Sixth Annual International Spring Layout Party

First: there is some incredible modeling work being done & shown in this thread!

My goals are much more modest. However, I was really proud of myself for getting my first week's goal done (and working) ahead of schedule:





I was all ready to move on to Week 2's (as yet unannounced) goal of getting the turnouts installed on the West end of this open staging yard (the pics above are at the East end) after a short operating session (I have a working 90' long point-to-point single track in place), during which I realized I wasn't going to be satisfied with a single-track main line ... so I decided to revise the track plan on the fly to add a 2nd main line. So now Week 2's goal is to lay in the 2nd mainline track though the staging yard (which will now be 2 staging yards, one for each main line) and get the East end turnouts realigned. Better now than later when more stuff would have to be ripped out.

Keep up the good work, folks!

 

Today is a public holiday over here so I took the opportunity to do some more work on my layout.



The paint and glue are still drying on this trackside cliff



The veiw toward the Helix. I will paint all the bare woodwork later.



I couldn't help myself I just had to add some color too much grey is so depressing.

 

:thumbs_up: Great job everyone!

I started adding some roofing material to the roundhouse roof by using some corrguated card stock I found at the local arts & crafts store.

A view before the new roof was added


Here is the new material applied to the front roof side


I also ballasted the right 1/2 of the wye track leading to the turntable, but I don't have any images to post of that just yet.

Ryan

 

Nice find Ryan, looks great... I wonder if there is something similar that will suit N scale? Hmmm...

 

Ryan, I don't think I've ever seen a Wye that terminated in a turntable on a model RR layout before. Ingenious!

 

Layout space limitations resulted in having the wye terminate at the turntable, it was the only way to get it all to fit. I wanted to preserve the turntable and incorporate a wye too, so this was the compromise. I suppose that the wye switch could have been eliminated if I had the two separate wye lead tracks enter the turntable at two individual points. I had the wye switch on hand and wanted to use it, so it all came together.

 

2/7/08 Progress Report

2/7/08 Progress Report

What I want to accomplish in the 7 weeks of this Layout Party:
Lay all the track for my six-through-track open staging yard. At
the beginning, the single mainline had been laid and two
turnouts for one end of the staging yard were in place.

What I hoped to accomplish in the week of Feb 1 - Feb 7:
Lay the remaining 4 turnouts at the east end.

What I actually accomplished: I decided to add a second main line,
so my previous work had to be undone. [Apropos of nothing, in
quilting this is called "unsewing".] However, I did get the 2nd main
line laid through the staging yard area, and realigned & completed
installation of all the turnouts on the east end. In effect, I now
will have two staging yards: one three-track staging yard for the
northern main line and one three-track staging yard for the
southern main line.



What I hope to accomplish in the coming week (Feb 8 - 14):
Lay the turnouts at the west end of the staging yard.

If I continue to complete my proposed accomplishments for this
project on schedule, I may be able to move forward to one or
another of the many projects that need attention on this new
layout project.

In the meantime, the power-routing turnouts are working as
advertised, so I can perform some further track testing with
multiple switch engines in the staging yard(s).

 

My 2008 Layout Party Objectives

My layout has been changed innumerable times since the last Layout party. At least the Benchwork was completed at that time. Since then to be honest I have not done much.

Over the next 7 weeks I plan to complete one peninsula with at least some scenery. I also would like to complete the wiring so that I can get some trains running around the layout. Thats it!!!!

To start here is a picture of the peninsula as it existed last week.

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/1756/DSC_0070.JPG

Here are two pictures a close up and a distance shot of the cliff, on the oposite side of the cliff I will be building a quarry. The cliff sits on a 1/4 inch sheet of pink foam which provides a base for the cliff so it can be removed to access lower tracks which run below the cliff. I have only put down the base layer of paint, and need to do an additional coat of paint.

Overall I am happy with the results since this was my first attempt at carving foam. Boy did I learn a lot for the next mountain or carved foam area.

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/1756/DSC_0043.JPG

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/1756/DSC_00571.JPG

 

Well, I got virtually nothing on my list done last week. Probably made about another 10% progress on the bridge, and that's it. And this wasn't supposed to be one of my "missed" weeks either but I lost 2 days of my proposed 3 day weekend due to a work emergency. (doh!) Anyway I'm just gonna defer to last week's list and hope I can get that done this weekend. Next weekend/following week is out.

 

I've painted the sides from the segments, each one two times with sanding between. :angel:



Now I start with turnout device under the second segment (the first was finished).



Wolfgang

 

Week 1 saw no progress due to recovering from low back injury. If I am to stay on schedule, then week 2 will have to see double duty.

 

Well, Week 1 passed with no real progress because of too much overtime at work - just too tired to do much. I did however, refine some future structure placements and did some more research into the gas plant that I will be modeling. Hopefully, I will be able to make some physical progress next week.

Peter

 

Is this the first week of this party? I would hate to know I was late again. Heh, heh...

Here is my original building from last years party. Picture taken as it was last Feb 14, 2007.


Building location. The structure sits on a .060 inch piece of styrene that forms the triangular city block.


Building and city block; primed and in place. This corner is to have a wooden loading dock that inconveniently blocks the street.


Trackside view. I can see I need to touch up all the scenery here including the track. Pictures are good for showing errors. Of course, the late John Allen said that if you take a picture of your model and you can still tell it is a model, it needs more work. I wouldn't go that far, you know? After all, this is a party!

 

I've worked with the second segment of Diamond Valley. Now I could test run an engine. All track is powered and the turnouts have manual actuation.



Three segments more are waiting. :angel:

Wolfgang

 

Attempting to paint the brick and make it look weathered. Maybe I will just cover it with a sign or put some grimy black around.

 

Flash

Is that city block all kitbashed, or dare I ask a regular KIT?

 

It's a kitbash; a little of this, a little of that. The prototype covers a large area and is six or so combined buildings. This model approximates the siding part only. The real store front is/was about two blocks long. This is the best photo I have of the curved siding. The track is behind the curved chain link fence. It's hard to tell, but the building in the photo is built in a long curve along the siding.