Well over a year later after the move and I am finally getting started on the preliminaries of a new layout. Like the old much smaller layout I am leaning strongly to a point to point again with this one. Once again it is going to be located on San Juan Island off the coast of Washington State with the only connection to the mainland being by seaplane, car and passenger ferry, and car float for the rail. Island industries are farm produce, fish cannery, a mine, and timber. Several years of research established that certain small locomotives could take much tighter radius than 9.75 inch and all my motive power will operate on 8 inch or tighter. Therefore most of my curves will be 8 inch radius and all cars will be 40 foot or shorter. A standard gauge with narrow gauge flavor. The last layout gave me plenty of opportunity to play with Peco tight radius turnouts which are also power routing eliminating a lot of wiring and once again I will go with them for the majority of the layout if not totally. All track will be Atlas flex track everywhere possible. The base of the layout will be utilizing unfinished kitchen base cabinets and two HC doors. All the scenery will be foam based, and once again I will use Elmers' Carpenters Glue, since it is water based and makes it easy to make adjustments. Just wet something and wait awhile and it comes loose easily. The room area I am working with. 100_5111-1 by John Moore posted Jan 11, 2018 at 2:31 PM And the rendered drawing without the tracks. 100_5110-2 by John Moore posted Jan 11, 2018 at 2:11 PM That is my round tuit I use for laying out my small radius and I also use a CTT N scale design template with graph paper all in the same scale.
Thanks it has been awhile. And now the trials, tribulations, and troubles start in trying to layout a new design. I find myself maybe having to build a swing bridge since the original lift bridge I built is probably going to be just to small to let my larger vessels in the harbor. And then there is the old what fits and what doesn't and what do I give up. Days of going through old layout designs for what I did before that might work here.
Yes when I finally get through tearing out what is left of my hair trying to get a workable plan. Probably in a few days I will get a N scale Zen Satori and go running through the house shouting ureeka, and sending my pride of felines into a frenzy. I had a mini one when I decided on the bridge. So I may be cutting up a few Atlas bridges to come up with that swing bridge and I may switch the port to the other end and solve yet another problem.
Yay!Hooray! Now we'll see some real fun stuff! Good to see you are all settled in and time to get railroading again!
Well I decided to do some industries as off line. No sawmill represented, just a string of boxcars and containers on flats to be delivered to the car float. So to accomplish that I am working in some staging. And I tucked in the mine to one of those 12 by 18 inch extensions that work around the chimney. Using 28 foot ore cars so don't need much room. So I am designing toward the harbor. One of the staging tracks maybe used for a loop since my small test track is no longer in existence but for that I will have to work in a hidden connection in the harbor. 100_5114-1 by John Moore posted Jan 12, 2018 at 1:34 PM And yes that is blood that I shed on my draft paper. Quite literally the old blood, sweat, and tears going into this. There has been a lot of erasing and start over on this paper but on should be able to put their mouse pointer over this photo and click to get the larger better version.
Finally broke through the barrier. I started designing back from the Macy Moly Mine in the left corner to the harbor, and that went fine with an occasional readjustment here and there. Not only is the layout a point to point but I now have a 3 by 5 foot loop in there for a continuous run and as a test track, which I had to give up after the move. I have 40 foot of track to run on and 33 foot of track to run just a point to point on. Not to shabby for 2 HC doors. What the grade ends up being to get to the upper level is going to depend on how high I build that level. However with trains only consisting of 10-12 cars I have adequate power to get up any grade I end up with. I have 6 44 tonners and 4 70 tonners, and 2 Japanese prototype Bandai diesels. Supplementing that are four Shays and I easily handled 4% grades on the last layout with doubleheaders and the same amount of cars. Passenger service is provided by my Bandai B train shorty cab units with extra cars and since there are cabs at both ends no turntables needed, the same for the diesels. So provisions for a turntable is one more thing I eliminated. My little Bandai containers on flats also fit in very well enabling me to model some container traffic in half the space. Again the concept which I am revisiting is a island bound short line railroad that interchanges with the GN, NP, SP&S, CN and CP railroads via car float. 100_5120-5 by John Moore posted Jan 13, 2018 at 6:24 PM Again as I did with last layout I am going to separate areas and scenes by the use of scenic material. Most structures are already built so I will be able to concentrate on the scenery and track laying. Wiring will be minimal using the Peco turnouts and probably the staging area will have about 4 blocks to be able to store 5 small trains.
John, that's an interesting and artistically creative design. I'm looking forward to watching it progress, as you shared with the original Turtle Creek.
