Yet another layout.

On my downsizing kick still I have been looking at smaller layout plans when I came across one that grabbed my attention that was designed in N scale. This one was adapted from Kalmbach's book of 101 track plans and was originally #44 the Rockport and South Fork Lumber Company. It was turned into the Possum Valley Lumber Company with some modifications. It has 9.75 minimum radius curvature a 6 percent grade on the logging branch, and is tucked into a 4.5 by 2.8 foot space. My only reservation with it was the long hidden portion of the lower mainline oval and that can be solved by having cut outs in the rear fascia and one in the left side. According to the author of the article it was designed with the then new Atlas Shay in mind.

Now my favorite platform has become the HC Door which is 6.5 feet of length and this layout only takes up 4.5 feet of length and I can probably bring the depth down to 30 inches. So what do I do with the additional 2 feet of length? Plus I may eliminate the sawmill entirely and base another type of operation there. Plan has the potential for additions on both ends. So I figured to let you folks have a shot at what to do with the additional 2 feet.
First up my drawing of the plan on graph paper.



And a color version of the original plan which is not to scale.

 

Instead of trying something "new and additional" with the extra 2 feet, I would stretch out pretty much what is here. Longer length, look less crowded. I might have the branch line off up the mountain cut away from continuous route just to the left of right end curve at the front, rather than in the middle of right-end turnback curve. This would add a small part of "mainline" that does not share track with the uphill branch. IF you have room, uphill branch terminal might be on narrow shelf even with the back of HCD and to the right. Perhaps one spur in left-end turnback loop and summit terminal entirely on shelf. IF you want to take that much room.

 

Good thoughts. The idea of stretching it out is on my mind, which would give me more logging area at the top and maybe a more stretched out approach to the upper level lessening the grade some. Still thinking about eliminating the sawmill in this small layout in favor of something else like the stone quarry or mine. Stretching it out might just make it able to incorporate the quarry at the right side of the extended upper level. The mine and ore processing building could go where the sawmill is currently placed on the plan and the rise in the rear would be a good place to place the mine entrance.

If I keep the current dimensions, and were to use the extra 2 feet on the right side, then the thought does turn toward an abbreviated port section. The ferry design with the bow elevator can utilize a standard dock. And my thoughts would turn toward having a log raft operation where the logs are floated to the sawmill thus meaning I would have to find another tugboat just for that operation. The Benson operation out of Washington and Oregon to California comes to mind. Looking at this as a interim layout that could easily be transported with me upon the eventual move south and serve to give me something to do on those rainy days. I am also thinking toward the possibility of being able to incorporate this into the much bigger layout plan that was posted earlier and I am still tweaking. And I have enough equipment tucked away for at least two log camps. And since that entire layout was designed on 9.75 and 8 inch radius this would not be a bad fit.

Also thinking about that HC door and simply sectioning it to the 4-5 foot length and rather than the 36 inch depth reduce it to my 30 inch depth giving me a little operating layout that would fit nicely in my current crowded office/ workshop.

 

Dang it my secret life as the worlds' oldest hockey player is out. Been giving a lot of thought to this little track plan and now that the smoke has cleared and I can see it better I experienced a moment of N scale Zen Satori. Keep the track plan as is except for reducing the depth to 30 inches as stated earlier. Gives me a small little operating layout again to pass the time until I can manage to finally relocate myself. As it is in the current configuration it could not be incorporated into the larger retirement layout as a section. That is unless I do the following. On the front the engine house gets eliminated and the lower line gets run from left to right and to each edge. The same happens with the uppermost logging branch line where the log camp is. Once incorporated into the retirement layout the lower line will be part of the upgrade going to the main log camp and the main engine service area. The upper log camp line becomes part of the main line that is on the upper level that is running back along the rear of the layout to the quarry and the upper mills and brewery areas. The line running down from the log camp area would become abandoned trackage as would the line running through the tunnels, which could be an operating nightmare as part of a ten foot long leg. I would keep a small station there and the sawmill becomes a mine. A few small company houses the local watering hole saloon. So essentially I think I would end up with a small little layout that would be able to be fitted into the larger layout to be built much later. I also end up with the scenic effects of two abandoned tunnel portals, an abandoned and in poor repair trestle and some weed overgrown track with a few trees sprouted in between the rails once the section gets incorporated into the larger layout. So while the freezing rain and sleet falls outside I will be snug inside at the drawing board again to see how this works out. Stay tuned. And of course comments welcome.

 

With the idea in mind from my last post I went at the design again and after several attempts went back to the original dimensions which were not working to well using the 9.75 R. Since I will be using the 8 and 8.5 radius on the full layout being planned I went with it here for the logging portion. I have a small fleet of locos that have been tested on that radius successfully so no worries. The sawmill has been replaced with a mine so less track in the middle. I have a bunch of Peco short radius turnouts at 9 " rad. and some more by another manufacturer even tighter.

The small layout will have some connecting track at the top and bottom for when it gets incorporated into the larger layout. At that time all the track that is marked in blue will be abandoned and the log camp reached from the main layout upper level line and the mine handled from the lower level main. That mainline that has about six feet of track inside and under the upper levels is something I would not normally do due to the inherent issues of having all that hidden track. However for this small 4.5 foot wide by 30 inch deep little layout not an issue since there will be enough cutouts in the Masonite backing to access that track. The front gets some plexiglass to keep from launching anything out into the room and the sides and rear have the Masonite so I can get close to the edge without fear.

There will be a trestle on that log line going up and I have just enough trestle kits to afford to later have it as an abandoned trestle.


Now if it will stop with the snow, freezing rain, and sleet I can make a trip to get a HC door and cut it down. Been so cold that some water got under my patio slab and frost heave cracked and lifted about half of it an inch over the other piece. More danged work if and when spring ever gets here.

