Rainier Great Western Const Update

Construction Update March 2009

There is a new construction update at www.rgwrail.com. This update outlines our progress on the upper level of track and the installation of the upper track wye at Franklin. We have also completed reinstalling the power bus, installing EB-1 block protection and our Lenz DCC system. In addition, we have a video of the first trip from lower staging to the Renton Yard from back in October. We also put up a turnout control mini-clinic based on the methods used on the RGW. For the next update, we anticipate completing the upper level track from above Renton to the NW wall transition. Please feel free to email us for details any time. Michael

 

Thanks Ken. I'll try and keep this thing more current. As for the photo, it's at Nisqually right where Mounts Road passes the mainline. Just off I-5 near Ft. Lewis. Rumor is you've had some issues, you ok? M

 

It's been a while....

In September I agreed to be on the national narrow gauge and local NMRA spring layout tours. It has a humbling effect on you when you know there is a deadline. But the good side is it makes you get off your duff and work on the railroad. In the last four sessions we have put in all of the tortoise switch machines, started to paint the rail and add foam scenery base. I have also finished painting the Molzahn Bridge. Here are some shots of the layout as of this past weekend. So much more to do, god I hope it's ready for May.....MRH

 

Tuesday 10-18-11 Work Session

Lots of foam, in fact, it's everywhere. Built a home made foam cutter, worked perfectly! Set it up in middle of room so everyone could use it. Going to build another tonight to give more people access, no lines. I continued work on the Black Diamond Valley and the best news was we finally installed the Green River Gorge Bridge.

Amazing what a deadline will do for you (and your railroad). MRH

 

Can you post info on where you are located. I would love to visit.

Thank you,

PJMack15

 

PJ, Check your private messages. MRH

 

Molzahn Bridge Rails and Foam

Here are a couple of shots of the work done this weekend. First, the addition of the handlaid rails and guide rails. Many thanks to MMR Walt Huston for putting in the rails and teaching me the technique so that I could also assist with the guide rails. I have also included a shot of the foam install that goes from abutment to abutment under the bridge.

 

Layout Pics

Just wanted to give folks a quick view of some of the areas we are building on the RGW. Our RR is freelanced, but it uses real places. Basically the RGW bought about 30 miles of Milwaukee trackage in 1979 and has continued to service it and respond to increased use and development. We are located in South King County, WA. It runs from Black River Junction (about 5 miles west of Renton), heads east to Maple Valley Junction, then heads south through Black Diamond and then to Franklin; both coal mining towns. It hooks up with BNSF at Henry's Junction. We are depicting the John Henry Mine in Black Diamond, which still operates to this day, with an old fashioned mine (kitbashed New River Mining kit from Walthers) and in Franklin we are using a modern flood loader, including prototype entry and exit. First two pics are Black Diamond, second three are Franklin. The fascia in Franklin has a cut-through that will be completely scenicked. There are three levels of track behind that fascia. Our intent is that the only scene that's visible to you is the one you're standing in front of. The entire fascia surrounding Franklin will have foam based scenery. The area behind the mine in Black Diamond will have a mountain all the way to the wall and cabinet.




The website has layout maps and prototype pictures as reference points. Hope you enjoy these posts. MRH

 

Progression

I have been working on some updates to my website, and have been toying with the idea of doing some pages with progressive photos of scenes as they develop. Thought I would share one with the Trainboard folks. Here are three shots of the Molzahn Bridge area, 1) right after we put in the supports for the upper shelf, which eventually would become Black Diamond, 2) the foam taking shape under the now stained bridge and 3) today after we partially installed the fascia board around the scene.

 

Well, interesting question, pic one has shoot date of March 2008 and the last shot was about an hour ago. That said, we had to get the shelf for Black Diamond in place as all the grades, both coming to and leaving from BD depended on where the shelf height was. So while we put that in there pretty early, the focus of our efforts shifted to other areas pretty much right after putting it in. We decided to get the Molzahn Bridge in about 45 days ago, so the last two shots and the staining of the bridge have all been in the last couple of weeks.

 

Changing South Seattle Yard (SSY)

A couple of weeks ago we took on the task of finishing all the turnouts in SSY. By this I mean we started to add all the tortoise machines (20 in all) and all the mechanical point actuators. You can see a mini tutorial on this at my website. Funny thing is though, just when you think you have the design down pat, you realize it just isn't right. So what's wrong, well we realized that we could not enter the yard from the south without passing the yard throat and backing in. Uh, wrong! So how do we fix that, well as pic one will show you we had to add a curved turnout on the run in, take out a turnout in the head end and replace it with a crossover. We used a paper template of an atlas crossover, settling on a 19 degree. We were lucky as the crossover was just about perfect. The second and third pics show the finished product from opposite directions; (1) curved turnout and (2) crossover. We think it will add numerous possibilities, not to mention the obvious one (yeah, like just getting into the yard). While we were at it we added two turnouts in the run around at points 3 and 4. These gave us a switching opportunity and a second run-around at the back end, thus making the yard substantially more fun to operate. Now that we had these changes in place, we completed installing the tortoises/actuators, now at 22. Next thing to do will be making the yard schematic and wiring it up.


By the way here's a tip if you're building any layout of size. In pic 1, you'll see tape on the floor, we put that down years ago as to assure us that our cadrail drawing would actually fit in the building. It also allowed us to build table sections on the floor and customize the fit as we went along. To date it has worked to a "T". Thanks for looking in. Michael

 

Let there be Foam...

It's been a foam-fest at the RGW for the last few work sessions. I now have a mountain of foam shavings and a shop-vac full of foam particles from the rasping of the foam in place. We ended up buying three woodland scenics foam cutters due to demand and they are really allowing progress to flow. It's easy to make headway with 6 guys cutting and shaping each week. Here are some shots to give you a sense of the changes. The first three are from Green River Gorge Bridge to Black Diamond. We thought the run into BD would be well served with a rock cut. The last two shots are the foam lift outs along the west wall so that we can access the hidden track behind. The lift outs will receive extensive carving and shaping between these shots and the final product.

 

More Foam Pictures

Following up on the last post, the first two shots are on opposite sides of the Franklin peninsula. The first, on the north side, the upper level reveals the newly painted blue backdrop, soon to receive painted land forms and clouds. The second tier has foam blocks set in place for carving once the opposite tunnel portal created. The second photo is on the south side of the Franklin peninsula. As you can see, there are two levels of track through this area. We have also decided since this is a fairly mountainous area, we are going to carry the mountain effect over the back drop and onto the north side. Foam blocks have been hot glued in place and will be shaped later when we give final location to the mine on the other side in Franklin.

The final two shots are of the nearly complete Black Diamond peninsula. The upper level background has been completed and awaaits some minor touches (spackling of the seams) before it is ready for base coat. The Molzahn Bridge has had its handlaid track put in place and the foam land forms have been carried all the way around to the west side and now include the two tunnel portals on the southbound run into town.

 

Switch Controls

Ken, these holes are for in-fascia mounted switch controls. All switches are controlled via tortoise switch machines. The "throw" concept we use is points away from the operator, the DPDT switch is thrown upward; points toward the operator, the DPDT is thrown down. Each hole also gets an insert to protect the fingers from any unsavory fate. The inserts are the same you would use in a desk for under mounted computer cords. The din plugs for the DCC are also in the fascia.

Also providing another shot of the north side of the building, looking due west.

 

New video of layout progress on my website www.rgwrail.com. Let me know what you think, I'm always interested. MRH