CSX Hanover Subdivision

[Cajonpassfan]

Well, here is the bahnhof in the town I was born in ..

Bad Aimbling, Maryland?

[mu26aeh]

The first sound equipped locomotives have arrived on the CSX Hanover Subdivision !

20170107_173035[2] by Adam Henry, on Flickr

20170107_173017[1] by Adam Henry, on Flickr

Short run-by video, click on picture to go to Flickr to play
20170107_172346[1] by Adam Henry, on Flickr

Shut down sequence, click on picture to go to Flickr to play
20170107_172937[1] by Adam Henry, on Flickr

Will need to adjust the sound volume down, turbine is a little overpowering after a little while.

[Cajonpassfan]

LOL, yes that's the key to sound, a little bit goes a long way. Personally, I like my horns to be the loudest, but not too loud,  prime mover even when working hard way below that, and the bell hardly noticeable unless hardly moving. I also set everything on the layout to remain quiet and only speak when spoken to
(Many decoders come that way, but some need to be programmed).
Otto K.

[mu26aeh]

Yes, I've knocked the prime mover down to a value of 50, from 128 (max).  I can run them now and not be bothered by the whine.  Will mess around with more of the values after I do some more research and see what others do that are sound regulars.  These are my first sound units.

[mu26aeh]

In other news, survey crews have been in the area around Porters Sideling for the last few days.  Officials from CSX and YorkRail have had some concerns and complaints regarding trackage rights and car storage capacity issues.  I was able to get an overhead shot from a drone to see what a potential realignment may look like.

20170109_212553 by Adam Henry, on Flickr

Working left to right, they would straighten the track coming out of Hanover and bring the mainline closer to the aisle.  This would allow the center siding (old main line) to lengthen by a few cars.  Moving to the right side, the storage siding on the east side would get lengthened around to turn, gaining approximately 8-10 cars.  In order to do this, crews would have to build at least one curved turnout, possibly two adding significant engineering and construction costs to the job.  Surveying crews will continue to gather site information over the coming days.

[wm3798]

I enjoy watching how this layout is progressing.  You have put a lot of thought into it, both in terms of the prototype ops and the construction/planning.
Me likey.

Lee

[MichaelWinicki]

Luv Y's and that's a great looking one.

The extra capacity will serve the RR well.

[mu26aeh]

Over the last week or so, I've been able to acquire 18 more Peco turnouts at VERY good pricing (50% off retail or more ) so hopefully by the end of the week, I will have those in hand and will be able to complete the Atlas to Peco turnout transition I've been on thanks to some members suggestions here back when I started this thread.  They come at a good time as the trackwork will go hand in hand with the realignment and expansion at Porters.  I still needed turnouts for Hanover and Spring Grove (where the paper mill sits). 

20150726_182854 by Adam Henry, on Flickr

20150726_182917 by Adam Henry, on Flickr

2017-01-15_11-02-20 by Adam Henry, on Flickr

This also comes at a good time as I am thinking about changing the track layout of the paper mill area.  A couple weeks ago, John Frantz (friends of a few of you here on TRW) contacted me on FB with some pertinent modeling information for YorkRail and Spring Grove itself.  He sent over a YorkRail track chart, but more importantly he sent me this.

PHG Ship-Recv by Adam Henry, on Flickr

It's an overhead of the PH Gladfelter plant in Spring Grove, with the tracks and sidings drawn over top, along with all the labels for what goes where at the sidings.  Now given I only have an 18"x7' area to try to represent the mill in, I'm wondering if I can't do something a little more fitting for Spring Grove.  Back to doodle board until my turnouts arrive.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Dude! John is a great source of area knowledge. He's been incredibly helpful with my NCR work. I fully support another paper mill sprint to make it more prototypical. Think you have enough space to do the Frederick branch side too? heh...

[mu26aeh]

Dude! John is a great source of area knowledge. He's been incredibly helpful with my NCR work. I fully support another paper mill sprint to make it more prototypical. Think you have enough space to do the Frederick branch side too? heh...

I'm not sure I have the room right now with what I have but it will definitely get done when the next version. I'm going to start the process to looking into how much a renovation is going to cost to add the garage and change the existing garage to livable basement space.

[bdennis]

Looking forward to more paper mill ideas or other mills shown per the above.. Thats a great idea and will use it for reference for mine.. Thanks..

[mu26aeh]

Realignment construction commenced this evening after track and switches arrived on site.  A small cup of water, some thrusts of a small putty knife and the interchange at Porters and the CSX mainline are out of service ! 

20170120_204045 by Adam Henry, on Flickr

I will let everything dry out overnight and after a trip to Lancaster to see what I can scavenge from a closing hobby shop  , we'll get to tracing out the new lines and see how things will work.

[coldriver]

Hats off here!  Lots of people stay on the sidelines for years fearing that they might make a mistake in their layout planning and construction.  But for most of us, it's better to try something and if you're not satisfied you just tear it out and try again - no big deal.  Well done!   

[mu26aeh]

Update on Porters Sideling.  Had some help come over today to help layout the new track alignment for Porters.  We used an 8' strip of spline to get the right curves, easements and centerlines for the new roadbed.  We got everything drawn out before he had to leave.  Suggested I sit on it with the lines drawn and switches in place, and come back to look at it again later this week. 

20170122_172738 by Adam Henry, on Flickr

I sat on it for a little bit while watching the Packers take a seat in Atlanta.  I sat on it long enough, figuring it wasn't going to be any different.  And hopefully this won't be permanent as I have possibility to remodel in the future.  I worked until I ran out of cork and track.  I was able to get the mainline reconnected, leg of the wye to Spring Grove reconnected and lead going into Hanover reconnected.

20170122_201216 by Adam Henry, on Flickr

20170122_201229 by Adam Henry, on Flickr

I need about 6 more pieces of flex and cork to finish things out. 

[mu26aeh]

Ran into town and bought out the remaining stock of cork and flex from the LHS (not a lot stocked).  It was just enough to finish redoing the track work at Porters and have a couple pieces left. 

20170123_200520 by Adam Henry, on Flickr

20170123_200530 by Adam Henry, on Flickr

20170123_200601 by Adam Henry, on Flickr

I can now fit a 13 car train in the siding, and 5 cars on the inner leg of the wye if needed.  This is where the paper mill turn will originate/terminate.