The Canal Line

[nuno81291]

The arches look excellent 

[GaryHinshaw]

Yea, the whole thing looks great.  It makes me wish I needed stone walls on my pike. 

[coosvalley]

Thanks guys! Not only do they look great, they are cheap, I would guess I spent about 15$ on the tiles, a new snap off knife, and a pack of spare blades... Plus, the material has a slight "sparkle" to it, which makes it look like real rock, and it comes out random, so no repeating patterns.

OK, so I'm at the point I need to start thinking about this, what material would you guys recommend to make the "C" shaped sections in the following pic out of?..I am looking for something that will be stable, and not likely to warp, and lastly, hopefully lightweight...Plywood seems like it would have to be at least 5/8 or maybe even more to remain vertically stable, which is my main concern, but I suspect this would be quite heavy. What do you guys think?

[Mike C]

MDF would be stable , but heavy . What about heavy gauge steel stud / track ? Light weight and with the corners screw with 3 or 4 screws it should be sturdy . Probably in the 12 - 14 gauge area not the flimsy regular steel studs .

[coosvalley]

Here is a pic of what the originator of the idea used...seems to be plywood?

[Lemosteam]

Lap jointed oak or pine. (glue plus wood dowel pinned after glue dries) 1x3 or 1x4.

[Missaberoad]

Plywood would likely be strong enough to hold a N scale shelf layout as long as you had them spaced properly.

Lap jointed oak or pine. (glue plus wood dowel pinned after glue dries) 1x3 or 1x4.

That's also a very strong idea, basically a scaled up version of these...

[coosvalley]

Ok gang, I'm looking for your input..I can't decide if I want to add another siding/customer track, or leave the space open, and fill it with urban scenery/negative space..Adding the track gives me 6 car spots, instead of 5...Considering this is all the layout I have for now, I think adding another customer will make the layout seem bigger, and make operating it a little more fun...So, the question is, is it too much?..Am I trying to cram too much in?..Anyway, heres 2 pics to show the difference, and another to show the progress..Nothing is glued down yet, I'm just trying to get it all loosely fit...Also, most of the structures are just place holders, and not the actual buildings I plan to use....I'm just using them to get a visual idea of whats I'm doing..

With siding..


Without siding


And an overview of the layout thus far..


Thanks for looking!

[sirenwerks]

Very nice!

[davefoxx]

I vote for leaving the additional siding out and taking the opportunity to put in access roads and parking lots.  Is that one additional freight car really going to make much of a difference operationally?  It will certainly make a difference visually.

DFF

[nuno81291]

There is 4 industry sidings without the additional correct? Any idea what you would use that extra siding for? If it is not a spur for that back most industry then I don't like that you would need to run into their territory to switch that additional spur. Depending how it is intended to be used/what industries you are modeling I think it could go either way.

Negative space is good though... you could also model it as a team track sort of spot perhaps a nasty overgrown lot with a lay down area for transloading, tracks in the mud could make it add to operations while still giving some gritty character.

Overall looking very nice... do you have a backdrop planned?

[coosvalley]

.....taking the opportunity to put in access roads and parking lots.

DFF

I should mention that all of the grey part of the base will be pavement(some asphalt, some brick paving), with tracks in the street. Adding the siding would increase my "customer" base by 20%...But it would also mean "paving" 2 turnouts instead of one ...I didn't have enough room to emulate what is actually there, so I came up with what you see...

Here are some pics to show the actual location, I did not have the room to model what is actually there, so I figure if I add the track, I can make a concrete loading dock that is similar, just turned 90 degrees...

[wazzou]

W/O
I don't like that you'd have to pull a siding in order to spot the trailing point spur.

[coosvalley]

There is 4 industry sidings without the additional correct? Any idea what you would use that extra siding for? If it is not a spur for that back most industry then I don't like that you would need to run into their territory to switch that addiontal spur. Depending how it is intended to be used/what industries you are modeling I think it could go either way.

Negative space is good though... you could also model it as a team track sort of spot perhaps a nasty overgrown lot with a lay down area for transloading, tracks in the mud could make it add to operations while still giving some gritty character.

Overall looking very nice... do you have a backdrop planned?

There will be 5 sidings for car spots without the added track. I envision the whole right side of the layout to be one industry, so sharing tracks would be OK in this case.If both spots get 1 car, I would not have to move anything to get to the other cars. I hope to eventually kitbash several Middlesex MFG. kits into a C-shaped, partial foreground building,partial backdrop flat building for this industry..I envision a gritty , barely used track, with a crumbling loading dock, weeds galore, trash and industrial clutter all about..

And for the backdrop, I plan to use LARC products Valley Paper, scroll down to see it..

http://www.larcproducts.com/Industryseriesfive.html

[milw12]

Without. I'm staunchly in the 'less is more' camp, especially when switchbacks are involved. Vacant scenery or negative space as nuno mentioned helps balance a layout visually. Although I have a whopping one turnout on my layout right now, so I may be a little too biased 

Really dig the concept and the canal walls, it's well worth the hard work!