Dear John,
Yes I added an extra loop so that I could add scheduled passenger operations and a bit more of a challenge to get freight to staging. It is also part of my grand expansion plan as I would like to eventually add Turtle Creek and the Thin Branch amongst others as part of a modular layout.
With regards to the ties for the Ground Throws I am using Kappler HO Scale Ties, http://www.kapplerusa.com/y2k/p-ho-scale.htm , with Caboose Industries 5218S 5 pk ground throws, http://www.cabooseind.com/GroundThrows . I use two full length ties and one half length to form the base and glue them down with white glue. I then attach the appropriate adapter to the ground throw and nail it in place. I plan to stain the ties before painting the track.
Hope this helps,
Regards, Mick
Looking good John and Mick. Keep coming with the photo updates! Again, for those that have not seen my website for my layout, it's at: www.hitopbranchmodelrr.com I will soon have a blog post for those that wish to ask any questions on building my layout
Steve,
I was going back thru the thread and came across this early picture from you that had some unpainted figures. I am curious where you purchased these and whether you were satisfied and if you ever painted them? I purchased a set of 72 unpainted figures from Micro Mark and was very unsatisfied. Their ad said it would include a mix of standing, running, and sitting in various poses and might have a few duplicates. It turned out that 60 of the 72 were duplicates. What I go was 6 sets of the same 12 standing civilian figures(men in suits and women in dresses). There were no figures that I could use on the Virginian layout. No railroad workers or miners, just people that you might see on a modern passenger train.
Anybody else have experience with unpainted HO figures?
My Layout Pics
RogerThatI was going back thru the thread and came across this early picture from you that had some unpainted figures
Hi Roger,
Thats my bad photography. They are actually painted. I believe they came with either the kit they are near or one of the trucks. They were not good quality, so they are no longer on the layout.
The only figures I have purchased so far were painted and are part of the Woodland scenics Wash Day getaway. These were good quality. Here's a link to what you can get from them.
http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/category/HOScaleScenicAccents
Cheers,
Steve
A question for everyone that has already built the ME bridge. What did everyone use to ensure that the bents were square? I am thinking of building a jig but if there is an easier way I am all ears.
John
JohnB. A question for everyone that has already built the ME bridge. What did everyone use to ensure that the bents were square? I am thinking of building a jig but if there is an easier way I am all ears. John
John, I am not sure whether you mean the plastic bents under the bridge or the concrete abutments at the end(which I guess could also be called bents).
The most import to get square and of the correct height are the concrete abutments as they hold most of the weight of the bridge and determine its level and grade. Since I had to cut something down and sand it, I used a builders square to ensure these were square, then a protractor to get the grade. For the plastic bents under the bridge, to be honest, I just built them. The bridge worked just fine before I installed them, so in essence they are mostly decorative, One of them is probably about 1mm out of square (i.e 1mm higher on one side) so I just installed it with the short side on the inside and used a bit of ground foam to mask it....... As it was my first bridge (an MicroEngineering bridges don't seem to be the easiest to figure out), I was happy it all worked...
Hi all,
Here are my latest photos. I have been working on the interior of the tunnels before putting the "upper deck on". This included painting and ballasting the track and putting some dividers in.
I have also started to frame the scenery with foam.
OK everyone I have another question about the ME bridge. On the girders the instructions say to cut the girders on the inside of the curve .220" for an 18" radius. What I want to know is what is the exact amount everyone removed to create the curved bridge. The only way that I know how to measure .220" is either with a micrometer or a caliber. Any help would be appreciated.
John, Not having personally built the ME bridge, I would suggest the following as stated by others in these forums. First, create a cardboard template of the bridge's bottom profile. Then cut the template into however many pieces (I assume three). Lay the templates on a flat surface with a piece of 18: curved track on top and adjust the template pieces so that the outside edges touch and the inside edges overlap. Then you should be able to calculate the amount of overlap and divide it in half and cut that piece off each end of the template pieces. Double check your work with the templates which should now fit flush against each other and if ok use them to make your cuts.
I have now completed the puffball mania portion of the layout. Some of the hills were partially covered, and on some of the steeper areas the hills were completely filled. I am using WS foliage clusters to fill in around the edges of the puffballs to look like underbrush and to also fill in any gaps between puffballs that I may have missed. This work is still in process. After that I will be placing other trees around the flatter areas as well as including some dead trees.
