Northern Pacific and Black Hills

[badlandnp]

Alright, have been a lurker and sometimes poster here for a while. There is an actual layout in my world, built to fit a small room before I acquired a larger space. So the NPBHv.1 is a 5x7 twice around with a 5.3% grade one way and a 2.8% grade the other. It was built with Atlas 100 flex track and multiple brand switches, mostly cheap #4s with a few #6's thrown in. As time went on and I learned a bit more, switches were upgraded to #6 by Shinohara. Then an NCE Power Cab system came in and the learning curve got better! And SOUND!

The new quarters for the layout was acquired with the purchase of a 10x52 foot Rollohome mobile home dedicated to the layout workshop and office space. This older unit has a HEAVY stiff frame, making for a better foundation to start with. After gutting the innards some, and rebuilding/insulating the walls and cieling it has become a great little trainshed. I also upgraded the wiring and windows, eliminating most.

So here is a video overview of the last train to go around v.1. It has been a great learning experience.



So now I have a 9'4" x 25' space to expand the layout into. As it was designed to be split, It now is, so no running trains for a bit.

Lessons learned from v.1;
1. I like to watch and hear a train rolling through nice badlands oriented scenes.
2. Curves will be a min 18" of needed, but >20" as often as possible.
3. Switches to be #6 or greater.
4. 3% or less grades.
5. Code 55 track.
6. Learn to build switches with the Fast tracks stuff.
7. Running a local job around the mainline schedule or working the yard is my fun activity.
8. Aisles must be 30" or better.

So here is how things stand after this weekends building of bench modules.
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A track plan is being redrawn with better detail than the sketches I made and will follow..........later! And with colors! There will be two main levels and a long ascending grade that will wrap around the room climbing from the right side to the left in these two pics. A lower staging yard on the far wall.

Oh, and I have developed a fairly detailed start on the back story for the pike.

So anyway, input is always welcome and hopefully this will be helpful to some!

[Mobile One]

Ah nice. And I can't help but mention that I'll be posting some NP and GN rolling stock in the "For Sale" thread tomorrow that fits your layout. (shameless plug) I think my neighbors might like it if I got a mobile home for trains and parked it in the front yard. You are onto something.

[Rodsup9000]

Old mobile homes do make a nice layout rooms. Before I built the new house, I had a 14X73 that I housed my railroad. The great thing about them is that most have a force air furnace and some even have air.
Just keep us posted on the progress.

[badlandnp]

Thanks fellas. The furnace in this one was shot, so a woodstove is there in the place of it. And if there is ever a need to relocate, well it is portable!

[Janbouli]

Great start to the addition. Mobile home sounds like a good idea , hadn,t thought of that in stead of a shed.

[Scotian_Huntress]

Wasn't there a John Armstrong design for a mobile trailer?

[Rodsup9000]

Wasn't there a John Armstrong design for a mobile trailer?

Yes, there was a couple that I remember and I think one of them was n scale.

[badlandnp]

Had never seen that. Would be interesting to see that plan.

[badlandnp]

Mobile One - Appreciate the sales pitch! May get back to you yet.....

Progress for the weekend. First pics of the mainline track plan.
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Hopefully this will all be clear. The colors are supposed to help. I hope they do! Green is the mainline, red is the hidden staging. Now to fill in details.....
And here's the benchwork.
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Hopefully this will all come together nicely. It turned out that the area is 25 feet on the one side and 21 available on the other.
Enjoy! I am!

[gcav17]

Looks like fun brother. You have gotten a lot accomplished this weekend. (yep, he is my brother, not sure who is sorry yet.......)







9

[badlandnp]

Finally had some time this weekend to play with the layout! So built in some sub-roadbed.
Started with the turnaround addition here. Used a 22 inch and 18 inch radius curves, one ascending and one descending.
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And at the other end the lower track emerges from behind the old half, curves to the front of the shelf and splits for a stage siding. And the upper line is heading up on the left to climb up to the upper level as it goes around the room. The mid level stays level now all the way around.
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And then a view at the far end where the two 24 inch curves are started. The lower is for a staging yard.
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PS - gcav, mom's the sorry one!

[badlandnp]

Motivation has been low lately, too much goin on and sinuses etc. Yeah, yeah, just excuses! And sometimes it is good to just sit and dram about it!

So I did find energy to glue down some 'cork' on the racetrack tonite. Used the Walthers foamy stuff. Put it down with acrylic caulk and clamped it down to dry overnite. No pics tonite, sorry.

Hopefully there will be enough energy this weekend to do more! And pics!

[badlandnp]

So the energy finally came back around! And I can breathe freely!! Sinus colds are such a fun-killer...

And some track got laid down with feeders soldered on along the 'hidden' back racetrack. Used a product called "Big Stretch" (latex caulk, in light brown) to attach both the subroadbed and the ME55 track. Clamps and long strips of wood and alignment bars to try to keep it straight. Am going to do some trial runs here soon to be sure that all works well before pushing the layout back into place and tieing stuff together. Then will have to put together some sort of sheet with velcro strips under this line just to catch anything that falls, not that anything ever will!

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And then it was time to back date some wood boxcars. In the 20's the NP did not have the Monad applies to wooden boxcars, so they just had to be erased.
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It felt good to be able to actually have the energy to 'play' trains again!

[Mobile One]

That's some pretty good eraser work. What kind did you use?

[badlandnp]

Used some Solvaset to soften the logo as it appeared to be a decal on these. Then used the back of a knife point to score the 'joints' between boards. After it set for a few minutes, then used a chisel blade knife to gently scrape at the logo and lettering beneath it. Wiped it dry with a paper towel and repeated. After that a sanding stick was used to clean things up a bit before repainting the area with a very close matching color, 'boxcar red ' by Floquil. Weathering is next, but not too heavy as these are fairly new cars in the 20's.

[gcav17]

Looking good brother. I think maybe your sinus issue is from playing in the wet cold weather too long....... Maybe you slow down the train chasin/ geekin a bit... LOL

[badlandnp]

Got enough track laid this weekend to have a bit over 50 feet continous. Sooooo, just had to power it up and test it! Used a DC Pacific that my brother acquired for me and ran it all the way around twice!

[RedRiverRR4433]

Got enough track laid this weekend to have a bit over 50 feet continous. Sooooo, just had to power it up and test it! Used a DC Pacific that my brother acquired for me and ran it all the way around twice!

Looks like you've made some great progress.

Stay cool and have fun with it......

Shades

[badlandnp]

And I actually do have a plan for the yard area, sketched up on paper! The track that is down and functional is the mainline. The RH lead is on the bottom right of the sketch. Service will be on the lead and is marked SVC, coal water and such.
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Input is always welcome!

[badlandnp]

I took so many pics of my track laying progress this weekend that I figured the best thing would be to create a you tube slide show. I started by building the supports and hidden staging yard platform in the back corner. Then I laid down the mainline cork and put in the flextrack. The only real challenges were where I had to support a piece over the staging area, a cantilever did that. And where I had to tear into the old scenery and join up the new to the old.

Yes, I like to have a long mainline winding through the terrain, fascinating to watch the trains worm through!