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Neil M
Fireman
Australia
2173 Posts |
 Posted - 07/03/2008 : 1:25:59 PM
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I have been without a model railway for a year and a half and I decided it was high time I got back to active modelling again. However, I work out on road construction sites which have seen me move about every 6 months in the last year and a half, so obviously i wanted a small, portable layout.
Carl Ardent's website (http://carendt.us/) has been a favourite of mine for years so i took a while looking through it for trackplans that i liked and thought i could pull off.
I settled on my own rendition of the track plan used by Daniel Schläfli (his layout can be seen at http://carendt.us/scrapbook/page55a/index.html about a quarter of the way down the page), itself a variation on the Box Street Yard thought up by Jack Trollope (Shortliner on this forum).
I adapted it to fit my scale and came up with a 35cm x 140cm (14" by 4'8" and just over 5 square feet for the metrically challenged  ) plan.
Each black or white stripe is 10cm to give it some scale.
I am going to set it in Hoboken, New York (on the New Jersey side), down at the waterfront in the 1930's. The times of prohibition, the mafia and heavy industry here 
There was a prototype electric line in this area, the Hoboken Manufacturers Railroad (later renamed the Hoboken Shore Railroad http://hbs.railfan.net/) but I am going down the steam powered freelance route.
I wanted to recreate the atmosphere and look of the computer game Mafia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia:_The_City_of_Lost_Heaven, and while i will be able to do that to a degree it is unlikely i will be able to include many of the key structures from that game due to space constraints. Hoboken is also used as a section of the game, hence why i settled on that place/name [:-idea]
I have built to bench work, legs and sub-roadbed and hope to start work on the roadbed and track today/this weekend. It will be my next challenge project and the host to my last challenge project (an aritec shrimp cutter)
(Bachmann Climax and 36' reefer in picture)
I hope you like my plans. Any suggestions are most welcome. The tracks won't be a perfectly aligned to the front edge of the layout when i build it for real! The runaround stub and transfer table are 30cm long. Enough for a 2 truck geared loco or tank engine and one 40' car. Not ideal, I know, but it fits in the space i have!
Neil |
Built a waterfront HO layout in Ireland http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=22161 but now making a start in On30 in Australia |
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desertdrover
Engineer
USA
11333 Posts |
Posted - 07/03/2008 : 2:02:14 PM
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| Sounds like you've got some great ideas Neil. It takes some work on research being in Ireland, modeling 1930's era New York! Any size space is good when you are having fun! :-) |
 Louis
Pacific Northwest Logging in the East Coast |
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hon3_rr
Fireman
USA
4776 Posts |
Posted - 07/03/2008 : 2:39:26 PM
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| Looking forward to seeing what you do with this, should be fun. |
--KP
Life is to short to make all of the models I want to. |
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George D
Moderator
USA
10027 Posts |
Posted - 07/03/2008 : 3:26:59 PM
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Neil, it looks like you have an interesting layout to build. I’m looking forward to following your progress.
George
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shortliner
Engine Wiper
United Kingdom
442 Posts |
Posted - 07/03/2008 : 4:22:33 PM
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Love the plan - look forward to seeing the results you get from modelling it
Shortliner (Jack) away up here in the Highlands |
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Tyson Rayles
Moderator
USA
10255 Posts |
Posted - 07/03/2008 : 4:44:30 PM
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| [:-thumbu] |
Mike |
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Neil M
Fireman
Australia
2173 Posts |
Posted - 07/04/2008 : 09:55:15 AM
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Happy days! I was laying out the track sections on the benchwork last night and I found that the points (Peco code 75) are slightly shorter than I thought so I have gained an extra 5cm length and the track centres naturally fall at 4.5cm, 0.5cm closer together than I had on the plan.
That may not sound like much (and you'd be right) but it all adds up on a minimum space layout like this |
Built a waterfront HO layout in Ireland http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=22161 but now making a start in On30 in Australia |
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Peterpools
Engineer
USA
12335 Posts |
Posted - 07/04/2008 : 10:21:11 AM
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Neil
Terrific concept and to say you have covered all the bases, falls short of the mark. looking forward to following you construction throughout the project.
Peter [:-kitty] |
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George D
Moderator
USA
10027 Posts |
Posted - 07/04/2008 : 11:31:04 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Neil M
Happy days! I was laying out the track sections on the benchwork last night and I found that the points (Peco code 75) are slightly shorter than I thought so I have gained an extra 5cm length and the track centres naturally fall at 4.5cm, 0.5cm closer together than I had on the plan.
That may not sound like much (and you'd be right) but it all adds up on a minimum space layout like this
I guess that’s the luck of the Irish. If I were doing it, my switches would end up being 5cm longer.
George
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Edited by - George D on 07/04/2008 11:51:31 AM |
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acousticco
Fireman
Canada
1325 Posts |
Posted - 07/05/2008 : 01:04:04 AM
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That's the makings of an excellent micro! Waterfronts are a personal favorite of mine, I've got two in the works (standard gauge urban & narrow gauge rural).
Are you going to modify the climax with a boxcab like the ones that used to run in on the Union Terminal in Boston (I think it was Boston?)?
Looking forward to watching your progress!
-Cody |
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Neil M
Fireman
Australia
2173 Posts |
Posted - 07/07/2008 : 05:28:42 AM
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Well i had a busy weekend
The roadbed and track is in for on the passing loop and the rear siding into the warehouse. The transfer table on the left has been built on some 10x10mm aluminium angle. It took a good bit of tweaking and fiddling to get it to move smoothly but I have rubbed graphite on the moving parts to help it along.
I also mocked up the warehouse with some large windowed walthers modular wall sections. It will have a loading dock added too.
Cody, I was thinking about making the climax a boxcab but it has a lot of lovely detail I don't want to hide in a car body so I'm going to leave it as it is for now.
My next step is to drop the frame where the sea will be and widen the sleeper spacing for the two sidings at the front of the layout.
I also need to find a 16 volt transformer. The shops where i might have found one were shut at the weekend - the disadvantage of living in a small town  |
Built a waterfront HO layout in Ireland http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=22161 but now making a start in On30 in Australia |
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Neil M
Fireman
Australia
2173 Posts |
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AVRR-PA
Fireman
USA
4657 Posts |
Posted - 07/08/2008 : 07:53:57 AM
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Hi, Neil --
Excellent progress. That's going to be a very nice little layout. I'm looking forward to following along as you built it.
Don |
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BigLars
Fireman
USA
7484 Posts |
Posted - 07/08/2008 : 09:44:30 AM
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Neil,
Great plan you have, I enjoy micro layouts and will be looking forward to watching your progress.
Have fun!
Larry |
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postalkarl
Fireman
6478 Posts |
Posted - 07/08/2008 : 10:37:31 AM
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Hi Neil:
I like it. Very nice for a small diorama RR. I will be starting one shortly. It will be 16" X 8 '.
Karl S. |
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steamloco
Section Hand
USA
75 Posts |
Posted - 07/08/2008 : 1:02:38 PM
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Way cool, Neil.
Beautiful little boat models. Really lookin' forward to seeing this layout progress!
Steve |
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Topic |
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Freelanced Hoboken waterfront mini in HO
