Union Station module build (NITGFMRNS!)

[x600]

I've been encouraged to start this build tread on construction of Mount Rainier N-Scale Union Station module project.
For those looking for a little more background on our group, see here:  mrns.org .
In 2023 we celebrated 30 years as an N Trak club and we're fortunate to have gathered together a skilled and talented group of N Scalers here in the Pacific Northwest. If you're interested,  type Ballard Why 2.0 in the search bar and you can see a previous major project. One or the great things about modular railroad clubs is you don't need to build a large home layout to be able to collect and run loooong trains. Some of the guys are particularly fond of passenger trains and it's not unusual to see a Zephyr,  a Builder, a
NCL, an Amtrak Coast Starlight, a Daylight, and a Broadway Limited running along side a Phoebe Snow (with the NKP through sleeper!), an Adirondack or a City of Anywhere. Our setup and staging yard is sometimes crowded with them. The problem is that the yard is inside the layout and the public doesn't get to see them.
 We were sitting around at a show and Frank Karreman asked why couldn't we build a passenger station module so trains could be parked out front to be seen by the public. We kinda came up with a set of 6ft - 4ft - 6ft set.
Since Frank is a professional architect we voted that he should draw up some plans. He came up with 3 6ft X 30in modules and we began to discuss different  operational schemes and changes.  Frank modified the plans to give us not only a place to display the trains but a fully operational terminal with a coach yard, a freight house, a REA/POST OFFICE siding,  a commissary, a rip track,
and diesel service and shop. What about steam?  Someone  ( @delamaize ? ) suggested  using an unused 4ft corner to contain a turntable,  roundhouse and service facilities for our big steam collection.  Oh, and working signals, please!
 The only thing left was figuring out a cost, then how to pay for it. The club carpenter (me), the retired club project manager, the architect,  and the electrical team submitted cost estimates to the club treasurer and a budget was born.

(I love to make a short story long, so get a beverage, some crunchy snack, sit back and see what happens!   

The first task was for me to procure the lumber and cover my garage in saw dust.






I turned this, ^ into this v .




We came up with the need for the control panel to be mounted on a drawer to tuck away when stored. I was able to come up with
a size that would work for the panel and fit into. The drawers are in the bottom photo. It was here -v- but I  had to replace it and messed up.



I then dug out my clamp collection  and made an attempt at the first SQUARE 6ft X 30in box.





Here is the " West Terminal " standing on it's own 4 legs. At this point I realize that this project is going to be cool.



More to come......
Greg O......                                                 OOOOPS.    V



NITGFMRNS

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All of the mountain line risers are completed and the drawer frames for the control panel are in




We thought about the panels being removable but the cable connector  to the layout would be a weak spot and then having the panels loose would cause some storage issues. 





The plywood tops were installed. I used two factory edges of the plywood to make sure the modules were square. After clamping and leveling the group ,I measured the square and it turned out they were 3/64th out in 18 feet. Damn, I'm thinking maybe starting over   The full scale plans were taped to the modules and I looked them over carefully to make sure that all of the tortoise machines miss the cross braces. An unexpected change came up because electrical wants blue point switch machines
On the coach yard ladder so the could install dwarf signals.





The next task is to transfer all the lines on the plans to the plywood so I can start laying cork.
Yesterday I  picked  up some goodies from the procurement department.  A box of code 80 Atlas, 3 boxes of cork, 2 rolls of cork sheet, 28 tortoise switch machines,  and 10 blue points. All of the Peco switches have been ordered and should be here soon.
I hope I'm not too old for this.

Greg O.........

[np1969]

I think this is really neat. It should be a big attraction at the next "?" Puyallup train show!

[x600]

We're going to try to have it operational by UNW/Monroe next year, but there is a lot of track and electrical to get through.
I'm gonna give it my best shot, but spring is coming and I'll have the steal some time from the work here at Rancho Da Nada.
More later

Greg O.......

