Hutch's Conway Scenic Railroad Layout


Neither, I pulled it away from the wall and trimmed the inner corners. So it's a wee bit shorter, that's fine. The ends are both going to be like this. 24" curves max if I build out at the tangents an inch or 2. I can reach everything.
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I learned a few years back. If ima even thinking about 'down on my knees' I go and find the knee pads. 10/15 seconds later I am padded up and good to go. Have 3 pair of the things spread around to I don't have to go and look for them. I did not get the cheapest which probably would work just fine. These are almost 5 years old now and I have not had to replace the strap(s).

Later
 
Don't anybody hold your breath waiting for my railroad. It come in little bits and pieces as I rarely have time for hours of work on it. That said, another 45 minutes and a few more boards in what I'm currently calling the south end of the railroad. I'll have to hang a curtain if I ever want to turn something on the lathe.

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Hutch said:
Don't anybody hold your breath waiting for my railroad. It come in little bits and pieces as I rarely have time for hours of work on it. That said, another 45 minutes and a few more boards in what I'm currently calling the south end of the railroad. I'll have to hang a curtain if I ever want to turn something on the lathe.

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Looking good, benchwork has to be right, so taking your time is well worth it.
 
Hutch said:
Don't anybody hold your breath waiting for my railroad. It come in little bits and pieces as I rarely have time for hours of work on it. That said, another 45 minutes and a few more boards in what I'm currently calling the south end of the railroad. I'll have to hang a curtain if I ever want to turn something on the lathe.

View attachment 165734
Click to expand...
As the old saying goes: Slow and steady wins the race!
 
I'm now trying to save as much foam and track as I can from the estate sale stuff. I think I have enough foam but sadly, I couldn't save much of the track.i got plenty anyway but it would have been nice to save more.

Having done this, I want to use some kind of low tack glue when I put my roadbed down. Cork looks best un-balasted so I may go with that. I really need this to be fairly easy to redo should change my mind.

Here's where I'm at.
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Hutch said:
I'm now trying to save as much foam and track as I can from the estate sale stuff. I think I have enough foam but sadly, I couldn't save much of the track.i got plenty anyway but it would have been nice to save more.

Having done this, I want to use some kind of low tack glue when I put my roadbed down. Cork looks best un-balasted so I may go with that. I really need this to be fairly easy to redo should change my mind.

Here's where I'm at.View attachment 165904View attachment 165905
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You seemed to have managed to save quite a lot from the estate sale, well done. :)
 
I'm thinking of nails with a bit of glue on them to stick in the foam for laying the track. That should be easy to pull up if I need to. I'm also considering making my own road bed from some of this foam. Easy enough to run it through my bandsaw to thickness and shape into curves. Yeah, I've already spent my current allotment on some beautiful Diesels from BLI so I'm going DIY as much as possible. And why not, I have the tools.
 
Hutch said:
I'm thinking of nails with a bit of glue on them to stick in the foam for laying the track. That should be easy to pull up if I need to. I'm also considering making my own road bed from some of this foam. Easy enough to run it through my bandsaw to thickness and shape into curves. Yeah, I've already spent my current allotment on some beautiful Diesels from BLI so I'm going DIY as much as possible. And why not, I have the tools.
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I've never had good luck with nails holding in foam -even with glue - I find if it sticks to the nail it dissolves the foam, even if it sticks it works loose,
Use some foam safe caulk, spread it thin with a putty knife and you should be fine. Dap Dynaflex 230 clear works well, though it doesn't like to cure in cool temperatures I've found. or Basic Dap Latex Arcrylic caulk clear works too. I don't think it holds as well overall than 230 does. Runs about 6 bucks a 10 oz tube. Goes pretty far - I used 3 tubes to lay 164 feet of cork roadbed and track.
 
Hutch said:
I'm thinking of nails with a bit of glue on them to stick in the foam for laying the track. That should be easy to pull up if I need to. I'm also considering making my own road bed from some of this foam. Easy enough to run it through my bandsaw to thickness and shape into curves. Yeah, I've already spent my current allotment on some beautiful Diesels from BLI so I'm going DIY as much as possible. And why not, I have the tools.
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As David_B says nails don't really work with foam, not on a permanent basis anyway. I would suggest using nails initially to lay and hold the track while you work out any kinks or make alterations, and then when your happy, use caulk to actually fix it to the foam.
 
Another idea popped into my head after watching a video. I'm not going to install any switches, initially anyway. I'm going to have 2 separate loops and get right into scenery. Scenery is going to be king on my railroad. I plan to build mock up structures to fill it all and get an idea of what I want and then get to the details which will take the rest of my life. I want to have place holders throughout the layout probably made of wood blocks.

All of the traditional industries won't exist either. Just cities and rural towns, bridges and tunnels and mountains. Though I like the Conway Scenic Railway, I'm having second thoughts on the roundhouse. I have a TT but it will take up too much space and add too much mechanics. It's from the estate sale and looks home made with no electronics. We'll see.

Well, that's todays thoughts on my scenic railroad.
 
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