John's Alaska Railroad HO Scale Layout

November 1, 2023

The north Anchorage yard turnout has caused problems for a long time. Last week Rick replaced it with an Atlas #8 Mark IV turnout. Tonight, he replaced the track leading into the yard. The new turnout enabled us to ease the radius leading into the yard and the result was a super smooth train operation.	Video: Smooth as glass, Bicentennial F7A #1510 and F7B #1517 transfered from the main into the new track at the north end of the Anchorage yard.	Rick spent the rest of the evening working on the turnout - cutting, soldering, joining, tweaking and shimming.

Video: Bicentennial F7A #1510 and F7B #1517 lead an Ultradome passenger train, consisting of 5 Princess, 2 McKinley Explorer and 1 Tour Alaska cars, into the Anchorage yard. It is important to note, Ultradomes are sometimes flaky when taking a turnout. However, this "high speed" switch provides "smooth as glass" operation. Note to self: if you ever build another layout, always use Atlas #8 Mark IV turnouts.	On the scenery front, John bought 24 cattails to place at one end of the pond near Terry's cabin. Rick suggested first placing them in scrap material. This turned out to be pure genius as John made mistakes where it didn't matter. After a bit of trial and error, John determined the correct drill bit size for proper placement as well as how to insert the cattails.	These JTT Scenery Cattails look pretty good on the cabin diorama. The cattail itself is on a metal wire for proper positioning. From Etsy, John purchased a dock for the pond. It should be delivered within a few days.

For the rest of the evening, John continued placing tundra material around the pond. The next phase will involve placing static grass on the north side of the pond and adjacent field.	Our dog Max has always been a presence during the six years of train night. He passed away on October 26 due to health complications. He will be greatly missed. LJ performed the cremation and his fellow employee Jason make this wonderful clay paw print impression.

November 8, 2023

Engineer grandsons Shane and Cody made a stop at Clayton's Alaska Railroad to run some trains. Hey, that's what its all about! Shown here is grandpa giving a brief refresher course on the use of the handheld controller.	As Cody preps locomotive EMD demonstrator SD70 #7002, Shane grabs a stool to oversee the operations. Managerial oversight is so very important!	Cody follows his locomotive through Alaska Marine Lines while Shane serves conductor.

The smile on Cody's face is priceless! They absolutely love running the trains.	Now that Shane and Cody have refamiliarize themselves with operations, they each got to run a locomotive at the same time.	Shane chose to run GP38-2 #2005. Each were advised to not run their locomotives into each other. If a collision occurred, they would be suspended for 30 days and have to take a pee test.

John tried his hand at making grass tufts using the static grass applicator. The technique required the use of parchment paper framed in aluminum foil. When the static grass applicator is connected to the foil, it served as a conductor and made the grass stand up.	The final result initially looked very good. The grass is thick and stands up in all directions.	However, when John tried to remove them, the parchment paper came along with the glue. This is evident when placed on the diorama. Next attempt will involve spraying the parchment paper with wet water (water with a drop of liquid soap) before applying the adhesive.

Rick began the installation of the Tortoise switch machine for the new north Anchorage Yard turnout. The work area was an extremely tight fit and required a great deal of finesse and finagling.	Rick made a wooden template for use in assisting the marking of screw placement under the table.	It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to install the switch machine. There just wasn't enough room for an electric or manual drill, but Rick improvised by removing parts of the L-girder structure and achieved a hard fought victory.

Video: We are so happy the switch machine worked correctly!	Video: Bicentennial F7A #1510 and F7B #1517 show the smooth operation of taking the siding into the north Anchorage Yard.	Video: The Anchorage to Whittier freight train passed smoothly through the new high speed switch.

John used the static grass applicator to add spring meadow grasses to the area surrounding the pond at Terry's cabin. Although John claims he destroys or messes up most projects, he was rather pleased with the result here.	When John used a vacuum cleaner to remove the excessive grass, he realized it also helped the glued grass to stand up even more. The side view of the scene shows some amazing field grasses. Success!	Terry tried her hand at the static grass applicator and found it was easy to use. An additional hint is after dropping the grass material, hold the applicator just an inch above the project and move it across the area. The grass stands upright even more.

Here is a photo looking east.	And a photo looking to the north.

November 15, 2023

While driving through nearby farm land, I spotted these unusual plants growing by the road side. I plucked three of them and brought home. Sometimes the best scenic materials are those found not at the store, but in nature itself.	I put these stalks in the blender on "Liquefy" and placed the smallest pieces in a cup. I sprinkled it on the tundra and field grasses to simulate vegetation debris. This helped to tone down the perfectness of the scenic materials.	Terry aided in the scenic efforts of her diorama by brushing on Modge Podge and them adding the lawn grasses surrounding her cabin. This is a double edge sword, as she will need to mow these grasses during the short Alaskan summer.

Here is an overview of the progress to date. Tundra surrounds the pond, long field grasses emerge in the back and lawn grasses surround around the cabin. The vegetation debris does indeed add a more natural appearance.	We placed the Woodland Scenics cabin temporarily for a photo op.	Rick tested out the reed switch that controls power to the diesel and passenger tracks. Over the past few weeks, we believed these tracks weren't receiving power all the time. Testing revealed placement of the magnet in the bottom of the shed was crucial in getting power to both sets of tracks simultaneously.

