"End of the Line" at Cimarron, NM - a HOn3 Shelf Switcher

[Sir Madog]

Some weeks ago, I unearthed a treasure which was buried in a box for over 35 years. It is a WMC brass T-12 4-6-0 of the D&RGW, which I had bought, painted and lettered, out back in its box - and completely forgot about! Incredible.



Now I am planning to give this treasure a place to go to work to - and this is, what I have come up with:



To get an impression on what the layout will look like, I prepared a 2-D view of it:



The above drawing is slightly larger in scale!

Although I think it´s pretty neat, I´d welcome any comment on it!

Cheers,

Ulrich

[SP1]

Hi,
I am not familiar with the protoype situation, so I won't comment your track plan. But... that loco is lovely and your graphics are most lovely!
I have a brass EMD switcher that I have no use for. Perhaps I should put in into a unlettered box and bring it down to the cellar.

[Sir Madog]

I still don´t understand how I could forget having such a treasure. I still remember ordering it in the US - at the horrendous price of $ 120 plus shipping, duty and VAT. It was close to 500 Deutschmarks, when it finally arrived - a lot of money, which could buy you 3 Marklin locos in those days! A few things must have gotten in the way - like finishing my studies, starting a career, later a family, building a home, moving around the world. The red box the loco came in was in a big box with a lot of other stuff piled atop of it. I hadn´t touched the box for those 35 years, when SWMBO urged me to find something she was looking for.

Although there was a D&RGW narrow gauge line to Cimarron, I doubt that my plan is anywhere near the prototype. But the heck, it looks nice and has a certain "Western" flavor to it which I am aiming at capturing.

Space is at a premium for me, so there is not much more room I could possible dedicate to the layout - I could possibly expanded it a little to the right, but that depends on the outcome of my negotiations with SWMBO on a real estate deal.

Cheers,

Ulrich

[tetters]

It's kinda like finding 20 bucks in your jeans after you've washed them...only better!

Looks like the layout will be a lot of fun to build and scenik. I'll be keeping a close watch on this one.

[P5se Camelback]

What a great "Find!" And after 35 years! It seems that stuff that's been "in hiding" for that long has had its time in the shadows and is finding ways to come out in the light! My own EOY Challenge project subject is a kit that's been in a box for around the same amount of time! Although nowhere near as cool a "find" as a brass locomotive, rediscovering my '60's vintage George D. Stock deicast Zamac kit of a Scale Test Car got me off my skinny old bottom and building/finishing/fabricating details for a model for a Big Blue Challenge!

I like what you've developed as your track plan ... it seems to have some interesting operating possibilities, as well as expansion in the direction of what is now indicated to be staging, but could very easily be tracks leading to the next tow down the line..

I am also interested in identifying the graphics program that you used in planning you layout. What is that program called? It presents a nice clean, readable graphic representation of the track plan and associated buildings.

So what is that graphics program?

[Sir Madog]

I used WinRail 8.0 to draw both the track plan and the 2-D view, and enhanced them using MS Paint (for the clouds, trees ans shrubs). WinRail 8.0 is the same program as the Atlas freebie RTS 8.0, but has a number of different track libraries, whereas RTS is limited to Atlas track.

I have to admit it takes a good knowledge of the program´s features and a lot of patience to draw a picture like the one presented. A building usually consists of up to 100 different shapes and lines, all grouped accordingly. For me preparing those drawings has turned into a hobby within the hobby - it´s a lot of fun!

Just to give you and idea, here is a pic of that little loco:

[P5se Camelback]

Nice!

[Russ Bellinis]

Your track plan reminds me of a railroad that used to be featured in Model Railroader years ago. I remember that the builder's last name was King, and that he passed away a few years ago, but I cant remember his first name. He modeled a town in the 1880's I think on his layout which consisted of bench work about 2x4 or 2x6 if I remember correctly. His staging was based on an old vinyl record turn table with a "bridge" fastened to it that would hold the entire train. The train would enter the modeled portion of the layout, be switched in the town and the engine turned on the turntable and then return to staging. To bring it back he would turn it on the staging turn table and bring it back on scene. His locomotive was an old time 4-4-0.

[P5se Camelback]

Russ ... now you will send me diving into old Model Railroader magazines (probably from the mid-seventies) looking for his first name. He also did some pioneering work in model railroad "close-up" photography, if I'm not mistaken. And there was often a little Jordan 1923 Model T roadster/pick-up near the front of the scene in his photos!

[MasonJar]

Ben King?

Andrew

[Brakie]

Ben King?

Andrew

Yes,That was Ben King and his railroad was called Timber City & Northwestern.

A master piece.

[MasonJar]

Your track plan reminds me of a railroad that used to be featured in Model Railroader years ago. I remember that the builder's last name was King, and that he passed away a few years ago, but I cant remember his first name. He modeled a town in the 1880's I think on his layout which consisted of bench work about 2x4 or 2x6 if I remember correctly. His staging was based on an old vinyl record turn table with a "bridge" fastened to it that would hold the entire train. The train would enter the modeled portion of the layout, be switched in the town and the engine turned on the turntable and then return to staging. To bring it back he would turn it on the staging turn table and bring it back on scene. His locomotive was an old time 4-4-0.

And there was often a little Jordan 1923 Model T roadster/pick-up near the front of the scene in his photos!

Ben King?

Yes,That was Ben King and his railroad was called Timber City & Northwestern.

That's the power of the internet for you...!

Now we have the name of the modeller, the magazine that he was published in and when, and the name of the layout (the era still needs a little work - although I'd lean to biL's suggestion that it was the 1920s, as Model T's weren't around in the 1880s). And I'd forgotten about the turntable-turntable...!

Andrew

[ocalicreek]

Great looking plan, Ulrich. How about adding a little value by making the end of the siding for the cookie co. a team track? Just add a road leading next to the track or maybe a little freestanding platform to load/unload goods. A simple addition that creates one more spot for a car to go.

Looking forward to construction!

Galen

[Sir Madog]

Great looking plan, Ulrich. How about adding a little value by making the end of the siding for the cookie co. a team track? Just add a road leading next to the track or maybe a little freestanding platform to load/unload goods. A simple addition that creates one more spot for a car to go.

Looking forward to construction!

Galen

Good point - I will pick this one up!

[Russ Bellinis]

I had forgotten the Model T. I seem to remember that the locomotive was an old time 4-4-0 with a balloon stack whcihn led me to think it was 1880's, but I may be mistaken about the locomotive as well!