This is my second layout in HO and first in 2 years (thank you Afghanistan) but its ment to be a quick fix to get back into trains and just start building a layout. Im a fan of western railroads but i came acrross the First Coast Railroad (real one) of the G&W family and i really like their simple operation in northern Florida. Being i dont care to much for G&W's orange i changed it up a little and mixed in the history of the area with the original Florida Southern to make a line i liked and could add in the modelers licence. Also, the traffic on the FCRD is a close match tot he rolling stock i have already collected and just required to pick up a few more CSX and NS equipment......tough i know hahaha. Below are the inital stages of benchwork and the first of cork being laid in what will be the Yulee, FL yard and interchange. The "gap" will be the Amelia River. The 4x8 will contain the main yard near Fernandina, FL and the port.
Found this video on Youtube of FCRC power, pre-G&W. Looks like you could get by with a couple of Walthers Trainline chopnosed GP9s, or cut a hinose Geep down yourself & call it good. Looks like they had a switcher (SW1200?), GP7 and GP10 for power at first.
i have that edition sitting on the table and found it very helpful to provide that little extra information one wouldnt normally know/figure from pics and videos. As for its road power, the rr FCRD always has been a GWI affiliate as they leased the line from CSX in 2006 when the Class I trimmed branchs and unwanted track to shortlines. GWI colleted and pushed some engines down there and believe 2of3 have been painted into the parent's colors as originally it was just a SW1200 in orange. Im going to paint a SW1200/1500 in my scheme based on the Southern green/white for the port and then a GP-40 i have in FEC color, paatched for the runs to Yulee.
Interesting seeing the railroad I work for being modeled. I've been an engineer on the FCRD for 7 years. If you have any questions just ask. John Sent from my SPH-M820-BST using Tapatalk 2
I stand corrected on the origin of First Coast.... As for the paint job, that sounds like a winner. Can't wait to see what you come up with.
BoxcabE50 - Sorry, nothing really worth posting as far as a track plan. I did a rough draft on graph paper but ended up sketching everything on the foam and well, its still a work in progress. JDay - Thanks for the offer and i will be taking advantage of it. As for the layout, i finished "planting" grass and started painting a backdrop. The last time i picked up a paint brush to paint something besides a train.....12 yrs ago in HS.....so the clouds suck and im trying something new. Being its not a big concern of mine with regards to the backdrops' quality, im going to use the K.I.S.S. method (Keep It Simple Stupid). I will post tomorrow
Ground cover base is in for most of the Yulee, FL area. Inital base is paver sand with a mix of ground foam of various sizes. The back drop is my first attempt at painting and as you can tell, im not a painter...no issues with me. I'm going for a cloudy/rainy day so its a grey paperboard with "misting" of two shades of primer from the rattle can. The edging is again a mix of various ground foam but to build it up i placed a base of "scruff pad" to add depth without using a lot of foam. I'm going to fill in the space between the background trees with fine foilage to increase the vegitation one would find along the roads, rails, and trails of northern Florida.
These are "track" level views along the main and at the edge. Track will be going in next week along with ballast on the tracks and on the MOW road along with a small trans-load site in the far corner where the tall tree is sticking out (yet to be planted).
To be honest, your background painting is far better than mine- heck, I couldn't even work with crayons in coloring books as a kid. I like the looks of the backdrop trees, as well as the ones you planted. Can't wait to see what the track looks like.
First attempt? Nah. Can't be. Far too good. Beats my efforts any day, and I have been doing this for decades.
Re-did the tree line at Yulee with the use of poly-fiber and course ground turf and painted some track. It is isnt glued down as i still need to finish cleaning up where i cut on the flex track but i went ahead and painted the ties with Poly-Scale "Roof Brown."
In this corner enters the CLass1 interchange from stagging as you follow the rail going against the wall without the backdrop. The wooden shack is a scratch build in progress to serve as a small office and the blue office is a stand in for the next scratch build which will be the Yulee, FL ACL/SBD depot. What im still figuring out is what to have the team track serve in the upper left. Right now im considering just putting a fence around it to serve as a oil recycle "truck to rail" location after talking to JDAY, to based off a custom in Kingsland, GA. The second picture is the start of the Amelia River crossing.
Continue to work and add to the woodline at Yulee as i attempt to simulate the dense vegitation found along rails, trails, and roads in Florida.
In addition to the work at Yulee; ive started laying track were the main yard will be located and rough out the basics for the Amelia River Swing Bridge. As im not working with a set track plan, changes occur to fit my likes and so forth and although im ok with the compression of the bridge, i've realized i could have expanding the scene to be more realistic. With that said, time is important plus it wont bother me in the end so i will continue moving forward and have started cutting lumber.
The layout is looking fantastic! Some questions for you though. When you decide to permanently lay your track, what are you doing to join the track? Are you just straight soldering the rail together, or are you using rail joiners or a combo? I can't recall if I heard correctly, but in a video I thought I heard a suggestion to only use rail joiners when putting track together rather than soldering it. I believe the argument was that it allowed more and easier expansion in heat. Thanks -Chris
