Shadowlands and Tellynott

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

I cut the track for the new Walthers curved turnout to fit into.  This is to get the spur under the passing siding at Malcolm to the mine underneath the tall steel viaduct.

Photo 1 - An aerial shot showing the new turnout sitting in position.  All I had to do was mark and cut the old track, file the ends, cut the glue bond of the existing track with a sharp knife and remove, and the turnout fit straight into the gap, perfectly!


Photo 2 - A view showing how well the turnout fitted into the gap.  Both ends are like this.  As it is a unifrog, I can use metal fish plates on all connections.  This is still to be done.  They need tweaking, as the turnouts are code 83 and the flextrack is code 75.  There is also a difference in the sleeper thickness.


Photo 3 - Shows my track laying plan of attack.  I have laid most of the main line in yellow, and most of the yard at left in pink.  The green section(s) will be the last to be laid.  The summit line has three large bridges to scratchbuild and these will be major, time consuming undertakings.  The other small strip of green is the high ore dock.  My intention is to lay the track from Alabaster to Hope, including the mining/ logging town at Wilmot.  I should then be able to run some trains and try some operations.  I found a formula on line for yard capacity versus switching spots.  By my calculations I am pretty close, both with the yard at Hope and the switching spots in Shadowlands, and with the yard in Tellynott (not shown on this plan) and the switching spots in Tellynott.  The switching spots in Tellynott are a bit top heavy, but I'm considering using one of the tracks at Neil's Crossing/ Jamestown as an overflow track.  There is also still the option of adding a small yard behind Neil's Crossing/ Jamestown.  Some sort of closed circuit TV might be needed for operators to see what they are doing.


More soon, cheers, Mark.

[Zephyrus52246]

Ambitious track plan and so many bridges.  Operations should be fun.

Jeff

[GPdemayo]

That will be something to see when you get it done.....looking forward to more of the journey Mark. 

[deemery]

The United Airlines inflight magazine for July (our flight got an early release, apparently) had an entry in their long running series "Three Perfect Days" where they visit a city and do upscale things that highlight food, drinks, activities, etc, in the city.  It's been fun when they've done a city I know (Vancouver, Boston, Pittsburgh, etc.)  

Anyway this month's location was Christchurch.  And to my amazement, your layout was NOT featured!  

dave

[Mark Dalrymple]

Ambitious track plan and so many bridges.  Operations should be fun.

Jeff

Thanks, Jeff.

Yep - all those bridges should be fun!  Although time consuming.  The beginning of the pink section in the peninsula is where I am concentration my bridge building adventures at present.  I have the tall steel viaduct, Furlow's Folly (based on one of my favourite of Malcolm's bridges - where the pink line crosses the yellow line the first time), either a timber howe truss bridge, or the arch as pictured (held in place with a thumb tack), a 50' Micro Engineering open deck bridge, and (probably) a curved stone arch bridge - before I can join it to Hope, Wilmot and the yard.  Phew!  And none of those are 'THE BIG ONES'.

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

That will be something to see when you get it done.....looking forward to more of the journey Mark. 

Thanks, Gregory.

You'll have to live as long as I plan to!  Still - making steady progress.  I got a bit more done between feeding the animals and cooking dinner.  Every little bit helps...

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Anyway this month's location was Christchurch.  And to my amazement, your layout was NOT featured!   

dave

Staggering!  Who do I call to complain?

Actually - if it had have been Dunedin you may well have seen my son and his world famous Shar pei (John) at Maggies cafe and bar.  It's a bit of a go to destination in Dunedin.  I was holding John on a lead about 100km away from Dunedin and I was approached by someone asking "excuse me, is that John?"  He's even famous in Japan because of all the selfies taken with him.  At one stage he had to wear a sign around his neck saying "don't feed me.  I'm fat."

Cheers, Mark.

[Jerry]

Mark just a remarkable undertaking.  I look forward to each post as you get closer to finishing this monster!! 

Jerry

[deemery]

Anyway this month's location was Christchurch.  And to my amazement, your layout was NOT featured! 

dave

Staggering!  Who do I call to complain?

Actually - if it had have been Dunedin you may well have seen my son and his world famous Shar pei (John) at Maggies cafe and bar.  It's a bit of a go to destination in Dunedin.  I was holding John on a lead about 100km away from Dunedin and I was approached by someone asking "excuse me, is that John?"  He's even famous in Japan because of all the selfies taken with him.  At one stage he had to wear a sign around his neck saying "don't feed me.  I'm fat."

Cheers, Mark.

