1960's OWNY/NYCish 7'x17' Layout

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Building a layout for a client in his 3rd-floor game room based on Monticello, NY in late 1950's/early 60's:



The dude's mainly interested in turning the layout on and watching the trains go (in between playing pinball, bowling or the racing video game).
Originally wanted the Lionel of his youth, but I talked him "down" to HO.
Especially as I could come out only 7' into the room.

After a month or so of benchwork and a week of cork/track laying & wiring, we finally got some trains rolling!

Some specs:
Peco 83 track & electrofrog turnouts
22.5" / 25.5" radii
NCE Powercab / SB5 SmartBooster

You'll notice in the video that the risers are clamped on.
Once I got the trains running, I watched their action and adjusted the risers to create a smooth grade before screwing in place.

A few little tweaks in the track are needed--the BLI steamer definitely prefers one track to the other--but otherwise it's finishing the sidings and then off to the scenicking!

Miles and I are splitting up the building of structures to speed things along, but hopefully we'll have lovely and LED-lit scenery installed in the next month or two.
Back to the workbench!

[Chris333]

Sweet gig man!  And look a coal dealer. 

[35tac]

M C, nicely done. And the music goes on.
Thanks
Wayne

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Sweet gig man!  And look a coal dealer. 

It is a sweet gig!
The dude's really nice and very excited about trains.
(And I get to watch/listen to soccer on a huge HD screen while I work  )

The coal dealer is there because, when doing research about the O&W and the area around Monticello in the 50s & 60s, I came across the story of the "Flying Diesel Corps":

On September 27, 1955, a 50-car train in Hamilton, New York approached a switch set for a siding which led to a coal trestle. Although the engineer applied the brakes, the train continued up the siding at more than 30 miles per hour (48 km/h) and through the trestle. It was learned that the 213-ton EMD FT diesel locomotive at the head of the train "flew" a distance of 150 feet (46 m) beyond the coal trestle from an elevation of 15 feet (4.6 m); total time of "flight" was later estimated to be between six and seven seconds. Two of the crew were seriously injured, but no crewmen were killed in the wreck.

An investigation by police as to why the switch had been thrown resulted in no arrests. A dinner was later given in honor of the crew who each received a plaque proclaiming them to be members of the O&W's new "Flying Diesel Corps." Each plaque was topped with a cast presentation model of their F-unit locomotive; the castings were provided by EMD.

One of the freight cars involved in the accident was loaded with chocolate bars from the Nestlé plant in nearby Fulton, New York. It was said that when the younger residents of Hamilton learned of the spilled candy, they raced to collect what they could, and that as a result candy sales in the town were dismal for some time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York,_Ontario_and_Western_Railway



And here's the concrete coal ramp / launching pad:



The dude isn't interested in much switching, but I thought at the very least it'd be cool to be able to stage the Flying Diesel Corps scene if we wanted to 

[Spikre]

 
   what FT loco weighed 213 tons ?
  that would maybe be an A-B or A-A set.
  EL may have been the only road to run FT A-A sets for a short
  while in the early 60s.
  does sound like vandals threw the switch,or kids ?
   luckily no serious injuries it seems.
   just a "normal" sort of O&W day.
      Spikre
       
   

[M.C. Fujiwara]

The OWNY along this route usually ran A-B units.
You can see part of the B unit behind the tree:



Dude said he ran both trains all weekend, all ran fine, then late Sunday night the FT just stopped on a curve.
It would go when prodded but had issues.
Turning over the A unit, I saw one of the pickup wire connected to the rear truck had popped off:



[in yellow circle]

So I guess I get to learn how to take an HO InterMountain FT apart 

But at least the dude didn't try to fix it himself.

Today continued working on the industrial peninsula:



& finished laying track for the engine service/programming track & staging yard throat (far rear).

While fleshing out the peninsula, realized could have a nifty trestle-over-culvert-outflow scene, which is why I left a gap and put the ply on the bottom:



Might end up filling the gully with bushes, but at least there's some variation there.

Above photo also shows how I started building up the ramp to the coal trestle.
Will have sanded cork, then some cribbing, then actual trestle bents, with wooden structure at the end of the deck.
(So the dude can run his FT up to full speed and smash through it  )

[Chris333]

I can hear the Dukes of Hazard announcer as the F unit left the ground... 

[M.C. Fujiwara]

We've got clearance, Clarence:

[pwnj]

Hah! That's gonna be AWESOME!   

