Burlington Northern's Scenic Subdivision

[Kevin C]

This weekend I have reached a milestone with regards the construction of my layout.

I completed what are essentially the last two pieces of benchwork required and put them in their positions.

The first piece connects to the right hand side of the staging yard seen just above the BN hopper. ( This section will still be modified but during my December vacation.).
The tracks can be seen curving to the right. This will connect to the bridge piece shown in the second photo.



The bridge piece below will connect the staging yard to Helix 2.



Helix 2 is now complete. It is only a small three quater turn helix. The piece of wood above is the support for helix 3.



And finally, Helix three is in postion, thus completing the benchwork construction. As seen from the photo, I still need to work on
the gradient and spacing of the helix turns.



A few lengths of track need too be fitted an I will have a complete circuit.

[BigEd]

Looking good Kev! I guess I should pack my bags for a little visit sometime...

[Kevin C]

On Sunday 29th June I had my first layout visit to my home for members of the local club of which I am a member.

I connected the last piece of track on Tuesday evening last week, and spent the rest of the time tidying up,  testing and sorting out the teething
problems. On the day I had two trains making their way around the layout.

Below are two photo's of my layout room before my guests arrived.




 

[GaryHinshaw]

Wow, that looks fantastic - congratulations on the great progress! 

I'm taking notes on your helix construction as I begin to start drawing up roadbed plans for my own.  I've decided to go with a local CNC router shop to get that job done for me, partly inspired by your example.

[Kevin C]

Thank You Gary.

I am pleased with the progress that I have made so far, a long way to go yet.
I am also following the work that you are doing on your layout, and am also very impressed.

I am glad you can take something from my helix construction and apply it to your situation. As I noted in a previous post, I started cutting the segments out by hand but
found my handiwork was very untidy and the process would be too time consuming. Getting the parts cut by a machine gives you the accuracy, a neat finish and
gets the job done in a fraction of the time. I look forward to your version. If you require drawings or further information, just shout.

Kevin 

[Kevin C]

Since my last post my work has taken control of most my spare time so progress on the layout has been non existent. There is however light at the end of the tunnel and this time it is a train.
I will be going on leave for a whole month in four weeks time so I am planning to get a whole lot of stuff done.

I managed to get the last two steel uprights cut, bent, welded and powder coated last week so my first priority is to get them into position. Once these parts are in place, I should be able to complete
the level one backdrops and start the scenery.



The club that I am a member off now hosts a model train swap meet every three to four months. One of the sellers who attends makes trees by the dozen to sell. I am now buying a few every time I go.
I will need a lot more for the top level.



The other project that I want to start is to automate all the turnouts. I purchased my first Octopus III from Tam Valley Depot as well as a batch of servos from Ebay.
This one is going to take a while. My intention is to design a bracket that holds the servo, as well as a micro switch. When the servo moves, the micro switch will activate and drive a
double pole relay. One set of contacts will change the polarity of the power fed to the frog of the turnout while the other contact will drive the bi-color LED's on the display panel I have yet to build.

How does the saying go. So much to do, so little time. But what fun....

[Kevin C]

The company I work for has closed for the Christmas holidays for a month so I am now officialy on leave and only return to work on January 12th. After taking a week in the country to relax
and unwind, I am now getting busy in the train room again. I would like to make as much progress as possible during the remaining three weeks.

I decided to start on the top level so therefore masked the benchwork so I could weather the track with my airbrush. With that complete I am now building up
the land contours using polystyrene. 

[Kevin C]

I started the scenery today.

Firstly, I glued a piece of sheet styrene into place to form what will be the edge of a small lake.



Then I started buiding the terraces away from the track using polystyrene.



And finaly to end the day, I covered the contours with plaster bandage recycled from my old layout I started years ago, and
formed the hill with a plaster mix.



 

[BigEd]

You are just making me feel guilty...

[Kevin C]

LOL. Not at all Ed. I am getting some practice in so I can help you with your layout when the time comes. 

