Um, the only switchback that I can think of on the D&RGW/RGS Colorado narrow gauge circle was the Garfield switchback on the Marshall Branch. The Southern Pacific Coast, Southern Pacific NG amd the Pacific Coast Railway did not have switchbacks at all....
I like it too. It's fun to see what people can do in a small amount of space, dispelling the "no room for a layout" comment. Charlie
Well, for starters I didn't lay the track. Someone else had laid the track for a project of their own, but they quickly abandoned it in favor of a larger version and they were kind enough to offer me the smaller one. I can't handlay track, so I take what I can get. The landforms and scenery are of course all my own work.
If I could scratchbuild, I would. But I can't. My mind-to-hand processing just doesn't work well enough to do anything "complex". If I could find scale drawings, I'd see about having some done in laser-cut wood. Of course, the chassis for the Peco wagon kits I have are worthless. No wheels will roll in them and their spacing prevents the use of brass tophat bearings. An individual in the UK had done an etched chassis, but when I contacted them there was no more, and when I asked for the etching artwork to make my own, they only provided a .jpg which is unuseable as etching artwork. So right now only a light engine makes the rounds on the layout.
Well, I know a guy who said he could try and whip up a 3D printed shell for my PowerMax! chassis of the County Donegal Railway's No.11 "Phoenix" (which is a 2-axle locomotive and is partially red), but given how busy he has become it could be awhile till that happens, and I certainly cannot afford to pay anyone to do it.
Here's a bit of an update. The dirt road is finished. The riverbed is finished (still no water), but an unacceptable first iteration necessitated its removal, as well as the removal of the static grass from the riverbanks. I also de-grassed a nearby hill-side that I wasn't satisfied with. That necessitated building myself a static grass applicator. I bought a negative ion generator, and scrounged the remainder of the necessary parts. I assembled it yesterday, and every single possible test that I performed today were terrible. The unit barely functions. It's pretty much useless. I cannot afford to attempt to build another, so the layout will remain unfinished and henceforth untouched as I'll be putting it back into the catacombs. It can't be finished, so no sense in allowing it to consume workbench space. I'll be packing up all of my Nn3 stuff to be stored with it. So unless a fully-working "Grassinator" built per the Ztrack article appears on my workbench by next Wednesday, the layout will NOT be on display at the Atlantic City N-Scale Gathering on April 23rd/24th.
At this point it's more of a death-knell, for both the layout and for my Nn3 modeling as a whole. It's either the layout gets finished by Thursday the 21st, or I never touch any of it ever again.
I have been waiting for the day when someone picked up on that. Funny story... A pub near where I live, which does have a lot of Irish Republican stuff on the walls, happens to have a bunch of old road signs here and there. Well when I walked into the place for the first time, the first thing I noticed was that they had a sign for Killeshandra, and right next to it was their "shrine" to Bobby Sands. I'd be lying if I said that I haven't been tempted to offer the owner a few hundred bucks for the sign.
Hi Von Ryan i belive there are signs , still in place along the border reigon Thank god thats all over , its really a lovely place Northern Ireland and there is also N Gauge in County donegal i wil see if i can find a link https://d262ilb51hltx0.cloudfront.net/max/400/1*VCaQ0jlStQgkBFvBZNhVDQ.jpeg and n gauge http://www.steamtrainsireland.com/schools/irishrailwaysystem.htm
Those signs sure aren't small. Not that it matters much to me. Having a sign bigger than the layout that's named after it would be just too darn funny.
VonRyan, been away from the forum for a while and just spent the last half hour looking over your layout. All I can say is incredible. The layout, research, stories, pics, all of it is top rate. If I ever get over there, I owe you a proper pint or two for the enjoyment I've received following along. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
