Mark E. Norman, Modeler
Welcome to the Saint John’s & Atlantic Transportation network. This article describes a challenge faced at the beginning of summer 2005 and what was done to meet it. My hope is that one or more of the techniques used will be of value to you, my fellow model railroaders.
A goal was set to have all track work completed for the SJ&A by the end of 2005. Extensive work had been completed in all but the central area. This area, the industrial part of Jacksonville, Florida is the most complex on the layout and has the closest tolerances. Before putting the track and turnouts in place, it seemed prudent to “pencil them in” on the layout to make sure they would fit. Before describing how this was done, let us digress momentarily while I describe the layout.
The Saint John’s & Atlantic was designed by John Armstrong based on criteria set forth by the author. It operates between Jacksonville, south through Winter Haven and southwest through Tampa. The tracks roughly parallel the Saint Johns River until reaching Sanford, a town just north of Orlando. South of Sanford the tracks enter the continually more metropolitan area of Orlando. A southern yard/turnaround location can be built following the prototype yard in Taft, south of Orlando. The Jacksonville area constitutes a major portion of the layout with extensive interchange traffic north through Georgia to the Midwest, plains states, and eastern seaboard. To the west there is an interchange with CSX at Baldwin and traffic through the panhandle to points west. Along the Atlantic coast via FEC service is provided to south Florida and the NLAX at the space coast. Within Jacksonville there is switching among the industries.
The SJA has a business alliance with CSX Transportation which is also based in Jacksonville. The businesses operate independently. For purposes of modeling, SJA operates the prototype CXS tracks south of Jacksonville. CSX operates all other trackage it normally would operate in this area.
The first challenge faced in the Jacksonville industrial zone was to transfer the scale drawing to the layout. As mentioned at the beginning of this article, there are close tolerances in this part of the layout. Additionally, an accurate count was needed of the turnouts required to complete the track work. It is the nature of our hobby that back orders are inevitable. Advance planning helps keep the project moving along.
As an aid to drawing the layout, John Armstrong had penciled in a one foot square grid pattern. The first order of business for me became to create this same grid pattern on the layout surface. One particular advantage of modeling Florida is that the layout is flat. Indeed, the layout rests upon either one or two inch thick sheets of construction Styrofoam. The Styrofoam sheet has been painted sand color because; well, because Florida is sand!
The grid patterns were literally snapped into place using a chalk line. This handy tool is inexpensive and can be found at most any hardware store. It left a distinctive blue grid line to reference.
Cardstock templates were made of the turnouts that would be used in this part of the layout. These templates were then placed on the layout and aligned according to the master plan. Immediately, the challenge of keeping these templates aligned came to the fore. By way of example, consider a yard ladder where the first turnout is located six or seven feet from the last turnout. One solution was to strike a new chalk line. This was immediately abandoned as having two sets of blue lines on the layout would leave the author hopelessly confused. Furthermore, there was a need to be able to “move the line” occasionally. A flexible alternative was needed.
The first part of the solution was to put a “needle” into the Styrofoam where the turnout frog would be. These needles are actually the short sections of wire from Tortoise switch machines. By way of explanation, I use long lengths of piano wire when installing the switch machines and then trim them to length. The leftover wires have just been accumulated over time. They make for excellent markers on a Styrofoam base.
A low-tech solution was used for marking the first frog. Next, a high-tech solution was used to position the last frog. Enter the laser.
In recent years, lasers for home maintenance have come down in cost making them a viable addition to the tool chest. In my case, a comparatively simple model was chosen. The laser was placed on the layout surface with the wire marking the first frog through a hole at the back of the device. The laser was then carefully turned until the red laser line matched what was seen on the drawing. Another wire marker was then placed in the distance. When the laser light struck the wire, it clearly sparkled in the reflected light. The track and turnouts would be aligned between these points.
Caution: When using any laser device, extreme care must be exercised. Do not look into the laser. Be careful to avoid turning it on where someone might inadvertently walk into the beam.
Once these two positions were marked with wire, the exact turnout location was established using the templates and sometimes a tape measure. For example, there might be a turnout on a ladder track every 11 inches or some other distance. Again, the laser would be turned on and wires put in place along the line of light. If it was later determined that something had to be shifted, it was simply a matter of pulling up the wires and starting over. Indeed, you will find a few extraneous holes on the layout.
With the frog locations clearly marked with the wires, the turnouts were carefully penciled in. The turnout size number was lightly written near the frog location.
Once the turnout wires were in place the layout had the appearance of a wire needle forest. Although peculiar looking, this did have the distinct advantage of allowing a person to readily see if the turnouts lined up as expected and if there appeared to be enough room for the tracks. Being satisfied with the results, a yardstick was placed between the wires and the track location penciled in. What happens if the distance between wires is greater than a yard? A longer stick would certainly work but could be unwieldy. The solution I used was to temporarily install a few intermediate wires using the laser to align them as described before. Once the track position was penciled in, the extraneous wires were removed. Once again, the track alignment and turnout locations were checked for accuracy.
The wire needle forest, while cute, posed a very real safety hazard. Did your mother ever admonish you about having an eye poked out? It was time for the wires to go. Another objective was to count up how many of each turnout type was needed. Quite honestly, this became a real chore. Those little wire needles began to look alike, and I couldn’t be sure if I had counted one or another before. Fortunately, a solution was readily available in my bag of tricks – push pins.
Push pins may not rank up there with sliced bread in the pantheon of inventions, but they are handy little items that cost very little. Beside the use described here, they are convenient for temporarily aligning track, holding things in position on the Styrofoam, etc. Enough gab. My solution was to identify the four main turnout types used on the layout via a color scheme and have an ‘other’ category. Each wire needle was replaced with the appropriate push pin:
Blue #5 Left
Red #5 Right
Yellow #6 Left
Green #6 Right
White Other (#3-Wye, S8 Left, S7 Right, etc.)
As you can see, this was not overly clever, but did allow me to readily identify the turnouts. If the letter “L” was in the color, it was a left turnout. If the letter “R” was in the color, it was a right turnout. Short words (red, blue) were smaller turnouts. Bigger words were larger turnouts.
With the push pins in place, the total number of each turnout type was quickly tallied and ordered. Only the white push pins required me to read what was written on the layout surface. Luckily, there are only a few of these.
As the turnouts arrive (backorder, endless backorder) I can quickly glance at the push pins and prioritize installation. Did I mention already that push pins are handy for holding the turnouts in place during final alignment?
I hope one or more of these simple techniques can help you in your modeling. On the SJA, there is no conclusion, just continued progress with family and friends. Please share your thoughts and questions with me