Pacific Railway & Navigation

[MDW]

Despite spending the better part of the last couple of months running trains and fine tuning track on the lower level, I did get started building the upper deck - about 12 feet of roadbed for the right of way & a plywood base for the Salmonberry River, 3 girder bridges built and weathered, track laid and wired, and a frog juicer installed for the siding. 

Today the PR&N celebrated the first train to run completely up the helix to the log reload siding at Belding.







Michel

[Cajonpassfan]

Sweet, good progress! But how long does the helix take to circumnavigate?....?
Otto

[MDW]

Thanks Otto,
It takes about 7.5 to 8.0 minutes to move a full train up the helix and a bit less going down.   

A single way freight over the full line in either direction will take more than an hour in total with on-line switching, running helper sets into position, and cutting them in and out of the train.   So while time in all 3 of the helices will eat up a large hunk of that total, it’s the price to pay for modeling this line in the space I have. 

Michel

[Cajonpassfan]

Thanks,  Michel. I understand; building a model railroad requires making choices and tradoffs. Looks like yours are well reasoned and it should be a fun railroad to run on!
Looking forward to your updates,
Otto

[MDW]

Ok.....finished building, weathering & temporarily installing the Wilson River bridge.  So I can now finally run trains through about 60% of the total layout’s length.  Spent all morning JFRTM’ing and loved it!





Michel

[645diesel]

the Wilson River trestle looks great!  spent some time out exploring the line from Wheeler toward Timber after chasing the Oregon Scenic along the 101.  i chased the Toldeo Hauler on that same trip and could only imagine what the trip from Timber to Wheeler along the Salmonberry must have been like.  rugged and isolated in some amazing forest.  looking forward to seeing this layout develop.  thanks for sharing.

[wazzou]

I've been there a few times.

[MDW]

Thanks guys.
Looks like I need to add a bit more rust!   
A lot more bridges to build......

Michel

[MDW]

It’s been a while..... I’ve made some good progress and have finished setting & wiring the last helix, added a logging branch line connection at  Enright, and built and began painting the lower deck backdrops.   Will post pictures of this work soon.

In the meantime, I’m ready to push the 2nd level roadbed, riverbed & trackwork up towards the summit from where I left off at Belding.   Some guys design in cad and print out full size templates, others carefully draft track geometry, but I like to sketch out the track, bridges & tunnels in situ & mock thing up to get a feel for how things will look from my actual aisle side point of view.   I don’t recommend this for everyone, but it does work for me......



More to come soon!
Michel

[Specter3]

Nice progress. JFRT really keeps you focused on pushing forward.

[LIRR]

that's a lotta helix...…

how long for a train to pass thru?

[MDW]

Yep!
Actually the latest pictures show 2 separate stacked helices - the lower one is 8 turns and is completed and operational.   It takes about 7.5 to 8 minutes to traverse with a full length train.   Sitting above it is a 5.5 turn helix that connects different parts of the layout.   This one has now been completed since those pictures were taken and will take about 5 minutes to run through.   

But that’s not all.......If you go back to the first page you can see a 3rd small helix at the other end of the room.   I think that I calculated that the 3 helices make up about 40% of the total mainline run in length but about 15 to 20% of the total running time for each of the end to end local trains that make up the bulk of operations on this branch line.

So yes, a lotta of helix.    But they are all accessible - easy to clean & maintain - and so far, quite reliable.

Michel

[MDW]

It’s been a while since I’ve posted an update.
Progress on the PR&N has been slow the last few months but I have finally completed a few projects.

After fine tuning the lower of the 2 stacked helices and testing the work over and over, I finally got up enough courage to finish the backdrop that hides the helix (it’s still accessible from it’s middle and back side).  This work also included adding a logging branch at Enright that extends beyond the backdrop and Finishing off this section of Lower Level LED lighting.  Next up at Enright will be installing a Peco turntable that’s just about ready to go.



I have also just about finished the 2nd helix and am well into the long bridge that connects to the upper end of the helix.  The bridge is made up of 6x80’ + 1x40’ ME girder bridges built around an aluminum channel (you can spot a spare channel sitting below the bridge).  You can see that I still need to hog out a bigger notch to get the bridge to sit properly with the roadbed and I still need to finish the track deck and one last tower before painting & weathering but I think it’s going to be pretty cool.  The bridge footings by the way are a good 8” above the plywood deck so while it’s a long bridge, it’s not near as tall as it looks with no scenery!



Hopefully I’ll be able to pick up the pace these next couple of months......
Michel

[Philip H]

I love that bridge idea - but how will you prevent unintended gravity assisted downward vertical acceleration?

[MDW]

I love that bridge idea - but how will you prevent unintended gravity assisted downward vertical acceleration?

1.  Keep the trains coupled together
2.  Keep the trains on the rails
3.  Build some damn scenery to cushion the fall!!!

Michel