TMRC - Construction Gallery

NOTE: This page is extremely out of date. You may wish to look at the more recent pictures in our progress reports or the layout photo tours instead.

Milestone Gallery
Construction Gallery
Scenery Gallery Room Gallery
Pictures of the Milestones (from the main progress page). Construction stages of the layout and structure. Pictures of new buildings and scenic areas under construction General Pictures of the room.

Milestone Gallery	Construction Gallery	Scenery Gallery	Room Gallery
Pictures of the Milestones (from the main progress page).	Construction stages of the layout and structure.	Pictures of new buildings and scenic areas under construction	General Pictures of the room.

This page has thumbnails of pictures that show construction sections of the new layout. The pictures are grouped together by each section of the layout, and then (hopefully) ordered chronologically within each group.

Click on any picture to see a larger version

Turn Table
A month later the turn table is not only connected to the layout. You see the rest of the plywood in place, covering the tracks we saw below, and completing the loop around the tower. Even better, the turn table is operational!

Turn Table
This is the original installation of the turn table. You can still see the tracks under it, which will soon be hidden by the rest of the layout. This picture is from February 98.

Turn Table
This is the mechanical system of the turntable. The white gear turns a rubber wheel, which in turn turns (by friction) the large aluminum disc that rotates the turn table. The vertical aluminum slots break an optic beam, which marks the location of each track.

Gifford City
This view actually has a date: Aug 19, 1997. This is after one month of construction. The pictures to follow will be in chronological, ascending, order.

Gifford City
Construction occurs fast when we want it to :-) This picture is the same area above, but in Oct 22, 1997.

Gifford City
By March 24, 1998, we have to show two pictures in order to show all the sections built. This is the 'east' side of the room, the same as the above pictures.

Gifford City
And this is the 'west' side of the room, the one that goes to the 'rest' of the layout.

Gifford City
This is the room by November 1998. Now that the 'big construction' is done for phase one, we have to note the changes in details, rather than big changes. For example, the stone wall is stating to appear, which gives the city a much more realistic look than plywood!

Gifford City
After several months of hiatus, we finally see the trolley line being extended in Gifford City. This makes it much clearer (or a lot more confusing, depending on your view :-) of what is going to happen with the trolley line and the city landscape. The line will continue in front of the station, and very tall buildings - about 3 feet high - will rise on both sides of the trolley before it reaches the station, creating a scenic view block.

Gifford City
This shows the status of Gifford City around late October 1998. All the tracks are finished and working; the platforms are in their final position. You can see the "Aaron Burr" standing on track #34, from where it made its very first trip around the 'big loop.'

Gifford City
Another look at Gifford City Passenger yard, with a different angle.

Gifford City
A look at Gifford city in March 1998. You can see new buildings starting to rise, and old buildings bomming out of boxes. Also, note the large ammount of bridges that trains will go under when entering the city... this will some day make a great cabs-eye view!

Gifford City
A closer look at the downtown area of Giffor city, specifically the crossing which now had the new Building by Andy, and the corner where he plans on building a very large hotel, out of two Bachman models.

Gifford City
This is the main TMRC station, in Gifford City. Note the concrete wall now covering the ugly plywood. Also, the small building is just part of a whole row of buildings which will cover the complete front of the Gifford City area.

Gifford City
A look at Gifford City station as one would enter the room, with the Station in place. Also, note the greatly expanded trolley track; the lattice stock goes all the way to the carbarn area, and the actual track already reached the station building!

Old TNP at the new TMRC
Getting ready for the Open House! We have put in display two sections of the old TMRC layout, which are scheduled to be part of the new layout in the long term. This part is old Berkmanville, without the town buildings. It is also the place of the 'Golden Spike', which was put in on the 50th Annyversary of the club.

Old TNP at the new TMRC
This pictures tries to give a quick look at the Sawmill, one of the most impressive parts of the old layout. The Sawmill still stands in place, ready to become uncovered in late April. The parts on top are very nice moutain/rock work of the old layout.

S&P - System 3
This is System 3, as it currently stands. With this two cabinets (Power Supply on the right, and the actual System 3 on the left) all switch control can be taken care of. The missing part out of System 3 is the track power, which is the S&P task of 1999.

S&P - System 3
This is a closeup of System 3. The main part is the small little board in the bottom right. It has the microprocessor that interfaces between the Switch Cards and the PC. This microprocessor organizes all the data between the two serial lines, and is the one to process changes so that the computer only worries about 'new events.' The top card is the old F-Yard interface card to the system, and is the one that allows System 3 to create assignments via System 2.

