Hi all, I am about to re-build my Badger Creek Lumber Company, so, please can someone come up with a good HO single track logging layout. Needs plenty of switchbacks, trestle bridges, sawmill area, passing loops, spurs etc. Here is the room and the baseboards ready for use. Each square = 12" by 12" Right click on the photo to save it, draw your plan on it please, and re-post it back in here. I need a freash approach. My brain is getting too old to think. [ 01 May 2001: Message edited by: Paul Templar ]
WOW!!!. I guess we are all in the hobby for different reasons but form the photos I have seen I can not believe the Amaziing Badger Creek will soon be no more. I will not post a design unfortuantely because that is one of my week points but if the addage holds true that the next layout is always better than the last I cannot imagine what the new one will look like. Maybe you won't have to use the Photo progam to get the smoke next time around.Maybe the little guys will actually cut the trees down. There no telling with your incredible talent. Good luck none the less.And sorry to see the demise come to such an amazingly detailed railroad. Later all.
Paul, I would like to give it a shot but find the dreaded red x insted of you room diagram. Will you be kind enough to send a drawing to me via e-mail or try reposting or tell me if I am doing something wrong. As Greg says, we will be sorry to see the great work you have done disappearing but will look eagerly to see what rises from the ashes. matthyro@aztec-net.com [ 01 May 2001: Message edited by: Robin Matthysen ]
Just something I threw together quickly. a few switchbacks and you can throw in bridges and so on. Engine facility at one end and seperation of grades.
Hi guys, thanks, Robin, emailed it to you. Throttle_JCKY Again, many thanks, looks quite good, at least it gives me something to go at. Any more please.
This is very poorly done with MS paint but it gives the idea Track Plan You can see I like tunnels and trestles. As I understand it, the three logging camps supply logs by rail to the sawmill where wood is cut and then shipped by river steamer to market. [ 01 May 2001: Message edited by: Robin Matthysen ]
Its a shame to see such a great railroad go, but progress must go on. If the present layout is any indication, then you should be appering in MR or RMC soon . I remember a layout 20 or so years ago in MR that was an arround the walls logging layout. I must have drooled over it for mounths, but never had the tallent at the time to evan think abouty it. Good luck on the new layout....Mike
Hi all, Thanks for the track plans that came by email, I shall spend quite a bit of time before I tear down Badger Creek, I was lucky in one respect that Badger Creek was published in Model Railroading magazine last Aug/Sept 2000, so at least I shall be able to still see how it looked, and if the new one ain't as good, I'll put it back as I am keeping those parts of the railroad that just lift out, like the sawmill area/camp#4/Pinetop & the 9' curved trestle. Paul
Paul, It is quite remarkable that you would consider dismantling such a superb layout. what are your reasons behind your decision?
Hi Paul #1, No real reason for the big dismantle, just had the urge to try and make it better once again.Every three years I seem to get this thing called Mind blow-out if you like and start thinking about how to improve what I already have. It’s happened in the past, with many layouts I have built over the years, but I must confess that Badger Creek has not had that effect on me, until just the last week or so. Now I am at the tender age of 65 and thinking, just maybe, I can make the ultimate layout. Oh dear, I never ever have achieved this with any layout, always something somewhere to try and make it perfect, but, this final effort, with the kind help of those people helping me with the track planning stage, you never know. I might just make this time.
Hi Robin, Things are starting to Look good, I have been busy as well trying to incorporate what I have from here and my own brain work, here is what I have so far, still needs more work on it yet. Something is missing, but I cannot put my finger on it yet. [ 04 May 2001: Message edited by: Paul Templar ]
Paul, I wish I could help you but Narrow guage isn't my thing. Don't get me wrong, I love looking at it, but I am at the other end of the spectrum, into contemporary modeling. My area of speciality is getting more layout into a small space without to much visual and cognitive disonance associated with a double decker. One thing I would strongly suggest is to reduce the straight lines on your benchwork, to long smooth, very gentle curves. Even though the layout is point to point, I would round out the ends, this will soften the look to the eye. And the inside corners, where you stand should be rounded, not rectangular. This will give the layout a more "contemporary" look, even though you are modeling narrow guage, it won't interfere with that theme. How about a working incline in one of your corners. A chap here in Vancouver has a 30% incline and it is very popular. He also has a burning forest fire; it has been burning for 20 years now....lol. He does the burning thing with lights (and radios). What he did was put his incline on one end of the layout (and it is rounded) with the rest of the layout servicing it. Try this url http://members.nbci.com/sn3photos/ and hit on Carl Sparks... his layout is HO. [ 04 May 2001: Message edited by: rsn48 ]
Once again RSN you come through with more great info...this time in the link you posted. I am not a narrow gauge modeler but those links on that page are truly inspiring. And the one for JJ's Train room on that page just have to be seen to be believed. I cannot believe the amount of imagination that went itno the painting of a room like that.Looks like a mini theme park or something. Thanks again for the link and the continued inspiration. Later Greg.
Hi RSN48, Thanks for the link, had a good look around. My model scale is HO standard gauge, not narrow gauge, although I wish I had done 0n3 in the past. How ever, the track plan is only at the early stages and would be rounded along with the corners which are already rounded to add depth. The whole backscene around the room is curved at each corner.Here is how my benchwork will look when finished. Badger Creek is almost the same to look at in reality. Cheers and thanks again for the link. [ 04 May 2001: Message edited by: Paul Templar ]
Yes, The layout looks better with those lines like that too me. Is that how your present one looks? The curved benchwork I mean.