[peteski]

That's going to be really nice for showing off passenger trains.
Years ago couple of fellow Northeast NTRAKkers built a 12' corner with a large passenger station on it.  It was done in 4 or 6 sections (I don't recall). It was never fully scenicked but the station structure was completed. I finished its fully illuminated interior including a crystal chandelier.    But transporting it was a real chore, and back then with only DC trains running its control system was relay-based and a complicated rat's nest of wires.  Then life happen and those guys lost interest (and their minivans to get it to shows). One of them also started a large N scale layout in his basement, and that set of corner modules sits buried under the layout. We recently discussed getting it out of the mothballs and bringing it up to today's standards, but even if we did that, transporting it to shows would be really problematic, So it sits under his layout.

Yours should be a really cool project and a crowd pleaser.

[randgust]

I looked at Ntrak for years and what stopped me was the tow vehicle.  Anything at least 4' long was going to be rather unwieldy, to be polite, and not fit into a regular vehicle.  Have a small pickup but then this rapidly starts looking like a small trailer....and a bigger pickup.
A triple in Ttrak works out to about 34" which even fits sideways in my Subaru, with the case.   
I have a modular portable layout in two sections, built for tabletop, predating Ttrak.   The original is 18x36, the logging add-on is 21x42.   You wouldn't think that would make all that much difference in weight....
WRONG.
The bigger one is now a two-man haul, and is just a beast to get in and out of the house.  I can lift it, about 50 lb.  And they are built to take abuse, same deal, real wood, real glue, real screws, everything glued down.  The little one rolled down a set of stairs once and actually stayed together.

While I absolutely love the construction and concept, holy smokes is that going to be heavy.   I thought I was bad using thin aspen plywood and hard shell.   And my rule of thumb was never make anything wider than 30" to get through a door, upright; my own layout modules in the basement top out as 27x48, but that's to get them out of the house if I have to move (again).

If you have a truck and team to haul it, no problem, but that's my first take.  You're gonna need wheels like a Gurney.  Think landing gear.

One of the most impressive things I ever saw was Jerry Britton taking the actual Harrisburg, PA station ICC valuation maps, enlarging them to N scale, and putting them right down on his benchwork as a track guide.  It was one entire side of his basement, but it was just a massive and beautiful multi-track terminal and trainshed concept.  He never finished it.  It was all torn down. 

[x600]

Thanks, Pete,
The whole idea is to please the crowds. (and run trains ) We are very fortunate to have some very dedicated N-Trakers, and we're all getting older but we've been picking up a few youngsters to carry on with the mission. So doing sturdy modules that will stand the test of time and bring interest to the hobby keeps us motivated and enthusiastic.
Transporting and storing the modules has always been a priority. We built a 16ft trailer and steel racks with wheels that hauled almost the whole layout, but as we grew it became evident that we needed a bigger trailer, so now we have a 20 ft X 7 ft tall that holds all of the club property and some of the members modules. There is room for this group but we have to modify a few racks.  A far as the weight of each module, we roll the rack in the venue and just pull the module off the rack and set it right on its legs. Two guys to pick up the module and one to handle the legs. The younger guys do the lowest level if they want to run trains!
 I would love to do T Trak especially after loading up the layout after a show, but I am too deep in N Trak. We do have a oNe track junction and I have a few modules, but we only use that at a few shows and it never really took off. I also got the Viaduct module that I want to do as a Free MoN module and haul it to Evanston'27. When I'm gone the modules can live on or get tossed in the dumpster ala @wm3798.
BTW, Randy, I missed meeting you at Altoona in'23 you were right around the corner from me, but I didn't know it. After I found out where you were, I came by a few times, but you were busy with payin' customers.

Nothing to show yet as I'm just getting all the track centers in and will be starting cork soon.

Thanks fo Lookin !

Greg O......

[delamaize]

I don't remember who's idea the corner Loco facility was, But I'm glad to see that old corner I have going to good use! Now, when it's time to bring it out to Casa DaNada, I hope the weather holds out, I don't think it will fit in the back seat of by truck, and I still don't have a canopy. Too bad that nice Fleischmann turntable I have will not work....

