More pieces cut out to fabricate one of the intake towers for Boysen Dam at the upper end of Wind River Canyon.
Here's a historical photo (from Wikipedia) of Hoover Dam under construction showing the four massive intake towers. My dam is a lot smaller and the reservoir is filled with water, so I only have to construct the uppermost couple of inches.
Robert
LINK to SNSR Blog
Robert,
Those towers look really neat! I'm guessing that you will only model the portions that stay above the water line, but still quite a project.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
hon30critter Robert, Those towers look really neat! I'm guessing that you will only model the portions that stay above the water line, but still quite a project. Dave
Hey Dave-
Yes, I plan to model only the part that sticks up above the water. About 3 inches (40 N-scale feet). My design calls for two towers, but after fabricating them and placing them on the layout, they look kinda like a couple of salt-and-pepper shakers out there standing guard. We'll see how things turn out when I get more of the dam structure in place. I might go to four with connecting walkways. Right now I'm just trying to block out the scene to see what's what.
A few small support structures that go at the base of Boysen Dam in Wind River Canyon. Cut from 1/8" Masonite hardboard and laminated.
Here are a few overall photos of the train room showing the current state of the layout as things stand right now, today. The goal is to finish up all the, for lack of a better word, heavy construction and carpentry; that is, anything that requires shop tools such as hammers, chisels, circular saws, jig saws, chop saws, table saws, Sawzalls, air guns, routers, drills, etc and anything else that might make a mess (dust, dirt, paint splatters, etc). What I am aiming for is to finish the benchwork and have all the bare naked plywood and framing lumber covered with at least with a base coat so that I can claim to be a full notch past the Plywood Pacific stage, and I think I have accomplished that . . . well, mostly. Vegetation and ground cover will soon follow. Getting to this point will now allow me to focus on my favorite part of model railroading . . . building little structures.
The milestone is evidenced by the completed upper- and lower fascia trim. A specific design criteria from the very beginning was to have a smooth continuous fascia without visible joints, nail holes, or exposed screwheads (not even those fancy brass oval head screws with matching recessed cup washers). The color is Dry Sage . . . I don’t know if Wyoming has an official state plant, but if we did it’d be dried out sagebrush.
There’s still a lot to do, so don’t focus too much on the tops of the decks. Before taking photos, I thought about removing the clutter of partially-assembled partially-painted buildings and structures as well as the rough (and some say, ridiculous) stand-ins I like to use, but I left that stuff in place. All those blocks, pipes, cans, and mayonnaise jars really help me visualize the space.
The trackage on the lower level is Kato Unitrack. I have a ton of it stored in shoeboxes, and I am using it now so that I can piddle around with the arrangement and test out the large and complex yard that will ultimately be constructed down there.
Right now, the trackage is constrained by the geometry of the Kato snap pieces. Later, after I piddle around for a while working out the logic and operational schemes, I’ll install permanent flextrack and will have a lot more flexibility regarding track spacing and curve/turnout radii and whatnot. The entire lower level was conceived and designed as a deep-water port, but it was always intended to serve as a large division point and classification yard. Most of the ‘work’ of the SNSR will take place down there, and the operators can be comfortably seated in rolling office chairs at the convenient 34-inch high benchwork.
The front two tracks are the A/D tracks, but they will be scenicked as loading tracks for the deep-water port. North Shore Yard West (left side of aisle under the middle peninsula as shown in the photos) will handle general ocean-going cargo and bulk commodities (such as coal, fertilizer, crushed limestone, and other bulk minerals or agricultural grains). There will be two Hulett unloaders and several medium-sized cranes (which is to say, pretty dang large cranes seeings how this is a major port; but not nearly as large as the giant longshore gantry cranes that will serve the container and automobile port of North Shore Yard East on the other (right) side of the aisle). The three classification tracks of the west yard are 10, 11, and 12 feet long (about 25 to 30 cars each) and the three of the east yard are about 16, 17, and 18 feet long (about 35 to 40 cars each).
The rear track is the mainline, and trains can bypass the entire yard and travel all the way around the lower layout en route to the (hidden) staging/storage yard and balloon track under the Win Littlefield Bridge and Wind River Mountains. The two tracks labeled A and B in the photo are the mainline and yard lead respectively and they go 180-degrees around the end of the middle peninsula and travel up the nolix (0% to 1% grade) where they join together into the single track of the helix (2% grade). The west yard lead is about 15 feet long and allows strings of about 35 cars to be worked. The east yard lead can extend all the way into the staging/storage yard and halfway around the balloon track . . . dang I dunno, at least 15 feet.
