Construction of the Stillwater Central has begun. For those who did not follow the thread in the Layout Design Discussion Group, here's a picture of the proposed layout: History and operations are as follows: The SLWC operates over 275 miles of track and interchanges with the BNSF, Grainbelt Corporation, South Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad and Union Pacific. Commodities that are hauled are aggregates, brick and cement, food and feed products, chemicals, forest products (paper, lumber, pulp), coal, metallic ores and minerals, construction and demolition debris, steel and scrap. Let's start first with the Tulsa staging: On November 16, 2009, unit trains of rock began moving out of the Greenhill Materials quarry (northeast of Tulsa in Owasso) to its sister company, Oklahoma Construction Materials in OKC. The Stillwater Central supplies the power, the cars, the crews to move the train and training to allow the Greenhill team to operate the train so they could load the cars. The trains run twice a week with 50 to 60 cars. I will simulate this with a unit train on the ready in the Tulsa staging. I have incorporated a reversing section in OKC so the unit train can travel from the hidden staging in Tulsa and return without having to go all the way around the layout. Sapulpa: I will represent Paragon Industries (manufacturer of line pipe, oil country tubular pipe, standard pipe and pipe piles). Besides loading on trucks and barges, they can load 89' flat cars, 60' bulk head flats and open top gondolas. Oklahoma City: The unit train will unload Oklahoma Construction Materials mentioned above, I may have other transloading facilities located there. (not quite sure just yet) There also may be mechanical services located there. Lawton/Ft. Sill: Transloading services for an oil company. Several tank cars are frequently seen here where crude oil is pumped from the tank cars into waiting trucks. Occasionally there is unloading of construction materials for various lumber yards here. Also, the grain elevator will be standing by for the wheat harvest season. I may even have an occasional troop train of tanks, artillery etc. coming out of Ft. Sill heading to interchange in Altus or even Tulsa for points beyond. Snyder: This is where the line ends, but there is trackage rights on to Altus where there is interchange with BNSF. Snyder will have a grain facility since there is an interchange with Grainbelt Corporation (GNBC), an affiliate of Farmrail Company (FMRC) which travels north to Clinton and Enid. So with this layout, there will be a diversity of motive power represented (SLWC, BNSF, UP, GNBC) at any given time. Also it will provide for all kinds of rolling stock. There are 6 modules for this layout and typical construction of the modules are with 1x4's and will have a plywood top attached and then extruded foam. Leg assemblies are made from 2x2's with 1x4 bracing. The legs are 40" high with a 1x4 positioned flush at the top and secured with #10 1 1/2 inch wood screws. The bottom brace is positioned 13" from the floor and secured in the same manner as the top brace. The leg assemblies are attached to the individual modules using 1/4" x 3 1/2" carriage bolts, washers and wing nuts. Adjustable feet are inserted into the bottom of the 2x2's in order to level the layout if needed. I purchased these adjustable feet from Lowe's.
...continued All of the modules and leg assemblies have been painted flat black. Here is a pic of modules 1, 2 and 3: ...and here is a pic of modules 4, 5 and 6: Since it is difficult to get an overall shot of all the modules assembled, I shot a short video so one can get a sense of what it looks like. The video has been uploaded on YouTube. Since everything is open at this point, my next step is to run the BUS wires and mount some things under the layout (such as auto reversers, etc.). I'm also trying to finalize how I am going to treat things like the backdrop and fascia while at this stage of the game. Progress will be slow since I am on retirement and have to work things in as the budget allows. I will update progress as often as I can. I am excited to finally get started on this project.
Thanks Mattun. I wanted the plan to be easily achievable and to model something close to home here. Thanks Bob. A lot of inspiration is coming from you. Thanks MOPMAN. Progress may be slow but I want this one to be right. A lot of inspiration has been drawn from the good folks here.
Charles, Looks good! I like the new track plan. I guess you decided not to go with the L&N Henderson Sub theme eh? Looking forward to watching this develop! Mike C.
Thanks Mike! I really appreciated all of your help and info you sent me. It was a tough choice, but I really wanted to model something with a local flavor. There always will be room in my heart for the L&N.
Some very inspiring neat work there Charles :thumbs_up: Look forward to future progress updades What's the minimum radius of your curves? Terry
Charles...love your bench work. Just what are the dimensions? I suck at reading drawings. The drawing looks a lot bigger than the actual bench. Anyway you're off to a great start. The plan looks great and very interesting. Take your time and most importantly, have a great time! Looking forward to seeing progress as it gets along.
Charles: You'll be very happy with the bench work painted black. When everything is up and running,the black color of the bench work will disappear and the main focus will be on your layout and not your bench work.
Thanks JSL, I'm by no means a carpenter but if one takes their time I think anyone could do just as good a job.
Thanks Train Kid. The leg on the left side is 6' 7", the middle leg is 11' 10" and the right leg is 6'. The two extensions that come out into the room measure 3'.
I know I will be. I have had other layouts where I left the bench work unpainted or painted some other darker color and your eye was drawn to the layout but you were always seeing the bench work too. Based on working on theater sets in high school and college, black was always the color used to draw your eye away from the overall stage and focus on what was really happening.
Sweet. Gimme. I wish I had a layout that size. Plus I agree with Bob. Painting the bench black is sweet. EDIT: Just noticed the video. Very nice.
I have run the BUS wires for the layout. They are 14 guage solid strand and are teminated at each end of the layout into a barrier strip. The green wire will be rail A and the black wire will be rail B. Feeder wires will be corresponding colors. The next step will be to mount my PSX-AR and the NCE Autoswitch for the programming track in their locations underneath the layout.
