THE BLACK RIVER VALLEY MODEL RAILROAD WEBSITE
THE LAYOUT
The Black River Valley Railroad is a modified version of Rick Selby's Callahan Central Layout in HO-scale. A ten by four-foot, one-half-inch plywood deck is mounted on a one by four and one by six-inch frame. The train table is mounted on garage door rollers which move on tracks fixed to the walls of the train room. Although you have to duck under the table to reach the back side, this arrangement allows for access to the back (South) side of the layout for construction, maintenance and operation. I tried legs and casters on the table, but the legs were always in the way and the casters were hanging up in the carpet on the floor. So far the garage door roller system has worked out quite well. Check my How'd You Do That page for a photograph of the roller installation!
The BRVRR has a double track main line with a reversing loop on the inner main. There is a three-track engine facility, a yard with two long sidings, four sidings for commercial traffic and a siding for the grain elevator. The sectional track shown in the Track Plan at right has been replaced with Atlas Code-100 Flex-Track. The track is laid on cork roadbed on the main lines and on quarter-inch foam board everywhere else. The turnouts, with the exception of the #6 Atlas turnouts on the crossovers, are Atlas Snap Switches to save space. About half of the switches are remotely controlled, the remainder are manually controlled with Caboose Industries No. 205S ground throws.
I have tried many different track plans and room arrangements to try and expand the layout with the various iterations of Atlas' Right Track software. I have given up on a 4-7 track staging yard to be located on the 'West' end of the outer main line. The most practical around-the-walls track plans call for the removal of a closet wall, and thus, the closet as well. Convincing the better half that the whole project is necessary has proven to be an up-hill battle. If I have to remodel the room to expand the layout I'm going to some kind of 'around the walls' arrangement. I am exploring a few alternative designs. If I can come up with something I'll post the design here for comments.
The thumbnail photograph at left shows the East side of the Black River Valley layout, viewed from the South side of the table as of March 24, 2010. In the center background is a new background building, General Industries and a new end backdrop. The two yard sidings and engine terminal are visible near the water tower and the Berea Depot. The roadway viaduct with guard rails and the highway bridge extend to the top left edge of the layout in front of the forested hill. The Redwing Flour Mill is at the left. Barron Oil Company is in the center. Grafton Tower at bottom center while part of my team track scene is just visible at bottom right. For a larger view of the East end 'click' on the thumbnail.
The thumbnail photograph at right shows the West end of the Black River Valley layout as of January 4, 2011. In the distance is the Farmers Union grain elevator with its own siding. Just to the left of the elevator, near the edge of the table, is the double track highway crossing. The signals are automatic, with Berkshire Junction controls and LED crossbucks. In the center is Oosting's Furniture Store and the team tracks with overhead crane and loading dock. The white building next to the furniture store is the new General Store. The Baron Oil Company is visible in the center foreground. The other buildings on the town site can be seen along the roadway. All of the buildings are lighted. The two retail stores, Oosting's Furniture and Michelle's Fashions have detailed, lighted, display windows. I'm still working on the furnishings for Judy's Bar & Grill on the corner. Grafton Tower is a right center.
Here is a recent photo of the highway crossing near the Black River Valley Coop grain elevator as NYC F7 #1855 passes. The crossing was inspired by a photograph I saw on the Atlas Forum. The flangways are a little wider than I would like, but they are necessary to allow my Niagara 4-8-4, Heavy Mike and Hudson, not to mention my grandson's Challenger, to pass over. The signals are activated by a Berkshire Junction infra-red control module. The crossbucks where part of the kit and are made of brass and plastic with red LEDs for the lights. I hid the IR light sources and detectors in foliage and home-made equipment cases at track side. A 'photo essay' on the installation of my Berksire Junction crossing lights and control circuits is on the 'How'd You Do That' page.
I constructed my roadway bridge from .040-inch Evergreen Sheet Styrene. The bridge abutment was made from two Atlas 3-inch Bridge Piers cut in half lengthwise and trimmed to fit on top of a couple of shaped wooden blocks. I built the I-beams (4) from the sheet styrene cut into strips. The bridge deck and approach are one piece of sheet styrene glued to the I-beams. The bridge rails were made from styrene strip stock. The bridge deck and beams can be lifted out for access to the track for cleaning and maintenance. Still some detailing and finishing to do, but it works and looks better than the slab of plywood it replaced.
To provide a 'voice' to my non-sound equipped steam and diesel locomotives I installed sound decoders and speakers under the BRVRR train table. For the purpose, I purchased two Soundtraxx DSD100-LC decoders, a #820002 Diesel Sounds decoder and a #820001 Steam Sounds decoder. I built two wooden enclosures for a pair of 4-inch speakers I had on hand. For minimal protection and to keep the dust out, the faces of the speakers/enclosures are covered with air conditioner filter mesh. I wired a sound decoder to each speaker. I also soldered a small light bulb across the motor leads of each decoder to simulate motor load which is necessar for programming. I installed a simple switch in the track leads to each of the decoders so I can turn off the sound without deleting the decoder address from my Digitrax control system. The sound quality and CV response are quite good. For operations, I use the sound decoder's address as the top address in a consist and simply MU the desired locomotive(s) to it. Not as proto-typical as on-board sound, but effective.
A Digitrax, DCS-50, Zephyr provides the power and controls the trains on the BRVRR. There are two MRC Railpower 1300 power-packs connected to the jump ports on the Zephyr command station. This arrangement provides the operator(s) with three individual throttles for the trains. One of the MRC power-packs powers the switch motors the other powerss the street lights and structure lights. A small 'train set' power supply provides the power for the crossing lights and train detector. The thumbnail at right shows the layout of the command station and MRC power packs.
I added a Digitrax DT400 throttle to the BRVRR Layout to provide more flexibility and better control. With the throttle plugged into the Zephyr, I can now take my throttles with me to the back (North) side of the layout. The DT400 gives me much finer throttle control and I can even program an operating engine in OPS Mode on the main line. I'm still learning all it can do, though I doubt I'll ever use all of the features on the Black River Valley Railroad. So far the DT400 is proving to be worth the investment.
I have been thinking about programming my locomotives with DecoderPro and running the layout with ControlPanel for a long time. My 2008 Christmas present to me was the LocoBuffer-USB shown at right. After installing the software and figuring out a Com Port problem, the unit and JMRI programs worked as advertised. I still have a lot to learn, but so far, progamming decoders and running the layout with my personal computer has been fun.
