Planning & Building the Portable Substation (PSS) Model Part 2

The roof of my model PSS is removable. An inner body was made from 0.040" styrene sheets and strips. Excess pieces cut from the styrene sheet were used to make strengtheners placed between the side walls and down to the floor. Holes were cut in the sides for windows.  Photos are below in this Post.

The outside scribed sheathing of 0.040" was placed on the sides while 0.020" sheathing was glued to the ends. Why the double sides and ends? - ease of cutting the material, material that was available without cutting more full sheets, strength, weight of the final model compared to a car if it had been made lighter (single sides), and probably a dozen more reasons I cannot remember.

The frame for the roof fits inside the sides of the car. The roof itself has to fit over the ends and the bumped-out letterboard on the sides of the car. The 2 sheets of styrene for the roof were glued on the frame. When the flat slabs of the roof were glued on, the excess material was left to overhang the body. The excess was cut off just before painting the model.

There's a number of details on the prototype. The details even if they are strips of styrene were added just as if they were cast plastic or brass parts. For wire 0.020" brass rod was used.

I could find only one location where a step was added to the prototype. Since a Grandt Line Delrin casting was being installed (normal plastic glue may not work) Pliobond adhesive was used. It's available from ACE hardware in small tubes. Pliobond is a rubber based adhesive. It provides a non-ridged, flexible bond.

Delrin can be hard to deal with. I find it's hard to get paint to stick to it.

To install the completed model on the layout a short section of track was placed on the layout. I had a short section of flex track with code 100 weathered rail. Since the flex track had plastic ties, the track was glued to a piece of 0.005" styrene sheet. Additional wooden ties were glued in place as rail stops to keep the car from rolling off the track. Every thing was sprayed a suitable color. Some ballast was attached.

The model was placed in its side for the photo of the  track. Note the wire and hole in the track for a light mounted inside the model.

Inside the model with the roof removed the partitions as well as the cut-outs for the windows can be seen. A flashing red light was placed in the section where the motor-generator would be located. The instructions and electronic board were placed on other sections. The roof was placed next to the model so you can see how the roof was made.

For the final installation of the PSS additional line poles for the  high voltage AC could be brought to the car. A pole so the 600 v DC can be brought to the overhead on the layout was placed at the other end of the substation. Wires have yet to be installed.

According to Standards regarding line poles and location of wires, there has to be a distance of 4' (prototype) between wires crossing over one another. The new line poles are 1/4" wood dowels. The cross arms are brass castings from PSC although they can be scratch built. I had the casting for 30+ years. 

With the poles made of wood and the cross arms of brass, a hole for a 00-90 bolt was drilled and tapped in both the castings and pole. The bolt is held in place with a nut. Finally a couple of drops of ACC is placed in strategic places to keep the cross arm from moving.

The other model inside of the loop is an old plastic box car with a 1970 calendar advertising All Nation Line when it was located in Des Plaines, Illinois. It's mounted on the layout as a storage container for the Chicago & Utopia Railway.

The portable substation is an interesting model for any layout. Furthermore it allows you to individualize the model to suit your needs. Some PSS had open sections enclosed in fencing.

The yellow tie is the location of an electrical gap in both rails. This has been a technique used by me for years.

Now what to do now that the PSS is finished? Cheers,

Ed

Planning & Building the Portable Substation (PSS) Model Part 1

Unfortunately no photos were taken as the model was built.  A few photos were take as the model was completed and installed.

But, there's some things I can help you out with the planning and building. With that, let's do some planning. Almost all of  model PSS are permanently mounted on a layout. Although you can have your PSS in a freight or service train being moved to its in-service location.

In the plans and photos the PSS are mounted on arch bar trucks. In my parts bin were Athearn arch bar trucks with NWSL wheetsets. Some years ago Athearn had a plastic frame and bolster 5' wheelbase arch bar trucks available in O scale. Before plastic became more common, these same trucks were made of metal by another manufacturer. PSC has a 5'4" wheelbase arch bar truck. The PSC arch bar trucks have too long of a wheelbase. The extra 4" may not seem like a lot but it is for a short wheel base truck under a short car.

