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Don, Alan -

Thank you for your kind words.

 

Popsrr,

Most of the supports were/are 3/4" plywood I had left over from other projects. Sort of an overkill, but a good place to use left overs, and they were stable. Others are 5/8" thick. I cut them the same width as the QB, about 8-1/4", as explained next.

 

The distance from outside tie outer end to inside tie inner end is 6-3/4” on my dual main. I cut the QB 1-1/2” over this, making it 8-1/4” wide. I angled the cuts 30° and that leaves about 7/16” from the tie ends to the QB edge on both sides.

 

A curved section: 

 

QB CUT 01 med crp DSC05504

 

And a straight:

 

QB CUT 02 med crp DSC05506

 

Hope this helps you, and do let us know how you end up doing it.

Thx.

Alex

Attachments

Images (2)
  • QB CUT 01 med crp DSC05504
  • QB CUT 02 med crp DSC05506

"FABRIC" looking material" ??

 

That is just the QB surface, which I painted grey for the straight section, and left it black (as is) for the curved section.

 

The QuietBrace (a Temple-Inland product) is 1/2" thick. I have only seen it at Home Depot, but others may carry it. It is a sound-deadening material for buildings. It comes in 4' x 8' sheets and sells for $8-$9 per sheet. I couldn't find Homasote, so I used QB, and I am happy with it. (Ask Alan/leavingtracks about it - he has been using it for years.)

 

Alex

The Hidden Pass Junction Railroad has several tracks that join the two main sections of the railroad. These tracks are located behind the stairwell and hidden from the Control Center; hence the name of the railroad.

 

These hidden tracks can be seen and accessed from the service aisle (22 inches wide) and the lower level tracks are hidden from view for quite a span. The upper level tracks are readily visible, but I wanted to hide the short sections (about 4-ft) that are directly behind the stairwell, so I am building a mountain in this area.

 

The upper level tracks enter the mountain in two pairs from the west side, but all four are together on the east side and require a wide tunnel entrance. After considering several alternatives, I elected to use an eliptical-shape portal. NOTE: In the pictures below, North is down.

 

 The Hidden Tracks - Upper and Lower Levels:

00 HPJ Tracks 01 Labels

 

Mountain location (red line) as seen from the west side. The three portals shown are for the lower level tracks.

01 HP wside med crp redline DSC_0605

 

The pink foam shows the location of the mountain as seen from the west east side.

02 HPJ East Portal 03 med crp DSC05497

 

The east side wide portal is done! Eventually, you will no be able to see as much of the far side through the tunnel.

03 HP Mtn 01 med crp DSC05597

 

Here you can see the stairwell closet.

04 HP Mtn 02 med crp DSC05599

 

05 HP Mtn 03 med crp DSC05605

 

This side of the mountain will be connected with the other side at the top.

06 HP Mtn 04 med crp DSC05606

 

As seen from a passenger riding the "L" train.

07 HP Mountain med crp DSC05610

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Alex

Attachments

Images (8)
  • 00 HPJ Tracks 01 Labels
  • 01 HP wside med crp redline DSC_0605
  • 02 HPJ East Portal 03 med crp DSC05497
  • 03 HP Mtn 01 med crp DSC05597
  • 04 HP Mtn 02 med crp DSC05599
  • 05 HP Mtn 03 med crp DSC05605
  • 06 HP Mtn 04 med crp DSC05606
  • 07 HP Mountain med crp DSC05610

Hey, Alex -

 

With as many pictures as I have been taking of the construction as I progress, your suggestion definitely is not out of the question. I would say that I post about 1 out of every 25 pictures I take, so there would be plenty to arrange in some sort of logical progress and to provide tips. But would there really be any interest?

 

Thx!

 

Alex

Alex....

 

Got home to your e-mail with these pictures....your mountain and tunnels are very nice!  I like how you went with the concrete poured type of portals and especially the 3-D appearance of the West portals.  By the way, I will PM you either later tonight or tomorrow as far as what is coming up in June and the rest of the summer.

 

Alan

Thank you, Alex and Alan!

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

While I was waiting for the paint to dry on the mountain and tunnel portals (above posts), I started on Lake Chiemsee, which is the largest lake on the Hidden Pass Junction RR.