What I am going to do is give the bare bones outline of an article I have found interesting in the Layout Design News April 95 p.30 - 37. The title of the article is "Thoughts on the Layout design Process." In this well done article, the author - Dave Lull - breaks the designing process down into three phases. The first phase is really the beginner coming in and most likely building a 4 by 8 layout. From there he jumps into a planning thinking process for advanced beginners, and how they might change their oreintation and approach starting their second or third layout. But what I found really interesting was his last phase. He calls it "the contemporary advanced layout design process" which really isn't a good name for it. What it should say, Design process for old farts in the hobby....lol. This phase is for some one who has had many layouts and still finds "life" wanting some how. hang on ...this is going to be a long post. Dave Lull suggests even if the layout isn't prototypical but free lanced, you should decide first on how much real railroading you want to model. What he is trying to do is free up your thinking creative process to think outside the box that you have construcrted for yourself. So what he is asking you to do, is define your ideal layout, then hone it back to reality so to speak. So.... Part One Find the true reason for your layout. Now remember he knows he is addressing these comments to "veterans" not newbies, so he is asking you to put your past history and experience aside for a moment. So he says: "Ask yourself the question: what exactly (this word is emphasized) do I consider fun in building and having a layout?" So you stop and make a short, not long list of what really appeals to you in the hobby. Part two Determine some extents (his word). In your case, approach this as though you were some stranger seeing your hobby for the first time. What determines your layout? How much imbalance is there? What do you want to emphasize? If this is the same answer as before, imagine doing it for the next 10 or 15 years, will it still give you pleasure? Is there a facet of the hobby you might have ignored, but now have a chance to try, updating your time period, or operations, increase operating partners? Are you happy with the lenght of your trains; or should you try something longer or shorter, or more trains? The Next Part you Can skip, judging by the excellent modeling you display, but here it is anyway. Part 3 Inventory your skills. Know what you can't and can do. For you maybe this is a time to try out DCC if you haven't already, get that terrific chuffing sound in your steamers. Part 4. Decide on the railroad's purpose. I will just quote him here directly. "Generally, this is already known (often it's the reason for starting a layout at all). but, again, it's to your advantage (and relatively costless) to just think about it." So far motherhood and apple pie stuff, but in step 5 I think he has hit the oil well of creativity. Part 5. Make a boundless sketch. I will quote again. "Boundless means don't worry abouth the real estate, curve radii, train lenght, etc. Think about what you're going to model and sketch what it might look like given unlimited space. After it's done, take a hard look at what items you included. By way of example, do you have just an uninteresting straight-line schematic? It may mean you don't want too much scenery or involved trackwork. Or did you include a lot of curves which means (you might want to include or increase this facet of your layout)." The idea is that you are playing modeling Sigmund Freud with yourself in seeing what really motivates you. You are trying to come at an old problem - creating an interesting layout - with fresh eyes. Part 6. Determine layout type. large transportation system, narrow guage, mostly a diorama, operational...etc. He goes on, but the rest is self explanatory. But what he is suggesting is that even if in construction, you have a euruka moment, don't hesitate to change and tear out what you have done. What you are doing is a form of art therapy where you are trying to free yourself up, then come back and look at what you have done in the past. Because your skills are already so refined, maybe it is time to think staging, which I noticed there is none, and hook your layout to the outside world. Underneath the benchwork is a great place for staging, but I have found that L girder bench work design gets in the way of beneath the layout staging area. Maybe hook your railroad up to another railroad you have always lusted to own. Anyways...some thoughts...
I don't know much about logging RRs (narrow or standard gauge) but I sure like looking at them. So this might be totally off the wall, but heck, here it goes. Here in Sydney when building the rail line across the Blue Mountains a section of the line had a fairly large switchback. Since then the mountains have been tunneled through, but the switchbacks remain and are operated as a tourist railroad. Now, if I recall correctly there are only two switchbacks but the run in-between them is quite long. Rather than backup the train the whole length, a runaround track is in place at each switchback. Thus the train goes up in forward. Then stops, the engine runs around the train and then pulls (in reverse) the train up to the next switch back, then run around and pulls the train forward to the top. Rather than a bunch of switchbacks, your current plan looks like one long one. If you add the interest of running around the train, possibly even increase train length to a prototypically accurate length - of course I don't know what that length is maybe you are already there. Also an interchange with 'the rest of the world' would provide more operational interest. Anyway - logging RRs probably didn't want to invest in the extra trackwork needed to run around trains at each switchback. But there could very well be a US prototype for what was done in Sydney. [ 04 May 2001: Message edited by: yankinoz ]
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Paul Templar: My model scale is HO standard gauge, not narrow gauge, although I wish I had done 0n3 in the past.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> OK - speaking of 'off the wall' - why not change scale to On3? What do you like best about the hobby? When you tear down and rebuild are you going to salvage anything or does it all go? If you are trashing it all and only keeping the rolling stock, why not sell that and make the move to On3? Of course you could keep the present layout for a few years and build On3 rolling stock and engines to see how that goes. I know it's a big step - but so is rebuilding a layout.
