Dunham Studios new Quechee Gorge Layout

Wondering why I have so many pictures of feet sticking out the door from under the layout? Wonder what the guys were doing? Take a look at the electronics set-up under the layout and the question will be answered.  That's a LOT of wiring. Thank you John Doty and crew: Mike and Tom.

Barb

Does labeling and color coded wire come with it too?

prrhorseshoecurve posted:

Does labeling and color coded wire come with it too?

I would think so, at the amount of time and labor into this project this has to be a six figure project JMO

Absolutely, We have three and one half pages describing the various circuits and the color codes that identify them. Otherwise trouble shooting would be impossible. There are a large number of Track, Switch, Lighting, Uncoupler,  Animation, and Signal circuits to keep track of.  John Doty, Dunham Studios.

Clarke:

Are you using DCC switch control with DCS?  Why would you mix control systems?

Zac

Yes, We do use DCC for switch control. We also very easily can have multiple control panels. Once a Switch is set up for DCC control it is easy to make another control panel and it only requires one small six wire cable to connect it.   We use NCE Mini-Panels Mounted directly to the control panel and stationary decoders at the switches. This eliminates a great deal of wire and diode matrices. It also allows flexibility in changing the switch routing. To use the  DCS System requires all of the above wiring to have a control panel to throw switches.  On a layout with a large number of switches and possible routes it is very difficult to quickly scroll through the switch menu on the handheld Remote.  John Doty

Regarding the question about why we use two control systems, to me it's very simple (John may have a more complex answer for you).  A DCS Controller controls many things, but it can do them only one at a time.  Therefore your DCS Train may well arrive at the Switch Matrix you desire well before you've been able to type in the name of the Switch Matrix that you desire.  A button on your control panel track plan takes care of the problem.  This is a variation on the quandary presented to a DCS Hand-Held Operator when he has three trains approaching the same junction at the same time:  Problem, you can only talk to one train at a time.  It's kind of Un-American to just push the Panic Button.  isn't it.

Clarke

Thanks John and Clarke.  Your answers give me something to think about for my own layout.

It goes without saying that your work is both outstanding and inspiring.  Thanks to you all for posting this.

Zac

Dunham Studios,

Thank you for sharing your talents, techniques and time with us during the building of the Quechee-Gorge layout.  I believe this is the best thread I've ever read on the OGR Forum!

Continued success to you all,

Frank

Wow..! Thanks for giving us some ideas when we tackle our layouts.

In terms of electronics: the signal bridge is in and flashing a "go". The small control panel for the 'front' of the layout has been installed. Meanwhile the top painted sections of the fascia were temporarily put in place so that Delia could foam in the gaps prior to carving and scenic-ing them.

Barb

Delia has carved and scenic-ed the edges. The fascia is up (minus the little doors which are finished but not installed). Note how the pine shines between the painted top and bottom with its four finish coats. The signals are signaling as they should. The street lights are lit and the buildings glow from within. Even the Smoke House is doing its thing: smoking! I'll show you the town lit up on Monday. It was ready to photograph. I wasn't.

Barb

I took a couple of photos of the (promised) town lit up. For some reason doing with the focus (or my shaking hands) they didn't come out. Roy tried. Same thing. So Mike Burke took my camera and put it on video. Voila! Now you can at least get a long view of the town with lights on.

Barb

If I had the cash........nice work 

I can't get it to run. I may be alone with my Mac

Buzz

I can't either. I'll post my photos and see whether I can figure out why it won't run. (Yeah, sure. Me the computer sub-literate!)

Barb

The video works fine here. Windows 10 on a PC.

Windows 10 here but all I see is a tiny OGR logo. 

The photos are pretty awesome. 

Details. Details. Details. Here are some 'peopled' scenes (which is what I do) plus a look at how the 'little doors' , which provide access to the track through the fascia, work. They attach with velcro thereby eliminating the need for hinges and keeping the surface look sleek except for the knobs.  Next time I check in I'll concentrate on showing you trains.

Barb

Trains! Trains! Trains!

Barb

Dunham Studios posted:

Trains! Trains! Trains!

Incredible work, Dunham Studios!  It's very enjoyable to follow your progress

Yesterday was our day to do a photo shoot on the Quechee Gorge Layout. Clarke and Fletcher did roughs for a video for u-tube and our website. That won't be ready right away but I did a series of stills and a 'teaser' video which I'll happily share with you.The "from above" pics were shot by Roy who went up in the Genie Lift to get the angle. This view won't ever be available to photograph after the layout is delivered to its home in Vermont because the client's ceiling height won't allow for 'above' shots.

Barb

What a great layout!! Turned out very nice, and I'm sure anyone would be quite excited to have something like this. Nice job!! And thank you for posting all the details of it's building. It's been fun to follow long and see the progress and what the final result was. Beautiful layout!!

