The Carolina Sandhills Lines in HO Scale

[davefoxx]

Everyone knows frog wires are supposed to be GREEN.

I'm red-green colorblind, so that probably wouldn't go over very well.   

DFF

[davefoxx]

Two brand new gondolas were delivered to the A&R tonight.  Sergent Engineering couplers have been installed and the cars are now in regular service:



This brings me up to twenty-two freight cars for the layout (excluding cabooses), so I'm approaching the number of cars needed for the layout.  I would like to add more home road cars (Seaboard System), though.

DFF

[Point353]

I would like to add more home road cars (Seaboard System), though.

Do you have either of these cars from Kadee?

[wm3798]

"Smooth Cushioned Load"... Hmm.  Isn't that what they call you around the courthouse?

[davefoxx]

Do you have either of these cars from Kadee?

I do.  This one. 



DFF

[davefoxx]

"Smooth Cushioned Load"... Hmm.  Isn't that what they call you around the courthouse?

@wm3798,

I prefer "Seasoned Competent Lawyer." 

DFF

[coosvalley]

I was just looking at the Kadee upcoming products last night, and a SAL and another black SCL car are coming from them sometime soon, FYI....I really like their 50' PS-1s, this N scaler is a bit jealous of you HOers...

[Ed Kapuscinski]

The only thing I'm not sure about is that branch up the middle. A natural embankment to make it work will eat up half the layout.

[davefoxx]

The only thing I'm not sure about is that branch up the middle. A natural embankment to make it work will eat up half the layout.

We had a similar conversation with the Seaboard Central 2.0 several years ago.  I think I can make it work.

DFF

[milw12]

Too bad with the photobucket bomb that we can't really go back with photographic context to those discussions. I can't be the only one who browsed through old threads on slow days- it's was always fun to revisit after a few years.

Enough of the past, the new one is looking good! What I like about layout threads the most is watching them grow, a little track here, a new piece of rolling stock there, etc. In truth, I'm a little jealous of the wiring, it seems no matter how hard I try I can never get my own work to be that neat, and it's one of the more enjoyable aspects of the hobby for me 

-Lucas

[conrail98]

Before the Photobucket thing happened, I actually printed out the SC2.0 thread into a PDF but some images, mostly from DKS, were not there,

Phil

[wm3798]

The only thing I'm not sure about is that branch up the middle. A natural embankment to make it work will eat up half the layout.

And since it's Humongously Oversized, that will take up half the room...

[davefoxx]

After much work tweaking the vertical transition, I have the beginning of the grade known as Bethesda Hill installed.  On the Seaboard Central 2.0, I was able to jigsaw cut the 2" foam from the same piece as the subroadbed for the entire layout, so the transition was gentle.  Here, the subroadbed of the grade is larger than a sheet of foam, plus I have the complication of three layout sections for portability making up the table.  All of these pieces make it difficult to form an even grade with a smooth transition to level track.

I spent a considerable amount of time using lightweight spackling to form the transition, sanding the spackling and foam, sanding the cork roadbed, and tweaking the track once installed to make it look good and operate well.  That effort was unexpected, but worth it.



DFF

[davefoxx]

Thinking about that turnout that will be directly ahead of the A&R train on the grade in the picture in my last post, I am going to consider one powered turnout.  I think I could figure out how to rig a Bullfrog turnout control in there, but the turnout is also in the middle of the layout.  I would have to lengthen and bend the control rod through some crazy angles to get under the table.  Since there'll only be one powered turnout on the layout, I will probably DCC it with a stationary decoder.  Then, I can control it from my throttle and not have to worry about some sort of control panel or push buttons on the fascia.  I also won't have to worry about remembering the decoder address for that turnout since its the only one on the layout!

DFF

[davefoxx]

I've got the worst of the A&R's grade installed.  It took a lot of finessing of the foam pieces, cork roadbed, and track to get an even grade with smooth transitions to level track at the bottom of the hill and at the siding midway up the hill.





Unfortunately, that turnout to the siding on the hill has an electrical problem, so the siding is dead until I drop some more feeders.  That project has to wait, because I'm out of wire and connectors.  My order through MBK shipped today, though.  Hopefully, I'll have this section of the layout wired up by this weekend.  If all goes well, I'll be in the homestretch on wiring the layout soon.  The bus wires have been completely run, including the plugs between layout sections, so it's really a matter of just dropping feeders to track sections and wiring up the rest of the frogs.

DFF