Engineering Blog
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The Chief Engineer of the PRR Middle Division in HO Scale is pleased to report continued progress on the 43rd sub division.
This quarter, progress was made across all aspects of the railroad. Fascia control panels were added on the Milroy Secondary and existing panels were upgraded. Featuring Barrett Hill "Touch Toggles", turnouts are now controlled by touch on a schematic diagram which displays the current position of switches.
Scenery is well underway along Roundhouse Road, between the road crossing at LEWIS and the roundhouse at Lewistown Junction.
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The Chief Engineer of the PRR Middle Division in HO Scale is pleased to present its report for the second quarter of 2017.
Progress and been varied and slow, complicated by a short circuit (see separate blog), oral surgery, illness, and two inches of water in the basement as a result of a recent tropical storm!
Since last quarter, approximately half of the track has been laid in Lewistown yard.
Barrett Hill Touch Toggles have been implemented at two locations that feature single switches. Sort rails and card boxes have been installed for the Lewistown Yard crew, and dividers have been generated to assist in the sorting process. (See below.)
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The chief engineer of the PRR Middle Division in HO Scaleis pleased to submit its quarterly progress report. The full status report is available here.
During the first quarter, through trackage was activated on Lewistown (LN) and Lewistown (XA), completing the line from the main line at Lewistown Junction all the way through to Milroy.
Extensive progress is being made on the lower yard at Lewistown Junction. The west throat is complete (see above) and the service track will soon be completed through the east end.
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On the PRR Middle Division in HO Scale, the branch side of Lewistown (XA) has been declared operational. Part of the Lewistown Secondary, this is the final "missing link" of through track and trains can now traverse from the main line at Lewistown all the way to Milroy at the end of the Milroy Secondary.
In the above image, an H10s is making its way towards the junction.
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It's been a busy week on the PRR Middle Division in HO Scale. I've been mocking up Lewistown yard using flex track and photo copies of turnouts.
In addition to the Lewistown Secondary connector to the main line, there is an "upper yard" parallel to the main line and a "lower yard" north from that, several runaround tracks, and a car shop yard.
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Design quandary on the PRR Middle Division in HO Scale! I've been mocking up the Lewistown Yard and I got everything to fit to my satisfaction except for one thing... the ash hoist. If only I had another foot of benchwork!
The valuation map (above) shows that all of the loco facility tracks converge into one track at left. If you follow the lower most track towards the right, this is a service track to the ash hoist and coal dump.
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Another holiday, another marathon work day on the PRR Middle Division in HO Scale!
First order of the day was to complete the subroadbed for the Lewistown yard. Also cut the remaining scenery liftouts for along Water Street in downtown Lewistown, as well as some bases for scenery in front of the station at Lewistown. You can see more photos on the PRR Middle Division in HO Scale's FaceBook page.
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The Lewistown (LN) segment of the PRR Middle Division in HO Scale is now operational.
The bridge from Lewistown (XA) (aka Lewistown Junction) across the Juniata River to downtown Lewistown has been completed and provides the missing link. The remainder of downtown "through" trackage was previously in place.
Over the next few weeks, the final ten feet or so of track between the south side of the bridge and the main line will be activated. At that point, all "through" trackage on the railroad will be complete and trains will be able to traverse from the main line all the way to Milroy at the end of the Milroy Secondary.
Two informal op sessions are already planned (but not yet announced) for the coming months, mostly to test out the line and determine where tuning work is required.
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As an employee of the state, MLK Day is a holiday, and every year I spend it in the train room. This year was no different, and my mission was to complete the riverbed and adjoining city block where the PRR's Lewistown Secondary crosses the Juniata River.
A challenge is that the riverbed is just three inches above the yard ladder for staging, so the track needs to remain accessible for maintenance. That said, it all needs to be removable. I had previously created the riverbed where the bridge itself will be located. It is removable via three screws, allowing the through girder bridge to remain as one piece.