UP2CSX wrote: John,No, there are no trestles up in the Cajon Pass buy who ever let a little thing like that stop us when we wanted to put something on our layouts. Both the SP and Santa Fe have some nice trestles along the coast but the SD&AE really have some nice ones. I don't know if you've ever seen the Campo Creek Trestle but there's a picture at http://www.sdrm.org/history/sda/photos/stony.jpg . It looks like it would be perfect for what you want to do.
John,
No, there are no trestles up in the Cajon Pass buy who ever let a little thing like that stop us when we wanted to put something on our layouts. Both the SP and Santa Fe have some nice trestles along the coast but the SD&AE really have some nice ones. I don't know if you've ever seen the Campo Creek Trestle but there's a picture at http://www.sdrm.org/history/sda/photos/stony.jpg . It looks like it would be perfect for what you want to do.
Jim, thats exactly what I intend to build. Thanks a bunch for the photo.
John
Ken,
Love the Empire amigo! I had to laugh. You can definatly see the progression in your layout. That learning curve can be a drag. Hence why I am on my 3rd! I can definatly tell though you are haveinf fun with it. And that is all that is important.
This has been a great thread. Really gives a good view of the over all layout feel.
Best Regards, Big John
Kiva Valley Railway- Freelanced road in central Arizona. Visit the link to see my MR forum thread on The Building of the Whitton Branch on the Kiva Valley Railway
This one entered the realm of stunt photography because we were too lazy to get a ladder. Larry stood on the bench press rack and balanced off the exposed beam.
Sue & Larry
Anything is possible if you do not know what you are talking about.
Gear Jammer do you have a track plan drawn? Would love to see it.
Thanks Kevin
Canondale61 wrote: Gear Jammer do you have a track plan drawn? Would love to see it.Thanks Kevin
Kevin,
We used 3rd PlanIt to draw the track plan. The yard has changed somewhat from the orignal design. Unfortunately, it is on my husbands laptop in the truck. When he gets a chance he'll bring it in and update it.
Sue
Sue, can I come run trains on your layout...
Mine doesn't look nearly as good.... Nor nearly as big.
That's pretty much all there is on my UK half apart from the river at the far end. US half is still in the un-financial planning stage
Mike
Modelling the UK in 00, and New England - MEC, B&M, D&H and Guilford - in H0
Jim: Today they seem to be bigger, an obvious example being the long flats capable of carrying 2 x 45 ft containers. Tankers are bigger too. The modern goods wagons are generally a bit longer, although many are still just 2 axles and 4 wheels. To my untrained eye US outline appears to be bigger overall. From what I've seen I think there's more of a mixture of stock in UK trains.
The steam and early diesel eras are still very popular with hobbyists, so I guess we don't often see the modern stuff.
Jim, I finally took a few pictures of the layout to give you an idea of the bigger picture.
I've posted this picture before on another thread. Staging is behind and under the mountains. Here, my large turbine appears as it enters the visible part of the layout.
The right end of the layout is dominated by the mountain. The buildings on the terraced area are the Old Mine Gentleman's Club and the Madam's,,, oops, owner's house. That's the only scene on the layout that's not finished. I'm still debating what to material to use on the road and parking area.
The center of the long leg of the L is the switching portion of the layout.
The short leg of the L is the railfan section of the layout.
After negotiating the curve at the lower part of the photo, the trains return to staging.
The two mainlines and six staging tracks are behind the mountains.
Please exuse the slight fuzziness of the pictures, I was hand holding the camers to take these.
Aussie Mike (i've got keep all the Mike's separated here ),
I was in the UK in 2000 and had the chance to do a little railfaning, or train spotting, as my British friend called it. I saw a fair number of unit trains that were mostly made up of those 90 foot container flats and a few coal trains that, while the hoppers weren't as big as one our bathtub types, were still much larger than the average goods wagon. I was impressed by the sheer number of cars that most trains carried because each of them were so much smaller than an average US freight car. I got the chance to visit one yard outside of Liverpool (forget the name right off hand) and there were literally thousands of goods wagons all types and descriptions. It seems like the British would start to realize the economies of scale and start running bigger rolling stock but it seems as though 4 wheels cars have been the standard forever and there's only so much you can carry on two axles. I haven't had the chance to get to Australia although I really want to because the Great Barrier Reef is supposed to be awesome for diving. I mught just work in a little train spotting too From the pictures, I've seen, Australian engines and rolling stock seem to more like the US than the UK. Am I right in that assumption?
Mike,
I still have look twice at those pictures and realize they are N scale. I wish my HO layout looked so good. I really thought about getting into N scale when I stated back into the hobby but all I remebered about N scale was clunky looking cars and awful locomotives. Seeing your pictures now, I think I might have made the plunge into N scale. I can really see how you were trying to duplicate that Weber Canyon section in the overhead shot. It's suprising how much that original shot looked like Afton Canyon. That's why it's nice to see a layout from a larger perspective. It really gives me some ideas for both scenery and how to lay things out so the whole thing looks more realistic from any angle.
