The Port Ogden & Northern: A new layout under construction

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
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Have been wanting to build a layout for the past 10 years, about the time since I had my last setup.

I have had plans to fini***he basement for about the last 7 years, since we moved into a new house, but never quite got around to it. Once again, this past November, I started planning a 12’ by 22’ room layout for the basement, once the basement got finished.

Who am I kidding? I’ll never get this basement finished. I don’t have the time or energy or ‘want’ to do drywall, and I am planning on moving in the next few years.

So, while skipping through Linn Westcott’s 101 Track Plans, I came across his ‘Port Ogden and Northern’ shelf-style layout, and knew immediately that this plan was just the ticket for me to get back into model railroading until the time and place comes that I can build a room layout.

My last layout was around the walls shelf style, done on 2’ x 4’ plywood sheets screwed to metal shelf holders, flat flat flat, Atlas snap track, Atlas remote switches, not an ounce of scenery. Lot’s more track, and wired with many blocks, etc, but really not too far from my old 4x8 layout I had when I was 10 years old…

The PO&N is very different: L-girder benchwork, elevation-galore, and with it comes the need to actually learn all the skills I have read in MR for the past 30 years.

For now, as part of the design, plan, and fitting of the parts, I am using my old box of Atlas track and conventional DC power to set up the basics.

Things are changing though. I have Tortoise switch machines waiting to replace the old Atlas ‘above the benchwork’ switches; the Atlas code 100 snap track will be replaced with code 83 flex track; I have an MRC Prodigy Advance DCC system sitting on the workbench with 2 decoder-equipped locos, one of which it was ‘solder-phobic’ me who installed the decoder into!

And, above all else, I have scenery to do. I used my first plaster cloth a few weeks ago. I have bridges that I had to build(

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Iquick that’s a very nice start.I am begining a similar pike. I just now finished the room that it will reside in it
s a shelf layout in a u-shaped affair 6ft along one short wall, 15ft along the long wall and another 9ft along the third wall. I really enjoy viewing layouts under construction and you have provided plenty of great photo’s nothing wrong with those pics. I am right behind you by a couple of weeks. I am getting back into the hobby after a 23yr absence. A lot has changed in that time and am glad to see a new layout without the foam. I didn’t think anyone built a new layout the old way.

Have Fun

Tim[:D]

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Well, there is a tad bit of foam, guess the photos don’t show it! Using it to build up under the bridges.

Am trying out all sort’s of ways to do things, this layout is kind of a dry-run before I get to build the bigger layout(sure, took me 10 years to get this one started!)

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Looks great, keep it up! I like the progression images from beginning to recent, the track plan is interesting too!

Thanks for sharing,

Ryan

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Iquick, what type of roadbed are you using? It looks like WS foam. If it is WS is it easier or better in some way than cork?

Tim

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I started building a version of that plan in N scale…back in 1976.

Darn I feel old.

Dave H.

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I’m using the WS foam roadbed on my layout. Better? Debatable. It’s at least AS GOOD as cork. Definitely softer, so probably a bit quieter. And it will NEVER dry out - although I have some REALLY old cork (probably 30+ years old) that is still soft and flexible, yet other cork that is < 5 years old that is dry and crumbly . Go figure. Easier? Quite a bit - especially since you can get it in 24’ long rolls. Cuts out a lot of seams. Otherwise it works exactly like cork except that you don’t have to split the pieces.

–Randy

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Randy, not to thread jack but how do you get to your website evertime I click on the readingeastpenn link it takes me to GoDaddy and I don’t see any live links to your site. At the top of the page there appears to be a link but when you put the cursor over it , it is not live. Just wondering what I am missing.

Tim[%-)]

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Should be fixed now - %^#@ worthless spam filter at work filtered out all my messages about domain expiration. I have now renewed it.

–Randy

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Yup, it is WS roadbed, thought I’d give it a try as it wasn’t around last time I built a layout.

Verdict: Same opinion as Randy, it is at least as good, and I am hoping to get a little sound insulation out of it versus cork. It is easier to work with as Randy also stated.

I’ll let you know if I ever get trains running! (stuck in the scenery phase, tough for a guy that likes to run trains!)

Ryan, the track plan is interesting, one of the reasons I took it on as I am very much into switching. It was also interesting to take a plan that was more than likely scaled for hand-laid, and get snap track to fit, as it is now. Once I replace the current code 100 with code 83, I’ll use flex, probably still keep using Atlas code 4 turn-outs though.

Finally, Dave, yes, I imagine a few have built this plan, it is just the right size with the amount of complexity that won’t overwhelm a person. And, as you, at the rate I am going, will be a few long years before I get it almost done!

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Great pix! What fun to see the progress you’re making. Please keep us posted (pictorially) as you go along. It certainly inspired me to greater things for my next layout. Of course, I’m only about 25% completed with the one I’m working on now. If I could only find a house with a spare bedroom that has NO closets and NO windows, I could build the around-the-wall I’ve always lusted after.
Keep up the good work.

Chuck