Starting Small with Operation

 Even a micro-sized or unfinished pike can still provide reasonable operations and the easiest way to get started is the Inglenook Sidings puzzle. I've just completed the oval as described in a previous post and, while I haven't added the Fiddle Yard yet, I can still enjoy shunting a few cars thanks to this simplest of switching puzzles.

I put eight cars on the layout in groups of five and three. Then I shuffle them and randomly select an ordered group of five to comprise my train. Then all that's left to do is assemble the cut. Each session fills a fun half hour.

 I use google sheets and select eight cars for the session. Then I simply shuffle their order using the randomize function. The first five (in order) is what my finished train should look like.

A note on the table: The notes that include "former" are cars I intend to repaint and letter in the near future. At that point the "MARKS" column will have their new road name and number.

How Slow Can You Go?

 You gotta go S-L-O-W if you hope to operate in a prototypical fashion. That is NOT something you can normally coax out of a Gilbert 300AC. Rightly so. The 4-4-2 Atlantic was an early passenger thoroughbred based on a prototype that flew the rails, pulling named consists on tight schedules and the AF model is true to the prototype.

So what did I do to achieve a low-end speed of under 11 scale MPH out of mine? Two things actually. 80% of my results come from a Port Lines "Scale Speed" Can Motor Conversion. It's an easy to install upgrade to performance for only $39 (DC operation). The other 20% comes from using a DC 'pulse' throttle - which in my case simply means a 50¢ schottky diode between one terminal of my Lionel Type "R" and my track.

With these two bits of hardware (and some clean track) it takes the Atlantic 17 seconds to crawl over fifty inches!

Managing Couplers

Since one of my goals is to eek out some level of Operation (with a capital "O") on the new pike, I've come up with a solution to hands-near uncoupling for any spot I need to set out a car... The Knuckle Buster™ Manual Uncoupling Tool.

           

 

This is a disposable ball point pen with a nail inserted into the ink tube. A tiny neodymium magnet is stuck to that and a short piece of the barrel is cut off and placed over it. This way the magnet can retract into the tube without trying to bring the coupler with it. The tool is placed in contact with the top of the knuckle. The magnet is lowered, making contact with the metal blade that protrudes from the top of the coupler, and lifts it up. This unlocks the knuckle. After which, the magnet retracts inside the tube. It's like I told my wife, "I got brains I ain't even used yet!".

A Blank Slate

 I once wrote an article about re-imaging a computer system titled "The Cold Heat of Nuclear Fusion is Your Friend" and that phrase came to mind as I was stripping the table of all it's history.

After chipping, scouring, and rasping the table down to more-or-less flat, I painted it with a thick coat of beige latex and covered it with a generous layer of sifted subsoil from my land. After it dried, I swept off the excess and pronounced it passable. Better pack it up for now. It looks like a storm's a-comin'.

   

Choices, Choices

 My first step was to sit down and outline what I wanted, needed, and had best avoid - in no particular order.

• I'll avoid bits. People, fine details, & trees among other things, were all bite-sized and out of the question.
• Structures should be sturdy enough to easily support 10kg of cat.
• Something besides my default setting... A biome other than "Temperate Broadleaf Forest" would be a nice change.
• Stick to a 4'x8' area with the possibility of expanding 'in the future'.
• Allow for continuous running.
• Realistic operation.
• Include at least one photogenic vignette.
  
• Generally prototypical (with some latitude).
• A railroad I haven't modeled before.

After throwing several ideas around, I settled on 'Temperate Steppe' through which will run a Santa Fe branch line. Zeroing in on a theme, I decided to model something reminiscent of Pritchett on the Manter Subdivision operations in Baca County Colorado, circa 1960.

The town of Pritchett was reached by an extension of the Manter Sub beyond it's Western terminus at Springfield, CO. The ~14 mile line from Springfield to Pritchett was operated under "Rule 93", meaning over-simply that the extension was considered part of the Springfield yard limits. My track diagram looks nothing like the real world...

 

 

Welcome to Tribble, Colorado. There are four locations for industries with "B" also including the depot. The continuous loop is a contrivance of simply joining spurs A & D. Here is what things will look like in the real world...

Like Pritchett, Tribble's raison d'être is grain. While grain sidings are normally double ended, I plan to locate a row of 'Prairie Skyscrapers' at 'D' to serve as a backdrop in this oppressively flat world. A 'Blue Flag' at the asterisk will add realism to our fakery. "East" is the fiddle yard.

I love a challenge.

The Previous Layout

 I've built model railroads over the past 45 years and in every scale from O to Z. My most recent foray is in S Gauge (1:64), American Flyer to be exact. My basement 4x8 featured the track plan from the American Flyer Factory Display #28141 (mirrored) and set in a crowded urban core. Here's what I had... before the kitten.