Not quite the Horseshoe Curve.....

[Big_Boy_4005]

Been workin on the railroad.





This 4 track curve is at the end of the second peninsula. The inner and outer tracks are yard and industrial leads. The 2 middle tracks are the mains.

Another 50', and I will be able to connect up to the existing 500' loop, making it close to 600'. Then the new section needs to be wired. At that point the lower level will be almost half done.

[Jumijo]

[bow][bow][bow]

Absolutely spectacular, Elliot!

[bow][bow][bow]

Jim

[FJ and G]

Hey, that's pretty wild & crazy!

Thanks for keeping us posted. Waiting with baited breath!

[fjerome]

how big is that room?

[laz 57]

Looks GREAT.
laz57

[Anonymous]

Absolutely breath taking! I can't even imagine the time it took planning such a monster layout....then get it to this stage! Well done, Elliot....very well done!

Bruce Webster

[dbaker48]

WOW ! ! !

Absolutely sensational !!!!

Do you have any idea of how much linear feet of track will be involved ??

THIS WILL DEFINETELY BE CTT PHOTOSPREAD MATERIAL !!


Regards

[Buckeye Riveter]

Looking good, Elliot..[8D][8D]

Have you ever been to the HORSESHOE? If not, you would love it! I can sit there for hours and watch. Just west of the shoe, is Galitzen Tunnels. Train watchers heaven

[Big_Boy_4005]

Thanks guys! Was just down there securing some more track.

The room is 38' x 46'. The plan has changed slightly form the image above, though the flavor is still the same. It is based on the local prototype, so the design didn't take as much imagination as others put into their layouts. The trick is selecting elements to include, and compressing them to fit. Even with that much space, a lot needs to be compressed.

How much track? I haven't counted lately. Well over 1000' secured, but not all powered. I don't remember the mall total, I think it was on the order of 2000', most of which was salvaged, along with the switches. What were once masive piles of track and switches, have been substantially reduced. I know I will need to buy more for the upper deck. When complete, it could be over 3000'.

Buck, yes and no on the real Horseshoe Curve. I rode over it on Amtrak going from New York to Chicago, but it was night, so I didn't get a very good view. I have a cool jigsaw puzzle which has the famous night time flash photo image taken at the 100th anniversary of the curve. The puzzle is a booger, because there are so many dark background pieces.[swg]

[danrunner]

Entertrainment Part II !!!

I'll pay admission for a tour of that monster today.

Dan

[Big_Boy_4005]

Dan, admission is free if you email me, just ask the Chief. The problem is you have to get here on your own.[swg]

[More to restore]

It is truely beautiful!
I hope you keep sending us pictures of your layout, when you progress further.

You can run a loooong hopper train on your layout. Great!

[dougdagrump]

Absolutely fabulous !
I don't know if I could ever work on building a layout of that size, not unless I had a large carpet layout kinda like the Chief. [swg] Sorry Chief, the [}:)] made me do it. [:I]
A roadtrip to Mn will have to be planned some time in the future, but definitely a summer trip, to cold in the winter for this Ca boy.

[wrmcclellan]

Elloit - very cool! Nice work. Thanks for the update. [bow] [wow]

[mickey4479]

I am just a mere 6-7 hours away. I can't add much more than has already been said. It really looks great. I model PRR and have a long grade section that pretends to be the horeshoe curve, but its only one track. From your description you are recycling track and switches from a layout that was once in a mall? You commented that some of the track will not be powered. I am curious about why and where on your layout that would be. Yards perhaps? One more question, what are your largest and smallest diameter curves? Wiring for that trackage might cause a brown out up there, at the very least it might put a strain on my KW. [(-D][(-D] What do you plan to use for power?

[Big_Boy_4005]

Eventually, everything will be powered. Right now there is just one big loop for running. I haven't installed the switch machines yet. Once I do, the trains will have a lot of places to go.

This board has three, 20 Amp power supplies on it. Each supply feeds 10 blocks of track with a maximum of 6 Amps per block. There is another one just like it under the third peninsula, plus there's a spare if I really get carried away. I doubt I will need more than 120 Amps @ 18 Volts.



