The unnamed layout build and design thread

[Cjcrescent]

I did a little work on the plan and this is my most current version. The layout connects to the outside world through the siding at the top left of it. Eventually this will lead to another yard and a few sidings or atleast some staging.

Mike;

Hope you don't mind, but I took some "liberties" with your plans. I imported your drawing as a Jpeg, and modified it in Paint, which made the geometry a little off. The things that I changed are in red on the new drawing below. Keep in mind, that if this was my layout, these are some of the changes I would make. OK, we can leave the staging area off for later, so its not there. However, switching just three to four areas on a layout would soon get boring. I added several more spurs,and by changing one small area on the right side, got in another siding and spur, and added some more yard tracks.

I've given mucho advice, learned and taught other modelers different techniques over the years, on their layouts, in NMRA clinics, on my layouts, but the first thing I always try to tell them is this; You're going to get all kinds of advice from other modelers, some asked for and some not. Listen to what is said, take that advice or idea and roll it into your concept of what you want to do.

If the advice given you fits, then consider it some more to see if you really want to do it. If you do, it was great advice. If not, then maybe it doesn't fit this layout but very well could fit the next. One thing I would definitely do to this layout for sure, is to change the yard trackage to a lower frog, like a #5 or even #4.5 (Atlas #4's) this will give you a sharper angle into the yard, but will also generate longer yard tracks. You can have yard tracks too short to be as functional as you would like, but never too long.

 

[mike8693]

thanks for the advice, thats why I posted it, for the advice. I haven't quite figured out terrain on xtrk yet but the lower left is going to be a mountain the mine goes into so now room for track. I like what you did but I would like to stick with #6's if i can. Also I put some buildings where the town will be. not placement but town location. The siding next to the new town location will have the the Sterling Consolidated Dairy complex. Then I will have a farm or two somewhere that trucks in the milk to it and the occasional car of milk from the next town over.

 

[Cjcrescent]

Works for me Mike. Always remember, Its YOUR railroad and not anyone else's. You have to be happy with it. That's why I said IF.

 

[UP2CSX]

Mike, are you planning to paint your background directly on the backdrop material? If so, roll linoleum in white or light blue is really good. You can often find end rolls at flooring dealers dirt cheap. It's flexible and takes most paints well. You will have to build a light lumber framework to hold it flat and then screw it to either the wall or layout. I like my backdrop against the wall with a small gap between the layout and backdrop so the shadows of the scenery don't get cast as readily on the backdrop.

 

[mike8693]

Well I made some major progress today. I would have finished but apparently people want the saws and hammers to stop at one in the morning As you can see I hammered the 4 foot pieces together from the old layout to make the longer pieces. Its not so much the cost of new 2x4's its the hauling 70, 4 foot pieces and 80 2ft pieces out of the basement and carrying 50 more back down. The second pic is my prize of the weekend. I found it on craigslist got it for 75 bucks, you cant tell it was used and I swear it cuts better than the $600 dewalt I used at school. And I'm quite minimal when it comes to add ons, like on a car, yeah it has a 6 disk cd changer, where do i put the other 94, but the side extentions are a huge help. Before the "reach" police pull out there cuffs remember the back corner will have no track, just a mountain and I'm gonna get a topside creeper to senic it. And to be honest my new corrolla s has a 6 disk changer in it .

Also to make the walkway wider I changed the benchwork plan alittle. I widened it about 2 inches and I made the side with the yard a little more rounded.

 

[mike8693]

It's been awhile

Well I've made some progress. Once I finish the top perimeter i'll nail on my blocks of wood to screw my drywall to, then add the rest of my grid to support my foam, and eventually add my drywall. I was hoping to be finished w/ benchwork by now but I spent a week in Atlanta for New Years and haven't got to far, but hey its something. I also expanded the plan about 3 inches so it touches a colum and two wall so it will hopefully limit movement and keep drywall from cracking. It ain't pretty but I'm not a carpenter so its good enough for me.

 

[UP2CSX]

Looks good and beefy to me. I don't think you're going to have any problems with stability with that benchwork.

 

[brubakes]

good work so far, keep us posted on the progress.

 

[mike8693]

Update: Since the last photo was taken, things got messy, as in some much crap you couldn't walk. So with some subtle "encouragment" if ya catch my drift I finally got it picked up, and it only took 4 hours yayy!
As you can see there has been no progress on benchwork, I am so sick of carpentry.

I also set me up a work area (as the old workbench was every horizontal surface) And yes that is a cardboard box velcrowed to the wall with trash written on the side.

My brother got me a bulk transfer kit for xmas so I got that started still have to touch it up.

Hey its a start. Ill get it weathered soon.

The great train expo was in town this weekend so I got some of my key industries for the layout. New River Minig, Commisary Freight and transfer and Northern Light and Power so I know what Ill be doing the next few weeks .

I've got started on the mine. Times like these when I wish I had an airbrush, I have spent like 5 hours so far painting but I have almost all the sides done, and all the roofs are done.

Start of the base.

