Troy's Misty Valley Mythical RR 3rd Edition

[troyphoto]

Welcome aboard. This is going to be a heck of a journey.

The Old:

This is the third start I've had to making my model RR. I'm both stubborn and flighty, so you'll need to bear with me.

Another thing you'll need to understand about me is I don't like failure. If I fail, I do the learn and move on, but each failure is a ghost haunting me.

And the failures I had in iterations 1 and 2 were just poor planning on my part. But I don't want to be reminded of them every time I open the thread to share what's new. So if you want to see the other goes, they're in this other thread.

The New:
I'll steal some of the posts at the end of the other thread, and transpose them here, to keep this build all together. We'll start with those next. This may take a few days to get caught up. Please bear with me.

No, not "bare with me" - no one wants to see that. Nekkid Modellers might be a thing elsewhere, but not on this thread. Yet. You never know what a few glasses of bourbon might do.

Misty Valley Mythical:
What the heck is that?

Misty Valley is a place in my imagination. You see, I'm an independent author under a pen name. I write magical cozy mystery books, set in our world, with a hidden magical society. The Fae are among us, hiding in plain sight. Pixies, mini-dragons, troll, and other mythical creatures are normal parts of my books.

My love of trains showed up in the main series of books, number 6. The fae run a bunch of old transition era steam and diesel locos, pulling passenger cars of a bygone era. They also operate freight consists of any engines I like the look of. Since I grew up in the 1970s in Northern Indiana, Conrail blue is one of my favorites, but don't really want to model that area.

By making the RR set in my mythical world, I can run the Conrail freight with a Daylight Express from the west coast from a decade earlier if I want. And my whimsy, and love of magical, mythical creatures can take center stage.

That's not to say I can do operations on what I'm planning. But I'm building this for me, not for the NMRA. One to three people should be able to operate this layout.

Hobbies Intersecting
My other interests include tabletop miniature wargaming (Little toy soldiers and dice), and 3D printing.

After years of playing and burning out on the competitive tournament scene (I'm not competitive, and am officially over and done with the "meta gamers" who have to compete to have "fun" as they curb stomp their opponents.

What model railroading brings is the ability to do the parts of the gaming hobby that I love: painting figures, and making vignettes of dioramas by way of creating a scene with terrain.

Add 3D printing, and I can print out figures, buildings, bridges, even vehicles and rolling stock in any scale I desire.

Scale
If you follow the Running Bear's Coffee Shop threads (January 2025's thread here) you'll know I've been debating between N and HO scale. I currently have a bunch of N scale track and cork, along with two Great Northern locos, and some rolling stock.

I've been having some eye problems. Most recent I had a PDV happen while I was at a local train show/swap meet. Nothing like seeing gold sparkles while looking at model trains. Now I have a big mass of floaters in my left eye. I'll see the eye doc in about two weeks. If it turns out that I'm looking at deterioration moving along with my eyes, I'll sell off the N scale and move up. If this is just the new normal, well, I'll stick with N.

The photo at the top is the current state of the layout. But, first, we'll start up the WayBack machine with Sherman and Mr. Peabody, and go see how it got to this place. More in the next few posts:

 

[troyphoto]

Post number two and we enter the wayback machine:

In this we see that I DID actually make a track plan... but it evaporated in the great MacBook crash last year.
PS: I should try to learn that Railmodler Pro program.
----------
Thus begins round 2

If you've followed me in the Coffee Shop, then you will know that I pulled my layout down... well, the half-finished benchwork for a variety of reasons.

The writing desk, hobby desk, and gaming table (4x6 ft) have been consolidated to the area previously designated as "train area"

The layout will now be where the aforementioned writing/hobby stuff was.

Here's a rough sketch of the new layout's lower level. Made with RailModler Pro for Mac. I'm not a fan of the software, but it's about the only one made for Mac.

The Helix will be next to my current writing desk location.

Here's a work in progress shot:

That was me trying to figure out if any of the old benchwork could be used as is. Nope. Everything there got deconstructed. The 24-inch wide sections (right and rear of pic) will become the 2nd level.

Here's the first section installed.

 

[troyphoto]

Post three and we are still in the wayback machine:
(skipping a few posts from that thread... Just the highlights)
-----

May 13, 2023

I have to work on the second deck above the peninsula. I'm running out of other parts that don't get impacted by that chore.

Here's the coved backdrop along lower level:

So... the peninsula...