One problem with a 6 Amp limit is, passenger cars are real power hogs. Good thing I don't have many. Thinking about converting to LED's. Not high priority.

By the way, the guys who have been around for a while know that "the mall" means Mall Of America.[;)]

[Birds]

Wow! Lovely layout, and a very nicely laid out power panel.

Where did you get the power supplies? And what are you using to control the voltage to the powered track sections?

Birds

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Birds

Wow! Lovely layout, and a very nicely laid out power panel.

Where did you get the power supplies? And what are you using to control the voltage to the powered track sections?

Birds

They were originally built for the mall layout and had rectifiers because we ran DC to the track. The guy who built the supplies was an electrical engineer. I removed the rectifiers and installed these little gizmos to limit the current. They are called Poly-fuses.



No need to regulate the voltage, my layout is 100% TMCC, no conventional.

[tmcc man]

Wow, you have built an impressive layout so far Big Boy. What type of landscape for the scenery are you going to use? Hill, plateaus, or mountains. I saw the video on the "mall layout" and was blown away by it. But, how much wood did you use, and how many screws secure all the bench work together on your private layout?

[Anonymous]

Awesome layout there! I'm no stranger to St Paul either....will have to take a road trip up that way sometime soon (when its warmer of course) to see that layout. Never seen one of that size! Those Big Boy locomotives will look great on that layout. I hope to do something like that myself one day, but I gotta get educated a bit first. Keep us posted!

Chris

[tschmidt]

Elliot,

That is a great looking plan you have and the work you have finished already is amazing. I look forward to seeing how it comes together with scenery. How will you keep track of where everything is when it's up and running/

Thanks for sharing.
TomS

[1688torpedo]

Elliott- That is one HUGE LAYOUT! Now that is one heckva railroad empire you have. Now your next project is to build a Coal Fired Power Plant to power that sucker![:P][;)] That looks like a CCA Project from the 30's[8D] Take Care.

[Anonymous]

Elliott, How much time do you think you have invested at this point???

Thanks for the update...........Tim

[lyle_styles]

Super Job!!

I too am very interested in your progress. The photos are super.

Lyle R Ehlers

[Boyd]

I've been there and its quite the project with lots of work done and lots more to do. Its the biggest layout I have ever seen. I was awwed with the enormity of it. Now If I won the Powerball then Elliot might have a challenger.

[Big_Boy_4005]

Thanks again guys.

Tim, that's a good question. I'd have to guess about 1500 hours over the last 3 years. The helix had to be at least a couple hundred.



Colin, because this is prototype based, I take my track design and scenic ideas from the real world. No mountains in Minneaota. Much of the railroad follows the Mississippi River, though the water will almost never be seen on the layout. Most of the time it would be in the aisle, just off the edge of the layout. The one place where it will appear is when the main actually crosses it. I'll be building a very scaled down version of this lift bridge.



It will be down at the far end on the right side of the aisle.



In real life the curve is just more straight track, but that's the way things worked out. The outside track connects CP's Pig's Eye yard to the interlocking at Dayton's Bluff. Pig's Eye is a hump yard, and I will have a scaled down version. It is a little hard to see through the trees.



This is what the area on the layout looked like last November. Today the mains are done through that section, I'll build the yard when the mains are done all the way around the peninsula.



Today, I expect to get down to the switches that tie all of this together. This is Hoffman Avenue, AKA Dayton's Bluff in the real world.

[otftch]

My house is only 50 X 24 ! Great layout.
Ed

[Anonymous]

Looking good, Elliot, looking good! I can hardly wait to see the finished product! I'm anxious to see your version of that lift bridge!

[Big_Boy_4005]

Mitch, I almost think a Lionel lift bridge would fit there, but I'm not sure if I want to pay for one, because I don't really want it to go up and down. To hell with river traffic, this is a train layout.[swg]

[FJ and G]

Elliot writes:
"To hell with river traffic, this is a train layout."

Mark Twain's ghost is turning over in his grave! Shame on you!