Well, a move in August forced me to dismantle my "Blue Ridge Northern" layout. During the move, it was damaged more than I cared to repair. So I decided it was time to start from scratch. This being my third (technically fourth if you count my childhood layout), I again took the lessons I learned and applied them while coming up with my next plan. This time, I wanted to focus on modern era coal. It was really hard to let go of the "shopping list of things" I wanted for this layout, but since I am renting a home, I decided it needed to be somewhat portable. I decided with the help of others than an HCD layout would be best for what I needed. So, I will be loosely basing this layout on the Nittany and Bald Eagle/Tyrone/Lock Haven Pennslyvania Coal ops. "Loosely" being the key word here. This will also allow me to run some Amtrak stuff as Tyrone has a passenger station. I will eventually take some time and paint and decal some NBER stock, but NS runs coal trains through the NBER so I won't need them right away, especially since I doubt decals will be readily accessible. I decided it was time for me to give code 55 a try. I have been keeping an eye on eBay and have acquired most of the turnouts I need, although I'm not quite ready to lay track. Sometime last week I went over to Lowes and picked up a door and some lumber, and this is what I came up with. I still need to sand the legs and paint the whole thing, but its suprisingly sturdy. Not much wobble, its level, and it holds my weight! I'll be posting a track plan soon.
Just some things to show you all. Lots of action in Tyrone: [video=youtube;00_2QLS6yOQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00_2QLS6yOQ[/video]
Yessir! So far, I've got about 10 turnouts, and quite a bit of snaptrack, and I've spent about $100 bucks. I don't plan on using the snaptrack for anything but mocking things up, and I will then sell it. Not too shabby.
Now that I am through the holidays, its time for a bit of an update on what I have been up to. As I mentioned earlier, I am not the best at drawing up a layout on CAD software, so I scoured the interwebs and found this trackplan: As you can see, based on my chicken scratch, I have already begun molding it into my own. I think it is simple enough to work well, but with enough meat left on the bones to be fun. I drew in a section for a three-track main, Ala PRR, and (according to pictures and maps) the Nittany and Bald Eagle line actually branches off from the NS line right around the Amtrak station as well. Helpful comments are welcome! As Christmas came, my lovely wife gifted me what was left of my LHS's code 55 flex track, which turned out to be only 10 pieces. So I went out and got a sheet of foam and got to work. As I look at pictures of the Amtrak station in Tyrone, I see that it is placed on a curve, so I may be swapping around the inner sidings a bit to make it more prototypical. And I was lucky enough to have Santa bring me a pair of Heritage Units! Ho Ho Ho! As of now, I am am looking for a few more lengths of code 55 flex (probably about six more), but I hope to have my initial track plan traced onto foam so I can glue down the road bed and get closer to running trains!!!
Well, I can't claim it as mine as I found it online, but I will be modifying the sidings a bit as I mentioned earlier, so other than the two track main (which part of it will be three track), it will be original to me. I spent some more time laying the initial track plan and tracing it to the foam. As I mentioned, I will have to figure out where to get the remaining code 55 flex before it will be a complete track plan. I am debating if I want to use WS risers or just cut my own out of foam. There won't be any grades so I may save the money for other things. Happy New Year!
Tonight I finished tracing my trackplan to the foam. This was a bit of a tedious task since I had to pull all the track back up so that I can install the risers. But since I managed to complete my trackplan, I decided to give you all the final one (As someone mentioned earlier, the original trackplan I posted was similar to Dave Vollmer's HCD Layout. Well, hopefully you will find mine to be different with some similarities, or similar with some differences... whatever.). The above plan isn't to scale of course, and is loosely based on both towns, so I took some creative liberties. Clymer has a strip mine which is loaded into rail cars by front end loader. It looks like the customer uses RJ Corman, so this gives me another prospect of Loco Detailing!!! So now that all the research-y stuff is out of the way, I will be forging ahead.
Yep, familiar...! I'm interested to see how you execute it. Being a Penn Stater I'm familiar with the N&BERR.
Thanks Dave. I do like your layout very much. Honestly, I had no idea when I chose that trackplan that it was yours, sheesh.
Its been a few weeks since I posted on this, but I kind of wanted to get a pile of work done to show you at once, since the track laying phase seems to be taking a while. The results are good though. Since I last posted, I cut risers from foam. I decided not to go with the WS stuff since I have no grades and figured the extra scratch could be used elsewhere. Also, as I mentioned, I had to source all of the code 55. I decided to use ME code 55 for the inner siding since it is more readily available. This will also give the NBER trackage a slightly different look. I then glued down my WS roadbed. I stenciled out my trackplan on the risers before doing so. I gave it a day or so for the liquid nails to setup. I also assembled two ME girder bridges for the crossing over the Little Juniata river. I will need to build bridge abutments and get a basic idea of how the riverbed will look before I set the bridges in. I also wired up the track and replaced any ties I had to snip off to lay my flex track. I got a simple wiring block from Radio shack in order to clean up the wiring mess a bit, but I still have to rasp out some trenches for the wiring so that it won't get snagged if/when I move the layout. This time around, I actually enjoyed laying track. It must be because I have gained the right amount of experience for it to go smoothly. I still have a little left to do before I can call the track-laying phase done, but I did manage to run some trains tonight, and so far I have had ZERO DERAILMENTS!!!! Anyway on to the pictures: This is the CLYMER section of the layout. The dual main's location was a bit of a selective compression on my part, but the dual sidings will be where the coal hoppers will be loaded by front end loader. This is the future home of the bridges that will cross the Little Juniata. Nearly completed NS 9256 showing off for the camera A shot of the super-elevated curves. This took a few days to complete, but I used a method I found online which utilizes masking tape. The next step will be completing the loops, and tidying everything up a bit. I will then install the scenic divider and start building the landscape out of foam. I plan on uploading a short video for you to enjoy very soon. Thanks for looking.
Benchwork looks quite simple. I do have a question on that: How did you fasten your bench/frame work to your HCD? Looking good so far!! As soon as I can locate what I need, I can finally get started!! Looking forward to more.
There is a wood frame on the inside of the HCD (for hinges, knob and hardware). As long as you keep the mounting screws to the outside it works just fine. The legs and beams of the benchwork are not mounted to the door.