Here's what Gerry Leone did with his, and I was thinking of copying his:

Screengrab from Ep 8 of his Back on Track series on Trains.com

Gerry is using L-girder. I have open grid style. So the engineering is going going to be slightly different.

I'm thinking 2x4 (instead of 1x3") as center support legs rising from the floor up to 78" off the floor. That's the max height of the upper deck's backdrop.

My original thought was to run them in this orientation:

But, I believe they'll be better off rotated to the 4" side facing the long sides of the peninsula. Why?
Because I need somewhere to add both a shelf bracket, and a cleat that the lower deck's backdrop will attach to.

I'll add some 1x2 angled bracing under the lower deck to stabilize the legs. Yes, it will interfere with me creeping around underneath the peninsula for wiring and such. But I'd rather have to weave in and out than have the structure collapse. Or lose the upper deck in this area.

Feel free to chime in with your thoughts. Today is other project day. Tomorrow I'll be back on the benchwork.

 

[troyphoto]

And another Wayback Machine post for a tool tip: (I had just purchased my new Bosch jigsaw)
--------------

Since I purchased a new jigsaw, after tossing my old in the bin after being disgusted by how much it drifts on a simple cut... I remembered that I did have a use for the old jigsaw:

The new one is the blue/green Bosch. Guess what the old red one is used for?

Yep... foam!

I learned this from watching Gerry Leone over at Trains.com... but others have covered the idea.

Grind the teeth off a jigsaw blade. It doesn't have to be sharp, but should be sharp-ish...

No mess when it cuts rigid foam board. The red one is now a dedicated foam cutter.

 

[troyphoto]

And this should be the last of the Wayback Machine posts!

------

And it's time for the strongman show! Able to bend flextrack with his bare hands! Able to jump over an extension cord without tripping (usually). Able to pull the trigger handle on the caulk gun without asking his wife for help!

Today, I'm bending tempered hardboard!

True, it's only a 1/4-inch piece. But that's a tight bend.

I forgot to get in-process pics, so here's the finished product:

Pay no attention to the bottle of Windex behind the curtain... I swear, it bent only with the power of my.... OK, it was saturating it with Windex before and during the process.

You can see a drywall screw stuck into the OSB holding the piece of hardboard in place. I'd bend the board. Drive a couple of screws in to hold it in place. Spritz it with the secret sauce again. Wait a moment, the bend it some more. Move the screws to the new bend.
And repeat,
and repeat,
and repeat until I had the bend I wanted.

To get around the brackets, I pre-cut a section but underestimated how far to take it. On the other side of the bend, just above the bottle of Windex, you can see where I had to use the drywall saw to enlarge that cut-out

 

[troyphoto]

Here's a condensed post I made this month in the Jan 2025 Coffee Shop thread. I was noodling on the track plan, a year or so after losing my original in the MacBook crash.
...
Here's what I came up with after a few rough noodles.

Note, the right wing shows as 36" from the wall, but it's really 36. Like Gerry Leone, I "Changed my Mind" in the middle of building the benchwork.

Color key:
Dark brown are structural features (Walls, Counters and Cabinets, Doors) that I cannot alter.
Pink is the line leading to/from the planned helix.
Green is mainline on main grade level
Orange is Climbing/descending up to a +2 inch grade height.

I'm debating on taking the Yard wing to the left, and adding an extra layer of foam board to gain an inch, so I don't have to make the two inches from/to the gorge area in a short space. I could have a 1" descent from the orange gorge crossing to the yard. And another 1 inch descent from the yard along the front of the left wing toward Eerie falls.

None of the sidings or spurs are set in stone. I'm unsure if I want the line to/from the helix to come out as depicted, or to have it branch off closer to the curve around the quarry.

Starting on the lower right, I imagine a quarry in the curve as the track climbs, but that could move to the corner where the orange curves toward the gorge.

Jump back to the green main line, heading toward the gorge, and we encounter the town of St. Maurice (St. Mo). This area will have a shallow harbor, with a pier and amusement rides. Their main industry is rock mining (quarry). So the quarry needs to stay close to the coastal town.

Follow the green line over the gorge and we'll change from coastal scenery to interior/wooded. This is the town of Eerie falls. A few minor industries to be decided. Forest and waterfall features.

Room for another town in here if I figure out what I want. Or, maybe a lake in the "showcase" spot right across from the door/stairway into the basement. I'd like something eye catching there.