Although the Athearn (or older Athearn style) arch bar are no longer made, they show up for sale at O scale Meets, EBay, and other second hand markets. The Athearn trucks with plastic sideframes are the best. Some of the older metal trucks were made from a pot metal which designates over time. The Athearn plastic sideframe trucks with NWSL metal wheels and axels roll freely on track.

These are photos of the Athearn plastic frame arch bar trucks I used under the model. The trucks have been painted with a rust color paint. The trucks under a stationary car will start to rust in a short time. Note the amount of detail in the trucks. NWSL wheel sets were used to replace the plastic wheel wheelsets in the trucks.

The reason for having the trucks to be used before starting on the body allows you to know  how the trucks are to be attached to the model's body bolster. This will be important as you plan how to make the underbody of your model.

With the decline in the number of hobby shops around the United States you have to determine how you are going to obtain the materials to build your model. This can include a hobby shop near or remote to your home and/or ordering direct from the manufacturer. There are pros and cons to both.

Next is the decision on what material is to be used to build the body (sides, ends, floor, and roof). For most of you it's either wood or plastic (styrene). What may influence your decision is, is the floor or roof to be removable?  This is necessary for the installation of glazing in the windows in the doors and an interior.

You may want to install lighting and an interior in your model although there are little to no items available for a substation. One item which can be used is an old open frame motor to cause flickering, sound, and mini shaking of the substation. Some years ago at least one  vendor had a model large elevator motor.

Control panels with flashing red lights can be created and installed. The PSS does not have to be a quiet model on your layout!

Just as an aside, the PSS in the plans has, to cool the equipment inside of the car during operations, 4 sections of the roof that are hinged and can be opened several inches. I did not make these sections of the roof operational. But, a model with opening roof sections would be a contest buster!

If you decide to build your model from wood, Northeastern Scale Models has all the material you will need. For styrene, Evergreen Scale Models has all the material you will need.

I come from the pre-WW II "Velveeta wooden cheese box school of hobby building". It took me a long time to change from making all wood models to using styrene.  It seems like now the hobby favors styrene more than wood. Grandt Line has change to an all plastic (almost all styrene with some Delrin) inventory. As you will see this plus some other items make the plastic assembly faster and easier.

Some words about plastic glues or adhesives. There at several on the market. Some dry faster than others which results in a "strong" joint faster. Styrene is known for stick the pieces together of 1 joint and then shortly go on to the next joint. But, sometimes the model has to sit overnight to ensure all joints (seams) have complete dried and sealed.

Also, generally speaking, only similar plastic can be rapidly glued together. This property of plastics has to do with the chemical structure of the plastic.

Before any assembly starts, how do the doors operate? How the doors were hung/fitted was learned from looking at photos of old freight cars, building kits for old freight cars, looking a diagrams in old car builders' encyclopedias, looking at old barn doors, and some common sense.

They are sliding doors much like the old time pre-1900 freight cars and barn doors. They hang from a top "rail" using door hangers with rollers to engage the "rail". On the PSS this "rail" is enclosed in the letterboard. This detail can be noticed on my model's photos.

Also, the doors are kept next to the body of the car with the use of "Z" shaped door guides on the bottom and ends of the door. If you have not, carefully go through the Grandt Line. PSC, and other catalogues you may have to look for parts.

Normally I don't mention stock numbers or SKU's. However, I recommend using the PSC body bolster, truck screw and spring. The 3 PSC numbers for their body bolster, screw and spring can be hard to find. These are the same type of items used by US Hobbies, Westside/KTM, Max Gray, etc. on their imported models.

PSC has a styrene body bolster (PSC #349), spring (PSC #350), and screw (PSC #351) to hold the trucks in place. Their arrangement is the best in the long run over a wood screw. Other brass PSC parts are grab irons, coupler assemblies, K brake kit, equipment for the hand brake staff (a kit), hand brake stand on the end of the car, and coupler lift bars. On the top of page 54 of the "Passenger/Freight Car" catalogue is a drawing of standard gauge freight car and caboose underbody diagram. A kit is shown for the underbody castings.

With the styrene body bolster from PSC plus the styrene parts from Grandt Line it's easy to make the car from Styrene. But wood can still be used.

More in the next Post. Cheers,

Ed

PS - From the "Preview" I'm able to see what the new Post will look like before publishing it. The Blog editor is doing strange things again!