 

It is made of a piece of Aquatex glass (thank you Dennis Brennan) approximately 24” x 43” x 41” x 46” with just one right angle. I painted the bottom of the lake, the side of the glass with the most texture, Rust-Oleum Night Tide. I liked the Camouflage Green that Dennis and others have used for their harbor scenes, but since mine is a lake, I wanted a hint of blue, and the Rust-Oleum Night Tide fits the bill nicely.

 

Due to the somewhat trapezoidal shape of the glass (except it has no parallel sides) it is easy to slide it back about two inches out of the three-sided grooved frame, and lower it. I built two rails under the lake to rest the glass once it is slid out from its frame. The rails are about two inches lower than the glass.

 

[Click on pitures to enlarge] 

 

Lake Chiemsee almost finished (not done with details around the lake)

02 LC Finished 01 med crp DSC05777

 

Another view

03 LC Finished 02 med crp DSC05772

 

Glass slid out of the frame to become an access hatch

04 LC Hatch open med crp DSC05766

 

The 48X-size giant pops up to do detail work.

05 LC Hatch in use med crp DSC05764

 

Frame detail and rail. The grooves on the frame are 3/8 deep and 7/32 wide (glass is 5/32 thick)

06 LC Hatch frame1 med crp DSC05758

 

View of the frame at the front side.

08 LC Hatch frame3 med crp DSC05761

 

Little by little, I'll get it all done . . .

 

Thanks for looking

Alex

Attachments

Images (6)
  • 02 LC Finished 01 med crp DSC05777
  • 03 LC Finished 02 med crp DSC05772
  • 04 LC Hatch open med crp DSC05766
  • 05 LC Hatch in use med crp DSC05764
  • 06 LC Hatch frame1 med crp DSC05758
  • 08 LC Hatch frame3 med crp DSC05761

Looks great. I really like Dennis Brennan's idea of using the aquatex glass to represent water, and I like the blue color you used more than the green color I've seen in other examples.

 

A suggestion for the details, to have some sort of small boat ramp to allow the canoes access to the lake. There could be a dirt road and a vehicle parked with a rack on top for the canoes, or even some people waiting and setting up a picnic.

Added a few more "openings" on the East side. (Click on pictures to enlarge.)

 

Made this timber portal out of left over pieces from the trestle.  

A Tunnel East Lower 01 med crp DSC_0718

 

Steel H-Column reinforced 'hole in the wall' serves as observation point for O-Gauge operator, and as access for the railroad maintenance crew.

B Tunnel East Maintenance 01 med crp DSC_0723

 

C Tunnel East Maintenance 02 med crp DSC_0721

 

Road tunnel leading up to second level. Idea 'borrowed' from Alex Malliae.

D Tunnel 7th Ave 01 med crp DSC_0712

 

Thank you for looking!

Alex

Attachments

Images (4)
  • A Tunnel East Lower 01 med crp DSC_0718
  • B Tunnel East Maintenance 01 med crp DSC_0723
  • C Tunnel East Maintenance 02 med crp DSC_0721
  • D Tunnel 7th Ave 01 med crp DSC_0712

Peter,

 

Interestingly, so far I have made eight tunnel portals (not counting the ones that consist of girders, beams and H-columns), and all are different!   I plan to make a video of trains running through these portals, hopefully starting today.

 

Yes, that access hatch (lake) has already come in handy a couple of times, and I suspect that it will be more so in the future.

 

Thank you for your nice comments!

 

Alex

Mike,

 

Thank you for your nice comments. I have been taking pictures of what I do all along, about 2500 so far, and may look into what it would take to edit them and add some text to create a book.

 

Speaking of which, here are some pictures - four new ones and six from a few days ago. (Click on image to enlarge.) 

  

Yard 01 med crp DSC_0787

 

Yard 02 med crp DSC_0790

 

Yard 03 med crp DSC_0796

 

Yard 04 med crp DSC_0797

  

Chiemsee Extended 2 med crp DSC_0738

 

Chiemsee Details 0 med crp DSC05940

 

Chiemsee Details 1 med crp DSC05930

 

Chiemsee Details 2 med crp DSC05935

 

Chiemsee Details 4 med crp DSC05938

 

Chiemsee Details 5 med crp DSC05939

 

Thank you for looking!

