I pretty much slept on the Athearn ATSF GP7U releases, but then stumbled upon this Craig Walker shot (note the date!). Luckily, I was able to score two units with and without the DB blister. They will get renumbered to match these two. And there's an Atlas NOPB FMC box car sitting on my desk so I can really recreate this scene. Sort of.

Link:  http://railpictures.net/photo/457194/

Trackplan 2.0 - just some minor updates.

Higher res version here - https://www.dropbox.com/s/sqkcji0rq8r1ega/LAJ%20layout%202-20-18.jpg?dl=0

I'm still alive!

Yeah... I see I have been doing a very good job in updating this blog.  :)

The good news is, the layout is 100% operational.   I am actually in the planning scenery/ballast phase.  Well, what I should really do is tackle how am I going to do the bridge over the 710 freeway...

I'm also plugging away in creating waybills.   I've done some refinements over the months and finally settled on a format which I will share at some point.

So yes, I am still alive, the layout is still alive.  Perhaps its the "need more motivation" part of layout building. 

Onward!

Chris

Creating RR Paperwork

Not that I am anywhere close to having any sort of Ops Session (though the gameplan is to have the first one - hopefully - next year), it is fun to at least think about how the layout is to be operated.

It's been a while since my last update.  Basically, most of the wiring is in and once my first loco with DCC arrives (I've contracted out my DCC installs to a resident expert around these parts), I'll start testing to make sure everything is working ok.  Which I think it should - I connected and turned on the NCE system and it didn't blow up!  That's a good sign... But anyway back to some paperwork...

I plan on operating using a variation of the car card/waybill system but like several people have been doing, using the new format for a single-trip waybill.  However, my layout is set in 1985 and by then everything in the prototype world was computerized and paperwork was printed out on dot matrix printers.  You can actually download (for free) several examples of dot matrix fonts for Windows or Mac, so thats what I did, then quickly threw together a waybill in Excel matching a prototype one I have.

Prototype (left) - model (right)

Obviously some more tweaking to do (formatting etc) but it's a start.  Final product to be printed on 3" x 5" (or whatever the size is) cardstock.

Next, I created an Industry Switch List (also in Excel).  "Back in the day" (I'm talking 1980s/1990s in southern California), RR customers would have tablets of these switch lists where they will fill out the work orders they want for the day - release of empties, request of loads coming in, specific instructions for spotting.  This list would either be left in the "bill box" outside the industry for the crew to read before switching, or most common in my locale, the list would be faxed to the yard office (or freight agent) where it and several others would be used to create the actual switch list(s) for the crews.  (Often times, when these were faxed, copies of the industry switch list would be attached to the RR switch list depending on the crew.)

My example on the left, the prototype list on the right.  The Hill's plant is one of the industries I am modeling; still trying to figure out how my crews will call them a half-hour before switching :)

Still some more tweaking to do on my list.  I had to get creative and do some Photoshop to get that unique LAJ font onto mine.

Progress?  I'd say 99% of the track is laid and am now starting the wiring phase.  Speaking of track...I finally decided to whip together a track plan.  Hope this answers a lot of questions. :)

You can view the full-size image here:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/a1rb53gvj38zcqi/LAJ-final.jpg?dl=0

Layout design #1

Over the past several evening, I've been making good progress with the track work.  Thought I'd post a few pictures in addition to labeling the industries.

Progress

A little background... I am modeling the Los Angeles Junction Railway in HO, circa 1985.   From the BNSF web site:

The LAJ is a wholly owned subsidiary of BNSF and provides switching service on 64 miles of track primarily in the industrial areas around Vernon, CA southeast of Los Angeles. The LAJ was planned in the early 1920s as the switching railroad for the Central Manufacturing District in the cities of Vernon, Maywood, Bell and Commerce.

Specifically, I am modeling what is is called the "Long Laguna Lead" from A Yard in Vernon, into Commerce.  Why?  Well, I am a freight car nut and this stretch has/had a really nice mix of industries, large and small - paper mills, a malt elevator, pet food plant, borax detergent plant, chemical companies, produce distributors, etc.   Company names like Great Western Malting, Hills Pet Nutrition, US Borax, Emery Chemicals, General Felt, etc.  

After finally settling in on this as a prototype to model, it really just snowballed from there in terms of information available... example, a guy by the named of Charlie Slater who worked on the LAJ in the 1970s, posted several track diagrams of the various leads of the LAJ including his notes on carloads and traffic.  Long Laguna Lead map (do note I am not modeling everything shown here, except for Cal Mat <now Great Western Malting>, Kendall <now Hills>, General Felt and LA Paper Box):

I also found some paperwork a friend had given me in the 1990s, when he (briefly) worked on the LAJ.  Lots of ideas when I get to the Operations phase :)

Picture of Great Western Malting (circa 1940s/50s), this is from the LA County archives.  (That's Malt Avenue crossing the tracks, with a diamond in the street crossing - the box cars are where they loaded the malt, barley loads were brought in on the backside of the elevator.)  Below is a more modern picture I took (really glad I took a few pictures of the elevator.  It has since been torn down.)

Anywho, I am about I'd say 75% done with the benchwork phase of my little switching empire in my basement.  Total "mainline" run is about ~100', starting at A Yard out to Garfield Ave in Commerce where it ends at the US Borax plant.  I don't have an actual track plan yet, I am more of a visual person in terms of playing around with the track and where things should or will fit.  I am more or less using the prototype for guidance too (thanks Google and Bing aerial photos!)

Construction is basically 1x4 frames topped with 2" foam.  Mostly hung via shelf brackets along the wall, but there's a section (approx. 12' x 10') that is on legs.  If it looks similar to Free-mo construction, it is, some of these are repurposed modules.  From here, it curves left to go about 21' along one wall, then another 55' out towards the other end of the basement where A Yard will be.

Played around with some freight cars to envision how things will look.  Here's a little proto-freelancing, as I moved the Vons bakery and milk plant over onto my version of the LAJ (the prototype is in Commerce, just "across the street" if you will).  I like Airslides so I had to do it... plus, its a neat plant.