British Columbia Railway Dawson Creek Sub in HO

[Twist67]

Hi there,
It´s been a while since my last post.....time is running fast

I made some progress to my layout with finishing the wireing in the yard area (Dawson Creek Yard).I also finshed the tracks on the eastend of the Dawson Creek industrie area and found names for all industries based on real names of companies in Dawson Creek.So let´s follow the tracks east from the new trackwork in front of the station at Dawson Creek.

more space between the tracks.I moved the structures a bit to the back of the benchwork.

following the tracks east we will enter "downtown" Dawson Creek.First spot will be Diamond Fertilizer plant & storage with 2 carspots for hoppers and boxcars


Next will be the big G.E.R.N. Industries Limited complex with it´s truck loading/unloading facility ( non railserved)

and the mill and elevator complex with max 6 spots for hoppers at the elevator and 2 spots for boxcars at the millbuilding


You´ll leaving the west downtown district going around the curve over the liftout and you´ll enter a small yard where are two elevators in the background and the interchange track with the NAR/CN in front.
The wooden elevator will be an Alberta Wheat pool elevator and the other will be United Grain Growers elevator.On the elevator track can be spotted max.7 cars (Hoppers and Boxcars) and on the interchange track when finished about 4 to 5 cars max.


Around the last corner there is Prarie-Coast Farm Supply & Equipment in the rear corner right to the street.This company once was railserved.You´ll see the remains of the track lurking out of the concrete in front of the building if you´ll look closely....okay,not really now but when it´s finished you´ll see it....


Last two spots at the end of my layout world are Wrights Food Service LTD. with to tracks in the background and a teamtrack in the foreground.I´ll mount a backdrop on the left edge of the layout.The teamtrack is served by a gravel road coming from the street on the right.
Inside Wrights you can spot 4 ´40 Boxcars or 3 ´50 Boxcars.The track in the front is for switching and storage,the Teamtrack could hold 3 cars max.

The building with the windows is only a mockup,I´ll scratchbuild another structure for Wrights with some truckdoors (maybe 2 or3)at an angle...

I think this whole area will be a lot of fun to be switched....Here is my trackplan of this last part of the layout....


Thanks for looking,and any tips and comments are very appreciated.

Cheers,Chris

[ACL1504]

Chris,

Looks like you have it laid out pretty well. You certainly have  plenty of switching opportunities.

Are you hand laying track as well?

Tom

[Twist67]

Hi there,

Tom,thank you for your kind words. Yes I handlayed some track and also used some Fast Tracks turnout templates to build some turnouts...but I want to run some trains, so I decided to go on with the Peco flextrack....But maybe I´ll redo some of the track with more handlayed..... It was more a type of "yes I have tested it" work...but it was a lot of fun...

Cheers,Chris

[jbelwood]

Chris,


Your run-around track is quite long. I would consider adding a cross over track just opposite the red building
on the left. Use two left hand turnouts with the lower one on the right. This will allow spotting rolling stock
on the trailing point tracks for better operation. Just a thought.


John

[Twist67]

Hi there,
thanks for the kind comments...John,I know what you mean but for the moment it works fine with the long runaround and I think I don´t want a crossover there...But thanks a lot for the idea.....Any comments and tips or ideas are very appreciated.

There´s not much to report,I made some Loco programming and testrunning.
I made two short videos running a short trains with a consist of two Atlas Dash 8-40B with factory installed sound. First video is on the upper level on top of the helix with the farm in the background.
https://youtu.be/Z7r5ruwGP7w

The second video is on the lower level in the small village called Cold Creek just in front of Lukes Gas Station to the left
https://youtu.be/t8pBzy_tbw0

During my sessions I found out that I have to add two turnouts in the Dawson Creek yard as a runaround...This will be changed,soon...and the other thing is the change of the location of the yard for the lower level.It will be no more on a shelf around the corner with another liftout piece of wood.Instead it will be part of the sundance siding and will sit between the wall and main with 3 tracks...one for departure and two for arrival...Here´s my Anyrail plan for that...


And first tests laying down some track...I`ll cut the wood for the three yardtracks and install it in three pieces...the longest track is as long as the longest yard track on the upper level. So this seems to be the last change for now....maybe one idea I have for the upper level but that´s another story and not worth to talk about...




So that´s for now....you may think I´m crazy and you may be right....but that´s okay for me.... :dumb1:  :dumb1:  :dumb1:  :dumb1:

Cheers and have a nice weekend,

Chris.

[Twist67]

Hi there,
so finally I made some progress on my layout and all the new trackwork is done and tested. As you´ve seen in my last post I reworked the siding on my lower level and added three staging tracks to it. I installed BluePoint switches and installed them on my bench.That was a lot easier than crawling under the layout and wire all the switches etc. I have only done the connections to the buswire under the bench.


After that I installed the piece of plywood on my benchwork,glued the korkroadbed and installed the track and turnouts. Made the connections and tested the trackwork.All worked fine and I could run some trains....So I´ll call it done for now.




