British Columbia Railway Dawson Creek Sub in HO

[ACL1504]

Chris,

Great job on the layout. What I like most about the track plan is the endless opportunities for operations. Moving car loads in and out is time consuming but also passes a lot of time before you are aware you've been at it for hours.

Tom

[S&S RR]

Chris


I just stopped by to review your progress - love the track plan - looks like your have been finding some time for the layout - keep us posted on your progress - it looks great.

[Twist67]

Hi there,
Thanks Tom. A friend and me have some test sessions, all without carcards,waybills etc. just some switching cars around and that took a while. I´m in the progress of developing the carcards for my rolling stock etc....

I always search for getting some spare time for the layout. This time I´ve started an engine conversion.
More updates on the layout will follow,soon. Have to buy some sheets of plywood next week.

Regards,Chris

[Twist67]

Hi there,
it´s been some time since my last post. I finished the trackwork in Chetwynd on the new designed south end of the yard. The tracks are connected with the helix again and I run some trains through this new part without any problems.




I also moved the engine facility to this end of the yard. Track is layed down for now, maybe I´ll change the tracks a bit but for now it will stay as it is now. I´m thinking of adding an additional track for some MOW equipment but this will eventually happen later. The walthers fuelplatform sits there just as an placeholder.



The left track is the subdivision to Dawson Creek, the right is the mainline down to Vancouver staging. I´ll extend the track to the helix and one turn down to the level I need to go below Chetwynd yard. The staging will be build below the long wall where the Canfor mill and the northend of Chetwynd is located.
I moved my workbench to the other room to the place where the engineservice was before. The wood was removed and will be build up next to the Helix to extend the benchwork. Here´s the new home for the workbench:

I´m still playing around with placing of the structures for the Canfor mill....I think I´ll go with some Pikestuff buildings and stay away from the Walthers sawmill. mybe I´ll place this somewhere else.


So there´s a lot of things to do. But I´m getting closer to the finish line and to the point where I could start with all the fun stuff like painting the backdrops etc.

more progress will follow,soon.

Thanks for looking, Regards,Chris

[Janbouli]

Your trackwork is looking good Chris , keep us informed.

[Twist67]

Hi there.
Thanks. IT´s been some time since my last update.
Last week I made a final decision. I was not happy with the location of my helix for a long time but was afraid of rebuilding it. But why stay with something what is not working and looking the way I want it to. So I removed all foam,track and benchwork of the helix and a small part of the benchwork next to it. I left the base of the helix untouched but moved it from the middle of the room into the right corner. This gives some space in front of it for scenery and a little bit more isle space.I started relay the track and made some measurements for the hights of the first level of the helix. All worked fine and I made a good start. I hope to finish it next week. I´ll show more progress the next days and how it all will work.
First picture is when the helix was buildsome time ago.


Here are some first pictures how the room is looking now.I will take a picture from the same angle to see the difference

New benchwork in place.

Started with some plywood. I have to make the cuts for the subroadbed and screw it to the risers. Landscape will be made from foam cut to shape. There will be a farmscene in front of the tracks and some fields in the background behind the tracks. Maybe a dirtroad....trees,bushes...etc.
More pictures will follow tomorrow if I find some time to work onthe layout this evening.

Thanks for looking,
Regards,Chris

[ACL1504]

Chris,

Not all your pictures are showing on the forum.

Tom

[Twist67]

Tom,
don´t know why not all pictures are showing. Do you mean on the first sides of the thread or in my last post....I think that older pictures are not showing is a problem with google fotos because they have changed all the names of them. maybe I´ll move to anothere picturehoster.....
But I made some small progress and here are some more pictures. I hope all are showing.
The first one is nearly the same view like the first picture in the last post, just with the new benchwork in place.

This is the new helix location

The track in the front is the subdivision to Dawson Creek, the other track is the main going down to Vancouver staging

There will be a Farm scene in front of the tracks with some fields on the other side of the track towards the helix.


Thanks for looking,
Regards,Chris

[ACL1504]

Chris,

It must have been my computer as all the pictures are showing now. Fantastic job and WOWSER, you have been really busy. It looks great. Thanks for all the photos. I know how time consuming it is to take, load, crop and add these to your thread.

Again, great job.

