Seaboard Central 2.0

[davefoxx]

Well, we're back from our ski weekend, and I was able to put a couple of hours in getting the original HCD back up and running.  First was reinstalling the wooden frame that holds the DCC command station under the layout, which is the nerve center of the layout.  I ran new bus wires and a Loconet cable, and I reinstalled and reconnected the PR3.

I also rebuilt one section of track to restore the passing siding in Southern Pines.  Here's the before (note the double track to the former expansion):



The tearout went better than I expected.  I soaked the ballasted track with wet water, let it sit for a few minutes, and scraped the track and ballast right off.  The cork roadbed was cake to pry up, and it came off leaving a reasonably clean subroadbed:



Cork roadbed is down, showing the new track plan:



Done!  I even recontoured the scenic forms adjacent to the track to fit new alignment and to hide the scars from the former double track.  One real nice advantage of this revised track layout is that I was able to put the easement back into this curve.  Way back when I put the wye in, it was too tight, and I had to sharpen the radius into the curve.  Oh, and I remembered to put the superelevation in as well.  You may have noticed the blue masking tape.  That's six layers of tape under the outer rail.



It was a great weekend.  Progress in the layout room and some skiing with family.   After hooking up the new turnout to a Hex Frog Juicer, I'm running trains now. 

DFF

[Rich_S]

OH NO, not the Seaboard Central, what is this world coming to???? Just kidding Dave I know the reason behind the deconstruction and looking forward to seeing the Seaboard Central 3.0 

[davefoxx]

This has been a rough week, due to a sinus infection taking me out.  A doctor's visit on Thursday and some meds have got me on the mend, though.  I finally got back into the train room last night and accomplished some layout work this afternoon as well.  As I stated earlier, I'm going to continue on and finish the original HCD portion of the Seaboard Central 2.0.  This, of course, means a few things:

1) I get to continue modeling and running trains, as I design a new layout and construct the layout room;
2) I might actually finish a layout.  This HCD layout seems so much more manageable by cutting the overall layout size more than 50%.  Yeah, it's a ridiculously small roundy-round now, but there's something to not feeling overwhelmed.  There's also some relief in the warts of the expansion not hanging over me anymore; and
3) I am officially a HCD guy again. 

I've put a few hours in fixing the track where the former extensions were taken out:

Fix No.1:  Scenic form repaired, base greenery applied, and just needs ballast



Fix No.2:



I'm sure you're wondering why I have a #5 turnout at the layout's edge, if I'm not going to be expanding the layout.  Well, I wouldn't have but for two reasons.  First, the tracks immediately adjacent were ballasted.  A #7R resided here before, but that was left hanging off of the table a few inches.  I couldn't live with that, and the points were straddling the edge, so I couldn't cut it off flush.  By sheer luck I found that the #5L practically dropped in if I trimmed the rails of the flextrack on the curved side of the turnout by about 1/8".  Sold!  I didn't have to rip out and rework ballasted track.  Another advantage is that if I decide to reinstall the cassette that once mounted to the layout here, this turnout will allow two tracks to have access to the cassette.  I can live with that.

So, as of right now, I have all of the track on the layout painted, all turnout throws are controlled by a slide switch, and all frogs are powered by a Hex Frog Juicer.  I have approximately six feet of track on the entire layout to ballast and then ballasting will be complete.  Hopefully, I'll knock that out this weekend, but I despise ballasting enough that there is a significant chance of procrastination. 

DFF

[John]

just add a 1 foot cassette .. then you can use it as a run around

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Dave
I think you hit on something really important, and something you should think about: feeling overwhelmed by a big layout.

Think about it, and seriously let it factor into your future layout plans.

I've recently heard a decent amount of people realizing that they've bitten off more than they can chew, layout wise.

[Dave V]

Or...you can consider using the space for another small layout of a different prototype.  Having two separate layouts has been interesting.

