Wilbert, I was curious why you didn't make your staging area (fiddle area) parallel to the back with scenic divider. It appears you have the room for it, but I could be mistaken.
Here is a link to the original track plan. I will post pictures of the real thing this weekend. http://community.webshots.com/user/espeeman
The end of week #2 is approaching However, I have at least started to ballast the tracks at Cold Spring. You will find some new pics through the link below. click for more pics
Espee, Okay this time I KNOW I saw your track plan... lol. I see you are planning on the DCC leap of faith.
Rick, I don't know exactly what you mean but if you take a look at the trackplan again, I'll try and explain the limits of my space: trackplan If you look at the drawing, at the top is a wall, to the left is a big window (runs all the way along that side) and to the right, the part where the sector plate is, the last two feet are in a closet. Right now, the main L-shape is build above my desk. If I understand you correctly, you say that I should place the fiddle yard alongside the short part of the L (pointing down) and hide it with a scenic divider is that right? I suppose you want to do this so I can have a longer staging yard. The reason I didn't is because that takes up a lot of space because there should be a curve and the gain in length would be minimal. Second I now have a path between the window (left side) and the lower part of the L which would almost be gone with the fiddle yard there. And I thought it would be nice if you could walk around that part of the layout as a sort of focus point (I have plans for a very nice scratchbuild building there) I still have to learn to scratchbuild but I can have dreams right! I hope this answers your question, if not let me know. Kind regards, Wilbert
Well, I didn't post my progress on Monday. Have been busy. Layout and 6 week goals progressing, although this past week culminated in two dissappointments. First, I had to add some ground, and touch up a few other ground areas. Alas, I didn't write down, and so forgot, my "formulas" that I used to paint the original areas. So, I had much lighter patches in the the touch ups and new areas. Sigh. Second, though I painted a "test" piece of rock to determine colors, shade, tint, when I painted the "real" rock face it came out very dissappointingly light. So, I have to start that over again. Heavy sigh! Mark
Wilbert, Yes I was thinking a longer staging (fiddle) area. But I understand now and understand the dynamics of the room in which you are building.
Hi Rick, I've wired the layout for two cabs. Right now I only have one power pack and for around $50 I can pick up a Command 2000. I looked into all the other DCC systems but my layout is so small and since I can't put sound in my diesels, all the other systems are serious overkill. So, for the time being I can run the layout with several engines and one cab. Friday I placed an order with Arizona Rock & Mineral for ballast and earth pigments. The Atlas forum convinced me that this was the way to go. I was going to paint the track this weekend but decided to have fun with some switching orders. While running the trains, I came to the conclusion that I need to solder feeder wires to ALL the tracks, especially for the upcoming DCC. I can't stand it when the trains "stutter". The layout has less than 100 pieces of track so even though it's not the most fun project it'll pay dividends in the end.
This was first posted in the "what I have been up to" thread, but as Rick rsn48 pointed out, I might get more responses if I post it here instead, so here goes: I hope to comlete the wiring (track only) over the next couple of weeks, and after that I will start installing some switchmachines. Jesper
Espee, I think the MRC 2000 DCC unit for $50 is a great deal. You will have fun with it, learn about DCC, learn what features are important to you, be able to wire your layout easier, and be light years ahead of a conventional power pack, all for $50. Not bad! Jesper, I'm a big fan of lots of staging. Your layout looks like you will have a lot of fun with it. I will be soon getting to the wiring point on my layout as well, something I must admit I am not looking forward to. I think some enjoy the mind numbing task that it is, and look forward to the long diligent task. I, on the other hand, would rather the wiring could be done in one day - it can't.
This last week I finished the hard part of scratchbuilding a small derrick crane on the back of a roundhouse flatcar. All that is left is paitning it a bit more, and adding all of the rigging and other such detail. For now, here is a picture of the Flatcar that inspired its creation. Flatcar Quite simply, I built this really nice flatcar, and realized my crews needed some way to get those trucks off that car without killing themselves. Pictures of the crane are coming! Calculus is first!
Nice job, Benny! Looks real good! jkrista, I envy the room you have. I too like to stage trains. My little layout has just enough room for two! By the way, I think you need to clean up that SP freight car. EVERYONE knows SP was famous for sparkling clean equipment! I mean, just look at this dazzling picture! http://espee.railfan.net/nonindex/sd45t-2_photos/9231_sp-sd45t-2-kevin_stevens.jpg
Week #2 is behind me. I have had some problem with the glue for the ballast of all tracks at Cold Spring. It took longer time to dry than expected. (Too much water I suppose) But on the other hand, I could manage to drink a lot of coffee wail waiting See you next week.
I have posted some more pictures of my layout on http://community.webshots.com/user/espeeman if you're interested.
Espee, I see track plan but not pictures. By the way, did you send me email with attachment. Haven't opened it yet (virus)... it is from espee-ward... is that you?
Hi Rick, No, I didn't send you an email. My email address is musecrafter@hotmail.com or jhickson@mrioc.com . Try the link again. Webshots has to approve the picts before they are viewable. I just checked and they are up.
Technically the new week starts on Monday, but we're an informal group here. This is the fourth week we are in, and two weeks to go. This time around, the thread is more laid back.... too laid back. And it took me awhile to figure it out. In the last thread (Lonely Hearts Club...), people not only reported, but asked advice, posted pictures (there have been some) and chatter about others layouts. So folks, can we give feed back, or ask questions or whatever of others layouts. Its not often that we have a thread devoted entirely to layouts. Lets enjoy and party. The first thread (Lonely....) started out very fast then came to a stuttering halt. This one seems to be gaining momentum as we go, and 6 weeks almost seems to short. The last time, by week six it felt a grind. Go figure. So to repeat, next Monday is end of week four, entering week five.
Hi Rick, I am interested in any and all feedback. The link to my layout photo's is working so ya'll have a look and give me your thoughts. Any advice, thoughts, constructive criticism are welcome. Have a look at the track plan form an operational perspective. What kinds of adjustments would you make???
I'll have photos from two months ago developed soon. Hopefully I'll have a revised track plan to show very soon too.