Turnouts for the yard are Kato #4 and #6. Kato is very proud of the quality and reliability of their flagship turnouts, and although I have run trains full-throttle forwards and backwards through them (and through the tight reverse curves created by their fixed geometry), the yardmaster will impose a strict 10 MPH maximum speed within the yard limits. Later, after I’ve installed permanent flextrack with a little more control over the geometry, I will still maintain the 10 MPH speed limit.
As currently laid out, the main line around the end of the center peninsula and at the far horse shoe curve of the port looks a little ragged because Kato Unitrack has parallel curve pieces spaced 1-1/4” apart from 9-3/4” radius up to 19” radius, but there are no Unitrack pieces to form a parallel offset 1-1/4” inside or outside the standard-piece 28-1/4”radius curve.
Here's a sketch of the lower yard as laid out using Unitrack.
Anyhow . . . progress.
Looks fantastic! I really like the nice clean look. The canyon and dam are spectacular.
Ray
Looking good, Robert! I really like your arch bridge.
Just for general interest, here's a shot of the real Boysen dam and below it the railroad bridge:
Dam Photo By Greg Goebel - https://www.flickr.com/photos/37467370@N08/7683551874/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32873369
Photo taken by montanatom1950.
Note the old tunnel portal near the far end of the bridge. This was for the older rail alignment, before the Boysen dam was rebuilt in a new location and the old dam demolished. The change in the dam's location and higher water level in the reservoir required relocating the railroad, including cutting a new tunnel to the south (left in the bridge photo).
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
Pruitt Looking good, Robert! I really like your arch bridge. Just for general interest, here's a shot of the real Boysen dam and below it the railroad bridge:
Hey Mark-
Yes, I recognize the photos you posted; I have travelled through Wind River Canyon dozens of times. My plan to include it on my layout was to try to capture the essence of the entire canyon and fit it into the available space. I freely admit that I play a little fast and loose with the rules. I dedicated an entire peninsula (about 25% of my layout area) to this one scenic element, and in doing so I had to compress the scene at least 95%. So that’s a double compression: taking a 12-mile-long-1500-foot-deep canyon and squeezing it into about a quarter-mile stretch, and reducing that significantly to shoehorn the scene into a 17-foot peninsula.
Boysen Dam is an earth-filled embankment that curves upstream, and the simple fact is that such curved structures are more difficult to model. I chose to build the dam as a straight concrete buttress dam; straighter lines, smoother surfaces. The prototype is the Folsum Dam in California, but even so, I modified details for practical and aesthetic reasons. Here are a couple of photos:
BTW, the original location of Boysen Dam was a mile or so downstream from its current location in a narrow point of the canyon, pinched between sheer vertical black granite walls.
The construction of the model is still in the rough mock-up stage, assembled from mat board. The building on the left (left, as facing the dam) represents the hydro-electric generating station. It will have spidery transmission towers that take the high-voltage lines up and out of the canyon. The building on the right will be the irrigation water pumping plant, and it features large water pipes protruding through the dam and smaller distribution pipes across the river on concrete support pilings. Neither building matches the prototype, either the Boysen prototype or the Folsum. Sorry.
No implied criticism of your efforts was intended. If it came across as such, my apologies. What you're building looks great, and will provide a very dramatic setting for the trains.
I'm compressing about ten miles of canyon into roughly twelve feet of layout. I'll have a bit of the Boysen reservoir in the southern approach, but the dam will be in the aisleway(!). I'd like to include the bridge, but I don't know if I'll have room.
Interesting note: the reason the first dam was removed is because it was placed badly for water flow, resulting in the reservoir silting up badly at the dam, within just a few years of completion. Here's a picture. You can see how bad the silt is on the shoreline nearest the camera:
So a new location without that same problem was found, and the new dam built. You can still see remnants of the old dam if you know where to look (I'm sure you do). Here's a shot I took years ago:
I'm looking forward to seeing your continued progress on the dam and canyon!
Pruitt No implied criticism of your efforts was intended. If it came across as such, my apologies.
No implied criticism of your efforts was intended. If it came across as such, my apologies.
Not at all. No offense taken and no need for you to apologize. I just hope I haven't offended you with the wording of my previous response.