 

Alex

Attachments

Images (10)
  • Yard 01 med crp DSC_0787
  • Yard 02 med crp DSC_0790
  • Yard 03 med crp DSC_0796
  • Yard 04 med crp DSC_0797
  • Chiemsee Extended 2 med crp DSC_0738
  • Chiemsee Details 0 med crp DSC05940
  • Chiemsee Details 1 med crp DSC05930
  • Chiemsee Details 2 med crp DSC05935
  • Chiemsee Details 4 med crp DSC05938
  • Chiemsee Details 5 med crp DSC05939
Last edited by Ingeniero No1

Rich, Alex, Alan -

  

Thanks!

  

Well, I almost made it.

  

Yesterday would have been the first day since I started the layout 17 months ago that I would have not done anything to the layout, excepting the days I was not home, of course. All I had done up to dinner time was to run trains!

  

But after dinner, I happened to glance at the last area that was not ‘finished’, and just had to do it. It was another hatch that remained as an empty hole, it took a couple of hours to finish, and now I can say that all the ‘Heavy Construction’ is done.

  

All the track, basic wiring to the track and to the turnouts, (and a few accessories), all horizontal surfaces, all retaining walls and all tunnel portals are done. At least round one, that is.

  

Now I can concentrate on ballasting the rest of the track, adding the rest of the buildings, roads and ‘grassy areas; completing the street and other lighting, the train signals, and wiring the rest of the control panel.

  

When that is done – another year perhaps – I’ll get started on computer control.

 

 In the meantime, I’ll run some trains and take some videos.

 

 Thanks for looking!

 

 Alex

 

Thanks, Bruce!

I was planning on waiting until the 18th month, the year-and-a-half mark, to deem basic construction done, bit it came a litle sooner - probably because now I am retired!

 

Here are a series of pictures I took yesterday of the current completion of the layout. (25 pictures take a lot of room, so it would be just as easy to click on the first thumbnail, below, and advance from picture to picture.)

 

Next will be a video of a ride along the entire layout one time.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Alex

Attachments

Images (25)
  • med 01 crp DSC05750
  • med 02 crp DSC_0847
  • med 03 crp DSC_0810
  • med 04 crp DSC_0848
  • med 05 crp DSC_0855
  • med 06 crp DSC_0876
  • med 07 crp DSC_0883
  • med 08 crp DSC_0893
  • med 09 crp DSC_0919
  • med 10 crp DSC_0808
  • med 11 crp DSC_0827
  • med 11a crp DSC_0931
  • med 11b crp DSC_0935
  • med 11c crp DSC_0938
  • med 12 crp DSC_0901
  • med 13 crp DSC_0904
  • med 14 crp DSC05963
  • med 15 crp DSC_0926
  • med 16 crp DSC_0907
  • med 17 crp DSC_0908
  • med 18 crp DSC_0846
  • med 19 crp DSC_0909
  • med 20 crp DSC_0844
  • med 21 crp DSC_0930
  • med 22 crp DSC_0928
Originally Posted by Ingeniero No1:

...

I was planning on waiting until the 18th month, the year-and-a-half mark, to deem basic construction done, bit it came a litle sooner - probably because now I am retired!

 

...

 

Congratulations, Alex, on reaching this major milestone!  I can't think of a better way to spend time in one's retirement.  I only hope I'm blessed with the same opportunity in those years. 

 

I've got a HUGE project in the planning stages that I'll be soliciting feedback on shortly.  And watching your progress here (among a few other forumites as well) has been nothing short of inspirational.

 

Many thanks for sharing your adventures in O-Gauge trains with us.

 

 

David

 

P.S.  I think I recognized an Intermodal Crane from my forum sales earlier this year that made its way onto your masterpiece of a layout.  Glad to see it being used!

Steve, Dewey, Alan, SaabsndTrain –

 

Thank you for your comments; and as always, they are very much appreciated indeed.

 

David,

Yes, that is the crane I bought from you and it was a perfect addition. The Intermodal yard is one of the areas I have not detailed at all, but I will do so soon. I will have the crane operational, and plan to do an automatic cycle where it travels back and forth and raises and lowers a container, but will not drop or pick up a container; at least not automatically.

 

Thanks to all –

 

And Happy Independence Day!

 

Alex

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