New Bridge Update 2/24/2014

Wow Louis, Fantastic start to what looks to be a incredible layout! With all the great helpers it should move right along. Thanks for posting all the photos.

RRT File below the BMP

Great Job Lou! 

 

 

 

Amazing work. I just love looking at you layout pictures. Please keep updating us on your progress.

Thank you,

Jimmy

You guys are doing a great job! Keep the pictures coming!!

Thanks

 

Gunny

Very nice work.  Please keep the pics coming. 

 

When's the open house??!!  (just kidding - it's your place to enjoy).

Looking VERY good, Louis!

 

Be sure to keep us in mind for a future magazine feature!

Lou,

 

I was at your house last week...Time to show us the Progress. 

 

 

Frank

Thanks for all the comments guys!

 

@ Allan - Will Do! When I started my wife said "What are you trying to do?" I said, "Im going to be in a magizine!!" LOL!

 

@ Frank - I know.... I know.... Its been a busy week or so. Im almost done with the bench work. Ill try to post some pictures before the end of the week

Well, the bench work is complete! Patrick was right.....Once it was together I'd see 100 different possibilities and I do. Soooooo now there are several problems that may slow me down. One is there is NO silent brace in my area. I may try to locate some of the old brown Celotex. However there may be a possibility that I could get some silent brace from a place in Ohio which is 2 hrs away  Even if I do that, the bigger problem is that my outside loop is Atlas 108. Well.....I cant find any. Atlas says it wont be available until the first quarter of 2013. If anyone has any leads please let me know. 

 

Here are some pics. 

 

 

 

The engineer with his new haircut!!

 

 

 

Hate to reinforce the bad news, but I was talking to one of my LHS's last weekend... and they indicated a lot of Atlas-O's stuff slated for 1Q2013 will very likely slip into second quarter at the earliest -- that's the word straight from Atlas-O.  It's bad enough when the trains get held up in production, but who'd ever thought we'd be waiting on something as basic as sectional curve track??? 

 

Aside from that... Louis, the progress you've made thus far is nothing short of PHENOMENAL!!!   Congrats!

 

David

Looking great! With such a large curve, you might want to try flex track.

I just had a thought, and maybe someone could correct me if Im wrong. Cant I make the 108 radius from flex track?

 

 

Well that answered my question!   Thanks Rich!

Very nice, the lighting looks great as well.

 

I get all my Atlas track from Charles Ro, but I imagine you have checked them by now.

 

Regarding the homasote or quietbrace, I suggest ordering a small piece and testing it to see if you actually need it. I just used woodland scenics foam roadbed on my layout and decided to just use that. The homasote for me did not decrease noise noticeably at all. My layout is on carpet and the wooden track support is cut separate from the main layout covering like yours is, i think that makes a big difference.

 

What is the primary railroad you will be modeling?

 

No railroad in particular . I do have mostly U.P. stuff though. But, I have a bunch of different road names. 

Looks great, and coming along very fast.

 

108 would be very easy to do with flex track.

 

From personal experience, we tried the brown (tan) Celotex on our lower level track because it was less than half the cost of Homasote. DON'T like it, wouldn't recommend using it with what you got going on there already. If you have a source, spend the extra $$ and use the Homasote.  

Your layout is looking great. I am "breaking ground" on mine tommorow. I have mentioned this before, what about ceiling tiles turned upside down? I  screwed a peice of track to a scrap left over from the basement remodel, and was impressed with how well it held. although its gonna cost a litttle, sure beats dragging 4 x 8 sheets into the basement.

Ryan

Good response!  That would probably work with a good number of spouses.

Lou,

 

I would go with the homasote. I had good luck with it reducing the sound on my fastrack. Home Depot has it in stock but its expensive.

 

Frank

WOW Louis! Incredible! BTW.....What software program for your layout did you use? I see you are using a MAC. That is what I have, and need a good program to use that is compatible with a mac. Thanks for your time.

 

Steve

As a fellow Mac user, I found RailModeller - not free, but pretty reasonable.  Contains a fairly decent library for Ross switches (although not the numbered frog Premiere series).  Atlas library is also included, but do not know extent, as I am laying GarGraves & Ross.

How about using GG curve? 

 

If the Atlas flex is not pre bent with a rail roller it tends to "peak" sideways at joints in the curve even when joints are  staggered.  I believe Llagas Creek makes a rail roller that works on Atlas 3 rail.  Also a forumite makes an powered railroller specifically for Atlas three rail.

