I made it back


oplholik

oplholik

Member
Well, where to start, I'll make this brief, maybe. :) I originally joined here in 2009, and lasted till 2012. My health got the better of me for awhile, and decided to give up the railroading. I had N gauge, and an O gauge ceiling set up. I took the N gauge apart cause it was just taking up room and I figured I was done with it. The ceiling RR I dismantled cause I could no longer get on a ladder to work on it. Fortunately I kept all the rolling stock, and I've gotten the itch to do a small N gage layout. So it's start all over again time.
I guess all my old pics here have been deleted, not really relevant anymore anyway, I've changed computers a couple times and all my old pics have been lost along the line. I'll be adding new pics as I go along anyway, after I get thru with all the planning and decide just what I want to do. What is an easy track planning program these days, I forget which one I was using?
So, see ya all around the forums with questions I suppose.
 
Hello Oplholik.....
Welcome back, although sorry, I am pretty darn new to this forum so I don'tknow you from before. That's cool that your thinking about getting back into model rring. I'm building my first layout in HO, everything has made such a tremendous change since I picked up my first couple of cars way back in the mid 60's.
The most talked about track planning program I've heard of is the one called SCARM. Supposed too be pretty easy, an internet search should reveal much......
Regards.....
 
Hi Jerry, and thanks. I'll check SCARM out, it may have been what I was using, just don't remember. My layout will be about 30" wide by 72" long, and that should keep me pretty busy. See ya around. :)
 
Welcome back, Oplholik. I wish you continued success with your health and hope you'll enjoy your next construction.
 
Thank you Selector, as I can't move around like I used to, it will be a slow process, but who's in a hurry with model railroading?
 
Getting more mature and all that which comes with it sure makes all the fun stuff harder to do.
 
Hello Oplholik Glad that you decided to once again get involved in model railroading and re-joined the forums here.
I think that if you switch over to HO gauge you'd be a lot happier as it's twice the size of 'N' and easier to work on but does require twice the space to get a realistic space between communities or cities. I model the late 1890's to 1910 approximately so my class 1 railroad communities are not too far apart as I run slow from place to place.

In building my current HO [DC] layout, I'm now 71 yrsold, I designed an around the wall layout that I've tried to keep at 30"s deep in half of my double car garage which is finished off inside. In keeping the, free standing, around the wall layout to a reasonable depth has allowed me to run my buss line around the inside for easy power take off running feeders to the track. I generally figure the length of feeders I going to need, cut them and push them down through the sub road bed and OSB board and then pull them to the front with a hook and then connect them to the Atlas controller to turn power on and off for the block I want, generally a 3' to 6' length. I solder the feeders to the rails and connect them to the controller and connect the controller to the main buss line for power.

This is all done from the inside edge of the layout as my underneath is loaded with other stuff and I can't get in there so I place my controllers around the inside edge as I need to handle the block/s at that location. All my turnouts are manually controlled with Caboose Industries High level Switch Stands. Using the L girder bench work has made it easy to have two different main elevations on my single track mail line.

I'd give careful consideration to switch over to HO as it seems to be the most popular gauge with the most equipment available. I will admit that for the earlier time period like I'm in things are not as redly available though.

Hope this offers some food for thought.

David in the Central Calif foothills North of Fresno.
 
Hi Trussrod. I am going to need to stay with N gauge as I had saved all my rolling stock, and it would just be too much to re invest in HO. Also the space I now have would not play nice with HO. I'm looking to go with a 36" wide X 72" length board. I may have to narrow it up a bit depending on my reach across the board. I am going to dummy something up to see what will work for me in that respect.
I see you are in Coursegold. In the late 80's, we used to spend a couple weeks during the summer at Yosemite South camp grounds just outside of town there. Nice country, and I enjoyed seeing some of it. Always liked going into town for an ice cream at the ice cream place. I suppose things have changed a bit there over time, but still very nice I'm sure. See ya around the board, eh? :)
 
Hi Oplholik, [what does that stand for?]
It's understandable that you want to stay in 'N' gauge having all the equipment. Changing scales is a big project in itself.

The 30" reach over is of course dependent on what's between the front and the back. Many of my areas are well over that depth. I built my bench work, so the lower main line so table height would be at 45.5 "s in height which for me being 5' 9" in height seemed right as I can can bend over to reach most things but as I get some buildings and other scenery on it I may need to use the step stool for added elevation! Having higher table work sure makes the viewing a lot more enjoyable. I have a second elevation 9" above the first for the high line and there will be a logging area 9" above the upper line yet which is just about eye level for me.

The Yosemite South camp grounds, if that was an RV Park, is now KOA? Rv park. I go past the back side of it as I take a short cut over to Hwy 41 from my Rd. 415 location. The little town of Coarsegold and the Frosty Shop are still there. A few more building have been errected and the main thing is the Chukchansi Casino the Indian's errected about 12+ years ago that is just South of the Indian Lakes Road on Hwy 41 by about a 3rd of a mile and on the Left also.

