That looks like it will be a great start, can't wait to see what you do for scenery??? Enjoy!! Good lluckwith the move. JSL
Scenery will be high rocky mountain scenery, with plaster castings, trees, and real DG rock with sand...will add a brass double track bridge where the green one is at the moment, and add a micro engineering double track bridge at the lower left of teh layout I think...still need to get a closer look, but a bridge os some sort will go in there...thanks for the well wishes, I think we are coming up with a great plan to get it up here safely....
I purchased the new 130' turntable today, and have also gotten the first 3 stalls of a 9 stall engine house sent over also...I have everyone lined up for the move, now I just need to wait until moving day....
So far, I like the "Montana Northern" as a railroad name. Reporting marks are MNRY. Here are a few of the schemes that we are looking at....if it looks like the CEFX SD90's, thats because they are. We bought them, all forty of them, and also the rights to the paint scheme, so as not to have to repaint them. Which is why CEFX now uses the blue schme...LOL.....just so's ya know....tell me which one you guys like best....
Also, I have thirty of these here at the moment, all done, without DCC, but that is easy to do...I am going to restencil them...as soon as I decide on the scheme...try to imagine them in sets of four with a fuel tender spliced in...this is rough terrain...no refuleing till they get to the other side....it is based on a bridge line between the BNSF and the CP out in Montana..we just kinda skirt the outer edges of Glacier National Park...not a cow catcher, a buffulo catcher, sometimes a grizzly...though hopefully not, I love grizzly's, just as long as they are behind bars or on my TV...
One last thing, I am not doing this work, Steve from Steve4painting is doing all of the artwork and brainstorming this project, I am just kinda telling him what looks good and what doesn't..this guy is great, he really is.... The first models to go to him will be our newest group of engines, the SD90mac-H's. We have aquired 6 of them, though only two have arrived on the property so far, the others are being shopped to bring them up to our standards, make them bullet proof...Steve will get the first two here in a couple of weeks...we also are going to be taking delivery of 8 SD70ace's here within the next two months...they will be sent to Steve also...this is a big year for us powerwise. We are not a GE loving company, so look for us to use EMD whenever and wherever possible...once the 70's get here, some of the older, lower numbered 90's will go into helper service to augment the SD60 and 60M's that we are using now. The 60's will go south from this division to be used in Manifest service on flatter terrain...
Before you get a bunnch of decal custom-printed, did you know that "X" denotes a non-railroad-owned piece of equipment? That's why CSX has a "T" at the end of their reporting marks. Maybe "MNRY"? And I'm a non-arrow-logo person.
Changed it, sorry about that, I was in a hurry when I typed it..yes, MNRY is the reporting mark...I am still up in the air about the scheme, and was hoping that by now a lot more of you would have chimed in about what you think looks best..I see a lot of guys viewing the thread...just take a moment and give me the number you think looks best..I would appreciate it....thanks...
Funny, I thought at first that I would like the arrows idea, they were mine, not Steve's...but the more I see the number 4 myself.....the more I am leaning towards it also...I do believe Steve like this one also....number 3 was a little hard to discern the M from the N...if anyof you want to take a shot at a logo..feel free to post it up...
I am up in the air between 4&5.....Steve kinda like the arrow on 5, you guys all like number four, with no arrow.......me?....not so sure yet...help me out guys..
White underframe and roof? I like the idea, but few roads would have the nerve to do something like that. Those parts tend to get dirty fast.
OK, so here we are, have got the layout in the garage, bought some outdoor carpet for it, and have painted the walls of the garage a nice custom sand color. Next to the layout, a nice forest green color. AS for thelayout itself, good and bad. First the good. Trackwork is amazing. As well as construction. The layout went through things that no layout should ever have to endure just for being moved, but it did. Twists, turns, being flipped in it's side several times, having it's legs forcebly removed, you name it, we did it to the poor thing. Had to flip it on it's side, walk it out the door of the room, flip it right side up, then walk it to the edge of the roof, and lower it down by ropes about 12'. Then, flip it on it's side again, walk it through the back of the house, through the house itself, out the front door into a 27' penske rental truck. After laying it down on a bed of blankets and tying ti down, it started the long trip home bouncing around in the back of the truck. The truck, having no meaningful wieght bck there to seat the springs, bounced over everything. When I got to the house, I was afraid to take a look to see if anything was left, and much my surprise and chagrin, nothing, not one thing was out of place. Amazing. Unfortunatly, I forgot my camera, so there are no pics. Besides, I prefer to post shots of it once I get it a little further along. Suffice to say though, it was a fun day, a grand adventure. Now for the bad.... while the benchwork and track are fine, a cursery look under the thing tells me that he never got very far with the electrical part of the thing. Also, while the track is fine, it is VERY dirty, God knows how long it has been since a train was run over the thing, if ever. So, I have run a brightboy over parts of it, but I think it needs something more powerful..any ideas?? tips?? Back to the electrical. There is no control panel persay. It looks like he jerry rigged it to get things to run, but there is no real power to the rails except what I was able to hook up to the leads cominig off the track. A close look of thee leads can be seen in the pics I posted, they are on the second level up, near the camera. The switches are all in, and they are wired up to what looks to be an ancient Roco switch system. I called a Roco dealer today and told him what I had, he said I was better off throwing all that stuff away and redoing the wiring from scratch. Aside from the switch wiring, there is no real wiring to the layout. So, I will take out the roco stuff, parts of it, and wire up the layout for real starting this weekend. I plan on pulling two busses around it. One for power, the other for signals. Remember, Craig Martin is out there, and he has some tricks up his sleeve also. Stand by for that. Once I get the the power issues taken care of, and some cosmetic carpentry work to the layout, I will rewire the switch machines into a more modern network set up around the NCE 5 amp system I now have at the house waiting to go in. As I have no use for the Roco stuff, i am at odds as to what to do with it. I was told back in the day, just the three controllers I have were worth about $1800.00 or so. Now? I think I would be lucky to be able to swap them out for some bubble gum. But I am thinking about listing it all as a batch on ebay, I will post on here later today all the stuff, if anyone on here knows someone who could use it, let me know. I would donate it all, but to whom? I am not at all familiar with anyone in the European sector of the hobby, so I will see where this stuff ends up. Seems a shame to toss it, huh? Also, the turntable, I am thinking about pulling that out, sealing up the hole, and setting up a rather large engine servicing area, as well as some industry to the south of it. All in all, I have no complaints, there is no such thing as perfect in this hobby, but if there ever was, John Allen comes vividly to mind. The layout will keep me occupied for months to come as I go back through it and bring it forward at least a decade. Since all the rail is code 83, I should have no problem adding rail to it sometime next year, when I add a couple of levels to it on the other side of the garage, one for hidden staging, and another on top of it, as an industrial yard and switching area. Both levels will be connected by a short (6-10") helix on one end. That is all for now, I will post up some shots when I get a chance. For all of you who traveled to Portland, I am glad you all got there and made it home safe. That is the best it gets. Here's to GEVO's by this time next year...LOL...
Finally got the power to the rails working, ran trains from a couple of light power moves, then to a couple of engines with small amounts of cars, up to a 48 car UP coal train, all did well, with no derailments, but I did notice some places I need to clean a little better...even the OMI UP SD90MAC-H's ran well right out of the box..I am impressed so far..tomarrow, the CP coal train. 80 cars of coal, 6 engines, vs. gravity, should be fun... And, am I alone in my not being overly impressed with the Kato coalporters??