Thanks, I managed to stay away from the need for a drawbridge, and I have the port area in the forefront so I hope that I will be able to follow my concept of having the scenery take center stage while the railroad is in the background. Some space savers were had by staying with double end power, eliminating a need for a turntable or wye with the diesels and Shays. Another item I eliminated was a coaling tower since the Shays are all oil burners. The Sedum tree armatures I made last year are holding up fine and I have a new harvested crop stored in a box in my cabinet to do a 2nd batch. All the trees used on the last layout were saved and a lot of the smaller stuff for brush and bushes also saved. The graph paper used works with the N scale template having 8 squares per inch, or each small square is 1.5 inches, and a section equals one foot. of course there are the plans and then there is the "as built". Some passing tracks are there and some industry tracks are sufficient to be able to pull a short train into and then back out once the main is cleared. But when I actually get into the construction phase who knows what may occur. Also each section will have its own controller and separate power supply meaning the port and the highland area can be operated simultaneously. Testing done awhile back showed that each power pack can operate up to 5 locos at a time and 6 for short periods so I will be buying a 2nd of the same type. All the major port vessels have been previously built. And the same for the fishing fleet and intercoastal vessels. V
Nice water craft you've been working on. But your missing one the S.S.MINNOW little buddy lol. Looks good
Thanks but you haven't heard? The captain and the crew took up piracy on the high seas and ran afoul of the Nogero when they tried to hijack her. Nogero is actually the Oregon a heavily armed black ops vessel. That is the first vessel pictured. That's how the minnow ended up on the island with a hole in her side you could drive a VW through. Being a rabid Clive Cussler fan I had to have an Oregon and several NUMA research vessels.
Just arrived today are three cabinet base units for the layout. 12 inches wide, 34.5 inches high, and 24.75 inches deep. All three have doors and drawers and I got them from Lowes' on sale so saved $20 a unit. With the HC door on top I am at about 36 inches high less the foam. Perfect height for my old arthritic body and right height for my Grandson who is wheel chair bound. Next up is some Masonite for the backdrop and a HC door and a sheet of foam to start the first section. Happy to report that the base sections were inspected and approved by non other than The King, Wesa aka the Big Guy. 100_5127-1 by John Moore posted Jan 16, 2018 at 1:01 PM
John, your version of the "Noegro" looks great. Juan Cabrillo would be proud although she may need an extra spot of fake rust here and there. This fellow Cussler fan is looking forward to following your progress.
Thanks and here is one of my NUMA vessels. RV Sandecker by John Moore posted Feb 22, 2015 at 3:56 PM and The RV Cussler. Completed research vessel Cussler by John Moore posted Nov 14, 2012 at 9:16 PM And the NUMA headquarters. Numa headquarters by John Moore posted May 10, 2013 at 3:46 PM It is the other half of this lighthouse. USCG station and lighthouse by John Moore posted May 1, 2013 at 8:36 AM Now busy pricing out an HC door, some Masonite and foam for the next trip out. Going to build it like I designed it, from the mine to the harbor. Snow in the forecast for tomorrow so I will be clearing out some more clutter from the man cave. Just don't have the room to work on it except a section at a time, plus I have no business out in the snow with my age and infirmities trying to wrestle building materials out of the van and up a flight of stairs.
Well you know the NUMA fleet covers all the seas. Actually the Sandecker is the first vessel that was actually an N scale vessel and I did not have to scale a kit up or down except for my Tomytec tugs and fishing vessels. And then there is my container feeder ship which fits my small port and is ideal for the short containers I am using. 000_0074-1 by John Moore posted May 15, 2016 at 12:53 PM When I downsized most of my big railroad cranes got rebuilt into either dockside cranes or barge mounted pile drivers, dredges, or heavy lift marine cranes. And today I am sitting with most of the structures and components already built and sitting stored ready to set on the new layout. In my searches I came across a Japanese sheet water product that looked good so I may be doing the harbor part different as far as the water. Still going to use the traditional method for any streams or waterfalls. A lot of research was done and the original TCC railroad was the test bed for a lot of ideas and equipment. Hopefully here is a visit back to that past time. That is a 2-6-6-0 rolling at speed on 8 inch radius.
Well got a break on the timing of the predicted snow and managed to make it to Home Depot. Got the first HC door, two sheets of 1/8th Masonite, a rough grade 1 x 12 inch board and a 4 x 8 foot sheet of pink foam plus some angle brackets and screws. 100_5128-1 by John Moore posted Jan 17, 2018 at 1:06 PM Finally the complete raw materials to start the first section. Two boxes of foam are in my basement, and the Walther's backdrops are supposed to arrived tomorrow. So for the next few days I will be clearing out the man cave and hopefully by this weekend construction starts.
The NUMA fleet looks great! Cool that you were able to get out and stock up on some materials before the storm.
