Benchwork almost complete

OOH, a serpentine river section.  That got my attention immediately.  Then how big it is-  very cool.  It sounds like you have a pretty good idea what your plan is.  Your past experience will pay off this time around.  I have a feeling your layout is going to be a gem.  It's hard to comment on your track plan, when I can't see it.  I'm thinking there is more to it than your description.  That's a real river you got there.  How many scale feet wide is it?  That is a major scenic element of your layout.  That should be fun to figure out.  Gonna need a bigger boat, Hooper.  There's more than bluegills swimmin' down there.

Hi William,  I am putting together a rough track plan on graph paper, but at this point it's pretty simple: two tracks circling the perimeter with crossovers and an industrial siding that may have a track parallel part of the river bank serving industries. The key is that you'll never be able to see the train on the other sides of the layout because of rising interior scenery. The river is a scale 112 ft wide from bank to bank. I am not sure if I should make it a constructed bank like you see in some cities with man-made wharfs or walls or if I should taper it down gradually. Since the river bed drops down for access I should probably do the former. Hopefully there'll be no "sharkin" in these waters, only some tug and fishing boats chuggin around.

This really interests me.  I got "corrupted" by my time in HO and now it is difficult for me to fully enjoy my trains when I can see the same train on both sides of the layout at once.  I'd really like to see how you implement the view blocking/scenery.  Please post a lot of pictures!  I'm also always interested in seeing track plans.

Looks like you will have a great set-up. The "drop down" river section will sure give a great access feature.

Looking forward to your progress, keep posting pictures.

REV

Finally got my river further along. The plexiglass added more weight to the drop-down river, and I have to add limiters to keep if from twisting as it sits in the lowest position. Overall, it's a successful project.

Pretty cool!

Clever, this human! Does the forward bridge lift out as well?

Very Nice, Great Idea!

Looks great, Paul.   Did you just paint the plexiglass or did you also apply a textured product to it?   

Rick

Paul your river looks great. Can you share some more pictures of how you rigged the river to hinge down? I may have to steal your idea, I never thought of doing that for viewing purposes. Do you have any ideas on how to hide the seams where you cut the glass?

Rich used the same method, looks amazing.

Hi everyone,

Current plans are to fix the bridges in place, thus forcing the dreaded duck-under (with the river bed folded down of course). Lift out bridges are great, just will require more work and time.

I only painted the plywood underneath the plexiglass, and then placed the plexiglass directly on top. I used various shades of blue, green, and charcoal on the wood.

The river is hinged on one side (4 heavy duty hinges) and held in place on the other side with 4 deadbolts. As for hiding the seams, I took the cheap method and used one piece of plexiglass, thus I had to mate irregular sections together, but that only is under the bridges, not in the more open part of the river. Had I the funds I would have purchased another piece of plexiglass to properly mate the sections together. Either way, there would be seams however.

Hi Paul,

Where are you located? Send me an email and maybe we can get together. Your new layout is coming along great. My email:

davidone@comcast.net

What is the plasticproduct you used in stead of glass?

Paul, Your river work looks very cool.

 Your basement pole with the square around it looks like a great project for a building to enclose it sitting right on the river bank.

Looks really nice so far. Here's an idea to think about. On the front bridge you could attach V-blocks to the bridge that sit in pockets so the bridge is perfectly aligned when set in. On one side use a pressure switch to connect power to the bridge when set in place and to cut power to the blocks ahead of it when raised. This will give you block protection when the bridge is out. Wire the pressure switch to the coil of a DPDT relay for the power routing.

Paul your bench work and bridge and water scene is looking incredible.

You are a craftsman, please keep us updated with your progress.

Fantastic work, Alex

Paul, where did you get the Aquatex in our area?

Paul,

Your work is exceptional, and that river looks great. You called it aquatex plexiglas, and if I had known it existed, I would have used it instead of the Aquatex shower glass I used for my lake, which also is a hatch, but is much heavier than plexiglas.

Another of our forum friends is contemplating making a river similar to yours, and has considered aquatex glass but is discouraged by its weight and cost. I Googled aquatex plexiglas and drew a blank.

As Brian, above, also wondered, could you provide more information on the source for aquatex plexiglas?

Thanks!

Alex

Paul...

FANTASTIC looking scene!  I am the forum member to whom Alex (above) is referring.  Right after the first of the year, I started to make plans to do something very similar to what you are doing and just recently installed a series of "concrete" breakwater sections along both sides of my "canal" scene.  I have two highway bridges crossing at two different levels rather than railroad bridges.  The canal is 30" wide and 9 feet long (no bend in it like yours since it is a canal instead of a river).  I will have a over flow of water on one end that falls about a foot down to my harbor scene in front of the city.  Anyway, the "canal" is part of the isle in order to get from one part of the layout to the other so Alex and I have been discussing how to hinge it for the last couple of months or so.  Part of the concern is the weight of the Aquatex so I have been looking for an alternative.  Sure would appreciate the source of those 4 by 8 foot sheets and the cost.  In our part of the country, no one has them in stock....  Please let us know any details that you can share!!  AND...again...WOW!!!!!  Beautiful work Paul...

