Hey thanks bob the train for the compliment.
I'm looking forward to sharing more pics with you guys.also the layout would have been bigger but the wife wanted a movie theater and workout room to so i compromised and this is all the space I was alloted. I wanted to make it go thru the stairs and all but I figure I have enough on my plate with what I have already.
The layout of the tracks is another guys design with my few tweaks here and there. So the compliments should be directed at wp@p aka mike r. for the track layout.
questio for you and whoever else wants to respond. do you like the look of the track not being ballasted. Cause i'm thinking of not doing it. But I know it will look good afterwards but I also don't want the hassle of ballast derailing trains and for the purpose of track expansion and contraction and if I need to replace the track that's another issue all in itself. So what do you think and what would you do. There is a guy in the n scale magizine I think in the may/june or july/august issue with about the same size layout as mine maybe a few feet bigger than mine with his track not ballasted and I think it looks rather great. If you you know which guy I'm talking about check his out. Let me know what you think about his.
well i got a little more work done as some of the newly laid track i took up and replaced it with some newly placed track. basically i took a few switches out and moved them down a bit to get more run room to the ballast furnace, coke ovens, and rolling mill kit. also laid the run for the bottom line with cork and track all the way down one side of the peninsula. hope you like the photo's and i took a few of my locos with little engineers riding on the on the layout. enjoy.
this picture is old and it is of the the switches i removed. they are the 2 switches at the bottom of the picture with the 2 ieces of track laying beneath them.
I always look forward to your updates.
well more work got done today but as you will beable to tell i ran out of track in the yard but have another box and a few switches on order and will pick up from the good old guys at dcc trains this weekend. hope you like
in the passenger yard it will have six tracks for passenger trains with the outside track to the left in the yard the main with a passenger track just inside it then spacing for platform then two more tracks and spacing for platforms then two more tracks and spacing for platform and one more track for passenger trains. in the photo's you can see some odd spacing where the tracks come off of the switch frogs. the reason for this is to have nice easements for smooth flowing trains thru the yard. it's not really pretty but it works and gets the job done. enjoy
I don't like the kinks, (s-curves), at the turnouts for the passenger station area. It looks unnatural, and may cause problems for your trains.. Just my opinion.
yes i agree with you that it doesnt look natural but with the way the track is layed and the way the switches fit together this is the best that could be done in this situation. i have the amtrak superliner train set that i will test out all these switches going forward and backwards at a nice speed to check for possible problems once i get my track this weekend. i tried to make the curves on these spots as broad as possible that way i have few problems in this area. if i would have made the curves closer together. where the track butts up to the switch would have had a sharper curve and i think that would have looked even more strange. i was/have road by the chicago passenger station thats downtown and they have alot of strangly arranged tracks with gaps similar to what i have and i figure if it works for them with minimal problems i should have the same if any problems. they made the curves broader that way the cars would navigate thru with ease. at least thats what i noticed the few times i have driven by there. thanks for the input i will look a little closer at the track again when more progress is done and i will let you know the outcome.
In the last photo above, why not move the first and third right switch so that they come off the switches prior to where they are now. This should straighten out some of the s-curves.
ie.
From: / /| / | / /| / / |\ / / / |\ / / / / |\ / / / / / |\ | / || || \ || || || \
To: / /| / | / /| / / |\ / / /| \ / / / / |\ / / / / /| \ | / || || \ || || || \
Russell
T-Sax In the last photo above, why not move the first and third right switch so that they come off the switches prior to where they are now. This should straighten out some of the s-curves. ie. From: / /| / | / /| / / |\ / / / |\ / / / / |\ / / / / / |\ | / || || \ || || || \ To: / /| / | / /| / / |\ / / /| \ / / / / |\ / / / / /| \ | / || || \ || || || \ Russell
i will take mprr & t-sax advice and redo the yard as t-sax has in his illustration he did. i went back down after not being in the room since i ran out of track and it really jump out at me. so redo it is will get on it to day. it is snowing here dont think i will bable to make it to the hobbyshop to get what i need. so this will allow me to redo the yard and possibly finish off the bridge going up to the second level. have a great day.
Reggie,
See if this helps. I think you have #6 turnouts there but I did it with both #6's (top) and #4's (bottom) just in case.
Of course you will have to adjust the initial legs to match the track spacing you want to achieve but this layout should keep the same allignment and get rid of the S-curves.
BTW - as to your ballast comment above. Knuckle down and learn to ballast. I honestly can't believe that finished layouts with unballasted track make it into magazines. The ballast is there for more than looks, it also helps hold the track in place. Without the ballast, your track will never be stable. Without ballast, track always looks unfinished. It really isn't that hard once you get the hang of it, and with the amount of track you need to ballast, you will get the hang of it pretty quick.
Before Ballast -
After Ballast -
skipgearReggie, See if this helps. I think you have #6 turnouts there but I did it with both #6's (top) and #4's (bottom) just in case. Of course you will have to adjust the initial legs to match the track spacing you want to achieve but this layout should keep the same allignment and get rid of the S-curves.
Or maybe just run those middle yard tracks all the way out to the leftmost track, instead of having that S curve coming off the main (or whatever the leftmost diagonal track is). There isn't room for switching without fouling the leftmost diagonal anyways, so having a parallel diagonal seemingly gives you very little.
Like this:
Smile,Stein
hi,
by adding a second RH-switch (the VILLAN) you changed the angle of the ladder. To get back you needed a lot more curvature. Replace switch 2 and 3; and you get a compound ladder.
