John's Alaska Railroad HO Scale Layout

March 1, 2023

During one of John's trips to Alaska an employee gave him a baggage handler's shirt. He wore this shirt for the first time while finishing work on the mountain. Shown above is the back of the shirt. Click here to see the front of the shirt.	John added grasses and shrubs to the bottom of the mountain. For the time being, the bottom of the mountain is now finished. In the future, rocks and gravel will be added.	John also added vines and other growth to the smaller mountain to cover the gap between the mountain and the portal.

Repair work is never done. Rick found one of the barge motor mounds broke in two. Shown here he removes it for repair.	Rick soldered the two pieces back together. Next, he puts it back into place and rewires it.	Rick took some time to photograph all eight of the terminal blocks under the layout for reference purposes. Here is the new diesel shop track/ passenger car track terminal block.

Rick and John used a passenger train to test the clearance of the long the new mountain section. One location protrudes enough to strike the Ultradome passenger car.	Rick used a Dremel tool to cut away the protrusion while John held the vacuum nearby to keep the mess to a minimum. Rick then used a file to finished off the section.

March 8, 2023

Rick replaced the cover on the reed switch which controls power to the diesel and passenger car tracks. The system was checked and found to still be operating satisfactorily.	However, it is difficult to know when these tracks actually have power. Rick installed an LED to solve this issue. When the LED is red then the magnet in the small shed is in the correct place and power is active. Otherwise, the tracks are not powered.	AM-11's status light was red tonight indicating an issue. Rick spent an hour troubleshooting and never found the issue. When he did a power reset the status light was green. Chances are we will see the problem again sometime in the future.

John repainted the protruding spot removed by the Dremel tool last week. He then added some additional scenery on the entire wall including some rock talus along the bottom.	Rick ran two different trains tonight and each one cleared the new rock wall. The video above shows the Ultradome passenger cars easily clearing the rock wall. Success!

March 15, 2023

John added track ballast to the canyon section of the Tunnel Subdivision. This is an overhead view.	Here is canyon view of the ballast addition.	Turn your back for one minute and trouble shows up. Five rock climbers are attempting to summit the mountain. Rick, the climber at right, is taking pictures of the other climbers.

The above video will prove interesting to railroad security as a freight train narrowly missed the rock climber belaying near the track.	The freight train passed through the canyon without a hitch. This proved the ballast was laid correctly.	Rick removed the mountain so John can work on ballasting the track on the other side. The amazing Pink Panther finally revealed himself.

Rick put painter's tape below all three gaps between the cork road bed and the foam board. This prevent glue from dripping onto the carpet.	Rick added foam shims on the outer edge of the mainline. This will prevent material from filling in the gap.	The Liquid Nails work continued as Rick filled in the gaps at the double track and into North Pole refinery.

March 22, 2023

Mikel Levine continues his work on TwentyMile bridge. "I have completed the inner guard rails. Notice the joint bar details to simulate repurposed jointed rail. I was going to add the handrail and fiber optic channel next but I think it will be better to wait until the deck is glued to the girders. I have started painting the girders."	Another view of Mikel Levine's incredible track work for TwentyMile Bridge.	And a closer view of the track.

John began work on ballasting the track between the mountains. John first did the side profiles for both tracks. Having Muscular Dystrophy makes for very painful work when reach is required.	John then did the tie ballasting work on the inside track. Some of the side profiles did not receive adequate coverage. Rick pitched in and filled the ballasting gaps on the side profiles.	Rick's work with Liquid Nails continued through North Pole Refinery. Some of the areas done previously shrunk significantly and needed a second application.

Liquid Nails work continued through the North Pole Refinery and stopped at the Alaska Railroad deck bridge. Rick also cut deck wood walkway for the deck bridge an will install it next week.	As a side note, train night began with the running of two different passenger trains. Each locomotive pulled a different set of passenger cars. They ran smoothly through the newly ballasted mountain cut.

March 29, 2023

John finished adding track ballast for both tracks passing through the cut. This was very physically demanding work. Although it is far from perfect, it is close enough for government work.	Next, John added grasses and scrub foliage in the areas around the track. He also added snow for the avalanche slide zone.	Before replacing the mountain the track needs to be checked to ensure ballast or scenery material doesn't interfere with railcar wheels. Liam does a final check and gives it a "thumbs up."

Here is the finished product of the Mountain and Canyon subdivisions. Countless hours were spent here and without a doubt, some future tinkering will take place.	Visiting Indiana grandsons love to run the train. Engineer Lincoln runs a short consist train through the double track area.	Engineer Liam runs an SD70 demonstrator unit past the Port of Whittier.

Conductor Liam and Engineer Lincoln congratulate each other on a successful run. Now it is time to kick off their shoes and celebrate with some pizza.	The above movie shows engineer Lincoln high balling his short consist past the Anchorage depot.	Unfortunately, power was lost in the double track (AR-1) section of the layout. Rick immediately responded to the emergency repair call. After some testing he found re-inserting wires into the AR-1 fixed the problem.

John painted over last week's application of Liquid Nails. It doesn't look very good, but was better than the cream colored adhesive and eventually will be covered by scenery.	During train night Rick put down Liquid Nails in the Portage depot area. He also placed a support under the western end of the foam board so grandkids could play on it without punching it through the layout.	Rick's wet finger application technique works well to smooth out the Liquid Nails. He also added the adhesive to the corner joints of the fascia for added strength.

Here is an aerial view of Rick's completed work. Next week he will completely finish his Liquid Nails effort with the TwentyMile subdivision.	Although John did absolutely nothing during train night, he did it very well.	And now a video of the weekly running of the trains. The bicentennial locomotive came to a screeching halt due to a slightly open swing gate.

Feel free to contact me at john@alaskarails.org
Page created 9/4/17 and last updated 3/31/23