Engineer on board video of my 240 foot main line

That was spectacular!
Bravo, Chris!!!!

Peter

That’s impressive ol buddy!……that string of reefers was never ending!!

Pat

Awesome Chris! Nice to get a peak behind the curtain a little.

Happy Thanksgiving my friend!

Bob

Thanks for sharing.  Beautiful work.

The low-relief buildings to the left of the track early in the video look great; are they paper models?

Have you posted any in-progress pics or videos, and a track plan?  I'm always interested to see the plan when someone is able to have trains appear and disappear and change grades so smoothly.

Have you considered an article for the magazine?  I'm sure @Allan Miller would be interested.  

Chris, thanks for sharing, that was spectacular! I was amazed at the smooth running; especially across all the switches.

Really cool layout and track plan. I also like the amount of Pennsy steam. 😁

Great Video!!

Chris, That was spectacular. So many cool things. I loved the trains coming in the opposite direction and great string of reefers. Also, track work looks great and is the reason for the smooth operation. This video is forcing me to get a camera car. I have watched it 3 times now. Well done. Bill

My goodness @chris a - on top of being impressed by the video itself, I kept saying to myself "What a dynamite of a layout!!!!".  I'm so glad that I watched the whole thing.

- walt

Cheers, Dave

That’s fantastic, Chris. Great stuff.

Good morning and thanks so much for all the positive comments.   

@Mallard4468, Regarding the shallow relief backdrop buildings across the tracks from the Kitbashed Union Station.   I purchased a large set of backdrop buildings on eBay then cut them and used spray adhesive like 777 to adhere them to, Black Poster board, then I glued the poster board to 1 inch thick styrene.   The description for the collection of buildings you can search on eBay is:

TRACKSIDE BACKDROP #605 Commercial backs O Scale,  Seller 's  ID is  "trackside2020"

I am having trouble searching my postings here on OGR but I know I did a posting when I put a bunch of these together.  The folder on my laptop says I did them 12/7/2021.    They sell them already mounted but you can save quite a bit of money buying the large set and doing the mounting work your self, plus I prefer them mounted on 1 inch thick substrate.    I went ahead and attached a few more photos of background buildings below.

I used RR Track 4.0 long since obsolete, and due to the size of the layout footprint 23' x 40'  on multiple levels, it's tough to make sense of what's going on.    However, a couple years ago, I asked my son to shoot video of a "Walk Around Tour" with me narrating.   It's easier to understand the layout design, why things are where they are, what I added to the plan as I built it in modules, and why.    He started his own photography and videography business that he does part time and he did a wonderful job editing this video.

Here's a link to that YouTube video below -      Christmas 2021 Train Layout tour & Update

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_11HRZciRU

Also, you can go directly to my YouTube Channel.   Seems like video links here don't enable you to watch directly on YouTube.   My  YouTube Channel ID is:

YouTube Channel  ID    -         CJ Ambrosi

You'll have to use the search tool to separate out the Model RR videos from all the Track Day videos of me driving at Lime Rock Park and Watkins Glen International... Yeah I know I need to go in there and make multiple playlists !!!   

Regarding the trackwork, I spent quite a bit of time trying to ensure that the trackwork had minimal flaws, so thanks to all that noticed.

Ironically, what I have found is video is a great tool for "revealing" track flaws, both the running video like the one we shot yesterday, but also any good quality video will show engines or cars bobbing and weaving over track joints that need attention.    This whole layout was built over I don't know 6+ years in modules that could be removed from the basement, as time went on I moved away from sectional 096 Ross curves and started bending my own curves as you can easily create the "easement transition" from straight to the desired radius.   For me it was totally worth the effort as all the trains, and especially large articulated steamers and 21 inch passenger cars run so much more smoothly through the curve entrance and exit easement.

Chris thank you for the information on the backdrops! I have watched your videos before and always like to watch them again! Thanks for link it played fine in youtube!

Very impressive, loved it!

Great ride, and double thank you for not going around the layout at a crawl as many videos love to do.

Chris, that was the most fun cab ride I can remember taking. What made it so for me is that your track work is superb - there were no kinks! I noted mostly Gargraves. Did you use a straight edge, e.g., 3-4 ft. level or something like that or what is your method of having what appeared as perfectly linear straits and smooth transitions and gentle curves?

@Paul Kallus posted:

Chris, that was the most fun cab ride I can remember taking. What made it so for me is that your track work is superb - there were no kinks! I noted mostly Gargraves. Did you use a straight edge, e.g., 3-4 ft. level or something like that or what is your method of having what appeared as perfectly linear straits and smooth transitions and gentle curves?

