The inner oval is fully operational! [video=youtube_share;SYgM6psTK6A]http://youtu.be/SYgM6psTK6A[/video] I ended up having two feeder drops reversed, one I caught before I attached to the bus wires and the other I quickly realized after the PowerCab wouldn't start. It's running smoothly enough, ran it for about 40 minutes and no derailments. Tomorrow I'll get some rolling stock on as well and see how that goes. Things are mostly cleaned up on the benchwork. I want to nail down the plan for the landscape (I have an almost completed layout update) and I'll post when it's finished, hopefully tomorrow. Then the rough work on the scenery will start. I also included pictures of my best & worst soldering of feeder drops,if anyone is interested.
Oh, your just showing off now! I still have some work to do to get to that point... then I am afraid of what I will find once it runs the first time! Congrats! Dean
Here is the updated layout plan. I added a bit more trackage and my concepts for mountains/hills, bridges and various other terrain/buildings. I'm thinking part of the mountain/hill on the right will need to be removable in case there is a derail inside the tunnel on the inner track. The other areas I should be able to manage access from behind/side via a hatch/door/whatever. Have a good night Gents! Greg
Hmm, now that I see this trackplan, it does happen to remind me of another layout I had seen quite a bit recently... maybe in a few of the fall issues of model railroader? It's looking great, though! That would actually be very cool to send into them when it's complete. If I were you, I would just make the back of the hills and tunnels open so you can hinge the fascia and have access from the side. It will just be easier overall. Keep up the work, Alex
I love your "No Idea" and "Not a clue" placements on your track plan! Greg, its really looking nice. Keep up the good work!
You've made excellent progress since I last checked in here-really well done. I only just noticed how you built your elevated curve with foam-like you would a curved brick wall. Genius. This idiot over here felt the need to cut out whole pieces to stick together. Your method is so much better! And I feel you on the 'no idea' and 'not a clue' bits My first layout was called the nameless & aimless given that I couldn't think of anything better to call it :s Keep it going!
Alex, the track plan was originally based off of the Reid Gap plan in MRR 2011 (not sure which month) but it's also very, very similar to The Virginian plan in multiple issues of MRR in 2012. Having looked around, I think there are probably a couple other published track plans that are very similar besides these two. That means it's a pretty decent plan, right?! Thanks to everyone for taking a look at the plans/progress. If anyone has suggestions to my "No idea" & "Not a clue" areas, feel free. This part I'm really just going to wing it if I don't have it figured out before I get there. I'm making notes as I go along for the "future track plan" so I ensure I remember what I learned as I went. I'll admit, the positive responses about my progress are gratifying. I sometimes feel like molasses in January, so it's good to get an unbiased point of view. Hopefully I'll get a video up tonight/tomorrow with multiple cars getting pulled, that is if work doesn't kill me first. It's been a grind, hard to come home after a long day and DO anything. Ah well, thankfully I am employed and have nothing valid to "complain" about. Have a great day! Greg
Alex, the track plan was originally based off of the Reid Gap plan in MRR 2011 (not sure which month) but it's also very, very similar to The Virginian plan in multiple issues of MRR in 2012. Having looked around, I think there are probably a couple other published track plans that are very similar besides these two. That means it's a pretty decent plan, right?! Thanks to everyone for taking a look at the plans/progress. If anyone has suggestions to my "No idea" & "Not a clue" areas, feel free. This part I'm really just going to wing it if I don't have it figured out before I get there. I'm making notes as I go along for the "future track plan" so I ensure I remember what I learned as I went. I'll admit, the positive responses about my progress are gratifying. I sometimes feel like molasses in January, so it's good to get an unbiased point of view. Hopefully I'll get a video up tonight/tomorrow with multiple cars getting pulled, that is if work doesn't kill me first. It's been a grind, hard to come home after a long day and DO anything. Ah well, thankfully I am employed and have nothing valid to "complain" about. Have a great day! Greg
After some initial challenges with a turnout, I was able to get a few cars to go round: [video=youtube_share;Qjj0q46j7-M]http://youtu.be/Qjj0q46j7-M[/video] The turnout was a bit lifted, when the engine rolled over it's weight laid it flat but the cars aren't as heavy and so they derailed. The challenged turnout... Which hopefully is a lot less challenged with a few drops of Elmer's. And the 4-6-6-4 Challenger from Athearn, I'm pretty sure it's with the MRC decoder but I'm not certain. She's still wonderful to run, glad to have some track to run her on finally. Thanks gentlemen! Greg
Very nice work so far. I have a pair of those challengers, they are sweet. As for D&RGW photos, what do you seek in particular? James Belmont is a prolific Grande fan and has extensively documented the Utah lines: http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?userid=7039 Blair Kooistra has a nice recent set of D&RGW on Tennessee Pass, and the Craig Branch: http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?userid=36530 If you need old school steam era stuff, go to the Denver Public Library Collection: http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/railroad/ Otto Perry was a renowned photographer, and has extensively documented nearly every SG steamer the Grande owned. There's so much to see there, you can spend days looking.
