Work IS Progressing...

...there just aren't many photos of it.
I've been building turnouts, organizing the storage / work room, and preparing additional benchwork components for assembly / installation.
I've constructed two #8 Fasttracks code 83 turnouts for the entry into Laurel yard from the NP mainline. I have one more to build, then I'll need to construct several code 70 #6 turnouts. Laurel yard is getting more complicated as I go - I'll post an update to that part of the track plan soon.
I've been painting benchwork components for the ten days or so, in preparation for assembly and installation during this weekend's group work session (the first since April). That will provide space for the opposite end of Laurel yard, and take the NP track to the opposite end of the room from where the roundhouse is planned.
As mentioned, I'm having a work session this weekend (Saturday, 15 June), so I expect I'll have some photos to post early next week.

Tracklaying Is Underway!

Progress continues on the new CB&Q in Wyoming, albeit a bit slowly.

A couple weeks ago I started laying track on the NP mainline on the side of the peninsula opposite the Laurel yard. The mainline track is code 83. The yard, when I get there, will be code 70. Not sure about the siding at Laurel yet, but I'm leaning towards 70 there as well.

About 15 feet of track is down, including some superelevated track around the end-of-peninsula curve that will skirt the roundhouse.

As you can see from the shot just below, lots more stuff I need it for construction is winding up on the table. I'm short on work table area, so it winds up on future ROW for now:

Here's a close-up of the loco on the curve, showing the superelevation in the loco's inwards tilt:

I've borrowed a set of Fast Tracks #8 turnout jigs from a friend, and will soon be building the mainline turnouts that will go into Laurel yard. The first of these is necessary before much more in the way of track can be laid.

Plywood and Roadbed

Part of the Laurel tabletop for the yard and engine servicing facilities is down, and I've begun laying roadbed. As of April 3rd, it looked like this:

The framing square is in the future turntable / roundhouse area. The roadbed that's laid is for the big turnback curve at the end of the peninsula. The squiggly cork not yet installed is some stuff that was in boxes for our move. I don't know if it will ever flatten out, so I may never use it. What's laid is stuff I cut the previous day from the roll I bought years ago (the roll survived the move in pretty good shape).

This is just a close-up of the roadbed, showing how I simply pin it in place on curves until the glue dries. On tangent sections I just add little bit of weight to ensure that the cork doesn't pull upwards from the roadbed in spots before the glue dries:

Sorry for the marginal photo quality - Clearly I need to get my tripod out to take better photos under room lighting - the flash doesn't cut it very well.

Construction Begins!

I finally have a few photos!

Here's the room where the main part of the layout will be. As you can see, this is a pretty nicely finished room, which means I'll have to be very careful to protect the floor from finish-damaging debris, glue drip and what-not:

I had a work session yesterday (Saturday the 23rd). Five of my model railroading friends from Charleston spent two hours on the road (each way!) to come out and help get the construction ball rolling.

By the end of this first session, we had the Laurel benchwork framing complete and risers installed. We also laid in the first two sheets of plywood at the far end (the wide end) of the peninsula, but I took these photos before we did that. 

This is just a shot sighting down the risers to see if the tops line up reasonably well. I think they do:

And here's my construction crew. Left to right is Allen, Phil, Jim, John and Jimmy. I hope I can convince them to come back again - in four hours we did what would otherwise have taken me weeks to accomplish! They all said they'd be back, but that's as they were all running for their cars before the two hour trip home!

 Thanks, guys!

The basic layout arrangement has now been set (until I change it, anyway!). There have been changes to the NP trackage - I moved Laurel from against the wall over to a peninsula, to allow access to all sides of the 7'-wide tracks and engine terminal. Here's the basic plan:

You can see the new position of Laurel on the NP. Other elements of the track plan are more of the "general arrangement" variety - only the NP is currently detailed.
I think I can fit Lander back into the plan. Initially I thought I would have to leave it out, which would reduce the layout to only one branch (the Cody line), but if I can work out the elevations properly, I'll have a much better operations scheme with both Cody and Lander branches.
I might even be able to fit Lusk (C&NW east staging) back in, positioning it over the turnback curves for NP staging. I'll have to mull that one over a bit...

NP Trackage

Here's a diagram of the new NP Laurel MT / CB&Q Scottsbluff NE interchange and staging (which generally refer to as the NP trackage):

The grayish lines are a 12" grid. I've included some dimensions for this area of the layout to give a sense of size.

Minimum radius on the NP trackage is the same as it was on the NJ layout - 36 inches. The rest of the layout will be 30 inches on mainlines, with some industry trackage possibly a bit tighter.