Tom

[Twist67]

Tom,
Thanks a lot. I´m happy that the pictures now are showing up.
There is some little progress going on on the helix. Track is glued and nailed down up two turns. The start for the new mill spur is also glued down and I layed out some track and structures for the Canfor mill. I arranged the new trackwork for the engine service,too.

Trackwork started


two more rounds to go.


There will be a mid level with some scenery and a siding


Leaving Chetwynd yard. Right track is the subdivision up through the helix to Dawson Creek, the other track is the main down to Vancouver hidden staging (one round through the helix down)


Track in front is the spur to Canfor mill, the other is the sub to Dawson Creek




New location for the Canfor mill....between the main and the backdrop will be only some scenery with trees and some hills...The entrance to the helix will be hidden with a small roadbridge.

And finally the new arrangement for the engine service.



I´ll redo the wall of the shopbuilding with another Pikestuff wall and add two openings for the tracks to it...... Still a lot of work to do to finish the helix but I´m very happy with the new look. On to of the Helix will be a small village, not much more than a road with some structures. The farm will be located at the old location of the engine house .....

I hope that the mid level on the helix with the siding will be working as it´s supposed to be... to add some time to the way to or from Dawson Creek. There will be track,a dirt road and maybe a lost building like my Saw Pit store, some junk around it...That´s all...
So I hope the pictures are showing and more progress will follow soon.

Thanks for looking and any comments are very appreciated,
Regards,Chris

[Twist67]

Hi,

I added some foam for a basic landscape and a small bridge to hide the later small hole in the backdrop where the train enters the helix.




More will follow,soon.
Regards,Chris

[Zephyrus52246]

Looks like your making good progress.  That first turn of the helix looks awfully steep.  Are you sure your trains can get over it?


Jeff

[Twist67]

Hi Jeff,
Thanks, and yes it looks like it´s very steep but I think this is an optical illusion or so. The grade is always between 1.2 and 1.5 percent all the way up from the turnout with the sawmillspur up to the point where the second turn ends. It was a lot of measuring around to get the connection right cause the radius of the turns is now 75cm instead of 68 before the rebuild.

Regards, Chris

[Twist67]

Hi there,
so it´s been some time but I made some progress on my Helix. I cancelled the idea of adding a midlevel with the siding to it. I decided to place the siding on top of the helix on the last turn. That one is visible around the small village and will be partially hidden by some scenery. So you could not see the complete loop. This way I could build the siding a bit longer and the shorter track could hold a 12 50ft car train with two 4-axle engines and an caboose.track is glued down half way of the siding. I hope to find some time next week to finish trackwork and make the connection to the old tracks in front of the bridge. I´m still thinking about what bridge I´ll use and for now I´ll go with the Walthers Single Track Truss bridge but maybe I´ll change this later and rebuild the older wooden trestle as a smaller and shorter version of the Kiskatinaw Railroad Bridge.I also started to add some fascia to the upper level.




At the Canfor mill on the level below, most of the tracks are glued down and the feederwires aer added.The picture was taken before that work was done. The woodchiptrack extends behind the backdrop. So I have the space for three empty woodchipcars to be loaded. The hole in the wall will be hidden by some tubes etc. This track will be on groundlevel with a lot of woodchips and dirt .In front of the loading shed and the freeloading area will be some type of concrete surface and also a lot of dirt etc.



Last part on my list was some more work on my engine service area. I added the Walthers diesel house and finished the tracklayout. I will add some kork to the top of the styropor to get the correct hide for the tracks. I will add some more tanks etc. concrete tabs and much more. I think I will get the railhead hight by adding kork and some styrene on top of it painted a concrete color. I also added an caboose track to store up to four vans.





And one last view looking north out of the engine house.


I hope to get finished with tracklaying next week and could start with the buildings for the mill and the engineservice.

Any comments are very appreciatet. Thanks for looking.

Regards,Chris

[S&S RR]

Looks great Chris,


I would consider deciding on what you want to do for backdrops before you get to much farther along.  It is much easier to install or paint them now before you get more structures and scenery completed. It helps in two ways 1) you don't break things getting the backdrops completed, and 2) it's much easier to blend the scenery to the backdrop.


I would also remind you that all advice given on the forum is free - it's your railroad!