Playing Bridge

Lately I have not had the time or the energy to withstand the heat to work on the layout. This past week has been great though. It has actually felt like Fall here in Southern California. But for some strange reason Mother Nature is playing games with us again. It going to be back in the mid 90's this upcoming week. I hate the heat!

Yesterday I actually was able to work on something for a short period while Jim Bob, my 21 month (the wife hates when I call him that. His name is James Robert so what can I say) was down for a nap.

I am still killing myself over the trackwork and building the turnouts so I decided to skip all that and work on a bit of scenery. I picked the location that will have the most scenery and the least of track. This area will be in between two bridges: Hwy I-90 Frontage Rd/Gallatin St. Bridge and the I-90 fwy overpass. I mainly worked on getting the Frontage Rd. Bridge to fit into place.

Here is a shot of the actual bridge:

(Photo by Tom Danneman)

I am using the same material as I did for my backdrop for the streets. I like the flexability that it brings. Under the bridge you can see that I took foam poster board that I had laying around to create the under frame of the bridge. I stacked on two layers.

To create the arch in the bridge I bent the wood and form boards and glued with a hot glue gun. This made the setting period go quickly. Once I have everything set in place then I will set the bridge and then add some plaster scenery to fill in the gaps around the road. The arch might seem a little too extreme but I asure you that it will be fine once everything is set and in place with scenery around it. Unlike the prototype where the street levels out at the top, my bridge has to pretty much slope back down towards the town of Logan.

You can see that I have enough clearance for a double stack car to go under. As most of you know double stacks never travel this line but I still wanted it to have enough clearance just incase I needed it to be. I also check to make sure that the posts of the bridge were not too close to the track in case I had to run a passenger car or auto wrack through there. So far everything is good.

The bridge will be finished off with some styrene strips along the underside frame to hide the foam board and some guard rails on the top either made by styrene also or wood. We'll see.

2 pair of ACes

Well, I have added a few new faces to my fleet. I was able to find probably the last 3 MRL Athearn SD45 out there. They were very hard to find but I did it. I was also able to get my hands on the four new SD70Ace's. I have a friend out here by the name of Josh Mader of Mader Trains who hooked me up. He is a cool kid that gave me such a great deal. The only bummer was that his rep told him some false info about Athearn only coming up with 3 Aces and not 4. So I ended up with two 4306 units. This is fine because I can convert one into another number or just dump it and find myself a 4313.

The layout is still at a stand still. I have only cleaned it up. I broke down and orded myself the whole works of Fast Tracks hand laid turnouts. Since this is only a branch switching layout I felt that just going with the #6 would suit me fine. Eventually I will get the #8 and maybe if I ever have my dream layout of Mullan Pass, then I will think about #10 or something.

So once I have received the turnout kit, and built them I will start the track laying process. The electrical will go at the same time. I'm thinking of starting the process of getting the backdrop ready to paint. I just picked up Pelle Soeborg's new book about his new layout. In there he did a didgital background. I would love to do that so much but I feel that cost and time might play against me. I feel that I can do a good enough paint job that I can pull off the Logan and Three Forks scenery.

Anyway, here are photos of most of my new toys. The last photo has Jak in the shot. Jak is my 4 year old middle son who loves trains. That boy will be a future model railroader though he is one already. I have high hopes for him.

Sorry once again for my lighting. As you can tell I do not have any mounted yet.

We have Road Bed

I made it known that I was going to wait until all the cork road bed was laid before I posted any of my progress photos. Well, that time is now. Here are a few photos of how my layout is laid out. I apologize for the bad lighting. I will need to add some good lighting if I want this layout to really look good.



This is my yard at Logan. What you see is the main to the left. I have used HO scale cork for that main as well as the siding. The small yard is made up of all N scale cork. Since my exiting of Montana in 2005, the MRL has added the second track in the yard which brings to what it looks like in this photo. I will have two industries off of far right track as can be seen in the prototype photos. I do not know the names of these businesses as of this point in time but I will soon find out.



This photo is looking the other way. To the right is where MRL's main heads off to Tridant and onto Helena. In real life this main makes a right hand turn, crosses the river and heads off. My layout will show it going straight because of more room and also the fact that I will be punching a hole in the back drop so the track can continue. Right after the branch line, or start of the 5th sub, I will construct the bridge on the main that crosses the river.



This is the view of the other side of the yard. It is a small yard and bends just like the actual Logan yard. The river follows the backdrop right beside the tracks at this point. The cork that is shown on the lower half of this photo is the unfinished lumber yard. I am still deciding how I want the track to be. There will be a switch with two tracks to service this industry.



