Aly Foxx's N Scale Layout

[MK]

I have the wooden Thomas stuff...covered in dust.  It's no longer used but I hate to throw them out.  It's a reminder of how much fun we had when my son was younger. 

[davefoxx]

Boy, I haven't updated this thread in a long time.  The layout is sloooooowly coming along.  My fault, not Aly's, because I tend to procrastinate at doing scenery work.

Here's the overall layout.  Aly still does run a train from time to time, and she swaps out one of her North Pole Express trains for another (she has two versions from different years):



Admittedly, it's sort of a mess right now.  What you see is me letting Aly go at the mountainside with a bucket of lightweight spackling and a putty knife.  I'll sand it smooth after it dries.

Meanwhile, I'm experimenting with the spackling, a putty knife, and an NMRA N scale gauge to try and bury the tracks in the snow.  The N scale gauge was useful for clearing the flangeways.  I'll also begin burying the streets.  We'll see how this works out. 



We had to take a break, because we need to let the spackling set up.  Otherwise, we were messing up the areas where we had finished sculpting.  Slowly, but surely.

DFF

[nuno81291]

Looking good. Shouldn’t have any troubles with the plastered track, have been doing it that way for a decade without issue.

[DKS]

Shucks, I would have recommended Fun Foam as a faster and much cleaner way to make snow, but I was too late...



Oh well, story of my life...

[davefoxx]

Shucks, I would have recommended Fun Foam as a faster and much cleaner way to make snow, but I was too late...



Oh well, story of my life...

@DKS, you DID already recommend it, and it is a great suggestion.  I was just too lazy to go buy any and cut it to fit.  I already had the lightweight spackling and the NMRA gauge when my daughter asked me to work on the layout.  Besides, this way, it all matches without a lot of painting or top treatments.  I will end up sprinkling some snow effect over the spackling, though, to get that sparkle.

Thanks,
DFF

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Ok, when it comes to trains running over pavement (which is essentially what you've got), you've GOT to get the height of the material next to the rail head slightly below the rail head itself. This is because the wheels on equipment are wider than the rails and if you don't you won't get good electrical contact.

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[davefoxx]

Agreed, @Ed Kapuscinski.  I checked the spackling this morning, and, although it’s not fully dry, it has shrunk, leaving the rails sticking up ever so slightly.

Thanks,
DFF

[Point353]

Ok, when it comes to trains running over pavement (which is essentially what you've got), you've GOT to get the height of the material next to the rail head slightly below the rail head itself. This is because the wheels on equipment are wider than the rails and if you don't you won't get good electrical contact.

Are you using wheelsets that don't have treads with a 3° upward slope, as specified by NMRA RP-25?
https://www.nmra.org/sites/default/files/standards/sandrp/pdf/RP-25%202009.07.pdf

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I mean... I'm using whatever they make. But my point is that the slight angle isn't enough to prevent trouble if the pavement is flush. Sounds like the shrinkage solved the problem though.

[davefoxx]

Aly's really been begging me to work on her layout.  So, this morning, while I was actually working on scenery on my layout (believe it or not), I took a few minutes to tackle something that has been bothering me on her layout, i.e., the proverbial corner that I had painted myself into.  I want to use my highway bridge from the Seaboard Central 2.0 on Aly's layout, but I left myself with a terrible vertical grade that made it impossible to get the road down to track level.  So, this morning, we cut and hacked at the styrene road and the underlying foam, to try to create a ramp that will cross the tracks and head over the bridge.  Depending on how well this styrene holds in position when everything dries, this might be success:



So, while we were at it, I "snowed over" a few more feet of Unitrak:



DFF

[Point353]

How might the Unitrack look if you simply painted it white between the rails - and then spackled (or used fun foam) only up to the outside of the rails?
Maybe you'd want to try that on the turnouts/switches?

[dem34]

How might the Unitrack look if you simply painted it white between the rails - and then spackled (or used fun foam) only up to the outside of the rails?
Maybe you'd want to try that on the turnouts/switches?

Especially with how stupid touchy Kato Turnouts are.

[davefoxx]

Last night I was working on programming a new locomotive on the LokProgrammer.  Here's the setup for my programming track and the LokProgrammer.  It's all under my layout on a rolling storage cart:



Well, last night, Aly (who turns eight years old next week) was playing with her layout, and she made a comment to me that one day she would program locomotives, too.  Look what I found underneath her layout this morning:



Too funny!  Is this a parenting win?  A model railroading win?  Both?

DFF

[dnhouston]

Awesome! 

[MK]

Too funny!  Is this a parenting win?  A model railroading win?  Both?

DFF

I would say BOTH!