Superior & Seattle Railroad Build

[S&S RR]

Hi John,

I really like your rock work and its coloring. I think the texture is great.  Did you do it with molds or carve it or both?  If you used rubber molds, the must have been very large ones.

Steve

Steve


Thanks for the complement.  Most of what you see is from molds - I did some carving between the molds.  Yes, the molds were anywhere from 3 foot square to very small 2 inches by 3 inches.  If you look back in the early pages of this thread you can see pictures of the process.


Thanks for stopping by the thread. And please let me know if you have any questions.

[S&S RR]

Last night I started to tell the story of my layout design change - I left off as I was going to post the pictures of the layout underneath the mountain.  These three pictures represent a pan from front to back. As you can see some of the the old layouts hidden track is still there and all of the benchwork is worse for wear but still needs to be removed. In the back corner there is a space about 6 feet by 4 feet that was the home of the helix for the previous layout.  Most of it is still there and needs to also be removed to make room for the new benchwork and track.  I will also be cutting away most of the plywood base in the pictures - to make room for me as I install the new pieces. For reference this base plywood is at 42 inches from the floor.















I will post and update when all of the old benchwork and track is cut away and before I start installing the new. The plan is to build all of the pieces of the helix on my workbench and then install it, in as big of sections, as possible.  I plan on doing all the soldiering of drops etc. before the sections go underneath the layout. In this area there is a 4 inch difference between the levels so the run only needs to be 200 inch run to maintain my 2% grade - I will probably have closer to a 1.5% grade to help deal with the radius affect. Level 1 and 2 will be connected and 3 and 4 will be connected in this area to make a continuous run around the layout.

[S&S RR]

The narrow gauge extension will start in the first picture here and continue across the room at the top track level until it ends in a reversing loop that extends from inside the mountain to a visible area on top of the plateau just to the right of the old tunnel portal in the picture this tunnel portal will be covered by a land form which will be 4 inches higher than the plywood top plateau you see in the last picture.  The standard gauge line will pass either through or around this land form, I need to cut some foam and see what I like best.

[S&S RR]

At his point my plan is to remove all of the old layout and cleanup the area under the layout so I can work in there. I will be switching back and forth between building structures for the Eagle's Nest Yard and completing the upper level benchwork and track until the track work is complete. I also have two more trestles to build to complete this track work but they will be much smaller projects than the Mt. Aiden trestle.  One of the trestles will be HOn3.

So that's my plan and I'm sticking to it until I have a better plan.  Stay tuned.

[cuse]

John,
You had me at "my plan is to remove all of the old layout" 


That photo with your Dad suggests a helix up to the next floor in the house...I hadn't considered expanding that way.


Great rocks and the structure looks great in it's new home...Look forward to seeing you at the Expo.


John M.

[S&S RR]

John,
You had me at "my plan is to remove all of the old layout" 


That photo with your Dad suggests a helix up to the next floor in the house...I hadn't considered expanding that way.


Great rocks and the structure looks great in it's new home...Look forward to seeing you at the Expo.


John M.

Hi John


I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at the EXPO too!  It's interesting the area I'm removing is about 25 years old and has been sitting under a mountain construction project.  The flex track was old code 100 Atlas track that I was't going to use for the new layout so I left it there.  It is in amazing shape and I will probably use it for the hidden helixes.


The helix that you see behind my Dad was 3.5% grade all the way to the ceiling - for Shay's only but it worked well. The long range plan at that time was to run the Shays through the ceiling of my office - on the other side of the wall.  As you know - plans can change.  I still plan on expanding the layout to take over about half my office - I don't even work half the time so I don't need the space for office.    I have an agreement with the boss that there will be no more expansion until what I have is done.  I think that will take a few years.


Thanks for the kind words and for stopping by the thread.

[deemery]

Hey, John, here's some old-time video of railroading through the Cascades:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw8FqbnFThs


dave

[Zephyrus52246]

What a neat film, so many OSHA violations.   


Jeff

[S&S RR]

Dave


This little film is great!  I watched it twice, once on my  macbook and again on the big screen.  Now I need to figure out how to do a screen grab - so many ideas that will be incorporated into my layout.  Two that I wrote down were the tunnel portals with wood inside and stonework from the area outside the wood, and look how big the timbers were on the trestles.  Thanks for passing this along - love it - is there more where this came from?

[deemery]

It was posted to a Facebook page, don't have any more info.  My favorite part is about halfway where you can see the falsework wood trestles and the newly poured concrete piers for the heavy duty bridges.

More than anything else, this reminded me of (the late  ) Paul Scoles Lake Tahoe layout.

dave

[S&S RR]

It was posted to a Facebook page, don't have any more info.  My favorite part is about halfway where you can see the falsework wood trestles and the newly poured concrete piers for the heavy duty bridges.

More than anything else, this reminded me of (the late  ) Paul Scoles Lake Tahoe layout.

dave

Dave


Yes there are many details to capture.  I was luck enough to visit Pauls layout three times and I can see how you are reminded of his wonderful work. 


I need to remember how to do a screen grab on my Mac - I know I have done it.  Does anyone remember?

[deemery]

Command/Apple key & 4  Use the mouse (position top-left, and drag to bottom-right) to select what you want copied.

dave

[S&S RR]

Command/Apple key & 4  Use the mouse (position top-left, and drag to bottom-right) to select what you want copied.

dave

Dave


Thanks - I will give it a try.

[GPdemayo]

Really neat old film.....thanks Dave. 

[S&S RR]

Well the old layout is gone now - I've cleaned out all the old benchwork and it's ready for the new.  Here are a few photographs of the area under the mountain now.  The only thing I left is the 2x4 supports.  I will add cross bracing as I add the new benchwork for the helix.  I've checked all the measurements and it looks like I will be able to get the elevation change with a grade of about 1.5%.  I don't want a situation where the locomotives have trouble when they are not visible.








This is the corner where the old helix was.