Sugarwood Blog

I haven’t made much progress this month as I would have liked. I am waiting for a friend of mine to obtain the necessary lumber to complete the module for the left side of the drawing I showed last month.

Previously, I made three modules. One 48” with the 45-degree top (see blog entries from 2020), one full 48” square top and a second 44” square top. I need to build another 48” module and the 60” one for the left side. I have what I need to create the 48” module and most of what I need to complete the 60” one. I only have the lumber to build 48” modules, one Square and two 45-degree. I have decided to build the 60” module square, and the two modules on the right will be 45-degree. Also, what is not shown on Rob’s drawing is a window on the 10’ wall. (See the drawing below.) I use a French Cleat to support the layout and need two 8’ cleats to support the two modules on the 10’ wall.

So, what have I been doing all month?

I started by redrawing Rob’s design in AnyRail. (See drawing below.) I did this for two reasons. First, I wanted to get a feel for how and where to start laying track. Rob pointed out that the long track in the Bakery, which runs parallel to the layout’s edge, would be the place to start, and he was correct. Second, the AnyRail drawing can be printed 1-to-1 scale, which will make it easier to lay out the trackwork.

Next, I start working on the operations part of the project. Each year, the 7th Division of the Pacific Northwest Region of the National Model Railroad Association hosts the Railway Modellers Meet of British Columbia (RMMBC). As part of this meet, there are Layout Tours and Ops Sessions. I plan to give back to the community by opening my home for both.

For a while now, I have been comparing methods of freight car forwarding, Car Cards and Waybills (CC&W), Switchlists, Ops Buddy, JMRI Operations and Roll-Your-Own. I hear people talk about the difficulty setting up any one of these, there is setup time with all. It’s all a matter of what you are comfortable with. I prefer Switchlists.

I have used CC&W, but handling the cards and sorting them every time I need to switch is not something I enjoy. While I can take the time to write out a switchlist while using CC&W, most of the layouts around here don’t have a place to sit and write one out. (Also, my writing is atrocious, especially if I’m in a hurry.)

The Roll-Your-Own is very tempting, but I am having difficulty finding an approach I’m happy with. The Ops Buddy Google Sheets below has given me something to think about. It’s on the table for the future.

I heard about the Ops Buddy Google Sheets workbook on the “Around The Layout” podcast, and Matt explains it on the MFRailroad YouTube channel. This has good potential, but it involves a lot of manual cutting and pasting. I have thought about automating it in some form, and I may try it at some point. I like the randomness of the workbook.

I have decided to use JMRI Operations with a custom switchlist with a twist. The Twist: Each industry will have instructions for spotting cars. These instructions will give the spotting location but may also delay the process with an instruction such as “Car must not be moved for 20 minutes. Unloading continues.” Similar to the MACRail Situation Cards. While not necessarily needed, I will be running a “Fast Clock.” I am still working on the Situation Cards.

I hope to have the lumber this month and get started laying track. I hope to have a Plywood Pacific for next May’s RMMBC.

Until next time.
Victor

Wow, it has been almost five years since I posted on my blog (this blog). Time sure gets away from me.

Well, I hope to do better. A lot has happened over the past years, so let me catch you up.

Let me just say that keeping up with a weekly update schedule is difficult if you don’t write for a living. So, I will provide updates, but there is no schedule at the moment.

So here is what happened: The place we lived in back in 2020 was of 1950s origin, and therefore, had little insulation in the walls and attic. My office area was upstairs in a bedroom that was in the attic. So, that and the equipment I had in the office made it extremely hot in the summer. The winters were okay, but after working all day there, I usually did not want to be there after dinner. My haste in building tracking and some assumptions about wood (it’s all the same, right? An 1/8 inch is the same in plywood and basswood, isn’t it? Well, no.) made me dissatisfied with the layout. While I did continue to work on the layout, progress was slow to non-existent.

Then, in 2022, we decided to move. Well, there’s no point continuing if I don’t know what my new space will be, so all forward progress stopped. When we found a space, my plan could not be adapted, so I had to start the design process all over again.

We moved into our new space in January 2024, right in the middle of one of the coldest cold snaps Vancouver, British Columbia, has seen in years. The weekend we moved, it was down to -18 °c. For those of you familiar with Vancouver, BC, you’ll know that a cold winter is when it gets down to -5 or -6 °c, so -18, yeah, no one was ready for that.

