Building the CB&Q in Wyoming (in a house in SC)

Finally, IT’S BACK!

In 2010 I had to dismantle my large under-construction layout in New Jersey, due to a job move to South Carolina. [sigh] I thought I would be getting my new CB&Q in Wyoming started last May, shortly after we moved into our new house in Allendale, SC, but work we had to have done to the new digs delayed that for a few months, and we found out that the area designated for the new layout turned out to be unsuitable. But the location question has finally been resolved, and a new layout design is about 3/4 finished - enough to start basic benchwork.

The new layout will be smaller than the last in that only the Cody branch will be on the upper deck, and there will be no helix. About half of the locations on the plans for the original double-deck layout have been omitted. Leaving out certain things was a bit painful, but I just didn’t want to undertake something so big again. With the new plan, I may actually be able to “finish” the layout before I drop dead!

One rather ambitious goal is to begin limited operations in about two years.

Pho

Mark,

I’d say you still have quite a project on your hands. Looking forward to seeing things develop. If I was going to be in Wyoming, I’d prefer it to be on the CB&Q.

Here’s the track plan for new layout. Only the NP trackage, which is primarily staging with only Laurel, MT being “on stage,” has the track arrangement detailed out as yet. The rest of the plan is a general arrangement only for now.The grid is 1’ squares.

Note the broken pinkish lines. They delineate “do not violate” benchwork / aisleway extents. The entry door is at the top, between Shobon and Powder River. The tracks across will be on a multi-level swinging arrangement. The aisles are rather generous, with only a few places narrowing down to about 36 inches. The Laurel and Casper yards, both of which will see quite a bit of action as focal points for the trains, are on opposite sides of an aisle. To facilitate people moving around in that area, the aisle is a nominal six feet wide, tapering to 36 inches towards the end of the Laurel peninsula.

The Laurel peninsula will be the first area to be built, and in fact construction began in earnest yesterday. Hopefully I’ll be able to download some photos from my camera (it’s been problematic lately for some reason) and post them later today.

Construction has finally begun in earnest!

Here’s the room where the main part of the layout will be. As you can see, this is a pretty nicely finished room, which means I’ll have to be very careful to protect the floor from finish-damaging debris, glue drip and what-not:

I had a work session yesterday (Saturday the 23rd). Five of my model railroading friends from Charleston spent two hours on the road (each way!) to come out and help get the construction ball rolling.

By the end of this first session, we had the Laurel benchwork framing complete and risers installed. We also laid in the first two sheets of plywood at the far end (the wide end) of the peninsula, but I took these photos before we did that.

Progress is continuing - slowly.

Some of the Laurel plywood is down, and about twelve feet of roadbed is now in place:

The drywall square is sitting where the turntable and roundhouse will be. The roadbed is home-made. I grew the cork trees and shave off the bark yearly…(uh, not really). I cut my own from cork floor underlayment rolls I bought years ago. The strips are 4 feet long by 5/8 inches wide by 1/4 inch thick. They are laid side-by-side in a staggered fashion, just like commercial cork strips. The big difference is that by taking the extra three minutes to cut my own, my total cost per strip is somewhat under five cents. I also don’t have the sloped shoulders, but they will be added using sand or some other filler material when I ballast the track.

Here’s a closer look at the roadbed:

Great layout room Mark, it didn’t take long for you to find fellow MRR friends to help you, did you join a club when you arrived in SC or is this a round robin group ?

Thanks, Geared Steam!

It’s a combination of some club members and a round robin group. Several of us are members of the Charleston Area Model Railroad Club (in fact, Allen is the current president). But not everyone is. We all get together and run trains, but there’s no regular schedule. When someone is up to hosting an operating session (or a work session), they send out an e-mail and whoever can make it shows up. Once or twice a month on average someone has something going on. Very informal, and lots of fun!

My lord, it looks like you are going to fill a 60’ x 26’ space with that layout. Awesome !

Mark, I like the track plan a lot, and the sheer ambitiousness of the undertaking is incredible.

