The Cliffside Mine at night!


R

Ray Dunakin

Member
When I built the Cliffside Mine, I used 16v "grain of rice" bulbs for interior and exterior lighting. But until now they haven't been connected to a power supply. Recently I finally got the low voltage wiring installed for the upper level of the layout, so that I run power to the lights. Eventually I'll be using a Malibu transformer/timer, but for now I just hooked it up to my old Buddy L power pack, set to a little less than half power.

Last night I shot some time exposures, and I think they turned out pretty good...

This is the Cliffside Mine, located high on Grandt Cliff:
wMineLights_0927.jpg



This is the scratch-built hoist inside the hoist house:
wMineLights_0941.jpg



Here's a view looking towards the mine from the 15" gauge tram tracks:
wMineLights_0966.jpg


You can see these (and a few other shots) in a higher resolution on my website:

http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/IRR_Night.html

Enjoy!
 
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Thank you for showing us these stunning pics! You can really feel the nightly atmosphere. The Cliffside mine is fantastic, what a great work!
 
Sweet

Ray: your work is fabulous, only one other word to describe the scenes,that you posted SWEET:D
 
Ray, now that you've done such a nice job on the mine, you've created a monster. Soon, the rest of the railroad will look dull after dark and more and more lighting will have to be installed to blend everything together. Take it from a guy who started with 8 street lights and is now up to over 100 bulbs. :eek:
 
Oh, I fully intend to have a lot more lights, as I add more buildings and mines!

BTW, here are a few daytime shots of the Cliffside Mine:

As you can see here, the mine has both an inclined shaft, and a horizontal adit (tunnel). The shaft is located between the ore bin and the hoist house. The shaft goes down at a 45 degree angle, towards the hoist house.
wIMG_0973.jpg


The adit is on a lower level and really only exists to provide enough room for the tram to push or pull a short train of ore cars during loading. (I still have to extend the chute from the ore bin, to reach the tram tracks.)

wIMG_0974.jpg



Here's a farther away shot so you can see where the mine is in relation to the railroad:

wIMG_0977.jpg
 
Dang, that all looks good, Ray. Have you ever seen any pictures of the mines at Cerro Gordo, in the Inyo Mountains? Your Cliffside Mine reminds me a lot of Cerro Gordo.
 
I've actually been to Cerro Gordo, many years ago! I spend my vacation every summer exploring old ghost towns and mines in Nevada and the Mojave desert. I really should visit Cerro Gordo again one of these days.
 
I used to love to hunt ghost towns and old mines in California and Nevada when I lived out there. I was at Cerro Gordo five years ago. You need a good four wheel drive and some good driving skills now because the road has really deteriorated but there are still a lot of old structures including the American Hotel. As usual, some things have been destroyed or carried off by vandals but Cerro Gordo is still pretty well preserved because it's so difficult to get to now. I suspect some of those ghost towns and mines were in the back of your mind when you designed the Cliffside.
 
I was in Cerro Gordo sometime around 1989 or 1990, I think it was. At that time there was still someone living there, which helped to keep the vandalism down.
 
Great stuff! I enjoyed the webpage and your figures. Especially the way you made models of people you know. But what I never understood about the outdoor railroads is how do you deal with the weather, what a challenge that must add.
 
blownoutcylinder said:
I love those trestles---looking weatherbeaten--amazing work---BTW what kind of a power supply do you use on these?
Click to expand...

The railroad currently operates on trackpower, using an MRC 6200 controller that puts out 62 VA. Eventually I want to get a remote control system so that I can operate multiple trains independently, as well as being able to follow the train around.

The structure lights are hooked up to the power pack that came with my large scale Buddy L starter set. It outputs 18 volts so, I keep it set at half power for the lights. Later I will replace it with a Malibu outdoor lighting transformer with built in timer.

BTW, there are a lot of folks who use onboard batteries to power their large scale trains, but that's not something I want to get into.
 
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