Troy's Midnight Abbey Mythical RR 3rd Edition

[TLOC]

More thoughts on potential designs of the upper level:

And, having grown up around Elkhart may be a hinderance for what I actually want to do here: is the elkhart yard (the Robert Johnson Yard) better off being the "hidden staging" that is never modelled? Hmmm...


Troyphoto! My thoughts on the Elkhart yard if I may. I’m not a fan of modeling big yards as they are a space waster for the amount of play value they bring to the layout and operations. Plus all those switches are costly.

If you love yard switching by all means build it

If you like to just run trains, IMO don’t bother

If you like industrial switching build Robert Johnson Yard as a 2-3 track staging area for trains. You can hide the staging allowing trains to make appearances and switch the industries you’ll have

I have 1 3 track yard on my layout called Paper Mill Yard (PMY). Local trains come out of staging from either the north or south of the area I fictionally model. They run to PMY and drop off cars and than the locos move to be serviced. Later in the day they return from the diesel service facility and pick up and return to staging but opposite of where they originally came from . Meaning if they originated in south staging (st point, Wi) they exit to north staging (superior, wi). Staging for me is just 2 tracks at each location but each track holds 2 12 car trains with 2 diesels on each train

Decide how you what Johnson yard to be used

 

[troyphoto]

And bullnose extension on the upper level mostly done.

My measuring to cutting transition leaves a bit to be desired, so a bit of touch up with the jigsaw needed.

Here's what it was:

Here's the first outline of the new section:

And installed

And I cut the foamboard to mostly fit. Yes, there is an overhang on the left side. I'll need to add some spacers along that side.
Reusing previously built sections left a bit of a gap. between two sections here. But, the more I look at this corner, I may move the 45° piece, and trim the length off the long side of the bullnose section. Hmmmm....

 

[troyphoto]

And let the fascia begin. (Not Fascists... that's something else)

I know I need to cut another brace and some foam to fill in that triangle in the curve. Same on the other corners.

Yep... got some more backdrop to cut, paint and install... And you can see how much I was short.

Note: I set the rip fence for 6 in and forgot about the width of the blade. So I got three pieces at 6" per 24" wide panel. But then one at about 5.6 in... Oops. And I don't feel like running out to rip one more 6" section. I'm thinking there may be an expansion coming off that back corner in the future.

And I forgot to use it on the two "inside" curves, but for the tighter curves on the bullnose, I remembered to get the Windex out and give the board a good soaking in the curve area. I'll give it a few hours to evaporate before I attempt to paint.

 

[logandsawman]

And let the fascia begin. (Not Fascists... that's something else)

View attachment 217614

I know I need to cut another brace and some foam to fill in that triangle in the curve. Same on the other corners.
View attachment 217615

Yep... got some more backdrop to cut, paint and install... And you can see how much I was short.

Note: I set the rip fence for 6 in and forgot about the width of the blade. So I got three pieces at 6" per 24" wide panel. But then one at about 5.6 in... Oops. And I don't feel like running out to rip one more 6" section. I'm thinking there may be an expansion coming off that back corner in the future.
View attachment 217616

And I forgot to use it on the two "inside" curves, but for the tighter curves on the bullnose, I remembered to get the Windex out and give the board a good soaking in the curve area. I'll give it a few hours to evaporate before I attempt to paint.
View attachment 217627

smart way to do the edges, I rounded the plywood in lieu of foam and tried to follow that edge, but your design letting the masonite float the inside and outside corners is definitely much easier and looks great!

 

[Rico]

Comin' along nicely, and the lower deck lighting looks great!

 

[troyphoto]

Did some work on the fascia today. Painted it Dutch Boy brand "Steely Expression." 435-6DB

I swear I had not looked at the name, just went by the sample color on the card.

I don't have all of the daylight puck lights in the ceiling for the upper deck yet, so I had to turn on the yellow lounge area lighting.

Here's the finished, with still wet paint:

 

[migalyto]

That really shaped the top deck up nicely!

 

[Bruette]

Well done!

 

[HOexplorer]

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

View attachment 209100
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:

Looks great. I wish I would have had that much room. I too, have the floaters and failing vision in my right eye. Best of luck.

 

[TLOC]

You are moving along pretty well. It looks great

 

[Kusojiji]

I too, have the floaters and failing vision in my right eye

Why is it always the right eye? We part of the floater right eye group or something? haha

It does make driving a bit dangerous as sometimes I see something coming that really isn't there, or visa versa. A few close calls.

 

[Kusojiji]

As we've been discussing in the coffee shop threads, I need to get going on my layout again.

And I realized I should do the upper level first. At least get it going, track down, and a rough idea of where everything goes.

Problem is, I have no idea what goes up here.

My list of givens and druthers:
1. Exit off the helix on far right side (helix to be built later.)
2. track grade level.
3. this will be the "Conrail" Elkhart area. The lines coming out of Toledo OH and Fort Wayne IN should meet, along with an interchange to Detroit.
4. This will be "Proto-Fantasy" in it's layout. One or more of the interchanges might get dropped
5. Because the purpose of the layout is RAILFANNING and Photos, the track plan will have a loop for continuous running.
6. I'd like to model a hump yard to illustrate Elkhart Yard due to several uncles and greats working in the yard.
7. there will be a river scene. With a fuel stop and boat launch that another great uncle on the other side of the family owned.

Here's a look at most of what I've got on the S shaped layout: (I cleared the tools and junk off the upper deck, so now the lower deck is cluttered.)
View attachment 217130

And here's a very rough plan of what I might do. No switching is involved, yet.

