The Grand Valley's Northern Extension...

[doctorwayne]

...otherwise known as the ongoing saga of building a partial second level of my layout.

This extension has been part of the overall layout plan since the beginning, although most of what's already in place never had much of a formal plan anyway.
Here's the layout room, not to scale, showing the layout as it's been for some time. The area shown in grey will be the portion over which the second level will be built.



...and some views of the area about to be developed.
First, south end staging:



The uppermost level, five staging tracks, enters the elevated right-of-way in Dunnville, while the two tracks immediately below represent an industrial district, the tracks also entering Dunnville, but at a proportionately lower level. Here's an aerial view of Dunnville, with the double track at left from south staging, and the single track on the right from the industrial district:




The lowest track, nearest the aisle, represents an interchange with the TH&B (a prototype road from my hometown). This one enters the layout by crossing the aisle on the lift-out, and enters Erie Northshore (a subsidiary of the Grand Valley) in Port Maitland:



Construction of the upper level is pretty straightforward: 5/8"T&G plywood atop a framework of 1"x2" and 1"x4" pine, all assembled with screws. Support is provided by "L"-shaped brackets welded from 1" and 1 1/2" angle iron, lag-bolted to the wall studs.

The first area to be constructed was that for the six track north staging yard. It will eventually enter the layout via a second lift-out across the aisle. The framework was assembled in two parts, then lifted into place and screwed to the walls on all three sides, while the centre on the aisle side is supported by a post built around the steel post supporting the house above. The plywood was then cut to fit around the post and screwed in place:



As you can see, the TH&B staging is being doubletracked. I painted the deck of the upper staging yard black, similar to the lower one - this is considered "off-layout", and won't be sceniced.
Next to be built was the portion immediately across the aisle. With a 25" front-to-back depth, it overhangs the layout below by 4". The extra width is to accommodate a five stall roundhouse and turntable, the latter an absolute necessity on a point-to-point layout :



Here some of the framework is visible, and the plywood leaning against the layout in the previous photo is in place. Lighting is by lightweight fluorescent fixtures hung from the frame:





Naturally, the south staging area needed lights, too:



Next up for construction is the area over Lowbanks (to the right) and Elfrida (to the left). Chippawa Creek, at the end of the aisle, presents a couple of issues, and will be dealt with later.



Again, the framework was assembled in sections, then lifted into place and fastened to the wall, with the plywood top added later:



With the Lowbanks/Elfrida framework in place (but the plywood not yet installed) it was time to deal with Chippawa Creek. Because this area is almost 9' wide and 38" deep, I opted to make the left part of its framing as part of that over Elfrida, leaving the balance a more manageable 6'x38".

First, though, 'scuse me, while I fix this guy - with apologies to Jimi Hendrix.

The "sky" over Chippawa Creek was originally built with framing to support a pair of engineered joists, my idea at the time to provide support, in-turn, for the upper level of the layout. Not too much later, it occurred to me that it would be impossible to get 22' long joists into the basement, let alone into the layout room.



While it was easy enough to ignore the excess woodwork while operating the layout, every photo taken in the Chippawa Creek area required either severe cropping or very skilful composition:



I used a crowbar and a reciprocating saw to remove the worst of it, a fun job on a step-stool while trying to not fall onto the layout below. I'm sure glad of all the planning done when this was first built.
The wall here is stepped, with a second stud wall, partial height, installed on the inside face of the full-height studs, done to support those long forgotten engineered joists. I used some scrap half-inch plywood to build-up the thickness near the ends, then added a scrap of 1/8" Masonite at each side where the sky is coved around the corner of the room. This was fixed in place using PL300, then a finishing piece pf 1/8" Masonite was cemented to that to completed the extension of the cove. The ends were secured with countersunk drywall screws, as was a piece of 1/2" drywall to connect to the surrounding "sky". Everything was then taped and "mudded". The photos below show some of the prep work:







As is often the case once I get "into" a project, I didn't take many pictures during the balance of construction. :oops:

Here's the revised sky at Chippawa Creek/Elfrida:



Here, all of the lights have been installed and the Masonite fascia is being added:



South staging with lights and fascia in place:



Port Maitland:



Port Maitland/Lowbanks:



Lowbanks/Chippawa Creek:



...and an overall view, with Elfrida to the left:



Elfrida's elevation is 2" higher than Lowbanks, and since I kept the lower edge of the upper fascia at a constant level, it left a more limited viewing window. Still, operators will be seated to run trains on the lower level, and the things needed to be seen are easily visible, while the lights and support brackets are out of sight unless one's viewing with their eyes at layout level.
Here are a couple of shots taken at eye-level while seated - the camera's slightly wide angle lense picked up the bottom of the support brackets, but they're not visible when viewed in person:







Next up in the construction, the lift-out between the north staging yard and Mount Forest.

