Minor Update

Very minor.  Just a statement that this project has not been abandoned - and looks very different now in important ways, improved ways.  Just not enough time between "real" life and multiple hobbies.  But progress does get made.

 So, just an update on progress - yes, actual real progress.  May not look like much but it is an important step along the way.  A layout is, after all, an ongoing project, never really a finished item.  Here goes:

Here is the first scene as you enter the room.  That large piece of foam is there to show just how tall the mountain here will be.  Well, at least the part closest to the wall will be pretty close to as tall as that piece.  Those clamps represent where tunnel portals will be, the open end being the entrance to the tunnel.  

Here on the other side of the mountain will be the mining area.  Of course, this is covered below.  What is really new is that the plywood base is now firmly fixed in place so you can get a better sense of how things will be.

Behind the short section behind the turntable is a grade that still needs some minor adjustment - as does the underlying table at this point, just some minor tweaking.

In the back is the farm town and industry area and towards the front of the raised area is another grade that needs some supports put in place.  This is the longest grade on the oval, a one inch change in elevation from the 2" area to the left rising to the 3" area on the right.  The farm town is at 2 1/2".

Here, again, is the roundhouse, turntable, and engine service area.  The closest track is part of the actual longest grade, from the yard area up to the trestle. 

And here is the freight yard area - though hard to tell from this view. 

Imagine that, here is the passenger yard - and the icing platform.

Have you been paying close attention?  If you have then you'll note that there are now eight tracks from front to back: the main, the passing and engine access lead, the three freight classification tracks, the stock resting track, and the freight depot and team track combined.  That paper at the back is the outline base of the freight depot

The missing track here would be the MOW track which would be back near the leaning piece of rock wall.  The paper here represent the icing platform on the left and an ice house on the right.  And, no, that is not the station that will be there once the layout is in operation. 

Just a shot of where the transition from farms to logging operations will be on the upper level.  Have your eyes noted the difference in height here versus the earlier photos?

The sawmill area, not two more tunnel portals.  "Above" the portals will be logging area served by geared locomotives. 

The commercial town with just one row of buildings in place at the moment. 

An alternate view showing the seven buildings in place, again not the final buildings - well, maybe one or two might make it.

Those buildings on the window sill?  Those will be in the empty space closest to the camera in the previous image - part of the upscale residential area near the port.

Speaking of the port, here it is with a couple of boards at back to give a sense of how things will be.  Naturally, those tracks in the "water" will be on piers.

Different angle of the port.  Not the rock wall piece at the back;  The gap between the painted backdrop and the layout base will be "filled in" so it won't be so glaring later.

Last is an overall shot showing most of the layout.

It is easy to say not much has been done but the reality is quite a bit has been accomplished.  The bases have been adjusted to their proper heights and fixed in place (after painting so it isn't just plain plywood - who knows how long before scenery will follow track work!?), and the grades have been given some of their necessary adjustments.  The tunnels nearest the door will have easy access through side doors.  Still working out access to the logging area tunnel, likely just a removal bit of scenery.

Now, if life away from hobbies will give me a break then the next step will be getting the cork roadbed in place.  Alast, it might not be done until fall since the hot weather is due to begin next week with the 100's on their way.

Until next update...

The Re-New-ed Beginning

Having waited perforce of other duties, it is finally time to get back to working on the layout...and updating this little blog.  What really ignited the recent fire was a holiday visit from a nephew on the wife's side of the family.  His excitement at trains got me to refocus on the track plan.  And I decided to explore an alternative and came up with several improvements.  No matter how satisfied we are with a layout, there is always room for making it better.

The following photos are not in proper sequence but do show some changes/improvements.  So follow along as best you can and stitch it all together into a more complete "image" as best you can.  And note that I've finally tumbled to the photo caption option.  Duh!  Been sitting there staring me in the face.

This photo shows where the logging area will be, on that raised portion.  Also, that raised portion will be a "unit" that can be secured in place and, if it ever becomes a need, be easily removed to preserve the work done on this piece.  As a matter of fact, that is one of the major improvements: there will be at least five such "units" built in to the layout.  The logging section will consist of a lumber yard, a very small passenger station, hopefully a spring water company (somehow), and - up on that higher elevation - a logging camp with tree felling underway and including several donkey engines.  The sawmill is 3" above the base layout height and the logging area is 5" higher.

