Gibbon, Cozad & Western - "The 100th Meridian Line"

[rodsup9000]

  Mike
 Just found this thread tonight and read all of it. First I want to say you have come a long way from where you started. I know about the anticipation in the end. My wife and I spent almost two years building our house, with a little help from friends here and there, we did everything our self, but pouring the basement walls (I would of done that too if I had access to 9 foot forms). One of the first thing I did when we was done was set up my N-trak modules so I could play with trains till I started building the layout. It took me another two years to start the layout cause life (job, kids, wife getting sick) keep getting in the way.

 Have you considered building a mushroom style layout.  Its just a thought as you have the perfect area to build one. I know it would increase your building cost, but in the long run it might be worth exploring. As far as maintenance goes, I've had most of my ME code 55 track down for over 10 years now and only time I need to run my track cleaning train (5 Roco cleaning cars pulled by Kato F3 ABB wired together) is when I haven't run trains for a couple of months. 

Rodney

[C855B]

Thanks for the encouragement, Rodney. Mushroom style? I had to Google it. Turns out that I operated on a couple of HO club layouts with that design, many years back. Thanks for the reminder, I will have to research it and see where the idea goes.

I do have construction progress to report, but will wait for the weekend before sharing results.

[rodsup9000]

Progress, that is great. We had the weather for it the last few days.
My layout is a very simple mushroom that is about 26'X50'.







Rodney

[C855B]

Status report:

Weather. #1 on the hit parade because the nearly-continuous deep-freeze has seriously impacted progress. Anything that requires paint, adhesives, caulk, concrete, etc., has been set aside. As it is, the work we can do - carpentry, insulation, electrical - is dictated by how long each of us can tolerate the 20° temps in the unconditioned spaces. Also, the plumbing is winterized more often than not, so with no functioning restroom on site there is a need for frequent breaks off campus. We're slated for yet more crap starting tonight, and single digit temps for three more days. Joyous.

Nonetheless, there has been...

Construction progress. The stairs to the loft (formerly known as "mezzanine") are done, including the step-up from the landing which had to be cut into a support beam. That was a not-fun bit of engineering and construction - by the time it was carved-out, I had used seven different types of saws, 4 hand, 3 power. It was one of the things impacted by weather because the structural mods required construction adhesive; fortunately there were a couple of 50° days for this. I finished a couple of runs of electrical in the workshop area, which allowed Robyn to stuff a good R-30's worth of insulation into the south wall. Rough electrical was laid for heaters in the workshop, but this area won't be running heat this winter since the ceiling and north wall (between workshop and layout room) will not be done until spring.

Rejiggering priorities. As several of us have discussed, large projects like this get the to-do list adjusted on a regular basis. Up until today, the priority was getting the loft space finished so we would have vestigial living quarters ("crew lounge") for our college kid when he gets back home in May. Thankfully, we were able to make other arrangements today, and I can relax and better consider a couple of major engineering changes that affect the layout room and layout. Oh... and hasten the path to layout construction.

Re-engineering for more usable space. In a stroke of fleeting brilliance (or was that flash a light burning out?), I figured out a way to cut doors through the roof trusses in the loft areas. The various bridge projects you guys have been working on made me revisit what little I remember from Structural Design 305 (or whatever), and with a couple of strategic columns and stringers we can get more accessible space on the second floor. That leads to...

Observation deck has been eliminated. Or at least redefined. The observation deck was going to add another month or so of complicated engineering and construction, access to it messed with the layout space, and it created a challenge in the grid ceiling for enough headroom. Two things changed - it dawned on me that with the railcam already operating and having the best view from the property, anyway, a 60" TV was going to be a lot cheaper than adding 2nd-story windows for the deck. And I can put the TV anywhere. The second change was in the roof truss mods - a viewing platform for the layout room can be a simple cantilevered deck off the loft. A 4' x 12' deck should do just fine, and is literally an extension of joist work already being done with the new loft areas. Nifty!

Layout space moves up the list. While we are going to be taking a break from working on the building for a couple of weeks for another big project (not to mention waiting-out the cold), I now have the freedom to refocus on finishing the studio space and getting things under way in the layout room. A lot of the tasks take two strong backs/weak minds, so it might turn out that we have to wait until May. We'll see.

Layout space has been adjusted given the elimination of the deck and access. Here's a rough draft of the change:



Two most notable changes is we've lost a foot in the west half of the room, but have gained the entire area formerly occupied by stairs, and the support posts for the deck are gone. I illustrated the change along the west wall, add 3' of additional track between Colton Tower and Victorville. Is 3' enough to model Cajon?

I didn't tweak East Yard yet, you'll see that there is a huge aisle north of Bandini Mountain. That will be re-narrowed to 4' and its space added to the area around Pico Rivera and Pomona, which were two LDEs important to me that were getting squeezed out of the plan. The new space fixes this.

Change in layout construction priority. When we talked about this last year as the plan grew, everyone was jumping on my case about doing the east side of the layout first, as it was less complicated and could be brought to operation quicker. Not any more. Cheyenne and the surroundings have since taken on a life of their own. I like it, but simple it is not. SO... back to the starting on the left again, concentrating on the LA&SL portions. I can get the running loop operating moderately quickly, then East Yard and the industries can be cut-in. The green benchwork area from East Yard to Cima and back around will be a really nice railroad to operate, and then it can grow organically east.

