The New Northern Central

[Steveruger45]

Yep, this ^^^^^^^^

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Another solution… drill out the knob with a much larger bit, fill the hole with epoxy, drill & tap the epoxy for the desired size thread, screw knob on.

I had originally thought of that, but then I realized I can just skip a step and just use the epoxy as is.

I thought about screwing studs in the end of the rod so I have some grip that way but i think that'll be overkill if I just cut some holes across the rod near the end.

[Philip H]

I thought about screwing studs in the end of the rod so I have some grip

TWSS!

 

 

[wazzou]

When I used those on my previous layout, I didn’t use any knobs. 
I just pushed or pulled the yellow rods.  It worked just fine.

[davefoxx]

Next up, let me complain about the MA&PA. Whoever told them THIS was the best way to interchange with the PRR can go eat a bag of Nixons.

Yes, as you would say, "Too model railroady." 

DFF

[chicken45]

It's about time.

But you're here just in time to catch me talking about knobs.

As discussed previously, I'm using these to control turnouts. But I've got one problem: they're tapped for 8-32 screws, and the Golden Rod control rods are all 2-56. I've been struggling with how to solve this problem for a while and this weekend realized the solution. Glue.

The end of the rod will fit inside the knob, so glue is only needed to hold it there. The knob is threaded, so I'm not worrying about a grip there, but the rod itself is very smooth. My plan is simply to put some knicks in it so that as the glue dries it'll solidify inside the cavities and the threads and it should NEVER come out.

Three months of head scratching is now over. I'm not doing the mounting yet, since I have to do it after the fascia is attached, but for now, problem solved.



Next up, let me complain about the MA&PA. Whoever told them THIS was the best way to interchange with the PRR can go eat a bag of Nixons.



But once in place, it definitely screams "York".

awww yissss I remember those days! Those fun knobs! We were all there in that basement. Everyone got a turn!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Yes, as you would say, "Too model railroady." 

DFF

I know. It's ridiculous. And even worse that the real thing is even worse.

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[Ed Kapuscinski]

Ok. While waiting on some barbaric physical media to rebuild the layout control PC, I've been making lots of ongoing track fitting progress in downtown York.

First, a little prototype overview. This is the area I'm working on:



It's changed a bit since the era I'm into, with the biggest change being the construction of the ballpark where the former Duke Street yard was.

Duke Street used to look like this (thanks @prropcrew for the photos):



In reality, Duke Street was a bunch of team tracks. By the 2000s one of the tracks became dedicated to a local business who built a building there.

In my world, Duke Street remains team tracks and also has the important job of where helper sets will lay over in York before heading back home to Parkton. That's what you see happening in this photo.



Of course, all is not rainbows and unicorns. Thanks to the harsh mistress that is benchwork, there will only be enough space between the switch into the yard here and the interlocking next to it for a pair of geeps. Two SDs don't fit. What does this mean? Well, if by some miracle the Blue Room (Conrail's power management team) somehow gives a helper crew a pair of six axle units (instead of the regular dogs breakfast of things like a GP15-1 and ailing U25B), they will need to worth with the dispatcher to get a truck's worth of headroom into the interlocking before they can tie their power down and go home.

There will be instructions left for the DS that the only move less important than this request is a D&H trackage rights train (cause that's Conrail, baby!).

[Ed Kapuscinski]

York is really starting to come together.
While sitting there staring at it from this viewpoint I got that "damn, this is really coming together" feeling.



I've got track in place now for the MA&PA and the transfer sheds.

Here's the MA&PA.



One of the things I struggled with was whether I should use Code 40 for the MPA track. I only have 5 sticks of it and was planning on using it for the Stewartstown, but after seeing this photo I realized it's really the way to go here. I can also get away with just using about 18" of it before it hits hidden staging and can go back to 55.



And speaking of staging, I realized that I can fit 4 50' boxcars into the yard tracks here at Poorhouse Yard. That's about equal with the staging that the MA&PA has, which means I can get away without cutting holes in the wall.



On the topic of track, I also solved one of the problems I had on the old layout.
I really like the look of sidings that have more widely spaced ties.

Everyone knew EXACTLY how important THESE tracks were on the old layout:





But achieving that effect was a pain in the a$$. I was using a knife to cut between each tie and it sucked.

Well, stone age technology to the rescue!



That's the Micro-Mark NWSL Chopper knock off. Note that I had to prop the track up at an angle to match the angle of the blade and through both sides at the same time. In my case the scale rule was close enough to do the job.

This made it go much quicker and avoided hand cramps.

[dem34]

Going to be honest, the chopper is probably the best $25 I've ever spent.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

So last night I reached a new milestone.

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It's all rough and needs quite a bit of refinement, but I have seen detection working and most excitedly, had a friend throw some switches over the internet.

It's only taken, what, $2000 worth of hardware to get here? lol.

Remote control was accomplished via something I hadn't learned about until a month ago: https://remotedesktop.google.com/

If you're comfortable using a Google service it makes granting remote control of your dispatcher desk incredibly easy. Install the browser extension, enter a code and you're off to the races.

I think this now means that the DS slot on future ops sessions is going to have some stiff competition due to its "remote work ok" nature. How 2021!

[Philip H]

I think this now means that the DS slot on future ops sessions is going to have some stiff competition due to its "remote work ok" nature. How 2021!

Oh I don't know about that - Jacksonville dispatches half of CSX remotely . . . .

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Check out these sexy LEDs!

Right now the light is lit if the switch is reversed, but the plan is ALSO to have it lit when the switch cover is unlocked.

These will be used on any hand thrown turnouts on signaled track.

It's a visual alert to crews that the dispatcher will not be able to line trains into the block unless everything's left properly secured.

I'm really happy with the aesthetics of these two elements here too. It took some looking to find stuff that looked cool instead of just going with the Ugg Boots and Yoga Pants approach.

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[Philip H]

he Ugg Boots might be ok, but I don't want to see you - or @chicken45 - in yoga pants.  Ever!

[chuck geiger]

You need to model this!