At the top of the diagram, where the 3'-0" dimension is, is the doorway that leads into the layout. The dotted lines are the edges of the benchwork. I've adopted a 3'-0" minimum aisleway width for the entire layout.

The Laurel interchange yard is actually somewhat larger than the original I built in the NJ version of the layout - there are now three yard tracks rather than two, and the tracks are longer than they were. The engine servicing area will also sport a larger roundhouse than I had room for before.

As you can see in the diagram, there is room for some industry tracks near the engine terminal area inside the turnback curve, and possibly in the area behind the tracks at the opposite end of the yard. Time will tell whether or not I utilize these areas. I may increase the size of the engine servicing facilities (adding a second track to the turntable, for example, and a rip track).

Towards the bottom of the diagram you can see where the tracks penetrate the wall into another room at the bottom. This room will hold the Seattle and Minneapolis stanging yards, which have been combined into one six-track yard with a through track in the center. One side will be used for Minneapolis (or eastbound) and the other for Seattle (westbound).

Sometime in the next couple of weeks I'll post the basic arrangement for the Wyoming mianline and the Cody branch.

A Status Update...

Layout planning is continuing. A workable general arrangement of benchwork and major layout features has been developed, and only (only!) detailed planning is left to be done.

This version of the layout will be simpler than the New Jersey version that was under construction, for a couple of reasons:

• First, I want something I have a chance of completing to a major extent (all trackage, basic scenery, and detailed scenery in some places) within a decade or so. I want to have most of the main tracks operational and be able to start ops sessions within a couple of years.
• Second, while I have about the same square footage available as before, the configuration is different, and I have also to make allowances for access to areas around the layout that are not train related (storage closets, spare bedrooms, media room, etc.).
• Finally, and maybe most importantly, I don't just want to undertake a project of such megalithic proportions again - at least right now.

Yeah, I know purely text posts aren't as interesting as photos. As soon as I have the track planning a bit farther along, I'll post some of the in-work diagrams.

The Phoenix Begins To Rise!

FINALLY!

Work has just begun on the newest incarnation of the CB&Q in Wyoming! Just barely - the first section of benchwork has just been started. But the important thing is that it has started!

Track planning is probably about 20% complete and is ongoing, but one part of the layout has been firmed up enough to begin construction.

Photos and the in-progress track plan will be posted soon, so check back!

Standing Still - Almost

Well, time seems to be standing still in terms of layout rebuilding. We purchased a home in Allendale SC a few months ago, and have been working to get it into shape. A "guest house" just off the main residence will be the new train room. We knew there was a leak in the roof on one side, but planned to have that fixed. Initially we used the guest house to store things (on the dry side of the place!) as we were setting up the house and getting the roof repaired. That all seemed to go as planned, and roof repairs were completed a couple weeks ago. We spent the last ten days or so clearing out the train room and at least started getting it ready for layout construction (a new layout plan is well under way) when a few days of heavy thundershowers cropped up. The roof leaks even worse than before!!! So now I'm on hold until we get this figured out and good repairs made. Stand by for more in the next couple of months!

It's been a bit over nine months since I posted that the layout was coming down. It's completely gone (has been since around March). I was able to salvage most of the track and a great deal of the benchwork. Roadbed and subroadbed went into the trash. All the structures (the pitiful few there were) are packed away, and rolling stock is sitting in the rented house in Charleston. I've joined the Charleston Area Model Railroad Club, and manage to exercise my equipment there on occasion. I have no idea when I'll have a new house in which to put a layout - the bad market has ours in New Jersey not selling anytime soon, it looks like.

CB&Q in Wyoming is being Dismantled!

There have been three years of little to no activity on the layout due to my foray into local politics. My delving into New Jersey politics is fortunately coming to an end (talk about diving headfirst into basement of an outhouse!).

The remainder of the story is that I am being transferred by the company to South Carolina - permanently! All in all a good move (any way of getting out of New Jersey is a positive), but it means the CB&Q in Wyoming is now in the process of being dismantled.

I'm salvaging all the track I can, and of course all the rolling stock and such is being saved. Even as much as possible of the benchwork dimensional lumber is going to be retained for re-use.

I don't have a new home yet and probably won't for several months to come. As soon as I have the dimensions of a new layout space design will begin on the new CB&Q in Wyoming.

Work progresses, albeit still slowly.

Here's a more-or-less overall view of the layout as of the end of December:

The blank part of the skyboard to the far left has been painted now. We started adding a ceiling to the room to control the dust and debris that falls onto the layout from above. The corner in the left distance is where we began. It's slowly expanding towards the camera and to the right. Before more benchwork is installed the ceiling will be put up above those areas. It will probably be a long time before the entire ceiling is finished, but it will be done a bit at a time until it's complete.

