Appalachian Mountain Coal Mining 4x8 Build

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Nice work, and you got an inter city 125 going round to. I'm in a dilemma at the moment how to cram everything the boys want into a 9' x 6' area, while maintaining a walkway into the middle so we an still access the 2 drawer filing cabinets, you have given me an idea ;) cheers mate keep up the good work
 


Thanks gents. When I designed the layout, I designed it so I could pack as much into a small space as I could. I wanted a bridge, tunnels, over/under operation, 2 main lines, and a yard. I must admit, though, that I did have a lot of guidance from members of this forum during the design and build of this layout.

For anyone considering a similar design,
If you're thinking of building a layout similar to this, allow me to warn you of some of the troubles I've had thus far (many, though, are due to poorly laid trackwork, as this is my first layout). Many may not apply to you, but I feel it's a good idea to warn you anyway.

First and foremost is the limitations of this design. The tight radius curves (15" inside and 18" outside) and steep grades (about 4%). To pull any decent amount of rolling stock, small engines with a lot of traction work best. I've modified the front couplers and boxes on a few of the cars and rear couplers on some of the engines to allow more room to "swing" without derailing. Without doing this, the tight radius turns cause the overhang on the engines and cars to push the tail of the lead and head of the trail to push off of the track. The only US diesel engine I currently own that can make the entire inner line without derailing and grinding to a halt is my SD38-2. Surprisingly, my GP38 won't even make it. My 4-4-0 American steamer has no issues making the run, but can only haul 1 or 2 VERY lightweight cars (the engine itself is lightweight, with no room for additional weight over the drivers).

With the grades, a single engine (even the Dash 9) has a hard time pulling more than a couple of heavily weighted cars (which is why I have 3 engines pulling 14 cars, including a track cleaning box car. I like to run loooong trains. :) ).

Secondly, I have had quite a few issues with uncoupling. This is likely due to my inexperience and poor trackwork. When first running the layout, cars would uncouple from the engine when entering the first grade on the main line. I fixed this by reducing the initial grade and leveling the track a bit. The other issues with uncoupling came from wavy trackwork on my part.

Most of the issues could be prevented by an experienced model railroader. That being said, this particular design really isn't a first time builder's layout. Though I'm enjoying operating and building the layout, I wouldn't do this design as a first layout. If I had to start fresh, I'd build it with minimal grading and wider radius curves, even if it meant losing the over/under operation. I also wouldn't use the foam the way I did to create the initial grades (a hot wire would've been better to cut the foam away, then add the risers and inclines to the squared foam. I used a regular kitchen knife and a rasp, then added the risers and inclines, making for a rough road).

Despite the issues I've had, I should be able to get plenty of enjoyment from this little layout for a good while to come (especially once I can get to adding the ground cover and other scenery).

Steve B,
Yep, the Class 43 HST 125 is one of my favorite passenger trains. This particular train was my first model train. My parent's got it for me when I was in the 1st grade. We were living in London at the time, so it was only natural to get a British train. If my father remembers correctly, we got to ride one while there, as well (I do remember seeing them at the train stations, at least). British trains are what I really wanted to get into when I got back into trains. At the time, I was looking for more of a "quick fix" that I could get through my LHS. They can't get them, so I ended up going for a US prototype. Since then, I've learned of a few more resources for British trains, and will be buying more in the future (thinking of a Virgin Pendolino for my next one).

If you liked seeing the 125 on my little 4x8, watch her stretch her legs a bit on my club's HO layout, which has a few curves designed for high speed passenger trains (mostly the Amtrak Acela). When I first brought her out onto the main line, I had to get in behind a New York Central EMD diesel hauling freight. What a bummer!!! She really couldn't stretch her legs any using only about 1/3 of the throttle to keep from running over that EMD. I did, however, take a few chances to stop, let the EMD catch up to me, then give the 125 full power to highball around the layout and slow to keep from running the EMD over. Towards the end of our open house, I was the only one on the line, that's when I was able to allow her to highball to her heart's content. That's also when I made the below linked video.

Here's the vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EISuuvgIJBg

Also, if you guys want to see the layout go by a bit slower, here's another vid I made today after taking the HST off of the line. I'm running my Athearn Dash 9 #9823, Athearn SD38-2 #3819, and Athearn GP38 #5287 pulling the "Juice Train".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIVl3sQCSv8

Shannon
 
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More has been done to the layout over the last few weeks.

For starters, the majority of the terrain is shaped with the exception of the pond and river beds. Those will be some of the last major jobs done on the layout.

To make the straight drops look more realistic, I used Woodland Scenic's Mold-A-Scene Plaster to create dirt forms, then painted over them using Woodland Scenic's Earth Color's Earth Undercoat Liquid Pigment.

I then painted the mountain and surrounding terrain with a mixture of FloQuil Earth and Engine Black with a little bit of thinner to make the paint go a bit further.

Once painted, I added Woodland Scenic's Green Turf Blend for the grass, then ballasted the track around the mountain.

I also managed to pick up a few buildings from the train club, which are the ones seen in the photos and in the video. They are only in place temporarily to kind of "test fit" them to see if they'll look good and fit with the layout.

Attached are some updated photos and a link to the vid on YouTube.

The Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80N2VhkQQWA
 
I've enjoyed looking over this thread and seeing your layout progress. Its looking great and has even gave me some ideas with scenery. I look forward to seeing more photos and reading about your progress. Great job.
 
Thanks, it's been a heck of a ride. I've learned a lot in the process, and still learning with each building session.

Glad to hear you're getting some ideas from it.

