DakotaLove39
Always Improvising
HENNEPIN OVERLAND RHS is OPEN to visitors every weekend, 1:00-4:00PM until April. If you are in or around the Twin Cities, PLEASE stop in! We are in Minneapolis at the corner of East 38th St and 25th Ave. South. http://hennepinoverland.org/
I wasn't sure if I should include club layout photos in my own personal show-off thread, but I figured I couldn't go wrong making a separate thread specifically for photos from the club layout.
I just recently joined Hennepin Overland as of two weeks ago. There are 30 other members, and we operate a 65'-29' HO scale layout in a small warehouse in Minneapolis.
As far as I know at present we don't do any serious, simulation type operating, only continuous running. This is a little disappointing for me but as a member I may be keen on a few opportunities to try and do that kind of stuff myself. The overall design of the layout seems to have been done for actual railroading as there are switches everywhere and three or more interchanges between the two mainlines and the branch line.
9/9/18 Operating during visitor hours
A little bit about my operation this time. I had planned out this consist a week ahead of time and made sure these cars were up to spec for NMRA weight and coupler standards. The original loco was my BNSF GP60M but somewhere between my house and the club it decided to take a day off. Fortunately I was smart and brought one of my new E7's and my Milwaukee caboose just in case I had a problem. I am fully aware the MILW E7's were passenger service only, but I didn't have much choice. The train is mixed freight of four boxcars, a reefer, two 50' hoppers and a three-bay coal hopper. We are called Local 20B, bound for the mountain town of New Bergen and back. (Quick warning, cars will switch places in the photos! I wasn't taking photos most of the time, these are screengrabs from video I took on two separate trips )
New folks start off with the branch line, supposedly because it's easier. The branchline has under-layout staging accessible via helix but myself and the other operator started from the eight-track yard ('east' of the helix). I'm still too new to remember all of the location names, or if this yard even has a name, but it's home anyway.
We depart for the east, leaving the yard at 15mph and slowly wind our way through the first tunnel on our journey. Once out of the tunnel, we pass farm fields, a few small industries, whistle stop and a scrapyard before ducking into another tunnel. Somewhere in the midst of tunnel 2 we have begun our ascent uphill. When we emerge from it, we're in the forested foothills below the New Bergen lumberyards.
It's a lengthy climb up the mountainside, but finally we are in the New Bergen limits. Speed is cut to 20mph through this little town.
Following a short stop in New Bergen for freight transfers and deliveries, we're on the way further east to the lumber mills, but as we have no pick-ups or drop-offs today, we're going to continue on past and make a return trip to New Bergen to get back down again.
Drunken rumors tell that train crew, likely sleepy from the altitude change on their trip, frequently swear they see "giants" looking at them, especially around New Bergen. Such things can only be superstition, right?
(The two tracks seen at the foot of the bridge are actually the starting point for our climb up the mountain. They are easy to forget!)
Having passed the lumberyards, we encounter the return loop switch on this bridge.
And before we know it, we're cruising back to New Bergen.
Before we know it, our altitude has dropped and we're back among the cornfields in the valley.
And shortly after we have returned to the interchange yard where our train will pause to wait for an inbound before we head back west.
I wasn't sure if I should include club layout photos in my own personal show-off thread, but I figured I couldn't go wrong making a separate thread specifically for photos from the club layout.
I just recently joined Hennepin Overland as of two weeks ago. There are 30 other members, and we operate a 65'-29' HO scale layout in a small warehouse in Minneapolis.
As far as I know at present we don't do any serious, simulation type operating, only continuous running. This is a little disappointing for me but as a member I may be keen on a few opportunities to try and do that kind of stuff myself. The overall design of the layout seems to have been done for actual railroading as there are switches everywhere and three or more interchanges between the two mainlines and the branch line.
9/9/18 Operating during visitor hours
A little bit about my operation this time. I had planned out this consist a week ahead of time and made sure these cars were up to spec for NMRA weight and coupler standards. The original loco was my BNSF GP60M but somewhere between my house and the club it decided to take a day off. Fortunately I was smart and brought one of my new E7's and my Milwaukee caboose just in case I had a problem. I am fully aware the MILW E7's were passenger service only, but I didn't have much choice. The train is mixed freight of four boxcars, a reefer, two 50' hoppers and a three-bay coal hopper. We are called Local 20B, bound for the mountain town of New Bergen and back. (Quick warning, cars will switch places in the photos! I wasn't taking photos most of the time, these are screengrabs from video I took on two separate trips )
New folks start off with the branch line, supposedly because it's easier. The branchline has under-layout staging accessible via helix but myself and the other operator started from the eight-track yard ('east' of the helix). I'm still too new to remember all of the location names, or if this yard even has a name, but it's home anyway.
We depart for the east, leaving the yard at 15mph and slowly wind our way through the first tunnel on our journey. Once out of the tunnel, we pass farm fields, a few small industries, whistle stop and a scrapyard before ducking into another tunnel. Somewhere in the midst of tunnel 2 we have begun our ascent uphill. When we emerge from it, we're in the forested foothills below the New Bergen lumberyards.
It's a lengthy climb up the mountainside, but finally we are in the New Bergen limits. Speed is cut to 20mph through this little town.
Following a short stop in New Bergen for freight transfers and deliveries, we're on the way further east to the lumber mills, but as we have no pick-ups or drop-offs today, we're going to continue on past and make a return trip to New Bergen to get back down again.
Drunken rumors tell that train crew, likely sleepy from the altitude change on their trip, frequently swear they see "giants" looking at them, especially around New Bergen. Such things can only be superstition, right?
(The two tracks seen at the foot of the bridge are actually the starting point for our climb up the mountain. They are easy to forget!)
Having passed the lumberyards, we encounter the return loop switch on this bridge.
And before we know it, we're cruising back to New Bergen.
Before we know it, our altitude has dropped and we're back among the cornfields in the valley.
And shortly after we have returned to the interchange yard where our train will pause to wait for an inbound before we head back west.
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