santa fe cajon-ish 1947 in a Kansas basement

[draskouasshat]

after much consideration and encouragement from otto, cajon pass is not fully dead. I have found a way to make it work better in the basement but ill have to view the eastbound traffic coming up the pass from the opposite side if I go this route. otto also suggested modeling the east slope but im not sure if I like that as much. it WOULD make operations easier due to the fact that most helpers were on the front of trains vs the rear or even mid on the west slope. ive been looking through my books for inspiration but I keep being drug back to the west side as its what ive always been intrigued by. we will see what I come up with.

I have on the other hand bought some square tubing to make a floating summit that will span 10 or so feet from wall to wall. imagine the benchwork being the hypotenuse of a right triangle yet the benchwork is only an inch thick, is 2ft wide and spans a 10' span with no other support besides at the 2 walls. is should make room for a nice helix underneath that otto hates lol. hopefully ill get to making this piece sunday and try to get it test hung.

Drasko

[draskouasshat]

The new location of summit on my cajon pass has been set. The benchwork is a 1"x16 gauge steel tubing all welded construction. The weird raised section on the back is actually a spine brace that helps hold the section out floating in the middle square. This may sound weird but i actually designed this in and twisted the frame work out of level when fabricating this so that it would level out once hung. Its like the semi trailers that look bowed up empty but flat when loaded.
Im extremely pleased with how solid it is only mounting to the walls with no needed support from the floor or ceiling in the middle.
Now it's time to start moving the existing benchwork back around for the new design.

Drasko
[ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[Cajonpassfan]

So...what is the new design?

[draskouasshat]

Upper level is summit and east to staging or maybe victorville.
Lower level is cajon or sullivans curve to alray/ entrance to tunnel 2. From tunnel 2, it will be a 16" climb up a dreaded but exposed helix to summit.
I'll be able to view Sullivan's curve from the spot most everyone takes pictures from which is a big plus.

Ill share a rough plan later today.

Drasko

[rodsup9000]

 I'm impressed with your welding skills, Adam.  I really like the way that welded frame looks hanging there. Can't wait to see it with track laid on it. 

[draskouasshat]

Thanks rodney!
Im thinking of going with metal benchwork all the way around! $0.84 a foot and it's lighter than what it would be made out of wood and of course it's stronger not too mention it won't sag over time.

[draskouasshat]

The reconstruction is taking place. The old summit has been dismantled and the lower and upper levels are progressing from left to right. The new summit is ready for track and the helix has started!
Ill be using 28" radius kato unitrack on the helix. The rail will be replaced with flex track so i have fewer joints and hopefully smoother operation. The unitrack sections will be easily removable for maintenance.
The grade in the helix is 1.5%. Hopefully i can finish the helix before i head out of town for work again.
Drasko
[ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[draskouasshat]

As you might notice, the title has been changed a bit.
I was over at Stephen priests house the other weekend to pick up some drawings. he made me run a couple trains around the layout with no complaints from me. it really got me thinking on what I wanted to do in regards to my own layout. his layout is an imaginary line from Kansas city into st louis that is extremely believable.
Again, it made me rethink my cajon plans. yes, I could throw together a cajon layout whether it be the east or west sides of the hill but I wouldn't be happy with it. the room I built for my cajon just isn't set up for what I wanted to accomplish. some may say im nuts for thinking that way with a 30ft long room but the footprint just wont allow me to accomplish something ill be happy with in the end.

Ill be modeling an area all things santa fe, with a it of UP cruising through. scenery will be kind of cajon-ish/high desert/southwest. ill be able to hone my scenery skills for a real cajon layout when we buy a house with some land and a shop for my multiple hobbies to be housed in.

The upper deck will be single track main with passing sidings. I havent decided on CTC or just regular ABS signals as signal placement differs greatly between the 2.
There will be helpers but im not sure if i will model a "summit" or just have everything pass through the scenery.
the lower deck will have a smaller yard with an albequerque type station, engine service facility amd what not, a diamond with the UP, and maybe some Riverside Cali type UP street running.

Im a bit all over the place with this right now but im doing what is best and tearing things down. i have a load of lumber in the garahe and will hopefully get the upper level benchwork done this week sometime.

Drasko

[draskouasshat]

So cajon is revived to my new "piece of cajon."
Keenbrook to Sullivan's curve.
No helix although ill have a drop down to staging on both ends.
Ive decided to do away with summit and the rest of the pass. I need thi get something built so i can at least run my hoards of equipment.
Sullivan curve and cajon station will be the main focal point.
Itll be a roundy round layout with continuous running.

Drasko
[ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[Yannis]

Following with interest! (I model SoCal and ATSF as well so...).
Being a double deck layout, do you have any figures for the deck heights? (sorry if i missed them if you posted them earlier.)

[draskouasshat]

Yannis, completely disregard any earlier posts. The layouts been torn down and rebuilt a couple times. It will be a single level now with staging just below the layout. Staging will just be unsceniced.
Simplicity and hopefully a running layout were the keys for this approach.

Drasko

[Yannis]

Thanks Drasko,

So now it is 1 level and benchwork not metal right? Looking forward to it.

Yannis

[draskouasshat]

Yup conventional wood

[draskouasshat]

Soooooo were back to layout building. I don't really want to call it Cajon-ish, but it will be "Cajon-ish".  This will be more a practice layout as we're still looking at houses or just land at this point but the market being up so much has kind of put a hold for now around here. With that, I'm going to build a layout with the Cajon feel so i practice the scenery as well as let me run my models. This will be proto-lanced.
I'll add photos tomorrow.

Drasko

[draskouasshat]

Don't mind the mess. The lower benchwork is pretty my complete minus some braving underneath to keep everything level. The lower lower level will be a yard somewhat depicting San Bernardino with an engine facility, and station(probably of my own styling so it doesn't look like the real yard). I'll also have local industries and a climb out of town to a helix.
The upper level will be a double tracked climb to a summit-esk area next to the helix on the opposite side of the upper level. It could be bad with two separate double track helices but oh well. If i don't like it, I'll take it all down again 
[ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ]