HOn3 Rio Grande Southern First District 1938-1945

[Chris333]

Typically brass steam locos pick-up power from one side of the loco and the other side of the tender. So only half of the wheels. You can double that.

My little Heisler was the same way only 4 wheels picked up. I added wipers to the other 4 wheels and now it runs like a new Atlas diesel. Same with a brass Forney I have. When you get to it I can find pics of the driver wipers. They are just a piece of PB wire soldered to a small chunk of PC board and screwed to the bottom plate.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

As strange as this sounds, I'd recommend getting the 2017 NTRAK Steam annual and reading about the magic that  @cbroughton67 worked on my dad's Key H8, and then see if you can do something similar.

The keepalive in that locomotive has made a night and day difference in it's ability to actually be used.

[Dave V]

As strange as this sounds, I'd recommend getting the 2017 NTRAK Steam annual and reading about the magic that  @cbroughton67 worked on my dad's Key H8, and then see if you can do something similar.

The keepalive in that locomotive has made a night and day difference in it's ability to actually be used.

I'll probably outsource this.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I'll probably outsource this.

Smart. Send them a copy of the book too 

[Dave V]

At the risk of angering the faithful...  I'm proud of the around-the-walls plan I drew up for the RGS, but I'm back to thinking variations on a San Juan Central theme.  Why?



So now that I have a retirement date, I can't 100% guarantee this is the forever house.

We'd like to stay here at least another 5 years until our youngest graduates high school, but after that we may be drawn northward toward Boulder and Ft Collins.

Because of this possibility, I'm not sure I want to build a layout that only exactly fits the basement alcove in this house.

Were I to do the SJC I would change the 15" radius/5% grade part.  But, something that still fits in nothing bigger than say an 11 x 11 space just in case.

Maybe...  Jury's still out.

EDIT...  That I have stockpiled #6 turnouts and the SJC uses #4 might make this very hard to do.

[DKS]

At the risk of angering the faithful...  I'm proud of the around-the-walls plan I drew up for the RGS, but I'm back to thinking variations on a San Juan Central theme. 

No anger here. Yeah, the SJC is uber-model-railroady, but so what? Anyone who objects can go pound salt, IMO.

As for the turnout size, I only see a couple of places that might be tough, but even then I'd place bets it can be made to work. Be happy to fire up AnyRail and find out.

[Philip H]

I know a lot of folks here bash Furlow, but his work in MR in the 1980’s taught me a lot about visual composition - which is a tough subject for someone like me who processes the world in words. As @David K. Smith points out his stuff is on the not prototypical end of the spectrum - but you made Penney believable on an HCD so I have no doubt you can pull this off.

[wcfn100]

 

But if you think that's what you want, then go for it.  Does the prospect of this type of layout really excite you? 

Jason

[nuno81291]

I think you could make either a walk in or pit style layout a bit more faithful to your setting that works in an 11x11. If you can plan where key benchwork sections are I don’t see why LDEs couldn’t span one or two and have joints fully sceniced that you touch up once you move (in the unsure distant future..) Could you live with a more compressed version? How about around the walls with a hinge or lift out? Discussed this in the past but I have a very bad back as well and the hinged section let me escape a folded dogbone which is huge real estate in HO.

[Dave V]

Like I said, jury’s still out.

It’s hard to articulate what I see in the SJC plan in terms of how I would do it when—as executed—it’s a visual assault on the senses.  Buried under the cartoonish structures and bizzare vegetation are track arrangements that really do line up nicely with real scenes on the RGS. 

What I would loose if I went this way is a lot of the single-track-in-the-wilderness look I love.  Then again, bringing photo backdrop dividers into the game might help make up for it.

Im open to suggestions.  My only must-haves are Rico and Ophir.  Rico is very linear and can be done in a variety of ways.  Ophir, OTOH, is rigidly inflexible and must be executed on a curve with a big trestle to the left of the depot when looking into the inside of the curve.  If there’s a grade it must go left to right so the big trestle is downgrade.  Ironically the SJC has the perfect place for Ophir where the “abandoned logging line” is.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Build modules?

[Dave V]

Build modules?

That’s certainly a contender.

Ophir’s a pain in the a$$ to do as modules though.

Or do I sell off all my Ophir stuff and do Rico to Dolores?  Very easy scenery to do plus very linear.  No trestles and little traffic.  Even the Goose didn’t run between Rico and Dolores in later years.

Nah...  That’d be boring.

But modules, yes...  I can always simply do Ophir in a turnback loop.

[Dave V]

I think you could make either a walk in or pit style layout a bit more faithful to your setting that works in an 11x11. If you can plan where key benchwork sections are I don’t see why LDEs couldn’t span one or two and have joints fully sceniced that you touch up once you move (in the unsure distant future..) Could you live with a more compressed version? How about around the walls with a hinge or lift out? Discussed this in the past but I have a very bad back as well and the hinged section let me escape a folded dogbone which is huge real estate in HO.

Lots of good ideas here.  An 11 x 11 or 11 x 12 pit could still work and could still be portable.  I like it.  And maybe make the pit out of modules.

[nuno81291]

I looked back and really liked the colorized version that was pit style, your dimensions there were not too far off to shrink a bit. Looks like a lot of fun to build and going modular could guarantee you fit your major LDEs and the running space between can be discarded or rebuilt etc to expand or contract with a move. I thought your plan was brilliant there and not too dissimilar from my own layout which is a blast to operate from the pit and I would add a peninsula to my own plan if I had the real estate. I think adding Matterhorn and lizard head with the backdrop down the center would do wonders to make this layout seem twice as large as the footprint it occupies. View blocks and such can do wonders for forcing one to view independent scenes and vignettes and contribute to a sense of distance between locations. Personally I would try to make Rico one large module but splitting it down the middle wouldn’t be the worst challenge to face, go over your seam with drywall tape, have at the scenery and when you move just cut clean relocate and repair and you are back up and running. Modules will future proof your work and I think help with the idea that not all is lost if you move, maybe just the spacer modules or a modest investment of time

Please excuse the random lines at lizard head and Matterhorn, my hand wanders

[Dave V]

I really like that!  We may have a wiener!

Hey @David K. Smith , got a minute?   

Okay, about to switch to Airplane Mode.  On my way to a conference.  See you on the other side!