Herc Driver's New Layout Under Construction

[Herc Driver]

I guess I haven't posted any pictures of what I've been up to lately. My previous layout was built on a smooth door, but due an to upper level management decision, that layout was abandoned and a new one started on the top of shelving units. The layout's base is 1.5 inch foam board on .5 inch plywood, and all resting on the shelving unit tops, and split into roughly two equal 8 foot sections for an overall length of almost 16 feet and only 16 inches wide. The basic design is a simple dogbone layout where the plywood expands to 22.5 inches to accommodate the 11 inch radius curves at the ends of the layout, and supported by wall mounted decorator shelving unit braces. Code 80 flex track was used to minimize joints, and all turnouts are Peco Insul-Frog and manually thrown. There can be no drilling into the shelving unit tops, so all the wiring had to be hid within the foam board. I cut trenches into the foam to place the wiring, and ran 18 gauge wire to the Digitrax Zephyr unit.

There's a yard in the center that has tracks that move freight cars to the eastern town's industries and allow for passenger service to the western town (that's not done yet). There's passing tracks parallel to the mainline located at the north and south middle sections of the layout. There's a fueling station at the northern end of the yard area that will service diesels on both tracks it rests between. An engine service building is also just east of the yard. The tracks the Amtrak is on connects to the western mainline loop. The buildings generally follow the design and function of those between my two key cities of Salsbury and Pineville, NC. The yard was inspired by what I saw when visiting the Norfolk Southern Charlotte Yard just north of the city.

We're set up for continuous 4-train operation, with switching and spur service to the various industries/plants around the layout. A train leaves the yard and travels in either direction around the layout, taking an inside passing siding as needed to allow the faster Amtrak service to pass and make a stop at either the western station or eastern station as necessary. Smaller local freights are built up from the yard and have access to either the eastern town from the spur from the yard, or around part of the mainline and off the passing siding as a backing operation into the western industry area. My only problem is there's no way to get vehicles from one end of the layout to the other. I might try several Rix overpasses strung together located above the yard area and parallel to the mainlines (which somewhat resembles the traffic conditions in and around the yard in Charlotte). But it's not that important to me that all the roadways connect from one end of the layout to the other.

Well...here it is. I'd appreciate all the critiques and ideas you might have. I know there's a tremendous amount of scenery to add, roadways to build, buildings to paint etc. Since the track is down but not affixed, I can still move things around a bit. I know these aren't the best pictures possible, but with 16 narrow feet to capture, it poses a slight camera angle problem.

[nachoman]

Don't worry about the roads connecting. Treat it as two towns, or pretend that the connecting road is off the layout.

[LiveSteamer]

Looking Good.

[upnick]

Hi HercDriver,

Thats a lot of railroad in a narrow space one of the advantages of running N scale though :mrgreen: keep the pics coming i know what you mean about getting a pic with such a long layout.

[Sarge]

Nice job

[Ralph]

Neatly done Herc!
Ralph

[eightyeightfan1]

I see you have the same problem I do. Slanted roof, no room for a backdrop.
I was at odds as to what to do(Unlike yours, I have exposed beams). Solution: leave it be. I'll just photochop a background when posting pics.

Sweet looking just the same.

[Trucklover]

SWEET Herc!! Thats a nice little layout you got started there, looking good

[Herc Driver]

Thanks guys...I know it looks rough now...there's so much work to do on the scenery. Just figuring out where to hide the wiring was a challenge. With the ceiling (that will not be painted any cloud color unfortunately) in the way, I don't have a lot of room to work with. The two sections are moveable, but to do it right, I'd have to cut the tracks at the plywood board divide. So far I don't have any wiring or electrical problems, so I'm hesitant to cut track apart. Plus, it's a bear getting that Nscale track straight!

But as you can see...I don't really have much to warrant taking pictures of...so when I get some buildings done and add some scenery, I'll start posting a shot here and there.