I just like to remind everyone that I take a pretty expansive view of the freelance part of proto-freelance or freelanced prototypical. My layout plan calls for a steel mill in Kentucky right next door to a dairy farm in upstate New York just down the road from a little town in Florida and a power plant in Georgia which is across the aisle from a paper mill in Tennessee and a chemical plant in South Carolina all sitting atop a deep water port based (more or less) on the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Miami. At least the barley operation in Ralston and the sugar beet processing plant in Lovell are in Wyoming, seeings how they share the peninsula with Boysen Dam.
Thanks for your interest, and thanks for the historical photos posted here and on your website.
Here's a shot of one of the bridges on my layout. A CSX Dash 8 pulls a short stack of double stacks across the canyon just below the dam.
How long is that bridge Robert?
hon30critterHow long is that bridge Robert?
I'm guessing 30", 400 scale feet.
I have the right to remain silent. By posting here I have given up that right and accept that anything I say can and will be used as evidence to critique me.
carl425 hon30critter How long is that bridge Robert? I'm guessing 30", 400 scale feet.
hon30critter How long is that bridge Robert?
Correct . . . 30" face-to-face of concrete abutments (i.e., the length of the steel truss) and 31" overall (1/2" ledge at each end to rest on the bearing pads). The shoes on the ends of the bottom chord are not fixed; they have a slip joint to allow for flexure and expansion.
Very impressive layout, Robert, and even the roughed-in areas of scenery offer a good representation of the area which you're modelling. Excellent work!
Wayne
doctorwayne Very impressive layout, Robert, and even the roughed-in areas of scenery offer a good representation of the area which you're modelling. Excellent work! Wayne
Agreed. What an excellent layout! I just stumbled on this thread. I've been following Pruitt, but somehow I missed this build.
Gary
garya Agreed. What an excellent layout! I just stumbled on this thread. I've been following Pruitt, but somehow I missed this build.
Hey Gary-
Thanks. I don't know if you've read the entire thread; but if you haven't, this is my favorite picture:
doctorwayneVery impressive layout, Robert, and even the roughed-in areas of scenery offer a good representation of the area which you're modelling. Excellent work! Wayne
Ditto!!!
In addition to all the other excellent work, I love the clean look of the fascia. I'd really like to achieve the same look at the club. Don't suppose you would share your methods would ya?!?
garya doctorwayne Very impressive layout, Robert, and even the roughed-in areas of scenery offer a good representation of the area which you're modelling. Excellent work! Wayne Agreed. What an excellent layout! I just stumbled on this thread. I've been following Pruitt, but somehow I missed this build.
Great workmanship, Robert.
Rich
Alton Junction
ROBERT PETRICK garya Agreed. What an excellent layout! I just stumbled on this thread. I've been following Pruitt, but somehow I missed this build. Hey Gary- Thanks. I don't know if you've read the entire thread; but if you haven't, this is my favorite picture: Robert
Ah. "Begin at the beginning."
It's hot here, so I sat in the bedroom (which has A/C) and read the whole thread last night. I particularly like your bridges and the gorges they span.
hon30critter doctorwayne Very impressive layout, Robert, and even the roughed-in areas of scenery offer a good representation of the area which you're modelling. Excellent work! Wayne Ditto!!! In addition to all the other excellent work, I love the clean look of the fascia. I'd really like to achieve the same look at the club. Don't suppose you would share your methods would ya?!? Dave
Sorry for the slow response. I didn't catch on that your post had a question.
Here are a couple of photos that show the basic construction of the hardboard fascia. The benchwork 'joists' have a 1x4 endcap to tie them together. The masonite fascia is attached to the straight subsurface formed by the 1x4 endcap. The ends of each masonite strip is cut at a 45-degree bevel to form scarf joints. Easily cut using a compound miter saw.
A thin bead of yellow glue is added to the joint, and after everything sets up then the immediate area is buffed with sandpaper and painted. I specifically did not use joint tape and sheetrock mud. The tape-and-mud works well on drywall because the sheetrock edges are tapered. For flat butt joints in any material (including gyp-board sheetrock), the tape and mud would form a small hump that needs to be sanded down and feathered out.
Now for some caveats and disclaimers . . . I live in the high desert of Wyoming. The atmospheric conditions in my train room are fairly constant year-round: the temperature doesn't flucuate more than 5 degrees F (almost always between 65 and 70 degrees), and the humidity flucuates even less (almost always at 15%). The wood product of the masonite hardboard seems to have similar properties to the wood product of the wood framing lumber, so the system I build functions more-or-less as a massive whole and expansion and creep and whatnot don't seem to affect the individual components. The conditions in other locales might cause issues, and some measures might be necessary to account for shrinkage and/or warpage of the wood benchwork due to changes in local atmospheric conditions.