[x600]

 I could come get it when the time comes. It'll be a while before I have room for it. I want to get the West Yard and maybe the Station Module off to the
electrical team. then I can bump it up to the East Yard and tie it in. I'm waiting on the switches and rail joiners to come in before I can lay track.
We also have a box coming from the UK. I don't know if anyone ever saw these, but if you're doing FreeMo or other modular layouts but we found these cool
ProTrack RailAligners from modeltech.uk. Procument Dept. sent for a s#!t load and this is the perfect project to use them. We will probably put them on the Ballard Why/Hazelton yard joints. They're not cheap about $13 US for 10. Considering I won't have to use my usual PC board strips at the joints, they're probably worth the time saved.

I finished the track centers on the Mountain line and got the main line and passing sidings done. I'm going to wait on the switches to do the industrial sidings as some areas will have cork sheet.



The West End industrial area has some tight spots,so I will need the switches and mabe a few of the buildings to fit eveything neatly. I have some used switchs to use for fitting but I may have to modify some of the new ones to fit. NO! I'm not going to hand lay them! Yeats ago I may have done it but not now. 





This mess feeds the grain elevator and 2 switchbacks to 4 industries.






Next up; Cork The Mains!
Sorry for the sideways pics, that's just the way my life is right now.

Greg O....

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Slow progress up to now. A few days of good weather for yard work, and a small "side job" that turned into a bit more, took most of my time. There wasn't much to do yet as I was waiting on the switches. Well they arrived and what a shock. From the procurement department, I picked up 50 Peco switches, 28 tortoises, 20 Blue Points and some cool track alignment pieces.  I also got the Station mockup so I can make sure the track alignment fits in the concourse.
Here is the station mockup in place.

The pile of stuff I got was a little intimidating as getting it all at once is a bit much.



Here's the Alignment pieces from ModelTech. they are pretty slick. The little nubs line up the track at the module joints. We're going to investigate using them to replace the @#$%$# joiner tracks on the rest of the layout. How come none of you FreeMoN guys pointed these out, or did I miss it.
check them out, they make lots of cool stuff like this in several scales. www.modeltech.uk



One more day at my "little side job" and I'm gonna hold my nose and dive in head first.

Greg O.....

[Lemosteam]

Here's the Alignment pieces from ModelTech. they are pretty slick. The little nubs line up the track at the module joints. We're going to investigate using them to replace the @#$%$# joiner tracks on the rest of the layout. How come none of you FreeMoN guys pointed these out, or did I miss it.
check them out, they make lots of cool stuff like this in several scales. www.modeltech.uk


One more day at my "little side job" and I'm gonna hold my nose and dive in head first.

Greg O.....

With this design I can only assume that the soldered rails on these are allowed to float, because if they are glued down, eventually they will become shifted and the alignment will be negated, UNLESS the two pieces are linked to allow the adjacent track to float together. Only question is, if they are supposed to float, what is the vertical constraint used?

[nickelplate759]

Is that an NKP sleeper on track 3?

[Frank Amato]

Epic build @x600 

[seusscaboose]

Is that an NKP sleeper on track 3?

blue roof = likely
or a 5 bdr lounge (City of XX)

[x600]

I'm not sure what the question is, John. This is an experiment on our part, hoping to solve the joiner track infection on our layout. If you look closely, there are 3 nail holes which should take care of lateral alignment, the vertical alignment will be controlled by 3 3/8th ID steel tubes with 3/8th bolts and wing nuts locking the modules into one long structure. I'd like to think that it could stand with one set of legs on each end, but I've been wrong before. Nobody got hurt that time. 
Boy, I can't sneak anything past you NKP guys. This is my test train, City of Lima, DL&W Tunkhannock, and "Mount Rainier".
Started actually laying track today, I forgot how much fun it is.

More to come soon. Thanks for looking!

Greg O......