Wayne

[modelsof1900]

Doc,
great pictures of a great layout! And I'm sure that the extension will give fine scenes, industries and railroad implementations!
Wish you a good hand and many success. Let us see the progress!

Cheers!

[faraway]

Will be great fun to watch you extending your already large layout.

[Tyson Rayles]

[cn nutbar]

I was fortunate to have visited Doctor Wayne last week and saw the layout expansion in person---it is impressive

[sailormatlac]

Very impressive expansion... and a good opportunity to fully appreciate your layout!

Curious to see how things will develop!

Matt

[Charlie B]

Wow what a difference in two weeks. Looking "Grand".
Charlie

[e-paw]

Looks like the layout gnomes were hard at work.

[Ralph]

First, though, 'scuse me, while I fix this guy - with apologies to Jimi Hendrix.

Great progress! Say...I'm not sure if I missed something, but how are you reaching the second level? Do you have a helix or is a gradual grade reaching that level..or are they separate?

[doctorwayne]

Ralph, the grade starts here (track at the right) in South Cayuga (see the layout room diagram at the beginning of this thread):



...then crosses the high bridge in the background and continues towards the viewer in the photo below:



...then continues upwards and around the peninsula portion shown in the layout diagram (that's South Cayuga, seen below, in the distance at left):



and finally arriving more-or-less above the tunnel portal in Elfrida. The grade is mostly 2.5%, with a short section near the bottom at about 2.8%, and much of it is on curves - 34" radius, except near the top, where there's an "S" bend of 44" and 48" radii curves. Total length of the climb will be more than 45', or 3/4 of a mile in HO:



Wayne

[Ralph]

Cool! I like those sweeping curves!

[ezdays]

OMG!!!!! Lot's of work, but lot's of fun....... I assume that you don't plan on moving in the near future. What a great layout addition.

[sailormatlac]

Talk about an impressive and realistic way to reach level 2.

Matt

[doctorwayne]

Thanks for the kind words, guys. :oops:

The lift-out for the doorway is the same simple "technology" used on the lower level.

Solidly-mounted brackets:






...with a slab of 3/4" plywood forming the bridge:



Somehow, the north end staging yard ended-up about 3/8" higher than the rest of the upper level, so the lift-out was installed level, with a slight grade leading up to it on the layout-side of the aisle. I simply stacked some cork roadbed in place and when the glue had set, sanded it to a suitable grade:




With the bridge in place, the track is layed from one side, across the bridge, and onto the opposite side in one continuous piece (two lengths of flex track soldered together). First, the position of the cuts is determined (the track will cut back slightly from the edge of the layout, with any overhang on the ends of the lift-out section - when the lift-out is removed, there's no protruding rail hanging out into the aisleway to catch on clothing), then the ends of the rail on either side of the planned cuts are secured with track spikes. This is to fix the rails in position so that there'll be little variance when the bridge is installed or removed. Removal requires only a straight-up lift, while installation calls for one end to be aligned and partially engaged while the opposite end is lowered carefully into place. The lower lift-out has been used without incident or adjustment for years, dependent only on careful handling during removal or installation and, when not in use, storage out of harms way.

The rails were then cut using a razor saw, and all surfaces of the cut ends rounded slightly using a file - this minimises any sharp ends and resultant impacts as a train rolls across the gaps:





The lift-out section gets its power via a microphone plug and jack:



It has four conductors, and could, theoretically, be wired to provide a section of dead track on either side of the aisle if the lift-out is not in place. In reality, though, all of the staging tracks will have individual on/off switches (remember, this is DC operation), and if I wish to operate the staging yard as a switching layout, the lift-out will have to be in place to provide room for a switcher to move from one track to another.



And with both upper and lower lift-outs in place:




The next job will be installation of the staging yard tracks.


Wayne

[Twist]

Hi there,
Wow,that´s a nice and easy way for a liftout section...it looks very strong....Great work.....That´s something I have to think about for on of my liftouts in front of the window.....

Cheers,Chris