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nhguy
Fireman
USA
3689 Posts |
 Posted - 07/14/2012 : 02:03:14 AM
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The brownstone project is now officially on hold for now. The New Haven management (my wife) asked me when I was going to get the rest of the layout built. I told I was going to get to it this summer. Then I had an op session on July 7th. I posted 20 photos over in the Layout Ops thread. During that session my New Haven yard master asked me when I was going to get the rest of the yard and the drill track with the main line loops in. He told me it was tough switching from the 'wrong' end of the yard. I had to agree because he wasn't the only yard master to mention this. SOoo.. after some good natured ribbing I decided it was about time to finish it. One of the locals has to do several back up moves to get his work done. I agreed that it was hard to do correctly.
After thinking about it I decided I would finish the benchwork and track work and get to my favorite part of the hobby scenery. I cleaned out the area under the top layout where various items were stored from view covered by a black fascia cloth. So here is the space I have for it. It's about 10 x 9 feet. It's still not vacuumed in these shots as I did this last night while my wife was sleeping.
I had said all along I was going to use parts of my old layout and incorporate them into this end of the layout. So I dug them out and dusted off two sections and I will build the rest of new construction to tie it all together. The first piece shown here is the old Hartford yard and engine terminal section. This section is 6 x 4 feet.
The next section is a 7 x 2 foot section with a flare on the end. This was the section that had the towns of Cromwell and Dividend on it. You can see the current south end of the New Haven Cedar Hill yard in the right of the photo. Putting in the other turnouts and the long drill track will sure help the yard master for sure. You can see the rest of the railroad is 'tarped' to keep the dirt and building dust off of it. I do all of the cutting outside or in the shop as not to contaminate the railroad and scenery. Did you ever try and get saw dust off of finished scenery?.
This is an 'action shot' with my weapon of choice in hand. I have that "If you take that photo I'm going to...SNAP!...look on my face. She took it anyway.
Here I am drilling the pilot hole for the layout to be screwed to the wall. I used a masonry bit and concrete anchor screws for this and the 2 x 2 inch supports screwed to the wall in the same fashion. A little Liquid Nails will insure that it holds. The 2 x 2's create a level nice ledge for the layout to sit on.
The other section is installed. I used the same hom-a-sote and plywood thicknesses as the rest of the New Haven yard which was also used from my previous layout. The wife always asked why I kept the layout after I cut it up. THIS... is why! I believe in re-purposing when I can. Hey, I do my part to recycle.
This is the view looking south. So you can see a good chunk of the last of the railroad is in and is track layout ready. That is to say ready for lines for the tracks to be laid out.
Of course, I had to restore the turntable pit and and roundhouse to its place of honor. It fit right in.
So I got this in today. The lumber for the rest of the layout is under another section of the layout and seasoned to the basement. I will use Poplar for this and tie it all in together. Three tracks will encircle the roundhouse. The drill track and both the freight main and the passenger main will go around the roundhouse area. The coach yards will be directly east (to the top) of the photo. New Haven passenger station will be to the back and the rest of Cedar Hill to the right of the photo.
I have two other large sections of railroad that will be cut up for scrap. I will use the plywood and hom-a-sote sandwich to fill in the blank areas. That's all for now. My back hurts! Where's that hot tub? |
Bill Shanaman
Superintendent, New Haven RR in the 1948 to 1952 era
PMRA President 2013-14, OpSIG Member
NCE User Since 1999
Sugar City, Colorado |
Edited by - nhguy on 07/14/2012 02:19:38 AM |
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MarkF
Engineer
USA
9329 Posts |
Posted - 07/14/2012 : 08:52:11 AM
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Good grief Bill, I had no idea you still had sections of benchwork to build! This will be fun to watch and follow along.
As you know from my thread, I'm a big believer in 'recycling'. Heck, I moved all the benchwork and sub roadbed to my new house and it is all incorporated into the new layout. |
Mark
See my homepage at http://home.comcast.net/~prrndiv/
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nhguy
Fireman
USA
3689 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2012 : 04:09:35 AM
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I got to work on the layout some after work Sunday and Monday. I tied the pieces of the old railroad together and a started adding the supports for the front part of the layout area.