Matt Myers is creating thew conversions for the Bachmann 2-6-6-2's to make the D&RGW L-77 ex-D&SL 2-6-6-0's and the Ex-D&SL 2-8-0's as well. That would be perfect for transition era D&RGW. The only reason I've kept my N scale was because of these upcoming projects. I'm really excited for them now. Especially now that he has a bunch of rolling stock available already for purchase like the drop bottom gondolas. I'm planning on making something similar to Rollins Pass something more wide open mountain/countryside than my HO layout I'm also constructing based on a freelance version of the grande: http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php/topic,17818.0.html I'm strictly steam only, not a fan of diesels. But transition era stuff will have the most modern versions of the steam era so I'm interested in what comes of this project As hard as it is to find D&RGW steam in HO (mostly brass and not cheap albeit that) its completely scarce in N scale. Hallmark made a USRA version of the 4-8-2 lettered for the D&RGW but they never had any USRA 4-8-2's and Bachmann made heavy USRA engines lettered for the Rio Grande but they too are innaccurate. That's why I'm very supportive of Matt Myers project with his conversions he's creating. He's becoming the brass importer(errr 3D printer) for D&SL/D&RGW steam. Now once he's done with the two he's working on now, hopefully he'll do a D&RGW mountain or Northern... Has anyone considered the thought of Using the GHQ Northern Pacific Conversions to make D&RGW engines??? Like I don't know how far off their 2-8-2 or 4-6-6-4 conversions would be for grande engines but they seem close. I just haven't put too much thought into them yet.
Thanks Hemi for the links! I found a few good photos to help with the layout. I wasn't sure on the ballast color, looks like black/cinders (some red tint perhaps) and dark browns will be the way to go. Now to determine how I'm going to model the rock, could either go with hydrocal in molds or just carve. I may pass on the "one-time" cost of molds and just carve them myself, probably will practice it a couple/few times before I try doing it on the layout. RG, after reading your post on conversations I decided to take a look for a Mikado K-59 and/or K-63 and didn't find anything. You hear anything about 2-8-2's coming by chance? You also mention a bunch of rolling stock (drop bottom gonds), if you have a link you could pass my way? Oh, so I ended up having to take up the challenged turnout which then started to fall apart. I superglued it back together... carefully (BCO here) and then got in back in and secured the track. Will dry tonight and then I'll hopefully have confirmation that the track is running solid with no derails in the area (steam engine and metal wheel gonds derailed about 25% of the time). Then I can start making a mess with pink foam and some Great Stuff. That should be interesting. Have a great week! Greg
Welcome, Ryeguy! I have been informed of the D&SL gengine on Shapeways, but last I checked (a while ago), they weren't up for sale just yet. I cannot think of a steam loco that better identifies with the Moffat Route than a D&SL 200 class. Greg, Glad to hear thos photos helped.
The inner track is back up and running solid: [video=youtube_share;4cm8pcoJRWg]http://youtu.be/4cm8pcoJRWg[/video] Got another engine up and running. 44 tonner doesn't run as smoothly as the Challenger, not sure if it's just the engine or if I need to take a closer look. The electrical pickup just doesn't appear to be especially good. Here is a closer look: Just might need to replace the seemingly oversized couplers too... I thought I might start laying down foam and Great Stuff tonight, but I just enjoyed running trains and watching The Walking Dead. G'night! Greg
Well, it's been one of those weeks/weekends... At least I found a little motivation here and there, but the progress is minimal. Tunnel started on the left side for the inner track: Tunnel portals (roughed in): The "main" part of the tunnel is put together with cut-up frozen waffle cardboard boxes and masking tape. I intend to get the elevated track section laid down with pink foam and then fill in/cover with Great stuff. The mountain on this side of the layout will be open from the back and side in case I have a derail. I still want to block in the yard location and exactly where the mountains edges will be before I start filling in. Perhaps this week will see more progress... Greg
Re: D&RGW - Small Layout Build Great work, cant wait to see more progress on your layout. Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Greg, I was stating that the GHQ conversion kits might not be far off from being bashed into possible K-59's or K-63's (the northern pacific mikado conversion) I own both engines in HO brass and they're beautiful. Here's the link to rolling stock/engines made by Matt Myers, who is also a regular on this board: http://www.shapeways.com/shops/sboulder?s=0 Last I talked to him, he was getting awfully close to finishing the 2-6-6-0 and was ordering a test sample to see how it comes out. So soon! I also own a 2-6-6-0 D&RGW/D&SL L-77 in HO by PFM its a neat little engine, is part of a planned fleet of three. Just like my three M-75's. If you can't tell I'm a bit of a Rio Grande Standard Gauged steam nut!
