Hello all.I originally posted a thread of my layout progress in the Layout design section of the forums, but that really wasn't the right place for it as I already had all the ideas in my head!. So here's some photos of the shed division as it stands now. So here is the shed, sitting out lonely on the prairie in Colorado. It's actually not that far from civilization, the house is maybe 10 feet behind me in this shot. An overview of the benchwork. At the time this photo was shot, the small yard on the right was supposed to become a staging yard to service the town of Eureka on the Howard branch. However my plans changed and this became an actual yard, the trackage was adjusted to suit as well. The river belle box in the background is actually a dartboard, and yes I have had darts bounce off and hit the layout, not really worried about the darts doing much damage. Under the yard is my work bench. Not a very large piece but it works for my purposes. The power pack is temporary until I find/get a power supply for my DCC system. The 3M box at the time was being used to hold my soldering iron, but it has been moved, replaced as a soldering iron holder by an old coffee mug. There is a little shop light just to the left of the 3M box that provides light to the desk while I'm using it. The layout sits 48" above the ground, and the workbench is at a perfect height to match a person sitting in a roll around chair. Although I no longer have an on layout staging yard, I do have a display shelf setup for a staging yard. This piece has some sentimental value to me because my father built me this when I was about 5 years old. I still treasure it.
Gotta keep track of all the paper work! Not really, the filing cabinet contains my decals and other materials that I don't want to get dusty or moist. Remember a few years back when the April Fools gag in Model Railroader was adding realistic weather to your layout? Happens to me all the time! The shed is a simple home depot knock together so it's not perfectly sealed. My benchwork hasn't been affected by this at all though. I even run trains through the snow when this happens! That's all I have to show for now. I have an order of central valley track kits coming from a hobby shop to finish up part of the layout. As of right now, the layout is about 8x8, however it may get a small 1x4 shelf extension to model a river port here in the future. What can I say, born near the water, always near the water. Control for the layout will consist of a MRC Prodigy Express DCC system, I have the system but lost the power supply on the move, thus why I have a temporary TYCO pack in it's place. When I get the DCC system running again, the tyco will be moved to a small shelf to power lights and the twin coil switch machines. thats all for now, but after my central valley track arrives, I'll have another update.
Nice structure modeling, and good job on getting the Santa Fe colors on the siding and trim of your shed. Not sure if the roof is exactly the Santa Fe roof color which was usually a green I believe. You haven't gotten very far on the weathering but I guess that will take care of itself.
Boxcab; that's what the 1500 watt heater is for! It takes a bit to warm up the shed, but when it does get warm, its nice out there. Kenneth; gee thanks! I actually have though about printing out a santa fe logo to make a template from to paint the logo and station name on the ends of the building.
yay more progress! The yard has been changed considerably. The 10 car capacity has been upped to almost 20, plenty enough for me, but I lost the yard lead because of this, not like I needed one anyway. I added another industry to the front of the yard, not quite sure what it will be yet. The other end of the yard, the old yard lead has shrunk quite a bit and thus has been converted into another industry track. and..... drum roll please.... I completed my first central valley switch kit, and I must say, I'm impressed! It was much simpler to complete than I thought it would be. I am going to order 2 more of these to complete the industrial lead for the grain elevator. The back part of my 3x8 will only have one industry, the interchange with the MOPAC, and that will be laid with the remaining code 100 track I have, I like doing the semi hand laying stuff, but I don't trust it when it will be difficult to reach and maintain. The far back switch will have a twin coil switch motor, I know people dislike them for being noisy and snapping the switch over, but I prefer them because of their reliability. It might be a while before we get more progress done, I have a new project to work on..... Should keep me busy!
Are you cutting large gaps in the rails? I know how hot the CO prairie can get in summer, and the snow on the layout shows how cold it can get in winter. Any thoughts on insulating it? Weatherstripping is usually pretty reasonable, too. Nice station name and herald idea for the shed. I say go for it!
Hemi: No, I haven't cut any large gaps. The shed is insulated and weatherstripped. I've gotten it sealed a little better since the snow got in, but I've pretty much given up on that. The benchwork has been snowed on several times this winter and it hasn't had a care in the world. I dunno how the summer will affect the track, but the trackage has been up in some form since last October, so the track has already been through the warm freeze cycle without even budging. Shortround: Yup, its an MG TD with a 1965 VW bug as a base.
Good job on having a layout. As much as people gripe about not having a room for the layout, it's pretty easy to get a layout shed. I've been looking at a lot of british layouts lately since I got the British train bug for some reason. I'd say easily half the layouts in Britain are in garden sheds and I've seen amazing things on those layouts. 8x8 is a lot of space to work with too. I suppose you'll be getting an air conditioner for summer time running as we do get hot weather here in Colorado. Keep it up, I look forward to your progress updates.
for me, 8x8 is a pretty large space! No air conditioning. But I do have a box fan that fits pretty well into one of the windows.
8x8, eh? Exactly the right space for a HOG (as in Scott Perry's Heart of Georgia sectional layout). I too am building a shelf=style layout, so I'm always interested in seeing how others do it. I like what you're doing with your layout- thanks for sharing.
8x8 gives possibly 28' of mainline. Thats not bad. I've seen over under double ovals that had almost a scale mile in that kind of space.
well, I could fit that much mainline in there, but I'm not going to. This layout is supposed to represent the plains, so I've left plenty of room for the vistas and rolling hills the plains are known for.
Do you have a trackplan on here somewhere? I've seen proposed trackplans elsewhere from others based on this branch (IIRC, John Armstrong may have done one, and I know for a fact that there is a "virtual" line in Microsoft Train Simulator done by Cody Winkleman in Kansas), so I'm curious to see how you do this. Should be a nice layout once done. BTW- can you PM me what your experience is with the CV turnout kit? I may do one or two on MY layout.
I really need to change my signature. I was planning on modeling the town of Eureka on the Howard branch (thus why i had a staging yard). But after operating it in my head for a little while I decided that eureka didn't quite give me what I wanted. So I have changed my idea to using the Howard branch as inspiration rather than modeling it exactly. Lemme do a little doodle on the track plan, I have one in my head, but not quite on Paper.
Ok so here's my crude attempt in Atlas RTS. I've never been that good at RTS despite using it for years, so the plan is not exactly to scale or anything. All the trackage except the Mopac interchange and grain elevator has been laid so while in the plan it looks funky, trust me, in real life its much better!
It all depends on what you want, but those yard tracks could curve around to the other side to make them longer. It may be possible to add a yard lead so that you can switch the yard and have something running the mainline. Or keep the outside one straight and curve the two inner ones. you could put an old freight station on the shorter outside one. I would be tempted to have a long spur as a rudimentary caboose and loco track for extra stuff. Overall it looks like a fun little layout.
no room to curve the tracks, the plan is not to scale. the far outside curve would be less than 15" to get 2" spacing. I did have a yard lead, which is now an industry, however with the yard tracks I have now, I would only have room for maybe an engine and 2 or 3 cars on the lead, not anything close to what I need. I have also though about squeezing in a caboose track and engine facility, but then I think about that this is supposed to be a branchline and not a mainline yard, most trains are just passing through and not actually terminating or beginning. I have messed with operations in my head, looks great for me too.
