Layout Update – Page 6 – Notes on Designing, Building, and Operating Model Railroads

A quick update

At long last, I’ve been able to upgrade the blog software. It’s been a bit of a battle but all is updated and the comment area is functional again! I spent time creating a new header but no matter what I do to change the large, shaded box above, it won’t go away. It’s frustrating to follow the WordPress blog directions and change out the files, and then it doesn’t work. HO scale resin freight car kits are easier than figuring out the WordPress coding. Even those kits that lack directions!

As an addendum, I know many images are missing form older posts. It seems the software upgrade did not completely transfer all of the files to the new locations or assign the proper file address to the image. <sigh> I hope to tackle this issue by restoring images to a few older posts each week. The pages will be done as soon as possible along with a focus on 2013 posts. It will take some time but everything will be restored in the upcoming months. Thank you for your patience.

Hobby updates are coming soon as I’ve been busy on a number of projects. Thanks for checking in. – Eric

Happy Holidays!

The holidays are a busy time of year devoted to family and friends. Hobby time declines and progress often grinds to a halt as our free time fills with parties and preparations. It’s been a great year as my wife and I moved into our own place with an ample hobby space. Many projects have worked towards completion and the HO scale B&O Wheeling Freight Terminal layout moves closer to operation. Thank you for checking in here on projects and progress. More excitement is just around the corner in 2014.

While I’m quite happy with the layout and model progress, I am not happy with this blog. I use WordPress software through my web host, but they stopped upgrading the versions a few months ago. Now I need to download the software and flesh out the blog on the home computer before uploading to the web host for viewing here. It may take a week or two of free time, learning, and tweaking before the next blog update, but there should be a new page design and an improved comment area. This seems like a huge bother to me right now, but I can see this is really a benefit if there is ever a problem at Mission Control, i.e. the web host. Building the blog on my computer means I’ll have all content ready to roll out at anywhere else if it needs to relocate, or if the web host has a hiccup and loses everything. Some readers may recall a web host hiccup a couple of years ago that wiped out many early posts.

So we live, we learn, we update the software, and we move right along. I’m looking forward to 2014 and sharing more of the hobby journey. If you have a comment, feel free to drop me an email at 43admin at hansmanns dot org, just remove the spaces and substitute @ for ‘at’ and a . for ‘dot’, and it should work fine.

All the best to you, your families, and your railroad crews in 2014!

– – Eric

Returning to the plan

It’s been a busy few months here. I’m just now returning to work on the Wheeling Freight Terminal layout. In addition to moving the final household items in late June, my wife and I welcomed our three kids to the El Paso region. They didn’t all stay at the same time but buzzed in and out of town over most of July. It was great to entertain and show the kids our new home and region.

My hobby progress tends to ebb and flow through the year with summer usually being a slower time for any progress. I need to dust off the tools and the layout to see where I left off. Several boxes need to be unpacked and the shelves require some organization. A little spark can go a long way. There’s rarely a dull moment in this hobby.

Late May layout update!

It’s been a while since the last layout update. If you have been following along, you know the layout wiring is complete. All of the track has been painted and the fascia has been installed. The Wheeling Freight Terminal is looking pretty good.

Continue reading “Late May layout update!”

One step inspires more progress

I worked on the layout over this past weekend and completed the electrical wiring on the yard throat module. While surveying the work, I realized I had not made much progress in the last 4.5 months. Of course, I do consider wiring to be sheer drudgery, yet it is a necessary evil to complete in order to make the trains go. I guess I’ve just been avoiding this work as the fun factor is quite low. It’s a basic human trait to avoid the stuff we don’t like to do.

A terminal strip is used for multiple connections.

Over just a few days, I’ve completed the following tasks on the yard throat module.

installed feeder wires on four tracks
spray painted the rail and ties
installed leads on seven SPDT momentary contact switches to control the frog polarity
attached all feeder wires to the appropriate buss wires

Successful completion of this work inspires and motivates me to keep moving forward. This is how my hobby ebbs and flows. I’ve rarely achieved a straight line progression in task completion. There are often bursts of activity followed by a quiet stretch. At this point, only one module remains to be electrically completed. I hope to wrap that one up in the next week as the B&O Wheeling Freight Terminal project moves closer to operation.

Everything looks a little better with a few freight cars.

I welcome your comments. All comments are reviewed and approved before they appear here.