2018 National O Scale Convention

It's coming - The 2018 National O Scale Convention to be held in the Washington DC area. For information - location, hotel, dates, etc. go to the Convention's web site.

https://2018oscalenational.com/

If you have any questions or problems feel free to contact the fellas in change of the Convention.

If you're planning on attending, make your room reservations now. The Convention sponsors have been able to have the special room rates for a few days before and after the Convention for sightseeing.

My wife and I have tried to go to the O Scale Conventions in even numbered years. Don't ask me why, but for some unknown reason we've found these years to be the best for us.

What's more important is your chance to see and experience vendors you may have not seen before. There will be a number of local vendors who don't attend other O Scale Conventions.

You'll have a chance to meet other O Scale modelers. There is a lot of information to be gained. It's difficult to name all the unique experiences I've had to National Conventions.

Cheers,
Ed

Sources of Parts etc. for the Portable Substation (PSS) or Any Model

These are the potential sources of parts for the model. Since you are reading this on the internet you should be able to look-up the catalogues of the vendors the same way. I am not suggesting the purchase of all the parts direct from the vendor. You can use your local hobby shop and/or the vendor. Remember keeping your local hobby shop in business may be an asset you cannot do without.

Northeastern Scale Lumber Co. URL = http://www.northeasternscalelumber.com/
Evergreen Scale Models URL = https://evergreenscalemodels.com/
Grandt Line URL = http://www.grandtline.com/
PSC URL = https://www.precisionscaleco.com/

A number of Grandt Line castings were developed for On3.These castings can be used on standard gauge models without any problems.

PSC has their O scale product line broken into 3 different catalogues - steam locomotives, diesel locomotives, and freight/passenger cars. Some items are repeated in all the catalogues while others are only in a specific catalogue. Be sure you look in all of the catalogues.

For that matter be sure to look at the entire web site and/or catalogues of all the vendors.  When it comes to scratch building you must become completely familiar with what parts are available from various sources!

There are other sources for parts both plastic and brass. These include Des Plaines Hobbies and P&D Hobby Shop. Both have a web site and appear at major O Scale Meets throughout the year. Although, it's best to contact them by phone for the availability of parts and to place your order.

Des Plaines Hobbies URL = http://www.desplaineshobbies.com/store/
Ron and Sue purchased the exceptional line of "Custom Finishes by Bob Rzasa" brass detail parts. Des Plaines calls them "O Scale America" Detail Parts.  In this product line are handholds (grab irons) and other unique parts. You need to see these to understand how unique these parts are. Of course the store has other hobby items.

P&D Hobby Shop URL = http://pdhobbyshop.com/
Pat purchased the Kemtron GP7 and RS3 brass kits. P&D has had these kits originally in brass and now in plastic. P&D has also had a F7/9 kit in plastic. Over the years detail parts and a drive to power the kits have been developed. It's the detail parts and power drive in which you will be most interested.  And, of course the store has other hobby parts.

Another old time source is Bowser-Trains  URL= http://www.bowser-trains.com/
If you "click" on the "O Gauge" button at the top of the page and then on "Cal Scale", you will find the Cal Scale line of lost wax brass parts. I've used the windshield wipers, horns, and other parts for many years on my trolley models. 

Three other vendors with small parts applicable to scratch building are:
American Scale Models  http://americanscalemodels.com/
Wiseman Model Services  http://wisemanmodelservices.com/
Scale City Designs  http://scalecitydesigns.com/

Each of these have a number of detail parts. While castings from the many vendors may be more expensive than parts you can make yourself,  the castings will give you uniformity and often save you time.

Cheers,
Ed

Photos of My Completed Portable Substation (PSS) Model

As the prior Post was being prepared, The advertisements in the right column of MR page 51 were noticed. Northeastern Scale Models is still in existence. The model of the PSS can be built from scale lumber (basswood) available from Northeastern. Northwest Short Line (NWSL) is also still in existence. Of the O scale suppliers listed only Walthers (with a changed product line) and Kentron as Precision Scale Models are still in existence. 

There's 2 sets of photos to see. The 1st set is the completed model prior to painting.