Here's another shot of recent work - the studs and mounting frames are in place for the backdrop all the way around to Casper now. The far corner in this shot is where I stood to take the previous shot. Ceiling will be done in these areas before benchwork goes up.

It's been five months since I posted. There's a good reason - I've had very little time or energy to work on the layout.

I've managed to put in fifteen or twenty hours since the last post, though, so I thought I'd go ahead and tell you what's been done.

I've continued the backdrop installation and painting. Here's a photo of the painted backdrop before I installed any scenery:

I also did some cheap-and-dirty scenery for some shots for my helix presentation, which I gave at the Mid-Eastern Region convention in Reston in late October. Here's an overall shot:

While the landforms are the final ones (except for cutouts for access to tracks behind the hill), the yellowish scenery and trees aren't - they were just for the presentation. There will be no trees in this area and the ground will be a somewhat darker tan/brown with sparse prarie grass and sagebrush sprinkled around.

I've continued adding to the backdrop, and the skyboard now continues uninterrupted past Thermopolis. The hill profiles only extend to the curve in the backdrop at the corner right now. I'm going to try to continue on with them during the Christmas break.

I finally managed to get a bit of time - about three hours or so in the past three weeks - to work on the layout.

I've completed the lower level skyboard extension around the corner into Thermopolis, and I've completed the backdrop about halfway through the corner. I've also started painting the backdrop - about 16 feet of it behind Glenrock has received the base tan color. I would have gone farther, but the additional sheet that starts around the corner into Thermop. hasn't been prepped yet (sanded / washed). Next, as my very limited time permits, I'll add additional colors to the backdrop and bring at least part of it towards completion. Should be interesting to see if I can come up sith something that isn't too amatuerish / cartoonish / pathetic.

Pictures next time.

It's been awhile since I posted, for a very good reason - I've had almost no time and energy to work on the layout. I've spent maybe two hours in the train room in the last two months. I'm hoping things will ease up and I'll have a chance to do some layout work soon. I'll post any significant progress when it happens.

Wow! How time flies! It's been nearly four weeks since my last update!

Work on the layout has been on and off. Tons of stuff happening at the borough - I often spend three or four nights a week on borough business. Add to that all the work on the house and I have little time left for the layout.

I've been continuing work on the scenery at Glenrock, experimenting with different lights under the upper deck. Incandescents work OK, but are a bit yellowish. I found a dimmable compact fluorescent, but they're eight bucks apiece! I have three, and they give a decent light. The CRI is around 82, so it isn't too bad, ajnd it's rated as 3200k light, so it might be workable. I'll have to install a dimmer and see how well they work that way.

Here are some of the photos I promised of progress on Glenrock scenery:

This is the stack of 1 1/2" foam that will go between Glenrock trackage and the backdrop before I started shaping it:



Here's the stack after I hust started smoothing the corners of the blocks:



And during the trimming process:



This past weekend was a very productive one for the layout. A friend (Walt) came over and helped me install the first section of benchwork for the upper deck! (this is a major milestone!)

Here's Walt drilling an anchor point for the threaded rod that will support the front of the second deck:



And here's the installed deck. Below it you can see the first sections of foam scenery set in place at Glenrock. The section between track and backdrop, shown above being built and carved, has rough carving completed. I still have to complete the shaping of that section to make the curves of the rolling hills more natural and accurate for the area:



And just to finish off the day's work, we started extending the backdrop past the opposite end of Glenrock and towards Thermopolis:

Work on building the scenery base for Glenrock continues. The first big section behind the track is stacked and glued up, and last night I started shaping it. Running a surform tool over the surface is a much easier way to shape the foam than cutting it with a knife or even a hot wire foam cutter, so I'm creating mounds of pink foam shavings! I'm a bit more than third done with the basic rounding and blending of the stack, then I'll start shaping the final rolling hilss and adding any basic feature shapes (like a dirt road, maybe).

Photos in a few days.

The radial tracks are all in at Laurel now, powered and ready to go. Here are the completed tracks:

And here the tracks are in use:

Sure is nice to have a spot to park locos besides the Laurel interchange tracks!

I spent a few hours over the last couple of days installing radial tracks from the Laurel turntable to the Roundhouse floor (I'll build up the rest of the roundhouse after the backdrop and such are in place). Photos in a few days.
I still have to spike down a couple of the tracks near the turntable pit and attach feeder wires. Should be done late this week. Then it's on to add the first section of the upper deck over Glenrock, so I can add lighting to Glenrock and paint the backdrop there.