Maywood - Union Pacific Branch


A

AusPete

Active Member
I recently commenced rebuilding my HO scale U.P. layout into a point to staging yard, shelf layout.
It has been designed for single person operation (that would be me) and for ease of maintenance by the maintenance staff (again that would be me).
The upper level is the town of Maywood which is the end of the line of a small freelanced Union Pacific branch line.
The lower level is a small fiddle yard.

I have completed all of the track laying and testing and I am starting (slowly) to add scenery although it is fairly slow progress so far.


There is a small locomotive facility and fuel depot
1660371410455.jpeg

1660371444772.jpeg



There are three industries apart from the fuel depot as well as a team track (where the two sheds are located) at this end of the layout

1660371630496.jpeg



This shows the Maywood depot and another industry on the backdrop

1660371761315.jpeg



The last two industries are the combination flour mill and grain silos

1660371843794.jpeg


This will be the town centre which is separated from the 'ïndustrial" area by a creek scene. The tunnel portal to the right will be the exit to the lower level staging area

1660372039615.jpeg


1660372080675.jpeg


Finally, this is the lower level fiddle yard

1660372130868.jpeg



It's early stages at the moment and I'm experimenting with different materials for the scenery - definitely not a strong point - but whatever comes up looking ok for my old eyes will be fine

I'll post some further updates as they become available
 

Attachments

  • 1660371587560.jpeg
    1660371587560.jpeg
    747.1 KB · Views: 63
Yessir, there is a lot to like here, and you have a good eye for details. I will ask one question: Can you narrow down a part of the country where you picture this to be? I ask because the UP has branch lines across all sorts of terrain (the Camas Prarie, for example, which sports a couple of large, and truly magnificent wood trestles, but which is otherwise pretty flat. Two tunnels too, if memory serves, but they are rare on the UP).

Meaning, I'm not so convinced re: the tunnel(s), but you can cover such openings in other ways. The bridge with large nearby trees is one of those, and you use the classic cast concrete highway bridges* so well, I would bet you could use those to good effect instead.

[*Rix Products, perhaps?]

Love the GP15, btw. A UP branchline natural.
 
Last edited:
Snowman said:
Yessir, there is a lot to like here, and you have a good eye for details. I will ask one question: Can you narrow down a part of the country where you picture this to be? I ask because the UP has branch lines across all sorts of terrain (the Camas Prarie, for example, which sports a couple of large, and truly magnificent wood trestles, but which is otherwise pretty flat. Two tunnels too, if memory serves, but they are rare on the UP).

Meaning, I'm not so convinced re: the tunnel(s), but you can cover such openings in other ways. The bridge with large nearby trees is one of those, and you use the classic cast concrete highway bridges* so well, I would bet you could use those to good effect instead.

[*Rix Products, perhaps?]

Love the GP15, btw. A UP branchline natural.
Click to expand...
I have to confess that my knowledge of any parts of the USA countryside could be fitted into a matchbox without removing the matches!!!
So I'm pretty much just putting together railroad scenes involving the U.P. that I've seen from time to time without doing any actual research - just going with what I think looks ok. I'm so happy with your suggestions regarding the tunnel exit off to the lower staging as this was definitely one point that I was not convinced with. I was thinking, who would bother boring a tunnel when the roof was probably only ten feet or so thick.
Your local knowledge is a big benefit to me there and the suggestion of a road bridge and tree cover reinforces my second line of thinking.

Again, many thanks for the suggestion. I'll post some pics of proposed changes when I get into them
 
I really like your layout, something I would love to do if I ever have the space, your attention to detail is really good, I'm in the UK so I only have what I see on TV, movies etc. but looks exactly as I imagined it would be in real life.
 
Have found edited my original track plan to reflect the final build. The plan is not 100% to scale but the track layouts are correct
Dimensions are approximately 20 feet long, 4 foot wide at the helix, 2 foot 6 everywhere else.
Power is via Digitrax DCS50 with Digitrax booster, DT402 and DT602 throttles - very much overkill for a layout this size but left over from previous layout
Operations are controlled by self-written Visual Basic 5 (yep that's old) program that controls car movements, locomotive assignments etc in a sequential method

1660445313382.jpeg
 
Another idea: Mount a vertical mirror at the right end, thus blocking out the view of the green door and doubling the apparent size of your town all in one fell swoop.
I think you can cut those tall vertical mirrors (the type mounted inside a closet so you/she can double check your appearance/her gorgeousness) with a simple glass-cutter, and both mirror and scribe/cut tool are pretty inexpensive.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.



Back
Top