Thanks,

Alan

Paul, great looking work so far!  I love that curved fascia!  What material did you use to create it?

Thank you for the comments. I've been traveling for work and haven't had the chance to check in as often as I would like. I hope things will settle down.

Brian, Alex, and Alan, the Aquatex plexiglass I purchased from Eagle Glass Shop in Eagle, PA - phone #610-458-0733. They're on Font Road near Rt. 100. It was a special order but only took a few days to get in. It's expensive stuff with tax the 4x8 sheet came to $284. Had I factored in all the weight better, I would have used 1/2" plywood for the river bed instead of 3/4". I can manage the weight, however. I used four heavy duty hinges and 4 deadbolts to secure.

Tom, for the fascia I used 1x6 and dadoed grooves in the backside to facilitate bending the curves.

Forest, thanks for the tip. I'd like to get my hands on a diagram if possible.

Pops, the column presents a challenge, and as the picture shows, I incorporated it into the layout to faciliate just what you suggested. Another forum member suggested making a building front out of cardstock, but my modeling skills leave something to be desired.

Brian and Dave, I got see your layouts someday soon, since we're all relatively close by. I'd also like to see others layouts if you're not too far away. I am still many months away from running trains myself.

Thanks Paul!  So you used the whole 4X8 sheet without cutting?  If you did cut it, what did you use?

I'll be in touch about getting together.  Every time I see Dave he hammers me about it, and rightfully so!    After some "builder's block" and a minor incident with a water heater, heavy construction has resumed.

Thanks Paul....Alex just e-mailed me to let me know you had posted the info on the plexiglass Aquatex.  Yep...the darned stuff is expensive.  Even more so locally!  I have been trying to come up with an alternative since in my case I need a full sheet and more.  I am going to use a light frame covered with Masonite rather than plywood....this in order to save on weight.  I found some heavy roll plastic that has reflective wavy water-like characteristics so I am going to paint the Masonite top the appropriate colors and then take a try at covering it with the roll plastic to see if I get acceptable results.  If so, I will post my results on the forum.  I suspect it will not look as good and may not be as "wavey" as Aquatex but I want to see if I can get decent results at a much lower cost.  I may end up getting what I paid for!!  The heavy roll plastic was around ten dollars.....

Thanks,

Alan

Very nice work. I like the curved waterway and the aquatex looks fantastic. It sure is pricey, but worth it in every way once you see how it looks. Can't wait to see more pics as you move along.

Progress is slow, however I finally got the track laid on my new layout. All Ross trackage/switches with super-elevated curves on the double-track mainline. The track plan is simple: two concentric loops (O-104 and O-96) with an industrial line and siding off of the inner-loop; and an interior sub-way line that will be mostly covered up by elevations. I am debating whether I should make the curved fascia into a viaduct; this would give the effect of a foreground rather than the train just racing around the outer edge. Or, if I should extend the fascia by means of curved foam and put trees, signals, and details on it, thus extending the outer edge of the layout by another 2-4 inches; however this would defeat the purpose of curving it (which is to allow easy access to all areas of the layout). There's always compromises in layout building. If anyone has any ideas please let me know. Meanwhile, I have to build shelving for the transformers/control systems and then the dreaded wiring begins.

Paul,

   Real nice job looking forward to seeing more.

PCRR/Dave

Great looking layout and like the superelevated curves.  How did you do those and how much elevation did you use?

Thanks...gregg

Paul'

Looks great to me Sir.

Finish out fascia as a scenic feature, adds to the overall effect. IMHO!

Rick.

Congratulations Paul, Ross is a great trouble-free trackage/turnout choice that you will enjoy. Your ingenious Waterway["drop-down river"] seriously belongs in the O-gauge Hall of Fame--its already in mine.

Looking ahead---after wiring you will very quickly recover from the resulting case of "trainback" and "train-neck" and can leap into the fun of railside rust-painting and track ballasting..

Thanks, everyone.

I found pieces of foam archways that I should be able to glue onto the curved fascia, which will hopefully give the impression of a wide curved viaduct on the wide-sweeping outside mainline.

For the super elevation I simply cut pieces of cardstock and placed them under the outside half of the cork roadbed; being careful to transition from tangent to curves as gently as possible. The total rise on the curves is only about 3/32" - less than 1/8". The results are worth the extra work, especially when ballasted. Trains leaning into curves is really neat.

Dewey, I'll try my hand at weathering the outside rails, after ballasting; one of those "down the road" projects.

Very nice Paul, wish I had your room. When you have some time let me know I would like to check out what your doing. Also if you need some help let me know.

dave

I like the river aquatex look.  that is really cool.  not cheap.  my wife would have a fit!