Dunham Studios new Quechee Gorge Layout

That looks very nice. What are the overall rough dimensions of the layout?

I really enjoy your postings of the layouts you are building. Please keep them coming.

This being the fourth of July, I can only give you the general dimensions, which are just under 10 by 20 feet.  But it's a "walk-around", 360 degree, layout, which makes it very different from our previous posts.  In fact, the next series of posts after "the Quechee" on the "O-Gauge Side" will be a very similar but considerably more complex walk-around" layout with many more levels.   As soon as Fletcher Conlon, my computer and design partner, returns tomorrow, we'll get the Quechee technical drawings translated to "real-world" images and get them posted for you all, along with the new laser-cut Quechee Bridge and 3D Printed Arch Bridge pix.

Thanks, I was just curious about the space required for the layout. The rough dimensions are fine, but plans would be interesting to look at as well. Thanks again for posting these layout builds. 

Clarke, 

Awesome - that is going to look fantastic. Love the layout design.

The theoretical, that is the design part, of the Quechee Gorge Layout has evolved into the physical. That is the layout itself. Fletch has fed his drawings to the router which has cut out the platform tops for the lower level. Then Fletch matched up the pieces and indicated to me how high above this level the next one will be: 6". Also notice how the outline of the river is indicated on the platform. For stability, it will not be cut through until the platform is braced from below. A very clever gambit.

Barb cut out the lower level platform tops.

One of the photos I thought I posted seems to have not shown up. (Maybe I didn't push the right key.) So here it is. As you can see, it's nearly the same as one of those above only from a slightly different angle. Mystery resolved. I added this pic above just in case the problem could be corrected right where it started and it seems to have worked but I'm leaving this in anyway temporarily., just in case

Barb

WOW!!! Over the top cool, and VERY efficient use of space. Your benchwork quality is second to none.

At first, I thought Quechee was a creative way to spell "Catchy." Thank goodness for Google!

I've visited Quechee Gorge in VT, it's a spectacular location.

Bob

Even more magical to me than having the CNC Router cut out the platform tops on command is watching the router "draw" the track plans on the cut tops. It's as though the CNC is Fletcher's faithful robot (but a lot too big to be cute like an R-2 D-2) Fletcher , our graphics and computer guru, put a marker into the "hand" of the computer and on it went. After platform tops were marked, Fletcher assembled them on the floor in the barn. With the drafting below as a guide, you can see how it's all beginning to happen. The CNC is drawing the track plan that Fletcher had drafted. The straight lines are the centerlines for placing track. The "toothed" images are the footprints of the turnouts.  The dark area indicated on the drafting below is "layout crib" you're looking at in three dimensions.

Barb

flanger posted:

I've visited Quechee Gorge in VT, it's a spectacular location.

Bob

Yes, it is.  And the hike at the bottom, along the river, is great, too.

And if you're into antiques, the antique mall on the other side of the bridge is a great place to spend an afternoon.

Balshis posted:

flanger posted:

I've visited Quechee Gorge in VT, it's a spectacular location.

Bob

Yes, it is.  And the hike at the bottom, along the river, is great, too.

And if you're into antiques, the antique mall on the other side of the bridge is a great place to spend an afternoon.

 

And they have a couple of train layouts downstairs.....

Here's the actual base for the Quechee Gorge Layout. And while the carpentry (base and platform tops) were being built, Delia was working on fabricating the Quechee Gorge bridge in acrylic (then painted) and she and Roy were creating the solid arches and pillars for elsewhere on the layout which Roy will cast from the molds they made. Below are some samples of what's happening that will give you an idea of what's happening as the project evolves.

Barb

Wheee!  A train attraction in Vermont!

Jon  

This is absolutely  fascinating! Thanks for posting and sharing.

Our railroad museum in Sioux City has one of his early layouts in HO scale that was built in 1991 for a gentleman in Omaha. go to www.milwaukeerailroadshops.org. Yes, it still is running and really in pretty good condition as it runs 6 days a week. You can also see the Great Northern steamer 1355 on the web site.

Dick

always fun to see your posts

will you devote some time to the shipping and delivery aspects of this project once it is completed

it is bound to be big and bulky and i am interested in how you plan on shipping it, etc

thank you

j

          The Quechee layout will probably ship in a 26 foot rental truck.  As all our layouts are sized to fit into the narrowest, smallest spaces required to pass through for successful delivery, the Quechee layout probably will qualify for a 26 footer.  We have two different sets of internal "load arranger frames" to properly create height, width, and separation in a rental truck so that we can pack as tight as we can in Theatrical Tractor Trailers which have special vertical load arranger tracks and Load Bars.  Actually, the HO Scale layout over on the OGR "HONGZ Side" will in fact require a full  53 foot Theatrical Trailer as will the O Gauge "Basic Layout" also now in the completion stages here.  We'll post photos of the Truck and Trailer loads when they happen.

