Feather River Canyon in N-scale

[rodsup9000]

So that's where all of the Atlas track went.....

Sorry Jason, it's all ME. I still have a bunch of Con-Cor RR bigboy's (12) and challenger's (9) that I run.

 

Very nice. I'm jealous of the progress.

I find your premise amusing since I'm familiar with (and a fan of) both the Feather River and "classic" UP. You need more WP power, however. Like high-hood GP20s with barrel headlights. 

Running 8500GTELs through the canyon, Sac'to and Stockton, however, wouldn't have lasted very long. UP tried that on the LA&SL and quickly had their hands slapped. Jet engines work fine out in the middle of relative nowhere on the plains, but not in high-density suburbs.

 Just think Mike, you are almost there and I have a feeling you will progress very fast when you start building your layout. You have come a long way in the two years you have been working on the building.
I know, I still need more WP and SP power.

 I here what you are saying on the bigblows in LA.Rodney

[rodsup9000]

 
 Here is some more photos.
















More is coming soon

Rodney

[peteski]

Rodney, I'm assuming that those small candle-flame light bulbs are LED, right?  How are they working out when viewing the layout in-person?

[rodsup9000]

Rodney, I'm assuming that those small candle-flame light bulbs are LED, right?  How are they working out when viewing the layout in-person?

 Pete,
 Nope, there are 25 watt incandescents and I don't like them. I'm trying bright white LED strips now and they are a lot better.
I'll try to get a picture up tonight with them.

Rodney

[rodsup9000]

I have track laid up to Keddie Wye.



The track to the left is the staging for the high line.







Keddie Wye








I have all the benchwork up now for the rest of the layout.

Keddie yard is going here.

[rodsup9000]

 More Benckwork

Looking towards Williams Loop from Keddie yard.





The Quincy RR is the branch line to the right.







 Looking back to Keddie Wye.





Williams Loop





Originally Quincy RR branch was going to just go to a reverse loop under Williams Loop, but after getting all the benchwork up I found that I could model Quincy. 











Thanks for looking

Rodney




 

[up1950s]

Wow , you were either born without a need for sleep , or maybe you have an ailment that requires a need for a high regiment of steroids ( been there ) . Deep pockets don't hurt either .

[C855B]

The benchwork and progress thereon is amazing. However, I'm fascinated by the multiples of power tools I see - 3 drills? 4 Dremels? Oh, I can firsthand vouch that constantly changing bits mid-process is a PITA, but... wow. OTOH, I can see how this might improve productivity. Hmmmmmm...

The Keddie trestle work is brilliantly executed, Rodney. Really nice.

[JSL]

Fricking awesome   The wye rocks

[Ed Kapuscinski]

That looks incredibly awesome.

Where's Chulvis? He'd love this.

[rodsup9000]

 Thanks for the comments.

The last few days I've been working on the Keddie Wye bridges. I drew up some trestle tie strips in sketchup and then printed them on one of the 3D printer I made.

Here is the tie strips just off the printer.



Then I added Clover House PC board ties.



I soldered code 55 rail with code 40 guardrails. I used some n-scale 6 X 10 basswood strips to gauge the the guardrails.














Rodney

[Cajonpassfan]

Hello Rodney,
first time  I stumbled on this thread and all I can say is wow, what a monster! Having visited Feather River country numerous times, I can really appreciate your design concepts. It's gonna be an amazing layout (well, it already is!).
Please keep the pics coming!
Best, Otto K.

PS: I realize lighting is very personal, and depends a lot on specific situations. I have a partial double deck layout and  use 4100K CFL's in inexpensive indoor /outdoor holders to light the lower deck... they work well and burn relatively cool, which is important here in hot SoCal. Lot of lumens for the money, both in terms of component cost and power consumption. Just a thought while you're testing different options...

[Philip H]

Rodney,
When will your Keddie Wye bridge article show up in NScale? That's Hawt!

[rodsup9000]

  Richie,
 There have been times when things are rolling along good and I stayed up for 36 to 72 hours.

 Mike,
 Yes have all the different bits in drills make thing go a lot faster.  BYW, I'm going to look you up the next time I get over that way.

 Otto,
 Thanks for the tip on the lights. I'll go try to find some. I've been playing with some 5050 LED strings and like them a lot.
 
 Philip,
 Hadn't even thought doing a article. I might give it a try.

 Rodney

[Scottl]

This is an fabulous build.  The Keddie Wye is such an amazing locale and you have the space to really do it up.

I don't know the prototype well, but are the pillars all the same height?