Have fun and a Merry Christmas
Paul
Reggie: I'm still checking in now and then. Glad to see your work. A very Merry Christmas to you and your family.
traindaddy hows it been glad to see you still check in on me to see if im staying in line. also to everybody else thanks for the help and i didnt get any work done yesterday as planned as family came in town and they had my time and attention. my nephew loves the train set and he's running it right now. the nce dcc system is straight forward and he knows how to start it up and get trains running all by himself.
happy holidays to all
Looks good Reggie. Merry Christmas.
N Scale Diesels......I like 'em
Jimmydieselfan Looks good Reggie. Merry Christmas.
same to you dieselfan
i have taken up all the track and cork. layed out the switches as to the plan given and man are the track shorter but thats what has to be in order to make the track look to par. will post pictures later when i get the cork and track layed.
Reggie, a little extra work now will pay off later . BTW I didn't like those kinks either. When will you be done with all the track laying?
yeah you are right it will payoff later.
when will i be done with the track laying. im not even done with the first level yet. by the way i like to approach it by looking at what i have to do for a few days first then lay track i would say maybe six months or so and this is a guesstimate. im in no rush as you see with what i have to redo and what i have to still do. my track plan has been changed as i move forward with the work.
well sorry for not posting yesterday but i finished it yesterday. here are the pictures of the passenger yard redone to the liking of you guys and myself. it took a total about 2 hours to do. hope you like and enjoy. went to the store today to pick-up my track and switches and also picked up both copies of the n scale railroading magazine and n scale. so more work can/will be done in the next few days maybe i can get the bottom level of track on the peninsula layed by the new year.
hope you enjoy goodnight and happy holidays to you all
Much better. It looks more natural. Good job.
Well done Reggie!! That looks sooo much better, and I'll bet your trains appreciate it too. Keep it up fella.
thanks again for the compliments guys as i just needed a little kicking in the butt to go ahead and redo the yard. thanks for the motivation. well here are a few pictures of the rest of the track in the yard laid and ready for service. have laid the track around the curve and now heaed back down the other side of the peninsula. im rounding second and headed for third. hope you like the pictures.
well its been a few days and the family is off and on their way home. the holidays went well and the new year to. to all a happy and blessed new year before i start with the pictures. hope all enjoyed it and santa brought you what you wanted also. he brought me the el capitan set plus add on. also he brought me a few kits to go on the layout once i get to that point.
well i got my nephew into trains a year or two ago and started him out in ho. he took care of the set i bought him better than i thought he would. so i went to johnnys and bought him a atlas gp35 for christmas. well this was his first time to my house for hte holidays and he seen my n scale and said uncle i want the size trains you have. so you know what the meant take back the atlas ho engine and get him n scale trains as he requested. he had to prove to me that he could take care of this size train without me being around. so i left him downstairs for a few hours to let him run my trains and he did really swell. besides when he tried to back the trains to fast and they derailed. other than that no major issues. i had a few spare pieces of the bachmann ez track and built him a small 3x4 layout and he was off and running. here are a few pictures of him and his first n scale train boy is he excited.
well im going to take a break from tracklaying and focus on my kit building for a while. now since my track plan is going to require for some of my kits to be built so i can get the correct track placement. now im working on my loco maintenance, car repair shop, tomix station towers, santa fe brick depot w/ freight house, and diesel fueling/sanding rack. now my question is has anybody used the pieces that hold the kits together for anything other than trash, or has anybody used them for kitbashing on other projects. was just wondering before i threw them away and might need them at a later date.
Whats up Reggie? You done with the track laying yet? We want to see your progress.
Jimmydieselfan Whats up Reggie? You done with the track laying yet? We want to see your progress.
nothings up just been in one of those moods of not really wanting to build/work on the layout. also the idea of moving to some warm weather has been in the air. my wife may be getting a new job in savannah, georgia. as she flew down for the job interview yesterday. so work has really been on hold for the layout since i last posted. i dont really want to build up this thing and have to take it down. plus its a tight sgueeze getting this stuff up the stairs and thru the doorway. why add more when this possibility of us relocating in the next few weeks. but once we find out whats going to happen that will further let me know if to keep building or take it down for the move. other than that i have been able to run trains atleast all around the layout. all of the photos of the train work i have done thus far is the most up to date work i have completed on my layout. so i will let you guys know whats going to happen when we find out..
holy cow -- all that work just to have to take it down now ... ouch.
well bad and good news. the bad is that my wife didnt get the job. so we had to change directions and now we are staying.
now with some good news the train layout gets to stay up and i can continue to work on it and in that breath here is an update to what i have done as of yesterday. its photo's of the last reversing section being corked and layed down. then on with cutting out of the tabletop to raise it up to about 3" and a nice gradual 2% grade going up and down to get to it from the top and bottom. hope you like and enjoy.
Well Welcome back! Always a nice surprise around every corner. I was about to write you and see what happened. Nice to see ya here in the posts.
thanks for having me back. i will post as much as i can when i get work done. got a little done today but nothing worth showing in my book. i only cut out the part that crosses over the coal towers and connected to the middle raised level. also i need 3 more kato double track truss bridges then i can start to laying track on the elevated area. remember im freelancing so no track plan in hand just laying track as i go. if i think of something i want i will back track and add it in the keep moving right on along. hope you like and enjoy. im only doing my best.
reggie