Okay, this is getting nuts.

[Anonymous]

OK CHip, Your Daughter built, It will be fine. everything is A-OK. If my daughter built me a model(if i was married and had kids) Even if it wasn't right for what i'm modeling i would still use it.

[Walter Clot]

Hey, Thanks everyone. I've been trying to figure out a platform for between my 2 main lines, so I can have passengers loading on both east and west bound. Now I don't have to "build it up." I should have noticed that a long time ago!

[SpaceMouse]

My streets are plenty wide enough to turn a freight wagon. However, in 1885 in the west, I don't think I've seen a single picture of a sidewalk or head in parking.

[MidlandPacific]

David's right about street width - the Grand Imperial in Silverton sits on Greene Street, which is as wide as one of the major avenues in Washington, DC. There are pictures of it in Sloan & Skowronski's "Rainbow Route" - it doesn't look as if it's been widened an inch.

[MidlandPacific]

David's right about street width - the Grand Imperial in Silverton sits on Greene Street, which is as wide as one of the major avenues in Washington, DC. There are pictures of it in Sloan & Skowronski's "Rainbow Route" - it doesn't look as if it's been widened an inch.

[Anonymous]

If your boardwalks are stepped you can make things more complicated (not that you'd ever want to do that [:o)] ) by making the sidewalk sloped (where there is a sidewalk of course... the two do occur together... especially where a wide street was been modernised.
Which makes me think... are you aware that a lot of main streets were wide enough for teams to turn round in? In later years some of this got used for parking nose-to-curb and a tidy sidewalk... easier for draymen to barrow the crates of Coors etc into the shops/bars and for wheelchairs, buggies etc than climbing around the old board walks.

just another thought... something for you to do with all that spare time[:D]

[SpaceMouse]

Yeah, I'm looking forward to laying out HO scale stair jacks. Almost as much as cutting them.

[jeffers_mz]

PS, I've pretty much decided to cheat.

Though prototypically the building and boardwalk were two different joist structures, I'm going to bring at least a couple of floor joists out the bandboard to cantilever the boardwalk.

If the finished floor heigths are the same height as the boartdwalk, no problem. If the building floor steps down to the boardwalk, again no problem, the extra joists will live under the building floor and can't be seen. Permanent lighting fixtures will poke up through the incomplete joist system, still not a problem. May have to notch the foundation wall, but that will also be hidden from view.

I guess if you wanted a floor system lower than the boardwalk you'd need to look for another solution, but I don't see that happening.

With main street on a grade, the foundations can stairstep and the buildings/boardwalks can still option out as seperate units or as single adjoined units. I'm also really looking forward to the stair systems between sections and complex handrails.

Looking forward to seeing them done, anyway, building them will probably cost me some hair, already in short supply.

:-)

[SpaceMouse]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jeffers_mz

I think piecemeal is the way to go. Not ony have the pics I've seen been a conglomeration of different boardwalks butted up against each other, but the histories show that in the early days after the towns were first platted, they weren't even sure which way the buildings were supposed to face.

In some towns, the businesses were built on 10 foot deep snowdrifts, and when the snow melted, the buildings leaned so much they had to be rebuilt or fall over. Even a year later they were just getting around to writing ordinances to remove the stumps from main streets.

Ahhhh, the good old boomtown days.

THAT'S IT! My boardwalk looks crappy because it's a boom town. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[Anonymous]

If it was done what would you have to live for!

[jeffers_mz]

I think piecemeal is the way to go. Not ony have the pics I've seen been a conglomeration of different boardwalks butted up against each other, but the histories show that in the early days after the towns were first platted, they weren't even sure which way the buildings were supposed to face.

In some towns, the businesses were built on 10 foot deep snowdrifts, and when the snow melted, the buildings leaned so much they had to be rebuilt or fall over. Even a year later they were just getting around to writing ordinances to remove the stumps from main streets.

Ahhhh, the good old boomtown days.

[SpaceMouse]

The basement layout is set in 1917 so the RR&TC really can't be incorporated. I have plans to add an office/studio onto my house in the time between now and then so I'm hoping there will be room.

