Gibbon, Cozad & Western - "The 100th Meridian Line"

[C855B]

Heya, Justin...

Yeah, that's why I'm focusing on the "transfer" thing. There were tracks down both sides of the river between Taylor Yard and UP's (East) and Santa Fe's (Hobart) yards in Commerce that saw whole bunches of transfer work. There were also the "links" on the SP (RR east of Taylor) and the intermodal/ex-PFE/ex-Pacific Electric yard that also handled interchange.

Santa Fe through Colton Tower, V'ville and up to Daggett is considered in the plan (I guess you haven't noticed my late-'60s Santa Fe power/cabeese at our shows... it's there). Any loopback would have to be via Afton Canyon, so that will be a fudge... maybe we can pretend that Kelso is Amboy? Change the Kelso station into Roy's and there you have it, the scenery is 'bout indistinguishable.

[C855B]

It's amazing how a sense of space can be redefined by something as simple as a door.

With our son home from college we are getting around to a few tasks in the layout building I was saving for "two guys". First on my list was hanging the double doors between the layout room and workshop. Voilà!:



It was not easy, as I seriously screwed-up the opening dimensions when revising after the new floor was poured. A couple of hours milling a custom jamb pulled my @$$ out of the fire, however, and I was able to use the door slabs without trimming (barely!), plus the factory frame on the hinged sides and the weatherstripping. Result is boffo, thanks to the truly anal attention paid to square, level and plumb for the rough opening. Wish I'd put that much effort into the tape measure, however. 

The gray is intended to be a primer, but I think I'll just leave them that color.

With the doors in and the space they were occupying in the workshop now cleared, the last two outlets in the workshop could be wired, and now I can finish hanging the paneling in the workshop (also needs two guys) and get that pile o' materials reduced. Speaking of wiring, the 110V panel in the attic for the layout spots and theater lights is finally fully wired, so once the next section of the ceiling is up I can start stringing control and power to the lighting tracks.

Things are really moving along. While I'm not confident the ceiling will be done this month due to interference from other projects, it will certainly be in place before the weather turns, at which point layout construction can commence.

[mcjaco]

Throw a UP logo on one of those doors, and voila! 

Love the catwalk.  I though about throwing a small one up in my home's attic, as the goodies up there are all at one end....not near the access hatch.  I'm tired of nail pops when I need to get up there.

[C855B]

Heh. Nail pops. We once had a house with vaulted ceilings, and replaced the roof. Roofer was told multiple times to exercise care, and to convey this to his crew. Nope... business as usual. They had to replace several sheathing panels and his clowns were nailing hard with 22-ounce framing hammers. We were fixing nail pops for months. Also didn't help that one of his guys missed a joist while walking with a panel off and stepped on drywall, fortunately not all the way through. "Not our problem" was the roofer's response. Putz.

Yes, catwalk is great. While I did this one in 3/4" ply with 2x4s, a couple of 1x12's would probably solve your problem if you can get long enough pieces through the access. Biggest problem I run into is somebody - including me - getting too enthusiastic with the insulation. You can't "just compress it" under the walkway since that will end in nail-pop sadness, too, so you have to essentially build bridges to span the joists.

[davefoxx]

Are you going to keep the floor bare concrete?  I'm sure you know about the dust issue with bare concrete.  My concern is that anything other than a coat of paint might have clearance problems at the bottom of that door.  It doesn't appear that the door would even clear VCT.

DFF

[C855B]

Coat o' paint, over lacquer-based concrete sealer. There's 1/8-3/16" clearance under the door.

[JSL]

Most excellent as always Mike!

[C855B]

Speaking of layout construction messes, a mild milestone this morning on the GC&W - ceiling reached the halfway point:



Small progress, sort of, but still making headway despite multiple major interruptions. Most relate to the layout building, and the fruit of each shall be shared when resolved. It's mostly good stuff!

[GaryHinshaw]

I really had no idea what to expect when this thread started, but this is shaping up to become the most remarkable space for an N scale "home" layout in the whole world.  Really incredible.