Follow the green line clockwise around the backdrop divider on the left, and we've got a yard. Not sure how that will get layed out yet. I'm imagining a stub end set of classification tracks.

Follow along through the backdrop on the orange (raised) line and I've got room to add another town before the gorge. Cross the gorge, and we'll loop over the St. Mo area. The more I think about it, the quarry will fit well here. But then what could go in the end by the Helix?

 

[ctclibby]

And this should be the last of the Wayback Machine posts!

------

And it's time for the strongman show! Able to bend flextrack with his bare hands! Able to jump over an extension cord without tripping (usually). Able to pull the trigger handle on the caulk gun without asking his wife for help!

Today, I'm bending tempered hardboard!

True, it's only a 1/4-inch piece. But that's a tight bend.

I forgot to get in-process pics, so here's the finished product:

View attachment 209122

View attachment 209123


Pay no attention to the bottle of Windex behind the curtain... I swear, it bent only with the power of my.... OK, it was saturating it with Windex before and during the process.

You can see a drywall screw stuck into the OSB holding the piece of hardboard in place. I'd bend the board. Drive a couple of screws in to hold it in place. Spritz it with the secret sauce again. Wait a moment, the bend it some more. Move the screws to the new bend.
And repeat,
and repeat,
and repeat until I had the bend I wanted.

View attachment 209124

To get around the brackets, I pre-cut a section but underestimated how far to take it. On the other side of the bend, just above the bottle of Windex, you can see where I had to use the drywall saw to enlarge that cut-out

View attachment 209125

Great job Troy! I think the most important part of all of it is '2 Great Northern Engines' - my kind of MRR.

Also glad that you waded into the CAD stuff, it will help in the long run.

Keep the pix coming!

Later

 

[troyphoto]

And this is one last post crossed over from the Jan 2025 coffee shop. It should catch us up from all the loose threads:
Because the single layer of 1-inch foam board was so degraded from gluing on several attempts at foam risers across the three iterations and recycling the foam board, I decided to add another layer of 1 inch foam on top of what is already there.
------

Foam trip from Lowes. I can only carry 2x4 ft sheets in my Camry, so I purchased and 4x8 sheet, and cut it inside the Lowes entryway.

Then I glued it down over the old layer.

above: The layout with round one of new foam.

Below: Round two of foam applied- to left, where the Dr. P Zero Sugar is, will be the yard.

Below: The Gorge. To the Right will be my SoCal wing, to the left will be a Northern scene with the town of Eerie Falls. The tunnel heading toward the Ginger Ale case will be the loop around the Yard on the other side of the divider. The bridge in the gorge is 3D printed from a free file. It's a bit rough. The designer needed to break it into parts. I'm not skilled enough with supports to give it what it needed (yet). I'll probably print it again if I use it. Though I could do some sanding to clean up the loose filament, and add some weathering.

Below: The main would curve through a short tunnel under one end of the town (probably where the falls are... with lots of eerie things. That region will probably wrap around the background with more eerie stuff, and maybe a second falls... cause the town is "Eerie Falls" plural. So you gotta have two falls for the eerie to hang out around.

PS: Ignore the WS foram riser on that two level hunk of hill.... that was salvaged from the old layout iteration, and I was carving that piece for gaming terrain. Right now it's just a visualization clue. The hills won't look anything like that... maybe.

I found an interesting channel on YouTube, with an N scale layout. I'm amazed at the detail he's been able to put into such a small layout. Seeing his work has pretty much locked in my lean toward sticking with N scale - unless the eye doc gives me bad news.

 

[troyphoto]

Great job Troy! I think the most important part of all of it is '2 Great Northern Engines' - my kind of MRR.

Also glad that you waded into the CAD stuff, it will help in the long run.

Keep the pix coming!

Later

The CAD stuff was a year or so ago. I've forgotten everything about it. And I have to start fresh with setting up the baseboard designs. I'll get around to that when I have to generate the helix. I'll let it do the math.

 

[troyphoto]

Well, with my sciatica flaring today, I didn't want to do much standing, so all I did on the layout was start noodling with ideas for the Eerie Falls side of the layout.

Here's that side:

It looks like a mess now, but...

I've been piling foam, and using incline risers to see how much track run I'd need for a logging camp idea. I've never studied logging camps in the Canadian wilds, so I'm not sure if this idea is prototypical. The far left of the above will be a mountianous wooded area with the logging section. Short haul loco wil climb a four percent grade, get loaded log cars, and head down hill to staging tracks for pickup by a local freight.

