Tehachapi, BC

[GaryHinshaw]

Well, five months sure blew by in a hurry, but things are finally getting off the ground with Tehachapi, BC.  As noted in WU, the room preps are finally more or less done, and I have officially started benchwork in the form of mounting support stringers to the wall studs.  Here are a few progress shots:

This is looking towards the north wall and entrance door (lower right in the plans) where Caliente (lower deck) and Monolith (upper deck) will be:



And this is looking down the west wall (upper wall in the plans) where Edison (lower) and the descent to Mojave (upper) will be:



For reference, the tops of the stringers are 68" above the mean floor level, about 3-4" above the highest proposed track elevation.  All the requisite infrastructure is now in place: power (3 circuits), lights (10 2-bulb T8 fluorescent fixtures), heat (2 baseboard units) and insulation; so hopefully things will get rolling now.  I spent some time this weekend mocking up shelves and I think I concluded that 65" is about as high as I want to go on the upper deck, especially around Monolith, which is one of the switching focal points.   I was very happy that a ~20" deck separation did not make the lower deck feel cramped.  Now I can finally get back to mocking up the Loop shelf to see how that seems in person.  I'm getting giddy just thinking about it.


-gfh

[ednadolski]

Great progress Gary!   Thanks for posting the pics!

Looking at the lighting, I have a question:  For those lights over the garage door, how will you access them when (not if) it is time to change out a ballast?   If I understood your trackplan, the reach-in there is going to be something like 5 feet or more.    I know you have a lift-out in mind, but will that be adequate to get all the way up there to fix the lighting?

I recently re-worked the lighting over my own Loop (which is about 4' deep) and one thing I did was mount the light fixtures so that they hang on hooks.  So I can easily remove & replace an entire fixture as needed.

I was really surprised at how much light it took me to evenly light up just my little 4'x6' scene.   I have three of the 48-inch, 2-bulb T8 fixtures, plus 4 individual track lights.  I also had to install cardstock baffles to control of some of the undesirable backlighting.  I also found that it's pretty important to evenly light the backdrop, or else it won't look right.

BTW be sure you don't turn up those baseboard heaters too high! 

Ed

[GaryHinshaw]

Thanks, as always, for the thoughtful feedback Ed.   RE the lights, I think I should have access to them all with perhaps some effort.  Here is an updated sketch of the plan as it currently stands:



This shows the track on both levels, the location of the lights (the array of olive-colored rectangles) and a nominal sketch of the support framework for the Loop shelf (in cyan).  The area in the upper left, behind the lower approach to the Loop is wide open, as indicated by the oval I sketched in.  I plan to leave it this way, though I might make a foam block scenery insert for photos.  This leaves the lower left which is more sketchy.  In theory, the lower oval could also be left open, and this might be desirable, but there is always an option to leave the Loop interior as a lift out block as well.  If all else fails, I can always open the garage door and access it from outside, reaching in over the door. 

I'm pretty happy with how evenly the walls are illuminated.  And I think the upper deck will be light enough without any supplementary source, but I expect I'll want to add some type of under-cabinet or rope lighting for the lower deck.

RE the baseboard heaters: I always thought of them as a heat of last resort, but these 240 V units are really nice.  They are permanently mounted, and give off a very gentle even heat and draw relatively little current.  The only drawback is that I need to keep the space over them pretty clear.  But the layout bench is quite narrow above both units (by design).

Cheers,
Gary

P.S. I'm still open to any and all planning suggestions.

[3DTrains]

Great to see you making progress on the layout, Gary! The room prep looks terrific!

[ednadolski]

Hm, Gary, it's hard for me to be sure but those access ovals do look rather snug on the drawing, esp. the lower one.  If you'll be doing mockups anyways, it might not be a bad idea to try those out as well (and also open up that garage door) to see if the accesses can work as needed.   I realize lighting work is (hopefully!) infrequent, but even so I find it to be something of a pain point, more so as access limitations increase.  Just my $0.02.

Ed

[3DTrains]

Gary - you could build a sliding drawer that holds the lighting system over the loop (the front could be used as part of the valance). Just pull the drawer out over the open area, and you'll never have to worry about nicking the scenery. 