Unfortunately, or fortunately, the work on the layout will slow down (can it get much slower?) for awhile while I build a partition wall to separate the train space from the rest of this half of the basement. This will allow for a junk free space for future layout development and better picture backgrounds.
Here are shots of my progress so far:
RogerThat John, Not having personally built the ME bridge, I would suggest the following as stated by others in these forums. First, create a cardboard template of the bridge's bottom profile. Then cut the template into however many pieces (I assume three). Lay the templates on a flat surface with a piece of 18: curved track on top and adjust the template pieces so that the outside edges touch and the inside edges overlap. Then you should be able to calculate the amount of overlap and divide it in half and cut that piece off each end of the template pieces. Double check your work with the templates which should now fit flush against each other and if ok use them to make your cuts.
Thanks for the idea...this will help me from destroying the girders. The layout out is looking good keep up the good work.
Three points here gentlemen:
1. Photos of your progress look good!
2. Did not build the bridge, so cannot help there.....:(
3. Finally, since I'm new to the website business, I actually had comments turned off without realizing it on my website at: www.hitopbranchmodelrr.com
They are turned on now if someone wishes to comment on the blog page. There is one blog post to ask a question concerning building my layout, so hope you'll visit and post!
And, Have had several op sessions on my layout with a friend of mine. One issue with a track kink, but it has been taken care of, so trains are running smoothly out of the Kanawha valley!
John,
JohnB. OK everyone I have another question about the ME bridge. On the girders the instructions say to cut the girders on the inside of the curve .220" for an 18" radius. What I want to know is what is the exact amount everyone removed to create the curved bridge. The only way that I know how to measure .220" is either with a micrometer or a caliber. Any help would be appreciated. John
Whether the method I used will work with you depends on how you are building the bridge. I used the ME Kit for the girders and a modified piece of Walthers Bridge track for the roadbed and ties. I searched for clues in the videos as to the order they built everything and tried to reproduce it to the best of my ability.
As such I created template for the Walthers bridge track to get the 18" radii. Once I had that cut and glued so that the track fitted it became easier to cut the girders as I had something the judge it by. As you said, getting a .220" cut would be very difficult. I made a 5mm cut (approx .2") knowing that If I messed up, I would rather mess up on the conservative side. I then gradually sanded and trimmed until I had a good fit under the bridge track ties. One this was done I glued these together and effectively had the bridge. The next step was to position this secured by rubber bands under the track. After that I measured and built everything around it. I started with the concrete abutments. Once these were in place it determined where the concrete retaining walls went. I dry fitted all these components (trimming where necessary) and marked their position then removed the bridge, installed the retaining walls and put in the base scenery layer. The last step was to install the bridge , slide the concrete abutments under them and glue everything in place.
Hope this helps a bit.
airborne101 Three points here gentlemen: 1. Photos of your progress look good! 2. Did not build the bridge, so cannot help there.....:( 3. Finally, since I'm new to the website business, I actually had comments turned off without realizing it on my website at: www.hitopbranchmodelrr.com They are turned on now if someone wishes to comment on the blog page. There is one blog post to ask a question concerning building my layout, so hope you'll visit and post! And, Have had several op sessions on my layout with a friend of mine. One issue with a track kink, but it has been taken care of, so trains are running smoothly out of the Kanawha valley!
Dear Airborne,
Love your website! Have you thought about adding videos? A video tour would be pretty cool.
Mick,
Thanks much for the compliment!
I actually have taken four videos, but they're all too big meg-wise for my web provider. I'm not to experienced with taking video on my regular camera, or editing and such, so If I can figure that one out, and how to shorten a video, I'll surely post some in the future......:)
airborne101 Mick, Thanks much for the compliment! I actually have taken four videos, but they're all too big meg-wise for my web provider. I'm not to experienced with taking video on my regular camera, or editing and such, so If I can figure that one out, and how to shorten a video, I'll surely post some in the future......:)
You're welcome. Have you tried creating/uploading your videos through YouTube? I have found this solves most of the size issues.
Hi All,
Here is a quick IPad video of some of my trains running on the N&W.
MikeB16 Hi All, Here is a quick IPad video of some of my trains running on the N&W. Regards, Mick
Very nice video. Great work on the layout too btw! Thanks for sharing.
