My layout progress continues in this thread...
My Build Thread: https://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/t/185298.aspx
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ok cause i would hate to not say anything and you have to rip out your hard work later to fix it if it is an issue
Antag2002 I have a concern in the picture of the turnout the straight leg then the curve looks as though it may be a bit of a kink. just the way it looks to me in this pic
I have a concern in the picture of the turnout the straight leg then the curve looks as though it may be a bit of a kink. just the way it looks to me in this pic
I noticed that too. I need to take a look. I don't have any issues there when I run trains and maybe it's just one of those weird photo things making it look worse than it is.
looking good glad to hear you sorted out the issues with the couplers. I have a concern in the picture of the turnout the straight leg then the curve looks as though it may be a bit of a kink. just the way it looks to me in theis pic
Fixed the coupler issue. I provided a bit more sideways motion on the couplers and loosened one truck a bit to allow the car to flex a bit on uneven track.
Worked on the waterfall today. Some updated pics:
Hmmm - a small new problem has reared it's head.
The old CN RDC's had couplers mounted to the trucks. When I converted them, I moved the couplers to the body. The new trucks are a bit smaller and that combined with a few tight curves on my layout is causing the couplers to bind on the tight curves, derailing the coach. I may be able to modify the coupler slightly to allow a little bit more sideways motion - it does not need much. At this point, fixing the curves is not an option I relish. Either way, I need to fix it. It took me a while to figure out that it was the couplers binding - the coach was derailing on a switch and I thought it was the switch. Basically the curve caused the coupler on the loco to swing out one way, and the coach coupler the other way, and they met the limit - so then it just pushed the car off the tracks.
One of the reasons that the RDC cars seem to be worse than my Bombardier 85' B-Level coaches is that the trucks on the RDC are set back quite far from the front and rear of the coach, so the swing is wider on curves. The trucks on the Bombardier coaches are quite close to the end of each coach so the swing on curves is less. I think that is pretty true to prototype.
looking good!!
OK, Here are some update pics:
Working on my RDC's:
Learning lots about trucks & couplers.
1. Mounted new trucks and couplers on old RDC. Coupler height was perfect but car was wobbly due to the truck being mounted too low - not tight to the car body.
2. Second attempt - mounted the truck tighter to the body resulted in the coupler height being too low and the whole car too low.
3. Now adding a styrene shim sheet so the truck can be tight and turn smoothly and the couplers will still be the correct height.
Pictures to follow when my camera batteries are recharged
awsome take some progress pics on the cement co
cant wait to see it
Bought and started to build Walthers Medusa Cement. I am loving the Tenax 7R cement - it's so much better than that Testor's mess.
I also bought a Proto 1000 RDC Budd Loco on eBay - New Haven livery. I had an old Triang/Hornby CN RDC Loco with two dummy cars, but the loco is not working, plus the old Hornby stuff does not work well on the Peco Code 100 switches.
The Proto RDC is awesome. I can't believe how much it weighs! It's top speed is not that fast, and it's got a real whine when running, but as I recall the prototype RDC's that ran the West Island 'TownTrain' commuter run in Montreal in the mid 1970's - they were not all that fast and had quite the whine themselves! (See my profile pic)
I am converting the two old Hornby CN RDC dummy cars - swapping out the trucks and couplers. The old trucks and wheels were oversized and did not spin well - a lot of drag - all plastic and no pointed ends on the axles. I will post some before and after pics - I successfully mounted new trucks on one, and put Kadee couplers on the coach instead of the trucks. It is running well behind the new loco, other than sometimes leaning. I need to tighten up one of the trucks and I think I may need to add weight - the dummy cars are light as a feather.
If I can get one working well, I will convert the other dummy car and likely de-power the old loco and convert it to a dummy car too.
I think I'll also paint the vents on the new RDC a flat black like the CN ones - the Proto model comes with the vents the same as the body color - silver and I think the black looks better and from what I can tell is more prototypical.
