- November 4
This evening's major project was discussion of a tower. For those not
familiar with the layout as it stands, the following piece of ASCII-art may
be useful:
________________________
/ P-yard \
/ \
| _________ |
West | / \ GC | East
| / | loop |
\ | | |
\ \ \ /
XX | ------
/ new \
| loops |
\_____ /
// \\
to other parts
Construction of the area called "new loops" is now beginning. This will
involve a helix structure about 6 feet in diameter. This will provide
connections at various levels to the "other parts". The other parts will
also include two similar loop areas, but a desire has been expressed to put
a tower in the "new loop". At this evening's work session, the design
details of such a tower were roughed out. The tower will be essentially a
six foot circle with a small platform at one side (see XX in diagram) from
which a sloped ladder will descend to the floor. It is designed for a
dispatcher and one other operator. It is envisioned that most operators
will be using walk-around control and/or another tower to be built later.
The tower construction will use 4x4 uprights with 3/4 plywood gussets and
2x8 stringers to support the tower floor. The tower floor will be about 6
feet above the room floor due to clearance requirements for the tower
support structure above the helixes in the "new loop".
In addition to the tower discussion, John Purbrick worked on tie
installation at the East end of P-yard and James Knight worked on a portion
of the planned Coke can recycling system.
- November 11
John Purbrick has completed his work on switches at the East end of P-yard
and is now working on switches at "105th street" (which will probably be
re-named), which is the first station outside P-yard (about 10-15 feet
out).
Jeff Birkner and James Knight worked on installing jumper cables
between the System terminal strips and the layout terminal strips on the
wall-mounted distribution panel. When connectors arrive, they will be
inserted into these cables, and it will become possible to connect either
System 2 ("The System") or System 3 to the layout.
Jon Reed added some rail to the "exhibition track" which will run in front
of the viewing window. He also replaced some rail that had been damaged
when P-yard was moved.
John McNamara and Alvar Saenz-Otero cut the next piece of layout plywood
to shape and C-clamped it into place. Additional tie stock was also
prepared.
- November 18
At the beginning of the evening, Jeff, James, John, and John discussed
detailed drawings of the new tower. One design calls for a square tower,
offering ease of construction, but a rather "hulking" appearance. The other
design calls for a round tower, offering more attractive appearance, but
more complex construction. A compromise octagon design will also be drawn
up and considered.
Jeff and James applied a second coat of paint to the new cable tray that
James designed, and studied the lights/power circuit for future
modification (including a "computer" power circuit that comes on with power
and stays on until both power and lights are extinguished). John McNamara
touched up the TMRC vertical banner sign outside the clubroom. John
Purbrick did further work on switches, teaching some of the technigues to
Tim McNerney. This evening, John quintupled the number of Tortoise
stall-motor switch machines installed on the layout! (1 to 5)
- November 25
John McNamara brought in tower plans that were the result of comments by
various people over the past few weeks. This tower is a one or two person
tower within a turning loop whose inside diameter is about 6 feet. The
latest design differs somewhat from previous designs in that the tower
floor is five feet above the clubroom floor (per Joe Onorato's request),
and is roughly equal in height to the highest track in the loop/helix
structure surrounding it. As a result, entrance is gained by climbing to a
point above the tower floor and then stepping down nine inches. The
advantage of this approach is that nine inches of additional headroom is
gained. While the new clubroom has a high ceiling, the extra nine inches is
still needed to provide standing room in the tower.
A trip was made to Home Depot and 4x4's were purchased, along with carriage
bolts, nuts, and washers. By the end of the evening, the basic tower
structure was completed. Using 4x4's, 2x8's, and 3/8 carriage bolts, an
extremely sturdy structure has been created. Three bolt holes remain to be
drilled, and additional stringers and associated bridging are needed. In
addition, bracing plates to completely control tower leg position will be
added within the next few sessions.
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