Essex branch HO v4

[peteski]

My first time looking at this thread. I have IE Windows 7. None of your pictures from page 1 through the first quarter of page 8 are displaying. After that, I get all of them. Just a note.

They were all likely hosted on a 3rd party website, adn they are now gone.  Not a browser problem.
I looked at the initial post and the hosting website was postimg.org.
That is why I really appreciate being able to upload images locally to this site - that way they will be viewable for as long as the forum is around.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

This layout is so hot.

[DKS]

This layout is so hot.

^^^ This.

[nuno81291]

Appreciate the kind comments  unfortunately the earlier part of the thread photos are lost as I had a catastrophic technology failure... moral of the story is make sure you have a backup of your backup and make sure that medium isn’t corrupted. anyways back to the layout:

Been slowly doing some additional terraforming. I am liking the paper mache for this to depict slight undulation. Completed the retaining wall by the bakery spur. Getting closer to groundcover once I finish a bit more of the plaster work on the road/parking lots. I also did a first test of the salt/flaking paint technique that will be employed on the silos as every photo during the rail served era of the prototype depict this. I did not have a metallic paint for the base coat so I used primer for the test, the photos of the proto appear to be a shiny perhaps stainless steel surface. I also cobbled a few ancillary structures for the bakery to get a bit closer to the feel of the proto structure. I am quite pleased with how this is al roughly coming together.

[nuno81291]

The following are some of my reference photos of the bakery and branch for inspiration. Really enjoy these tight overgrown lamps OOS branches that used to populate the area.














The last one is for anyone questioning the placement of the house next to the bakery... very tight IRL.

[nuno81291]

Got some very nice casted cut stone strips to make the overpass abutments:


Slowly finding time to finish up basic scenery on the bakery side. As much as I enjoy urban railroading it is very time consuming. Perhaps my next layout will have less of an emphasis of physical structure modeling and more to photo backdrops doing the heavy lifting of scene setting.
 


Strips are from New England Brownstone

[Ed Kapuscinski]

As much as I enjoy urban railroading it is very time consuming. Perhaps my next layout will have less of an emphasis of physical structure modeling and more to photo backdrops doing the heavy lifting of scene setting.

And you JUST hit the reason I've so far resisted a bunch of really cool O scale models: they're all used around cities, and after doing York, I'm donezo with that!

[nuno81291]

So.... this layout is in jeopardy  I haven’t touched it in about 3 months. Took a detour into some other modeling endeavors. After enough pondering I think it may be time for a partial rebuild. I am not sure I can accomplish what I want in my modest space (as far as HO is concerned). What’s missing? A bridge, and an opportunity for my passenger trains to appear. It is funny I ditched these elements thinking a larger ISL would scratch the itch. Wrong. Staring at my beautiful rapido MBTA cars made me wonder WTH was I thinking? I thought of a way I could hide a staging track on the far end for a passenger train to come on scene and hit the depot and reverse back to staging. Push pull style as if a terminus which is common here. This would be the least amount of change to the layout. I would still be out a big water scene, which for some reason just adds a drama that this rather flat layout doesn’t have. I am on the fence of this partial rebuild or going more whole hog and fitting the river scene back in. Essex 4.0? Would want to keep the bakery side as is, the turntable and small yard relatively as is. Not sure with the way I framed this how I could include a continuous connection as it is a larger gap than the previous 2 versions. Achieving some semi hidden staging for the passenger trains to enter/exit the visible portion is also a big consideration. I don’t really care for prestaged interchanges or a lack of a sense of going somewhere. Back to the drawing board. Still slowly plugging away at structures for my N scale alps diorama.  how many rebuilds or throwaways does it take to qualify as layout schizophrenia?

[nuno81291]

One issue I am having with is staging. On this relatively small space for HO I am unsure about hidden staging working or being a good idea. I am thinking of burying a two or three track staging yard behind a building flat. My good sense is saying to not do it, at the same time I really value the idea of an off stage area to give the illusion of a connection to the outside world. I think perhaps I’m trying to stuff too much railroad in such a space but without a few key elements it is hard to commit to any plan. My druthers:

Era late 80s, early 90s. Fictional set in MA in MBTA territory.
One town concept, with hidden staging.
A small yard serving a few industries- main coupling areas should not be on a curve (you can say you told me so!!  )
Small engine service facilities, run down to suggest the yard/branch is on its way out.
A passenger Depot/ downtown scene
Bridge scene, because no water = no drama.
Continuous run option to entertain guests and let them roll while I’m working at the bench.


