Building the “Juniata Valley Railroad” UPDATE 11/3/2024

Track looks good. JohnA

Max,

Interesting name for your railroad.  Are you planning to have any industries such as Standard Steel or American Viscose?  Perhaps an amusement park?

Jan, LGHS '67

@Jan posted:

Max,

Interesting name for your railroad.  Are you planning to have any industries such as Standard Steel or American Viscose?  Perhaps an amusement park?

Jan, LGHS '67

As of right now I have no plans as far as industries, as that would likely be on the next phase of this layout. But possibly something tying to Lewistown would be included.

Jan:

I’ll push him to include a Heading’s Drug Store or McMeens in his downtown!

Curt (Max’s dad)

Chief Logan Campus / PHHS ‘73

Very interesting track plan, some good options for running trains

If you have to run the trains in the position your pictures indicate the benchwork location, be very careful about putting any curved track too close to the noted obstructions (drain pipe and walls).  You will not realize how far "out" some of your engines will swing, when going through curves, until you hear the "SCRAPE" of paint or materials being removed from your engines because the track was placed too close to the obstructions.

Chuck

Interesting track plan. Why is there no connection between the outer main line and the inner main line?

@Hot Water posted:

Interesting track plan. Why is there no connection between the outer main line and the inner main line?

When I put it together I made the decision to keep them separate. My current layout at my parents is connected, and I can probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve ran from one loop to the other. By the time I get to that phase I may end up connecting them at some point, though.

@Double Check posted:

When I put it together I made the decision to keep them separate. My current layout at my parents is connected, and I can probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve ran from one loop to the other. By the time I get to that phase I may end up connecting them at some point, though.

Good choice - crossovers can be problematic, so not much point in having them if you rarely use them.  The fewer switches the better, especially if you're running passenger cars or other long equipment on the outer loop.  And you'll probably rearrange the track at some point.  Down the road, it would be nice if you can find a way to expand to accommodate 72-inch curves so that you can run just about anything. 

......and decided to use casters, allowing me to move the layout away from the wall during construction.

Casters might also prove useful in the future to gain access to those hard to reach areas in the future.

Nice job on the Mianne and the Atlas track.  Putting it on casters is a good idea for access.  My guess is the folks who are urging you to include items named for the area will convince you to do it.  It is fun for sure!  Is a move you suggested in the imminent future?

@Mark Boyce posted:

Is a move you suggested in the imminent future?

It is, we just aren’t sure on the timeline of it all. We bought our house 3 years ago shortly before getting married with the expectations that it would be a temporary home (originally for 5-8 years). However with the housing market like it is, we may be here longer than expected. We’d like to eventually buy land and build a house to our desired specs. This home has been a good stepping stone though, as it has shown us what we want and don’t want in our next house.

Max, our younger daughter and her husband are in the same situation.  After 10 years marriage, they are finding their house will be too small when their first child arrives around the end of this month.  

I’ll look forward to seeing your layout building progress.

I went to Home Depot today and picked up 3 sheets of 3/4” plywood. I made the mistake of trusting the guy there to cut it down to the 61 3/4” long sections I needed… one end would be correct, the other… not so much. I did what I could once I got home and got my table saw and skil saw out. It’s not perfect, but at least on the front portion it looks good. There was a good bit of scrap left so I made some storage shelves under the layout for train boxes once they make the move over. The front, smaller shelves will likely be for scenery items and whatever else ends up there.

Once clean up was done I laid my track out to get a visual of how things will be. I still need to paint the top (that means you’re helping dad!) before setting the roadbed and track down permanently and getting started on wiring.

It’s coming together piece by piece, but it’ll be nice once I can at least go back to running trains in my own house. And I’m sure my dad will like all the extra space in his basement once my old layout is dismantled!

Looks good, Max!

Painting the layout platform? Have you considered "green patio carpeting" instead for some sound deadening and a grass-like "scenery" effect as the base for houses and structures?  Roadway products from Woodland Scenics could be placed on top of (or cut into) the grass for streets.

Just saying ...

Mike Mottler   LCCA 12394

Mike

I’m painting it so I don’t have to look at bare plywood for months till I get to scenery. I’ve done it with my past layouts too. It also helps once you have scenery down to “cover up” any spots you might’ve missed with grass.

NOVEMBER 3, 2024 ——

As of right now not much has changed on the layout. The track is all wired along with my DCS system. The table has been painted and I’ve been figuring out the layout of buildings that I want. I’ve also done minor work on my buildings - painting and/or adding mortar lines. Currently, I am working on the bases for my MTH buildings. I’m using 1/8” Masonite that I’ll attach the buildings to. Once these are done and painted, I’ll begin roadwork.

Below is a photo of the bases after cutting them to the sizes I needed, as well as an overview of the layout with the overhead lighting I added.

I have a video on my YouTube page - https://youtube.com/@maxstrains?si=uKsAVA85_K3mwyQI

Very good!  Are you attaching the buildings to the bases?  Are they going to serve as the sidewalks, and the table top as a base for the roads?

Mark

Yes I’ll be attaching the buildings to 1/8” Masonite bases and will attempt to score sidewalk lines into them. The roads will be made from art illustration board.

Sounds like a good plan, Max!  I'll be looking forward to seeing progress as you are able.

Max, What paints did you use to weather the track?

It looks very realistic!

EMD

I used Floquil “rail brown”… this is somewhat hard to find because it’s not made anymore. eBay tends to have some. The ties were done with Mission Models “rail tie brown”. I did both in a cheap beginner airbrush from Amazon. Trial and error… I bought a few extra pieces of track just in case.

Thanks for the reply Max!

I believe JD Stucks used the same paints on his Atlas track