Introduction, Grandfathers legacy build

[Berkshire Brian]

Wow those pictures look great! Its cool to see other peoples take on this layout.

After a long hiatus from the forum and from my Railroad the winter is upon us and so it is once again Model railroad time for me. (summer time i usually dont do much because i lead a pretty active outdoor life). I cleaned up the basement, cleaned off the layout, and even built a new workbench and shelving to help organize. There is gonna be a drastic difference from last years efforts this year, since i now have a much better income. I will finally be able to afford all the scenery I want.

The layout as it is now, not much has changed since last april. However I did add a shelf that holds some of my extra cars between the two legs of the table.

A picture of the shelving I built to help organize the clutter. The shelf use to be located where the train is now and vice versa.

The little workbench I built for my girlfriend and I to work on the models. Added a new light above the bench, it helps alot!



Here are some more photos of the layout as it is now. Last season I built the table, laid the track and roadbed, wired it up, and started some scenery. I only have a few bugs in the track to work out and it will be ready for some scenery.

 

[Berkshire Brian]

Keep in mind, if it looks like im doing this a little "differently" Its becase of my lack of experience. This is my first real full size railroad and while im good carpenter and handy with electrical, my crafty side needs a bit of work. However I have been searching the forum and been getting all sorts of Ideas.

In fact, i want to try the GLEAM method on my tracks to help subdue corrosion on the rails. Thats my number 1 problem right now with drive ability on the engines.

 

[Berkshire Brian]

Went to a model train show in Marlborough. Met a local forum member NH Mike, and saw lots of great layouts and product. My girlfriend bought some buildings and paint supplies while I got a great deal on a Bachman Steam engine (NYC). I have looked for awhile for a NYC steam locomotive but they were always $200+ I got this one for $50. It looks and runs like brand new. No corrosion on the wheels, no scratches or damage*, and it even came with a brand new bottle of fluid for the steam. It runs better then the engines I already have!

*One of the guards on the side of the engine wont clip on right so I will have to glue it, other then that the engine is perfect.

Here are some pictures:

 

[Jim 68cuda]

Your layout looks great. I actually always liked that track plan, but ended up going with a different plan. But, one of the scenery features shown in the plan book that I always liked for some reason, was the town hiding some track underneath on one corner of the layout. I actually made a copy of that town as a lift out section for a future layout I have in mind. Maybe some day I'll put it to use.

 

[NH Mike]

Brian and I met up at the Hub Div show yesterday as he mentioned. It was a good show and the weather was good too. Turns out he lives only about 1 town away from me so we are talking about a visit in the near future.

Like I told you yesterday Brian, good grab on that NYC job!

 

[Berkshire Brian]

Thanks guys.

And Jim, in the Atlas book those pictures of the town you mention is located on the right side of the layout, and it coveres the majority of that side. I was always liked those pictures. I like your take on it and it looks like it would work well.


Today is my day off, Im going to spend the majority of the day working on the railroad. After trying to run my Bachman steam, I found there is many places it derails that other engines do not, and I think it is because of slight bumps in the track, also I have a few places where the connections between sections got rather nasty. So I am going to rip up the troubled areas and try and re-work them so they are a little cleaner. Also there is a section in my yard where two turnouts connect to bring two sides of the yard together, it is causing a pull on one side of the track so i am going to have to move one whole run and move it over by a little bit.

Im also hopefull to be working landscape today as well.

 

[Berkshire Brian]

After about 4-5 hours I have made significant progress to the layout. After going over the track for any defects or issues, I ran the train over it several times and deemed it good enough to be covered up by my mountains.

Ah, but i thought to myself: "Why completely seal up the tracks? What if they need cleaning or a train happens to become stuck somehow?" Well my solution to this is having the inside skeleton supported by 1x2's and 1x3's that are nailed and glued together to make the mountain very sturdy. This allows me to make the interior hollow and give me full view of the interior of the mountain and let me do track maintenance and gain access.

I am sure alot of you out there do this, but i have seen plenty of layouts where they are completely closed up. Im sure there are those who's layout is perfect and they dont have to worry about it but Im not that good yet.

Me and my girl were trying to figure out what to do about the river, we just couldnt have it end at the base of the hillside so we created 2 waterfalls and a small portion of the river at the top (which i plan to add a foot bridge).

In the pictures below you will notice where there is a gaping hole on one end, this is actually filled in by a modular piece i made that can be removed and installed. Its a detailed interior for the tunnel.

I am done for today, the mountain/hillside is not finished yet, I still have to build it up to the very corner of the layout.

here are some pictures of today's progress:

The open "hollow" mountain from behind. This will be covered with some sort of removable paneling to dress it up a little.

That "gaping hole"

Double waterfall

This is a picture from when is started:

 

[NH Mike]

Leave the back open for access since it is not going to be seen. You'd be surprised how many are built that way. Staple a curtain made from a plastic trash bag or cloth at the top of the opening and have it hang down to the base benchwork. That will keep excess dust out and you can lift it to get at the track for cleaning and other reasons. Optionally you make part or most of the tunnel / mountain removeable with the lift out seam hidden with scenery material.

 

[psychobeagle12]

Why do I get the feeling that you are going to be one of the people who I look at your work and immediately turn green w/ envy and begin to drool? Great work so far I wish I had made a better plan when I started

 

[Berkshire Brian]

Ha, thanks for the compliment. I hope it turns out good, Like i've said this is the first model railroad I have built and while I do alot of my homework I am still a novice.

And Mike, i was intending on putting a thin backboard (thin plywood or similar) cut to the shape of the mountain (or even make it a backdrop) on the back. Allowing me to just unscrew it and gain access.

 

[Rob Gardner]

Possible mods to the Track Plan

Brian,

I've always liked this particular track plan. Nice, nice job on it so far.

A thought for the future:
If you can spare a little room along the "left" end of the layout, you could extend the front yard track around the opposite end of the layout and tie it back in where the yard lead starts on the back of the layout. If you can do that, you could make the yard a double ended yard and access it from either end.

Looking forward to seeing more progress on the scenery.

Have you gotten the NYC 4-8-4 running around the layout OK?

Rob Gardner

 

[Berkshire Brian]

Rob,

That is a fantastic idea you have there for the yard! Because I re-arranged the basement I may just have enough room at the end of the layout to make that happen. I will definitely be looking into that.

And yes, I got the steam loco on the track and it works great. However, I have a couple of spots where the engine gets hung up where the Diesels do not. For instance at the Atlas warren truss bridge i have spanning the river. I am tempted to build my own warren-truss from scratch to address this.


Also, as for more updates, I ended up narrowing the waterfall a bit to make it more realistic to the rest of the terrain. (My waterfall was 2x wider then my river, I thought it would look a bit odd when finished). Now the waterfall is proprtional to the river and all is right with the (model) world. hehe.

I will have a few updated pictures soon.

Thanks for the comments!

 

[Berkshire Brian]

For your enjoyment, some pictures of my slow-going progress.

The waterfall has been shrunk so that is proportional to the river.

Some ideas we have for a river-side camp site

An almost completed general store that Carolyn put together and painted

The freight station with a hand painted character sitting on a barrel, This station was pretty beat up until Carolyn restored it.

I am trying to add a layer of plaster of paris to the riverbed so that I can smooth, and fill in some depth and detail so when i pour the river it will look right. Looks like i got some sanding to do for my inexperience.

 

[Rico]

Hey coming along there!
I like tracks that follow a river, looking forward to seeing how it goes.

 

[fotoflojoe]

Any updates on the layout?
Summer's over, get back into the basement!