HOn3 Rio Grande Southern First District 1938-1945

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I’ll likely discontinue the backdrop over the width of the window using a high tree line instead as a visual block.

What about a breakaway like on a piece of foamcore or gatorboard that can easily be pushed through in case of emergency?

[Dave V]

What about a breakaway like on a piece of foamcore or gatorboard that can easily be pushed through in case of emergency?

Yeah, maybe.  If I attach it with industrial Velcro it’ll probably work.  Good call!  Although it would be on the wrong side based on traffic direction that’d be a good place for a photo backdrop of Lizard Head Peak.

[jpec]

What about a breakaway like on a piece of foamcore or gatorboard that can easily be pushed through in case of emergency?

Perhaps you could lap the joint for your escape section and hot glue it in. You could still knock out enough to get out. Is your window at least 24" wide?

Back in the early days of NVNTRAK before lift gates and swing bridges, a local fire marshal wasn't happy that there wasn't a clear path from inside the layout to the outside. We built a 4' version of Rockville Bridge out of foam on a foam base and a good karate chop would destroy it. Almost 25 years later it still survives intact as part of a member's layout.

Jeff

[davefoxx]

I suggest that you do NOT block the window except for a short (maybe 12”) piece of foam core in front of the window.  Build the benchwork rugged enough to climb over/step on to get to the window.  Keep a dedicated stepstool under the layout in front of the window and, perhaps, put an emergency exit sign on the fascia.  Remember, in an emergency, there might not be time to consider breaking layout sections or backdrops out, and that option may not be obvious to visitors.  In a panic, you and your family might not be able to think clear enough to figure out how to get out.  Don’t block the window.  Make it obvious that there’s egress and keep it simple to get out.

I had a friend who lost his preteen son in a house fire.  The child was found right under his bedroom window.  He didn’t get out, and my friend’s wife was severely burned trying to get into that same window from the outside.  They were heartbroken to later realize that they were just a few feet from their son, but he couldn’t get out and they couldn’t get in.  Sacrifice a scene in this one spot, if necessary.  It’s not worth a life.

DFF

[Dave V]

The basement has three other egress windows too.

[Dave V]

Well, as the subject line indicates, my era just broadened to include 1947.  Why?  This:



A Blackstone RGS K-27 #455...in her "post-wreck" configuration.  In 1943, #455 (looking pretty much like every other K-27 except that she wore the RGS sunrise herald) ran away on Dallas Divide and wrecked.  At the time she was hauling both ore and a consignment of several carloads of coal headed for the Soviet Union.  During the war years the RGS was too busy and short of material to repair #455 so she didn't see action again until 1947.  By 1947 many of the D&RGW's K-27 class had gone on to the great roundhouse in the sky (or to Mexico) but the remaining ones were still in service, so the RGS--ever creative--made a deal with the D&RGW for parts from standard gauge locomotives then being scrapped.  The cab is from a standard gauge 0-6-0 and the tender from a standard gauge 2-8-0.  Both had to be cut down the middle and narrowed.

This is what she looked like in 1947.  By 1951 she was pulling a regular K-27 tender--still in the D&RGW's "flying Rio Grande" lettering--until she was scrapped in 1953.

Long OOP, these can go on the 'bay for $500-700+.  I nabbed this baby for $300 and she sounds and runs as good as she looks!

[John]

I do want to bring in an electrician to improve the lighting situation in the alcove.  Right now the space is lit by 4 can lights.  Barely enough.

Convert one of the cans to allow attaching track lights --- then use LED bulbs ?  No electrician needed, and lots of flexibility

https://thecanconverter.com/contact-us/videos-documents/

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[Dave V]

Convert one of the cans to allow attaching track lights --- then use LED bulbs ?  No electrician needed, and lots of flexibility

https://thecanconverter.com/contact-us/videos-documents/

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The cans are toward the corners of the space and not centered.  They're also wired with the rest of the basement cans (oops!).  So I'd prefer a separate circuit with the track lights for when I working on the layout.

[Dave V]

Took a break from my MoW car project to build the Placerville, CO Texaco oil depot.  This was the Grandt Line kit. Oddly the kit's description claims it's from "Placerville, CA," and while I don't dispute that Texaco may have had an identical facility there, the kit is a match for Mike Blazek's plans and the photographs in The RGS Story Volume I. I scribed additional lines to simulate individually applied corrugated siding sheets and painted the 55 gallon drums to look a little like some of Texaco's older designs. The signs are photos of actual Texaco porcelain logos I found on eBay and printed. They should be painted on but I'm not sweating it at the moment.

[Dave V]

No serious modeler would consider using a cheap Life-Like snap-together stock pen on a narrow gauge layout! Well it’s a good thing I’m not a serious modeler! This is part of my plan for a compressed Old Placerville. I distressed the plastic boards and then sprayed them with Rustoleum Weathered Wood and then dry-brushed then with Testors Flat Earth and Americana Oyster Beige. The only modification is that I replaced the kit’s clunky steps with a set from Grandt Line.

[Dave V]

As with all model railroad endeavors, it became time to nut up or shut up.  Prepping the room tonight.  I have heavy steel shelf brackets en route to support the layout against the three walls.  I painted the room from 4' to the 9' ceiling in Behr Utah Sky with some white feathered in on the lower 1/3.  The space looks smaller than it is because of the 9 foot ceilings...the wall where Rico will go is actually 14 feet long!

Rico goes here:



Looking toward Placerville and the Ophir Loop (back corner):



I will install a 38' long custom backdrop from LARC Products that will include real scenes from Placerville, the Ophir Needles, Lizard Head, and Rico.  I'll cut the sky off and mount it directly to the wall.

The plan for the window...  A break-away section of Masonite painted to match with a section of the photo backdrop.  It'll be attached to the backside of the shelf with industrial Velcro (I've done this before, BTW, and it works well) and can be removed in an emergency.

My hope is that lumber enters the picture during Memorial Day weekend.

[Santa Fe Guy]

As with all model railroad endeavors, it became time to nut up or shut up.  Prepping the room tonight.  I have heavy steel shelf brackets en route to support the layout against the three walls.  I painted the room from 4' to the 9' ceiling in Behr Utah Sky with some white feathered in on the lower 1/3.  The space looks smaller than it is because of the 9 foot ceilings...the wall where Rico will go is actually 14 feet long
I will install a 38' long custom backdrop from LARC Products that will include real scenes from Placerville, the Ophir Needles, Lizard Head, and Rico.  I'll cut the sky off and mount it directly to the wall.

The plan for the window...  A break-away section of Masonite painted to match with a section of the photo backdrop.  It'll be attached to the backside of the shelf with industrial Velcro (I've done this before, BTW, and it works well) and can be removed in an emergency.

My hope is that lumber enters the picture during Memorial Day weekend.

Good to see you have started Dave. Looking forward to the progress shots.
Rod.

[Dave V]

Sh!t got real today...



First things first, though...  Gotta mount the wall brackets.  These guys can hold 500 lb apiece...mounted into the studs with 2 1/2" #14 machine sheet metal screws.



Looking toward the Ophir townsite...

[Chris333]

Could use some static grass around the depot...

[davefoxx]

What kind of wood did you end up purchasing, Dave?  That cart looks like it's loaded with some decent quality wood.  I ended up using mostly poplar, because the white pine in stock at several home centers near my home was atrocious when I started construction of my layout.

DFF