Greetings Everyone, I am returning to Trainboard after a long and sudden hiatus. Recently I moved from Boston, MA to McLean, VA. due to family moving. Also, I am moving from 'N Scale' to 'HO Scale' due to my vision moving, (getting worse). * Freelance with equipment from about 1960s to 1980s * The new layout will be a square 8'x8' * Mounted on 2" thick 2' deep insulation foam * Kata track * Trial and error will rule * 3 locomotives and about 20 to 30 short freight / home built excursion cars. Initial track plan to follow. Question: Am I allowed to ask for feedback / reviews of brand name equipment? More late, Steve aka Grey One
Welcome back, Steve! And welcome to your new, bigger and better scale. I like your choice of layout size, just a tad bigger than mine (6'x8'). Lots of room for all kinds of operations. Eagerly awaiting your track plan. Edit: just a tip, I did track plans and track plans and more track plans, until I decided to go with my imagination with a just general wish list to guide me. I think your rule by trial and error will help you here.
@Mike VE2TRV Thanks! It is nice to be back. @Shortround Will be in touch. ☻ Current 'Abstracted / Approximate' Track Plan. This is done in MS 3D Paint. It is *almost to scale* You can figure that the boards are 2' deep and extrapolate from there. Overall: Northern :Length: 10', 34"s from floor Western Length: 8', 38"s from floor Southern Length: 8', 38"s from floor Eastern Length: 8', 34"s from floor Access to Center: Hands and Knees Around the center is a possible future expansion on same level as 'the valley'. Green area is 4"s higher than Gray area. Note: Hired a handyman to help build tables. The Room: 14'x14' including closets, (not shown off to the right) Dark blue area is for people and likely a rolling work bench. In the short run for storage. Argh. Folks can help me clear the storage by buying my N-Scale. ♣
T he Intentions / Concept The Layout, (abstracted) The layout will be loosly based on track plan #4 or #11 from "101 Track Plans'. (image to follow). That is the first layout I ever built, (circa 1972, high school). The final position of track will be determined by laying down the Kato track. I used method for over a decade in 'N Scale' so have an idea of how it should go. Bridge Development on the 'Northern Grandure Valley' As I was drawing the bridge area I realized it was too fancy for now. It wouold have lsowed track laying. So: The first bridge will be straight and suppored by scrap blocks of foam. The 'Mountains are place holders. This shows the height difference of the two tables which allows for bridges without elevating the track. Mountain to the right is for my best friend whom I've known since 1969. The 'stripes' are a 'golf cart road'. At the base you can barely make out a tree and a bungalow. The long term intention is to have both the straight bridge with an arch spanning the valley and to add the curved bridge at some point.
Operations The Grey and Grandure will be run point to point except when I have visiters, (wait, you don't really believe that, right?). Okay, sigh, yes, I will run it in a loop when I feel like it. ☻ There, are you happy now? ☻ Exports: Mysterium Import: UnObtanium (and related) Industries: Various operations will be named after family and friends. Wife: Long Horn and Bison farm. Step Daughter #1) Human Help Center Step Daughter #2) Mystrium Mine - We live very close to, wait, I can't tell you that. Grandson #1) Gaming Software Company Grandson #2) Mine! Factory, (he's 3yo and everything is *his*). For Me: 'Grandure Valley Home Built Company' aka 'The FrankenBash', (where I will be kit bashing new equipment) Grey and Grandure Equipment The GandG will be running: Canadian PPacific: Bright red GP15, (very easy for me to 'track' visually. SOO: 'Cute' red and white switcher, (my wife picked it out), Should be highly visible. Milwaukee: 44 Tonner, I like the more earthy tones and may use it with photography. Rolling Stock Rule: Max length of all cars must not exceed 50' over couplers. ACF 2 bay covered hoppers Generic flat cars Generic gondolas Virginian 3 bay coal hoppers, (I live in Virginia now), and 'Virginian' was one of my very first cars in high school. 40' Box Cars. 1 Cylindrical 4 bay Hopper, (long ago impulse purchase) 1 'Bobber' caboose from Christmas 1960. (more later) Home made 'transferee caboose' Home made 'Excursion Cars', (from flat and gondolas) Wiring DC using power routing swiches and maybe 2 areas with separate power supplies so one person could do switching and the other could work the yard or through freight. Join Me: If you live in the area and want to be involved please do let me know.
Status: I have the Western and Northern tables built. I am hoping the handyman will come next week. Packages with track and rolling stock arriving yesterday, today and next week plus pre-orders. If all goes well trains will be running by a week from now.
My 1972ish layout: From '101 Track Plans by Lynn Wescott. I will be doing this in a 'L' shape: I may have to compromise / adapt the crossing as I doubt I can duplicate it. Modules: There will be a series of scenery modules starting in the upper left across to the island and down the right hand table. These will allow for changes in seasons and from mountains to cities or ?
That looks like a fun layout. If steam weren't a high priority in what I model, late '50's to about 1970 would be my time frame. And I still may switch to that!!! The possibilities of what ran together in that era are nearly endless. Keep us posted and upload some photos when you get a chance.