Cheers!
Marc

[GaryHinshaw]

Concerns and suggestions noted.  Mock-up coming soon!

In the process, I'm thinking about ways to make the Loop a little standalone layout that I can build as a first stage so I can run some roundy-round while the rest of the layout comes along.  Or maybe build the upper deck first and join the two ends of it as a high single deck loop.  It wouldn't take much to shoo-fly the ends together, and I could try out switching Monolith at 65" above the floor.

-gfh

[James Costello]

Would you be ready for an inspection in Sep/Oct 2012?

[GaryHinshaw]

Would you be ready for an inspection in Sep/Oct 2012?

Yes!! (I say that now... but a deadline always spurs me to progress.)  C'mon over, we'll hit Fraser River Canyon too.

-gfh

[GaryHinshaw]

With room preps complete, save for a few minor cosmetic items, I can finally make some progress on the mock-ups I've been hankering for.  Without further ado, here is a long view of the Loop shelf that will form the signature scene of the layout (pardon the mess!):



A few notes:

* This shelf is about 58" high at its lowest point on the right and it will rise to ~65" on the left (where the narrow raised sections is situated).
* It is about 5+ feet deep and 10 feet wide, so it takes up a big chunk of room real estate, but I want to have room for the tracks to spread out.
* There will be nod-under access in at least two spots in the shelf, so that no track will be more than a ~2 foot reach.
* I have framework in place to put an (insulated) back-drop behind the shelf, in front of the garage door, so that eyesore will be hidden.

Here are two railfan views of the track arrangement as it currently stands, with some auto racks for scale:





For reference, here is a proto shot that somewhat mimics the former:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=222919&nseq=209

and an ariel shot of the entire Loop, just because it's so cool:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=309616&nseq=7

An overall assessment so far, the pros:
* I love the expanse of this shelf and the rail-fanning opportunities it entails!
* I'm especially glad to have the lower approach loop (far right) included in this shelf since it adds so much to the torture of the climb.

The potential cons:
* It takes up a big chunk of real estate and overshadows the lower deck shelves.
* Access details are still TBD.
* I need to make sure that a 35-40 car train can actually navigate this track.  But with 18" minimum radius and 2.1-2.2% grades, it should be manageable....

Stay tuned.
-gfh

[James Costello]

I'm excited. Looks cool!

It's amazing how many different and new things you see when you look at proto photos. I agree with the need to include the lower approach loop to complete the scene. I'd like to do an exhibition/show set of modules, but trying to do the loops justice and maintain some sense of portability is tough. Hope to have more time to tinker with this over the holidays, but that is a topic for another thread.

Gary, does your garage door seal well to prevent dust ingress, or is that less of an issue in BC?

[GaryHinshaw]

Gary, does your garage door seal well to prevent dust ingress, or is that less of an issue in BC?

Good question James.  The door is quite well sealed, but I'm going to take it one step further.  I bolted some 2x6s to the door rails and sealed the back side of the boards with foam.  I'm then going to mount a backdrop in front of the door to further isolate the area.  In any case, with all the damp weather we have here, outdoor dust is almost nonexistent.    The biggest source of dust - by far - is from me working in there.

Cheers,
Gary

[nscalemike]

Gary,  How is the 58" height working out?  I am thinking my rebuild will be 56-58" rail height and my shelf will be much smaller (12" deep not 5'!!) but it looks like a nice viewing angle.

[GaryHinshaw]

Gary,  How is the 58" height working out?  I am thinking my rebuild will be 56-58" rail height and my shelf will be much smaller (12" deep not 5'!!) but it looks like a nice viewing angle.

Mike, I posted a response in your thread.

In looking back through this thread for a photo link I had posted, I came across this entry:

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=24108.msg235734#msg235734

Cripe, it's sobering to see how little has changed in 6 months...    In fact there has been a lot of progress, it's just that most of it has been behind the drywall.  Hopefully visible progress accelerates from here on.

-gfh

[Scottl]

Gary, it's always slow (sometimes painfully) getting the room ready.  I see in your photos you are juggling stored materials too, which I found slowed everything down when I will building my layout.  Once the bench work was in, all of that became more stationary.