Now, to tell more than I should, it’s a condo. We got this place because it’s going through a complete exterior renovation—yep, new siding, windows, doors, and plumbing. Why is that important? Well, one week after we moved in, as the weather warmed up above freezing, a sprinkler pipe on the 4th floor that had frozen thawed and flooded all the way down to the ground. Luckily, we hadn’t unpacked, and most of our stuff was still in the bins we moved with, so we only lost the two new rugs we bought. However, the ceiling had to come down in all but the two bedrooms and bathrooms. Yep, my space as well. To bring this trial to a close, they finally finished the repairs in January of 2025.

This is my new space.

I have spent the last couple of years trying to develop a new plan, so, in April 2025, I gave up and asked for help. I contacted Rob Chant at the Journal of Model Railroad Design on Facebook group Journal of Model Railroad Designand his website http://jomrd.com. I sent him my space, what I was working on, and my Givens and Druthers. After some discussion, I commissioned a design.

Here is what he came up with.

This is way better than my designs and worth the price. After at least 2 years, I had not gotten anywhere near what Rob came up with in a few days.

To review the benchwork I will be using, check out my June 2020 post, “Why does it take so much longer than you think?”. I completed three of the six planned modules in 2020, which will be reused here. I will clean them up over the next bit and start on the plan. I still plan on hand-laying the track and turnouts. The “Snap-Track” approach works well enough, but I am still deciding if that is the way to go.

I plan to keep updating, but not weekly, and definitely sooner than I have in the past.

Until next time.

It has taken a couple of weeks but I now have the east end of the Sugarwood Siding connected.

That in itself does not allow me to preform run a around because, the west turnout of Sugarwood Siding is at the end of the curve coming from the west. So that curve had to be laid and is complete now.

Spline roadbed laid and laying the ties.

Rails down.

With the exception of the spurs for McFoods and Olie’s Cold Storage the Sugarwood Yard section is complete.

As can be seen in the pictures above I have started working on McFoods and I have mocked up the wall panels.

I don’t think I will be installing the McFood and Olie’s Cold Storage spurs until I have the structures figured out. For now, the next step is run trains and push/pulls cars and get the track reliable. My Genset and MP15AC (B type trucks - 2 axles) have no issues with any portion of the track work so far but my SD40-2 (C type trucks - 3 axles) has an issue with the diverging route of the turnout at the east end of Surgarwood Siding.

I also want to get the other three modules of the layout built and install before the end of September.

Until next time.

For information about me check out the About page on this blog.

Over the past week and holiday, I was able to complete laying the track for the Sugarwood Yard and I started laying the sub-roadbed to complete the east end of Sugarwood Siding.

There is not a whole lot to be said about laying the track in the yard it is pretty straight forward. Thought I did want the yard to look like it has been around for a while so I did not use a straight edge to lay the yard perfectly straight, as can be seen in the two photos below.

To connect the east end of Sugarwood Siding I decided to go with the spline roadbed approach and I find it easier and faster than I thought. I am using 1/8” x 1/8” basswood glued to the foam. I have been surprised that how fast the glue dries, about thirty minutes after laying a spline I can remove the pins and lay another spline. Towards the upper center of the top photo and left center of the bottom photo, the east end of Sugarwood siding can be seen.

Until next week.

For information about me check out the About page on this blog.

Work on the layout proceeded a bit slower this week.

I having been working on Sugarwood Siding and had to build the two industry turnouts for McFoods and Olie’s Cold Storage. These two turnouts are now installed and connected to the west end of Sugarwood Siding.

I am stilling deciding on just how to connect the east end of the siding and the industry tracks.

My current thinking is to use 1/8-inch x 1/8-inch strips and take the spline roadbed approach. Another approach I am considering is to create a template and cut it out of a plank of basswood.

The benefit of the plank and template is that most of the work could be done at my workbench, the reason I am using 1/8-inch basswood/plywood for my roadbed, but I think there would be a lot of waste using the plank and template. I will have to think a bit more.

In the meantime, maybe I will work on the yard tracks.

Until next week.

For information about me check out the About page on this blog.