S&P - System 3
A close up of the new power supply, which takes very little space, requires no cooling, and is extremely quiet. Yet, it can still power up System 2 and all the Switch Cards with no problem.

S&P - System 3
This is the main distribution panel for System 3... and System 2. In this panel you can find access to all track power, all switch status, all occupancy status, and all cab control. Thanks to this panel we can easily get any signals or power we want out of System 2, and interface it to System 3. The only thing we cannot do is to throw switches from here, since that is now done via the serial line and the switch cards.

S&P - System 3
The tower holds an important part of the permanent system: they circuit breakers. This is the distribution center for the 'accessories' - currently the Switch Cards and the TurnTable driver system. Later on it will include the distribution for lights and motorized scenery.

S&P - System 3
Alvar work on running wires for the switches around the loop under the tower. The big bulk of wires you see are for power, since we still need each block to be powered individually. We use 14ga wire to minimize voltage drop.

S&P - System 3
This is the future space for the complete System 3 block control section. It will house at least 200 blocks, each with its own feedback power!

S&P - Switch Cards
Jeff and Alvar work under the layout in the installation of Switch Card #5, the one that will control the double-cross over, including the swing blocks X1 and X2 (which involve installing a second card).

S&P - Switch Cards
A closeup of Switch Card #2, which has 3 single switches and 4 crossovers (which drive 2 switches together). The relays to the right, with the connector rows full, are the crossovers; the relays in the left are the single ones. You also see one unused relay. In order to keep the Switch Cards close to the frogs they control, we distributed the Switch Cards around even if they did not fill up.

S&P - SwitchCards
This is a view of the general area where Switch Card 2 is installed. You can see the high density of switches around it. The data comes from the ribbon cable in the bottom of the switch card. Each switch gets two cables per relay - one for the switch power and another for the frog; that is why there are so many cables coming out on the right of the card.

S&P - Switch Cards
Switch Card #1 is the prototype. It was the first one to be installed and the first one to work. It drives all the switch work at the back of the Gifford city station, which is very complex. It is also the only switch card actually used to its capacity, since it drives 5 crossovers and 3 single switches; plus, the extra little relay on the far left is a swing block driver.

Tower
A view of the finished tower structure. This is its final configuration, although a few embellishments are still missing, like painting it, and putting a cover on the top.

Tower
A battleship? No, its our tower! We built the tower extremely strong, such that it feels like walking in absolutely normal floor. Jeff and John M. even covered the plywood floor with tiles, so that it looks just like our normal floor.

Tower
This shows the early construction of the tower, in March 97. You can see the strong 2x8's holding the tower, and the sturdy construction of the ladder that safely allows people up.

Tech Model Railroad Club of MIT Room N52-118 265 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139	+1 617 253-3269 Email: tmrc-web@mit.edu

