Signals and Scenery - October 2024 Layout Update

Tons of railroad stuff has happened since my last blog post. The UP Big Boy came through my area. Over a 3-day period, I was able to chase it several times between Tuscola, IL and Dexter, MO. It was so great to see this massive locomotive charge over tracks I normally see only handle freight trains. Thousands of people came out to witness the sight, and at times the roads in the smaller towns were really clogged!

Then, my friend Lee and I made a day long railfan trip to Rochelle, West Chicago, Naperville, Western Springs, and La Grange, IL before returning home. Throughout the day, we saw dozens of trains, most of which were Metra commuter trains. We both really like to see these dinkies and express trains shuttle citizens in and out of the city. I took several photos, which I'll post to my Instagram page over the next few weeks. Be sure to check those out!

Additionally, more progress was made on my layout. The Greene River section of the layout has be painted, ballasted, and grassed. I made up a huge batch of Woodland Scenics fine ballast, using a 1:10 ratio of Gray and Light Gray color. This will be my mainline ballast. Spurs and yards will use various other colors. Then for the static grass, I also made a large batch of 4mm, using dark and light green, and straw. I made a large enough batch to cover the entire layout, so it has a consistent shade throughout. I've gotten started on the corn field that will also be on this section. I'll post more about that next month.

My wife helped me cut strips of black fabric 9 feet long and 10 inches wide. I wanted a valence to block the light from a viewer looking at the layout from inside the pit. But the old farmhouse basement doesn't have a lot of head room. I figured if I used something hard I would end up hitting my head. So I ran a string around the ceiling, and used clothes pins to hang the black fabric.

My kids like to do crafty things, and I try to find projects they can help with on the layout. Since the Greene River scene was far enough along, I moved on to the section that includes the turntable, grain elevator, and intermodal yard. We got messy and mixed up some Sculptamold. It got spread out to create landforms and left to dry. That was a couple of weeks ago. Then life got kind of busy with a family emergency. Tonight was the first night I was able to get to the basement in a while. So before the kids got into bed, they took turns coming down stairs to help paint the brown base coat.

Finally, with the main part of the scenery in place on the Greene River area, I temporarily installed the signals around one of the future CTC control points. Around the whole layout, I am using a variety of signal brands and styles. I just like signals, and thought that would be the best way to show off the different types. For this control point, I'll use the Details West Type D pre made signals. They are pricey, but dang they are nice! I have them wired to Digitrax TSMK boards. Then a 10-pin ribbon cable runs back to the SE8c signal driver board. These driver outputs are controlled with switch commands. So I was able to test all the aspects of the 3 signals in place so far. Once I get a few more signals wired in, I'll connect my laptop running JMRI and program the signals to operate in ABS mode for now. Adding logic to make them CTC just builds on the automatic operation that comes first.

My goals for the rest of October: add the pavement to the intermodal yard, install and test a couple more signals, finish the corn field and river scenery, and add a few trees. As long as nothing major happens that requires my attention, this is doable. If it doesn't get done, well, it's just a hobby, and you guys will just have to wait longer for the next update!