[Kevin C]

Procrastination. Means :- ( the act of delaying something that you should do, usually because you do not want to do it. ).

And this is exactly what I have been doing lately.

Many a weekend has gone by with me not working on the layout. I did however get a little done today. I traced the profile of the facia out onto card and test fitted it to the front of the top level. I am happy with the result so will now transfer this onto hardboard, cut it out and glue it on permanently.
I have also been placing rock castings on the hill side. I don't want to put too many into the scene, ( trying to find a good balance). Soon I will start filling in the earth, grass, foliage, trees and finer details.
I have decided when doing the scenery on my layout, to concentrate on an approximate 3ft section at a time and try and complete it as far as possible, including the ballast etc. I just don't want my layout to be full of unfinished scenes. I am not sure if this is the way to go.

My latest photo of the cutting is below.

[Kevin C]

Almost a year ago I posted that I had finally completed the benchwork of my layout with photo's added as evidence.
I then went about tidying the layout and opened my home for the first layout visit for members of the club in June.

After that day, the trains were packed away and I decided that I would start the scenery which I have been battleing to get going. Well !!!. I was wrong.

I have hardly run any trains on the layout but something has really been bugging me as far as the layout design was concerned. 

When designing and building the layout, I placed the hidden staging on Level 4, behind and slightly lower than level 3. I then went and placed a "mini backdrop" on level 3, firstly to prevent the trains from taking the plunge off the back of the benchwork if bumped, and secondly as a form of visual divider for aesthetics. This can be seen in the first photo of this page, but I have added a close up photo below to illustrate this point better.



The problems I have with this scenario is that when you stand in front of the layout, it is difficult to see the hidden staging tracks, with some of the tracks being totally out of sight. ( Although
I mention the term hidden staging - I would still like to follow the progress of the trains as they pass through and park. ) I was planning to install camera's and monitors to view this level better, but the cost of the equipment and the logistics to get it working is turning me against this idea.

After rolling ideas around in my mind at two o'clock in the morning when I couldn't sleep, an idea started to form which I have now started to put into action.

I am now moving the staging to the front but keeping the height the same so this will become "visible staging " , and level three will move to the back and slightly above level four. The next series of photo's over the next few weeks will show the build progress as it unfolds.

I made the start last weekend by removing the level 3 benchwork, and getting level 4 ( the now "visible staging" )  into position. The track leading out of the bottom of the helix will now be re-directed to the new position as shown in the first of the series of photo's illustrating this change.

The first photo below shows the leads to the helix from level 3 & four with the benchwork removed.



The next photo shows the modified benchwork in place to link into the bottom of the helix with temporary tracks showing the new track layout.



The old lead at the bottom of the helix will now become redundant.

More updates to follow....

[GaryHinshaw]

I admire you for diving in and fixing things that bug you.  You won't regret it.  I've also tried to make my staging visible but unobtrusive.   I'm curious to see what my crew thinks about it in a few weeks time, when ops (finally) recommence.

[Kevin C]

Another factor which has also made me go this route is seeing the visible staging in action on my brothers layout. All the trains are in the open and can be clearly seen.

The photo below shows the staging on my brothers layout.



Gary - It will be interesting to see how your design works out during the operating session. I will keep an eye on your thread closer to the time.

[Kevin C]

I have been spending the last couple of weekends modifying the benchwork for my new look levels 3 and 4. With the aforementioned benchwork out of the way, I could see that the access to the top level was a whole lot easier so I started the scenery in the top corner with the most difficult access and furthest reach. So during the day on Sunday's I do all the wood work outside when I can use my powertools without causing too much disturbance to the neighbours, and in the evenings I make progress on the scenery.
As can be seen from my latest photo's below, I have got the landform and contours done using polystrene, expanded foam ( to fill in a few big gaps ), Woodland Scenics plaster cloth and plaster. I have then started from the one point with the ballasting and grass turf.

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