The Kirtland Route

Speed_man_17 Nov 12, 2009

  1. subwayaz

    subwayaz TrainBoard Member

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    You layout and the GEVO's look great. nice progress. Keep the update shots coming please.

    Your pretty good with that Air Brushing of the backdrop also.
     
  2. Speed_man_17

    Speed_man_17 TrainBoard Member

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    Busy time in the train room this past week
    started the second deck bench work and installed some all important lighting, that i did'ent realize how much I was missing.
    First the bench work.
    I picked up some 1x4 x 6' pine from Menards, work excellent no issues with splitting and at only a buck a board cant beat the price. They are much easier to work with then the 2x4's i used for my first level but still very sturdy.
    The lighting came from Wal-Mart, they sell some cheep outdoor flood lights with two light sockets. Menards had a simple socket for 2.99. The ones I got are 6.50 but come with wire nuts and a way I could install them to the layout with out buying anything more.
     

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  3. 81vette

    81vette TrainBoard Supporter

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  4. Speed_man_17

    Speed_man_17 TrainBoard Member

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    With the weather turning colder I find myself parting from my outdoor gardening hobbies and back into the Kirtland Route. Ive spent most of the past 2 weekends (3 day weekends for me, four 10hr work days are great!) trying to finish up all of the benchwork. I have made some great progress, the most in a long time.
    A few other things ive been working on is some more lighting fixtures and the Backdrop.

    Over the summer i finaly picked up a Digitrax big boy system, though sadly i have yet to hook it up. At less then the price i could get a used digtrax zepher hopefully it will be a good starter kit for me.

    few photos, nothing real great to show, but it is some progress!

    In the comeing weeks I hope to paint the visiable wood benchwork on the 2nd deck, get some more lights up! only about 16 more to go.
     

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  5. MarktheShark

    MarktheShark TrainBoard Member

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    Holly track work! Ohhh and coal trains, my second favorite only to old time log trains!

    Please keep the updates coming.
     
  6. Speed_man_17

    Speed_man_17 TrainBoard Member

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    This weekend i mananged to accomplish alot!
    the biggest project was removeing, replaning, and reconstrucing the benchwork and backdrop leading into the stageing area and the soon to be helix in the closet. The bench work was flimsey and at the wrong hight (bench work skills where poor back then) Only about 20 more feet of backdrop on the 1st and 2nd deck.

    This is a shot on the second deck looking to the closet. The photo is dark but honestly the lighting is alot better then it looks.
     

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  7. Wrath0fWotan

    Wrath0fWotan E-Mail Bounces

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    Looking Great! That mainline oughta be super long! I'm a little curious about one thing - how tall ARE you??
     
  8. Speed_man_17

    Speed_man_17 TrainBoard Member

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    Acutally only 5' 8" im gona have a corner that wont be as easy as i would like to reach. The 1st deck is at 33" and the second is at 56"
     
  9. Speed_man_17

    Speed_man_17 TrainBoard Member

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    is it the mist, or maybe an episode from dirty jobs. nope, its drywall dust! I never thought ide be so excited about doing mud work, aside from when i fisrt bought my house, the novilty quickly wares off though.
    the good news is the backdrop is up and the final coat of mud is drying With a little luck and an extra day off work on monday. Opening day of gun season is a big deal in michigan. I will have some primer on.
     

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  10. Speed_man_17

    Speed_man_17 TrainBoard Member

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    Well after four days on the layout Heres the new look for the Kirtland Route.
    A new coat of paint for the room and primer on the backdrop.

    also I couldent handle the look of the benchwork that holds the upper level lighting so i painted that too and placed hardboard up ontop. I knew i had to get that done before the backdrop could be painted.
    The look is exactly what I had in mind.
    Finealy the layout is comeing togather.
     

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  11. Speed_man_17

    Speed_man_17 TrainBoard Member

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    With most construcion aside I pulled some of my freight cars out of the boxes and got a little bit of run time in.
    Here a sd70 and c44-9w pulling a cut of takers waits for the es44ac to pull is string of coal cars past so they can cross the single track bridge over a important protected rainbow troute creek.

    The tankers in the photo are atlas 23,500 gallon. They look great and the wheel sets on these roll great. Not sure about the couplers though I have had problems with a couple of these
     

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  12. fatalxsunrider43

    fatalxsunrider43 TrainBoard Member

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    Yes siree, looks like your making plenty of progress. Nothing like setting out some track and running trains for the first time after construction has taken place.
    Well done. Keep up the good work !

    fatalxsunrider43
     
  13. Speed_man_17

    Speed_man_17 TrainBoard Member

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    Aside from last weekend i havent spent much time on the layout.
    Last weekend I finaly got my lights wired onto a pair of light switchs. Before that i had simply placed a plug on the ends an pluged them into the wall outlet. And on the lighting note i am only 4 light bulb sockets away from haveing all 30 instaled.

