Another industrial siding has been added to the layout - Kopp Glass in Swissvale/Rankin. This glass company makes lenses for railroad signals. We laid two sidings to the glass house loading dock and material stockyard. As with other sidings, we glued down cork roadbed then sanded it down to create a smooth transition to plywood.
After 8 or 9 operating sessions, we've realized that switching the Conemaugh interchange between Conrail and Chessie creates a bottleneck on the mainline because the locomotive had to come out onto Track 2 of the mainline to switch the interchange tracks. By moving the turnout back just a few inches, we could contain all switching within the interchange tracks, and only lose about a car length of storage.
We have long been bothered by the steep (okay, vertical) drop off from the coal mine tipple to the interchange tracks below. The only way to bridge this elevation difference seemed to be a retaining wall, which didn't make sense in a rural area. We had left a few inches behind the coal tipple for a hillside, but decided that distance was needed more in front of the loading tracks.
A coat of base color paint makes quite a difference. Rock castings will be placed towards the bottom of the slope to suggest that the interchange tracks were cut into the hillside, and vegetation above that.
Paper Signals
While someday we want to have operating electric signals, Charlie wanted to try out paper signals based on an article that appeared in the April 2017 issue of Model Railroader. This involved creating two dimensional HO scale signal masts on cardstock, which he laminated, then installing some plastic bases on the layout to hold the signals (the bases are for board game pieces and were bought in a bag of 100 on eBay). True to the layout's Pennsy heritage, Charlie created the different signal aspects using his student license of AutoCAD. On the back of each signal card, he labeled the NORAC Rule number for each aspect and what it means. The default display, permanently glued into the base, is a STOP signal. Prior to sending out a train, the dispatcher must "set up" the signals along the route and the train crew must "knock down" the signals at each location as they pass, thereby displaying the default STOP signal for the next train.
While it is not as realistic as operating signals with block detection, it is a good substitute and our crews like it much better than carrying a clipboard and writing train orders - it has been a big success. One thing to note is that we have seven crossovers (interlocking) on the layout, so all of our signals are interlocking signals, not block signals. Due to our longer train lengths and spacing of crossovers, block signals are not needed.
While it is not as realistic as operating signals with block detection, it is a good substitute and our crews like it much better than carrying a clipboard and writing train orders - it has been a big success. One thing to note is that we have seven crossovers (interlocking) on the layout, so all of our signals are interlocking signals, not block signals. Due to our longer train lengths and spacing of crossovers, block signals are not needed.
Two photos of the signals in place.
Loyalhanna Creek
We had never installed a piece of plywood behind the (future) stone arch viaduct to support the creek bed, so this was a good time. Assuming that we will use resin water for the creek, it was important that the plywood joint be smooth and watertight.