Video: Bicentennial F7A #1510 and F7B #1517 lead an Ultradome passenger train past the Anchorage yard and diesel shop.	Video: Bicentennial F7A #1510 and F7B #1517 lead a short coal train through TwentyMile Bridge. The overall route is clockwise.	Video: Rick has the coal train do a reversal through the double crossover and returns to the Anchorage yard in a counter clockwise direction. Operation of the coal cars is smooth as glass.

Video: Bicentennial F7A #1510 and F7B #1517 lead a long coal train through TwentyMile Bridge.	John purchased WWScenics 4mm Spring Static Grass and applied it to the areas in the front of the diorama. These grasses are much shorter than the 12mm field grasses at the back of the diorama.	These grasses have a more "maintained" appearance. John left a slot open for the drive leading to the cabin. Soon more 4mm grasses will to be added to the eastern end of the diorama.

November 22, 2023

Work continued on Terry's cabin diorama. John spread Woodland Scenics Static-Tac adhesive on both sides of the gravel drive.	After several hours, John completed all the static grass application on the renaming portion of the diorama. He also applied dirt for the drive leading to the cabin.	Finally, after weeks of work, it was time to begin adding the details. First, John decided to add the rail fence for the goats.

At this point, the installation of the fence was about half completed.	The family all attended train night! It was a wonderful way to celebrate the night before Thanksgiving. The grandsons got their own table/ Grandson Lincoln, ever the clown, is making a wonderful face for the photographer.	John successfully stood on a chair to get this photo and was able to dismount without breaking any bones. Jackie started us out with her world famous salad bar. Terry followed this with a hot dog bar, deep fried tater tots and desserts of pecan pie and iced brownies.

Video: Rick was gracious enough to oversee grandsons running trains. We chose to have them come up to the train room two at a time. First up was Cody and Lincoln. Shown here is Lincoln running a single locomotive.	Video: Cody is watching his controller closely as Lincoln approaches from behind. The grandsons were advised that train collisions would result in a pee test and possible 90 day suspension.	Video: Eventually Cody adds on a coal hopper while Lincoln adds on a Princess Ultradome.

Video: Lincoln grows courageous and adds on a Royal Celebrity Ultradome to his consist.	Cody studies his controller intently as his mixed freight passenger train crosses the swing gate.	Lincoln poses for a photo while his train crosses the swing gate.

Video: Cody declares, "Eat your dinner, put your things away, and get your bedtime stuff ready, it's almost nighttime" as grandpa begins to turn down the lights in the train room in preparation for night running.	Video: Now it's Liam and Shane's turn to serve as engineers. Shane starts his heritage locomotive slowly, saying, "Look how slow he is. It is like a turtle."	Video: Liam runs a classic F7A locomotive with a consist of three agricultural hoppers, hi cube box car and two hoppers.

Video: Liam is a real thinker. He studied the controller and found the ditch lights button. "What's the ditch?" Sorry buddy, but your train doesn't have ditch lights.	Video: Brian, Frank and ??? riding Shane's GP35 #2503. Later on he told me some of the people riding on his train got married.	Although train night ended, the invasion of the grandsons did not. On Thanksgiving Day they were back and ready to run trains again. Lincoln runs a nice long consist with F7A #1500 on point.

Lincoln carefully negotiates a meet with his train passing a second train at Double Track.	Engineer Liam is grinning ear-to-ear as his passenger tank train passes the Anchorage yard.	Video: Lincoln studies his controller carefully as his freight train high balls it past the Portage depot.

Part of the fun is just simply playing with people at the Portage depot. Twin grandsons Cody (left) and Shane are placing two of the dozens of passengers set aside for free play.	Video: Shane takes his job as an engineer seriously. Perching on the stool and raising up like a Meerkat, he closely watches the progress of his freight train.	Video: Liam breaks into a short chugga chugga motion as his locomotive crosses the swing gate.

Cody rings the bell and blows the horn as his "special" passenger train heads past The Port of Whittier.	Video: Sometimes language gets a little rough between trainmen. Cody takes a moment out to educate grandpa on the mechanics of the middle finger.	Video: Shane enjoys having his passengers ride in the gondola.

November 29, 2023

John added a fenced goat pen plus a dock for the pond for Terry's cabin. Field brambles and small bushes were later added along the high field grasses.	Next, John turned his attention to the garden. Using the template Terry created, he punched holes in the ground for the vegetables.	Now the garden has red cabbage, white cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and heads of lettuce. Flowers will be added next.

Terry has sunflowers at home so John wanted to add them to her garden.	John added the sunflowers to both sides of Terry's garden. They are all facing toward the sun as it sets across the field.	Rick installed access holes for wires to the cabin's front porch light. He then tested out the lighting system. Next week, he will install the controls into the front panel.

Video: Rick spent some time running this train to troubleshoot the agriculture and coal hoppers. Here it is passing through TwentyMile.	Video: The train emerges from Mount Denali. Two of the agriculture cars will be sent out to the Eppley shops for some much needed fine tuning.

Feel free to contact me at john@alaskarails.org
Page created 9/4/17 and last updated 12/6/23