Remaking of the Ridley Keystone & Mountain

[tompm]

Post 1 – Prologue 

After quite a bit of thinking I have come to the conclusion it is time to remake the Ridley Keystone & Mountain layout. The unreliable trackwork, along the desire to add certain scenes is the driving force for this remaking. It will mean the destruction of about 80% of the current layout. This will be the third revision.

There was no plan when the current layout was begun. It was meant to house dioramas such as the Water Tower, Inland Cement Company, and the passenger station not for running. At the time I was more interested in taking photos than running trains. I never expected to be able to run them with any consistency. That changed when my son got involved. He and a friend got things running. Not long afterward I discovered videoing.

Then came to long time of no modeling. Things accumulated on the layout. The closet the rolling stock was stored in rusted at the bottom and collapsed. We had the water damage to the house and luckily no damage to the layout. It had to covered during the repairs.

A couple years later retirement comes and I again at the urging and prodding of the kids get involved in modeling. First, I have to reorganize and store the rolling stock. I get some storage bins and sort the cars. I also begin working on weathering and building more cars. I acquire some new locos at this time.

Again, I think I will never get the trains running again. Once more my son comes to rescue one night and gets things rolling. Him and I discuss the current layout, and both agree something needs to be done. After several conversations we decide the best course of action is pretty much starting over.

What I am hoping to accomplish is something that incorporates some of the dioramas from the current layout. Both my son and I want some type of urban scene. I would also like to add something representing South Jersey for the PRSL equipment. I want to make sure the anthracite region is represented.

From our brainstorming we have think a simple oval type design will work. There will be some double track sections. Of course, industrial sidings will be part of it. We will use backdrops to section off the scenes. There is room to lengthen the layout by at least other eight to ten feet so that will happen. We want either 22 inch or 24 inch curves on the “mainline.”

To get things started as you can see in the following photos the current chaos has to be cleared off. I will need to store the locomotives either in the boxes they came in or something else. Any with added detail parts will most likely need new storage boxes. The Proto 2000 and Stewart locomotives come with shell and body separate so they will need new boxes. There is some rolling stock that either do not fit in their boxes or never had any so they will need some.

Here is a short photo tour of the current mess.



The tunnel and hill be going.


Not sure about this tunnel portal. The hunting cabin will be saved in some way.


The grain elevator will be saved. The mountain will not.


The station will be saved. Not sure about the bridges or creek. I used Woodland Scenics water that you pour, and it has not held up well.




Inland Cement Company will be saved. This is where the layout can be extended to the right in the photo.


This is the corner from Hell. Everything seems to accumulate on this spot.


The Water Tower diorama will be part of the new layout. This diorama is the only one not permanently attached to the current layout.


The farmhouse and barn (buried under the boxes and felt) will be saved.


Each of the scenes other than the Water Tower will have to be cut out from the current layout. All the scenes need some tender loving care. Trees have fallen out, foliage is loose. Ballast needs to be replaced.

I hope to be starting the cleaning up stage next week. Wish me luck.