I've love to dump them into the river in the gorge, but I can't figure out how to fit the dump station, and sidings in and keep my mainline route intact.
I may play with sending the logger up through the tunnel, and let the mainline go around it. the line on the risers with the bridge in the back is the return of the main line after leaving the yard.

Still no clue what I'm doing there. But that's why I'm stacking foam blocks to give me a visual representation.

 

[troyphoto]

Video links for future reference:

I'm going to be modelling some of Southern California on the south wing of the lower level, though that area is threatening to take over the entire lower U.

Southern California Inspiration
So I've been watching some SoPacific layout tours on TSG Media's channel. Here's one with some variations of the type of scenery I'd like to incorporate in the SoCal area.

If you know of a good layout vid or article with orange groves and packaging facilities, or vineyards and packageing, please post the links below, and I'll appreciate taking a look.

RailModeller Pro Software for Mac

I purchased it over a year ago, then lost anything I had done when my Mac's hard drive decided to fail. The layout plan (limited, very limited) was the least of what I lost in the Great Bricking Episode). I am not a fan of using CAD style software. It's all clunky at best. And I have a difficult time translating 2D drawings into real world examples. I have to map out the track on the benchwork, and put real models of scenery down (mockups) to see what stuff will really look like. Do I have room for a little town here? Nope! How about a small warehouse?

The worst thing about that software is the training videos. They technically do the job. But they fly by so fast without commentary, I don't have the patience to skip back and forth trying to figure out what the designer just clicked on or why they clicked on it... The vids are NOT comprehensive. And I'm a visual learner, so vids are best.

Fortunately one gent decided to whip up a video on how to use the software. It's rudimentary, but covers the basics. Julian at Station Road channel did this on the software:

Perhaps I'll give it another shot, now that I've got a bit of insight on how to use that darn program.

 

[troyphoto]

And so it begins

I know, the track plan isn't set in stone yet. But this loop pretty much is. And there will be a SoCal rolling mountain behind it. So I was able to get the PL 300 out, and start gluing down the foam risers.

Fortunately, I had some Kentucky friends, and some faux-Canadian friends agree to to help hold down the foam while the adhesive cures. And, I used som 1 kilo packs of 3D printer filament as well.

Behind the backside of the loop, I glued down the base for the rolling mountains, using scrap pieces of foam salvaged from the previous layout. Ignore that one with the foam riser on the pink foam. That's a salvage piec, and no track will be back there. I'll probably add another inch or so to the mountains in that area. Sculptamold will soon disguise that.

 

[troyphoto]

Newly arrived today:

Isn't that sexy!

And this:

 

[KB02]

And so it begins

I know, the track plan isn't set in stone yet. But this loop pretty much is. And there will be a SoCal rolling mountain behind it. So I was able to get the PL 300 out, and start gluing down the foam risers.

View attachment 209376

Fortunately, I had some Kentucky friends, and some faux-Canadian friends agree to to help hold down the foam while the adhesive cures. And, I used som 1 kilo packs of 3D printer filament as well.

Behind the backside of the loop, I glued down the base for the rolling mountains, using scrap pieces of foam salvaged from the previous layout. Ignore that one with the foam riser on the pink foam. That's a salvage piec, and no track will be back there. I'll probably add another inch or so to the mountains in that area. Sculptamold will soon disguise that.

I like your weights. We'll have to get together for an "Ops" session some time!

 

[troyphoto]

Well, howdy there internet peeps and those wondering what I'm up to

Yesterday and today were a mix of projects.

First, Lighting:

Over the North Yard section of the layout (left side of the track plan) I originally installed four 4-inch puck lights. Turns out these were about triple the brightness of the LED strips I was using on the rest of the lower level.

I decided that LED strips were a better use-case for that area, so I ordered in 32 feet of LED strips (the tape on kind). My goal is to get three runs of 6.5 feet up over the Yard, Then to use the remaining LED tape to ad another row each to the rest of the lower level.

But, I needed to remove the puck lights, then run power.

Since this is a low amp use case, I've got a 14g extension cord, I cut the female end off of, and ran that to an outlet that I mounted inside the framework for the upper deck. That area will be accessible from under the upper deck, so I can plug in the wall wart for the LED Strips. That socket will plug into a power strip below the layout.

