Relander Central

Laid the first track in the area that will eventually be a tunnel and hidden staging yard. Glued down the roadbed material and then glued the track to the roadbed. Installed a tortoise for the main yard turnout using hot glue gun. Had to mount the tortoise off to the side since I didnt want the switch machines hanging from the bottom of the module. See the photo below for details. Tunnel Trackage West Staging Throat Tortoise Install

Continued construction of west corner module. Cut contours in profile boards and added remaining riser for the paper mill spur. Beveled the risers one half inch and covered them with plaster cloth. Next step is to prepare the tunnel trackage and the hidden staging yard. Profile Contours Plaster Cloth

Started construction on west corner module. Added profile board and risers for the mainline trackage. Also added connector plates and cut access holes for connector bolts. Cutting of access holes was complicated by the amount of tracks crossing the edge of the module. Had to custom fit the risers around the access holes and notch them to support small bridge sections of half inch foam scraps. Profile Boards Riser Installation Access Holes

Next, I laid out the track plan on the base sheets. The corner modules are actually two sheets of 36"x18" material that had to be glued together first. First, I laid out a 3" squares and then transferred the track plan to the syrofoam using a black Sharpie marker. Then, I outlined where the Subterrain riser sections will be placed. The corners of the corner modules still need to be cut off. The next step is to install the profile boards around the modules. Track Plan Layout

I finally managed to come up with an initial track plan. A simple water wings plan with a hidden staging yard and space for some of my Walthers Cornerstone buildings. I've got the Glacier Gravel Company pretty much complete and have the Superior Paper Company still sitting in the box. I'm not really to concerened about prototype accuracy at this point but was thinking about northern Minnesota in the early 1980's. This simple track plan could work for almost any time and era. Initial Track Plan

I downladed Decoder Pro from the JMRI project and played around with it for a while this weekend. I set up a circle of track and got the decoders programmed and configured. I tried out the speed tables and different lighting effects. Everything went smoothly. I also wrote some initial test code and was able to monitor LocoNet traffic through the LocoBuffer II. I was also able to turn the power on an off from my test program. I was just a simple communications test but it's a start.

In a rush to try things out, I jury rigged a piece of test track and fired up the Digitrax Zephyr DCS50. After screwing around with the buttons for a while, I finally gave up and dug out the manual. I followed the startup tutorial in the manual and was quickly up and running. It took another trip to the manual to get the lights working. I had forgotten that the lights were under function control. The speed was uncomfortably fast so I will probably need to change some settings to limit the speed. I only shot it off the end of the test track once ... :-) I also need to figure out the address settings. I would like to have them respond to their road numbers, 8301 and 8302. Maiden Voyage Under DCC

Decoder installation on the Atlas N Scale SD-60 locomotives was quick and painless. I just removed the shells, loosened two screws, replaced the existing light boards with Digitrax DN163A1 mobile decoders, tightened the screws, and replaced the shells. I realized later that I probably should have left off the shells until the decoders were tested. I will have to crack them open again if something goes wrong. I might also need to go back later and hard wire the decoders, but for now I will just rely on the contacts. Before Decoder Installation After Decoder Installation

Here's a photo of my Atlas N Scale SD-60 locomotives. The Burlington Northern tiger stripe paint scheme is one of my favorites. I picked these up (used) at a train show years ago and never got a chance to use them very much. They are still in "almost new" condition, but they haven't been run in a while and will probably require some maintenance. They are DCC ready but do not have decoders installed in them yet. Hopefully I will get a chance to fire them up next weekend. Atlas N Scale SD-60 Locomotives