This shows the residential area adjacent to the seaport in the foreground with the commercial district behind it and one temporary stand-in industry against the wall.  There are five more houses I need to build to add to the scene.  This is really cool to me, I get to have a spacious up-scale residential area.  Some may argue I should use the area for even more rail served industries but this has been one of my long term goals, that residential section.  And with room for lots of street and yard as well.  That is the logging area in the background with some stand-in buildings just placed there for the moment.

And here is something that really jazzes me.  I will have a spit of land reaching out from the mainland to this lighthouse, it will be one bracket to the piers and quays.  That edge of the sea surface board should really be flush with that corner you see below the houses.  Still debating how low to place the water, either .75" or 1.5" below the base level - or something in between (?).

This is a look down the wide boulevard in the commercial area.  In fact, my plan is to have a street run down either side with a wide planted strip in the center; not quite a town square but something similar.  Again, most of these structures are just to gauge the effect.  Note the temporary station at the far end - and that 'industry' along the back wall.  There will be a few to several more along that space served by a single spur track.

Just a slightly closer shot of the station and the industry.  You can get an idea of how the track leads towards the seaport here.  That bit of cork that leads to the wall and climbs it is where there will be two tracks, one a lead from the yard and the other an interchange track with the Northwestern Pacific.

This is the opposite end of the layout and across the room from the port leg of the U-shaped layout.  What you see here is the wild and scenic end of the layout.  The nearest track will have a not too high (2" or less) wooden trestle below a tall cliff - at least part of it will be 18" above the base height of the layout.  And in front of the trestle is where the river will run from right edge to left face at the bottom left.  (There will be a box built on the left to protect access to a light switch for the room)  Where you see the cards and upside down molds is where three tunnels will be, one on either side of the trestle and one on the reversing loop that is inside the turn-back curve at this end of the layout.  By the way, that track where the trestle will be is going to be 2" above the base height you see here - it is is the track that rises from the yard to head up the oval and return loop.

Here you have to imagine that larger piece of plywood being 2" higher than you see it.  You also have to envision a  cliff behind those two buildings.  The lower one on the left represents where the Stamp Mill will be and the higher one on the right is where the actual Mine will be.  And in the space closer to the camera but still on the unpainted plywood will be a company town, maybe ten to twelve small structures.  Obviously, you can see where the roundhouse will be.  By the way, that bit of track on the left closest to your view is the grade up from the yard to the upper L-shaped oval - a bit over one scale mile around that oval.

This section, the unpainted plywood, is the farming area.  Behind the tracks will be the farm industries, in front of it will be the town structures, rural small town America circa 1925.  To the right will be three or four farms, maybe one to the left towards the mining area.  The ones on the right will be closer to the logging area.  The front track for the upper oval is not there at the moment.  All the track is just laid in place as part of the planning process.  That front track will be lower than the farming section which will be at 2 1/2 inch height.

Just another shot of the logging area better showing where the actual log camp will be.  the covered area of track is going to be a tunnel.

Those tracks at the front, above all that storage below, is where the freight yard will be, a simple stub ended arrangement.  To the rear from left to right will be a stock yard for stock resting, a loading ramp for the team track, the freight station  the last two served by the same track that is not shown, and - served by a different track  accessed beyond the coach yard will be the icing platform to ice up the reefers.

This is the end where there will be a passenger station and behind it the coach yard.  And in back of that will be another track, not shown, that will be the combined MOW track and caboose tracks.  Also the track that leads to the icing platform.  You can see the port town area on the right.

Here is a view of the harbor area.  At the back will be a long bit of land with several tracks and several industries.  Take the closest ship and move it back by that black bridge (think of that bridge as another ship) and then follow along.  Between the 'yellow' ship and the nearest 'white' one will be a wide pier with a couple of industries on it plus two tracks.  The other white ship will be served by a spur on a quay.  Those two wooden models flank where there will be another pier with only one track and one industry.  The bridge/ship is where another quay will be with an indent to a third where that closest ship will be moved to.  I hope to also put a spit of land on that far edge to be the opposite bracket to the harbor from where the lighthouse shown far above will be.  That industrial building will not be there, that is where those waterfront homes will be.