I also need to tweak Grant Tower, which could also stand for some grade changes for much more interest than the flat interlocking as it is drawn now. I'll play with it some more.

[rodsup9000]

Thanks for the update, Mike
Hope this damm weather breaks soon and we start getting some spring temps. Looks like another week of cold temps though.

Rodney

[C855B]

Seven weeks since last report. But we're not dead yet!

With decent weather - warm and dry - the last couple of weeks we have been doing outside painting on the building. Not great progress, mind you, just a lot of tedious cut-in in difficult-to-reach locations. The lack of rain has been very helpful because it means that I can use the scissor lift outside rather than perching on a ladder. I've also been working a little on a concrete form to put the switchstand outside as a mailbox post, but won't pour until after the next rain and the ground is too soft to run the lift for painting. I need to focus on the painting.

Otherwise, progress will remain slow until the second week of May. As mentioned above, we made "other arrangements" to house our college kid for the summer, but unfortunately those other arrangements meant more time than I planned getting his new quarters in order. I hope to wrap-up that project this week, and then he and Robyn can work on the fix-ups/clean-ups when he's not helping me with the two-man lifting jobs at the layout building. Reliable help has been difficult to find, so even with the break in the weather I've had to keep my task list to stuff I can do solo.

[C855B]

Light fixtures... white, or black? Odd question? Well, not really, but hopefully something maybe a couple of you have needed to consider.

Way back, I mentioned that the planned layout operating lighting (versus general work lighting) is going to be suspended track lighting with spotlight fixtures. At that point I was researching and testing multi-color stage spotlights for ambiance lighting, then moved the design to Philips Hue programmable-color bulbs on the lighting tracks. Now with that background refreshed...

...my main track lighting supplier just sent notice that a long-backordered special reflector fixture I was looking to use with the Hue bulbs is now in stock. Unfortunately, there is a minimum order quantity. I need to make the decision whether to order the fixtures in black or white. If it was just one, I wouldn't care, but ordering several just for testing and then later discovering the other color looked better would orphan the fixtures. Visualizing track lighting tracks and fixtures, consider:

White. White is in the studio, installed flush to the 8' (white) ceilings. Looks sharp. The 14' ceiling in the layout room will also be white. When in your peripheral vision at layout level, the fixtures should more or less blend with the ceiling.

Black. Black is what lighting designers typically use when they want the fixtures to "disappear" into the background. When viewed from above (aforementioned observation deck), black will maybe be less obtrusive. Black is also the color of stage lighting fixtures, designed to blend into the black backgrounds. Also, when you see retail displays with black tracks and fixtures, they are usually in conjunction with open ceilings, also painted black. I guess my main concern is in dim ambient lighting conditions, such as simulated dusk and night, where the light splash would accent white fixtures.

The (lighting) tracks will be suspended to the ~10' level and centered over the aisles of the layout. If mounted to the ceiling, the light will dissipate too much and mostly become weak general room lighting. At the moment I'm leaning towards white since most operating and viewing will be from layout level.

Thoughts?

[packers#1]

If the layout room were to be darkened except for the fixtures, I would go with black, but I think you'll have the room lit except for the two instances you mentioned? In that case I would go with white

[C855B]

Quickie update... actually more of a sneak preview...

For the past four weeks our son and I have been going gangbusters on the various building projects long delayed due to lack of reliable help. There are simply some tasks that take two guys, and this stuff was in the way of progress overall.

The studio area is oh-so-close to move-in. The slatwall is complete, the last of the drywall mudding was touched-up today, painting is one coat away from done, and finish trim is in progress. Flooring will arrive next week. The main remaining issue is counter tops, which may delay 100% completion by a couple of weeks as we wait for our selected laminate to arrive.

In the layout area, we have reduced the removal of the old attic joists to an art form. We would be done if it wasn't for having to wait for the space to relocate stored materials. To that end, joists that have been removed were recycled (per plan) as joists for 1/2 of the new attic area, a task completed today including complex structures around the 2nd-floor landing. Robyn has a little bit of insulation to install and then we can put down subfloor in the new attic space. Once the studio space is habitable, the "stuff" in the way of removing the remaining old joists will be moved, the remaining 2x12s then repurposed to complete the new attic area.

In the workshop, slatwall is in and already holding tools. I won't finish the walls in there until after Adam leaves for school since it can be a one-man task.

Figure on photos next week of the all-but-complete studio and vast changes to the other spaces. Should be fun.

[C855B]

Interesting juxtaposition... from 10 months ago:



From this week:



I'm amused by the same pair of shorts, same socks and same shoes. It's clearly her painting uniform. 

It's a little shocking and a lot disappointing in the realization those two pics are 10 months apart. The harsh winter took a much, much greater toll on progress than I thought. Fortunately the area in the first picture is much further along, as in "finished". Anyway, painting in the studio is done. One set of floor pieces was back-ordered, so we won't be putting anything down until it gets here next week. More pictures then.