@Skyraider Thanks! Right now it is looking like *maybe* Friday for the handyman to: Pickup 2'x8' sheets of foam Bring his fancy power saw and screw driver I will help with the cut and assemble If all goes well I'll be sharing pics on Friday night. Till now I always did my own cutting / drilling / screwing but I just don't 'have it' anymore. The final track plan / layout will be 'created' with the Kato track itself.
Several years ago a friend in Colorado Springs (we lived there for 25 years) found a huge box of HO Kato Unitrack for $80. About 50 pieces of straight track; a complete 31" radius circle; a 28" radius circle; switches; etc. Even though it's Japanese prototype it doesn't look bad if you weather it. And it works phenomenally well!! My entire mainline and one siding is Kato track. In addition to weathering it, I used sculptamold to hide the sides of the molded roadbed so the roadbed wasn't so tall. That also made it look quite a bit better. A few photos of the Kato track on the layout and one of the control panel. My layout is DC. If you are going to use DCC and you use their power routing switches, make sure you turn off the power routing feature before installing the switches. DCC won't work with the power routing feature turned on. Have fun!!!
Nice work on that track! Thanks for sharing. My Physical Vision My vision is so limited that I don't really notice the detail of the track or freight cars. Rather, I take in the scene scene. At 20 feet I can see 3 to 5 feet across depending on lighting and the objects in my field of vision. So, on my planned layout there are 6 to 7 areas 3ish to 5ish feet wide and 8 to 18 inches deep. These areas will use contrasting colors to accentuate some items and minimize others. Example: Mountains will have a variety of shades, shapes and shadows. These will be designed to set off the critters and creatures living there, (Sasquatch, Big Horn Sheep, Bears etc). White Big Horn Sheep against a darker background and Sasquatch against a forest with white trunks. The 'era' choose me. Priories: Short cars - So I could have more in a train / proportionate to overall layout and specific scene size. 40' Boxcars, gondolas and flatcars. 38' 2 Bay hoppers, (except for 3 bay 'Virginian' because I live in Virginia. Free Lance - So I could run what I want. Mystrium - So I could create the industries Other Intentions Few cars - 20 to 30 at most Few Locos - 3 at most Trouble free - No Steam, Kato Track Inexpensive - Smaller cars, No Steam, and DC. Cardstock / scrap buildings, Used rolling stock Simple - DC, Power Routing, No reversing. Limited block control. Sound - I record my own and play it back from cell phones to blue tooth speakers Scenery - Mountains, Bridges, Valleys,
Design, Development and Construction I have decided to post how I went about designing the GandG in the 'Layout Design' forum. https://www.trainboard.com/highball...struction-of-the-grey-and-grandure-ho.152849/ I'll be putting more pics and general interest of the layout here.
Back Story I envisioned a valley where 'Mystrium' was discovered. The Name and spelling was accidental. 'Grey', (the color of my hair), is the British spelling 'Grandure' was a typo / mispelling which I decided to let stand. Mystrium is the main export of the 'Grandure Valley'. I chose 'Mystrium' because I knew I did not have the skills to accurately detail 'real' industries / structures so I made one up. At the time the UP was being very obnoxious about copyright so I envisioned a world where 'Great Northern' became the dominant west coast RR. These days I am inclined to go with 'Canadian Pacific' because the bright red is easier to see. I see the GandG as a local point to point railroad that interchanges with and 'borrows' equipment from the CP. As mentioned in the 1st post it will be short cars because they will look better in small scenes and sharp curves. Bonus: I can have trains with more cars. Focus for the layout will be 'positive and negative' space. Positive space would be a mountain. Negative space is the area around it or between two mountains or structures. Sound sent by bluetooth from old cell phones will be prominent as well. I have self made recordings of thunder storms, trains passing and various animal sounds and human conversations / baby crying / people arguing. All were made with consent. ☻ Most of the mountains, cities and bridge type structures will be modular. This will allow me to create more scenery and swap it out but also to build it in the living / dining area which gets a huge amount of sunlight. There are no windows in the train room.
Grey One, Welcome to northern Virginia. I'm guessing you'll like the weather a lot ot better here although traffic isn't a picnic. I work in Chantilly but live about 25 minutes west of Manassas, mainly because I wanted a house with a decent sized basement for trains and well, cost of getting one of those closer in was out of my budget. My progress blog is over at Atlas Rescue Forum: https://atlasrescueforum.proboards.com/thread/3737/jims-layout-topic-blog?page=6
@James Fitch Nice to meet you! > "...I wanted a house with a decent sized basement for trains..." Priorities in life. ☻ The beautiful fall weather we are having now is great! Yes, there has been a lot of rain of late but despite low vision and my age: 'I ain't stain home'. Traffic? Traffic is crazy here. My wife won't drive on the high speed roads. You haven't lived until you try to cross the 10 lanes of 'Gallows Road' in Tysons Corner, on foot at rush hour...with a white cane for your only defense. Okay, I admit it wasn't rush hour.
I've been in northern Virginia since 2009 and moved here because I have family and the job market was better than Syracuse, where I was prior for a number of years. I have driven in the McLean area in years past but not since I moved out west of Manassas for affordability. McLean and Tysons Corners are high cost of living area's I would guess. The Metro now runs through there with the relatively recent Silver Line. But yes, traffic is crazy. I commute into Chantilly via 66 and 28 early to beat the worst of the traffic and leave work at 3:15 in the afternoon. Looks like you will be having fun with the new layout!
