The Mockingbird Industrial in Z

[nscaler711]

A buddy of mine that lived near where the TRE ran... but it is possible that they run 3-4 car consist now, compared to a few years ago when he lived down there.... oh well what do i know?
Fair enough, i figured it would be a quick way to introduce Z to him as since he has both TRE sets in N...

[Denver Road Doug]

And so, it begins...





Basically just got the foam cut out to the basic dimensions of the layout.   Two 3/4" pieces and one 1/2", which will be laminated together to create a sufficiently strong layout board.

[tom mann]

Looking good.  I agree that the Z items are expensive, but I'm sure it is all due to low volume.

[Chris333]

Now your cookin'. Let us know how that track works out.

[Catt]

Tom said ,

"Looking good.  I agree that the Z items are expensive, but I'm sure it is all due to low volume."

Catt says "The low volume is due to the expensive prices."   

[Denver Road Doug]

Missing a few turnouts, but got most of the track laid out and test fitted.

[Denver Road Doug]

Well, it's been over a year since this post was updated, and that's mostly for a good reason.  I simply haven't made much progress on the layout during that point.   My last post in August was right before yet another series of "life happens" events and it's been pretty roller coaster since then.  Lately, in a good way, but still EXTREMELY busy, relatively speaking.   Anyway, I could go on and on about hobby philosophy but I'll just jump to some key points...

1. I have made some progress.   I had about 80% of the track in place and was running trains.   That period sort of put some things in motion, even though it was fairly short-lived.   In a fit of great excitement I began the process of wiring feeders and that's when progress once again ground to a halt. (this is common, as this is one of my "mental block" items that has historically derailed my model railroading plans)    Bottom line is I was really enjoying running the Z stuff and wanted to take the bull by the horns and force a layout forward...which failed big time.   But, I will eventually get back to it.   I *have* done some rolling stock projects in Z, most of which are still at various stages of completion but that has been fun as well.
2. I have made the decision to move 100% to Z-Scale.   This is somewhat a move toward (or to avoid?) completely ceasing being active in the hobby altogether, but I plan to finish my Z layout as it stands and see where I'm at.  Either way, the move to Z makes a lot of sense given what I want to do layout-wise eventually.    Operations with me has always been about mainline trains getting past one another and switching in Z is sufficient to achieve any local switching I would be doing.   I considered keeping a small subset of N-scale, but ultimately I don't have the budget to field multiple scales in the manner I would like, and I am having more fun in Z than I was in N.   I will likely keep my 3 or 4 favorite N locos and a couple of N rolling stock projects that I want to try and finish.
3. I have self-imposed zero hobby budget for the next 8-10 years (new home, new bride, kids in college, other priorities, etc, etc) other than what I get from N sales.   This is refreshing in a way, and also should not be a major hindrance, as I have a lot of N-scale.  (sold about half at this time)   It will force me to focus on modeling and the layout.
4. Outside of Z, I hope to eventually work my way back into some ops sessions at some of the local layouts in the area.  That was enjoyable, and with the pressure to build that killer huge layout gone, I think I can enjoy it even more and maybe actually get decent at it.

So, enough of all that...here is a staged pic I took showing some progress....track, bridge, backdrop in place, etc.   

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Also, I started a Facebook page that is some modeling stuff but also has a good bit of information about the modeled line as well.  I'll still update here some as well, but please feel free to check it out and Like it if you want.
https://www.facebook.com/mockind

PS... you'll note that I changed the Title from the Trinity Rail Link to the Mockingbird Industrial.   Just thought that name fit better.   I'll try to comment more on that later.

[coldriver]

Good to see you're still making progress Doug.  Should we put you back on the op session invite list?!

[Denver Road Doug]

Good to see you're still making progress Doug.  Should we put you back on the op session invite list?!

Dean, thanks.   Not yet...probably spring.  But it's nice to know I'm eligible for rehire.   

[SSW7771]

Doug, how is this layout coming along?

[Denver Road Doug]

Doug, how is this layout coming along?

