Yes the star wars ship. I was thinking a robot of some kind or a rocket type capsule. It's all good. Though I definitely know its a hobby. All I have to do is look at my email from work and know how good it is when I am with trains. Having the office 5' from the layout does have some advantages. Supplier just blew my day apart, so 15 minute break with trains, and the blood pressure is a little better.
A Hill Grows In the Grandure Valley After sketching a lot of possibles I came up with a flexible plan for creating scenery, actual 3D scenery on the Grey and Grandure. This is a major milestone for me. I have never added anything except cardboard boxes representing who knows what. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- First I drew lines where I felt I wanted hills or mountains. Next Laura placed a 1 foot ruler to get an idea of proportions: Pieces once used to support track, (Version IV of the GandG), were selected by Laura and passed to me: Kudos to Laura who noticed them. You can see the lines drawn on the board outlining likely hill locations. The reach to far: (Nice shot Laura, < rolls eyes >). Side view: Better pics will be replacing these. The main tools used were a box knife and small rasp. Spackle compound and paint are next.
First Hill Worms Eye View: First Hill Hawks Eye View: How *Not* to Build Your First Hill: Do not put it in the corner with the furthest reach - See above pic, (previous post). Do not use loose pieces of foam - Foam is cheap. Us a large piece the first time. Do not try to hold it together with good will - Tooth pics are cheap. Use lots of them, (on a small hill). Do not - paint it before covering the track with something - Tape, (painters masking), is cheap use lots of it. Suggestions for first time: Start with Building something small. Build in an easy to reach area - maybe even on a test board. For Use larger sheets and cut them down to size. Adding a little piece here and there is tougher than it seems. Use tooth pics to hold layers together. Use "Liquid Nails for Projects) for larger pieces / sheets. Have help handy to point out the obvious and moral support. Have a camera handy to record your steps (and mistakes). Measure the area for a mountain / hill, build / pain(t) it, and drop it in place. - Suggestion by "melaward" (see below).
Great start, keep status and photos coming. Laura seems good for you, she gets things done...:tb-tongue:
My thought would be why not, size the hill for the location, then build it and paint it on your work bench, then you can place it / glue it in place on the layout. Other than that, where does this put you on your schedule? :tb-wink:
SCHEDULE!!!!! There's that UGLY word again....AAAARGH! :tb-hissyfit: I think the concept of building on bench then dropping into position is genius. That way you can shave a little here, add a little there, test fitting as you build. Then paint, scenic, and drop into final position.
Looking pretty good so far. Wondering what size turnouts you're using in the yard. Looks, to me, like both #4 and #6. But then, I'm blind in one eye and can't see out the other!
The Yard(s) Yes, an excellent suggestion - I'll add to above list. In my case I don't have a dedicated workspace - well cept for the dining room table which is currently being used for "horizontal staging of critical material". As for the "schedule" I am (forgive me), "right on track" and "further down the line" than I have ever been. Corey came over yesterday and was extremely helpful in getting power leads dropped and a good concept of how operations might work on the layout in general and the yard / interchange specifically. More on that later. Keith - yes, there is one #4 in the A/D area, one in the engine terminal and three in the passenger terminal - more later on that subject. Rulers placed to give concept of size. Green: 1' Red: 3' Overall the yard has 400"s of storage space if you the include the interchange tracks and the inner A/D track. If I block the engine terminal I can grab an extra 47", noooo, never mind, I'll be good. . I could add one more storage track which would come off the 4th track from the left. That would subtract 10"s from 62" and add 52"s. Hmmm. Room for 10 more cars. Yummy! The optimal train length for aesthetics / proportional balance is about 3 to 4 feet including locomotive(s) I could stage at least 5 trains if I wanted. Hmmm, we shall see. Done with edits for now.
Looks so fun. Working area? Sit Indian style on the floor, and have a little Breakfast TV tray set up under the table. :tb-wink: Beats strethcing out over the layout all the time, at least in my book. But then I have a knee that pops anytime I do any lateral movement. Your schedule wasn't aggressive enough if you are on track! :tb-tongue:
After due consideration I decided to "just try and see what it looked like": I like it like that. Given that if I'm going to run longer trains I'll use the interchange tracks anyway there is no need for a yard tracks. Don't worry, yes I will be making all of the tracks the same length. I will be adding about 2"s of support to the end.
Looks good Steve! Are you going to go to the big Amherst Society Train show in Springfield MA the end on January? I really miss going to that show. Jim
Thanks Jim. Edit: Yes, if we can find a ride to Springfield or from the hotel to the show as we might take Amtrak, (see my sig).
Why would you make all the tracks the same length? There are two yards visible from the roads in Decatur, and both CSX and NS don't bother with such niceties. Unless you have a barier, why bother?
Ooops, that was very poorly worded. Permit me to rephrase:] Given that if I am going to run longer trains I'll use the interchange tracks, (which are 5' long). In theory I could stage a 5' and one 8' train if I stretched it to the nose of the "yard lead" turnout. I don't worry about what the prototype does. I meant to say is I will make the end of all of the tracks even. At the moment they are quite irregular. Overall I now have about 500 inches of storage space which translates about 50 cars. Works for me.
Thanks Harron. I remeasured the tracks. From left to right they are: Interchange Tracks: 62+62 Ready Trains: 56+56+56+56 Classification Tracks: 56+49+43 (sub)Total: 496 inches - I'm in heaven. A/D tracks: 43+62 Total?: 601! Ok, ok, ya, I agree, the A/D, (arrival / departure) tracks are there for a reason. Hmmm.
Ruh Roh - Trouble in the Yard [FONT=Trebuchet MS, Georgia, Verdana]CNW 1518[/FONT]'s thread: Show us your yard! - TrainBoard.com made me realize there is a, (to me), serious "flaw" in the current design of the yard. Grandure Yard IV: Grandure Yard V: See the difference? IV is - Much easier to use because all of the "switch throws" are on the same side.
Steve...I did like Grandure Yard IV. Probably because I am a simple minded SOB to begin with...LOL :tb-biggrin: .