Jim - you're more up to date on the UK scene than I am Thanks for posting that info.
I can only really comment on Queensland rail which is narrow guage and therefore a bit hard to come by for the modeller. Our stuff seems to be a bit of a cross between UK and US. You don't see much if any 4 axle stock these days. Our modern locos aren't too exciting to look at, they're like long boxes on wheels to me, but the earlier ones were nice and some had the rounded hood a bit like a much smaller version of your F7s.
Cheers
I've heard our modern GE and EMD locos described as machine shops on wheels and I think that's pretty accurate. I do like the classic style of an F or E units, even early GP's by comparison. There's not much left in industrial design now except utility.
IIRC, both EMD and Alco has Australian subsidiaries. I know I've seen some double ended units that looked very similar to F-7's. I think Alco stayed on as a player in Austrailia long after it wen kaput here. Wasn't there an iron ore operation that used to run huge trains pulled by Alco 630's or something like that?
Here is my 4x8 layout at home for me and my 2 sons:
And here is the layout at the club I belong to in Toronto, Ontario, Canada:
http://www.yorkrailwaymodellers.info/
Mike Sowsun
"Wasn't there an iron ore operation that used to run huge trains pulled by Alco 630's or something like that?"
Yes Jim - both BHP and Hammersley Iron ran Alcos. BHP had at least one Alco M-636, although I'm no authority.
Also I've learned that Mt Newman mining had 2 F7As that were in service until 1971. One of those has been restored to mainline standard.
I remember seeing something, on Discovery or the History Channel, about a mining operation out in the desert there. The condition of the track limited speed to about 15 MPH and the trip took over eight hours at that speed.
The operator at one end would start the locomotives and jump off. At the other end of the line, another operator would climb on and stop the train.
Do you know if they're still doing this?
That's odd - I don't recall laying any track in the desert
No, Mike I'm sorry but I hadn't heard of that.
Oh, no, it's another Mike
Anyway, for Mike Sowsun, that 4x8 looks like ther perfect layout for you and the kids to work on. Nothing too complicated but lots of running room. Now get those boys to work on the roads and that lake. The club layout is very impressive. How many members do you have? Looks like it much be a bunch to build and maintain a layout that large. The sceniced parts look really good for a club layout. The club I belonged to was also had a huge layout and everyone was so exhausted from laying track and getting in all the moutains and other scenery that we just plopped some buildins down, painted in some roads, callled it a day. That was suposed to get upgraded but never did in the five years I was with the club. Every time someone was ready to work on the town scenes, something else broke on the layout and we had to work on that. Cripes, just keeping the tracks clean was almost a full-time job.
Here is Larry's updated 3rd PlanIt design.
The layout size is 13' x 13.5'. Visible mainline curves are 28"r, and 2 curves in the tunnels are 24"r. Mainline is flat and most of the grades are 3%, with some 6% up to the log landings.
Here is my pretty straight forward layout. I'm mostly using this layout as learning aid.
LilBeckett88 wrote: Here is my pretty straight forward layout. I'm mostly using this layout as learning aid.
Note to self : When taking aerial photos turn off ceiling fan !
Going around the layout clockwise
Some photos are blurry as i was balancing on the arm of the couch
South Side Jct.
Loup Creek Coal Company
Mt Hope and the Kanawa Valley Co-op Power Company upper left
tracks go thru Mountain to the mine for a loads in emptys out operation
south end of Mt Hope
Gauley River Bridges
Thurmond coaling tower and engine house
Thurmond Main Buildings
TerryinTexas
See my Web Site Here
http://conewriversubdivision.yolasite.com/
LilBeckett, that looks like a pretty good start for a learning model. I'll be interested to see how that mountain comes out.
Terry, those are a great overview of your layout. Now you need to get a tripod so we can see it all clearly. I'm especially interested in what the bridges look like without the blur. I like the looks of Thurmond. Now, if you can find a way to make it look overcast and everything black from soot and coal dust, you'll have it.
msowsun wrote:Here is my 4x8 layout at home for me and my 2 sons:Mike Sowsun
Couldn't get any more altitude for this one. Was already up to the 12 ft ceiling.
Modeling B&O- Chessie Bob K. www.ssmrc.org
Printer wrote:Mike,I may be missing something in the pic, I can see how you would move a train from either inner loop to outer, or outer to inner loop, depending on the direction of travel, but how do they get back to the "other" track?Just wondering. I like the layout though.Scoot
Simple, you just back the train through a trailing point turnout and then you're back on the other oval. Probably another crossover on the other side of the line would be easier though.
UP2CSX wrote:Holy Cow, Bob, is that your personal layout or a club? That's some mighty impressive layout work there. I showed it to my wife and now she's thankful for my dinky little layout.
Jim, it's my club's layout. The section in the pic is any about 1/2 of the planned finished layout.