Test Section 1 - Right of way construction

Its been a number of years since I've done any right of way construction so a good way to refresh my skills is to create a ROW test section. In this case I will model a Class A main line to passing track vignette. There are be 5 general goals for the test section.

1. Experiment with scenery landforms: embankments and flat ground.
2. Install a Class 1 main line and passing track, upgrading and installing a commercial turnout, detailing both track and turnouts, 
3. Construct right of way ditch, drains and culverts.
4. Experiment with scenery ground cover: dirt grass and weeds . 
5. Add miscellaneous right of way items, such as hand and motor car set-offs, rail rests, etc.
6. Build a cantenary system for displaying future electric locomotives (see 8.11.5 Electrics)

Specific Goals. On this test section I want to do several things:

1. Install a Class 1 main line and passing track, upgrading and installing a commercial turnout, detailing both track and turnouts, 
2. Experiment with Right of Way ditch, drain and culvert construction. 
   
3. Build hot wire roadbed ditching tools.
4. Hot wire a standard WWSL right of way embankment, surface drain, and single and double track ditch.

Design Considerations

• The diorama will generally be flat ground on which the main track and passing track is constructed.  An embankment will slope downward to the front, and a surface drain will slope downward to the rear toward an elevated sloped landform.
• I will use the WWSL Common Standard right of way designs. Those standards are modified from the Union Pacific Common Standards Book as appropriate to my locale, era and modeling supplies. 
• WWSL Common Standard Shinohara Code 83 flex track and turnouts will be used.
• A variety of ditches, drains and culverts appropriate to the WWSL main line will be identified built and installed. 
• The embankment must be of sufficient height to justify culverts and the surface drain will require a culvert for drainage.

Right of way.  

The test section is going to represent a WWSL Common Standard High Maintained Double Track entailing a main line with a turnout leading to a passing track. An embankment with drainage runs along the front of the test section, parallel to the main line.  A surface drain runs along the rear of the test section, parallel to to the passing track.

WWSL Common Standard 4.2.11.2  Modeling Technique for High Maintained Track was used for ballast profile, and general right of way design. The embankment information is on the left side of the Common Standard. In the center, the contour is the double track roadbed ditch. On the right side, the contour is the typical roadbed ditch.

Materials

Railroad ties. Railroad ties are going to be Shinohara flex track ties. Tie spacing will be WWSL Standard No. 2. Shinohara flex track tie spacing is almost correct for WWSL Standard No. 2. All it takes is compressing the ties linearly just a bit to get it into 'close enough'. No web cutting necessary. See 4.1.3  Ties for additional details.

Rail. Rail will be Shinohara Code 83 representing ARA 132 lb rail.

Turnout. Turnout will be Shinohara Code 83 No. 6 Frog with 15.6" point rails. I am not planning to make tie spacing changes to the Shinohara Code 83 No. 6 turnout. Common Standards that I have seen treat turnouts differently from general tie standards and I had no problem not following that prototype rule. I did 'tune up' the turnout for better operations. See 4.2.5 Turnouts for specific technique. 

Test Section Construction. The test section was shelf construction using 1x2 open grid for the framework and flat panel for the track support system. This panel is 36 inches long and 12 inches wide. In this case I used some salvaged chip board - not my usual extruded polystyrene foam section for the track support (subroadbed). The chip board was an ok decision as it is temporary and won't have to withstand much water damage from the track, ballasting and scenery installation. See 3.3.4 Shelf for construction details.

Sub-ballast layer. I used an oddball piece of 2 inch rigid stryrofoam. I used woodworkers yellow glue to glue down the styrofoam to the chip board. I have section panels that has remained solidly glued for 20+ years so it's a no brainer for this shelf.

Project Process

1. Laying out the roadway 

I am not going to go into great detail about putting down the roadbed lines. See the Right of Way Reference Page  for the details if you haven't had the fun to do it before.

The determining factor on laying out the roadway was based on the slope of the embankment. I wanted the embankment to end near the front edge of the test section, allowing for room to the rear of the section for the Maintenance of Way section elements.  In addition I am going to: 

1. Lay out all the auxiliary roadbed elements, in this case: rail rest, hand or motor car set off, turnout ditch profile, MOW shed locations. etc., toward the rear of the test section.
   
2. Lay out all the drainage elements along the front of the test section. In this case the following drainage elements will be modeled:
   

One of the issues I had in previous WWSL versions was the curvature of the track into the passing track. The curvature is an "S" curve and can cause derailments with longer length rolling stock. On the prototype there may be a curve but the easiest way to layout the curve is to template that curve as you would for a two track crossover.

 In this case I placed the mainline turnout about centered on the test section, then used two turnout templates to determine the curvature. The second No. 6 turnout is on aligned to the passing track, connect the two switches with a straight track, moving the passing track turnout to align, then cut in the layout lines for the track. No fuss, no muss and no trying to ease the curve into the passing track.

Basic module

Laying out the main line

Laying out the passing track

Locating the turnout

Laying out the turnout easement

Marking the curve

2. Laying down the track

I am not going to go into great detail about laying down the track. I use a wooden straight edge temporarily screwed into the foam to align the flex track strip. To effectively use this technique it requires laying down the track from the rear to the front. See 4.2.3 Straight Track for specific technique.

adhering the turnout

adhering the passing track

adhering the main track

3. Laying out the auxillaries

I have three Maintenance of Way structures to add to the test section:

• Tool shed
• Handcar or motor car platform
• Rail rest
• Tie storage

4. Hot wiring the landforms and ditches

 

Embankment. Embankment slopes are engineered based on the topography of the right of way and the materials used for building the embankment. Looking at the Common Standards I noticed that the culvert design plans were based on an embankment slope of 1.5 :1. Using that standard for my embankment significantly eases follow on construction of culverts, etc. in this case the embankment is on the front side of the test section. See 4.1.1.2 Embankments for construction details.