Next step was to change the tracklayout on the Canfor planer mill around the corner. I wasn´t happy with the woodchip loading track next to the millbuildings and the loading tracks for lumber are far away from the buildings. I decided to remove one track and flip the other tracks. Now I have the woodchiploader farthest away from the mill to the front of the layout, next will be one of the tracks for loading lumber ending under a shed and the last track also for loading lumber. The shed will be scratchbuild with a concrete ramp inside. There will be a lot of lumber stacks around the buildings and under the shed,the track next to the mill will be on streetlevel and filled with concrete,the rest of the ground will be earth and fine gravel. I´ll remove the blue foam and install some 10mm plywood. 2mm kork will be glued to the plywood and track will be glued on top of the kork.

Entering the mill from the new build Sundance Siding.The track in front will simulate the mainline to Chetwynd.It´s long enough for two engines.I´ll add a rounded piece of plywood in the corner...




I hope to get some time to buy the plywood this week and install it here.....for now I´ll cal it done.The track is wired and tested and some switching could be done on the mill....

Last part of the update is only changing some buildings at Dawson Creek West....I wasn´t really happy with my decision to add the large Silocomplex in the middle of that section. Instead of that I´ll go with to Walthers Silos (still one to build) and some smaller structures to the left of it....First is a before picture,the second is how it will look now.





I like the new look much more....So let me know what you think about my changes.Any ideas,tips and comments are very appreciated.

Thanks for looking,
Cheers,Chris

[ACL1504]

Cris,

No grass is growing under your feet! It appears you have a great deal of switching possibilities on the layout and it is coming along nicely.

Thanks for sharing.

Tom

[Twist67]

Hi,

Tom,thank you for the comment. After all I call my layout a large switching layout.... . A friend of mine and me had some "op"sessions during the last weeks and each kept us busy for a while. We just run some cars and engines for fun but I will create a switch list and carcards soon.
For the moment I´ll work on some structures and other little things.....and do some switching...I´ll keep you updated with more progess.

Cheers,Chris

[Twist67]

Hi there,

here´s a short update on my layout.I´m back into structure building or better scratchbuilding and kitbashing. First I started on the additional structures for my G.E.R.N. Industries complex. The loading shed is made from styrene and some Pikestuffparts glued onto the white plastic.I´ll add a corrugated metal roof and two walkways with ladders and some more little details...Behind the shed I added an addition to the elevator house from made from leftover metalsiding. I found some pictues online showing the prototype version of a similar structure....Still a lot to do on this strutures.



The second structure I started with was for Wright Food Service Ltd. It will be scratchbuild from styrene sheet. The truckramp is also also scratchbuild...have to add the front and roof....also still a lot of work to do.....


More progress will,soon....

Cheers,Chris

[UP Fan]

Great looking layout.  With all the industries and businesses, you will have some great operating sessions with your friends.

[Twist67]

Hi there,
thanks.....
I made some progress on two of my current projects. First one is Wreughts Food Service LTD. I added the additional buildings. I´ll add another structure to the roof of the bigger structure with the truckramp.I´ll also build a base for the structures to rise them to tracklevel...








The other project is my G.E.R.N. Industries complex. Worked on the millbuilding and changed one wall,added a roof extension.The walls for the extension are scratchbuild from styrene sheet....







More progress will follow soon. I will paint the Mill complex Tamiya Desert Yellow and add some weathering later.Doors and windows will be painted green matching the G.E.R.N. logo and the metal sidings will be painted a metal color.......
Wright´s will be painted a light grey,white roof on the building with the tracks and fine ballast for the other flat roofs. Doors and windows will be painted blue...So that´s my plan for the next time....more progress on those structures, adding a blue sky to the backdrop,painting trackwork etc.....

Thanks for looking,

Cheers,Chris

[Twist67]

Hi,

after I had some small op sessions during the last few weeks I found out that the new part on the lower level with the grade and the bridge is a bit to steep....so I made a redo of this part and also widened the curve so it will work much better for longer cars....I´ll insert the bridge later after some more testing of the trackwork.....First pictures shows the old track with a template in front of it as a comparsion.

Second one with the ne track layed out and the bridge behind the new track....



The second update is the last big project on the layout...It´s for the Planer Mill scene on the upper level just in front of the entrance into Dawson Creek Yard. First I have planed to build the Mill on the back of the layout with the main in front of it. But it was a bad solution for a good reach for uncoupling and switching....so I thought about a change of the scene and moved the mill to the front and the main to the back.
Here is my drawing made with Anyrail:


I ripped off the old track and roadbed and started the new trackwork. All the cork is glued down now and track is layed down. I have to wire the tunrouts and install the Bluepoints and will be ready with the last big wood and trackwork...I have to buy three more sheets of 3mm plywood for the backdrop and have to mount it....I´ll start to paint it light blue soon and I think this will change the whole look of the wooden empire
Here are the pictures of the work I made. The Walthers Sawmill will be kitbashed for the Northwestern Wood Preservers planer mill and the other structures will be scratchbuild.





The two tracks with the boxcars will be inside the millbuilding. There will be no problem with reaching over the buildings and I´ll leave the backside of the building open....More progress with some trains running will be follow,soon.

Thanks for looking.Any comments and tips are very welcome.

Cheers,Chris

[Zephyrus52246]

Mmmm.  Pringles.  Hope you have some hopper cars lettered for them.    I admire how you have no qualms about changing something that isn't working quite the way you like. 

Jeff

[Twist67]

Jeff,
thanks for the kind words......I´ve to think about a hopper lettered vor pringles...

Cheers,Chris

[LongHornCaddy]

Nice looking track work Chris!