PROGRESS! phase 3 of track laying complete. The still unnamed chemical plant trackwork is in and the lead to the other back industries is down. Wiring done and tested, first cars have been spotted, yep the first switching although to spot the BN boxcar required the loco to run round the mainline as I have no runround yet... Phase 4 will be this area. This will finish the trackage for the back industries, the xing will have to be a peco code 75 as for some unknown reason peco do not make a code 83 one. Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191
Looks like you're moving ahead rather well. I know I'm moving slower than I want. I think the code 75 will look better. I am all code 70 and when you compare it to code 100, I personally think it looks a lot better.
The only issue with using peco code 75 is that the sleepers are wrong for USA track. Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191
That is a bit of a problem. Lotsa paint and ballast ? That's what is did to try to hide the difference in my hand laid code 70 rail and the Shinohara track that I'm using now.
That part of the layout will be in poor shape, I will bury the crossing in dirt so you can hardly see it. Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191
This is something we in N scale have lived with for many years. Peco gained a solid foothold with NTrak, forty years ago. So we do things such as ballasting, etc. The reliability of this track is well worth its use.
I need to get a few coaches for them to pull on specials. What sort would be appropriate? Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191
What is your exact time period you are modeling. If you have steam on a regular run, say in the 50's, a couple of heavyweights would probably be your best bet. I love the NP streamliners and have a few of them and was trying to find a way to have them show up on my railroad. Being that my freelance railroad connects with West Yellowstone, MT, I have a tourist train that will operate during the months that Yellowstone Park is open and will have an NP locomotive haul the train over my railroad to the park. The Milwaukee Road used to take their passengers from the Gallatin Gateway Inn (which is less than a like from me) by motor coach to the park, but this service ceased in the early 50's. It's my railroad, and I can do what I want. The second picture is my layout expansion, and the station at Logan, where the Logan Valley connects to the Northern Pacific.
My layout will be early to mid 1970's, that way I get to run some of the locos that the BN did not keep for long, and also some patched locos like my CB&Q 44t and NP S2. I these will only get an occasional run when I fancy something different. I may go for a couple of nice heavyweights, although I have no idea who makes good ones. They will need to have interiors and lights. Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191
I have seen some excellent Riverossi heavyweights that have fairly detailed interiors. I also have seen some nicely detailed Bachmann cars. I don't think they are lit, but there are a number of interior lighting kits available. I have seen a number of "tourist trains" during out travels and heavy weights are a bit more common than streamline cars but I have seen both used. In the picture above near the Logan station, I have a nicely detailed B&O dining car. Don't know how or why I have it, but it's too nicely detailed not to use. In my freelanced world, it is going to be a "fine dining" restaurant, but can be put on a train for an evening ride and dinner. Dining cars were extremely expensive compared to other passenger cars and a lot of the time, an updated dining car could be found in a consist of more modern streamlined cars. Don't forget the RDC's I posted earlier in this post that the Montana Central pulls out of Lewistown, MT.
Back to the subject of passenger cars: Back when I had my HO scale Oklahoma & North Eastern, I picked up several Athearn corrugated passenger cars, painting them aluminum with a blue band on the windows (corporate colors were blue & yellow). The layout was in a 9 x 11-foot room, and worked quite nicely on the 22" radius curves as they were being pulled by one of the O&NE's blue RS3s. If you could find some blue-box Athearn cars (be they heavyweight or corrugated side) & paint & letter 'em up in the MC scheme, you'd have it made.
Work has started modifying the buildings for the chemical plant, the two buildings have been joined up by an overhead walkway, this also acts as a scene break and hides the corner of the room. All work so far is temporary and will be finished off and detailed as the ground cover is done. Sent from my Xperia Z using Tapatalk 2