While I"m on, attached are a few "railfanning" photos taken after adding a few trees.
 
Thanks Photogdad.

I put quite a bit more work into the layout over the last couple of days.

Here's what's been done:

1. Masked the track near where the ground cover was to be laid to minimize the cleanup afterward.

2. Used more scenic plaster to fill in the cliffs, pond bed, river bed, and too steep hills.

3. Painted task #2

4. Painted the rest of the layout where ground cover will be.

5. Spread and glued the ground cover over the painted sections of the layout.

I've also purchased Realistic Water and a couple of canoes with people for the river and pond.

Also found out the hard way (actually, I should say knew but didn't think about it at the time) that paint thinner and extruded foam don't mix well. :o That's OK, though, the damage filled and covered fairly easily with ground cover. I may have to put another layer in those spots though once the glue dries to ensure a complete coverage (as I may have to do with other parts of the layout).

At least the layout is no longer all white and baby blue. ;)

Hopefully by the end of the weekend I'll have the rest of the track ballasted and the lake and river created with the canoes in place, then next week I'll make the waterfall and wakes. I may also go ahead and detail the bridge a bit.

Attached are a few shots to show the layout as it sits with the glue still wet from this evenings build session.

Shannon
 


Goes to show what can be done in a 4x8 space. Its amazing to see the progress of your layout go from nothing to having a mountain and tunnels and the works and running trains. Thanks for sharing your progress and updates.
 
Not too much to report tonight, but I did manage to get a few things worked on.

The most noticeable is that I ballasted a few of the yard tracks and around some of the turnouts. Unfortunately, I ran out of ballast and won't be able to get more until about Tuesday or Wed.

Also noticeable is that I have gotten a coat of paint on the bridge to cover up that base brown plastic color.

A bit less noticeable is that I've permanently affixed 4 structures to the layout. The mountainside shack, the freight station, the water tower, and the engine shed.

Even less noticeable for the time being (it'll be noticeable once complete) is that I've begun to add the Realistic Water to the pond and river areas. The pictures show them a bit cloudy, but they're still a bit wet. This will take me at least a few days to get to the correct depth.

I've also had to trim some of the Mold-A-Scene from one of the curves to allow for overhang on some of my equipment. I have repainted it.

Here's a couple of pics to show the progress.

Shannon
 
Thanks for the welcome. I haven't touched my layout in years. I built the layout in the early 90's but about three years ago I started having alot of derailments. A couple years later and I realized that I have major issues with my track buckling and lifting from the base. I will pretty much need to rip up all the trackwork (and surrounding scenery) to lay new track. Not sure exactly when I'll get around to doing that.
My mistake in laying the track back in those days was to use double sided carpet tape to hold the track in place. I then glued track and ballast in place over top of the carpet tape. The layout is located in an attic room that gets rather warm in the summer and I think the tape expanding and contracting and separating from the foam base underneath was likely the start of my trouble.
 
Jim,
Don't fret the track work too much. I'm having issues with that myself (though not that noticeable in the videos, as I try to make sure everything is running well for the vids). The trackwork can be fixed with a lot of patience. By the way, I like the idea of your retro layout. Most of my structures are older buildings that I've acquired from fellow modelers or picked up used at the LHS.

On to the update. First off, I managed to get the rest of the layout ballasted, though there are a few sections needing some kind of touch up (some of the scenery base underneath is lifted in spots, making it difficult to ballast those areas without interfering with train operation). In finishing the ballasting, I have revealed a few other trouble spots with my trackwork. In more than one spot, the rails were so uneven as to cause some very frustrating intermittent derailments. It was getting so frustrating, in fact, that I had somewhat considered selling the layout and all of my HO stuff and going for an O scale layout (I run O scale at the club and a loop of O scale at home). Despite those considerations, I decided to truck on and at least try to figure out my issues since I've got so much time and money invested in this layout. I would hate to just throw all of that away over something that can be fixed once the problem has been figured out. A few Plastrut strips underneath have seemed to fix those spots. The trains seem to be running fine now. However, I'll leave the touchup ballast for after I've got a few hours of runtime through them, to hopefully avoid further issue with those spots.

In addition, I've added a couple more structures to the layout. The first of which is to be the primary industry on the layout. A coal mine. In actuality, this structure is a coaling tower that will be converted using an elongated chute coming from the structure and flowing the coal to the hopper in the yard underneath. I'm still working on the chute. The second structure added was a balsa kit of a trackside shed that I received at my train club's "white elephant" gift exchange at the Christmas party.

To "liven up" the structures, I've added some clump folliage and tall grass at their bases. In addition, the little mountain shack at the base of the mountain now has a rusted out car sitting in some bushes and tall grass, as if abandoned there to rot.

I've also managed to get the pond and river nearly filled up, as well as added some follieage, tall grass, and talus to them. There is also now a dock with a family on a fishing trip located on the pond and two couples canoeing on the river below.

To make use of my old plastic wheelsets from rolling stock, I've painted them and set them next to the engine shed as a spare/junk axle storage yard. Hopefully this week I'll be able to add a forklift, put a couple of axles on it, and put it next to the shed as well.

Finally, I have begun construction of the tunnel portals. I'm making these out of extra course talus. I may have to go with medium or coarse talus on the inside of the portals on the curves due to clearance issues as the longer locomotives and rolling stock goes through them (they tend to bump and hang on to the extra course talus being used for the outside of the portal).

I'm working on a video to post, and should have it posted within the next hour or so. I'll post an update when it's up.

Shannon
 


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