# Eastern Plains - Holyoke, Idalia and Towner (EPHIT) Branch



## irontodd (Aug 28, 2014)

Holyoke, Idalia, and Towner are all towns in the eastern plains of Colorado. In real like, they spread about 180 miles apart, but I'm calling them neighbors. I'm not going to be modelling these towns in "fact" but rather in name only. Their names simply allow me to have a general concept (and a fun name for my line, pronounced "Eff-it")


The plains of Colorado are generally flat, with some mild rolling hills, and the winds can really pick up, which gives this rise to the planned wind farm. 

In my version of Colorado, Amtrak has seized an opportunity to connect North Platte, NE to Albuquerque, NM, and this route passes through Idalia. This route more easily allows passengers from places like Chicago and Milwaukee to reach the southwest part of America.

Idalia is named for Mr. Jack Daniel Idalia, a cattleman who owned a ranch near the town site. the main business in Idalia is still cattle based, with meat, milk and leather products as their main commodities. Residents of Holyoke and Towner commute into Idalia via rail or car to their jobs at the Dairy, Tannery, and Slaughterhouse. 

The current rail plan looks like this:


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## irontodd (Aug 28, 2014)

*Table*

I hope to add some pictures of the constructino of my table/baseboard. I just have to find them. I began construction in February 2016, and used Plywood grid with L-Legs at the corners. One interesting challenge is that I had to build my table with keeping in mind that my son has his own train sets and a boatload of track. I spent a few weekends assembling the table my top height is 4' (48") off the floor, and his takes up the same footprint and sits at about 30". (he's 5 so it works, we can sit on some chairs and run our operations on his table, and mine is a workable height, pretty good visually and pretty good for construction and operation.

Ill edit this post with photos once I locate them.











Drilling the cross members









4x4 square









Framework









Gusseting the modules









Laying out the plywood









In place









Getting the lower level installed for my son's trains


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## irontodd (Aug 28, 2014)

I started laying roadbed and a bit of track over the past week and a half. 






































Here's a quick video of my process


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

very interesting layout. Lots of continuous running
track routes. You will also enjoy some very challenging
switching operations. Nicely designed.

By all means post your as built in our LAYOUTS OF MEMBERS
thread in the Layout Design Forum.

Don


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## redman88 (Nov 25, 2015)

I may have followed the track wrong but I don't think you need the auto reversing sections.


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## irontodd (Aug 28, 2014)

redman88 said:


> I may have followed the track wrong but I don't think you need the auto reversing sections.


Don helped me confirm earlier this year during my design phase. The crossovers in front of (below in the image) the main central yard necessitate the AR sections. Thanks for checking though redman

Sent from my SM-T550 using Tapatalk


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## irontodd (Aug 28, 2014)

*10/23 Update*

Hi guys (and gals?) Here's a 8 - 9 minute update on my progress so far, highlighting my mainline track running. 





and a few still shots


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## Magic (Jan 28, 2014)

Very well thought out track plan and some nice track work as well.
Looking forward to more updates.

Magic


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## irontodd (Aug 28, 2014)

I realized I never thanked Don for his feedback so thanks Don! Thanks also to Magic. I appreciate your comments

mtf build thread http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=102266


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## Overkast (Jan 16, 2015)

Irontodd, I *LOVE* your track plan - it is very well thought out and has lots of nice curves and switching action! Is this an N Scale layout? I think it is by the pics but not 100% sure...


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## irontodd (Aug 28, 2014)

Thanks Overkast! Yes it's n scale. Approximately 2.5 miles of mainline. I can't wait until i get all the track laid, hopefully by the end of this year, but finances may prevent me from getting it all done by then

mtf build thread http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=102266


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## irontodd (Aug 28, 2014)

I used up all the materials i had ordered from modeltrainstuff, so i cleaned up my layout table and shot this short vid of my kato amtrak going point to point around what i have completed.






mtf build thread http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=102266


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## irontodd (Aug 28, 2014)

I finally completed my mainline loop! I did a fair amount of testing this evening at various speeds, both directions. I staryed slow to check things out and increased to 100% throttle before taking any video. The past hour has been simply wathing things go in circles. The entire loop is currently powered by a single DC feeder using 24 ga twisted from a stripped out ethernet cable. I have run about 20-25 laps each direction at top speed.

Top speed run, for brevity in the video. 40 seconds for a full lap. 





I ran at almost top speed (just below the red zone on my kato dc controller) without issue. The video was shot at 100% top speed, max, cannot make it go any faster, completely in the red)

I also broke some rules by putting a few insulated joiners on curves... i do NOT recommend doing so but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. In that vein, top speed across them show no faltering whatsoever. This speaks volumes to the importance of attention to detail in your track work.





mtf build thread http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=102266

Closeups of insulated joiner








Looks like i could file the right hand rail just a tad...


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## irontodd (Aug 28, 2014)

Well, i have been making progress on hooking up more feeders, i am probably about 75% complete with soldering the feeders to the rails. This is what a typical feeder looks like for me



















For now, they are hanging loosely below the table, until I make the switch to DCC.











Otherwise, not much progress, my better half and I have been remodeling the kitchen.


mtf build thread http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=102266


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## irontodd (Aug 28, 2014)

I finally got DCC this past week and got it installed and running. NCE Power Cab is now my system of choice. DCC bus is a radial style, 4 main bus lines coming off the control unit, right in the middle of the layout, each branch of the bus is about 12-13 feet in length. I also got a TCS BEMF non-sound decoder for my P42 loco. I'm really impressed with how easy it was to get started in DCC. I wired up a feeder, installed the fascia port panel, and installed the decoder, and was up and running in less than an hour. I also got a bit giddy with the momentum feature and the ability to run my train up and down grades at a consistent speed, at whatever speed step I chose (including step 1 of 128), with 7 passenger cars in tow. I have grades of 2% using woodland scenic grade sets. Overall very impressed with the TCS board. only downside is that it was so easy to install that I forgot to take pictures! 