[Specter3]

Mike

This is still my favorite thread. Never mind there is no layout yet. This building stuff is incredibly interesting to me. Best speed now that you can feel your fingers again!

Ryan

[C855B]

Gee... thanks, Ryan! It's quite the project, isn't it?

Not much real progress to report this week, despite that we are working ourselves to exhaustion. We are taking a break from flooring the attic space after I managed to strain my back throwing plywood around. Yes, literally. While the intent was to save as much of the plywood from the old mezzanine floor for reuse, the hired help during deconstruction got lazy with my instructions about using the nail puller, and just flat shredded about half the sheets. Poor supervision on my part. Anyway, we had to cut several 4x8 sheets of 3/4" ply into thirds to fit into the dumpster, and, this operation being upstairs, I heaved them off the half-completed attic into the roll-up door bay for Adam to schlep to the trash. The twisting and turning from heaving resulted in a "surprise" the following morning, forcing a couple of days of bed rest.

Some of the floor tiles for the studio are still on backorder, so nothing has been shipped yet. This is now creating a problem since we have cleared the space, and need to move the cabinets for the studio into the studio because they are currently stored in the next deconstruction zone and are in the way.

Moving supplies around has become a theme. Since we're momentarily stymied on the studio, we used the opportunity to cull the large pile of 2-bys recovered in last summer's deconstruction. About half was deemed usable and is neatly stacked, the rejects now filling the dumpster to the brim. I need to call the hauler for an extra pickup this week.

Trip to the new semi-local Menard's on Thursday, for 2x6's to build the main wall (14' high, remember!) between the layout room and the workshop. Discovered much to my delight that Menard's 2-by quality is head-and-shoulders above the crap we were putting up with from the local Lowe's. I've mentioned before that Lowe's has been disappointing us on a regular basis lately, and I should probably just stop wasting my time shopping there. Besides - this Menard's is the only place in the region stocking 2" pink foam! Layout supplies!

Minor project - I wasn't happy with the door hardware on the back "man door". Installed a Schlage commercial-grade lockset. Holy cow, what a difference! The Kwikset residential stuff I've been defaulting to for decades is a bunch of junk. I have a box of old locksets from various projects, and the decision now is to set it aside for a yard sale to make a few pennies for our trouble, or just let the metals recycler have it and have that much less junk in the way.

Two local train news items from this week: first is the Conrail heritage unit was on the point of a NS coal drag. Wednesday, IIRC. Second time I've seen it through here. The bigger news is we spotted our first Bakken oil train through town Thursday evening, on CN. Complete surprise, and also puzzling... it was northbound, and judging by the truck springs it had to be loads. Why would loads be going north?

[3DTrains]

I agree, Ryan, and I look forward to each update posted. Even if a single stick of track has yet to be laid, the updates on room prep will serve as a road map to my own humble project.

Mike - I hear ya' on Lowe's - I have one across the street, and except for tape and glue, I rarely set foot inside.

The two years (wow - already?!) of carefully preparing the space is going to pay dividends in a comfortable and enjoyable environment. I can't wait to see the next update. Great stuff!

Cheers!
Marc

[C855B]

Sheesh. Have to make another run to Menard's this morning. I mentioned "semi-local" previously because it is an hour each way. There will be a rut worn in the road from the truck by the time we're done. The "local" Lowe's is a half-hour away, so it's not like the distance difference amounts to much. It would actually be nice if I could patronize the in-town "home center", but for construction supplies they are a good 25% more expensive than the big boxes and - I didn't think it possible - their lumber is crappier than Lowe's! Anyway, even at 9 mpg it's cheaper to drive the big truck to the chain stores for anything more than a box of fasteners or electrical supplies.

The trip is prompted by progress. We finished Phase I of the attic expansion this morning, exhausting the supply of usable recovered plywood for subflooring. We need to get 10 sheets of CDX for Phase II to replace what Phonsie ruined. Cha-ching.

With the joists above the workshop area now covered, Adam asked "Have you thought about lighting yet?" I hadn't, at least seriously. Duh. It's sort of dark in there. Above the work table I have a 3200 lumen LED fixture from Lowe's I've been trying out, but it's not cutting the mustard for what it cost nor the complexity of installation. Game plan with today's supplies run is to pick-up several 4-tube 8' (2 pair of 4' in tandem) T8 fixtures, and refit for LED tubes ordered online. That's a prelude to what I want to do in the layout room - use regular florescent troffers with LED retrofits. It turns out that the "affordable" all-LED grid ceiling troffers remain more expensive than vanilla florescent troffers plus 4' T8 LED tubes, and you get a lot more lumens with the separate tubes. I'm looking forward to the results.

Studio flooring was shipped yesterday! Wa-hoo! It's 400+ pounds and is coming LTL. I hope they're not expecting a dock... or a forklift!

Heard a horn as we left for lunch yesterday. Caught the NS geometry train:

[3DTrains]

I hope they're not expecting a dock... or a forklift!

If you hurry, you might be able to have either made at Shapeways.

Cheers!
Marc - Riverside