Reviving a thirty year old layout

[Jim 68cuda]

Today I cut 1" thick sheets of 4'x8' foam to size for the base of the 6' long and 4' long sections of the new benchwork. I layered additional 1" thick pieces on top of that to bring the new surface up to the track level of the original. The right side will need to slope up to the higher elevation, but none of that will happen till I have all the track laid out. Track! Oh yeah. Thats what I need next. I need to get some.

 

[Jim 68cuda]

So, I've started acquiring some track. The old part of the layout is all code 83 nickel silver with black plastic ties. But now, I'm finding that Atlas code 83 track has brown ties. Same with Walthers code 83. I didn't look into other code 83 brands.

So I decided to just go with code 100 for the new part of the layout, so that the black ties would match the old part of the layout. That choice will also get me some donated leftover track from a couple buddies. That will help reduce the cost. I picked up some transition 83-100 rail joiners, though I'm wondering if I should instead go with Walthers transition track pieces.

But as I started roughly laying out the few pieces of track I have so far, I started to notice, 4'x10' isn't near as big as I was thinking. I know my rough drawing wasn't to scale, but 4'x10' is just tiny for HO scale, even with the simple oval I have in mind. 5'x12' would be better suited for what I had in mind. I thought 4'x10' would be a huge additional extension for the existing layout. Now that I think about it, I think I went through this same thought process thirty years ago when I started on the original layout.

I still need a bunch of track, including four turnouts for four separate industries (heating oil dealer, farm feed supply, farm implement dealer, and a wood barrel manufacturer), and I'll need turnouts to cross over from the inner loop to the outer loop and back.

As I looked at what I had, and as I looked at all the structures I had planned to include, I thought, 'this is never gonna work". I pulled out the structures and placed them roughly in place. So far, I have left off two structures that I had planned to include, and any thoughts I had for a bridge on one side are out of the question now. But, there's now no room for much of what I had planned. My cow pasture behind the barn, gone!. My horse pasture in front of the farm's stable, gone! The apple orchard planned to be behind the equipment shed at the farm, gone! The forest to the right of the farm equipment dealer, now the size of a small suburban lot. The brick tudor style house I had intended to have hidden in the woods behind a long tree lined driveway, well, its just on a small lot up against the tracks now. Suddenly, the plan for a small rural mostly farming community, doesn't look quite so rural.

So now, I.m starting to think about what I'm willing to eliminate in order to get back some pastures and a corn field. But before I get to that point I need to obtain all the turnouts and track I need to work out the final placement for the track.

 

[Jim 68cuda]

I've received some of the Atlas turnouts I've ordered. But there are still more that I need to order for the new section of the layout. So today, I turned my attention to the hole in the old part of the layout where the track used to go through holes in the wall between two bedrooms at the old house. A fairly flat surface ended at the wall on one side of the wall, and a mountain was built up to the wall on the other side. On the mountain, there is a winding road that was right next to the track, coming down the mountain right at the front edge of the layout. On the flat side, there is a road running past the railroad station near the back of the layout (at an elevation about an inch higher than the station and track).

Today I took some foam sheets, and filled in the "hole". Then I took scrap foam and tried creating a hillside/cliff that could transition from one scene to the other. For this first attempt, I have allowed for space cut into the cliff to allow the road past the station to wind up the cliff side and connect to the mountain road in the foreground. I'm not totally happy with the steep slope, but with some sculpting, some rocks, and some vegetation, it may work.

I have been considering having the road past the station disappear into a tunnel (it will be prominantly seen when standing on that side of the layout). But, I didn't like the idea of a road tunnel directly next to a train tunnel. That part was against a back wall at the old house. The following three pictures were from the layout as it was at the old house with the fairly flat town built right up to the wall.

This is what it looks like from that side of the layout now.

I considered having the road in the foreground cross a bridge over the tracks, but I'm not sure I can easilly make that road realistically climb up to the minimum height for a bridge over the tracks, without significant alterations to the mountain. There is plenty of space to make a more gentle slope in the foreground to the right of the blue house. But, its the higher elevations where the room to work with is the tightest. The tunnel portal really can't be moved out any closer to the station.

 

[Jim 68cuda]

I now have finally got all the code 100 track laid out how I want it on the new section of the layout. I still need to cut some flex track for all the sidings. Once I have everything in place where I want it, everything will be marked on the foam and removed to contour and shape the foam.

But first, theres the code 83 track on the old part of the layout. I need to check some more boxes in the basement for more, because it seems a fair amount on that track is missing or has been destroyed in the move. I don't want to make anything permanent till I know how it will all fit together. Meanwhile, I'll likely need to buy more code 83 track now.

Its a slow process. And this time of year there are other priorities and expenses. Went out to the garage to change the oil on the car and discovered the front brake calipers were not releasing. A new master cylinder for the brakes for my particular application is $250. Less for a remanufactured one that may or may not work. That unexpected expense and the time it will take will delay forward progress on the layout for a while.