I cut the embankment with a carpenters hand saw but you could use a hot knife or a hot wire just as easily. I could have built a hot wire tool but it would have taken just as long to build the tool as cut the embankment. Other embankments on the WWSL will require a hot wire tool, and I will build one when the time is right. 

Cutting out the embankment

Cutting out the embankment ditch

 

5. Installing initial track details

After all that work I added some initial track details. In this case I was installing two specific track details: Joint Bars and Bonding Wires. The joint bars are etched brass from xxxx and represent 6 bolt joint bars.  I applied them with a tweezers and dab of canopy glue every 39 HO scale feet, the length of the prototype sections of rail. To save resources I only did the front side of each rail.

 

The 1st (Northern) Division of the WWSL is electrified. Electrified railroad track requires rail bonding.  Each rail joint is bonded for electrical continuity. I model this rail bonding by adhering a small copper wire at each joint bar with tweezers and a dab of CA.

Adding turnout details

Adding joint bars

Adding bonding wires

 

Adding gauge bars

Adding joint bars

Adding bonding wires

 

6. Painting the ties and rail

Ties and rails were painted using the WWSL Common Standard 4.2.11.1 Modeling Technique for High Maintained Track. See 4.2.13 Painting Ties and 4.2.14 Painting Rails for the general techniques.  I was eventually going to paint all my track work with either an airbrush or my trusty Camo Brown spray cans.

Adding track details

Painting the ties

Painting the rail

 

 

 Final trackwork photo

Break In Track

In my earlier model railroading days, I didn't go into high end locomotives. Athearn Blue Box was my choice - frankly that brand WAS the leading edge of technology and quality. With David Burrows minimalist philosophy in mind,  out of the box and onto the track was acceptable in my mind. Direct Current and analog control systems didnt require any tune ups or configuration upgrades, etc.

With DCC the whole philosophy changes. DCC requires programming tracks, can motors and drive trains require break in, decoders need speed control tweaking, and double heading requires speed matching. It really doesn't work on a railroad modeling layout. Something else is needed to do all that programming, tweaking and speed matching.

Given and druthers

For the current test objectives, the givens and druthers for this test layout are as follows:

1. The test track needs to be conveniently located near my workshop. The main motivation for building it is to have a place to quantify my tune up impact of the various HO locos that I work on.
2.  It needs to be in a spot that will be undisturbed for long periods of time.
3. The grade needs to be zero in the level portion. It needs to adjust to a maximum 2.5%. Grade change based on raising the table legs.
4. The length of the active test sections needs to be long enough to ensure that the acceleration of the test unit has stabilized to zero. It needs to be capable of allowing an hour break-in run (50% forward and 50% reverse).
   
5. The track sections shall be wired using DCC best practices. The initial tests will all be DC, later testing will also include DCC testing.
6. The track roadway shall be cork strip and the track shall be adhered to the cork with acrylic caulk.

I had to smile when, after noting how various modelers were handling the break-in challenge, it came to mind that a circle, the basic layout of a Christmas present decades ago. An older mind contemplated putting it under the benchworked but not built helix, but not being able to see the locomotive in motion was the drawback.

I walked past the solution every day for a couple of years before I realized the solution.

If you've read my earlier planning pages you know that I have a pretty decent basement for railroad modeling. The stairs are at one end of the basement, the utilities are centralized in two better than ok locations allowing for lots of uninterrupted railroad. My crew lounge / workbench area substitutes for a utility room when I'm not modeling. 

I have a rolling dispatcher's desk that abuts against the furnace area when operations are ongoing .....

The dispatching area! To hide the furnace during operations, I built a folding wall from four 2 foot by 6 foot plywood panels secured by hinges with removable pins. The dispatchers desk is placed along the furnace wall. What if that break in track was a circle on a 4' x 4' plywood panel and hinged to the hinged panels? Move the desk and raise the panel for break in operations and leave it hinged downward and out of sight the rest of the time.

Construction. Construction was very simple.

1. 4 foot x 4 foot by 3/4 inch plywood, painted all 6 sides WWSL subsoil color to allow easier observation of wheel sets in operation .
2. 1" x 2" frame to prevent warpage and protect track from being bumped, or torn loose when in storage (or rolling stock from falling on the floor).
3. Two 3 inch hinges to attach the module to the dispatcher wall panel.
4. Midwest cork roadbed to minimize track noise during motor and drive train evaluation.
5. Atlas Code 83 flex track  - 21 inch radius (minimum WWSL curvature). Code 83 rail height will also help me find those oversize flanges on rolling stock for replacement.
   
6. 18 gauge wire for track feeds.
7. Electrical panel for amp voltage meters and DC/DCC easy connect plugs.
   

Stored configuration

Upright configuration

Electrical

 I haven't gotten the final electrical configuration worked up right now. My plan is to use an old personal computer power supply (See 6.2.5 Power Supplies for additional details) for the 12V DC with a Model Rectifier Corporation Cab Control 77 power controller (I think it was the first 'hand held' throttle advertized) hooked up to the track bus. I will add DC amp and volt meters for analysis.

For DCC I will have a power bus line from the DCC system to the same track bus.

In the meantime I was able to test the test track with an old DC power pack, the Cab Control unit and some jumpers… Around and around the locomotives go during the break-in process!