Canton, Highlandtown and Fells Point - Compact layout

[Missaberoad]

And I thought John Travolta was frightening... 

I like where the Layout is headed... Some of my formative model railroading memories are of
the Severna Park layout...

[Ed Kapuscinski]

If you think that is frightening, you haven't seen Pink Flamingos.

I'd highly recommend you do.

Anyway, Lee, I see what you're saying. The thing that strikes me about that is that there's lots of embankment, and only bridges where necessary. Just a thought.

[John]

I love everything. Except the viaduct in general.

It just doesn't remind me of East Baltimore.

I think the fancy latticework of the girders makes it look even more out of place.

I say, go with a combination of these workhorses and call it a day:
http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Micro-Engineering-N-80-Plate-Girder-p/mec-80-170.htm
http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Micro-Engineering-N-80-171-40-Plate-Girder-4-each-p/mec-80-171.htm

Agree 100%

[John]

If you think that is frightening, you haven't seen Pink Flamingos.

I

[Ed Kapuscinski]

The scariest part about Cafe Hon is the musty/moldy smell in the bar.

[chicken45]

Didn't Gordon Ramsay fix all that, hon?

[wm3798]

Ed.  I'm working on raising the terrain around the track so it looks less like a model railroady model railroad. 

to wit:


In this view, Linwood Ave. dead ends into the embankment formed by the figure 8 up and over in the back.  By adding some vertical to the street scape...



... the terrain now rises to meet the train... track. (there in the back you can see the cork on the ROW.  I can now poke Linwood Ave. across a grade crossing there, and add more street scape along the back drop wall.



Thereby extending the modeled world beyond the available platform...  I plan to do a similar effect on the frontal lobe of the layout where more industry will be located.

Lee

[wm3798]

And for the record, the Cafe Hon is a mere caricature of Bawlamer.  The real deal remains in Highlandtown.


The house used in the original Hairspray movie.

Lee

[wm3798]

Resurrected another chunk of the old layout, this time the "bridge" that crossed in front of the window in the old train room.



Turns out that it's configured perfectly to be a staging track along the wall on a shelf over my desk.  The crossover at the end leaves just enough room for a switcher to do a run around, and the old tail track that went into Elkins can store a couple of cabooses.  I left the tortoise controller under the crossover, and I re-installed the one at the Kerens end.  I'll be wiring them to a Switch It decoder I kept, so I can just run them off of the track bus, so no extra wiring, other than to tie in the signals to serve as switch indicators.

This gives me about 8 more feet of run, and makes the Kerens section more useful.  The single track that used to dip into the Thomas Sub helix now fits snugly against the wall behind my computer monitor, and gives me an extra 3 feet from there to the main body of the layout.  I'll probably work in another industry, perhaps the small cement loader, maybe a scrap yard... probably both

My next project has to be to build and wire the junction where the staging line meets the figure 8.  It's a critical piece of geography that has to be in place in order to properly design and finish the overpass and place the brewery tracks.

I think I'll call this spot Leahigh, which was the little yard out on the Western Maryland just above Northern Parkway.  It was more or less a prototype staging yard, where trains would leave cuts that would go one way or the other at Emory Grove.

It's not the most scenically pleasing bit of the old railroad, but it's certainly adding substantially to the operability of the new one.

Lee

[sizemore]

This reminds me of Rascals joke in Memphis Belle:

So the question is when are you going have the full around the room layout in there?

Tim

[wm3798]

Closed the loop yesterday and ran a train for the first time in many many months.  Hasty track work means there's a few kinks to work out, but at least now I can run something to see where the glitches are.



This bridge carries the junction between the figure 8 and the branch that runs down the wall to staging.


Since the switch is literally poked through the book case, I wired up a signal to serve as a switch indicator.  It's there just past the bridge in the foreground.



For photography purposes, I can set it to red when needed.



Still plenty of work to do on the bridge, including leveling and plumb.  I added the girder plate beams.  I'm really liking the progress.
More to come.  But first, a bunch of work I've been procrastinating!

Lee

[JSL]

I really like the progress. Looks really good. Must be a bummer to not have as much space anymore and that great yard.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I really like the progress. Looks really good. Must be a bummer to not have as much space anymore and that great yard.

Yeah, but it found a good home.
http://conrail1285.com/moving-hagerstown-to-york-and-my-basement/

[Bob Bufkin]

Looks great Lee but where are all thke people?  Only one I saw was the guy who looked like he was taking a whiz in front of the 44 tonner.  Need more winos and crack heads.

[wm3798]

Started laying out some real estate.  In order to build up the block of buildings to achieve that vertical effect, I like to start with a nice stable base. 



I have a slice of nice 3/16 plywood leftover from our kitchen project (the back panel of a cabinet that we didn't use) which works out well.  I cut a paper template of the block, traced it on the plywood, and made with the jigsaw.  The wire leads popping up bring 9v in to run the interior and exterior lighting.  I'll be installing some sort of quick connect to make it possible to "unplug" the block without a lot of fuss.

The next step is to arrange the buildings and survey the lots



I'm leaving room for some alleys, which creates a lot back in the corner for which I'll need to bash together a building. 

I'll use 1/4" foam core and slices of 1/8 and 1/16" balsa to build up the foundations of the structures to street level or slightly above, leaving the front foundation walls available to attach the sidewalks.  Somewhere in the alley I'll hide a bolt of some sort that will allow me to lift the whole shebang up so I can work on it at the kitchen table on Craft Night.  (That's the night we work on crafts, while drinking craft beers... )

Once I've got everything leveled, I'll work on installing the interior and exterior lighting and other details to finish the block.

There will be somewhere around 6 or 8 blocks like this that I'll be building.  What was it they said about Rome?

Until next time!
Lee