Hope this helps.
ROBERT PETRICKI live in the high desert of Wyoming.
And that puts you where, Robert? Rock Springs, Rawlins, Gillette, Casper, Torrington...?
The reason I'm asking is because I just ordered a new house in Casper! I'll be moving out there in 5-6 months.
That means, of course, that the latest version of The CB&Q in Wyoming is coming down in the next month or so. It also means I'll be much closer to everything I model, so I'll be able to do more research much easier.
Sadly, my layout space will be decreasing by about 40% as well. Looks like I'll be going back to a full double deck layout, probably.
Pruitt ROBERT PETRICK I live in the high desert of Wyoming. And that puts you where, Robert? Rock Springs, Rawlins, Gillette, Casper, Torrington...?
ROBERT PETRICK I live in the high desert of Wyoming.
Nope, nope, nope, nope, and nope; though I've been to all those towns.
I live in the north end of the Big Horn Basin, about an inch from Montana. I don't want to pinpoint exactly for general security reasons. Big Horn Mountains to the east, Absarokas to the west, the Wind River Range and Owl Creek Mountains to the south; a 10,000 square mile sagebrush prairie in between. About 6 inches of precip a year.
Sorry to hear about you having to disassemble the current iteration of the CB&Q in Wyoming, but not sorry to hear that you're moving back to Wyoming. There's a (100% NMRA) model railroad club in Casper. A small cadre of dedicated and knowledgeable modelers and a few other casual members. They have a permanent clubhouse with three layouts: N, HO, and O. The O-scale layout was built and operated by Bob Baden, the first MMR in Wyoming. Bob died three years ago at the age of 96 and left the layout to the club. There's another club in Sheridan, with their own MMR. Their layout is HO.
When you move back here, you'll increase the population of model railroaders by about 5%.
ROBERT PETRICK Nope, nope, nope, nope, and nope; though I've been to all those towns. I live in the north end of the Big Horn Basin, about an inch from Montana. I don't want to pinpoint exactly for general security reasons. Big Horn Mountains to the east, Absorakas to the west, the Wind River Range and Owl Creek Mountains to the south; 10,000 square mile sagebrush prairie in between. About 6 inches of precip a year.
I live in the north end of the Big Horn Basin, about an inch from Montana. I don't want to pinpoint exactly for general security reasons. Big Horn Mountains to the east, Absorakas to the west, the Wind River Range and Owl Creek Mountains to the south; 10,000 square mile sagebrush prairie in between. About 6 inches of precip a year.
Hmmm...my wife's college roommate was from Greybull...sounds about right...
ROBERT PETRICKHere are a couple of photos that show the basic construction of the hardboard fascia. The benchwork 'joists' have a 1x4 endcap to tie them together. The masonite fascia is attached to the straight subsurface formed by the 1x4 endcap. The ends of each masonite strip is cut at a 45-degree bevel to form scarf joints. Easily cut using a compound miter saw.
Hey Robert!
Thanks for the tutorial. It gives us something to talk about. I appreciate your comments about the local climate. Central Ontario suffers huge swings in humidity so perhaps using your bevelled joints is a pipe dream. We are not in any hurry to do the fascia so I think what I am going to suggest to the club is that we set up a test joint to see if it will work for us or not. I'm really hoping we can pull off a similar effect. It looks so clean and crisp.
Here's a YouTube video of trains running through Wind River Canyon. The 1:1 canyon, not the 1:160 one.
Wind River Canyon
Whoever made the video gets all the credit, not me. Very clear HD video.
Under the general category of keeping up with stuff I'm currently working on . . .
Here's a yard sale shot of the pieces and parts cut out to scratch-build the N-scale passenger station based (more or less) on the old CB&Q station in Casper.
And here's a photo showing a few of the partially assembled sub-assemblies, which is to say walls.
More to follow shortly.
Thats insane! Did you make all of those parts yourself/from scratch?
I'm beginning to realize that Windows 10 and sound decoders have a lot in common. There are so many things you have to change in order to get them to work the way you want.
BNSF UP and others modelerThats insane! Did you make all of those parts yourself/from scratch?
.
Umm... yeah, that does look insane. Were these cast from patterns or 3D printed? If you scratch built all that from strip/sheet styrene you should win an award.
It looks beautiful.
-Kevin
Living the dream.