Grandt Line products were used for some of the details. Grandt is in the process of changing the color of its plastic castings from black to a wood color. Grandt Line roof saddles, door details, nut-bolt-washer (NBW), and steps were used.

 A number of Precision Scale Models (PSC) were used. There are the brass metal items. Brass wire of 0.020" diameter was used from a different source.

I decided to install all the hand brake detail which was easy to do. My placement of the truss rods was not the best. PSC couplers were installed. The castings were easy to clean-up and make working. PSC has daft gear with springs in them like Kadee couplers.

Prior to painting and while work was being done on the model, pieces of card stock and tape were used to protect the small plastic door guides and stops castings. These are "Z" shape. The card stock was placed in the opening of the casting to keep the casting from being squashed against body during handling. Tape was used to hold the card stock in place.

The 2nd set is the finished model after painting and installation of the high tension electric equipment.

 The 3-phase high tension equipment was installed after the model was painted. More will be mentioned when the Post(s) about painting and installation of the model are written.

 The windows of the PSS are frosted glass. The decals were homemade with the exception of some decals left over from older models. The red square is the outlet for the 600 v trolley electricity.

This end of the car is where the high tension electricity is converted to 600 v trolley electricity. The end of the prototype car had to be removable to access the equipment. 

We'll get more into the making of the model in the next Post(s).

Cheers,
Ed

Scratchbuilding a Portable Substation

The following 4-page article about a portable substation (PSS) appeared in a 1961 issue of Model Railroader. Since this was 57 years ago I think MR will allow me to share the article with you.

BTW - the best thing to do with you old issues of modeling magazines is to tear them apart and save the articles you like. Toss out and/or recycle the parts you don't need. You'll have a much lesser pile of stuff you'll need to file away for future use.

At one end of my layout was a loop which would be constructed out in a forest preserve next to a zoo. The lack of buildings and other scenery bothered me. Thinking about it, the idea of a PSS seemed like a natural for me. 

I've seen photos of PSS and remember a PSS installed next to the South Shore Line tracks some years ago. Some of the PSS like the permanently installed substations had an "electric equipment farm" as part of the substation. This was the part of the PSS I did not desire to build due to time constraints. I wanted to build a "building on wheels". This is where the article in MR came in handy .

Print out the page with the drawings. Then enlarge the drawings for O scale (1/4" scale) and you'll be ready to start.

See you next time! Cheers,
Ed

2018 Happy New Year

2018 Happy New Year to All!

Merry Christmas to all. May we have a peaceful year to come which also brings us happiness.

It's been a time since my last Post and many things have happened since the last one. Toward the start of August my wife and I went on a vacation to the Canadian Rockies. The trip was on the Rocky Mountaineer Railroad (RM) which is a privately owned tour company RM utilizes Canadian National Railroad (CN) owned tracks.

The majority of the Canadian Rockies are in British Columbia (BC). Freight service on the CN tracks in BC is provided by the BC Railroad. RM has its own passenger cars and diesels. RM service is strictly for tourists and the passenger service is not local.

The vacation was fabulous. But, we were warned ahead of time about the forest fires and the smoke. I took about 100+ photos per day. There were 11 vacation days to give you an idea of the number of photos taken. The effect of the smoke on some of the photos can be seen.

Eventually we were left the smoke filled, affected area. The most striking photo (actually set of photos) was taken in the morning at Lake Louise from our hotel window.

The window frame was left in the picture so you can tell this is a photo and not a painting or reproduction. The red things in the center are red painted canoes. A set of photos were taken about 5 minutes apart starting about 6 am local time. Each photo has a slightly different color and emphasis on the scenery.

As for my layout and track building and overhead wire, trolleys do run on it. Scenery is slowly being applied. 

One major problem with the below 0F temperatures we have been having is the effect the outside temperature has on the interior of the area where the layout is located. The room has a sliding patio door which faces north. The winter wind blows from the north. The location of the patio door plus another odd problem in the room makes for a cold north end of the layout. It's not fun to work on this end of the layout!!

We refuse to cover or do anything else with the patio door due to the amount of light we get through the door plus the beautiful outside scene outside. We plan to have the window re-worked when the temperature is more reasonable.

Let's see if I can keep the typing up to do another Post to show you some of my work on the layout including an unusual model.

Cheers,
Ed