As my layout is current day, the idea is that the RDC train will be a tourist train, so having the New Haven loco and the old CN cars should be believable as tourist trains often buy old stock from various railroads. I had thought about painting the New Haven one in CN colors, but it seems a shame to change it.
Over the Christmas break, I hope to finish the Medusa Cement, including painting and weathering the silos (wish me luck - I've never done it before), as well as complete the RDC conversions and work on the waterfall / valley area.
That looks great!
Kelly
www,finescale360.com
they have been very helpful im waiting on some books they have suggested before i go anyfurther
Antag2002 Looking good i cant wait to get started on mine just stuck on layout design
Looking good i cant wait to get started on mine just stuck on layout design
My advice is to be as patient as you can. The layout design, track laying and testing is the most important part to avoid problems later. I know the scenery and finishing touches are the most fun part (at least for me) and I'm not a very patient person, but this time I have taken since July 2009 to get to this point!
See my original thread here to get an idea of how my layout plans progressed.
Good luck & listen to some of the folks here - they saved me a lot of grief...
More work and updated pics:
The high trestle and low bridge will bridge a narrow but deep gorge cut by a waterfall. The geology of the gorge is based on local geology - the Niagara Escarpment - a sedimentary formation capped with a hard flat layer on top. This causes waterfalls in the region to undercut the weaker, softer layers underneath, resulting in sometimes spectacular waterfalls and gorges. This particular gorge and waterfall are modeled on Tew's Falls in Hamilton, ON. The prototype does not have a railway crossing the gorge however.
Another view of the area:
The Town of Southlake is taking shape. Here is the main intersection of Huron Street and George Street.
Using the Walthers Lakeville Shipping kit, I have created a Magna Auto Parts Plant that will act as hidden staging.
Main Street, Southlake with the Magna Plant in the background. The GO Commuter passenger station is located in between Main Street and the plant.
Next:
I made a minor tweak to my layout - changed what was originally a siding at the Southlake GO station into a passing track. It made more sense to allow a train to be in the station and others to pass, and the industries I have planned have sidings, so that one would not have been very useful as a siding anyway.
I managed to order the Walthers Cornerstone Lakeville Warehousing kit from Amazon - since it is no longer produced, and it getting harder to find I figured I better grab it now. I'm going to kitbash it to use as my Auto Parts Plant covering my hidden staging.
I may end up using the Bud's Trucking Background kit as part of the kitbash, or use that on the other hidden staging.
I need to get more foam to level out things since I changed my mind so many times and carved out foam where it now needs to be more level. The joys of getting it right...
As you noted: John Armstrong made a very good observation:
Scenic blocks and tunnels make trains appear longer...a lot longer.
Looks like you off to a great start!
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
Here is my latest updated layout. Now working on buildings and scenery. Any advice on building the view block in the corner would be appreciated. The idea is to give the illusion that the tracks continue straight after the bridge and that the tracks on the other side of the hidden staging are just sidings into the Auto Parts plant.
Wow, Can't believe it has been over 9 months since my last update!
After a long time, I am making some progress. It is actually good that I did not rush this layout. Normally I am pretty impatient and would have plugged ahead, then realized I had made some mistakes. As I get older, I am either getting lazier or more patient. By waiting and playing around with the trains, I have managed to find several things that needed adjusted. I had to move the run-around track in the freight yard as the run-around was too short to move the locomotive from the one end of the freight train to the other. Now I can pull a freight into the yard, uncouple, and run around to the rear of the train. The old runaround was where the caboose siding is now. The new one runs around the other side of the bridge abutment. See pics below. Bonus is I got a caboose siding!
I also did a slight realignment of the two yard tracks at the front. Ignore the awful job I did on the layout chart - the tracks are actually lined up nicely. I moved them to accommodate a new (well actually used) dual track engine shed purchased from the Toronto Christmas Train Show.
I finished getting the viaduct in place and the trains are running smoothly. I did cheat a bit as some of my curves are a bit tight for my Bombardier Bi-Level GO Train coaches - I changed the couplers on the middle coach to a slightly longer coupler to stop the accordions from binding on tight curves. It still looks ok and runs MUCH smoother.
