The Cliffside Mine at night! (In-ko-pah RR)

When I built the Cliffside Mine, I used 16v “grain of rice” bulbs for interior and exterior lighting. But until now they haven’t been connected to a power supply. Recently I finally got the low voltage wiring installed for the upper level of the layout, so that I run power to the lights. Eventually I’ll be using a Malibu transformer/timer, but for now I just hooked it up to my old Buddy L power pack, set to a little less than half power. Last night I shot some time exposures, and I think they turned out pretty good… This is the Cliffside Mine, located high on Grandt Cliff: This is the scratch-built hoist inside the hoist house: Here’s a view looking towards the mine from the 15" gauge tram tracks: You can see these (and a few other shots) in a higher resolution on my website: http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/IRR_Night.html Enjoy!

Ray:

Once again you have delivered a masterpiece!

Beautiful work Ray. Also I purchased the river rock for my fireplace and will be following your article in GR to build it.

Rex

MAN, THOSE PICTURES SURE ARE ENLIGHTNING. GREAT WORK!!! I ALSO PLAN TO ATTEMPT A ROCK BRIDGE LIKE YOU PRESENTED IN YOUR ARTICLE. THANKS FOR THE INFO.

JOHN

Ray - Way cool. Night-time shots really bring it out, dark shadows, superb detail. GREAT STUFF. Hard to tell from the real thing. Even your day time shots hold that quality. Nice Job! You inspired me a few months ago and if you follow this link, you will see the monster you have helped to create! http://ironhorsereplicas.com/croaker_diggs.html - Thanks Charlie

Thanks! I went to your site, but can’t get anything other than the “Croaker Digs” main page and the trackplan. The other pages come up as a bunch of code.

I had the same problem when I went to Charlie’s site. I use Mozilla Firefox if that matters.

Bob in Kalamazoo

Very strange - Sounds like a FireFox compatability issue. Seems most folks can get on no problem. I’ll look into it. Thanks Guys - wish you could check it out. Charlie

I’m using Safari, version 2.0.4.

Oh, I fully intend to have a lot more lights, as I add more buildings and mines! BTW, here are a few daytime shots of the Cliffside Mine: As you can see here, the mine has both an inclined shaft, and a horizontal adit (tunnel). The shaft is located between the ore bin and the hoist house. The shaft goes down at a 45 degree angle, towards the hoist house. The adit is on a lower level and really only exists to provide enough room for the tram to push or pull a short train of ore cars during loading. (I still have to extend the chute from the ore bin, to reach the tram tracks.) Here’s a farther away shot so you can see where the mine is in relation to the railroad:

Ray, you should be very proud. Not everyone can capture realism as well as you.

When I installed the outhouse on the Cliffside Mine, it didn’t fit the way I wanted it, so I had to put it in facing towards the hoist house. This made it hard for visitors to see the interior. I also found that it blocked the view when photographing the mine from a key angle. So I finally did what I should have done in the first place. I got out the hammer and chisel and chipped away at the cliff to make a better place for the outhouse: I’ve also been working on finishing up the conduits and low voltage wiring on the lower level of the layout. And I’ve done some work to prep the area where the town of Dos Manos will be. I had to remove some of the rock at the foot of a cliff there, to make more room for the structures. Soon I’ll be putting in the foundations and a concrete “retaining wall” to divert runoff away from the (future) structures.