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Originally Posted by Trainman2001:

I just read the whole post, but didn't see the way in and out of the layout. What method are you using to get inside?

 

I'm building a long-term project that was an HO article in Kalmbach's Building and Structures book. It's NYO&W classic Victorian station that was scratch built entirely in styrene. I scaled it up in the computer and am building it also in styrene. It's 3/4 done, but has been sitting on the shelf while I build the actual layout on which it will be placed.

 

It's going to be the main train station for the layout. There will also be some smaller "whistle-stop" stations other places on the line, but this one's going to be front and center, and right in everyone's face near the control panel.

 

Trial Fitting the Roof 01

Trial Fitting the Roof 02

Trial Fitting the Roof 03

Trial Fitting the Roof 04

 

Once the railroad running, I'm going to finish this up. There's a large, standing-seamed roof covering a passenger area on both sides, and I'm going to install floors and some interior details. The painting is going to take hours since the Tudor design has different colors on the exposed framing than on the siding that fills the gaps. I also have to glaze all those windows...

 

Good luck on your design. I'm using 100% Ross track and switches and really like it. It's scale looking, but forgiving.

Wow, nice job on that O&W Station.  Kind of harkens back to something from a long, long time ago, but I can't quite remember exactly what.  There is a color photo floating around (ahem) of a station built to this design at Burnside, N.Y.  It even has a side view closeup of an Y Class mountain tender side looking forward in it as well as the tower in the distance at the L.&H.R. crossing shortly before it's demolition.  All the questions about "what color goes where" are answered in there.  Oh yeah, I needed another shade of green.

Hello all,

 

It has been awhile, but I've finely had some time to do some tweaking on my plans and think I have something reasonable in mind...

 

I've scaled it back quite a bit, but after facing this question of what to do in the event of moving, it seemed the prudent thing to do given that moving is an eventuality I'll be facing. As it stands now, I will be able to break the layout down into smaller sections for transportation quite easily. I also reduced the width of the benchwork to facilitate in being able to reach most of it without needing ladders or pulling it out from the wall.

 

With a few minor tweaks, I think this will be as it stands. Now, the fun of finishing up the basement so I can begin building benchwork. There are a few fitament issues to clear up, but you get the gist.

 

I like the yard capacity... you can never have too much. As I see it with one reverse loop, you can reverse the direction going one way, buy won't be able to reverse it going the other. When going from left to right on the track nearest the aisle, you can enter the loop and come out going in the reverse direction, but when approaching it from right to left you go to a trailing switch that you can access unless you back into it. It there a way to squeeze another reverse loop into the other side so you can reverse in both directions. What software did you use? If it RRTrack 5.0, there's a simulator where you can run trains on the layout and find things out that may slip by by just staring at a diagram.

Originally Posted by Trainman2001:

I like the yard capacity... you can never have too much. As I see it with one reverse loop, you can reverse the direction going one way, buy won't be able to reverse it going the other. When going from left to right on the track nearest the aisle, you can enter the loop and come out going in the reverse direction, but when approaching it from right to left you go to a trailing switch that you can access unless you back into it. It there a way to squeeze another reverse loop into the other side so you can reverse in both directions. What software did you use? If it RRTrack 5.0, there's a simulator where you can run trains on the layout and find things out that may slip by by just staring at a diagram.

Thanks! As much as it is a "loop" layout, I still tried to make it semi functional for operations. The second reverse loop has been a headache that I'm still working out. I have tried a few modifications to put one in, but it ends up chewing up so much space that i'll have little space for scenery or creates bizarre traffic patterns. The fact I'll have to reverse backwards through the one to turn back around is something I've just resigned myself too. I'm using AnyRail 5 for all the track designs. Although... something just came to mind, revisions possibly to follow...

Chris,

 

I like what I see. To solve your reverse loop issue, you might want to run a set of switches between your yard ladder and your passing siding on the left. That would give you the second reverse loop.

 

Or you could eliminate the reverse function completely and always have your trains run the same direction. It would de-clutter the middle a bit for more scenery...

 

The other thing you may want to consider is on the stub end siding with the two buildings. You may want to connect from your main to the siding just to the  left of the buildings with a set of switches. This will give you a little run-around place to use when spotting cars on the siding.

 

Chris

LVHR

Hello all! Between work and other projects, I haven't had a whole lot of time to put into the railway. I wasn't entirely happy with my last revision, and thanks to a couple housing/life decisions, I made some tweaks and here is what I came up with.

