Updates to the Kiva Valley (Update 4-4-15)

Here is another update...  First thing, throw down some paint.  The white out, blizzard does not work in Arizona.

Also, here is my trick for the foam and one of the reasons I love it so.  All of my trees, poles and any other object that stands up gets a pin, stuck in the bottom of it.   

How I do it?  Cut the head off of the pin.  Using needles nose pliers I hold the pin over a candle and count to 10, then push it up into the plastic and hold till it cools.   Then, stick the tree or telephone pole where ever I want. I have found no glue required.

With my mind up regarding a previous thread about road bed, I am very happy I went and picked up the new cork.  Something I learned on my old and original Kiva Valley was to take the cork, give it a light coat of gray primer, sprinkle some speckle or texture paint...and bingo...  decent looking road bed.   The reason I wont ballast is that at some point...could be 6 months or who knows, I will be pulling this up. Just not worth the time, mess and waste of ballasting.  So, I have to go for the "fake look".  But, it does the job ok. The cork in its original form is just above it.  

Next update will be track laying.  

Thanks for looking.  

I think you have some momentum behind you, John.  It's mostly all figured out, and you are moving the speedo needle past 45 mph.    Looks good so far.

Crandell

The roadbed looks realistic already! Great job.

I like to think I am running on Notch 8   Well, as promised, I have been flying and my first goal has been accomplished. Trains are running.  

Starting last night when I got home from work and through the night and hitting it this morning, I completed the main line and installed the turn-outs needed for future spurs for industries.  For the first time in 2.5 years, I have watch my trains run.  Overall, the mainline has an average of 18-19 inch radius.  My 2 axle and 3 axle units work no problem  While it is a stretch, and not the best, my BLI Cab-forward runs the tracks fine.  Only engines in my roster that dont, are my BLI Hudsons.  I have two shorts small bends that migth exceed the 18" mark, not much, but enough to lift the drivers off, ever so slightly.  Im bummed about that but it is what it is.  Due to space restrictions there isnt much I can do.  Even with not being able to run those, I am still thrilled.

In the middle of it last night...

Here is the west end with main line included..

And the east end.   The in the middle of the loop will be there yard is located.

With the main being completed and trains able to run, I admit, I will be slowing down now.  I am going easy as I am working on the rest of the track plan.  I am sure things will change as I make up mind on scenery, structures I want to use and location of industries.  I still have some more work to do in adding some extra supports for the base and need to finish the fascia around the exposed foam. But those are all projects for later.  I have been spending too much time pulling stuff out of boxes, blowing out the cobwebs and watching them run. High Ball!

So, this weekends plans didnt go the way I thought.. but I got to spend sometime today working on my layout.  I am happy to say that I pretty much have most of track down and my track plan figured out.

First off, was to complete the yard.  I had to really squeeze some things as I have a serious room issue so I found myself scratching for every 1/4 inch of room.  I needed the biggest yard I could... without over whelming the layout.  I also needed a nice tail track and a run around to allow for more switching operations.   

The back side of the tail track will lead to a spur that will handle 2 industries that will have between 2-3 cars per location.   They are two feed mills/agriculture supply houses.  Feed, machinery, seed and chemicals for tank cars will allow for lots of possibilities for flexible operation.  I was inspired by some locations around here in Arizona. Occasional flat car, box car, tank cars and grain cars are great for these locations.

I also figured out my industrial district.  I was able to get a couple of goals out of this.  I have 4 industries that will allow up 6-7 cars, mostly boxcars.  The second track, between the main and the industry spur will act as a switching storage line or even function as a passing siding when  I get a couple of trains running.   Both ends are accessible which will allow for left to right, or right to left operation.  Also allows me coming in from one side, or the other.

If you notice in the back corner, I have a retaining wall.  Its just propped up but I think instead of squeezing some building back there, I am going to go with a mountain in the corner.  Allow for some more trees, add to the depth and for more scenery.  

Happy to report, the trains have been running most of the weekend and so far, track work and power seems great.

Thanks for looking and the comments.  Happy rails!  

Gidday, Yeah 18" radius curves are definitely limiting but great to see you're still managing to do the most important thing in model railroading. Having Fun !!

Cheers,the Bear.

Wow!!!  So much progress. Looking good and it must be good to have trains running around again.

MonkeyBucket

Wow!!!  So much progress. Looking good and it must be good to have trains running around again.

Oh MonkeyBucket..   it is a great feeling.  I have been digging all my cars on running them for the first time in 2 and 1/2 years.  I have found myself saying over and over again.  "Oh yah!"  as I dug out cars and blow the dust off the engines.

Even with the bigger layout space, I have more room for structures and buildings.  I have been diving into my boxes of buildings from old layout that I had in the garage and trying to figure out what I want to do.  That light green supply building next to the white feed mill was one my favorite buildings and it is so great to have it out.

Congrats!  It's looking good.  I do have a question abou the pic of the locos.  Did you paint them yoursef?

BEAR,

Indeed I did.  It was the paint scheme I came up with for my Kiva Valley Railway.  They were all undecorated models, (hence the hectic mix of rolling stock) but I got great deals on them and adds to the fun of the story behind my rail road.  

