Mt. Coffin & Columbia River - 23"x41" layout

[packers#1]

Was great seeing this wonderful layout in Model Railroader this month.  Great article by the way!

Same here, I flipped to the article, saw the pic, and thought "hmmm, I've seen the layout progress!"
MC, any updates on the coal tipple?

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Thanks for the kind words!
I wrote that article almost a year ago: was wondering when they were going to publish it
Received my contributor's copy last week and it was very, er, "interesting" to see the editing & re-writing they did.
(Whisky Barrel Town was originally "Whiskey Barrel Bunghole Town"... ok, that one I kinda understand  )
But they have their style guide & needed to fit in the boxes, I guess.

Still, pretty nifty to finally see the article in print with some nice non-AnyRail renderings!

As soon as I finish the Free-moN Effett Staging Yard and then the Free-moN Sonoma Shoo-fly modules (both of which I hope to get done before the GTE in September), then I'll get back to Mt. Coffin & try to finish that before the year's end so I can get rid of it and start the 42 other projects bubbling in my brain

Thanks again for reading the article & taking the time to comment.
Hope it comes in handy (or handy-panel-y).
Cheers!

[Scottl]

Nice work MC.  I"m going to buy an issue to check it out!

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Today I braved the 100+ deg. heat of my garage to build a flatcar tanker using a fab casting from Republic Locomotive Works ($4: no picture in the catalogue but worth the chance!):
 


The flat car is a 35' log flat from N Scale Kits. The tank load is a little short for a flat load (in my artistic composition estimation), so I added a strip of 0.08" styrene underneath before painting.
 
Built the cradle with HO 2'x4' stripwood painted the same boxcar red as the flatcar:
 


Added a brakewheel on some wire, weathered with powders, and:
 




Need to do a better job weathering.
 Maybe some drybrushing.
 Definitely need to get Tom Mann's The Weathering Book - great techniques that look amazing.
 
Should have also added some railing/pipes, perhaps.
 But with a great $4 tank casting, have plenty of opportunity to practice.
 Thanks for looking!

[M.C. Fujiwara]

 I'm really looking forward to finishing this thing soon, just as soon as I finish the couple Free-moN modules I got on the workbench.
 
That said, I took a break from all the Free-moN scenery and finally finished Randgust's fab 18-ton Climax kit I started about a year and a half ago.
http://www.randgust.com/prod01.htm
 I hauled the Mt. Coffin & Columbia River layout outside, vacuumed off all the dust & cobwebs that had accumulated, cleaned the track (not enough, as it turned out), and set up in the sun for some photos:
 








It was a lot of fun chopping N-scale lumber (from a toothpick) to pile around the boiler.
 Yes, those workers are from the WS "Hobo" pack: seems to be the only figures in early 1900s clothing around.
 
And, of course, a video:
 

The Climax ran great on the test track, but stalled a lot on the layout.
 Really need to clean the track better, as the Kato 11-105 is a bit finicky (especially since I probably tweeked the contact strips more than I should have)(again).
 But it can creep along at scale 9-10 mph, as it should.
 And it looks great pulling Chris Schmuck's 20-ton wood hoppers from Republic Locomotive Works.
 Cheers to Randy for a great Climax kit!
 
It was so hot in the sun that my iPhone kept shutting down with temp warnings.
 Ended up putting an icepack in my back pocket to cool the phone off between takes.
 
Sorry about the blue tape and exposed wiring: didn't have the time to put on the fascia.
 See if you can see the harmonica player at the end.
 
Thanks for looking.

[GaryHinshaw]

Great looking train MC (and Randy and Chris), especially in natural sunlight.  It's almost shocking to see how small it is when The Hand appears!   

Is that you on harmonica?   

-gfh

[dnhouston]

Great work MC, love seeing this layout, and the natural lighting really brings out all the detail and weathering you have put into it.

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Thanks, guys.
Randy and Chris both designed great kits with amazing details.
I'm just happy the Climax runs (this is the second Kato chassis I've used  )
If we all have a single Nemisis in the Realm of Model Railroading, mine is Contact Strips.
Seem to get bent the wrong way just looking at them 

Anyway, speaking of contact strips, I also replaced / tweeked the 44T trucks for the Boxcab chassis, and it runs well, so now my 1900 roster for Mt. Coffin includes:
--Homebuilt wooden boxcab
--18-ton Climax
--Ten Wheeler

Which is pretty much all the layout can handle anyway.
The new Bachmann 2-6-0 that should arrive any week now will also be a nice-looking addition, especially pulling some ventilated boxcars and pre-1900 house cars.

The harmonica player is part of the WS Hobo people pack:



Seems to be the only group that has 1900's clothing (if anyone has any other sources, I'm all ears!)

Cheers!
And thanks for looking.

[Scottl]

MC, this layout is really remarkable, you do excellent work!  I really like the rock cut photograph.  That scene is something that really makes best use of the small scale trains to create a huge landscape.  It would require a lot of space in HOn3 or On3.  Bravo!

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Well, it's time to say goodbye to the Mt. Coffin & Columbia River layout.
 After much debate, I've decided to scrap it and start over rather put umpeen kabillion hours and dollars into fixing all the little "arghs!" that I created myself when I was learning how to handlay track.
 And while the layout looks alright right now, all those "arghs!" make it difficult to have fun running trains.
 
But never fear!
 All the scratchbuilt structures will be saved, and all the trees (450+) will be transplanted to the next late-1800s / early 1900's layout!
 And then the chainsaw will finally come out.
 
But before it does, I gave the fascia a new coat of paint, screwed it on, then hauled Mt. Coffin out into the late-morning sunlight for a last photo shoot:
 








[cont.]

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Well, thanks to all who helped me out over the past couple years with words of wisdom, advice ("Never play leapfrog with a unicorn!"), and sharing all your experiences to help me learn to be a better modeler while working on this chainsaw.
 
Goodbye Mt. Coffin & Columbia River:
 Pink foam to ground foam,
 sawdust to dust.
 
But, of course, there's a video (and in 1080p, too!  Looks good full screen!):
 

Thanks for looking.

[packers#1]

To every end, there is a new beginning. Sweet layout, but judging from your freemon, the next layout will be the very definition of epic

[GaryHinshaw]

Wow.  For the record, this layout looks awesome! 

Having the courage to take a 'hatchet' to your work can be very liberating.  It frees you from the burden of having to do everything perfect the first time.  I'd be curious if you had any specific lessons learned from this experience that you'd care to share.

Looking forward to the next episode.

[M.C. Fujiwara]

I'd be curious if you had any specific lessons learned from this experience that you'd care to share.

1) do your trackwork right the first time & make it perfect so everything and their mothers can run on it
2) power your frogs the first time
3) don't spend all that time scratchbuilding structures and creating nice scenery and then use catapult-sized ground throws 
4) did I mention have great trackwork and powered frogs?

Right now I have a half-decent diorama, but I'd like to have an actual layout I can enjoy running trains on.
Which requires kick-a$$hat trackwork.
And powered frogs 

[ednadolski]

Wow, that is one fab-looking layout!   And you're right, it looks great on full-screen!   

4) did I mention have great trackwork and powered frogs?

So is this the 'bump' that I noticed at the 0:21 time?  Just one comment - have you checked the gauge on the loco wheelsets?   Seems that the freight cars were making it thru that spot without bumping.

Are you considering Code 40 rail for the next layout?  Just MHO, that would look awesome with those classic trains.... Oh and don't forget the sound too 

Ed

Edit - Also check the loco wheels for wobble.  It's hard to spot in a video but there was one or two places where I got the impression that the wheels might have been running a bit out of true.