A different view and temporary arrangement of the commercial district before the more finalized version above.

That steeply angled track at the back shows the gap between the farming section and the logging section.  It will be cut to fit and match and include the appropriate grades.  I will include as many farm scenes as I can in that interval towards the back.

An alternate view of the freight yard.  You have to imagine the third track from the left foreground being parallel instead of at an angle and you will see that there will seven tracks in this area.

Last, this is the engine servicing area, the turntable (obviously) and one of what will be two leads to it with a third track to the rear for bringing in supplies to this area and for clean out cars - say the ashpit needs cleaning.  You can also see the gap to be filled in between the mining section and the farming section.  On the mining section you can sort of get an idea of the placement of the reversing look track - see the spot on the right background, nearer edge of the plywood.

I've figured it to be one and a half scale miles from the seaport to the halfway point of the return loop so that adds up to a three mile out and back operation - without adding miles on the continuous run loop which is created by a pair of carefully placed crossovers that forces a train to transit the entire oval before returning downgrade past the river and into the yard.

So, a recap: There will be a small yard with three areas: engine servicing, freight switching, and passenger equipment handling.  There will be a seaport with industries to switch - and plenty of room in the harbor for small ships and boats.  And also a generous commercial district and residential area.  Another section is devoted to the lumber industry with a sawmill and a logging operation - and a nice steep grade to justify those geared locomotives I have.  Hopefully, I can jigger in the spring bottling company I want to include.  In the opposite corner of the room will be the farming district with a town area, an industrial area, and the farms.  Then there is the mining area with the mine, stamp mill, and company town (and maybe a quarry if I can squeeze it in).  Last of all will be the scenic area with the tall cliff and the river below it.  Plan on quite a few wild critters roaming about.

And all of this is set in the 1920's of far north west California.

Hope you enjoy the update.  I'm excited with where things are at.

The New Beginnings

While there is still some fine tuning to be done, I've 're-constructed' my layout.  Well, the benchwork is back in place after being modified.

I cut six inches off the back of the yard table and the same off the back of the two main oval sections; I also added five and a half inches to the yard portion but really cut the total length of this run short by half an inch to allow for better door clearance.

The real big footprint adjustment was in cutting the south wall of the room table short seven feet, really six feet and eleven inches but that's just a quibble.  Gone is just under three feet of the 'bubble' and all of the old port and the back extension for the staging yard.

That all may seem a drastic reduction in available modeling space.  But it is a great improvement in versatility of room use.  And, more importantly, it is an easy reach to almost all of the surface, even for my wife who is a foot shorter than I am.

You will note in the photos below that the base height is lowered as well - a change appreciated by the lady of the house - that will allow more of the backdrop to show through.  It is well to keep in mind that the backdrop was painted for the original layout construction, ten years ago now.  That layout and the last never got to the track laying stage.  This one certainly will and sooner rather than later if not immediately.  Still have other duties and activities.

I repainted all visible surfaces to ease laying out the new track arrangement - more on that below.  I also stained the four paired legs to make a better visual presentation.  All of this was done over the course of the last two days.

I will give a written word description of the new track plan and try to match as best I can with the photographs.  Like the benchwork, the track plan will get a little, though very little.  Most of the changes will come from translating to a drawing to full size.  Though with as many drawings as I've translated from paper to actual table top, I don't expect too many adjustments.  Always a few.

 Above shows the basic cut prior to repainting.

 Same from the other end where you can see the add.

 This is the perspective you'd see from within the room - well, if you were the back wall of the closet maybe.

 Here I've added a building, a piece of track, and a caboose to give a perspective of the size available relative to actual N scale items.

 A closer shot.

 And a much closer view.

 And another longer angle.

 The point of these shots to give you a perspective for imaging what you might do in this space.  Not what I am going to do, maybe, but imagination is as much a part of model railroading as any other.

 One more close shot from another angle but you are probably already peaking at the next shot.

 The above shows a general overview of the room.

 This is where the yard will be except for the far corner which will be the farming and farm industry area.

 This is the area where there will be a mining area inside the L shaped oval, behind it will be the logging area, the end on the right will be a river canyon, and the left most portion will be the beginning of the seaport.

 The above left will be the farm town, the right side will be the company town, lower - in elevation - will be an industrial area, and in front of that will the seaport.

