On30 ET&WNC R.R.

[davefoxx]

Yes, Deerfield River Laser is what I have bookmarked for caboose No. 505, as well as the wood kits to upgrade the Bachmann passenger cars to something a little more ET&WNC.  But, that stuff ain't exactly cheap!  So, for now, I'll focus on getting a layout up and running before I deal with those details.

I've also located a source for gons and flats that seem representative of the ET&WNC.  No hopper cars, though.   But, I'm not planning on building a rivet-counter's version of the ET&WNC at this time.  That's often too stressful for me to enjoy the hobby.  That said, I did scratchbuild a flatcar and caboose No. 202 in HOn3 in the early 1990s, so it's possible that down the road I will scratchbuild models of actual ET rolling stock.

DFF

[davefoxx]

If all goes well, I should have an order of ME Code 83 flextrack and turnouts waiting for me at home tonight.  The "honest" trackplanning can begin!  I'm still considering @Dave Vollmer's idea to build a cockpit-style layout, because, with the lessons that I learned building the folding staging shelf on the Seaboard Central, I believe that I can build a similar drop section to allow for a roundy-round, but allow access without a mandatory duckunder.  This may be the only option in my space in the layout room.

DFF

[p51]

ME track is decent but man, it's fragile. I busted two turnout points just mounting blue points to the things, and I had to replace them after everything was soldered together (the day before an op session, no less). If I had to do it over, I'd probably have used Peco track instead...

I'm not planning on building a rivet-counter's version of the ET&WNC at this time.  That's often too stressful for me to enjoy the hobby. 

Fair enough. I decided early on that I couldn't model exactly the ET&WNC cars 100% so I went with what looked best for now.
I decided to go with the Bachmann boxcars, even though they carry very little resemblance to the actual ones (which were freakishly long). Like I mentioned, the high gons cut down by two side boards make decent short-looking gons like the ET had (and lots of them). Let’s face it; a flat car is a flat car. So I went stock Bachmann there, too. All I did was paint, decal and weather the stuff.
The locos are the most accurate but even those are lacking a lot of details. The tender headlights are in the wrong place for the WW2 years, and they’re lacking several things like the running boards for the switchmen alongside the cylinders. I didn’t add those, either, as re-railing the front truck would be a nightmare if those were in place.
As for the passenger cars, I decided to go with the AMS/Accucraft coaches for my layout. I had painted several Bachmann coaches as various ET ones, but decided to get rid of all of them in favor of the AMS ones. They’re hardly perfect, but out of the box they look way closer to the Jackson and Sharp coaches the ET had.
I made one concession to rolling stock that wasn’t on the RR at the time I model. I simply HAD to have coach 23, even though it was gone by WW2. Why? It’s the only coach I ever saw in person, as the “Tweetsie Diner” in Newland, NC when I was a kid. Sadly, it burned down a few years later. The other became Linville River 4, which was on the property in WW2 though I’m not sure it as being used on the commuter trains to the rayon mills in Elizabethton.
This is what some Pullman green and some decals can do for you, way better looking than Bachmann's stuff:

[davefoxx]

Wow, your coaches are nice.  Kudos!  I didn't even realize that AMS/Accucraft even offered On30 rolling stock.  I look forward to the cars with vestibules, so I'll use the Deerfield River kits, although I may cave in and just use the "shortie" kits, so I don't have to lengthen the Bachmann cars.  I'm going to be running sharp curves, and no one that I know would even recognize the difference from the prototype.

I think I see how that turnout of yours broke.  Odds are I'll use ground throws (like the prototype), so, I shouldn't have a similar problem.  But, if I do power the turnout throws, I'd use the hole under the throwbar ends and not get into the fragile center section.  After working with Atlas Code 55 track in N scale and handlaying N scale track, I don't think that I'll have any problems with the ME track's robustness.  We'll see, though, right?

DFF

[p51]

Wow, your coaches are nice.  Kudos!  I didn't even realize that AMS/Accucraft even offered On30 rolling stock.

A lot of people in the hobby have never heard of them. They make really good stuff, and good freight cars, too: http://accucraft.com/modelc/1menu_48_rs.htm

I think I see how that turnout of yours broke.  Odds are I'll use ground throws (like the prototype), so, I shouldn't have a similar problem.  But, if I do power the turnout throws, I'd use the hole under the throwbar ends and not get into the fragile center section.  After working with Atlas Code 55 track in N scale and handlaying N scale track, I don't think that I'll have any problems with the ME track's robustness.  We'll see, though, right?

Yeah, if I had it to do over, knowing now the weakness of those turnouts, I'd have run the blue points through one end of the throw bar or the other. They were a royal pain to install.
I wasn’t into hand throws, as I didn’t want people to knock over stuff reaching some of the very far-back turnouts on my layout. I went with blue points because they’re manual and easy to troubleshoot/fix if needed. I went as low-tech as I could, even though I use DCC. Anything that could be manual, is.

