The JACALAR RR

Oh, and the dirt road leading out of the mine and over the tracks: I made a ramp with joint compound, and then just "ballasted" the ramp, using WS Fine Brown. Makes for a perfect dirt/gravel road.

 

UP929 visits Laurel Gulch

I finally got my BLI E8A UP#929 back from BLI, where it had to have some repairs on the gearing (just wasn't running well). Runs much better now, although still not quite as smoothly as the E8B 929B. I'll need to run them both for a while and re-match them for consisting.

Here are some photos of 929 pulling a UP passenger train into the small town of Laurel Gulch. It has been a busy day, with lots of visitors to the town. You can see a bus load of them leaving (but they have to wait for the train)





We also see quite a few folks still in town, and waiting for the train at the depot

 

Here, 929 has left Laurel Gulch and climbed higher into the Sierras. We see it coming out of a tunnel, and approaching a small trestle

 

A view from below

Here, we see the train as it begins its transit of the trestle, from creek-side

 

Rick, I too have spent more than a few hours reading your posts and studying your work. This layout is stunning! Thanks for sharing this, you have no idea how much of a help this thread is. By reading, you actually pointed me in the right direction for signals and buildings I need for my own layout but could not find.

Excellent work, I look forward to more of your progress:thumbs_up:

Jim

 

Jim, Johnny - thanks for the kind comments. I couldn't have done what I have without the support and encouragement of a lot of people here on TrainBoard and elsewhere. The on-line community has really helped inspire me, as well. (Note - I only got into this hobby 2 years ago).

For Unitrack, there is the Unitrack users group, which has a lot of very good short articles on a lot of topics concerning the product. Here's one on ballasting. This is how I learned. I use a mix of Woodland Scenics and Arizona Rock & Mineral products. For my main lines, and the yard, I am using AR&M, but for some of the ancillary rock/ballast, I've used the WS (such as what I used around the mill, and for roads and "large gravel / rocks". Of course, some of the "boulders" that are seen are actual small rocks and gravel.

 

You don't normally see freight running on the JACALAR, but there is some. Here's some pics from today's hike in the hills above Laurel Gulch. SP #3303, a Heavy Mikado, was making its way through the bypass tunnel, behind the old cemetery

 

Yep - it is called "buying them" biggrin:. They're the Blair Line grade crossings, which I washed with a dilute gray rinse.

 

Santa Fe Warbonnets

There were a couple of SF EMD E8As sighted on the JACALAR -- on their own, not pulling anything.

Here's #84, up in the mountains






Here's #86, also in the mountains



And, here is #86, pulling into the station



(ok, yes, I took these to get ready for the "counting with model trains" thread)

 

I Googled "Railroad Posters" or "Railroad Poster Art", and then looked at all the images that came up. I downloaded the jpgs of the ones I wanted, then, I imported them into MS Word, and sized the image to the correct size for N-scale. Since making the images smaller in MS Word, without editing the actual image, all the info is still there. I then printed on Kodak High Gloss photo paper, in "Best" mode, carefully cut out and mounted on 0.020" styrene, cut to the same size. I just used a glue-stick for mounting.

I had tried to make some back lit posters, by making a small box of styrene, with an LED inside it, but the light was not even enough. Was a cool effect, though, and I may at some point go back to it.

Not only do I have that Bern Hill "Chief-Way" poster, there are a number of other posters, which can be seen much earlier in this thread, when the station was under construction.

 

Not much to show. Took a couple weeks of "no work, all play" on the layout :we2-jimlad:. Been running trains a bunch. I did get some cowboys from Musket Miniatures, and have them painted up. Still need to put them on the layout and take some photos. Also, started installing my first grade crossing signal -- hope to have some photos/video of that working soon.

My major work on the layout was some under the bench wiring, so no fun pictures.

I do have some new acquisitions, which also need photos: SP #3304 Heavy Mikado; 4 50' Overland cars (currently Northern Pacific labeled). Need to swap couplers, and install decoder.

 

Cowboys in Laurel Gulch

A bunch of cowboys have shown up in Laurel Gulch, recently, working the land around town, and coming into town. These are n-scale Rustic Rail models from Musket Miniatures. They come as unpainted pewter castings

Riding along the rails



Working in the farm



In town for a spell
(I didn't wait for the Scenic Accents glue to completely dry prior to taking the picture, hence the "wet" spots. You can also see where I tried to get another to be, but he wouldn't balance nicely, there. These Rustic Rails cowboys are very unstable, and I may have to go to CA to get them to stay)

 

More cowboys

Close up of cowboy near hotel



Out along the rails bypassing town

 

Old Time Passenger Train

Pulling into Laurel Gulch was this old-time passenger train (Roundhouse 50' Overland coaches), which I just got off of EBay

 

Laurel Gulch is a busy place

Not only did I acquire the Overland coach consist, but also these new MT 40' PFE reefers