Here is the control panel and a typical switch machine install. This transformer is the same one my dad bought in the 1970s. It was saved from the 11x17 layout he built, and I helped as a kid. We dismantled that layout in the 80s. The switch machines are also leftover from that and I have kept all these years, along with the DPDT toggle switches. Still work great. Old school! (actually these ore cars are from the 80s too, which I recently refurbished and put KayDees on)
The switch throw mechanism I make from the spring wire the machine comes with. After bending the "L" for the points, I pass the wire down through the hole, then bend it towards the switch machine. I then tape, using metal duct tape, a looped copper wire so the rotating mechanism will not bind. Seems to work ok. Anyway, that is what that odd looking metal duct tape is for.
Thanks Mike.
What an amazing layout. It's a shame that Carl Arendt passed away. This would have been a great layout for his website.
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Mike Kieran
Port Able Railway
I just do what the majority of the voices in my head vote on.
Here is the mock up of the town of Jobyna (named after the silent movie actress Jobyna Ralston). The factory is Faraday Electric Motor Company. Maybe a bit too tall but I'm stuck with it.
Thank you Sean and Ulrich,
Someday the room this is in now will be a full layout, part of an addition I built on my older house. But for now, there's too much junk in there! Meanwhile I want to see this one through, and see how it comes out. There is actually plenty of modeling for me to do!
Eric
Erik,
that is an awesome little layout you are building. It is sure another demonstration of the fact, that the fun of model railroading has nothing to do with the size of a layout!
Keep those pics coming!
Pretty slick.
Sean
HO Scale CSX Modeler
The GPM&C celebrates its first inaugural run. The celebration was witnessed by some of the construction gang as a coach bringing in the dignitaries arrived at the future site Chrysolite Metals at Jobyna. Said one of the crew "we'll be old and drawing our pensions by the time this thing is done".
Micro-engineering bridge track. Central valley ties and curvable switch kits. Code 83 rails. Mat-board and card-stock road bed coated with varnish before ties installed.
The micro-engineering steel viaduct took me awhile to build. A little tricky with the curve. The non tower spans are also shortened. Here it is being installed.
I tried making pyramidal footings out of plaster and then embedding them into the hard-shell scenery. But I could not get that to work. So I ended up cutting out the scenery underneath. Then glued pine footings I cut on the table saw, to a segment of plywood also glued to the benchwork. Then, the scenery was redone.
Here is the bridge being epoxied to the footings showing how I kept the curve alignment and kept the top of the bridge even with the road bed.
Here are a couple of the early photos showing the benchwork. I wanted this to be light weight and portable. Much of the layout is supported by lots of cardboard. Like a very heavy duty box. Took these a long time ago in the late 1990s (BDC before digital cameras). I have been working on this very slowly for some time. Too many other things going on, cars, kids, trips, work on the house...
The first thing I built was a model of the model, years ago. The scale of the model is 1-1/2" = 1'. This version is 4' x 4' with the main radius at 21".
Welcome to the build thread of the:
Granite Peak Mining and Chemical Railway
My small HO scale layout. From time to time I'll drop photos in here to share showing the progress. Just for fun. Hope you enjoy. Eric.
First, here is the track plan drawn with Turbocad v7.1.
The plan features three scenes on a single 24" radius circle, a bridge scene, a city scene, and a mining/industrial scene. The mountain in the middle separates the scenes so you don't notice too much that the track is just a circle. The era is steam, 1920s to 40s.