 

I would not hold my breath waiting for the importers getting reset with their new suppliers.  This shake up was one big upheaval for the model RR industry.  Lotza messed up production schedules.  No "for sure" answers. 

 

Do you really want the first run of any product by a new unproven vendor?

Just a quick update and some pics. After a lot of thought I just went with the homasote. It was sooooooo messy because I cut it all with a circular saw, but I knew it would produce the best result. I just covered all the plywood rather than only using it only under the track. I figured this way if I want to cut any out later to create low spots, or set something down in, I can.

 

I  began the process of closing in the sides with masonite also. I did this first so that the homasote would finish off nice on the outside. I'll trim the top, bottom, and joints where the homasote met later with baseboard, as well as create some access doors.

 

I had some cabinets that were removed from a job that were in storage and was able to create a work station. Started laying some track tonight, and hopefully Ill have the 1st level loops in by the end of the week. Progress will likely slow down once Im able to start running some trains . 

 

 I also decided to bend my own 108 out of Atlas flex with the track bender that was on display at York. I purchased it from Norms Model Supply and Im here to tell you that it works perfect! I made a 108 line on the top of the layout and bent the flex until it matched. Piece of cake! I think that Im going to bend my 99 and 90 with it as well, but I dont know if you can go any lower than that.

 

Thanks for all the great comments, and I hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving. I'll post more pics as soon as the 1st level track is complete. 

 

 

 

 

Work Station

 

 

 

 

Track Bender

 

I figured out that the 108 is from center rail. So its either 1 1/8" more or less depending if you want to go to the inside or outside of the tie. I made the line to the inside of the tie, and only had to make a few swipes until the track matched the line. It holds with no spring back, and after bending theres nothing left to do but trim the ties. I would definitely recommend this tool to bend track.

 

Lou,

 

Looks great! Im sure you'll have the first loop up over the holiday. Hurry up we want to come over and run some trains. lol...If I can give you a hand, let me know. 

 

Frank

 

Wow! What a terrific layout, trackplan and train room. I look forward to following your progress!

Looking very, very good, Louis!  My feeling is you did the right thing by going with Homasote, and the masonite skirt on the layout looks great.  Be sure to take a bit of time out for some turkey day relaxation. 

A few update pics. Ive been busy, but I ran out of track. I pick up more tomorrow. I got a loop going and have finally been able to run some trains.  Got the turntable cut in tonight as well. I picked it up from a good friend Vince P. who made me a great deal. He might as well gave it to me. Thanks Vince !! I owe you! 

 

Your layout is looking great, I have a question on the masonite you used for the skirt.  Did you add a contoured peice at the bottom to support thr base of the masonite? Or does the masonite have enough rigidness to sustain the curves on its own at the bottom?

Seems to me it  would be floopy at the bottom with out some sort of support.  

Thanks Ryan. I did not add anything at the bottom. There are 2 thicknesses of masonite that you can get. One I belive is 1/8" and the other is 3/16". I went with the 3/16". It will definitley hold its shape. I will only have to do something at the seams to keeps them flush, because they dont stay straight. At first I figured that pushing it down into the carpet a little would help keep its shape. However, after installing it I found that the carpet actually kept it going from where it needed, or wanted to go, where as on a hard suface like laminate, or ceramic tile, it would have just taken the same shape as the top. I had to kind of work the bottom in and out to make it plumb with the top. After the 2nd piece I realized that I could "fine tune" that later since this was only temporalary installed. I also realized that i will most likley have to trim some off the bottom of where I make access doors later so that it wont get hung up on the carpet.

OUTSTANDING Lou.

 

          Nick Carp

Very nice! looking forward to seeing the trains running on that very large lay out. and also the scenery as it go's along.

 

LOU thank you yeah we work fast in pittsburgh somebody forgot to tell that BIG GUY sitting on the benchwork  vince

Amazing.  

Just beautiful, please keep the photo's coming.

 

 

Thanks, Alex

Looks great! Good to see good things happening in Pittsburgh! Happy Model Railroading, Mark Boyce Butler, Pennsylvania

Sweet setup all around.

Congrats on the continued progress!  You've done more in one month than some folks accomplish in a year!!!    Keep a photo history of the entire project... it will be amazing to look back on the various stages of construction.

 

David

Looking great!!! Thanks for the posts.

Very very impressive Louis. All I can say is wow! I wish I could be a fly on the wall to watch this process in action. I'm sure there's alot we could learn from you. Also, congratulations on keeping your work area tidy. IMHO that helps smooth out the construction process immensely. I presume you made your drawings on the benchwork and then took the panels outside to make the cuts. Carry on.

Frank