Be sure to stop into the ANPL coffee shop, Aka Jeffreys' Dinner down the main listings near the bottom.

See you there.
 
What does oplholik stand for? In my younger days, I spent quite a bit of time in the Mojave desert on a fire opaL mining claim digging for fire opals. Loved those opals, so I'm an oplholik. :)
I put together a couple saw horses for table legs and will be testing for different heights to get an idea what is going to work best for me. I want it to be as high as possible for better viewing. Right now the height is 37-1/2". I might take a couple inches off the legs tho. I'm only about 5'6" now, used to be about 5'8 - 1/2" but due to back issues I have shrunk up some. Gotta play with it and get it right.
 
Say Oplholik: While I don't know your back situation I would think that you might find a height of about 40-42" to be a lot more enjoyable viewing, I very much enjoy my 45 1/2" height as I can darn near view my trains at eye level and only have to stoop a bit to do so! Try the higher table top height and I think you enjoy it a lot more as it lets you stand erect most of the time which might be a lot easier on your back rather than being bent over too much? You, like me will probably find the need of a step stool to stand on when you need to reach areas in the back. Even then I feel it in my back and it reminds me of John Allen who named one of the areas on his 'Gorre & Daphetid' railroad 'Akinbac', John loved a play on words with it's double meaning! (Gory and Defeated) or (Gorry and Daphetid [Nutz]) I may have the spelling incorrect on Akinbac?
 
"Retirement is for when the weekends just aren't long enough anymore."

How true! Never thought of it that way, before. I was out Cal way about 2000. My youngest wanted to move there, us included. We hit Vegas on the way there and again on the return. Hit some of the high spots, Sandiego, (took the trolley to Mexico, hit the zoo. Just as we were leaving San Diego, he noted we failed to see the Golden Gate. I had to inform him it was a very long way at the other end of Cal.

I had planned to head for Bakersfield and the loop. A long freight came thru just after we arrived at the monument there, then on to San Francisco. My daughter was concerned about my plan to go that far, I live in Michigan, with my car having over 200k miles on it. I told her I trusted my ole Deville, both us and the caddy made the trip just fine.

Saw a lot of sights along the way. Took a chunk of I-40 & a bit of route 66 to boot. Nice to not have to punch a clock when traveling like that. Now that took a lot more than a weekend! 54 hrs just to Vegas. Dang that Tehachapi Loop would take a huge amount of layout real-estate, even in N-scale to reproduce to even near scale.

My tables are 3' high, and sort of a horseshoe in general shape. My main/largest table is 42 inches wide. & 8ft long, but because of the shape, I can easily reach everything. One end of it buts the wall. Two other tables are about 3'x5' with several 2' deep connecting tables.

I am thinking/planning on trying to do a small elevated Z scale around the wall. never seem to have enough table real estate for my trains. My train herd covers everything from the 1800s to current era. Everything from steam to bullet trains, mostly in N scale, but even a Zeppelin, complete with powered tail fan in Z scale. Most of my locos are DCC, & a few with sound.

Anywho, Cal was great but expensive. Now U boys play nice while you enjoy E-quake land.

BTW; I did NOT notice an shaking and it was winter, so no fires either when I was there.
 
PS: I was really glad I was NOT driving a stick in San Francisco. Those hills were something else. I remember seeing then in movies & TV, but never thought they were exaggerated some in the movies and shows, NO WAY, they are just as bad in real life!
 
Hi arealgijoe. Sounds like you had a great tour of Cal. I have never been to the loop, just seen pics, it must really be something to see. I could probably get there, see it, and drive back home in a long day, but that's too much for me anymore. It would make a nice two day trip tho.
 
Like I noted, its been a while. Seemed to me the drive from Bakersfield to the Tehachapi Loop was not long. I did not have GPS back then. I stopped at a gas station in little Tehachapi, topped off the car and got directions to the loop from there.

I viewed the long train in action from the Tehachapi Loop historic marker, along the road above. It was also a great spot to view the action. It's been many, many moons ago, but I seem to recall there were locomotives at the front, middle and end.

I just got LUCKY a train came thru while I was up there. In Tehachapi they said they can experience ALL 4 weather seasons in a single day. My catching the train on the loop, from beginning to end, was sheer luck. IF (big if ??) there is a way to find out the best time to catch a train in the loop, it might be a good idea to time your sortie up there.
 
Hello Paul...Just thought I'd say Hello !!!...Although I guess I should probably head on out and introduce myself on the New Members Page...:)
I'll be floating around and reading as much as my eyes can handle...

Trig
 
Hey Trig, glad to see ya come over here. Lot's of good help here, they are helping me get straightened out. Be seeing you in one place or the other.
 
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