John's Alaska Railroad HO Scale Layout

March 4, 2020

Rick's second itineration of a wooden replacement for the double crossover's diamond passes his rigid standards. This wooden diamond keeps wheels straight as they pass through and prevent any possible future derailments.	Last week's experiment with long shank couplers for passenger cars was successful and another eight sets were ordered and received. Stay tuned for more replacement work.	Although it doesn't appear Max is making a contribution to the effort he will be the first one to tell you he, "works like a dog." Not one to micro manage he prefers to lay back and wait for snack time.

LJ uses leftover fascia board mounted to a riser to create a shelf for the foam board.	The riser is mounted to the L-girder bench work and the fascia board makes the perfect support for the foam board.	Supports for both foam board pieces are now in the place. It may look ugly from underneath, but the top view looks great and the board is perfectly supported.

Rick's slow and patient work with the hot wire foam cutter makes for a perfect fit.	Using scrap foam board he now has three more pieces in place.

March 11, 2020

Grandson Cody joined us for dinner and was sporting his very trendy Alaska Railroad at Clayton, Ohio T-shirt. Whereas we feasted on pot roast he chose a peanut butter sandwich with his grandma's famous homemade strawberry jelly.	Targeting the foam board Rick cut last week, LJ built risers and supports for each of them.	Prior to train night I cut two long foam board strips for Rick to use for the thin sections in front of the APU. He has become quite the master with the hot foam wire and soon had the strips fitting snuggly in the gaps.

Rick cut several more pieces to fill in the gaps and now foam board is complete in the area. This is a view looking north through the APU and Anchorage yard.	Paul the Painter returns tonight and applies the first coat of paint to the newly cut foam board.	Rick spent a lot of time prior to the evening cutting and sanding a new wooden diamond for the double crossover. Trucks now pass through flawlessly.

We will eventually build a mountain in the southeast corner of the layout. What if the train derails inside the tunnel? We certainly don't want train cars falling to the floor. However, we can't just put foam board in place as we would be unable to retrieve derailed cars. LJ devised a safety net system using heavier cloth stapled beneath the road bed. The above video gives a short demonstration of the system.	LJ spent most of the evening putting cloth throughout the curve. Once the hollow mountain in is place I will be able to crawl under the table, stick my head up to spot the derailed cars and then retrieve them. I am hoping all this effort is for not as Tom Koole assured me he laid this track perfectly so no derailments will take place.

March 18, 2020

LJ begins the evening by cutting foam board with the hot wire cutter. This section will cover the scenery side of TwentyMile Bridge.	The newly cut foam board is now in place. Small gaps that exist between the foam and track/scenery board will be filled in with grasses.	Rick spent the evening working out bugs on a few of the locomotives. Some of them indicate a "track under voltage" status which will be further investigated next week..

LJ puts the second piece of foam board in place and thus fills in the last remaining gap. Next, he places a third piece of foam board at the other end of the layout at North Pole refinery. Over the next 2-3 weeks the team will complete the remaining foam board installation from Usibelli Coal Mine to the Port of Whittier.	Paul the Painter was unable to attend. "I got your back" says John and he places the second coat of paint on the seven various foam board pieces.	John places the first coat of paint on the new pieces cut tonight. The second coat will be put in tomorrow night. Once paint is dry all pieces will be put in place.

March 25, 2020

Mikel Levine says of his work on the TwentyMile bridge, "I have completed all of the spans. I am currently creating the cross members to tie the spans together vertically. Here are the completed spans."	Here is the jig I am using to make the vertical cross pieces between the spans. 140 are required.	Finally, a trimmed vertical support.

The safety net LJ built through Tunnel subdivision caught its first casualty this week. A gondola broke loose from the end of the train and toppled to the floor. Not! The safety net worked as designed, caught the falling car and prevented the collection of pieces and eventual repair.	John decided to suspend train night due to the governor's "stay at home" decreed due to the coronavirus. This did not stop he and Terry from doing a "lite" version of train night. Using table saw and hot wire John cut a piece of foam board for the straight yard run at Usibelli Coal Mine.	Terry experiments with a kitchen knife to cut foam board only to achieve less than desirable results. Using a three foot metal level to guide the hot wire she produces two nicely fitting pieces of foam board at the main Whittier yard switch.

Several months ago John began gathering a few of his favorite Alaska Railroad collectables to display in the train room. Taking up hammer and nail Terry begins hanging them at various spots around the room.	Terry creates a small wall display (left to right): Panoramas article on Super Fan John, steam locomotive jigsaw puzzle from daughter Anne and husband Nick, actual ARR no trespassing sign, melted crayon picture from daughter Laura and ARR painting by watercolor artist Shannon Cartwright.

Feel free to contact me at john@alaskarails.org
Page created 9/4/17 and last updated 4/6/20