[Hamaker]

Yes....multiple layouts can be very interesting.  I have the 'big' room-size (12' by 14') layout.....a 30" by 90" dogbone layout.......and a 12" by 96" simple switching layout.  As I continue to age, the smaller layouts are getting more and more use. Cleaning the track on the large layout can take me up to 45 minutes.

[davefoxx]

Dave
I think you hit on something really important, and something you should think about: feeling overwhelmed by a big layout.

Think about it, and seriously let it factor into your future layout plans.

I've recently heard a decent amount of people realizing that they've bitten off more than they can chew, layout wise.

Great minds think alike.  I was just thinking about this earlier this morning when I entered the layout room to do some ballasting.  I hate ballasting, so the thought that I now don't have to ballast Hamlet Yard just tickles me pink.  I think this is why a shelf layout really appeals to me.  I can build the shelf with just enough area to fit the track, necessary industries, and only enough gratuitous scenery to look finished and photograph well.  That's it.  And, if you think about it, unwind a roundy-round track plan from a HCD and that's over thirteen feet of shelf layout.  Easily doable.

Thanks,
DFF 

[davefoxx]

Or...you can consider using the space for another small layout of a different prototype.  Having two separate layouts has been interesting.

Another great idea!  Who knows, maybe someday I'll cave and build a small On30 layout based on the ET&WNC?

DFF

[Dave V]

Another great idea!  Who knows, maybe someday I'll cave and build a small On30 layout based on the ET&WNC?

DFF

That would be insane.  Doooo it!!!

[davefoxx]

Yes....multiple layouts can be very interesting.  I have the 'big' room-size (12' by 14') layout.....a 30" by 90" dogbone layout.......and a 12" by 96" simple switching layout.  As I continue to age, the smaller layouts are getting more and more use. Cleaning the track on the large layout can take me up to 45 minutes.

Maintenance is a concern that a lot of people ignore.  I have tried to be very conscious of biting off more than I can chew.  Before I tore down a portion of the layout, I was often receiving suggestions to take the expanded Seaboard Central 2.0 and continue on around the room.  I knew that was a no-go.

DFF

[mu26aeh]

I'm at 11'x21' or so with the Hanover Subdivision, and while it may move at some point if I finish off the area that is now garage space, I doubt it will get much bigger.  Unless I get a crew together to help out maintenance wise. 

[davefoxx]

All mainline ballasting is complete.  Still wet, but complete.



I only have a turnout and about 24" of the Southern Ry. interchange track left to do, and the entire layout will be ballasted.

DFF

[MVW]

Seems to me it's a matter of deciding what you enjoy most and start with that element. You need only to have a vague idea of how you'll expand from there, if you should choose to do so. What do you enjoy most: Watching 'em run? Yard work? Industrial switching? Trying to keep a mainline humming?

Me, I like it all, but mostly yard work and industrial switching. That's what I started with. Eventually I'll add return loops/staging, because sometimes it's fun just to get a train out on the main and let 'er run. Eventually I'd like to have the challenge of keeping a busy mainline running efficiently. But time/money are constraints, so I'm working in phases. That way I can stop building at any time and still have a functioning layout.

It's great you have the HCD up and running. But what do you want that's not possible on the HCD? Start with that.

Jim

[davefoxx]

Jim,

I tend to lean towards watching them run.  This, however, fits well with what I think of when I think of the Seaboard System in the early- to mid-1980s.  It was a high speed double mainline racetrack for hot intermodal trains, the Tropicana Juice Train, Amtrak trains, including the AutoTrain, and manifest trains.  But, I have to figure out if I'm going to model a yard (e.g., RF&P's Acca Yard and Brian Park Terminal at the north end of the SBD) or just use staging yards.  Let's face it, yards can be space hogs, so this has to be calculated appropriately.  I have a lot of work to figure this out.  I've been perusing my twenty-five year-old copy of "Track Planning for Realistic Operation" by John Armstrong for the last week.

Thanks,
DFF