          And a special "thank you" to Dick for helping to save our Omaha layout from oblivion.  Like so many of our layouts, they have lived to see better days after their original purpose, many of which have found homes in Train Museums.  Much of this has to do with the fact that all Dunham Studios layouts are all built to come apart and travel if and when necessary.  In fact, the Boston and Maine Layout (see the HONGZ side now) has had two owners and four destinations, not counting three trips back to Dunham Studios for reconfiguration.

Clarke

Hi Clarke and Barb,

 This is amazing to watch, please keep us posted on your progress of this beautiful layout coming to life

Very enjoyable!!!!!!

Thanks, Alex

Awesome work and great to see this come to life

Clarke (and company),

The technology that you bring to layout construction is eye-popping.  The 3-D layout rendering is impressive.  And I had no idea that "computer-assisted" now extends to drawing a 1:1 track plan directly onto the layout platform tops.  I was blown away to see the pen drawing not just the center-lines -- but even the outline of the turnout's railroad ties!  WOW!!! 

David

More progress as Bob Balogh sets in spreaders. The next job in carpentry is building the platforms (you saw the platform tops already). Meanwhile Delia is back to doing bridgework (and that's not dentistry!)

Barb

Bob Balogh (carpenter and model-railroader) has platform #1 under control.

Barb's

Bob is finishing assembling platform #1 and in it goes. Then on to platform #2. Roy helps him place the platforms. And platforms 1 & 2 are where they go. Note the marker indications on the platform tops for track and turnouts and also note the cut through "dotted line" markings for the river.

Barb

Amazing to see how it's all done!!! 

David

Nice  work. As a master craftsman myself, do you use 1/2" Baltic birch and 3/4" US sourced birch or the imported stuff? 

Hello MDUPPY,

We use Premium Plywood, a wholesale distributor in Albany, New York.  They have learned what works for us and they keep us in that quality area when the supplies change, which appears to be constant. 

HELLO EVERYONE:

By the way, if you want to see photos of the loading of the COMBO LAYOUT into its tractor trailer on the way to Florida, Barb has posted them on the Dunham Studios Facebook site.  As there are dozens of photos, it takes a while to get them all posted everywhere.  But they are coming here as well.  Soon.

awesome work and the posts document the project nicely

Bob is working on platform #4 in the carpentry shop. Meanwhile he's placed platforms 1,2 and 3 on the base. Note the "trestle crib". The base of the crib is what we'll call the zero level. Don't hesitate to go back several postings to find these levels on the ground plans I posted earlier.

Barb

Quechee Gorge Vermont. 

Hey Mike,

Thanks for the great Quechee Gorge pix.  Your taste is impeccable!  Great eye for detail both in the bridge and the water-borne geologic Gorge details.  You can see how close we came with our Laser-Cut version of the Quechee Bridge, which really did start out as a railroad bridge before being widened for autos.  We did visually simplify the inner connecting struts but by emphasizing their web-like textures so the effect is visually the same.

Fantastic photo's = can't wait to see the final project.

Now platforms 1-4 are pretty much in place. Roy has cut out the river. (Remember how it was marked on the plywood by being pre-cut in a "dotted line" pattern?) Then he smoothed the cut edges (which you can see him doing in the photograph).  Bob, meanwhile, is working on assembling platform 5  in the carpentry shop.

Barb

Platform 5 is sitting in the carpentry shop ready to install while Roy, Bob and Tom go ahead with setting the river in place and bolting the platforms together.  You saw the river (above) as a cut-out. Well, that cut-out fits back into place several inches below the platform top. When the river is screwed in place and the platforms are bolted together, Roy will cut holed in the platform frames through which we will run the wires necessary for the electrical needs of the layout: controls and track power.

Barb 

The last of the platforms is assembled in the carpentry shop,taken into the barn, placed on the layout and put in place. Notice that Roy got the base prime coated before the last platform was put in. Now he's staining the trestle ends before moving on to casting what needs to be cast .

Had to take off platform tops to put in the spreaders. Once the underpinnings are secure the first level platforms can be bolted into place. Note how Fletcher checks the overhang on the first platform before it's installed and that allows the placement of the next platforms to be precise in their location. There is, as you may notice, still a gap or two at the ends. These will be filled in by the next level  of platform. Do take note of the holes cut in the platform frames to allow wires to go from one platform through to the next. This is critical as these sections of wire will plug together for smooth transit.

Barb

Here's a long view with the 2nd level in place. This view is from the "back". Remember though this is a free-standing layout which is accessible from all around. In the second photo, Fletch and Ray are checking dimensions for the future tunnel portal. The double tracks will go through the portal and under a mountain.

Barb

Very interesting.  I may have missed it, but I am assuming sections of the skirting open for access to wiring.  Could you show how you do that sometime.  If I missed it, please direct me to the topic and date so I can see that?  Thank you!

Fletch has programmed the CNC Router to cut out the last second level platform top, which it is doing as Delia continues assembling and painting buildings and details. Roy has taped the track lines indicated by marker on the exposed platform tops prior to painting them. After they are painted it will be time for the cork and track to be put on.

Barb

Barb,  are those structures and flats designed and scratch built by you guys. ? 

Thanks, Alex