Thanks again for the comments - but please - feel free to make suggestions too. I'm always looking to improve!

[ocalicreek]

Herc - you make N Scale look very attractive to a long-time HO'er like me.

What's the big blue factory down at the end?

Galen

[Herc Driver]

That "big blue factory" is a spice rack spray painted blue. I used three cord-hiding angled plastic pieces (from Lowe's...approx $1.50 each) and two styrene tubes as smoke stacks. It is very unfinished...I need to add more styrene to the sides as a false front, windows, doors, add roof items, probably a crane I-beam sticking out too. I've roughly modeled it after a building I found when flying over Columbia, SC. On final approach to one of the runways, there's a very similar looking building to what I'm trying to do. I was glad the North Carolina Air National Guard provided me with the transportation that day to do some building reconnaissance from the air.

[Herc Driver]

Gee...I guess it has been a long time between posts on this thread. Well, here's the latest work as of a few days ago. As you will note, I made changes to the track plan, most noticeably, removing that long interior track that ran from one end of the loop to the other and just "dead ended" in the eastern (right) loop. Now there's a cut off the eastern mainline that runs behind the yard tracks and joins back up with the mainline just before the western loop. That track serves the smaller industries along its way. Most of the buildings have been moved around too as the "vision" of the layout morphed from the basic idea into a more complex one. There is obviously a ton of scenery still to add, all the buildings need weathered and detailed, and several tracks still need weathered too. The "blue spice rack" that I had once hoped to turn into a large industrial building has been replaced by the Walther's Superior Paper Mill kit, although, it isn't going to be a paper mill. There is one track serving it with access to the mainline by using the passing siding that runs along the top (north) edge of the layout. I'm still working on the road system all over the layout...with a lot of weathering and details to add to them as well. My latest project is adding power lines...just to give the city areas that "look" I want. My original idea on my previous layout was to use black thread, but after a few days, the dust collected on it and ruined the "look". Now on this layout, I'm trying 6-lb test, black fishing line. There's more elasticity to it, and it is much smoother and hopefully won't collect the dust like the thread did. The tough thing is stringing it up...always a challenge in Nscale. And, I need more cars and places to park them around the industry buildings. The roads on the western loop are not glued down yet as my parking problem is before the planning commission to be decided at the next meeting. All of the small scenery details (LPP's, street lights, stop lights, fences, etc) are still packed away until the road system is done and the building placement is finalized.

These pictures run from the western loop to the eastern loop. It must have been "Norfolk Southern Day" on the pike the day I took these shots as they are the main choice of available power in the yard. (Except for that UP Challenger "Excursion Train" sitting on the the northern-most mainline of course.)

And as always, comments/critiques/criticism is appreciated.

D'oh...those while smoke stacks are crooked. But don't worry, they're not glued in place yet.

[tetters]

That looks really nice Herc. I often wonder how much layout I could have fit into my 16 x 15 space if I had gone N scale. :? But that would be just cruel to start thinking that way right now.

I haven't thoroughly read through all your posts, and I apologize in advance for not doing so, but noticed your comment about being hesitant to cut the track due to power concerns. If the layout is meant to be portable then why not wire your power buss on each half to terminal blocks and then connect a two pin trailer plug to the terminal strips where the buss wires are hooked up. Do the same on the other half and viola instant connection, just like Free Mo Standards. That way when you are ready to move it you just unplug the trailer plugs. As long as you have already electrically isolated each half, making this mod should not affect your power distribution at all. You can then use rail joiners at the cut sections of rail to help with alignment if anything else. I've broken up my layout into roughly 8 ft "sections" as well and have made this same connection at each joint.

[Gary S]

Yep, that is alot of railroad in that space!

The layout of the town looks good, the roads and buildings. I'm looking forward to some pics of the weathering and details one you add them.

[scubadude]

I like the Main St scene....I'll have to steal that fair and square!