But, the thought that I come away with after reading your initial post is the comment about beginning limited operations in about two years. Will there be no running trains for two years? Or, are you talking about conducting operations two years from now?

Rich

Hey Mark

I should have checked your blog out before asking questions, [swg]

I will be watching for updates, (I will link to your blog) I assume you’re modeling the transition?

Hi Rich,

With any luck, I’ll have a train (or at least a loco) running (on about 10’ of track) in a week or so. The two years is for limited operation sessions.

The layout probably looks more ambitious than it really is (at least I hope it isn’t as ambitious as it appears!). As I develop the detailed track plans for the various locations, the intent is to model space and somewhat compressed industries, not just lots of compacted industries. While a bit of “caboose-leaving-one-town-and locomotive-in-another” is probably unavoidable, this layout will hopefully not be a spaghetti mill. Tell me how I’m doing in that regard, as time goes on.

Geared,

i’m modeling just before and slightly into the transition era - 1930 to about 1945. Doodlebugs about about the only non-steam that will appear regularly on the railroad. For my few diesels, I have the cflub to run on!

Excellent progress! I look forward to following this thread. Best of luck!

Regards, Don

An entirely different standard from what the LION is wont to build:

And the floor! The asphalt tiles on the floor are crumbling under foot.

Oh well, good luck with your railroad.

ROAR

Given the age of your Abbey LION, the tiles are probably Asbestos [:-^]

Dennis

that is a great looking layout room!

Work continues - tracklaying has commenced!

A couple weeks ago I started laying code 83 track on the NP mainline on the side of the peninsula opposite the Laurel yard. About 15 feet of track is down, including some superelevated track around the curve that will skirt the roundhouse. Here’s how things looked yesterday afternoon:

I hooked up track power via two alligator clips and ran a couple of locomotives back and forth - everything seemed smooth so far.

Here’s a closeup of the far loco on the superelevated curve. Note the inwards lean:

My next order of business is to build the first of the mainline turnouts that will go into Laurel yard. I’ll need one before I can progress much farther with tracklaying.

Were you able to salvage your giant helix? That was such a triumph of engineering that I would hate to think it ended up in a dumpster somewhere. Perhaps now, with so much space available, you don’t need to resort to a helix anymore.

Hi Mark,

It feels good to be running trains again doesn’t it.

Keep updating us with pics.

Looking good so far, Derek

Thanks for the encouragement, guys!

MisterBeasley,

I saved everything but the roadbed and subroadbed. Those went into the dumpster. The track, terminal strips and all that will be reused on the new layout, but I have no plans for a helix this time. Of course, plans change…

Well, it’s been eight months and a smidgeon since I updated this thread, so I thought it was time to fill everyone in on what I’ve been doing.

In early May I laid out the end of Laurel yard near the turnback curve, using a couple of #8 switch templates.

I had a work session in mid-June, and three of the guys from the first work crew were able to return to help out again. I guess that long drive from Charleston to Allendale didn’t put them off visiting again! From left to right are Jim, Jimmy and Phil. Jimmy and Phil worked on setting up additional benchwork for the base end of the Laurel peninsula…

…And Jim did a bunch of under-the-yard wiring set-up, including attaching a bunch of terminal strips from which track feeders will tie back in to the main Laurel buss wires. Here Jim is installing a shelf for my NCE DCC system.

Over several months I built all the switches for the “near end” (the turnback curve end) of Laural Yard, and laid those and most of the yard. I don’t have any photos of that work in progress. A couple weeks before Thanksgiving I had another work session, and Phil and Jim both came out. Others from earlier sessions were unable to make it because Thanksgiving was looming, and most folks were busy gearing up for the holidays. But Jim, Phil and I did get some benchwork built that will go on the wall behind Laurel, where the NP mainline will run to staging behind Casper Yard. You’ll see that in a photo below.

I took a we

Mark,

Things are coming along well. Good call on the extra two tracks in Laurel Yard. You’d just have to go back later and do it anyway. BTDT[:)]

Looks like adequate construction light, but I’m wondering something more may be needed to really show the layout once scenery, etc start coming along. What’s your take on that so far?