[Chris333]

I got my book. Never realized how big the RR was. I say warp the truth, get a 2-6-6-2 and run piggy back unit trains. 

[davefoxx]

I got my book. Never realized how big the RR was. I say warp the truth, get a 2-6-6-2 and run piggy back unit trains. 

https://www.trainworld.com/manufacturers/bachmann/bachmann-on30-scale/bachmann-steam-locomotives-3/spectrum-dcc-equipped-2-6-6-2-articulated-locomotive-with-tender-painted-unlettered-black-with-red-white-trim-28798/ 

I'm cracking up, because the 2-6-6-2 is advertised for sharper curves than the 4-6-0!

[Chris333]

And they were looking at buying a 2-6-6-2 for the Tweetsie 

I wonder how that track plan will work out though. If you stretched it out a little you could skip the curved trestle and put at least one of those odd ball bridges in it's place. Your good on tunnels though, you get a pass 

Are there any better sources for photos of the many mines along the line?

[davefoxx]

And they were looking at buying a 2-6-6-2 for the Tweetsie 

I had an immediate flashback to that line drawing in Tweetsie Country the moment you suggested it. 

I wonder how that track plan will work out though. If you stretched it out a little you could skip the curved trestle and put at least one of those odd ball bridges in it's place. Your good on tunnels though, you get a pass 

It's not looking good, at least not in the arrangement I had planned in my layout room.  Even an 18" radius is taking up much more space than I would like.  I'm having a lot of trouble trackplanning, although I admit much of that has to do with the learning curve for AnyRail, since I haven't used that software in a few years.

Are there any better sources for photos of the many mines along the line?

I don't have any, but I haven't scraped the bottom of the barrel just yet.  I only have the first two volumes of Along the ET&WNC, so I don't know if anything new came in any new volumes the past ten years.

DFF

[davefoxx]

And this is why I don't think the Soda Creek & South Park RR plan of Malcolm Furlow will work for me.  I tried turning the plan ninety degrees, but I have an entry door at the bottom left of the plan.  As prepared, the door will not clear the layout.  Could I rehang the door to open out?  Yes.  Do I want to?  For this plan, probably not.  This plan is already taking waaaaay too much space from the planned adjacent N scale layout as it is, and there's still not enough space to please me for the bottom right portion of the plan.  Not to mention, there's not a lot of room for scenery, and everyone likes to remind me how big O scale structures are.  Another drawback is that the hidden track (the passing siding at top left) is hemmed into the corner of the room, with no easy access.  Not a good idea.

Oh, and the important facts are that this is designed on AnyRail with ME Code 83 flextrack and #5 turnouts.



I will also brainstorm around the cockpit style layout that @Dave Vollmer suggested.

DFF

[Scottl]

Where are the walls?  I like this approach over the cockpit concept, but I just don't like bending down to get into the layout.

[davefoxx]

Where are the walls?  I like this approach over the cockpit concept, but I just don't like bending down to get into the layout.

The walls are the top, left, and bottom of the track plan.  There's just not enough room at the bottom to allow access through the door and an aisle between the wall and the layout at the bottom.

My thoughts on the cockpit-style is to build a drop section across an aisle, so there would be no mandatory duckunder.

DFF

[davefoxx]

For perspective, this is what I can do with a cockpit-style layout.  I've only thrown down a basic plan, to allow the visualization of On30 in the space.  The track plan can certainly be improved.  The bottom left, again, is where the entry door is, and the narrow portion of the layout there represents a drop down section to eliminate a duckunder to enter the room.  There are walls at the top, left, and bottom.  The right side is open and is where I would like to build the adjacent N scale layout, so there would have to be a duckunder there.  I could do another drop-down section, there, but it really eats up the real estate.  I'm thinking of placing a small version of the Doe River Gorge at the top right of the plan.



I'm not crazy about this plan, because On30 takes up a lot of space.  I can only wish that I could be doing this in HOn3. 

DFF

[OldEastRR]

I'm not crazy about this plan, because On30 takes up a lot of space.  I can only wish that I could be doing this in HOn3. 

DFF

... and Nn3 would be even better, if you're going to wish for something.

[Dave V]

For perspective, this is what I can do with a cockpit-style layout.  I've only thrown down a basic plan, to allow the visualization of On30 in the space.  The track plan can certainly be improved.  The bottom left, again, is where the entry door is, and the narrow portion of the layout there represents a drop down section to eliminate a duckunder to enter the room.  There are walls at the top, left, and bottom.  The right side is open and is where I would like to build the adjacent N scale layout, so there would have to be a duckunder there.  I could do another drop-down section, there, but it really eats up the real estate.  I'm thinking of placing a small version of the Doe River Gorge at the top right of the plan.



I'm not crazy about this plan, because On30 takes up a lot of space.  I can only wish that I could be doing this in HOn3. 

DFF

Someone does Tweetsie in HOn3.  The last two HOn3 annuals are full of Tweetsie.  Not sure where to find it, though, because an eBay search comes up very thin.