However, I realized that if I just do a continuous loop, I'd have to park the trains, and run the engines around in the yard, if I want to nose-first back down the helix. So I added a wye right after the St. Joe river on the outer side of the loop to connect with the inbound interchange.

View attachment 217131
Nothing in that diagram is set in stone. It's just first thoughts.

And yes, I know the reach to the back of the curves is long. I'd planned to need a step stool to get back that far. I'll make sure the tracks are a standard 28" in along the back of the layout. It will be scenery that I'll need the step stool to complete.

Thoughts and input welcome.

Not sure how tall you are, but I'm thinking snail's eye view at the upper level and bird's eye view at the lower level. Upper level for running the trains through scenics, towns, etc and switching, industry at the lower level as you'd probably want to see more depth across the tracks to know where everything is. Or do I have that backwards...

 

[troyphoto]

I'm at average american caucasian male height 5'10".

The upper level is a few inches under my chin at 55 inches. With crocs on my feet, chin is at 61"

 

[Kusojiji]

Ok, got it. Not quite snail's eye view. But to maximize your viewing pleasure, where ever your most continuous running would be at whatever level you are going to be at most. If sitting and you like to just run trains like I do from my chair, then lower level for the scenics and upper for the switching, engaging stuff where you'd be standing anyway.

As far as the helix is concerned, please keep access to the train in mind as there may be derailments, etc inside and you'll need to get your hands inside to unscrew it. If it is very narrow, then it may be hell to un-f' it.

 

[DeaconKC]

This looks so good! And Bridal Veil Falls, Heber Springs, AR is 5 minutes from my house

 

[troyphoto]

And back to some work.

I decided to extend the far left end of the layout to work in fiddle yards for the top and bottom levels. Need to get more foam

Before:

After. The wide angle lens on the phone put a bow in it. The four-foot level says it's level:

 

[diesel]

Painted it Dutch Boy brand "Steely Expression."

Hope you didn't get any on your face.

 

[troyphoto]

Hope you didn't get any on your face.

Blue Steel!

 

[troyphoto]

Well, as I've said several times, it's a heck of a journey!

Over in the coffee shop thread for this month, Willie rightly pointed out that I haven't been working on my layout, like I said I was going to.

I started to ask why that is? After some thinking time...

Frankly... I keep getting overwhelmed by the scope of the project. That's a lot of terrain.

And, I'm getting older and fatter. Trying to bend or reach is becoming a challenge. Double deckers don't support either getting older, or getting fatter. One deck is too high, the other has too little clearance above....

Another part of the issue is I chase Shiny Squirrels (I combine the "ohhhhh! SHINY!" and go wandering off following the shiny –Along With– I'm like a dog out on a sniff patrol who spots movement, the ears perk up, SQUIRREL! and then they're off in a flash as the squirrels run hither and tither and the dog sprints for them... I got both at once. Shiny Squirrels distract me.

Usually it hits when I get to a point in one project that makes me pause for a big think... And the track planning gave me that pause...

So, the gaming (little toy soldiers) hobby kicked in with new games or revisions of old. And you can't play with half an army, so I've been chucking paint on a lot of little soldiers to get a full force or two on the battlefield.

But something else started to settle into my conscious thoughts after Willie's comment about not working on the layout...

Have I made the project too big?

A double decker means a helix at some point.

It means neither deck is where I can comfortably reach the back corners

I'm too the point where I need to start putting plaster cloth down on the inclines for the upper level. After that, it's cork roadbed and then track and ballast. Once I begin that part, I don't want to be messing with the structure of the benchwork. The time to decide what to do is now. Not later.

Do I downscale and drop to one level in the same footprint?

You can see what the lower level has become. A catch all...

The lower level is at 36-37 inches off the floor. The upper level at 55 inches.

Here's the Pro's for the drop down to one level, and eliminate the other level.

I can reach the back corner of the upper only with a step stool. Looks like my armpit is about 53 inches high with my indoor crocs on. So a 48-inch height would be sensible. Neither level fits that height. And trying to get under the upper level for back corners on the lower deck turns me into a pretzel.

If I go to a 48 inch height for the main deck, I can eliminate the lower level, and reuse parts for taller legs to support the upper. I'll have more room to get under the layout for wiring.

The big reason: It reduces the scale of what I have do. The project moves from almost too much to manage intimidation factor, down to something more manageable. No BIG overwhelm attached to it. The overwhelm has a smaller frame, so it's easier to see the end...

If I eliminate the lower level, and readajust the upper level to a manageable height, I can add more foam height to the deck, and get more downward construction room for rivers and terrain features.

I can plan for a below deck staging yard. Not sceniced, and a tight reach, but enough to store the trains I haven't purchased yet.

The Cons for dropping to one level

Disapproving looks from the wife

Expansion becomes an issue, but a minor one. I can shelf layout several parts of the basement if I want to expand. I doubt I'll give up the gaming area (behind me as I take the pics of the layout)... but there is room to downsize that and allow a manageable expansion of the model railroad.

But, expansion is years in the future. I have to finish what's in front of me. I'll deal with that later.

Doing the demolition of the lower level and lowering the upper level will take time. I probably won't get to the roadbed and track-laying until late summer.

What am I missing as I muse this over? Or is it mull it over? Feel free to let me know your thoughts? Have you done something similar?

 

[traiNscale]

maybe you can, start thinking in sections not in one big project.
take one section, maybe upper left or so. what has to be there?
do track work, start scenery, go to the next section.

or do the trackwork first, then start somewhere with landscaping, or build a building. or wire up some turnouts.
there are many approaches to not get overwhelmed. or tear down the upper deck, start from scratch and think what you really want.

and then start over. dont see it as a failure, see it as a step into the right direction.
and as a learning process

cheers
Marco