Dream coming true


Revival

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Hello to all,
My name is Boyd Wirkkala and my lifelong dream of building a model railroad is coming to fruition....and the railroad I have wanted to build is a re-creation of John Allen's Gorre & Daphetid. My pike is called the Gorre Northern, a Gorre & Daphetid Revival because of its association with the Northern Pacific and the Great Northern, much as these great roads controlled the SP&S, and is set in the Cascade Mountains and Puget Sound of the Northwest in Washington state where I make my home. My goal is to run trains on the G&D and to that end all of the trackplan of John's layout will be recreated on my layout which is being built in a 16x40 foot outbuilding at my home. I have almost no modeling experience but since my start in December of 2017 the benchwork is all done and 2/3 of the track is laid. Most of my motive power will run under the NP and GN heralds but the scenery and structures will be all G&D as best as I can make it, with some changes for personal taste and a NW twist to the terrain. I will be modeling the transition era and I can't imagine any pike without a beautiful orange and green GN F7. Good to be part of the group. My build has been chronicled on the Gorre & Daphetid facebook page for the last year and the current issue of the online magazine O Scale Resource there is a profile about my work in Jim Kellow's New Tracks column. Steams up, let's roll!
Boyd
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Welcome aboard Boyd. Nice pictures so far. I look forward to many more. It's going to be interesting to see two different folks doing the same basic layout.
 
BOYD -- I'll add a welcome here as well! You certainly have done a lot of work - with more to come. You have my attention - can't wait to see more progress.
Your plan and benchwork and track laying looks great. Good luck with the construction.
That big box of marshmallows should provide some pick-me-up energy?
 
Oh I know. Each layout will take on it's own identity and each of you will be working at your own pace. But, at times it will feel like a race.
I moved three years ago and a buddy moved a couple years before that. He dismantled his layout and will be building a completely new layout in his basement. I on the other hand plan to reassemble my old layout from my old house in my new basement. I've got the benchwork up, and have stalled on the rewiring. My buddy is drywalling his basement before starting on all new benchwork. Yet its still a race, and I fear he might actually get his trains running again before I do.
Meanwhile, I have a 68 Dodge Charger that is freshly painted and will soon be coming home from the body shop with the engine already reinstalled but still requiring some reassembly. And another buddy has his 69 Dodge A-100 pickup in another body shop, freshly painted but still a mere shell on a rotisserie. Mine is much farther along, but his restoration shop will be completely re.assembling his truck. That's a race too. He thinks his Dodge will be back on the road before mine.
So yeah, you may not think its a race now, but we'll see. Either way, watching both builds progress side by side, here on this forum, will be exciting to watch. Both builds will have me riveted for the duration.
 
It's been a while since I first posted here. As far as new developments on the Gorre Northern.... I have been reworking some of my grades in an attempt to stay around 1.6% because of my old school locomotives. I increased the radius on Sim's Loop from 26 to 30 inches to make the grade easier. I include a photo of that.
I had the great pleasure of meeting Dr Warner Swarner at his home and seeing his great G gauge layout. Warners photos of John Allen's Gorre & Daphetid are archived on the gdlines.org website. He set me up with a good deal on track and turnouts left over from his HO days (just enough to finish all the tracklaying on my pike with has about 550 feet of track), some structures, four locomotives, and over eighty freight cars. This opportunity will really push the Gorre Northern forward to where operation will be possible a lot sooner and I include a photo of the motive power and rolling stock. Keep em rolling, Boyd
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Byod - Good to see an update here. You made quite a haul there on locos, running stock, and track.
Anxious to see progress - is there a difference in the two pics above?
Thanks>...
 
Here's a construction photo of the city of Port on my Gorre Northern. The layout surface is black 3/16" foamcore 9n plywood as it will be in all the urban and yard areas...matches up perfectly with my cork roadbed. The harbor walls are gray sanded tile grout for a concrete effect. The 3 track bridge is just a temporary placeholder until the actual bridge is built...track isn't even fastened down on it. As much as I can I am reproducing every track feature of the Gorre & Daphetid and with maybe a few exceptions it's all gonna be there although some runs will be shorter and actually the area from the yard at the city of Great Divide through the Terminal area to Port will be five feet longer than John Allen's original so I will be adding more structures of my own design to fill in there. The site where the trackplan is is where the roundhouse and turntable will be located. Boyd
 

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Boyd - that is one helluva layout your constructing. Plenty of track to stretch the legs of your locos. Of course, you'll have to keep us updated. You got me hooked. Very nice!
 
Boyd - that is one helluva layout your constructing. Plenty of track to stretch the legs of your locos. Of course, you'll have to keep us updated. You got me hooked. Very nice!
Thanks Jim...I'll keep the updates coming. I know we all make the best of the space we have and if it's a small pike or even a 4x8 oval the imagination makes up for the rest. My pike (like the G&D) is pretty busy in the city area but the River and Summit tiers will give some real satisfying runs and that was my goal: to run trains on the G&D...now Gorre Northern. Boyd
 
Hello to all,
My name is Boyd Wirkkala and my lifelong dream of building a model railroad is coming to fruition....and the railroad I have wanted to build is a re-creation of John Allen's Gorre & Daphetid. My pike is called the Gorre Northern, a Gorre & Daphetid Revival because of its association with the Northern Pacific and the Great Northern, much as these great roads controlled the SP&S, and is set in the Cascade Mountains and Puget Sound of the Northwest in Washington state where I make my home. My goal is to run trains on the G&D and to that end all of the trackplan of John's layout will be recreated on my layout which is being built in a 16x40 foot outbuilding at my home. I have almost no modeling experience but since my start in December of 2017 the benchwork is all done and 2/3 of the track is laid. Most of my motive power will run under the NP and GN heralds but the scenery and structures will be all G&D as best as I can make it, with some changes for personal taste and a NW twist to the terrain. I will be modeling the transition era and I can't imagine any pike without a beautiful orange and green GN F7. Good to be part of the group. My build has been chronicled on the Gorre & Daphetid facebook page for the last year and the current issue of the online magazine O Scale Resource there is a profile about my work in Jim Kellow's New Tracks column. Steams up, let's roll!
Boyd View attachment 42061View attachment 42061
I got started painting my backdrop on the Gorre Northern this weekend...its just been a pale blue for months. I photocopied pictures of Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams0105201538.jpg0105201740.jpg0105201740b.jpg, and Mt. St. Helens (pre-eruption) and glued them to the backdrop with spray adhesive. Then I painted in the various hills, mountain ranges, and tree line. There's a little more touch-up to do but this sets the scene in the great Northwest. Boyd
 
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