 

Well tomorrow I hope to take a trip to the local Home Depot and return with a HC door, some foam, and maybe some Masonite to start on my temporary layout/module for the permanent layout. Staying with the 4.5 foot length and know about where this will tuck into the final layout with a few revisions. Have about 12.5 feet of Atlas flex on hand and around 8 feet of Peco flex. My existing stock of turnouts may be adequate so other than ordering some more flex I should be in relatively good shape. Going to try and keep track of the costs involved with this small layout section and so far I figure that I will end up with about $250 just in materials.

 

While I have glue, ballast, some flex track, roadbed, some tunnel portals, an assortment of turnouts, and a bunch of standard Atlas track sections, both curved and straight and a few more things I don't have to buy, I am approaching this in the vein of completely starting from scratch. So the stuff I already have I am going to assign a current retail value to it just as if I had nothing and starting totally from scratch. Should give a decent approximation of what it costs to build a small layout. In this case a 30 inch by 52 inch. There have been lots of layout build threads but few if any have detailed the costs. What ever the final figure comes out for me it will get multiplied by a factor of at least 10 and be a decent barometer on the cost of the retirement layout in planning. So far I have $79 and some change invested as of this morning.

Unfortunately I see I am going to have lots of help which will be an issue I have to contend with. My 18.5 pound tomcat, and still growing, has expressed an interest. Here camped out on top of the yet to be cut down HC door on some of the foam. May make a good weight for holding down some foam sheets while drying though.

 

A break is in order. Got the HC door cut to length about an hour ago and the new end section glued in place that I had to chisel out of the old door. Trying to save some bigger chunks of that laminate finish from the cut off section that I can use to bridge some foam areas and use less foam on the terrain build up. Layout calls for a trestle maybe two so he can be a good weight test for the trestles. And if I can persuade him and his siblings, who are also big, to take a nap on the first layer of foam it will save me bringing some books upstairs for weight.

 

Arose this AM and laid down the base coat of .75 inch foam. Then Murphy reared his ugly head. Hadn't seen him for awhile and thought he was gone. Needed to cut a couple of pieces to finish so I dug out my Woodland Scenics foam cutter. Sputtered once and stopped. Manually cut the rest of the foam with the resultant mess. Not liking the mess I decided to head to Michaels to get the cutter they had there. Web page had said they had 20 in stock. Murphy made another appearance, No cutters. So I cooled my heels whilst they made a search for whom might have one in stock. Thirty minutes of lousy NOVA traffic later I had one paid for and was on my way home.

Sitting back up in my workshop I got to thinking about that danged Woodland Scenics cutter and dug out a screw driver to disassemble it and take a look. Now If I had remembered to take my brain out of the glass of water on the nightstand this AM, the one right beside the other glass holding my teeth, and reinstall it I would have checked the plug in transformer first. Transformer decided it was time to depart. I have come to the conclusion that certain electrical components have a shelf life that activates right when you need them after having them set for a year or more. Went digging in my box of electrical junk for another 12 volt that might be useable and could only come up with a 9 volt. What the heck tried it anyway and dang if it is not working just as good as the 12 volt departed one. Take that Mr. Murphy. So cut my final strips to fill in and all ends well unless overnight the Big Guy decides that hey a new scratching post. The other cutter I bought I need anyway for some sculpting later and it is of the pencil type and rated for heavier foams than I am working with so it wasn't wasted money.



Right now have the room contents, less the Big Guy, stacked on the foam while it dries. Tomorrow I hope to start the tunnel enclosure. Meanwhile I keep thinking about a snappy name for this little layout. It is based off of the Possum Valley but with modifications. Hmm maybe Hog Wallow Junction, or Sheep Dip Creek Junction. Maybe since the equipment is lettered for Turtle Creek I might go with that. Made a supply order today for this endeavor and so far the total cost for this build is up to $242.53.

 

cannot find the delete function.................................................

 

I have been doing hand drawn track plans as a past time since I have no home layout to work on. On one of the F/B n-scale forums I read about SCARM = Simply Computer Aided Railroad Modeller.
That was two or three days ago. It is very simple to use and all the elements for a Kato Unitrack n-scale layout plan

 

Expanded Polystyrene. Comes about 6 or 8 sheets to a bag @ .75 inch. Would have liked to buy some of the pink stuff but they only had about one thickness, in very large sheets that were priced as if they had platinum dust imbedded in them. That's why the hot wire or knife cutter is so important to me. Cuts very easy and I have cut about 6 strips so far tonight for my tunnel walls and nary a flake on the floor. Next time I am way out route 50 I may try the Lowes out there to see if they have some thicknesses that Home depot doesn't. I have used this stuff in the past and had good results with it.

 

Never had much luck with the computer drawing plans, but then computers and I have a difficult relationship. Problem with Kato Unitrack is that it doesn't work well if at all with what I am doing. Great stuff for doing nice sweeping mainline track and curvature but not worth a hoot for shortline or branchline mining and logging track.

And a picture of the other type of foam cutter I just picked up today.


Tried it out some this evening cutting out the sections for the interior tunnel walls. Once I got the hang of it I found that I can cut some fairly nice straight lines. I am making my interior tunnel walls at a six inch height to have plenty of room to reach my old gnarled hands inside.

 

Well the layout or mini section of the retirement layout now has a name approved by the CFO, aka the Wife. It is now officially the Hog Waller Junction of the Turtle Creek Central Railroad or simply the Hog Waller Junction. It is so named for the almost mystical and rare saber toothed feral hogs that took up residence near the headwaters of Turtle Creek whose flavor of their hams and chops have a taste that rivals or out does the famous Virginia Baked Hams.

And with this announcement I close this thread and will start another that follows the build of the Hog Waller Junction.