Last photo is the end of the 5th(actually the end of my layout). This is the Talc plant location. The industry will be located against the backdrop and will have two tracks to service it. The actual place does have two tracks but the join back together with the main. I will not be able to make this work so I just have them stop together. This location also has a siding track or run-around track. So you have main, siding, and then the two industry tracks. The interesting part about this industry is that there is not a yard ladder. The siding has two switches one after the other for the industry tracks. I will attempt to capture that.

The cork will go from HO scale on the main, N scale on the siding and the two industry tracks will sit on the ground.

To the left you will see my spur for the lumber industry that will take a 18" curve around the corner to service the lumber yard. This too is N scale cork. Between that track and the main will be a road to the lumber yard. The actual road in Three Forks is paved but I might keep it as a dirt road. Montana is full of dirt roads and I want to capture a little of that.



As you can see in the photo of where the Talc plant will go I have installed the front fascia board. I used one foot sections and will saw out the contours of the land as I have already done to the right. I have also cut the bottom out on that same piece since that location is my duck under.

The layout is comming along. I will post more photos of the other side a little later. Next will come the laying of the track. The question next is if I will fork out the money and manufacture Fast Tracks switches or use the non-DCC switches that I have while completely repairing them. We'll see.

Photos of Three Forks

Here are a few of the Rio Tento(Lunzenac)Talc plant that I will try to capture along with Kanta Building Products that I will factitiously show that it is served by rail though it is not. I will also add a few silos to the layout to represent the ones across the tracks from the talc plant.
(photo by Tom Danneman)


(photo by Tom Danneman)


(photo by Dick Chaffer)


(photo by Dick Chaffer)


(photo by Dick Chaffer)


Kanta Building Products
(photo by Dick Chaffer)


(photo by Dick Chaffer)



The Silos
(photo by Tom Danneman)


(photo by Dick Chaffer)

Bridge and Overpass

Here are some photos of the bridge and overpass between Logan and Three Forks. My layout will have them somewhat backwards but I feel it will still capture the idea.
(photo by Tom Danneman)


(photo by Dick Chaffer)


(photo by Dick Chaffer)


(photo by Dick Chaffer)


(photo by Dick Chaffer)


This is the new man bridge that was not there back in '05 but I think it is pretty neat so I just might include it anyway.
(photo by Dick Chaffer)

Photos of Logan

I'm posting just a few of the photos that were taken so everyone can see kind of what I am looking at modeling. These Photos are being used with permission.

Logan, Montana:
(photo by Tom Danneman)


(photo by Tom Danneman)


(photo by Tom Danneman)


(photo by Dick Chaffer)


(photo by Tom Danneman)


(photo by Tom Danneman)


This is the Logan Petroleum Plant. I wanted to model this too but there just is not enough room. So I have removed it from the plan book.
(photo by Dick Chaffer)


I am also thinking about adding this MRL building but I really do not have the room and it was not there in 2005. Then again I am not totally trying to make this layout only 2005.


(photo by Dick Chaffer)


(photo by Dick Chaffer)

Back At It

Happy New Year everyone! I cannot believe how time flies. It has been a long time since I posted my progress. Though I wish I had been farther along on my layout but sadly that is not the case. Since my last post, I have added the fascia board to the front of the layout, foam sheets for scenery, and started laying the road bed.

One of the most important things that I have done towards the layout is collected a few photos of the area. I have to give a big thank you to the two individuals that were able to go onsite with their cameras and captured the images that I would need to continue. Dick Chaffer and Tom Danneman have been kind enough to help me out with the photos.

I also have to give a big thank you to my close friend Jeff "Margaritaman" Gorjans for gifting me flex-track, switches, a few rail cars and the bridge I will need over the Jefferson River. He has saved me a lot of money here.

Things are rolling quite well. I will post photos of my progress when the entire roadbed is in place and the place is cleaned up. All of my HO scale roadbed is down, now I am placing the N scale bed that will be used for my sidings and yard.

If anyone has access to Google Earth, take a look at the area. You can get a great updated arial view of what I am trying to capture. The Logan area looks great now since it has been updated to 2011.

Backdrop

This weekend I finished the construction of my backdrop for the layout. Prior to installing the sheeting I extended a series of 1x2's about 24 inches up from the bench work. I doubled up the ones at each end of a segment piece of bench work. That way if I did have to dismantle the layout, I would not have to pull out my saw and cut my backdrop, and the 1x's would still support the backdrop.

