Aly Foxx's N Scale Layout

[davefoxx]

Aly and I worked on her layout today.  I asked her to get out the buildings, so that she could determine where she wanted to place them.  Earlier, while we were in my train room, we found the North Carolina highway road bridge that I built for the expanded Seaboard Central 2.0.  I told her that it would mean a lot to me if we could use it, but I could never find a way to make it work.  Well, today, since the bridge can't be used on my HO layout, I decided to risk damage and cut the piers down, which gave us more options.  We found a way to use it over the creek, which will reroute the road across her layout through a much better alignment.  Win!

Anyhow, I asked Aly to lay out her buildings, so we could figure out how to start building the rest of the hills and dales.  We decided that the town needed to be raised, and I found a piece of 1" foam under my layout that we used that to raise the base inside the track loop.  Then, I began terraforming by cutting and trimming foam and going at the layout with a coat of lightweight spackling.

Here's what the layout looks like now, while we wait for the coat of spackling to dry:



Once the spackling sets up a little (I slapped it on pretty thick), I'll try to get a picture to show how the highway bridge will fit in.  Speaking of bridges, we realized that the single track plate girder bridge just does not give us enough room for a road, track, and creek.  So, we ordered a Kato truss bridge, which should work out better.  I still have plenty of Kato Unitrack pieces left over from DKS's box of parts that should allow us to fit the bridge in with no muss, no fuss, and, hopefully, no cuss ("Earmuffs!"  She's only six years old).

Oh, and Aly wants to repurpose Foam Depot as her Christmas Tree farmhouse.  Nice.

DFF

[davefoxx]

Here's where the highway bridge recycled from the expanded Seaboard Central 2.0 will eventually reside on Aly's layout.  It makes me very happy to find this bridge a home.



DFF

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I like it!

"This is an heirloom bridge".

[davefoxx]

Thanks, Ed!  It means a lot to me to use that bridge, especially on my daughter's layout, considering how many hours and hours and hours that I put into building that bridge out of dozens of tiny pieces of styrene.  I look forward to building another in HO for my layout, too. 

DFF

[davefoxx]

Aly and I received the new Kato truss bridge today, so I replaced the plate girder bridge.  This longer bridge will clear the river, the track, and a road.  I had to cut back the hills to fit the bridge, and, while I was at it, I installed a pair of Chooch abutments that I trimmed down to fit in place of the Kato piers.

This is a picture of my little girl beaming while we’re testing her train on the new bridge.



DFF

[peteski]

This is a picture of my little girl beaming while we’re testing her train on the new bridge.



DFF

Nice!  This reminds me just how much I miss being a kid!

Well, I still enjoy playing with all my "toys" (and beaming when a new toy arrives), but I also have to deal with the "grownup" day-to-day problems, which I didn't have as a kid.   

[nkalanaga]

She's a good urban planner, too.  Arranging the buildings around the outside of the area leaves room for vehicles to turn around.  I've seen folks try to put streets in a dead-end place like that, and it doesn't work well.  Some of those were in real towns...

[Philip H]

Where’s the picture of dad beaming because he’s done a fabulous job of connecting with said little girl?

[davefoxx]

Where’s the picture of dad beaming because he’s done a fabulous job of connecting with said little girl?

I am definitely beaming with pride and the time that my daughter wants to spend with me.  But, Daddy prefers to be on the other side of the camera.   

[Rich_S]

Dave, Enjoy these times while they last. My little girl will be 35 in 14 days and she now lives on the other side of the country 

[davefoxx]

Dave, Enjoy these times while they last. My little girl will be 35 in 14 days and she now lives on the other side of the country 

I am, Rich, I am!

By the way, guess what Aly wants for Christmas . . . the 2017 Kato N scale Operation North Pole Express.  She already has the 2015 ONP train, but she likes the 2017 colors, too.  Her layout is set up for two trains.  One can run while the other is in the siding.  With the spring switch operation of the Unitrack turnouts, she wouldn't even have to throw a switch when she would change from one train to another.  I'll double-check as Christmas approaches just to make sure that she doesn't find some other shiny object that would take preference, but she wrote her Christmas list to Santa this weekend. 

DFF

[jpec]

Dave, Enjoy these times while they last. My little girl will be 35 in 14 days and she now lives on the other side of the country 

Mine just turned 30 and when she was small she loved the trains...once she hit the double digits and socializing more that was it...

[chuck geiger]

Same here with my son who is 30. When he was five he would say "Daddy we need to put the number 5's on the F-7". 

[MK]

Do they ever return?     Mine, at age 3 can raill rolling stock faster than I can and would love the trains!  Alas, trains are not part of his interest now.

[jpec]

Do they ever return?     Mine, at age 3 can raill rolling stock faster than I can and would love the trains!  Alas, trains are not part of his interest now.

My youngest has been hooked since about the age of one. He used to set his wooden Thomas stuff out on a ledge point to point with a passing siding in the middle and a small yard at each end...