rail will stay in the yard and cars will be added to them as the locals return later in the day. While the operators are working in the yard, the BNSF local described yesterday is also at work. This keeps 3 people busy at this time.

BNSF job

pbtrains — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 16:13:41 +0000

The newest addition to the operating plan is the BNSF job. The lower staging yard was torn out last month and in its place the town of St. Joe MN was created. BNSF is in St. Cloud proper ( as of 2003-ish it had been the Northern Lines ) and they run a train out to St. Joe to do interchange with the CM&W. BNSF also serves 2 customers in St. Joe. They are Borgert stone, they make patio pavers and ship them by rail. They also serve Knife River Corp., they have a cement trans-loading site there. So the BNSF train will come out of the helix to which I added a stub end staging track and switch out it’s customers. Once completed they will leave cars for the CM&W on the siding and take the cars the CM&W left for them the day before. This job should take a operator about 20 minutes, after that they will get another assignment.

First things first

pbtrains — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:41:22 +0000

The first thing to do when operating is to assign jobs. They are, West local, East local, and the Road job. There is also a small BNSF job. Once assigned, the crew members can start there tasks of moving freight cars across the railroad. Good communication is very important to safe movements of the trains. On a DCC controlled layout wrecks can happen if we don’t communicate. Fortunately for me, my layout room isn’t so large that it makes it hard to hear each other. I don’t see the need for radios. As for a dispatcher, for now I handle this job because I’m most familiar with the layout.

New operating plan for the CM&W

pbtrains — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:48:36 +0000

Over the next few days I will describe the new operating plan for the CM&W railroad. Even though my railroad is made up I still want it to operate like the real thing. The main purpose for the railroad is to move freight. After coming up with plans that didn’t work right, the latest idea I have will. I went back to the drawing board and redesigned the railroad ( and layout) to be more of a small short-line. I originally wanted it to be more of a regional railroad, but the track plan would not support it and that could not be changed without divorce lawyers involved. So the plan I came up with needs 3 people to run the layout which is the right amount to fit into the room and not get in each others way.