Spot on Paul,  yeah I  was a little concerned last night when we brought the micro SD card up last night, that the video was going to reveal a number track issues.  I was relieved when we watched it for the first time !!

Yes I used a 4 foot aluminum level where it would fit.  I also used some wood that I knew was perfectly straight for smaller areas.  And if I remember correctly, I might even have used some 1/2" x 1/8" aluminum stock between rails that I could clamp to the rails to ensure it didn't move while I was screwing it down.

One the parallel sections, and yards, sidings etc,  I cut wood blocks that I used to ensure that the spacing between multiple tracks was maintained without deviation.   

I have had to go back after watching videos to make some adjustments to track joints in the vertical plane, as they sometimes create low spots.   I also super elevated the curves but not more than 2 degrees using one of those small 2 inch cube digital levels. 

For the easements, I did a lot of reading.  I had the best luck using strips of wood, maybe 1/8 inch thick, Poplar I think worked pretty well.  I remember finding an article (probably  John Armstrong) or a YouTube video describing that if you anchor one end, it will naturally create the "cubic spiral" or gradual radius change that is the easement.  John Armstrong has some great tips on how far into a curve the easement should go, I don't remember off the top of my head.   His formula and drawing also lets you figure out how much larger the radius gets because of the easement, I want to say for 48 inch radius it was maybe 3/4" to 1".  He stressed how important this was, and I didn't totally believe it till I started running trains through the easements and realized of course that he was 100% correct.

To fill in the gaps I am creating with too many words.   I tended to lay out the 48 inch radius on the road bed, then use the wood strip to create the easement transition at the entrance and exit, again in pencil.   Once I figured I was close enough, then I stapled down the cork roadbed on that centerline, the add the adjacent piece of cork, and then lay the track on the roadbed.   It takes some bending and manipulation to get the ends of the gargraves (track joints) to follow the radius in the middle of a curve, but you can get there with a little patience, clamps and small blocks of wood act as your 3rd and 4th hands

That’s a nice run, Chris!  It was neat meeting other trains.  That’s great you could do that with your son.  Does he come over to your house often?

Chris, roger-that on the easements. I struggled like heck trying to put a slight bend in Ross 29" straight sections that led into sectional curved pieces, despite that Ross, unlike Gargraves, is very challenging to bend (not supposed to bend it, lol).

Your super-elevation is very nicely done as well. If anyone wants to do this, Chris' method is likely the best to use; or if you're lazy like me, I cut shims out of cardstock to give the curves super-elevation. Regardless, easements and super-elevation makes a wonderful effect while watching a train go into and through a curve.

Chris :  Super ride!  Great video, loved it.  Thanks for posting.

Don

Hey @Mark Boyce.   I wish he came by more often,  he's only here 3-4 times a year.   He's not much into the model RR hobby per se, but he definitely likes taking photos and video of the layout.   I have definitely created some photography and videography challenges that he enjoys.  Over the years he's taken some great night photos, as he knows what the heck he's doing, and has superior equipment it's pretty cool to watch, sometimes the exposure times have exceeded 30 seconds.   

@Paul Kallus,  didn't mean to mis-lead you.   I built all the sub roadbed dead level, then came back the digital level and used shims to do the super-elevation, of the track.   When I did the large 8 + foot diameter curve (at the unfinished end of the layout) where it appears to be a "double main" I laminated two pieces of 1/2 inch high quality plywood together and staggered them so I ended up with on huge 8 inch wide 180 degree piece of roadbed that was 1 inch thick. 

I watched Rich Battista build some roadbed that way on one of his videos, and I was sold.   Made it possible to get a really flat true arcing sub-roadbed that ended up turning 180 degrees and is close to 9 feet across without any elevation or grade flaws.

It paid off big time as it made it relative straight forward to create a very smooth 1.5% grade for the track.  Heck that grade has  a total of 360 degrees of turns, and climbs about 6 inches, the other 2 inches are accomplished on the main's by Union Station.

Again, thanks to everyone who posted likes and positive feedback.

I was making decent progress on the industrial warehouse district that's going in that large 9 x 16 foot area, but then decided I needed get my son help me finish the ceiling and install some 6 inch recessed lights down there.  Then my daughter volunteered to hand paint some large clouds on the backdrop.   So now I am working on putting the benchwork back together and getting back to Urban Planning !

Chris, This was good enough it deserved another look today

Morning Chris beautiful layout loved so many engines running at the same time and double main lines, loved all your signal lights working  perfectly!!!