There are always those 'little' details...like 'will the client's trains run?' We know the layout works so we asked the client to send us ALL of his engines (we know the cars will clear) for John to check out, not on a test track, but on the layout itself. So here they are. What a fine collection: such regional consistency. (Remember this layout is going home to Vermont.)And a side note: with Quechee Gorge heading for Vermont shortly, and the Family Heritage Lionel Layout well underway, we're past the planning stage and into building a new large "O" layout: the Allegheny & Pacific Railway for a client in Pennsylvania. (I'll start a thread on that one within a week.) But that leaves the Studio with room to design and start building one more large or two smaller layouts still this year. Anyone who's interested in having us build your dream layout, please get in touch with Clarke.

Barb

Thanks for posting the progress on these layouts, they turned out great. It was very interesting following along.

I am looking forward to the starting of the new one and will be watching for your new thread.

I am interested in this new one. I wonder if it's an all PRR layout?

Actually, we're already in the "mock-up" stage for the new Allegheny & Pacific layout.  There will be a city made up of fifty Dept. 56 buildings climbing the "foothills" of a large mountain range.  Delia and I have already gotten the ceramic buildings up on top of a full size printout of the city area and are building up the "mountainside" in full scale mock-up dimension (which I must say is already getting pretty close to the "real" thing).  This is a great way to approach an idea that has been formulated in 2-D and to give it a "shove" into 3-D.  We'll post this process as soon a Barb gets the new "Allegheny and Pacific" thread set up.  Which will be soon.    Clarke

Also, I noticed that Barb mentioned what's coming up in the future here at Dunham Studios.  She didn't mention that one of the projects takes us "all the way down" to Z-Scale.  And it's huge for Z-Scale--6 X 11 feet.  That's a plantation of a layout in O-Scale!  We originally did this layout some many years ago (back in the days of pencil draftings), and we'd nearly forgotten about it, though it would come up in conversations now and then.  It's long enough ago that it can actually benefit from the passage of time.  When we built it, "American" rolling stock was in still someone's imagination.  Now it's real, as is Digital Control.  So the challenge is to to take a Euro-Centric layout and Americanize it, Modernize it, and Digitize it.  Should be fun.   And because of the tiny physical size of this layout project, it will allow us to add another full-size project here in the near future.  Any takers?      Clarke

In reply to "Horse Shoe Curve's" question about the Allegheny and Pacific RR. the answer is, no.  It's an "Amalgam-of-O-Gauge, I'll run what I like" kind of layout, but will be a ton of fun, I think.  Our new client provided us with a very well thought-out trackplan to which we have added some Dunham Studios twists, mostly in the alignment of its Accessories and some additional  Dunham Studios "story telling".  But if you want to see a really gorgeous pure PRR Layout, try our layout at the Altoona Railroader's Memorial Museum, right in the huge Altoona Yards below your favorite Horse Shoe Curve.  Clarke

CBQer posted:

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

I live in Sioux City and have seen this layout many times.  As my son and I have begun o gauge railroading I've often looked to this layout for what could be even though it is an ho.  I love Mr. Dunham's comments about the art of model railroading and the momentary suspension of belief.  I recently took a few pictures of this layout as inspiration for a future attempt at building mountains on our own layout.  Thank you for this thread and the inspiration.  I took these pictures of the Dunham studios layout in Sioux City a couple of weeks ago.

Any pictures of the move and setup?

Chris

LVHR

That's what I want to see, the break down of the layout for the move.

I took close to 100 pictures of the disassembly and load out yesterday of the Quechee Gorge Layout, which today is being assembled at the home of our client in Vermont. I culled the lot but it still took me several hours to set up on the Dunham Studios facebook site. I had to post the photos in four parts as facebook wouldn't take them all as a whole entry. Take a look at my four Dunham Studios facebook posts if you'd like to see them now. I'll post an abbreviated number here on the Forum in the next few days. Clarke's taking pictures at the load-in and we'll post some of those as well.

Here are a fair number of my load-out pictures: to see even more, go to Dunham Studios facebook . But these give you a good feel for how a load-out of a good-sized layout proceeds. The whole Dunham Studios gang was hard at work on this one but you won't see shots of of what was going on under the layout where the multitude of wires that go to the tracks, signals, turnouts, animations, street and building lights had to be disconnected.

Barb

Very neat, a book would be very useful to starters and experienced modelers in this hobby. Easy to say with out knowing the cost. I wonder how many OGRers would be interested? Much can be learned from this series? It is very appreciated.

Thanks for all the photos, these, the past, and future ones.

Buzz

Again all I can say is WOW!!!!!!!

And unbelievable 

Thanks for the pics I'll check out fb page when I get a chance.