John's Alaska Railroad HO Scale Layout

December 2, 2020

Clouds version 3.0. I have abandoned sponge cloud painting as it doesn't seem to be working for me (row 2, cloud 4). I am now trying a method called stippling and it seems to work much better. Maybe I will get better with practice? A few of you have suggested rattle cans (spray paint), but as I can't remove the backdrop from the train room so I have fear of over spray going everywhere.	Switch stops 4.0. Rick tried another method of preventing locomotives from stopping (or at higher speeds...lightly pausing) at switches, but failed. We have decided to put the Keep-Alives back in on a few of the locomotives and monitor their performance. Ring Engineering (the makers of RailPro) doesn't like these Keep-Alives, but as theirs are three times the cost and almost twice the space we will use the TCS ones and do more testing.	One of the locomotives was having problems emitting a clean air horn sound. RailPro's great tech support identified the problem as an older version of the locomotive module firmware. We spent part of the evening checking each of the 24 locomotive's versions and updating as necessary. Yup, the problem went away. However, one locomotive is still having quality problems. As all sounds come out distorted it will be checked for a bad speaker.

All passenger cars were checked to ensure they are using long shanked couplers. Six still have short shanked ones so Rick took these home to convert them over. We also checked to ensure the coupler trip pin (air hoses) clear the switch's curved closure rail. The above car does (see red arrow), but several did not.	Kadee's coupler trip pin pliers are used to bend the pin upward to ensure it clears the switch. Eventually, all 200 rail cars will have theirs checked and adjusted if necessary.

December 9, 2020

Over the past week Rick worked on the Ultra Dome passenger cars installing long shank couplers as well as bending the air hoses up. They returned to the layout tonight. Next week Rick will do extensive testing of these passenger cars along the entire main line.	After trying every trick in the book to get the locomotives to pass over certain switches without pausing Rick finally decided to re-install the Keep-Alives. The above video shows perfect passage across even the most problem switches.

December 16, 2020

A wonderful surprise package came in the mail this week. Jeff McCrea said, "Merry Christmas!" Inside the package was a beautifully weathered Jordan Spreader #4 to add to our Alaska Railroad roster. Jeff's friend Dave Cwirko did the phenomenal decal and weathering job. Wow!	Jordan Spreader #4	Jordan Spreader #4

Jordan Spreader #4	Jordan Spreader #4	Rick put Keep-Alives back into four of the locomotives. During the week I ran these locomotives extensively without any problems. testing will continue, but we may eventually re-introduce them into the entire fleet.

Although I was making progress painting clouds I still wasn't satisfied with them. And then it hit me. David Sloan, one of my former Boy Scouts, is an artist. Perhaps he could help me with my technique? Long story short, David Sloan volunteered to work on my inner scenery backdrop every Monday afternoon. We met one Monday morning and discussed the details of the project. David returned the following Monday and began work just north of TwentyMile Bridge.	David continues painting north along the main line. Why is the bottom third of the backdrop blank? David plans on painting this area with mountains, land forms and trees. I told him one section needs to include a little bit of fireweed for Terry. I would like another section to feature Sleeping Lady.	An unexpected side benefit is our conversations. David tells how Scouting helped him succeed in life as well as sharing many funny or zany stories. It also gave us a chance to catch each other up on our lives and loves. David is currently restoring a 1968 Mustang and the sound of its muscle car engine entering and exiting my property brings back favorite childhood memories.

David's work continues north through Portage depot and into the APU. He loves to paint to music and tonight brushes to the sound of Greta Van Fleet. Of course, we spent a fair amount of time discussing music preferences.	As inspiration David brings up various Alaska photos on his iPad. He uses high quality brushes and acrylic paint which indeed produces better results than the Wal-Mart brand I'd been using prior.	Over time the layout's wooden framework settles and shifts slightly. This causes track misalignment at the swing gate. Tonight, Rick does a bit of fine tuning and restores proper alignment. Undoubtably, this will be an ongoing problem.