Happy modeling!
Don.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that both engines have failed, and we will be stuck here for some time. The good news is that you decided to take the train and not fly."
Looks great. Looking forward to seeing more pics as you progress with your scenery. Being able to run that passenger train around is a nice addition. Keep up the good work.
Roger
Mike, The layout is coming along nicely. Work for me has been at a stand stillI have the mainline laid out and I am hoping either tonight or tomorrow to start laying the branch-line. I will update with pics once I have more track laid.
I have pretty much finished the mine section and the river. I am shooting with harsh halogen shop lights so the colors are a bit off. The river also had some ripples that you can't see in the photo. All I have left to do here is add a couple of cross bucks and put wire on the poles.
Cheers, Steve
Steve, As usual it looks fantastic. What will you use for wiring the telephone poles? My layout is taking a break while I finish the dedicated train room. Once completed, I will have the space to utilize this layout in a peninsula configuration and have layout running around the perimeter of the room. Plus, lighting will be much better and backgrounds for photos will appear as sky instead of junk. Hopefully will complete this by end of July.
RogerThat Steve, As usual it looks fantastic. What will you use for wiring the telephone poles? My layout is taking a break while I finish the dedicated train room. Once completed, I will have the space to utilize this layout in a peninsula configuration and have layout running around the perimeter of the room. Plus, lighting will be much better and backgrounds for photos will appear as sky instead of junk. Hopefully will complete this by end of July.
Roger, I haven't figured out what to use for wiring yet. I ordered the poles from Amazon thinking they were the new Walthers Scenemaster poles that come with wire. What I got was the old cheap "Life-Like" Scenemaster poles. I had been waiting forever for the Rapido utility poles that are pre-wired to come in stock and gave up.There are a few threads here that recommend using EZ Line phone wire. I don't have a dedicated train room, but have a nice corner of the basement that works, Its only problem at present is that it only has a couple of can lights, so I am using my shop lights to give more light while I build it.
I got the chance to work on the layout today I completed a modified version of Rodgers yard and a large portion of the branch line. The only track I have left to lay is at bigger mine and past the bridge at Hunter Mountain up to Green Hill. I am pondering the idea of adding another switch on the far right of the yard to give me another yard track...any thoughts? I am heading to the Great Scale Train Show in the morning and I am hoping to come across some good deals to help complete the layout. I think Monday I will attempt to complete the ME bridge to I can complete the track work.
John, looks good! I would definitely add that other yard track, as i think the focus of the layout plan is the mine and the yard. Never can have enough tracks to store cars or switch. I'm glad I also put in all three tracks at the mine, instead of two as MR did.
I now have the "updated" Walther's electric pole line set being shipped to me. This set comes with wire, but not sure whether I will install the wire or not. Will post after these are built what they look like. I also now have waybill boxes and car requests coming from Micro Mark, plus an extra throttle pocket. With these, operating sessions will resume soon.
I also have a few more cars coming from Accurail: PC 40 ft boxcar, MILW 40ft box, 3 pack of Pennsy 55 ton hoppers. Finally, a set of railroad figures are on the way. Photos will all be posted somewhere on my web site when these cars are finished and figures are placed....
Looks great Steve....:)
I now have the "updated" Walther's electric pole line set being shipped to me. This set comes with wire, but not sure whether I will install the wire or not. Will post after these are built what they look like.
Hi Airborne,
Let me know how the wire looks when you get it. The way things go, it may be as cheap for me to get the poles, just to use the wire rather than getting the wire separately. I can always stash the poles for later use.
Everyone I have a bit of a dilemma. When Walther's released the New River Mining Co. I purchased it for another project but never used it. Well when I dug it out of storage I noticed the the assembly instructions are missing. I searched on Walther's website and the internet but I have no luck, does anyone know where I can get a copy of the instructions?
Send me a message with your email and I will send you a PDF copy of the instructions.
Looks like Steve beat me to the punch. I also have a scanned copy if necessary.
I also noticed your post reference Rodger's Yard and my advice is to fit as many yard tracks as possible. MR's is probably the most efficient and I adapted it to Code 100 for my purposes. I am not sure how much you guys have been affected by the Atlas shortage and if that has affected Snap Switches but you can test with other makes using templates, I know Peco have printable templates for most of theirs, to try options out before financially committing.
Regards, Mike