[C855B]

High praise, Gary. Thank you. I see it as a cosmic convergence of opportunity, time, resources and, most of all, a boatload of cumulative experience. Plus maybe a smidgeon of vision.

I also have the advantage of it being my full-time job. But if I was working for me, I would have fired my @$$ for being 5X over estimate for completion. Makes me think of Murphy Brown's perpetual hired painter, Eldin Bernecky.

[C855B]

... multiple major interruptions. Most relate to the layout building, and the fruit of each shall be shared when resolved. It's mostly good stuff!

My my, what a busy afternoon! The side projects we were working on for the layout building are resolving much quicker than we thought they would. It helped to push things along a little, tho'.

First is something not mentioned before, a new bit of land added to the empire. I can't recall (or find) any posts from a couple of years ago about two empty lots we bought south of the building to clean up for a little bit of green space. No biggie, really. Well, south of these lots, between us and a city maintenance shed, was a ramshackle house owned by a locally notorious slumlord, and rented... well... rented predominately to felons on parole. No kidding, we had some real gems in there. Most of the time they didn't bother us and we were cordial, but we also worked hard not to cross them. And most of the time they screwed-up, and back to the slammer they went.

We noted the pattern early on, so with our own well-being in mind, a couple of years ago we offered the owner entirely too much for what was an unlivable teardown. He came back wanting even more for this piece of crap. We let it slide, and Robyn said, "Just wait. It will burn down, or fall down." She was right. About two months ago the front ceiling caved-in on top of the girls living there, and it was emphatically clear the house would never be lived in again.

We waited an appropriate amount of time, approached the slumlord about buying it for the value of the land (pennies, really)... and we close on the sale this Thursday. The city has already offered to tear it down for us as long as we pay for the roll-off dumpster and disposal. Such a deal! Here it is... you guys are going to love "our new house":



The fresh-looking 2-bys are my attempts to keep it sort of upright and off the grass before the city guys have a chance to tear it down. I actually have my doubts it's going to last through tonight's thunderstorms.

Second... y'all might recall my angst last year about the apartment building next door, dealing with a succession of tenants not a whole bunch better than the felons in the ramshackle house. This included major drug dealers and a phalanx of hangers-on associated with them. This situation was encroaching on the layout building and surrounding property, and we were constantly on guard about one WTF! trespass or another. It was costing quite a bit in personal energy, tearing up the property and taking away from progress on the train palace.

While things quieted down considerably since then after a couple of drug raids - thank goodness - we arrived at a more permanent solution: we are buying the apartments. We struck the deal this afternoon.

A couple of you were kidding around back then about buying the apartments and turning them into a railfan B&B. In a way, that's what is likely to happen. We are friends with the owners of the local B&B, and they are encouraging us to develop the property into a B&B with accommodation for longer stays than they're setup for. They also have construction contacts, so we have help in getting help.

So... with the exception of the city yard building on the south end, we will shortly own the entire block. We have all the light blue spaces now, so it's time to buy houses and hotels, don't forget your $200 as you pass "GO!". I may piddle with small projects at the apartments, but the major stuff and renovations get pro attention. I want to build a layout and run trains.

[davefoxx]

I also have the advantage of it being my full-time job. But if I was working for me, I would have fired my @$$ for being 5X over estimate for completion. Makes me think of Murphy Brown's perpetual hired painter, Eldin Bernecky.

Haha!  Great reference!

DFF

[davefoxx]

Wow, Mike, I am impressed by your ambition to buy up the block and attempt to run an apartment building and/or a B&B.  I'm really glad to hear that you're running the riffraff out of the area.

DFF

[C855B]

...  I'm really glad to hear that you're running the riffraff out of the area.

So is the city.

[basementcalling]

  I'm really glad to hear that you're running the riffraff out of the area.

DFF

If you want no riff raff, then so much for the apartments becoming a B&B for visiting guest TRW layout labor. I'm sure some of us would work for room and board.

Seriously good news. Only takes one stupid bad apple to ruin the whole neighborhood.