I ordered 100 metal wheel sets in an effort to replacing the remaining plastic ones. The truck tuning tool ensures smooth rolling and all wheels sets are tested before remounting. By the end of the evening all rail cars are running with metal wheels.	Rick's current priority is working out all the bugs plaguing our passenger car fleet. A consist of seven Ultra Domes (two McKinley Explorer and five Princess railcars) passes behind the diesel shop while four SD70MACs rest lazily out front.	I've dubbed our biggest problem spot, "Spook's Curve." The blue painter's tape strip marks the location where occasional unexplained derailments occur. Rick checked the rails to ensure they were in gauge as well as free from burrs, debris, etc. Next week Rick will resume chasing ghosts.

December 23, 2020

David continues to work on painting the inner scenery backdrop. In an effort to conserve paint he mixes colors for the upper level of sky and paints continuously through the APU...	...and rounds the corner to continue through Alaska Marine Lines. David will take next week off so he can spend extra time with his children through the holiday season.	An LM-3S module and mounting harness was purchased for Rick's locomotive. Using his laptop, RailPro's computer interface and this locomotive he will be able to do testing at his home. Rick plans on painting this unit in the ARR heritage scheme.

Part of train night is spent in search of "things that cause derailments." Several freight cars seem to derail at a particular switch. Long story short, we found two problems. The first problem was out of scale *original* metal wheels sets on a pair of gondolas. These were replaced with Intermountain wheel sets. The second was a bad switch acquired from my old layout. A new switch is on order.	Using his homemade compass Rick traces a curve that follows the mainline on a piece of foam core board. He then uses his knife to cut the board to size.	The board will be given to LJ and his wife Leigh who are both licensed funeral directors. They will use the Woodland Scenics cemetery kit plus additional people and hearse to create a fine cemetery for the layout.

December 30, 2020

The east end of the swing gate still has alignment issues as well as a loose rail both of which cause derailments. Rick decides to pull up the track to the east and lay down new track. The most difficult part of this task was removing the solder at the rail joints.	After laying the track Rick spends a fair amount of time filing the tops and insides of the rail. Moving his finger across the new joints reveals a very smooth transition. As a final test Rick runs a locomotive and passenger car across the entire swing gate to find everything is perfect.	John checks the coupler height on the final group of freight cars. Coupler trip pin pliers are used to raise coupler height as necessary. There are over 100 freight and passenger cars roaming the rails and all couplers now clear the inner turnout rails.

John also checks the remaining group to ensure proper motion through switches. Occasionally funky wheel sets cause derailments and John replaces them with new Intermountain wheels. Three of the freight cars have faulty trucks. New ones will be ordered soon.	On Friday brother-in-law Ted stops by to begin the installation of the backdrops. Making precise measurements along all the walls and organizing the order of the backdrops chews up the first two hours. Ted uses a miter saw the cut the bottom support for the north wall. This support has a thin lip which holds the backdrop in place.	All existing foam board is removed. It will need to be trimmed later to accommodate the new thickness of the backdrop. Ted locates the studs in the wall and then retreats to the garage to cut the bottom. The above photo shows the installation of the bottom support. The wooden frame of the window is 3/4-inch thick and the support allows the backdrop to rest against it.

Ted and John work together to make a cut on the back side of the backdrop. Ted knows his stuff as the cut goes deep into the board without cutting the paper. His hands bend the backdrop forward and with a slight "pop" creates a seamless 90 degree corner. This piece of magic fits perfectly into the bottom support.	Ted again retreats to the garage to cut the top supports. He then uses his drill press to make holes for the screws. After anchors are put into the wall Ted screws the top supports into place. A strip of finished wood is put over top to hide the screws. In four to five days Ted will return and attempt to finish the project.

Feel free to contact me at john@alaskarails.org
Page created 9/4/17 and last updated 1/21/21