Albion Software Newsletter

November 2024

The latest version of Ship It! is still 10.0g. There will most likely be an upgrade at some point, but my main project is to get my layout in shape for operations. I've been fortunate enough to get invited to operating sessions on some pretty impressive layouts in the Colorado Springs / Pueblo area (more on that in future newsletters), and I'd like to return the favor and add my layout to the operations queue here.

Some sad news: Eric Lundberg passed away this year. The operating group here that I am part of now (Pueblo/Co Springs) got word of it because Eric's niece found an email address of one of the guys here and reached out to him. Eric was a big part of this group, and most of the guys have operated on his layout I assume many times. Eric was an early adopter of Ship It!. At one point he even wrote an article about Ship It! and submitted it to RMC, but it was never published. His legacy still lives on in his influence on this group, me personally, and many people all over the country who read the many articles he wrote for the magazines.

My garage is finally in good shape. The contractor insulated the walls, added two 20-amp circuits, and sheetrock. He also added some great lighting as well as a 240 amp outlet. The band saw can use the 240 volts, but the real reason is that electrical brew systems bring water to boil much faster using 120 volts - I'm hoping to get back into brewing beer again. But don't tell my wife!

Progress on The Cripple Creek District

I'd like to apologize for the long gap between newsletters. As I mentioned, getting the layout back to operating shape is really important to me. I decided to first do some rock and trestle work because once the other modules were brought down there would be less room to work.

August 2024: Rockwork Completed

The gaps are where the scenery was too close to where the trestle bents will be.

90% of the rockwork here is dry cast and glued in place. This allows me to build up a scene gradually. I use Sculptamold to fill in the gaps between castings

This is the state of my trestle bents as of late July. That stack is completed bents, lacking only the NBW (nut bolt washer) castings.

The Florence module. I had to cut a large part of it away in order to have a 24" aisle into the train room. The layout fits back-ass-wards (spell check doesn't know what to make of that) into the new train room, so that you have to pass by Florence Yard just to get into the room. That hanging piece of L-girder will sit over into the benchwork already there. Then I'll continue the yard tracks further. Side benefit - more yard space is possible! The picture below shows the benchwork that the end of the Florence module will fit onto (into?).

This image shows the Phantom Canyon peninsula as it existed in Texas. It's 48" wide here.

For me to have a 24" minimum aisle, this module's width had to be cut down by 6" - to 42" wide. Once I determined that the original radius of 22" (thereabouts) would be reduced to ~19", I felt much better. In HOn3, 19" is decent. No, I would not have a broad curve over Eight Mile Bridge (which is the prototype location for this end of the module), but I would have a 24" aisle. The picture above shows the original 48" width. In this picture, the surgery has already happened, but end benchwork here has not been cut through.

The L-girders marked for cutting.

The first section removed. I used a hand jigsaw - a sawzall vibrates too much. A support was added to keep it from just hanging loose.

The gaps all removed.

The pieces have been slid together and fastened together in two places - it's now 42" wide. The old track is sitting on top of where the river will be, showing the change in radius

Some joint details. The screw manufacturers love me.

I used a painter's tool to scrape off the foam roadbed and track. I then recut this piece to fit the smaller space.

The bottom joint of the new track section. This will have to be removed when I build the bridge, of course..

The new (old) roadbed back in place.

End view showing roadbed and front joint. I boxed the end joints on all faces.

My favorite flat nose jewelers pliers

My favorite files for doing track work.

I use the above files to file down the rail on the bottom and the sides. In code 55, the rail joiners fit very tightly, so it's better to file more off than less.

Looks like I'm only going to get an 18" radius, but that's OK - the aisle width is more important.

A homemade track curve jig.

One of my other hobbies is fishing in general. But I do love fly fishing and tying flies. The reason I'm showing this is because the tools used for flyfishing are equally good for model railroading.

Clock-wise from the top: UV curing epoxy resin with tubes for thick, thin and also flexible; UV curing flashlight; thin super glue; thick super glue; tweezers from Dr. Slick (this USA company makes a bunch of great small tools); 2 bodkins with sharp points; dubbing wax - a sticky substance you can use to pre-position things; 3 styles of scissors from Dr. Slick; two hackle pliers that can be used to hold items.

A size 22 Griffith's gnat fly - doing this really helps my hand-eye coordination (not to mention patience!)

The actual progress:

Since I wrote much of the above in August, I've gotten a fair amount done. The trestle is complete as are the bridge piers (which are laying on their sides in the foreground of the layout). Now they need painted. I've been procrastinating on that because I know it will not be easy to get them the way I want them. The next problem is that if I fix the bridge piers in place and add plaster rockwork up to them, I will not be able to drop the trestle in place (I know because I tried). So one end can be fixed with rockwork up to it, but one pier must be able to move to get the trestle in place. Doable, but far from ideal, as I'll have to scenic the backside with the trestle in place.

Hopefully I'll get off my duff and write newsletters more often. I'd like to describe the trestle construction and my approach to rockwork. Plus I've got some great pictures of the Sallie Barber mine near Breckenridge, CO.

If you live in the area or are visiting the area, we are a stone's throw away from the World Arena in Colorado Springs, 5 minutes from I 25. Email me if you'd like to visit and run some trains.

Bill