Not surprizing you mention the boardwalk. I've been fretting over that for some time. Not all my structures are built at the same height in terms of the boardwalk, but more importantly they don't treat the boardwalk the same intrems of how they address it. Meaning some are built on their own boardwalk and others butt up to their own boardwalk. I haven't really addressed it, but I haven't really solved it either. I figure I'm going to have to get creative with a razor saw.

[jeffers_mz]

I want one of those saws real bad. I've got a big stockpile of lineals, down to 2" x 2" in HO, that I ripped on a full size table saw and finished on the planer, but with a mini table saw, I might be able to fashion HO sale toothpicks. It's on the list.

Hammerwise, I've had a matching pair of Plumb 22 ouncers for better than 25 years, knurled and smooth heads. Yes they look a little funny on track brads, and they take a tap and two swings to set a 16, instead of a tap and a smack with my old Vaughn 32, but I've used the exact same swing for ore than two decades now, and it saves me a lot of purple nails and orange needles.

Not to enjoy your misery or anything, but this thread has probably saved me some problems down the road. Not just on the passenger station, but throughout the whole town.

The plan was to set permanent foundations, so that the buildings could be swapped in and out at will. The problem was borading platforms and the boardwalk that runs the length of town. Because it sits outside the foundation, I was leaning away from the removable buildings, but this thread has convinced me otherwise. I'm still not sure how the boardwalks/platforms will integrate with permanent footers and removable buildings, but that is the way it will be, no matter what it takes.

On a related point, do you have plans for the original layout after it is decomissioned? Are you going to cannabalize it, give it to the kids, donate it to a museum, what? Determining that now may well help you set standards and stick to them.

The layout here will expand to 4' x 24' plus a few bumps and protrusions, and will remain in the jeffers memorial museum for all eternity. Therefore, it gets built to the same 200 year standardsas the rest of the structures here. Not necessarily wise, but defined, leaving the decision making process clear and unfettered by doubt.

:-)

[SpaceMouse]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jeffers_mz

I think you answered your own question, Chip. You don't want to fool with it because that section's done, but it really isn't done, is it? The passenger platform is still at "test heigth", yes?

You know how to do this. There aren't any quick fixes, at least, I haven't been able to come up with any, but you can work on other things until you have the whole procedure laid out in your head, all the tools and parts assembled, and then you can smoke it out and back in in two blinks. It's going to bug you till you do, but the faster you get started, the faster it'll get done. Make the decision, and you can rest easy knowing you're sticking to your standards, even if you don't get to it right away.

I've got a bag of popsicle sticks and a Micro Mark Mini Table Saw that says you're right. (By the way if you haven't tried one, those suckers kick booty. Kinda like my 10 oz Vaughn hammer. Smaller but ballanced like the big boys.)

[jeffers_mz]

I think you answered your own question, Chip. You don't want to fool with it because that section's done, but it really isn't done, is it? The passenger platform is still at "test heigth", yes?

You know how to do this. There aren't any quick fixes, at least, I haven't been able to come up with any, but you can work on other things until you have the whole procedure laid out in your head, all the tools and parts assembled, and then you can smoke it out and back in in two blinks. It's going to bug you till you do, but the faster you get started, the faster it'll get done. Make the decision, and you can rest easy knowing you're sticking to your standards, even if you don't get to it right away.

[SpaceMouse]

QUOTE: Originally posted by RicHamilton

QUOTE: Originally posted by SpaceMouse

So, what I need to do is cut the platforms off my stations and build the same structure with a wood base to rail height. Can do.

"It's got to impress a body
the brake leak on your tire
Oops that is isn't right
the ladder goes up higher"



Hmmmmmmmm

[:D][:D][:D][:D]

I knew that was going to bite me.

[RicHamilton]

QUOTE: Originally posted by SpaceMouse

So, what I need to do is cut the platforms off my stations and build the same structure with a wood base to rail height. Can do.

"It's got to impress a body
the brake leak on your tire
Oops that is isn't right
the ladder goes up higher"



Hmmmmmmmm

[davekelly]

Chip,

Of course you can look at the bright side. You've learned something that increased your knowledge of the era you're modeling and if you do decide to "fix" the platforms its another opportunity to increase your modeling skills.