When planning out my yard (the final form of which is still gelling in my head), I wanted to see how many cars would fit on a 36" piece of track... Looks like a loco + 8ish + a caboose.

So my passing tracks need to be about 4-5 foot long. I'd like longer trains, but if I'm operating any switching while a mainline train runs, well, it'll be shorties, because the layout is only about 8ft at it's longest point. That's about 6ft between curves.

Because I'm always thinking scenery, and want to get major features planned out before track plans are final, I decided to start roughing in what I wanted to do with the gorge area. Since this U shaped section of the layout is the upper end of SoCal to Northern CA style terrain, I thought the gorge would be a good Yosemite-like transition area.

I remembered seeing Bridalveil Falls while we visited the National park, so I pulled a photo from our trip, and watched a couple of YouTube travel vids on it. That gave me a good idea of what I wanted to build.

I started laying in some foam pieces on the table to see if I could roughly duplicate the strata. I've been watching a lot of Thunder Mesa Studio's videos. I'd like to try Dave's method of wire brush scraping foam for the large strata features, and add Rock Castings with sculptmold to fill in some of the details.

Here's a rough idea of how the foam will layout. I just need to take it vertical, then stagger the pieces, and do a lot of trimming before the scraping.

 

[migalyto]

Your off to a great start!

I think you made the right decision sticking with N scale.

Going to be a fun layout to watch take shape!

 

[Rico]

I like your weights. We'll have to get together for an "Ops" session some time!

Um… that might just turn into an “oops” session instead!

 

[troyphoto]

And an update on wiring.

My wire from Parts express came in. I decided I'd go with Larry Pucket's (the DCC Guy) recommendation on getting Zip wire (12 gauge OFC stranded speaker wire) for the main bus line. Saves having to twist the two wires together.

Yeah, the guys at Parts Express but a heavy roll in a small box, with inflatable bags of air around it. The bags were flat and devoid of air by the time it arrived. Good thing I didn't need the spool for anything.

So, it was run wires under the layout.... I started dragging stuff out of storage under the benchwork... and realized I'd never drilled wiring holes in the joists. Well, crap! At 2:30 in the afternoon, I'm not allowed to run power tools in the basement, and I've got about 20 holes to drill with a Forstner Bit.

Waited until after dinner, when the wife drove over to help her mom put on a new blood sugar sensor. I was on my second half of the clean up when she returned.

Why did I have to drill? Because I was reusing lumber from previous attempts at a layout, and most of the ribs already had holes drilled, or so I thought. But the south wing was almost all new lumber. And silly me didn't feel like getting the drill and Forstner bit out when I built it.

So here's pics of the run of the main buss line. South Wing:

Above is under the middle section. The 2x4 legs are where the backdrop divider is mounted above.

Below is where I want to mount my Aegis Control Panel and booster for the NCE Power Cab system.

Plan is to mound it above the two sets of drawers. But I need to mount some extensions under the decking to screw the fascia to.

Got a lot of work to do before I can start wiring.

 

[troyphoto]

and now a second project for the day. Making the face of the falls.

You might remember me playing with some foam blocks to work as part of Bridalveil Falls (need a new name for that... Perhaps Bridal Leap falls? Or should I name it after someone? Foldsalot Falls?)

Here's where I started with that project this morning...

Then, following the messy process of Dave, the Thunderer at Thunder Mesa Studios, I got the wire brush (toothbrush size) and attacked the foam to make strata layers.

In the process I managed to unglue a few sections. So out came the wooden dowels. I didn't have any bambu skewers, so I sharpened the long dowells and pushed them in after adding more glue.

After that I broke out the two-temp heat gun, on the low setting, and let it melt a bit of the brushwork. Per Thunder Dave, that "locks it in place".

Thunder Dave's next process is using vinyl spackle to fill in the seam lines and any major gaps. Fortunately I had some. Spackle. And Cracks. My wife tells me I'm quite cracked.

The final step for now is to apply sculptamold to ease some of the right angles, add some filler and do a little (not a lot) of shaping. I did realize that where the waterfall will be, is that white channel in the center. and it's the highest point on the wall of rock. So, that will need to be carved down for a channel.

Now to let this dry. Tomorrow, some paint!

 

[Bruette]

Foldsalot Falls?

I like that! But don't feel obligated, it's your world. I'm certain if you think about it, you will "conjure" something fitting. See what I did there? And I say I have no creativity.