John Colombo's NKP Layout

[jdcolombo]

Very nice John!

Luv the yard!  Magnetic uncoupling?

What sort of car originate/depart system do you use?

No magnetic uncoupling.  All uncoupling is done with Rix-like tools made from 1/8" solid brass or copper rod.  No switching area is more than a foot from the edge of the layout, so manual uncoupling isn't a problem and I never had any luck on past layouts with magnets.

Car routing is done with a very simplified car-card/waybill system.  I'll post a photo of the front fascia board with the card boxes.

John C.

[Lemosteam]

Nice to see this John!  Love the Lorain station.

[jdcolombo]

Some technical stuff:

I use a Digitrax DCC system, which I'm currently converting to duplex radio after having used simplex for many years.  I also have a couple of old iPhone 4's that I run Wi-Throttle on, using JMRI running on an older Apple laptop.  All the steam locomotives have sound - mostly ESU LokSound, but a couple still have older Tsunami decoders.   About half the diesels have sound, but I've put a moratorium on any further diesel sound installs pending arrival of the much-rumored smaller sound decoder from ESU (rumors have not been confirmed, but ESU is close to releasing a tiny motor decoder, so I'm hopeful).

The track is Atlas Code 55, with #5 and #7 switches, plus a few handlaid switches I built using a #6 Fast Tracks jig and #4 paper templates.  The hand-built switches honestly work so much better than the Atlas ones that I wish I had hand-built all the switches.   The switches are controlled with Tortoise switch machines; the fascia board has a track diagram running the full length of the fasica, and DPDT switches with LED indicators are on this.  Photo (of the control layout for the EB yard and engine terminal):

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Ground cover is a mix of Woodland Scenics stuff; the background trees are lichen; the ballast is from Arizona Rock & Mineral (heartily recommended).  I use a lot of track lighting with R20 heads and 3500K LED bulbs.  Weathering on the buildings was done with pastel chalks.  Parking lots and roads are mostly .020 styrene painted with Polly Scale concrete.  The river at Rocky River is a painted masonite base with several coats of gloss medium.  The backdrop is 1/8" masonite, painted with flat interior latex.  Nothing fancy, just blue sky blended into white at the horizon.

Still a lot to do, but six years has brought a railroad that is about 80% scenicked and fun to operate.

John C.

[Chris333]

I've always liked the layout. Not knowing much about the NKP, did they have much in Cleveland. Or just passing through? I know they had the viaduct over the river, but have not heard about any railroad facilities. Did they run through CUT?

[jdcolombo]

I've always liked the layout. Not knowing much about the NKP, did they have much in Cleveland. Or just passing through? I know they had the viaduct over the river, but have not heard about any railroad facilities. Did they run through CUT?

Yep, the NKP ran through the CUT; they also had extensive facilities in Cleveland - mostly at east 75th street, where there was a yard and a modest engine servicing facility.  Way back when, I thought about trying to model some of Cleveland, including the food terminal, which would have been a great place for all the reefers I've accumulated over the years.  But doing it anywhere close to "right" would have required much more room and a bunch of scratch-built buildings (not to mention the viaduct).  So . . . Cleveland is now one of my staging yards! 

John C.

[seusscaboose]

did you just ask if the NKP had anything in Cleveland ??? 

only their HQ

i will readily admit though... I don't know squat about the Erie..  so all is foregiven

[unittrain]

Thanks for posting these photos I have seen your videos and was very impressed and wanted to see more of the layout.

[jdcolombo]

did you just ask if the NKP had anything in Cleveland ??? 

only their HQ

i will readily admit though... I don't know squat about the Erie..  so all is foregiven

Well, remember that the NKP, Pere Marquette, Erie and C&O were all part of the Van Sweringen railroad empire.  In fact, all four roads came within a hair's breadth of getting merged into a "greater Nickel Plate System" in the mid-1920's.  It was pretty much a done deal until the ICC found out about a secret stock trust agreement that the Vans had with respect to the Vanness Holding Company.  Another thing I once thought about was pretending that this in fact happened, and that the NKP in the 1950's ran over all four of these rr's lines, with all of the C&O's great steam power ending up in NKP paint.  NKP T-1's & Allegheny's!  I swear that if anyone produces a T-1 and/or Allegheny, I'll get a couple of each and turn them into NKP power 

John C.

[Chris333]

Well that is where the Erie was headquartered as well 

I guess there was something there:
http://www.railsandtrails.com/NKP/1931Cleveland/NKP1931Cleveland-100.jpg

Odd how they were all ran by the same people, but so different.

[Chris333]

Now I see their yard was right by the Erie's E55th street shops and the team track area paralleled the CUT entrance.

[basementcalling]

Impressive.

[mark.hinds]

Thanks for posting those images.  You have reassured me that even a scene with a lot of track can still be made to look realistic.  (I have one such scene in my layout). 

MH

[Specter3]

I cant believe no one has commented on the massive steel mill buildings. They look kinda normal until you really look at the rolling stock and go "wait a minute..." Those are big!

[Cajonpassfan]

Very nicely done John, after years of watching little snippets as a background for your sound projects, it's nice to see the whole railroad. Great concept, and great execution! Keep the pics (and sound projects) coming please.
Otto K.

[OldEastRR]

The mill structures are all HO versions; when the layout was built there were no N scale ones, which are smaller.