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Bill Shanaman
Superintendent, New Haven RR in the 1948 to 1952 era
PMRA President 2013-14, OpSIG Member
NCE User Since 1999
Sugar City, Colorado |
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MarkF
Engineer
USA
9329 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2012 : 12:35:03 PM
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| Nice progress Bill. My heart goes out to you. I hate benchwork! I think that is the least enjoyable aspect of our hobby. But it is nice when it's all done, and it looks like you might be getting there! |
Mark
See my homepage at http://home.comcast.net/~prrndiv/
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dnhman
Fireman
USA
1049 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2012 : 1:46:20 PM
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Yeah Bill your moving all quite nicely!! Great progress with tough building conditions. Question though, Was this lower area an after thought? or was there a design issue which had working on the upper level first?
Thanks for sharing,,,, |
Cheers!, Joe |
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nhguy
Fireman
USA
3689 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2012 : 2:53:26 PM
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Mark, Bench work is not my favorite thing to do either. But this will complete the plan and is the last of it.
Hi Joe, No, it wasn't an after thought at all. It is in the original drawings. To get the railroad operational I had to do the upper branch line first. The reason being is installing all the bench work and back drop supports with the bottom layout in the way would have taken me twice as long. I built it around the walls first. I then added supports for the middle wall as I had to put in window like support openings in a supporting wall of the house in two places so the railroad could go through without bumping into a 2 x 4 support stud. I also built from rear to front after learning the hard way on other layouts. The benchwork in New Haven is now the last part of the railroad to be built.
The branch line will now be able to be run as a branch line instead of a single track main. The lower level will be a busy place once this final section is built and put into service. I run 31 train a session. Most of that will now go to the bottom and only 3 locals will work the top branch like the prototype did. I will then have to change the whole operating scheme. I am starting to do that. I have access points from the front, side and back in the very corner where I can reach everything I need to on both levels. |
Bill Shanaman
Superintendent, New Haven RR in the 1948 to 1952 era
PMRA President 2013-14, OpSIG Member
NCE User Since 1999
Sugar City, Colorado |
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nhguy
Fireman
USA
3689 Posts |
Posted - 07/22/2012 : 01:05:59 AM
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Work from 7-22-12. Here is the last large section of my old layout I started with. After some reinforcement it went in and secured to the other benchwork.
My wife rather fancies taking photos of me when I'm working on the layout for proof I'm doing it! You should see the one I didn't post. I gotta loose some weight.
Almost there!
All that is left to do now is fill in the blank areas with plywood and hom-a-sote, add the fascia and layout the track lines. The hard benchwork is almost done. I have an extra day off to work on the bench work tomorrow and that is what I'm going to do with it. I could not avoid the 2x2 support in the middle that supports the upper deck and lower deck. It's tied in on the edge of the layout so it should be just fine painted black.
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Bill Shanaman
Superintendent, New Haven RR in the 1948 to 1952 era
PMRA President 2013-14, OpSIG Member
NCE User Since 1999
Sugar City, Colorado |
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MarkF
Engineer
USA
9329 Posts |
Posted - 07/22/2012 : 01:24:45 AM
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| You know Bill, it would appear that you like doing things the difficult way! Looking at these photos, it is apparent that this last section is no easy task to install, considering you have to work under the existing benchwork! Your back must be killing you after all that twisting, crawling, etc.! Looks like your almost there though. |
Mark
See my homepage at http://home.comcast.net/~prrndiv/
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nhguy
Fireman
USA
3689 Posts |
Posted - 07/22/2012 : 01:49:23 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by MarkF
You know Bill, it would appear that you like doing things the difficult way! Looking at these photos, it is apparent that this last section is no easy task to install, considering you have to work under the existing benchwork! Your back must be killing you after all that twisting, crawling, etc.! Looks like your almost there though.