	Turn Table A month later the turn table is not only connected to the layout. You see the rest of the plywood in place, covering the tracks we saw below, and completing the loop around the tower. Even better, the turn table is operational!
	Turn Table This is the original installation of the turn table. You can still see the tracks under it, which will soon be hidden by the rest of the layout. This picture is from February 98.
	Turn Table This is the mechanical system of the turntable. The white gear turns a rubber wheel, which in turn turns (by friction) the large aluminum disc that rotates the turn table. The vertical aluminum slots break an optic beam, which marks the location of each track.
	Gifford City This view actually has a date: Aug 19, 1997. This is after one month of construction. The pictures to follow will be in chronological, ascending, order.
	Gifford City Construction occurs fast when we want it to :-) This picture is the same area above, but in Oct 22, 1997.
	Gifford City By March 24, 1998, we have to show two pictures in order to show all the sections built. This is the 'east' side of the room, the same as the above pictures.
	Gifford City And this is the 'west' side of the room, the one that goes to the 'rest' of the layout.
	Gifford City This is the room by November 1998. Now that the 'big construction' is done for phase one, we have to note the changes in details, rather than big changes. For example, the stone wall is stating to appear, which gives the city a much more realistic look than plywood!
	Gifford City After several months of hiatus, we finally see the trolley line being extended in Gifford City. This makes it much clearer (or a lot more confusing, depending on your view :-) of what is going to happen with the trolley line and the city landscape. The line will continue in front of the station, and very tall buildings - about 3 feet high - will rise on both sides of the trolley before it reaches the station, creating a scenic view block.
	Gifford City This shows the status of Gifford City around late October 1998. All the tracks are finished and working; the platforms are in their final position. You can see the "Aaron Burr" standing on track #34, from where it made its very first trip around the 'big loop.'
	Gifford City Another look at Gifford City Passenger yard, with a different angle.
	Gifford City A look at Gifford city in March 1998. You can see new buildings starting to rise, and old buildings bomming out of boxes. Also, note the large ammount of bridges that trains will go under when entering the city... this will some day make a great cabs-eye view!
	Gifford City A closer look at the downtown area of Giffor city, specifically the crossing which now had the new Building by Andy, and the corner where he plans on building a very large hotel, out of two Bachman models.
	Gifford City This is the main TMRC station, in Gifford City. Note the concrete wall now covering the ugly plywood. Also, the small building is just part of a whole row of buildings which will cover the complete front of the Gifford City area.
	Gifford City A look at Gifford City station as one would enter the room, with the Station in place. Also, note the greatly expanded trolley track; the lattice stock goes all the way to the carbarn area, and the actual track already reached the station building!
	Old TNP at the new TMRC Getting ready for the Open House! We have put in display two sections of the old TMRC layout, which are scheduled to be part of the new layout in the long term. This part is old Berkmanville, without the town buildings. It is also the place of the 'Golden Spike', which was put in on the 50th Annyversary of the club.
	Old TNP at the new TMRC This pictures tries to give a quick look at the Sawmill, one of the most impressive parts of the old layout. The Sawmill still stands in place, ready to become uncovered in late April. The parts on top are very nice moutain/rock work of the old layout.
	S&P - System 3 This is System 3, as it currently stands. With this two cabinets (Power Supply on the right, and the actual System 3 on the left) all switch control can be taken care of. The missing part out of System 3 is the track power, which is the S&P task of 1999.
	S&P - System 3 This is a closeup of System 3. The main part is the small little board in the bottom right. It has the microprocessor that interfaces between the Switch Cards and the PC. This microprocessor organizes all the data between the two serial lines, and is the one to process changes so that the computer only worries about 'new events.' The top card is the old F-Yard interface card to the system, and is the one that allows System 3 to create assignments via System 2.
	S&P - System 3 A close up of the new power supply, which takes very little space, requires no cooling, and is extremely quiet. Yet, it can still power up System 2 and all the Switch Cards with no problem.
	S&P - System 3 This is the main distribution panel for System 3... and System 2. In this panel you can find access to all track power, all switch status, all occupancy status, and all cab control. Thanks to this panel we can easily get any signals or power we want out of System 2, and interface it to System 3. The only thing we cannot do is to throw switches from here, since that is now done via the serial line and the switch cards.
	S&P - System 3 The tower holds an important part of the permanent system: they circuit breakers. This is the distribution center for the 'accessories' - currently the Switch Cards and the TurnTable driver system. Later on it will include the distribution for lights and motorized scenery.
	S&P - System 3 Alvar work on running wires for the switches around the loop under the tower. The big bulk of wires you see are for power, since we still need each block to be powered individually. We use 14ga wire to minimize voltage drop.
	S&P - System 3 This is the future space for the complete System 3 block control section. It will house at least 200 blocks, each with its own feedback power!
	S&P - Switch Cards Jeff and Alvar work under the layout in the installation of Switch Card #5, the one that will control the double-cross over, including the swing blocks X1 and X2 (which involve installing a second card).
	S&P - Switch Cards A closeup of Switch Card #2, which has 3 single switches and 4 crossovers (which drive 2 switches together). The relays to the right, with the connector rows full, are the crossovers; the relays in the left are the single ones. You also see one unused relay. In order to keep the Switch Cards close to the frogs they control, we distributed the Switch Cards around even if they did not fill up.
	S&P - SwitchCards This is a view of the general area where Switch Card 2 is installed. You can see the high density of switches around it. The data comes from the ribbon cable in the bottom of the switch card. Each switch gets two cables per relay - one for the switch power and another for the frog; that is why there are so many cables coming out on the right of the card.
	S&P - Switch Cards Switch Card #1 is the prototype. It was the first one to be installed and the first one to work. It drives all the switch work at the back of the Gifford city station, which is very complex. It is also the only switch card actually used to its capacity, since it drives 5 crossovers and 3 single switches; plus, the extra little relay on the far left is a swing block driver.
	Tower A view of the finished tower structure. This is its final configuration, although a few embellishments are still missing, like painting it, and putting a cover on the top.
	Tower A battleship? No, its our tower! We built the tower extremely strong, such that it feels like walking in absolutely normal floor. Jeff and John M. even covered the plywood floor with tiles, so that it looks just like our normal floor.
	Tower This shows the early construction of the tower, in March 97. You can see the strong 2x8's holding the tower, and the sturdy construction of the ladder that safely allows people up.