Hope John doesn't have the vision problems that tend to plague Shar Peis...  There was one I "knew" through owner posts that had an obvious great personality, even after he lost his eyes.  

dave

[Mark Dalrymple]

Ambitious track plan and so many bridges.  Operations should be fun.

Jeff

Thanks, Jeff.

I got a bit more track laid last night.  I have the whole area in pink at left laid now.  I still have the mining/ logging town and mine to go, but all of the yard, sawmill, main line and spur to the Wilmot is now laid.  I'll take a couple of photos today after I clean the area off.

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

So here are some photos of progress.  This is the yard and sawmill at Hope and the main line passing through from left to right.  It then doubles back on itself at a 4% grade and continues back towards the summit and those three large bridges.  Before it reaches them we have the spur track leading to Wilmot (four wagons are sitting here).  As the main line is running downhill from right to left, the spur to Wilmot leaves the main at grade, levels off (where the wagons are sitting) and then starts an upward grade in order to cross over the main further along.  I have the curve turnout for the mine in place and the small radius turnout which splits the mine track into two is sitting in place in it's box.

Photos 1 & 2 - show an overall view of the yard, main line and spur leading to the mining/ logging town.




Photo 3 - shows a view of the end of module 9 from above.


Photo 4 - shows a view directly above the sawmill.  The two tracks either side of the large gap are the sawmill tracks.  The track behind the sawmill is raise 16mm (which can be seen in photos 1 and 20.  The track behing the raised track is the backshunt (yard feed).


Photo 5 - shows the runaround and yard turnouts.  I had planned to cut a little off two sets of points here to get in the small curve and keep the spacing of the three yard tracks even, but decided to instead widen the spacing between the two outside yard tracks.  I still have to retrim the cork and cut and glue a small strip on the near side.  The short piece of curved track between the last two sets of points on the ladder was necessary.  Try as I might in the design stage, I couldn't find a way of fitting things in without it.  I tried using Atlas code 83 curved track here (which is rigid) to help with the difficulty of getting a nice flowing curve with such a short piece of flextrack, but with all the problems of code 83 versus code 75, and variations in sleeper thickness, I decided it was easier to stick with the code 75.  I also put the turnout for the runaround directly next to the last yard track turnout.  There was supposed to be a short space between them, but by the time I noticed my mistake I was already elbow deep in glue.  I didn't panic, but instead took five minutes to weigh up the pros and cons and decide whether it was worth undoing, cleaning up the mess, and redoing.  I decided there were as many advantages as disadvantages, that it looked fine, and carried on.  I still have to trim cork and add a small strip here too.  The runaround holds approximately 6 of my short wheel base cars.


Photo 6 - Lastly, we have a view from above of the station area - that large long eye shape.  Room for a platform, small station and water tower, I hope.  I'm not sure how I will disguise the proximity of the higher track yet - but I have a few ideas.  Perhaps putting the closest part in a tunnel with a cliff overhanging the passing siding might be best.  Sounds counter intuitive, I know, but I think it may work.  Perhaps a small dirt road leading into a tunnel to give access to the station?  This area was always going to be difficult.  It's all about sacrifices.  I never had much room here, so decided to make the best use of the space by adding a yard to make operations better, at the cost of scenery difficulties.  I also didn't want to encroach on my aisle width minimum, 700mm (28"), or eat into the peninsula width.  I did decrease the peninsula width slightly to give room for a three track yard.


More soon, cheers, Mark.

[GPdemayo]

Looks great Mark.....

[tom.boyd.125]

Mark,
 Looks like you have been very busy working on the railroad. Progress in amazing. Can't wait for more bridges and scenery placement in the near future to be added to your empire.
 Tommy

[Mark Dalrymple]

Looks great Mark.....

Thanks, Gregory.

It's nice to get a section finished.  I'll have to save up a bit before I launch into the hidden sidings.  I'll potter away and get Wilmot done.  I only needed another four turnouts for there...  Up until now I've been trying to buy motors as I go.  It gets expensive - around $80NZ per turnout.  I think my last count was 78 turnouts.

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Mark,
 Looks like you have been very busy working on the railroad. Progress in amazing. Can't wait for more bridges and scenery placement in the near future to be added to your empire.
 Tommy

Thanks, Tommy.

I'm looking forward to some scenery.  In the overhead photos you can clearly see the plastic strips I have been using to super-elevate the track.  I saw this done on a layout at our local train show last year and really liked the look.  I have been a little more subtle, using thinner plastic - ranging between 0.2mm - 0.8mm.

Cheers, Mark.