I did snap some pix tonight of some of my wiring just for kicks. It's an update, right?


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## 89Suburban (Jan 4, 2017)

irontodd said:


> I finally completed my mainline loop! I did a fair amount of testing this evening at various speeds, both directions. I staryed slow to check things out and increased to 100% throttle before taking any video. The past hour has been simply wathing things go in circles. The entire loop is currently powered by a single DC feeder using 24 ga twisted from a stripped out ethernet cable. I have run about 20-25 laps each direction at top speed.
> 
> Top speed run, for brevity in the video. 40 seconds for a full lap.
> https://youtu.be/9JHNLu9jI2I
> ...


Awesome!!!! :appl:


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## Mr.Buchholz (Dec 30, 2011)

Loving that wiring! Very neat an organized, and the terminal block helps a great deal! WANTS MOAR!

-J.


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## irontodd (Aug 28, 2014)

I had some struggles with ground throws that you can read about here: http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=114146

Once i got past that hurdle I started laying cork for the main yard. The track is not glued down yet, i will wait until i get the turnouts for the south ladder to do that. Bu things are starting to take shape.



























mtf build thread http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=102266


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## irontodd (Aug 28, 2014)

Below is an expert from the ground throws thread, it was more general about my layout so i pulled it into this thread. 


> ...I've been at this hobby for a long time... I just checked out your track plan, photos and video. It looks like you have been doing this a long time too! Great start. You may want to look at your amount of track. What some folks consider "cramming in as much track as you can" others might see as "wide open spaces." We never have enough room for all the features we want. Also the space-gobbling return loops needed for continuous running can be "scenically challenging." You just can't fit all that much inside them, and it can be hard to disguise their essentially "round and round the little train goes" appearance. One good way of minimizing both problems is to divide the layout down the middle with a double-sided backdrop, or hill high enough to restrict the view to one side at a time. The N-scale club I used to belong to (I moved) had many turn-back curves along their twelve scale mile main line, but the terrain separated the scenes so effectively that you really seamed to be traveling from one town to another, rather than around a loop. Of course this required people aisles on both sides of the bench-work. I don't know if that's practical for you, or not. If you haven't already thought about access to the "back" side of your layout, it's a good idea to do so. Reaching the complex trackwork back there will be necessary! If the railroad is going to butt up against a wall, you might want to put large casters on the legs so you can easily move it out when you need to. If you are lucky enough to have plenty of space (I'm not!) then creating separate scenes becomes possible.
> ....
> again, great start;
> 
> Traction Fan:smilie_daumenpos:


Actually TractionFan, this is my first go at a permanent layout. However I have been on the forum for quite some time reading up on other folks comments and suggestions and inputs. I have been messing around with SCARM for probably 3 years now, ever since my son got his first train set from Grandma. But your comment that i must have been at this a while really put a smile on my face! Thank you for the compliment!
Now as far as casters or repositioning so i am not against the wall are things that i thought of. My whole table is up on wheels and can be turned around if i so please. Mostly due to the fact that our basement is unfinished and i will need to move it to put up walls and drywall. But it certainly came in handy laying the track behind the mesas/plateaus. I have considered turning the whole layout around so the long edge is not against the wall, haven't made a final decision on that yet tho.
Finally I have been thinking about doing some scenic dividers but probably dont have the real estate to do much with that without turning the table around. We will have to see where i go with that.

mtf build thread http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=102266


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## irontodd (Aug 28, 2014)

I was having derails and power issues gettin into the main yard. Found that the point rails were a little off-height of each other. I also was experiencing shorts as any of my cars reached the frog. Turns out every wheelset was outside of range - too narrow. The wheel approaching the frog was contacting both the diverging rail and the opposite polarity stock rail, the right wheel in the photo below.









Fiddled with a number of turnouts too, to smooth things out. Below is the fruit of my labor.

I dont have an NMRA gage yet, but its in my shopping cart for my next order. In the meantime, i used my analog calipers to set the wheel spacing, measurement B in NMRA Standard 4.2. The target is 0.301" in N scale.













mtf build thread http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=102266


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## Overkast (Jan 16, 2015)

Wow irontodd, the wheels shorting out at the frogs must have been incredibly frustrating. I too have powered frogs, but haven't had an issue with this (yet). Something I need to keep in mind for the future though! I really should get myself an NMRA gauge too...

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## irontodd (Aug 28, 2014)

Overkast said:


> Wow irontodd, the wheels shorting out at the frogs must have been incredibly frustrating. I too have powered frogs, but haven't had an issue with this (yet). Something I need to keep in mind for the future though! I really should get myself an NMRA gauge too...
> 
> Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk


Overcast, it certainly was frustrating, but as per the common advice, I ran the train progressively slower across the problem sections and identified exactly where the issue was happening. The interesting part is the spot where this happened was at the turnout closest to my reversing section, so I thought I had done something wrong with the AR unit. Once I slowed things down to a crawl it became more apparent what was happening. The target wheel back spacing being 0.301, and mine originally being 0.294 to 0.296 made all the difference. Five or 6 thousandths of an inch is really small but critical when dealing in N.

Eastern Plains - Holyoke, Idalia and Towner (EPHIT) Branch build thread http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=102266


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## Tony35 (Mar 18, 2016)

irontodd
very smooth running train, shows in the track work 
Keep up the good job


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