It’s a lot for a ~13x13 but I feel there must be a way to make it work.

[nuno81291]

Here is a rough idea of how this could work. A small staging yard is hidden behind an industry flat on the right. I have added a mini peninsula for an industrial area, which can be built later if I feel I dont have enough of a variety or interest in switching ops. This plan keeps the bakery where it is, as built, as well as the engine facility. I really loathe to do the work for the turn table and roundhouse again, knowing that this iteration would be a chainsaw layout until some distant future when I can build a significantly larger layout.

As I see it it checks off most of my wants. Passenger trains would go from staging to the station in the lower portion, and operate push-pull like the MBTA does here. It may pose a problem with my Walthers amfleets as they do not like to be shoved. I do wish I could fit slightly longer staging tracks to bring a longer transfer run freight on scene, but there is a doorway to the room right below that staging/layout end so unless it is a hinged section I am at a loss for how this could be accomplished. The idea of a lower deck staging of some sort is intriguing but adds greatly to the complexity and I do not think I want to go to such lengths (if a reasonable grade could even be accomplished). I am not too thrilled about the staging being hidden, but I figure a step stool could help make sure nothing goes wrong back there, as well as making the building flat removable or foldable in some way. This could be more trouble than its worth, but again this is a pretty small space for my list of wants. If any body has any idea how I could gain more staging length, and perhaps keep the passenger/main loop of continuous run track around 36" or so radius then I am all ears. Part of me wants to just rebuild the current iteration of the layout into something more interesting, and make a separate layout above that is just a roundy round for watching the passenger trains loop in a familiar setting. Alas between my alps layout and the current one, adding a third to the mix would be biting off way more than I could chew in a reasonable time frame.   

And after staring at all of this it makes me want to say F it and build the layout as is, maybe putting a single staging track behind the current location of that industry and building a diorama for my passenger gear until I have more time to build a bigger better layout. I can see why many quit the hobby when they can’t get their way and build many iterations to find they don’t have room for what they want.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

What's up with the turntable and roundhouse?

[nuno81291]

It’s a vestige of the past. Like the engine terminal in Salem that got ripped out in the 60s. In pretend land it is overgrown and soon to be decommissioned, but still used.  Save it for a larger layout to represent a terminal like Waterville or rigby but who knows when and if that layout materializes. I’m 27 and probably don’t see a large layout as anything but a retirement layout... so some time to go before that day. I view it as a decrepit, almost out of use feature. If I didn’t own it and have it mostly built I wouldn’t include it but alas I do and it is a nifty feature.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

It’s a vestige of the past. Like the engine terminal in Salem that got ripped out in the 60s. In pretend land it is overgrown and soon to be decommissioned, but still used.  Save it for a larger layout to represent a terminal like Waterville or rigby but who knows when and if that layout materializes. I’m 27 and probably don’t see a large layout as anything but a retirement layout... so some time to go before that day. I view it as a decrepit, almost out of use feature. If I didn’t own it and have it mostly built I wouldn’t include it but alas I do and it is a nifty feature.

Cool, thats the answer I was actually expecting...

[wm3798]

Did somebody say Rigby?



This is a very cool concept, and I really like the proto references you're including.

Lee

[nuno81291]

Here is a (shitty) drawing of an idea that popped into my head last night. After mulling over the large rebuild, I realized I can get the staging length I want if I flip the sides, and stick it on the left, with a stub terminal station on the right. This will take a reconfiguration of the back drop on the left, but would give me a 2 or 3 track semi hidden staging hidden behind a low relief flat building. The yard stays largely as built; a motivating factor for this minor? rebuild. The bridge scene adds some vertical scenery which is one thing I was very unhappy with this layout; no drama. It displaces 4 industries so I am encouraged to add the mini peninsula in the center as an industrial area. I have a workbench there so it is dead space. Now with the stub end station on the right, I can comfortably know I won’t be blocking any switching activities like the previous plan where I could not reach in to work the industry flat I had covering staging.

Al in all this plan has just about everything I could want; a continuous connection, the ability to run my passenger gear in a comfortably familiar push pull mode (I grew up riding end of the line stub stations on the MBTA namely Newburyport). A river scene/scenic drama, a small yard, and a handful of industries. With the “hidden” staging I anticipate a sense of the trains feeling like they go somewhere.  I think we have a winner! The industria peninsula is subject to change, I have a bunch of kits and figure it will probably represent a lumber distributor, and maybe a small specialty paper company. A team track by the yard. The bakery which is 80% built. A couple days worth of benchwork and track realignment and I think I have something I can work with.