Marshall, thanks for the inquiry.   Very little progress on the actual layout, but a lot of progress in putting the pieces in place I need going forward, including:
-Now the layout itself is in my house, (garage actually) which has virtually never been the case.   Makes it much easier for those 5-10 minute bursts of progress for sure.  (to clarify, the layout has been stored either at my dad's house or in a storage facility almost since I started it.  Only work happened when I was staying with my dad for brief periods.)
-Mentioned garage...intention is not to operate it there but that is where it is being stored.   I have a mattress cover to protect it dust-wise when it is out there.   Trying to plan for the "deep dive" summer heat...might take it to my office during those periods or at least store it in the house during the heat of the day or something.
-I also now have about 70% of my tools and supplies at the house and that increases by about 10% every time I visit my dad so another key piece just about completed.
-I have procured a "workbench" of sorts...a big, heavy, and most importantly *enclosed* computer hutch that has bifold doors so that I can somewhat "dustproof" my workspace in the garage.  I've had this for about two weeks now.
-I just placed all rolling stock in underbed storage bins so they are at least under controlled climate conditions.   Doing a lot of reorg throughout the house in fact, to facilitate more space in the garage.
-Other home projects too....about to run Cat6 throughout the house, installing Surveillance cams, building out a home office space, etc.

And as you may have noticed...I'm continuing my N selloff...probably around 80% done now.   This has probably hindered layout progress more than anything...first, it's a lot of time and a lot of work!   And, up until a pretty massive selloff at the Plano show in January I have had a massive pile of tubs consuming garage workspace and making it impossible to get any of the above done.   Now, things are whittling down to a manageable pile.

The above is less "list of excuses" and more just a general view of what I've been up to.   Combined with the whirlwind of getting married, buying a house, and the associated craziness of all that.   So hopefully I will have a genuine chance to actually work on the layout going forward.

And hey, at least now I have TRE RDC's!!!!

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[SSW7771]

Little progress is better that no progress. Congrats on tying the knot and getting a house!

[Denver Road Doug]

Just a heads-up.  I'm no longer going to be updating this post.   If you happen to come across this via search and you are interested in the progress of this layout, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/mockind .   Thanks.

[Rivet Miscounter]

Well, in the never say never department...

Just over four years later, (and one forum departure and return with a different handle, later) no major progress was made on this layout...until yesterday.

Well, that's not entirely true.  To backtrack a little...at some point I decided to try to revive this project by taking the upper portions of the "yard side" trackage and began soldering feeders.   For roadbed track this isn't as simple as it is for flex, and I had to tediously grind off plastic at strategic locations to make a spot to solder to.   With somewhere around 50 pieces of track, this took awhile considering I likely spent an hour a month on it.  Then I liquid electrical taped all the solder joints and glued the feeder wires to the track near the joint for strain relief...trying to make it as bulletproof as possible.   So among other things (including almost getting out of the hobby entirely, my dad passing away, having to sell off a significant portion of my Z to pay for his funeral expenses, and oh yeah a global pandemic during which I've worked 60-70 hour weeks on average) there *has* been forward progress, just not much.

So the work yesterday amounted to punching holes in the foam for the feeders, and trenching out under the Rokuhan track to allow the feeders to follow the path to those holes.  Then feeding the drops and turnout control wires through and situating the tracks.   I also laid out most of the rest of the trackage just to see how it looks and figure out what I'm missing. (NOTE: the following two pics are "overheads" where I've removed the backdrop/view block.  I'll post a couple more conventional pics in the next reply.)

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A side project was painting the Rokuhan bridge.  I had painted it a bright orange rust color some time back, with the intention of going back with a darker rust and ultimately silver with only partial rust spots. (aka the Tom Mann Salt Method)  So I salted it/painted it and I think it turned out pretty good.  I obviously haven't done the silver, as I like the result so much I'm considering leaving it as-is.   At least for now it's going to stay that way, not unlike many of the bridges in the area.

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So, current status...   
1. Track is just sort of sitting there, and not all of the feeders "sat down" like I'd wanted so there's still some work to do sort of cleaning up the feeders and getting the track to lie correctly.
2. The rest of the track is *really* just sitting there.   I plan to tack down the double-track around the "River Side" so that I can run trains for now.
3. Next steps after that will be starting the feeders for the industrial branch in the center of the layout and the two industry tracks on the river side.
4. Then I will start feeders for the doubletrack on the river side.   This includes replacing the bridge track with Peco flex. (the through truss bridge shown has approaches...all of the wooden ties in that area will be Peco flex.)
5. As time allows I will be painting the outside parts of the layout and strategic ground areas for now, just to eliminate the unpleasantness of the blue/pink "baby-reveal gone bad" look.

So, short term goals are the above items, and JRFTM.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Progress is progress. Glad to see you back at it!

Can't wait to see more.