 Another overview with the same items for perspective.

 And another closer shot.

And a last comment about that white space between the table and the backdrop.  It will disappear because there will be higher terrain in back than in front.  Though I will be challenged along the back of the yard since space is tight there.  But that is part of the fun.  Maybe a more detailed description of the new track plan in a future post.

That's all for now.

Update!

Wow, not since January have I made an entry here.  Well, I'm getting much closer to putting the layout back up.  Decided to reduce the layout's size a bit after realizing one thing: never build more layout than it will take to bring satisfaction.  And that has lead to a redraw.  Don't have time just now to give all the details but I just realized I've had a highly significant breakthrough.  Every track plan I've drawn in the past always left me feeling disappointed on two fronts.  One was not having everything I wanted in the layout to the degree desired.  I doubt any of us ever cross that barrier.  The other front, however, I've overcome in a big way.  Normally, after designing a plan, I can go back to the plans I have from others, published plans, and realize mine isn't "as good."  I have designed some good ones, there is one at the Placer County Fair Grounds in Roseville, somewhat modified over the years by others but retaining my core, that has entertained a lot of people, club members and the general public.  But always there has been that nagging sense of "inferiority."  This time, not meaning to be arrogant here, I've designed a layout track plan that works so well I can't go back to those published plans anymore because they don't achieve what I have.  I still enjoy those plans, six hundred or so, but I just "know" this one doesn't need further inspiration.  It does need some final tweaking, but the core is solid and isn't going anywhere!  Of course, a lot of knowledge and inspiration did come from quite a few of those many published plans.  But it is pretty cool to be able to say I don't need to go back to go forward.  So, hooray for me.  Time to get back to work.

Post Window Replacement Design Revisions

Okay, all but one of the windows have now been replaced - manufacturer error, should be taken care of in a week or two - and I've been putting thought to a redesign of the layout room.  The room serves a variety of purposes: the layout, of course, also a painting and modeling table for both train related and military miniature work; a writing area; and storage for all of those interests.  In order to make all of those activities blend with the least "space conflict", I've been thinking and tinkering.  And I've come up with a plan, in the rough at this point, that I think will let me get everything I want, perhaps not at the level I'd like but a layout is always about making compromises.  This post will only focus on a new track plan.

Like an earlier post, I will follow the layout around the room.  The one element about the plan that may cause additional changes is that it isn't possible to follow a train without 'dashing' around a peninsula so keep that in mind as you follow along with my descriptions.

Walking in the south facing door, the first element encountered is an 18" wide space along the northern wall - to your immediate left.  This will be a yard area, freight and passenger, with flats behind the yard for some industrial switching.  At the far end of this is a 2' deep area on the east wall that will be the engine service area and, hopefully, Bald Twin's Locomotive Works (appears workable at this stage).  Coming out of the yard, the main line follows along the east wall and ducks into a tunnel and makes a ninety degree turn onto the central peninsula, 32" wide.  The mainline connects into a peanut shaped oval on this 8' long peninsula, measured from the east wall.  Traveling around the oval, just before you reach the turn out from the yard there is another turn out that leads back to the other side of the oval and acts makes the oval double as a reversing loop - east end.  On the north side of the oval is a passing siding to allow opposing trains to pass.  Inside this oval and east of the return track will be logging and a stamp mill with a mine up above - above the mill and above the track in the tunnel below.  On the western end of the oval, but inside it as well, will be the farming area - farm town, farm industries, and farms.  On the north side of the peninsula and outside of the oval will be bit of the Klamath River in a "canyon" below track level.  On the south side and outside of the oval will be a spur track to a log dump for a mill pond - but I don't plan to build the sawmill itself.  Now back on the peanut oval and just pass where the track from the yard connects into it, there is another turnout that runs off towards the east and south and then makes a large 180 degree turn into a seaport and behind the seaport will be an area for staging trains.

 If that is all a bit confusing, imagine walking into the room and stopping at the end of the peninsula on your left.  Now turn left so you are looking down the length of the peninsula.  In front of you will be the farming area and beyond it the logging area and beyond that the mining area.  If you lean to the right and the 27" wide aisle you can see the river canyon on that side of the peninsula and across the aisle is the yard with the portion of the layout with the engine facility at the far end of that aisle.  If you lean to the right you will see the mill pond and its spur track.  Across the 34" aisle on that side is the seaport with the staging yard behind it, partly 2' deep and at the end a small part only 1' deep.  At the end of this right side aisle is an 18" deep extension of the seaport.