Sorry for the spelling overwrite is on and im not sure how to turn it off . Another fun tidbit my 5 month old $1400 laptop had to be reset so i lost all my files programs etc. It seems like every month something major is wrong. AND now i cant get my sd card reader to work... ahhh dont buy a dell

 

[vato loco]

It seems like every month something major is wrong. AND now i cant get my sd card reader to work... ahhh dont buy a dell

Man I can't agree with you more We got one Lap top and one desk top over $3200 worth of computers.....Both have been taken apart so many times your scared to pick them up My wifes work has the comercial ones.....Same crap! Dell is the worst. Mike don't ya like the Tec support......................We were watching, "I-Robot" my 11 year old son said,"To bad the robots wern't made by dell..........They would have crashed as soon as they were expected to do some thing!" LOL' only from a child......

 

[UP2CSX]

The only brand of laptop I will buy is Toshiba after having nothing but grief with both Dell and HP. My brother has gone through almost exactly the same problems with his Dell. They have my nomination as least likely tech company to survive 2009.

 

[mike8693]

Funny that you said that. I still have my Toshiba Satellite from 1995 and have never had one problem with it (besides replacing battery but that is to be expected)and i use it alot of times to play the old school games on that vista won't support. One of my desktops is hp and its never had a problem but it is so dang slow. The other day I found my blue "bubble" imac. And it still worked! =) cant belive the little thing survived 7 years or so.

 

[sparkyftw]

Good work on the benchwork

And as for computers, I hear you on the headaches about dell and support. Luckily for me I can solve any problems I have. As for a desktop, I only build my own. Unfortunately its hard to compete with dell's (or any OEM company) prices.

 

[mike8693]

well i went to plan for more structures and realized something. When i reinstalled my operating system i lost all my files including my track plan. =( Well i remade it, much better imo. Im leaving mr cheap behind and adding in all the switches in need. Since im going to build my own i figure that the materials will only cost 5 bucks a switch (cutting my own ties) and 15 for blue points w/ linkage so i figure extra 10 switches or so will only cost like 200 more. Your spending thousands whats another 200. Ill stop rambling for now. All suggestions are welcome.

 

[mike8693]

I still have to glue down roofs, stairs, converyors etc. but i have got the mine started.

 

[D&J RailRoad]

Ya need some partician walls inside the structure and then some lighting. Lighting under the hopper filling station adds a neat looking feature in night time operations.

 

[UP2CSX]

Mike, the new track plan is a big improvement. You'll need at least one crossover in the yard once you get down to the detail level. The mine looks good too. I agree about adding some black plastic or cardboard to the interior as view blocks so you can't see right through the building.

 

[mike8693]

A terrible week.

Well Im back after finally getting internet and cable back. After the storm. So far in KY its killed atleast 24, set the record # of power outages (set by the hurricane in septemberish, and caused over 45 million in damage. And some places are looking at 5 more weeks before they get power, thankfully fema has finally sent water and generators and the national guard is here to help.
Monday
I go to a rural school about 30 miles away and it is some narrow roads so it cancels classes alot and we got light snow sunday night so all classes were cancelled (all week for that matter)

Tuesday
In the moring we got about 2 inches of snow but in the after noon we got about 3 inches of frozen rain. Over the night plain old rain has come and has made its weay through snow and refroze leaving 5 inches of ice you can walk on without it breaking. That night it scared the crap out of me, i was in my room and a tree fell and slid off my room as the trees were coated with ice.

Wendsday

I wake up at 8:00 to the all to dreaded sound of the cable out shhhhhhhhhhhhbeeeeeeeeeeeeeohhhhhhhheee, three minutes later power goes out. I hang out upstairs for two hours and am i like this is boring im going to sleep in the basement. Well I guess the house is on a high water table because i walked down the stairs didn't realize there was water fell face first and slid into a bookcase cutting my leg and arm real good. Not to mention i was lying in a 2 inch deep pool of 40 degree water. In two hours of the sump pump being out a quarter of the basement had flooded. So we got buckets and trash cans and the three of us bailed water out of the basement carried it upstairs and poured it in the bathtub for 6 hours. We eventually got the water up to where we just had to bail water out of the sump pump and we rigged up a funnel where the washer drains. Finally 7 hours later my brother whos on the ifre dept. was able to get us a generator. Over the day we got another 2 or so inches of ice.

Thursday/Friday

With a house temp of 45 degrees we lived on basics (microwave, tv, fridge, and two crappy space heater. Finally friday around 6 pm we got power but no cable or internet . By now the trees are falling every 30 seconds or so and roads are unpassable in most places.

Saturday/Sunday

Yet more ice snow and rain for totals of around 8 inches saturday morning but temps finally got above freezing but only about 2 inches melted it was so solid.

Monday/Tuesday

Temps back below freezing, and today i got internet and cable back but we got another 2 inches of snow.

All in all this week has sucked. I love Louisville but my biggest complaint has to be if there is a flake of snow the entire basically shuts down. I dont know if it is lack of funding, planning, or salt and equipment but u pretty much wait till it warms up for snow removal around here. Below are some pics of the trees that fell around the house they were taken thursady (cause i aint going back out there) and things have only gotten worse but whatever let insurance deal with it.

there was a tree here when i left?

sorry for the lengthy post

 

[D&J RailRoad]

Looks dreary.

 

[mike8693]

btw i know some of you guys up north are like ok, big woop, but this is kentucky! there is maybe 10 days in a normal years when it doesnt get above freezing