[ham99]

I would fix it now. I have bare spots on the layout and a time line for filling them in. But if something bothers me the way I have done it, I have to redo it before I move on. Bare spots don't affect my sense of "reality," but something done wrong irritates me every time I look at it. I have been working on this layout for three years, but I don't really care if it is finished or not. It's the doing that is fun, not the finishing. The last layout was finished for a couple of months, and then I tore it up and changed scales.

[fsm1000]

It is one of those "can I live with it" or "is it 'good enough' " conundrums.
The ONLY one who can answer that though is you.
I use this method, if I am good at it [like stuff made of wood] then I fix it and do my best. If it is a loco that is missing rivets then I say the heck with it.
I suck at making locomotives, my scenery is so so and my buildings are pretty good.
I don't sweat stuff I am not good at.

I hope that helps.

[MidlandPacific]

Chip, Fred - I put up a nineteenth century modelers' thread - thought you might have some useful contributions:

http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=68296

[Jetrock]

Don't sweat the small stuff...and it's all small stuff! HO scale stuff, to be precise...

[SpaceMouse]

You know of course, I'm going to fix it. I'll build the other platforms right and maybe even at the same time.

[selector]

I'm with Ernie on this one. If you know that something is not quite up to snuff, that is one thing, but to go back and redo it when you know you can seems to me counterproductive. If you can't, and need to master an actual skill, then by all means keep the learning going. But if you can already do it, move on and get closer to that patch of brightness at the end of the tunnel. Your pursuit of patience will become an exercise in madness as Ernie suggests, particularly on something that you are stuck with for reasons that you cannot control. Spend time on the important things, as you define important, and you will get the patience and rewards you want out of the hobby. Force yourself into the life of an ascetic, and you will turn sour.

Even an ascetic would like some sugar in his tea. [:)]

[ereimer]

this is your learning layout , use it to make mistakes and learn from them so you don't make them on the big layout . but don't go back and make everything perfect or you'll never get around to starting the big one . you have to decide where the 'good enough' line is , especially on on a temp layout

[davekelly]

Chip,

I don't know, but it appears that your Rock Ridge and Train City RR was way ahead of its times in terms of customer convenience and safety through its use of train level platforms! I'd use that as my official line until (if ever) you go back and change the height.

[pcarrell]

QUOTE: Originally posted by SpaceMouse

Actually, I've built over 300 decks and had them in Sunset Magazine etc. Straight rows of nails are something I insisted on from my crews.

As to the other question. This will be my main running railroad for the next several years. I won't need any structures off of it until both Phase 1 and 2 are complete. Since both phases will be larger than this layout, I figure I'll be running the Rock Ridge and train City for a long time. I also am kind of attatched to the idea of the Old West, so I want to take it completion.

On top of all that, one of the skills I want to learn is patience.

Well OK then!

But the question still remains,.....are the nails straight on you HO passenger platforms? Inquiring minds want to know! [:D]

[SpaceMouse]

Actually, I've built over 300 decks and had them in Sunset Magazine etc. Straight rows of nails are something I insisted on from my crews.

As to the other question. This will be my main running railroad for the next several years. I won't need any structures off of it until both Phase 1 and 2 are complete. Since both phases will be larger than this layout, I figure I'll be running the Rock Ridge and train City for a long time. I also am kind of attatched to the idea of the Old West, so I want to take it completion.

On top of all that, one of the skills I want to learn is patience.

[pcarrell]

Chip, if it's a temporary layout, why all the sweat? Learn the skills you're going to need for the big one, then when you transplant the station (I'm assuming that's the plan) to the big layout just fix the height then. As to the details like fire barrels, baggage carts, tie up posts for horses, tumbleweed, and so on, I wouldn't get too bogged down in that on a learning layout. I'd try a little of everything, that's what a learning layout is for. But I don't think I'd loose much sleep over whether the nails are all in a straight line on the passenger platform. ( I know you just looked at that, didn't you? [;)] )