The Silver Flash Mining Co. Hon30 small layout

[Scott1984]

Hello,
I am new on the forum and have now reached 25 post's. So I thought I would put my small Hon30 layout in progress on here to see what you guys think. It is 28 in. x 53 in. As the title say it will be a mining layout. The layout is not prototypical due to space considerations and the fact that it has a lower level mine scene in it that has an oval track with a small locomotive on it. I know it is not very realistic but I thought it would be cool to have it in the layout and I had the extra track to do it. The top will also be very simple, with 3 turnouts and some mountain/hills for the mine operations. I will put the upper level track plan on here so you guys can check it out. I made it on Anyrail, I am by no means a layout designer of any sort. The curve radius will be 10 in. My hope is that it will be interesting and hopefully very scenic centered. So here is the track plan, I have been working on the lower mine scene for a bit now. I will post some photos of the work that has been done as soon as I can. Please feel free give advise on the plan any help is appreciated. Thanks!!

[Chris333]

By calling it Silver Flash. I assume your doing a western theme? I'm in Ohio in an area that had a bunch of small coal mines.

Wild West Models make a bunch of cool kits and min buildings.

[Scott1984]

I grew up in California and now live in Idaho, so I thought it sounded good. Also when I was in High school, I ran track and the other guys would call me white flash because I was a sprinter( sounds dumb now) Now I joke around with my wife and I call myself the silver flash! Mostly because I am old and have grey hair. I know, it sounds goofy but I thought the name would also fit the layout as well.

[Scottl]

This looks to be a fun layout.  I'm interested to see how you do the underground oval- always thought that would be neat to do.

My next layout will be an On30 mining layout.  Perfect for my weakening eyes.

[Scott1984]

Thanks Scott!! I hope it all works out. It looks good in my mind. The underground part is coming along. I am trying to get a few pics from my old school flip phone to put on here. I thought about On30 but the track was a little hard to find and I figured that the structures in HO would fit better in such a small space.

[Scott1984]

Here are some really bad pics from my flip phone!!

[Chris333]

Reminds me of Indiana Jones 

[Scott1984]

Unfortunately he did not show up for the photo shoot!! It all looks like something in my head. I think once this start to get enclosed it might actually look alright. Just got some ore carts today from All Scale Miniatures, they look pretty good for the price. I watch a lot of mine exploring vids on the youtube. I really trying to get a realistic mine look. We will see how it goes. Thanks!

[Scott1984]

I thought I would share how I made my mine tracks for the tunnels. They probably not super correct but I think when they are covered with some dirt and enclosed, you will never be able to tell. I made the ties out of strips of cereal box cut into small pieces to resemble ties. The rails are just floral wire that I straightened out and glued in place. I have painted them since this photo was taken, so they look a bit more realistic. I know you can buy mine tack from a few places but when you are on a really tight budget, I find that you can get creative. This will be a continuing theme as I go along on this. Stay tuned for more things made with nontraditional materials. Thanks!!

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/gallery/37/6986-120124181602.jpeg

[Scott1984]

A few pics of some stuff from today. I put in my home made ore shoots today for 2 of the mine tunnels. I received some ore carts from All Scale Miniatures. Not too much accomplished, it was 18 degrees outside and the layout is in the garage so I did not stay out too long. Thought I would post a little progress. Thanks

[Chris333]

Here is some mining footage for ya:

[Scott1984]

It is amazing the amount of hard work it took to the job of a miner. Specially in the early days, no special lighting or safety practices in place. The dust the noise. It is really mind blowing how hard that job was. I guess that is why it interests me so much. My Dad and Mom use to take me to places that had mining history so that might be where I got it from. I have always liked ghost towns as well. Hopefully what I am doing in the mine section will be a descent representation of a mine. I would like to find some scale mine drills, that would be cool. I have not seen any yet. Chris, what do thing of the track plan for the upper section? Do you think it looks ok? I know you can only do so much with limited space, just wanted to get you opinion. Thanks for the video. I could only watch a portion of it because my headphones are not working right. I will watch it my TV. Thanks!!

[Chris333]

A loop is always a loop and a bunch of my layouts are loops too. I tend to plan out a bunch of scenic stuff before building. And then change some of it while building. Just put interesting features around the layout to hide the loop 

[timwatson]

Welcome to the Hon30 club! Looks like you’ve got a great start. Looking forward to more.

[Scott1984]

A loop is always a loop and a bunch of my layouts are loops too. I tend to plan out a bunch of scenic stuff before building. And then change some of it while building. Just put interesting features around the layout to hide the loop 

That's what I was thinking. I am hoping the scenic part will be nice enough to distract from the loop. I like the scenic stuff anyway. I have always thought that was one of the best parts of any layout. Thanks again for the input. I had your Iron Mountain cars printed. I got the ones with couplers and some without.




I think they turned out pretty good. I am assuming I will need to be careful when installing the wheels. I have not received the wheels yet.