Alan

WoW,  most impressive.          j

Chris as I stated before I just love your layout! On a side note if you havent bought the can lights yet, you might want to check out the new LED can lights that are only 5/8" thick. I put a package of 12 in my new train room!

They are a lot easier then the old style can lights!

That was a fun ride.  Certainly smooth, well designed and liked the operational signals.  Thanks!  

Great layout Chris!   Tell me where you found those B&O CPLs!

@DaveSlie posted:

Great layout Chris!   Tell me where you found those B&O CPLs!

I found them about 6-7 years ago on the forum. Saying they're difficult to find is an understatement.  I am pretty sure that they were out of production back in 2017, so I bought every one that the seller had.

@stan2004 was kind enough to design a relay system with 3PDT relays that makes them work just like the B&O ABS signal prototype where the Yellow indication is reporting on the status 2 blocks ahead, so the Yellow is not on the unrealistic timer set up that most 3 rail block signals are equipped with. 

Great video of a great layout! I very much enjoyed watching it. Rich Melvin should add it to the next version of "OGR Reels". If I am not mistaken the layout has 3 levels. They way you incorporated the levels is very impressive. Thanks for sharing.

@Hudson J1e posted:

Great video of a great layout! I very much enjoyed watching it. Rich, should add it to the next version of "OGR Reels". If I am not mistaken the layout has 3 levels. They way you incorporated the levels is very impressive. Thanks for sharing.

Rich,  thanks for the kind words.   So I built it in "modules" that could be disassembled and removed from the basement without total destruction.   I mention that because when I started, it was going to be 2 levels, a relatively large single track main loop on each level about 8 inches apart in elevation.   

When I got the coal mine/tipple modules completed, which appears to be the 3rd level, I was at a "decision point".   I ended up deciding to extend the layout another 13 feet to the end of the basement, and forego building a bedroom/office in that last area.   

Once I made that decision, I also decided to change the design, from 2 independent levels to a "folded over" dogbone.  To make that happen I built a very long 1.5% grade to connect the upper and lower levels so that it became one very long "Single Main" line, roughly 240 feet in length.   I am really glad I made that decision, as it takes almost 5 minutes for train to completely traverse the main, and I can safely run 3 long trains simultaneously, and not feel the like the trains are going over the same track over and over again.   

As I knew I wanted the grade from upper to lower level on the main not to exceed 1.5%, I then figured the "Mine Run" up to the Coal Mine would need to be 3% to meet up with the main about 1/2 way down the grade from upper to the lower level.    While 3% is a little steep, it's not totally out of the realm of realistic as I am typically moving 6 - 8 hoppers up or down that grade. 

I had originally laid a sub roadbed for a connection between the two levels,  it's still unfinished but my plan is to use it as "route" to make deliveries and pick ups from the main classification yard on the upper level, with the "interchange" located on the lower level near the Union Station.   

Hope that helps, sorry for the very long reply

Chris

@chris a No worries on the reply, thank you very much for the in depth explanation. It is somewhat similar to my layout plans which will also be a single mainline. The way you run trains on your layout, not only does it give the illusion of multiple main lines, to me it makes the layout seem more realistic.

Chris,

I don't have any "paid for" track planning software, but would sure like to see your layout design (some amazing trackwork in some of those video shots!).  Any chance you could export a PDf or JPG file from your design software and post it here?

Chuck

@PRR1950 posted:

Chris,

I don't have any "paid for" track planning software, but would sure like to see your layout design (some amazing trackwork in some of those video shots!).  Any chance you could export a PDf or JPG file from your design software and post it here?

Chuck

Chuck,   I don't have what you're asking for.  I have been asked for an"as built" track plan file numerous times.   Due to Operating System updates by Microsoft, I ended up trying to keep an old desktop running with the Vista OS but as time went by, there didn't seem to be any reason to go in there and struggle trying to add the final 10 x 16 foot section of the layout to the plan, and without a bunch of CAD "layers" separating upper and lower levels it's very difficult to follow.   

I am attaching a link to a YouTube video that my son and I made 3 years ago, which honestly, I think does a better job of explaining the track plan in a video tour, with "yours truly" using a pointer to identify the highlights.   It includes a bunch of where's and why's for the Arrival & Departure tracks, the Steam Engine Service Facility, the "Interchange", the ABS signaling system, the Coal Mine Run etc....    Here's the link below to the YouTube Video -   

The Video Title on YouTube is:      Christmas 2021 Train Layout Tour & Update in 4K

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_11HRZciRU&t=70s