For material I purchased some 1/8"x4'x8' sheets of hardboard called Masonite from Lowe's. The great thing about these sheets are that they are very cheap to purchase (like around $6.50 each). I then had a store employee cut 4 sheets into half length-ways with the big special saw they have. This gave me rips of 24 inches which are plenty big enough for a good backdrop. I then had the employee rip me two halves again to make 1'x8' rips that will become my fascia boards on the front of the layout. From there I started at one spot on the layout and started wrapping the Masonite around until it completed my circle. I fastened it with drywall screws that I counter-sunk with a special bit designed for with my drill.

This is a shot of my old backdrop that I used on my diorama. I wanted to save as much material that I could from that project and use on this layout but it the end it was far better just to replace this panel with a new one.

As you can tell, I did use on little strip of my old backdrop from the diorama which I will repaint over with the new background.

The 1"x2"x24" risers are not the best form of support for this backdrop and I probably would have done it more a structurally sound way to support a upper level of 1x's for lighting and an upper fascia. I didn't feel that I wanted to do that with this layout because I knew that moving was in the near future, and I wanted to make this as light as possible. But, none the less, the risers do work and they do support the Masonite well enough that I don't see any waviness that will be an eyesore.

Well, now it is on to the foam sub-base that will be used for scenery.

Electrical Beginnings

Prior to laying the 1/2 board on top of frame work, I wanted to get some runs in of my power bus. Being that I once before work in the construction industry, I had some 14-2 Romex left over. Everyone said that 14 awg was a good size for a power bus, and since I had some of it just laying in a box, I figured that I lucked out. So I made use of what I had and used the Romex for my power bus wires

Due to the fact that my layout is on the small side, I still wanted to break it up into two power districts, so I ran two lines of Romex. First I located a good spot where I was going to mount my DCC system on the layout and started the runs from there.


After I drilled holes in the bench work, I had my oldest son, Jared give me a hand pulling wire. I really want to get him involved so that he will appreciate the layout even more. This way it can be our layout instead of Dad's.


Here are a couple of photos of Jared under the benchwork giving me a hand:
For now we just ran the runs of Romex for both power districts and we will worry about the rest of the electrical once we have track down and feeder holes drilled.

For those of you who don't know what Romex is, here is a site that can answer that: http://homerenovations.about.com/od/electrical/a/artromexnm.htm


Stay tuned for additional information about my electrical ideas, my DCC system, further plans for wiring this layout.

Bench Work

I have started the bench work for the layout. First off, I took framework from my old diorama and used it as a starting point. The diorama was to 3x5 parts fastened together to create a length of 10 feet. This section will become the Logan part of the layout where I will need the 3 feet depth. The rest of the layout will only be 2 feet deep.

I used 1x4 pine lumber to make up the benchwork. Since I knew that I was going to place sheets of 1/2 inch plywood over the framework, I spaced out the braces a little farther than I would have regularly.

Since I knew that I was going to be moving in a year or so, I built the layout in sections. The largest section was made 3x5 from the old diorama, but most new sections were the size of 2x4 squares. Here is a photo of my work:

You must excuse the mess. I am not the cleanest person out there, or should I say the most organized. If we do stay in this house longer than I think, then I am either installing garage cabinets or shelving.

Like I stated. I used 1x4 pine for the main part of the structure with 2x2 legs and the 1x2 pieces sticking up will be to hold the backdrop. The top of the benchwork will sit at 48 inches high before plywood and foam. My guess is that my track height will be around 50 inches from the garage floor.

Here are some additional photos of the sheathing placed on top of the bench work:

Next it will be onto the backdrop, electrical, and foam board lamination.

Links

I just wanted to post two links to some of my webpages. The first one is my photobucket.com pictures that I have from my old diorama in a slideshow. This was my 3x10 diorama of Muir, Montana which is located on the east side of Bozeman Tunnel. The diorama is now gone as I have saved the bench work, track, and scenery for the new layout.

http://s45.photobucket.com/albums/f77/zgardner18/Model%20Trains/?action=view&current=77e2dc62.pbw

The second one is rrpicturearchives.net. These are photos I took when I was living in Montana. Now understand that my camera was about as cheap as they come so the quality of photos just isn't there. If I knew then what I know now I would have taken photos of the areas that I want to model on this layout. Now I have to rely on Google Earth and other's photos until I get up there again.

http://zgardner18.rrpicturearchives.net/archivethumbs.aspx?id=9521>