It is hard to believe that only 10 days ago, this was just track laid on painted plywood. Major landscaping in Hardspot is now complete (ready for detail work). Next step is to start building the mountain to connect Hardspot with Arock. Except for the mountain; all track is laid and ready for landscaping.
Three pictures of the new 0-6-0 heading out of Hardspot in the morning sunrise.
Short (70 seconds) video of the 0-6-0 heading out into the morning sunrise,
The base benchwork for the mountain climbing loop is now in and operational. There is a continuous run loop (30’) around the mountains. The loop is fully functional and “apparently” working OK (no known problems with several hours of running trains). A plywood “double tunnel portal” and a hydrocal portal show approximate boundaries of the back mountain. Along the right side of the photo; you can see the track ramp for the first (of three) mountain track climbing loops. About six feet of the loop has track and seems to work OK ( I was concerned with the interface to Hardspot).
The first (of three) climbing loops is now operational. 8" rise in 33’ of track is just sightly over 2% and my three small engines work great with the expected car loads. Shown in the picture is the 2-6-2 with four boxcars and caboose (expected freight load for the route). Two more loops and Arock will no longer be isolated from Hardspot !
Does the lack of comments indicate lack of interest?
I am impressed at how quickly you are working. It took me 2 years from track laying to scenery. Of course I took some time off but on the new portion of my layout it took a week to lay the plwood on the benchwork. You did 6’ of scenery in 2 days. I was looking at your plywood. How thick is that, 3/4" ?
Yes the plywood is 3/4" - fewer supports needed for thick plywood.
Part of my “speed” is the fact that I am retired and do not have to spend time making money to spend on the railroad[:)]
I figure about an hour per square foot for basic scenery. This assumes painted plywood base and painted blue backdrop (I use the back side of vinyl flooring for the backdrop). This is just basic scenery; not fully detailed. I have one long day in the mountain base (with track) and one long day in the first climbing loop (with track). I will get to slack off as soon as the next two loops are in; and the towns connected.
Just looking at your work,looks great,But how high are you going?If you don’t mind a little hent for you:where your track comes togethor you can fill the gaps with your discarded ties by sanding them a little and then slide them under the rails.Looking at the rest of your plan it looks like you are going to have an long main line!It will real good when you get all your feeder wires down through the base and hidden.Love the sound of you engine,can you imagine what it will sound like up your grade??
An’t it great being re-tired?an able to work on your rail road?
now this would look good on your grades!any how great work and I will follow your progress!
There will be three climbing loops (mountain scene). The second loop is now in and is being debugged. In the attached picture; you can see the shelf level (at the upper left) for the second town (Arock). I now have another 7 1/4" of rise to install (on the third loop) and the two major towns will actually be connected and “real” operations can begin.
I do insert ties at the junctions of track sections; I just wait until I am doing the scenic work to actually do it.
The main line between towns is about 100’ of track. Plus there is a 33’ continuous run loop at the lowest level.
The little 0-6-0 does chug a little on the grade (but the 2 % grade allows stopping and starting at any point); so it is not too severe.
The following picture was at 11 pm last night; after the first series of test runs up the second loop.
I think that I have the layout of the final climbing loop figured out; I would appreciate any comments on potential “problems” as it is shown. Arock is behind the camera (as is Hardspot). The upper left of the following picture is the entrance to Arock (upper level town). Branching off of the entrance to Arock is a turnout to Between (silver mine serviced from Arock). As per the two lower loops; grades are 2 %.
The following is a representation of Between. Between is level and at the same level as Arock. The red rectangle is the mine tipple and the blue lines represent track. All of this is easily reachable from the front of the layout. The piece of wood behind the blue track work lines represents the start of the mountain slope going upward. All of the face of the mountain is easily reachable from the layout front side.
The Hardspot to Arock route is now complete and operational !
Last night, I got the third climbing loop completed and actually ran two trains on the round trip from Hardspot to Arock. This was a short passenger and short freight and involved turning engines, cabooses and some misc cars on the turntables at each end. It works ! some very minor "rough track connections to be worked on; but otherwise everything is great.
First passenger (or any type, for that matter) train arrives in Arock from Hardspot:
First freight on the way up to Arock:
First pair of trains to make the loop from Hardspot to Arock and back to Hardspot (sitting at the Hardspot station):
I will start a new thread on building Between and further work on the BAH R.R… Thanks for the comments so far.
I’m agog at how fast you are moving! And such excellent benchwork, too. Wow! I loved the video as well. I wish more people would post their work as they progress because I’ve certainly enjoyed this thread. [tup]
Please post more pics and videos. And when you run out of things to do, you can come coach me on how to stop procrastinating! [:D]
I just started a new thread showing the “complete” BAH R.R. as it exists today. It is loaaded with photos; in case you have a slow dial-up connection. :