I changed my mind about the river running the whole way from one end of the layout to the other. It was taking up too much real estate that I wanted to use for other things, so now the river flows under the double track truss bridge, and curves around then off the layout, and at the other end is a waterfall under the high viaduct and low yard bridge and off the layout. This will allow me to put in a suburban passenger GO station and a small farm.
I will be locating larger buildings (city) as a view block in the corner where the hidden passenger staging is.
The town will no probably no longer have a town square, but a couple of streets on a diagonal. The hidden freight staging will be behind background buildings. I put a fibreboard 'wall' in where the tunnel will be to ensure that if a train derails it will not fall off the track and hopefully be guided through. I am waiting to do some more work before I make final decisions on the sidings in town, as well as the section of real estate near the duck-under. I have thought about a small lake / campground, or industry, or a slummy section of town etc - I'd like it to be interesting.
Added some progress pics - also went to a Model Railway Show in Barrie yesterday and picked up the Micro Engineering viaduct for my layout to be my high bridge across the river.
Update on progress this month:
I ripped up the old track that needed to be re-laid and I'm really happy with the new grade coming out of the yard and around past the Town Square to the duck-under. I used foamboard and just carved the incline - pretty tedious and messy, but patience paid off and the incline is nice and smooth, not like it used to be with a bad transition.
I also laid the track that runs from the yard track around to the Hidden Freight Staging and tested both the Freight and 85 foot GO Train Passenger cars and they manage the curve ok. The 85 footers are a bit tight, but they are the same on most of my curves. I like the look of the track going under the other track.
Next, I'm going to work on the bridge track across the river and the top and top-right corner track.
I'm also much happier with the layout and the space both in front and behind the tracks for scenery / buildings etc.
Thanks again to everyone who provided feedback.
I don't know - I really like the grade separation and the track coming on the diagonal under the other track. The grade should not be a problem, I have a lot of space to make it a reasonable grade - both going into the hidden staging and also for the track coming across the river. The curve is tight, but not too bad for my freight service which is all shorter cars. I think I'll do a mock up and see how it will look and if it will work. I have a picture in my mind of how it could look and I like it.
I did switch the spur at the top to go the other way.
hi Aralai,
I was not too happy with my plan for two reasons. I wanted to separate the scenes a bit more and I envisioned grade problems. So the entrance to the east staging is even further to the east. Still the staging-track is 5 feet long.
Second I moved the second station more to the upper wall and changed the spurs; it made the station more compact.
The curve, you've drawn out of the yard, was very tight.
I usually plan scenery in from a early stage; it is difficult to do afterwards.
Paul
Thanks Paul. Your idea would work, and I like the junction / grade separation and tunnel better. You are able to visualize ideas and put them to paper better than I can, and I appreciate it when you do, since I am a visual person, and sometimes have trouble getting the idea just from verbal descriptions, but easily see it when it is in a layout design picture.
Bob, Here is an updated version of my layout (latest with changes), you can see the room dimensions, door etc:
I have a masonite backdrop all around, screwed to studs on three sides and mounted to the layout on the bottom hidden staging side. For now it is just painted sky color - there are some photos in my blog (link below).
Just some ideas. The plan is good, I have drawn some tracks closer to each other. So you have more free space between the two lines.
And I did not like the east staging that close to the west staging. The junction to east station is now a bit further down the road.
Sorry to hear about your wife and your father; my condolences.
DoughlessAralai, Effectively separating scenes on a small layout is tough to do unless you change the scenery theme from the wide open spaces you have now to something that has hills and tunnels and possibly hiding some mainline behind backdrops, IMO.
Aralai,
Effectively separating scenes on a small layout is tough to do unless you change the scenery theme from the wide open spaces you have now to something that has hills and tunnels and possibly hiding some mainline behind backdrops, IMO.
Hiding some of the mainline behind view blocks is something I had thought about. I'm sure there are certain ways to break things up a bit using scenery.