One thing that comes to mind is that I can add in a wye off of the lead to the staging yard and the place where the main makes its ninety degree turn from the "big" yard onto the peninsula; this requires some adjustment to keep a turnout out of a tunnel.  Doing so makes it easier and quicker to turn trains in the staging yard.  If I build the wye (probable), I will put a stock resting area inside it.

A couple of good elements to this redesign is all the turnouts will be within very easy reach of the edge of the layout, perhaps all of them less the 12" - that is very good.  And it can all be dead level trackage which might not seem very good but it makes for easier building, easier maintenance, and more reliable operation.  And careful construction of the scenery can give a very good impression of elevation variation.

Now, let's take a ride on a caboose hop from the yard.  We climb on board and our engine pulls out and makes a right hand turn behind the engine servicing area, turn table, and roundhouse.  Then we enter a tunnel and make another right hand turn and come out of the tunnel and connect into the oval and travel along the farming area and make a half circle to go back the other direction, if need be we'll take the passing siding before entering another tunnel that completes a half circle and brings us to the turnout to reverse direction - which we take.  We cross to the other side of the oval and half to go through the half circle at the end of the peninsula and could go back to the yard.  Instead, we take the branch to the right and make the large half circle turn into the seaport.

If I've explained it well, you'll realize this layout can operate as point-to-point, out and back, or continuous running on the peanut shaped oval.  Still a fair amount of tinkering to do to make sure it will work.  But the reason I decided to post this description is because the layout as conceived as something really important going for it - the elegance of simplicity.

Stay tuned.

By the way, the requested photo of the clock requires digging out the camera from all the piles of stuff still to put away after getting the windows installed.  Rather disruptive.

And, hey, the Niners are going to the Super Bowl!  The Har-bro Bowl.

No! Not that!

Well, yes.  That.

As in, the whole layout is down and removed from the room.  Tragic?  Nah.  Getting new windows installed throughout the house and the layout was in the way of two new windows.  Sad?  A little.  Much more looking forward to a new - and better - layout rising in its place.  And, no, the first post was not a tease knowing this was about to happen.  Just the way it is.

And just today, this morning, I stumbled onto a concept very different to the one I've been 'wedded' to for some time now.  I have a fondness for an oval with a tail and reverse loop inside the oval so arranged that you have to travel the entire oval before reversing direction and returning to the tail.  This has always been a good plan for me but always had the challenge of turning trains at the end of the tail - thus that was always the prime location for a yard with a turntable.  It also had the difficultly of knowing where to locate a staging yard at the loop - and that always resulted in having to do some sort of backing operation to turn trains around between sessions, at least in my space.

Well, I haven't eliminated that last need, turning trains, but I have been able to include something else I've always wanted to include in a plan but have just never been able to make it work to my satisfaction.  And what is this desired feature?  A wye.  And with careful placement of the wye in the available space I can make one tail of the wye do double duty as a staging yard and a seaport while each of the other legs connect to an oval that allows 'display' running.  That also means I can send out two trains in opposite directions so that they have to meet each other somewhere - a carefully placed passing siding (or two or three?).  By the way, that port/staging tail will split in two so that one rises and one drops to give some vertical separation to the two 'ends' of the layout, the port will be the western end and the staging yard, and interchange track, will be the eastern end of the layout.  Yes, the two ends will be one low and one high, one in front of the other.  It works.

Oh, my layout is based on the "legendary" Klamath Lake Western Railroad, the one that connects with Great Northern's southern Oregon route at the town of the same name and then bridges over to the Northwestern Pacific above Eureka.

Now I have to solve another problem which is also an opportunity that has been elusive because of that oval-tail concept above.  Where can I fit in a yard and make it a double ended (mostly) division point yard?  And do that and still have room for a lumbering operation from cutting timber to finished lumber, a mining operation, a representation of farming and its links to railroads, and a city with both commercial district and residential neighborhood?  And all this in a 'spare' bedroom that has to fulfill other duties!  Only in N scale.

That's all for now - as if such drastic news isn't enough.  From adversity, opportunity.