Category Archives: Caboose Project and Other Trains

The supervisor from the construction company came by this morning
to look at the site (our backyard) before starting the final phase of
soil and gravel moving. The 45 foot rail line is installed except for
the ballast:

The supervisor was going to put in the gravel today using a crew with
shovels and a wheelbarrow but once he saw the site, he decided to come
back with a Bobcat. John talked with him to be sure that the ballast
will be granite rather than serpentine rock. Serpentine is a natural
source for asbestos and we don’t want that kind of trouble in our
backyard. Work should start tomorrow (or Monday at the latest). The gravel
will come from the same local quarry supplying ballast for San Jose’s
light rail line.

John is almost done preparing the package of materials requested by San Jose
city hall so that we can formally start the special permit process to
install our caboose. We check on WP668 every day and she is still
patiently waiting for her final trip by truck and crane to our backyard.

Images by John Plocher (Copyright 2006)

The team preparing the
JavaOne Conference display on
JMRI open source model railroad interface software and
Turtle open source model
train circuit boards met again at our house in San Jose yesterday.
My husband John had put in time in advance putting down “grass”
(different colors of shredded foam) and ballast around the tracks for
basic scenery. John also built a stand for the layout to sit on.
He and Bob and Jon and Dave spent yesterday programming and
wiring and testing the little layout.

Jon admiring the work so far:	Bob programming the layout:
Bob and Dave consulting:	John programming the layout:
John and Jon consulting:	Bob and Jon consulting:
Bob programming in the afternoon:	Bob programming by moonlight:
Running a train by moonlight:	Running a train after moving the layout back inside:
Up late again playing with trains:	Bob at the end of a long day:

There may be time for one more work session before the layout goes to
San Francisco’s Moscone Center on Sunday. The
JavaOne Conference
opens 16 May 2006.

Images by John Plocher (Copyright 2006)

My husband invited a group of fellow model railroad enthusiasts
(aka “train nuts”) down to our San Jose home yesterday to build
a small, portable, HO-scale model rail line to demonstrate JMRI
software at next week’s
JavaOne Conference.

JMRI
model railroad interface software controls model trains
and layout accessories such as turnouts or switches, animation,
locomotive speed and direction, and sound. Bob and John and Jon have
been working on JMRI open source with several hundred people all over
the world for many years. John has also been creating open source
model train circuit boards
to interface with JMRI. Yesterday’s group was made up of
those who were available to come to San Jose.

From about ten years’ experience observing and participating in this
obsession (ahem, that is, hobby), model railroaders usually focus on one
of three major categories of passion:

• Modelling (the scenery, houses, equipment casings, etc.)
• Operations (running trains on a model layout with timing and
  behavior as much as possible like a real or “prototype” railroad)

• Computers (the hardware and software that run the trains and the layout)

Yesterday’s group (John, Bob, Jon, and Bob’s son Bear) are definitely
computer-focussed. I think they will
probably get around to adding some ballast, grass, and maybe a tree or
two, but the fun is in the equipment itself. John got the wooden frame
ready in advance. He and the rest worked for about 5 hours yesterday
and left off when they could run a model engine around the loop without
incident.

Yesterday was a bright warm day and the favored task was
anything that involved laying on the warm asphalt of the driveway
in the shade of the layout itself. The first job was to paint the silver
coating of the layout base so it would not blind the workers…

Preparing the frame in advance:	Bear painting the basecoat:
Jon painting:	Bob starting to lay track:
Outer track loop in place:	Moving the layout into the shade:
John soldering track feeds:	Bob and Jon laying track:
Working on the wiring (in the shade):	Jon gluing track:
John observing the new layout:	Wires under the layout (with me gardening in the background):
It takes at least 3 hands to put a Tortoise ™ slow motion switch in place:	Bob under the layout:
Bear enjoying the sound chip and the train controller:	Jon waiting for the glue to dry:
Done for today:	Clean up:

We meet again in a few days to finish up (and maybe add a little bit
of scenery). Next weekend, we will take the little layout to the Moscone
center for installation in preparation for
JavaOne.

Images by John Plocher (Copyright 2006)

John took the most recent photos off of one of the digital cameras
so below are images of building a 45 foot rail line in our
backyard. We are still waiting for the ballast delivery and
installation – we had hoped it would be this week. John talked with
San Jose city hall again and, after looking into several creative
alternatives, it looks like we will need a special
use permit after all to install the caboose itself.

About April 20, just after the rail was cut:	Ties down, rails on location but not installed:
Special rail and tie moving tools:	Ties, buckets of spikes, tie plates, rail tools:
1st plates and spikes down:	Rail spike’s eye view:
29 April, rail crew arrives:	Silicon Valley Lines Model Train Club at work:
Driving spikes:	Track detail:

Everything but the ballast:

Images by John Plocher (Copyright 2006)

Thanks to the determined efforts of Robert, Eric, Atsushi, and Bill
helping John today, the ties have been adjusted and the caboose rails
have been spiked down. Everyone had fun being gandy dancers instead
of electronics engineers.

Before dinner, we found the golden spike (purchased
years ago at the
Nevada State Railroad Museum) and John, Jessica, Paul, and I took
turns driving it in. The 45′ caboose rail line is done!

Next week, we will ask to have the ballast put down and the remainder
of the dirt levelling done. Tomorrow, I will plant the nandina and dracina
along the fence so that it can get settled before the caboose arrives.
Now that we know how many ties, spikes, and plates are extra, I can start
to plan what to do with those left over.

We took Eric, Atsushi, and Bill (of the
Silicon Valley Lines Model Railroad Club) on a tour of the caboose before lunch. It is
dry inside so it should be easier to handle than when we moved it the first
time in a driving rainstorm.

John has mostly assembled our 45′ long railroad track. It is good
that we got extra spikes, ties, and tie plates. Since we are
(obviously) using materials that have been used before, some are worn
in odd ways, bent, slightly off standard, or damaged. The wooden
ties in particular have lots of character. Once all of the tie plates
and spikes are in, we can get the ballast installed around the ties.
We are hoping that the variety in lengths and widths of the ties will
not look bad once they are settled into the gravel.

I have planted 3 trees while the track was being installed – a 4th
sequoia “Aptos” in the side yard, a 2nd Western Redbud on the bank, and a 3rd
California pepper down the embankment. The ground is not quite sloppy mud
but it is still wet enough to dig and settle in new trees.

We have moved all of the ties, spikes, and rails into the backyard
caboose rail bed. We have put all of the wooden ties down and have
them appropriately spaced. John picked up the rail plates from
the GGRM yesterday.

Next steps to complete this construction phase:

• Put 2 steel plates on each wooden tie
• Put one steel spike partway into each plate to hold it in place
• Cut one of the three 30-foot steel rails in half
• Move the rails into place on the plates: one 30-foot rail and one
  15-foot rail (half rail) on each side

• Attach the 30-foot rail sections and 15-foot rail sections with
  rail joiners

• Put in the 2nd spike and drive in both spikes
• Put down the ballast (large gravel) around the ties
• Tamp and level the ties
• Stand back and admire our new 45 foot long caboose rail line

As our friend Wendy says, when you are working with pieces that weigh
half a ton (like train rails), you do a lot of thinking before you
do a little lifting.