 

 

I took the yard out of the center of the layout and added some benchwork for it to open up the middle some for more scenery, spurs, and industry. Almost everything now has a supply and destination, and I was able to work in the reverse function.

 

I have also tried to keep all my benchwork 3 ft wide, as I'm planning on making this a modular as possible just in case I ever have to move. That way I can build a few crates and away it goes. Some track work will have to come up, but most of it should be able to remain in place. I'll be wiring everything together using connectors between modules to make for easy assembly/tear down.

 

Still some tweaking yet to do which will come as I pick out buildings/industry and such, but I'm pretty happy with it.

 

 

I like this latest design. I'm working on a similar loop-2-loop in O-36 and hid my yard through the wall into a 2nd spare bedroom. Now I'm looking to see if I can increase the size of the curves, add sidings/spurs and work in another level. I hope you don't mind if I borrow some of these ideas for the siding/spurs. The one thing I'm doing differently is adding a lift-out bridge across the entrance so I can also go around the room with at least one line. I also want to build in modules and run wire with connectors between the modules like you're doing, so I'll be following your progress and hope you'll be posting photos along the way.

Originally Posted by DoubleDAZ:

I like this latest design. I'm working on a similar loop-2-loop in O-36 and hid my yard through the wall into a 2nd spare bedroom. Now I'm looking to see if I can increase the size of the curves, add sidings/spurs and work in another level. I hope you don't mind if I borrow some of these ideas for the siding/spurs. The one thing I'm doing differently is adding a lift-out bridge across the entrance so I can also go around the room with at least one line. I also want to build in modules and run wire with connectors between the modules like you're doing, so I'll be following your progress and hope you'll be posting photos along the way.

Thanks guys! and of course I don't mind! I was originally planning on doing a lift out, but a few revisions later I had pretty much tabled the idea. I'm still toying with it though, and have a little more time before I plan on breaking out the wood and tools. With winter rolling around, it is finally the right time of year be down in the basement getting this rolling. I'll try a keep a decent photographic record as things progress!

My latest and greatest revision... cleaned up the benchwork some, made a few changes here and there. We'll be enclosing our machinery in the basement, which is that grey box to the left of the fireplace. I changed where the yard connects to add length for switching ops, and knocked off a few spurs so I could have a little more scenery. I also widened the aisle to walk through.

 

This is pretty much the final design in terms of the mainline and yard. I'm going to begin researching some prototype industries ( I'm shooting for northern division around Smyrna, Galena, Norwich and surrounding area), so changes to siding and industry placement may change a little bit. I'm also kicking around getting rid of industry 3 or, more likely, 4 in exchange for an interchange track again. I'll just move the switches around to the right side of the reverse loops and run the interchange following the curve and off the table before the yard.

 

But there it is in all it's glory! The underside of the yard will also serve as bookcase and display place for my O&W book and items I've collected.

 

Outside of the track design, I recently picked up a BNIB MTH NYOW FT ABA set. I have been searching for one of those for the longest time, but they have been rather hard to come by. Engine power now stands at a F3 ABBA set, FT ABA set, NW2, and a Camelback. All are MTH.

 

Track ordering begins at the end of the month...

Originally Posted by Trainman2001:

Some of the areas are out of reach. What do you plan for access to the back parts.

With the small areas I can't get too... during building I'll just pull out the two modules the make the loop ends. I'm pretty tall with long arms, there really isn't much I won't be able to reach as far as derailments. That area on the left with industires 1 & 2 can be accessed from the bottom side there... just have to walk around the the chimney, stairs, machinery.

 

 

 

 

Alright,

 

It has been awhile, so I figured I would post up an update...

 

Try as I may, I wasn't really happy with my plan. It's something I would build if I was doing tinplate or was seriously constricted by space, but not ideally what I wanted to build.

 

I originally had this vision of seeing my F3 ABBA set running with all it's available cars (17ft in length total if a remember) and with that... I've redesigned the layout yet again. It now is a continuous loop, 23x43 around the wall and 55" off the ground to clear obstacles, with a staging area located below one section it (inclines in and out of the staging are 2.5% and 3.4% and the longest spur is 18ft long) There are a few trackside industries for switching ops, and no turning of trains. I've shifted it mainly to just letting trains run, while still trying to be prototypical. I wish I had the space for Canal Branch yard, but it's just not gonna happen at this point. The redesign also lets me build all my benchwork in my originally planned modular fashion and makes the build process more straight forward. It also allows for some excellent scenery opportunities and to really represent central NY.