    This week I finished up the last of the drywall work.
    At the end of the pinsula i had been puting of a way to round the 1x4, I was nervious about doing it. I tryed 3" pvc cut in half but it wasent flexiable enough to make the 3.75. so i used some 3" black pipe, very soft and dont shatter like pvc, makeing it much easier to screw down.

    The second coat of primer was done today.
    Would you recomend flat or satin paint for the backdrop?

    wish i had some better updates. trying hard to finish up all the loose construcion ends without tossing all my marbles in at once!
     

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  14. Speed_man_17

    Speed_man_17 TrainBoard Member

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    Blue skys after a blizzard,
    It was finaly our turn here in michigan to get some major snow, which led me into the train room to paint some blue skys. I'm not 100% sure i like it. Looks great in person but in the photos the blue is almost non exisent. I took photos with both my 5.1mp sony and my 5 mp cell phone, odd enought the cell picks up more color. I think too that the lights i have mess with the color of the blue. I am hopeing that once the very light benchwork is covered with some green that the sky will appear darker. has anyone noticed this to happen on their layout? Also I couldent find the nylon paint brush to blend colors and on a test the foam brush seemed to work fine, i think thats ware i went wrong. And is why their is a good chance i will be doing a repaint. oh well, live an learn
     

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  15. Speed_man_17

    Speed_man_17 TrainBoard Member

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    Some time ago I came across the idea of placeing a backdrop at the end of a pinsula. Im not sure if i seen this in a magizine, if i found it online or even here on trainboard. Never the less i thought it was a great idea and wanted to be sure i placed this on my lower level. I also included a photo of what i hope to accomplish here.
     

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  16. Speed_man_17

    Speed_man_17 TrainBoard Member

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    A move to the Powder river.

    over the past few months i have decided to move away from the BNSF freelanced Kirtland route, mostly due to the complex track plan the cost of turnout control, a lack of planing, and now more experince and knowlage. Also i fell in love with the Powder river. Coal, BNSF trains, 4 tracks, coal, and UP. With the change i am going to switch from code 80 to 55.
    Also I have took up a set of minium standards includeing, easements, straights between s-curves, superelevaion ect.
    I wanted to use the 4 track main with 25' centers but space and cost is an issue. so i opted for 3 on 25'. Reno Junction, Logan hill, Converse junction and maybe the UP bill yard are to be the focus.
    I have planed for a dog bone loope and a loope to loope which will alow for lots of mainline runing. for realisum loads and empty will be able to apear to come and go from the mines.

    I have pondered the 4th track many times. Looking for some experince help on the idea. I know you must scale down in order to modle anyting but is it normal/accitiable practice to alter the main? am i safe or will i lose the Powder river feel?
     

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  17. Speed_man_17

    Speed_man_17 TrainBoard Member

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    on every previous attempt at building a layout i have used osb plywood. Time and time again it bites me! mostly because i use a peice from here and their, some got a little wet and then that 1/2 is now 5/8. UGH!
    spline is the way i would love to go, but lack all of the nessicary tools to do it. really tho once its all covered whats the difference?
    I debated useing partical board or the same hardboard that eveyone else seems to be use for their spline. What little i have used partical board i seem to recal it being very fraigal in 4-5" withs so I chose to use 1/2 hardboard feeling confident that if it works for splines then why not for a cookie cutter roadbed.
    It cuts better looks better and has a nice smooth finish.
    thanks everyone here on trainboard for sharing and their how to's its makeing my dream layout possiable, i feel i take 3 steps ahead and 2 back but atleast i am gaineing 1 at a time and learning what works and what dont!
     

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  18. Speed_man_17

    Speed_man_17 TrainBoard Member

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    I spent some time today drawing in the easements from the offsets i drew before i cut my sub road. apparently tho i mess up some. i used the method in the "track planing for realistic operation" it says to use L/2 in which case L=10" for those who know what i am talking about. will this hurt my easement? also ware does L get its value? i looked at the nmra d3b table and couldn't figure it out?
     

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  19. Speed_man_17

    Speed_man_17 TrainBoard Member

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    Not much work on the layout this summer/fall. Work has been keeping me stupid busy. I did get staging track down and the small loop for which will be the lead for the thunder mine. This is all code 80 right now but i will be making the change to concrete ME code 55 for all visible parts of the railroad. I have lots of atlas code 80 turnouts most like new; I couldn’t see not using them.

    Things I’ve learned:

    OSB plywood makes TERRIABLE sub road bed. Instead I’m using hardboard.
    Using easements on curves and drawn out centerlines makes virtually flawless track work.
    Gluing track work down instead of nails, it’s not only faster but makes for great looking track work.
     

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  20. Speed_man_17

    Speed_man_17 TrainBoard Member

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    A lot of calculations, an educated guess here and there, a miss drawn line (or two) and 8 hrs, Converse junction takes shape. I wanted a sharper looking curve at the back but was nervous and settled on a 14 3/4 radius with easements. IMG_0063.jpg View attachment 40998
     

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