 Good looking little layout you have going. Glad to see you added a roundly round. I get bored with just switching.

 Cuda Ken

cudaken

 Good looking little layout you have going. Glad to see you added a roundly round. I get bored with just switching.

 Cuda Ken

Yeah..  I agree.   All though, I never get bored with switching...but that is part of the problem.  Sometimes its more work than I want after a long day of real work.  I so miss coming, getting a nice beverage and watching a train run.  I suppose its a version of my happy hour.  

I tinkered so more with the layout.  I have my city congestion/industrial look in the middle and one end, i have the country feel with the feed and grain stroage along with some houses.  On the other I have the yard taking up a lot of space but I have corner where I wanted to put in some scenery...  So, One small mountian, with my favorite pine tress.  I found by using the retaining wall, I could raise it up taller, but still keeping some flat space for scenery and trees.   Still tinkering around with it, but I think Im getting there.

Made some progress.  I got my corner "mountain" all finished.  Well, foam work is done and now Im planning some scenery work and some rock work, via sculpt-a-mold.  But for the time being, I am happy with the over all look.  I made it completly removable so it wil be easy to work on later.

Also finished my first car project in a loong time.  I actually did somethign intersting and was able to find the actual car listed in rrpicturesarchive.net.  I decided to weather it around 2009, to match the prototype.  Which, really was just a fade.  By 2010, it appears the SP logo was painted out and replaced with the UP patch.   Ugh, I went withthe 2009 look.    I have no easy access to my airbrush so I attempted the redneck airbrush using spray paint cans.  Light fading look with primer gray and dusting of red primer on top to simulate the rust.

 Yea, I know about sitting back and sipping a brew while watching the trains run. Looking forward to seeing some more work done.

 Ken

My thoughts exactly, switching layouts are nice but they are even nicer if you can turn em on and watch em run when you want to. Any lay out I build will have a continuous run option if I can find a way to squeeze it in. In your case the radius was less than you wanted but you made do and you are enjoying the rail fanning. Also real railroads had some rather sharp curves in cities so it is not that far fetched that you would as well.

Nice progress.

Very nice! I love the mountain and retaining wall.

Is this N scaled (I wasn't entirely paying attention at the start.

Thank you David,

It is HO scale.

This is a great thread. You really managed to maximize the limited amount of space you have to still enjoy switching and have a loop. All in HO scale too? Kudos.

Tyson- Welcome to trains.com!

Thank you guys, and welcome aboard David.

I havent done too much lately.  I really did slow down on layout progress as my "train time, I have been busy running on trains or or working on some rolling stock issues.  fixing broken couplers, missing brake wheels, etc.  Mostly from the move a few years ago.  I did get the yard finishd, I will have some pictures up later today.

I'm digging it, I found the same issue with mine...I still like the abstractedness and motion of a train doing laps. I'm digging the dogbone look, very nice indeed!

You really have done alot with the space you have, looks great. Have Fun!

mwcohio

You really have done alot with the space you have, looks great. Have Fun!

Thank you again.  The kinds words are encouraging.

Well, I finally, came to peace with my yard.  It is short, but I was able to get in a extra track for 3 more cars, and added an extra spur for an engine.  With the yard design, and placement done, I finally did some scenery.  Knowing that this layout could be tempoary too, I wont be ballasting tracks...  maybe later, but for now, I did my usaly, base coat of gray laetx paint, then hit it with a sprinkle coat of flake paint, or Krylon's "Make it Stone".  

With the tracks back in and lined up, I did the scenery between the tracks.   and a little around the back.

With that done, I started to line up the yard facilities.  Nothing set in stone but I found this great roof piece from a old kit that makes a great parking lot.  I can glue that done and change yard buildings out if I find something else.    Parking lot, yard office, small tower, rail road stuff and maintence equipment shed will be used here.  I haven't figured out the exact placement of items but this is the beginning. 

And just a nice "airplane, birds eye view" 

That spray pack paint your using for the ballast really does the job well. Every time I peek on this thread there seems to be more and more to like.I see you have done some landscaping as well.

Nice work John 

Well, well....   sure has been a long long time.  I admit, life has been hectic, but well.  I havent spent as much time on the layout as I like, but none the less, still working away on all sorts of train projects..   Major steps foward?   Working on my main street.   Never had one before but it is coming along.  Buldings need finished, then settle in for the details, both, in and out.

Also on my plan is to improve the lighting and a back drop.  I do live in a small 1 bedroom and this more or less, becomes the key display, being over top on my "entertainment center".  That said, lighting, back drop and finishing off the edgeing of the foam to clean it up, will make a huge difference.  

I picked up a nice display case from favorite train shop closing.  Owner was selling everything and I asked. Being a faithful shopper for 10 years, he gave me a good deal.  Really helps finish the front room, hence the desire now to clean up the layout for more presentation as major construction is over.

Happy rails! 

Hey, Big John, it's really good to see you posting again, but also to learn that you are well and still enjoying the hobby now and then.  Welcome back.

-Crandell

Hey John, thanks for the update old friend.  So good to hear you still have your hand in the game.  I don't know if we'll ever go railfanning again but it's good to see you're still doing fine work on a layout.

Dave Nelson