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Started in on some structure kits:



Will be modeling only the main street in Monticello (Broadway).
The grocer will be one corner of the strip.
The warehouse flats will be on a semi-street behind to give illusion of a larger town.

All those windows are real pane in the glass.

Experimented with acrylic / spray combo on the back of the Downtown Deco warehouse kit:



Wash, spray, more wash while spray still wet creates that splotched effect.
Might try it on the front of a smaller warehouse flat later.

Sanded down the start of the ramp for the coal trestle:



Started blocking out the Industrial Nub:



A large garment factory will be on the right, with the back cut away to a detailed interior.

Started filling in the scenery blocks:





Top sheet came home with me: will secure a long piece of 1/16" styrene for the street and base for buildings.
Easy to take over to Miles' workshop and we can layout all the buildings for the main strip.

Built up the big hill on the other blob, but forgot to take photos 
More kits this weekend, and will experiment with LEDs (a first for me).
Woot!

[davefoxx]

I can hear the Dukes of Hazard announcer as the F unit left the ground... 

...this video came to mind.  Apply any of the "audio edits" to when the FT left the coal trestle:

[M.C. Fujiwara]

I could have a IR occupancy detection at the base of the ramp that triggers an audio file of: "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh SHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII"
And then another IR at the very end of the trestle that triggers: "T!"

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Cut a large piece of 1/16" styrene to act as road / building base (outlined in Sharpie), then secured to the top piece of 1" pink foam:





I used Loctite Foamboard PL300, because it says that it's "foam safe" and caulk takes a week to cure under a surface as spread out as this.
After a day, however, it seemed that the Loctite didn't have enough "oomph" to securely secure the styrene to the pink foam, so I squirted some caulk around the edges (filling in about 1"-2").  After a day it seems pretty secure.

This piece needs to be removable so I can transport to Miles' workshop in Oakland, as he'll be building and detailing most of the structures and street textures along Broadway, and then we'll transport it over to the layout.
The three of us create an equilateral triangle of 30 minute drives (traffic depending).

I'm doing a few structures myself, including the Walthers truss bridge kit:



Which should fit around here:



And will have some slow red flashers on top.
(Dude likes lights)

I initially had all the track at 3" spacing, but will have to rip up and re-lay to have the inner track come out to cross the bridge at 2 1/4":



Which will help ease the tight curves near the turnout above it to the left.

As you can see, I've been test-fitting chunks o' foam into place to get the landforms shaped:







The Monticello Styrene Slab will go home with me tomorrow for city building after I shape some other foam around it.

Also successfully completed my first LED installation of a larger LED for interior lighting and two small LEDs on either side as porch / security lights:





Only took me about 5 hours and destroying 5 small LEDs to figure out how to solder & install the little dudes 

[M.C. Fujiwara]

My favorite go-to spray paint was Floquil's Grimy Black: it was dark, grey, warm, and thin enough for detail to pop through.
I didn't like that it was an expensive little can.

I found a similar dark grey auto primer (Rustoleum) but it was too thick, and it never seem to fully dry.

But I'm happy to announce the Second Coming of Grimy Black:



About $5 a can at Lowes.
Careful when selecting from the rack: it looks like a flat black but it's called "Blindfold":



Might be a touch lighter than Grimy Black, but, readily available for $5, close enough!

I use this to paint track, as a base coat for buildings, trim, windows, you name it.



I've found limiting the palate and having a common base for many aspects on the layout helps tie it all together, even if only subliminally.

So on this Walthers warehouse:



I sprayed the backs of the walls "Blindfold" and then the fronts:



Notice it doesn't have to be a thick all-covering layer.
Then, when dry in 5 minutes, spray over with Krylon Khaki:



A light sanding here & there will immediately add dark grey colored bricks, and there's already a darker color in the cracks.

Later will add mortar & grime washes.

Gave the Monticello base foam/styrene to Miles for him to do the streets and most of the main Broadway drag:


[photo courtesy of Miles The Weathering Man]

Me, I've got about 6 different structure projects littering the workbench:



On the layout itself, I've started installing the 1/8" Masonite fascia:









Hopefully tomorrow will finish the rest off, patch the holes, then can prime on Friday and have it dry over the weekend.

Back to the workbench!

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Today finished up most of the fascia:







Only section left is about 3' but hardboard needed to be spliced together, so will install when woodglue cures:



And caulked some more foam down:



Gaps will be filled with hybrid of pink foam and cardboard/tape/plaster.

Here's the layout in relation to the room, opposite the drop-down home theater and sandwiched between video bowling, race car, and pinball:



Back to the workbench!