Yes my back is achin' Rick. That is why I hate benchwork. I should name this part of the layout Achinback but John Armstrong already had dibs on that name. I feel his pain though! I'm not a spry as I once was. Thank goodness I can still get into places I need to. A bottom creeper and a top side creeper help with that. It will sure come in handy when I do the Tortoise machine installations. Wiring is not as difficult as Tortoise installs but they still hurt some. I can still work a hour or so at a time under the layout but that time is hopefully coming to an end to when I get all that done. I wish I had another way of doing this but with the way the plan was it was easier to do the top first. BTW, Got any Ibuprofen?
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Bill Shanaman
Superintendent, New Haven RR in the 1948 to 1952 era
PMRA President 2013-14, OpSIG Member
NCE User Since 1999
Sugar City, Colorado |
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Dutchman
Administrator
USA
23277 Posts |
Posted - 07/22/2012 : 06:29:23 AM
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| That is some nice progress, Bill. Overall, I don't thin that that 2x2 support will be much of a distraction or hindrance to operations, either. |
Bruce
Modeling the railroads of the Jersey Highlands in HO and the logging railroads of Pennsylvania in HOn3 |
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nhguy
Fireman
USA
3689 Posts |
Posted - 07/22/2012 : 1:08:13 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Dutchman
That is some nice progress, Bill. Overall, I don't think that that 2x2 support will be much of a distraction or hindrance to operations, either.
Thanks Bruce. I have run on many layouts that had them and they are really not a hindrance at all as you say. They only get in the way when you are taking photos. Painted black they are less noticeable. This is a spot where you will not have to get to turnout throws in front or near the support either. There is a planned 'Tower' panel (SS75) that controls the New Haven station turnouts and interlocking from this location but it will not block any views of the area. The large 2 x 4 on the end is not in the way either.
My friend Bob Foltz has a few new supports (1 x 2's)on his layout to support a new narrow gauge branch line over existing layout and they are hardly noticed. So I will live with it. |
Bill Shanaman
Superintendent, New Haven RR in the 1948 to 1952 era
PMRA President 2013-14, OpSIG Member
NCE User Since 1999
Sugar City, Colorado |
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Tabooma County Rwy
Fireman
USA
4203 Posts |
Posted - 07/22/2012 : 2:41:20 PM
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Bill,
Very interesting watching your benchwork construction progress... I don't know if you read MRH on line or not, but the July issue has an article by Dr. Nick Muff on his latest benchwork addition, which includes a double deck situation similar to yours. He used a couple of pieces of clear 1" lucite rod between levels and it is really a clever idea and even less noticeable than a black painted piece of wood, in my opinion (and I've seen it in person - he lives just a few miles from me). Nick Muff's layout is similar in quality to the great layout of Cliff Power's (MA&G), detailed here on RR-L. In fact, the two of them have collaborated on a couple of projects. But anyway, to see the clear lucite rod, you can check out the photos in the July issue of MRH on line, if you are interested.
Al Carter |
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nhguy
Fireman
USA
3689 Posts |
Posted - 07/23/2012 : 12:55:34 PM
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Thanks Al,
I read MRH all the time. I will read the article and look at the photos again. Thanks. |
Bill Shanaman
Superintendent, New Haven RR in the 1948 to 1952 era
PMRA President 2013-14, OpSIG Member
NCE User Since 1999
Sugar City, Colorado |
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nhguy
Fireman
USA
3689 Posts |
Posted - 07/24/2012 : 01:40:06 AM
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A little more progress. Sub-roadbed and hom-a-sote
I only have a about a 5 foot section left to do and then I can sand and fill in the joints and screw holes, paint it and get to track layin'! |
Bill Shanaman
Superintendent, New Haven RR in the 1948 to 1952 era
PMRA President 2013-14, OpSIG Member
NCE User Since 1999
Sugar City, Colorado |
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MarkF
Engineer
USA
9329 Posts |
Posted - 07/25/2012 : 01:51:03 AM
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| Bill, you've made tremendous progress! Painting that homasote and laying track is the best part! Keep the updates coming. |
Mark
See my homepage at http://home.comcast.net/~prrndiv/
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New Haven RR Constuction