 

In terms of other progress, I finally picked up my DCS system last week from my LHS,  have been picking up regional RR cars to fill out the fleet and make my freights more prototypical, and picked up a Z400 for all my power needs. The basement is finally repainted, and all that is left to do is get building, hopefully the updates come a little quicker and have some actual progress in them.

 

Main TrackStaging

 

 

Last edited by cmscanuck
Originally Posted by MIKATT1:

Hi Chris, If you are modeling Hamilton, are you putting in a coal unloader so you can re-enact the "Flying Diesel Corps"? MTH makes a Nestle boxcar so you can cary the chocolate. I've been to the Chocolate Festival the past two years and it's always a fun time.

Dave,

 

I would like too... the individual "town" sections of the track need some fine tuning and for me to dig out track maps and look through photo to replicate a little better. But I'm definitely shooting to have the leland coal trestle in there.

I am assuming that all those yard tracks are on a lower level. Will you be able to see them? My yards and sidings are right out in the open, but I still seem to run trains into tracks that are occupied. It's not that I don't see the trains, it's that I don't trust my Z-stuff switch machines unless I can see the indicators on the switch itself. I'm sure there are electronic ways of insuring against problems, but I'd freak if I couldn't visually examine the switch line ups before moving trains.

Originally Posted by Trainman2001:

I am assuming that all those yard tracks are on a lower level. Will you be able to see them? My yards and sidings are right out in the open, but I still seem to run trains into tracks that are occupied. It's not that I don't see the trains, it's that I don't trust my Z-stuff switch machines unless I can see the indicators on the switch itself. I'm sure there are electronic ways of insuring against problems, but I'd freak if I couldn't visually examine the switch line ups before moving trains.

I plan on leaving the fascia open there for just that reason. Good thought!

Originally Posted by cmscanuck:
Originally Posted by Trainman2001:

I am assuming that all those yard tracks are on a lower level. Will you be able to see them? My yards and sidings are right out in the open, but I still seem to run trains into tracks that are occupied. It's not that I don't see the trains, it's that I don't trust my Z-stuff switch machines unless I can see the indicators on the switch itself. I'm sure there are electronic ways of insuring against problems, but I'd freak if I couldn't visually examine the switch line ups before moving trains.

I plan on leaving the fascia open there for just that reason. Good

Hi chris you have a good start.I think you should look into geting a few mth railking mohawk locomotives.I have a locosound mohawk.I have been impressed by its pulling power.I have had it pull a train with 42 boxcars.I also have a few others ps2 mohawks.You could also look into geting a lionel mohawkor 2.Although I don,t have a mohawk by lionel.There are a few on this forum that have the lionel mohawk.And could tell you about them better than I could.This is 1 of my mohawk the 1 with locosound pulling a fair sized train.And this 1 is one of the ps2 mohwak.

Originally Posted by seaboard streak:

Hi chris you have a good start.I think you should look into geting a few mth railking mohawk locomotives.I have a locosound mohawk.I have been impressed by its pulling power.I have had it pull a train with 42 boxcars.I also have a few others ps2 mohawks.You could also look into geting a lionel mohawkor 2.Although I don,t have a mohawk by lionel.There are a few on this forum that have the lionel mohawk.And could tell you about them better than I could.This is 1 of my mohawk the 1 with locosound pulling a fair sized train.

Seaboard,

 

I'll actually have 2 Mohawks operating on the layout, one PS2 black scheme, and the 2014 vol II faux "Moutaineer" that I have preordered. Although, Mohawks didn't operate on this portion on the track on the prototype. But, I won't tell if you don't. ;-)

 

Here's a picture of the fleet so far, with 4 more Atlas O&W hoppers and the MTH Moutaineer set to come this fall...

 

Originally Posted by bbsfdl60:
are these 44 toners the Willams version?
 
Originally Posted by cmscanuck:

I couldn't help myself... a little side project to my big project. I have the decals... now I just need some paint, couplers, pickups, and electronics.

 

 

 

 

They are Rich Yoder models, just the bodies and motors. At this point, I think I'll hold out to see if MTH shrinks their electronics enough to shoe horn them in one of these. Probably won't get around to painting them until this fall now with the good weather outside!

I am happy to see another great NYO&W fan on here.  My family is from the Hamilton, Randallsville, Oriskany Falls and Bouckville areas.

 

I have enjoyed following with great interest the progress of your layout.

 

The NYO&W is my favorite railroad with NYC in a close second.  I have every NYO&W "O" scale item Lionel, MTH Electric Trains, Atlas O, Branchline Trains, Lasermodeling 3 and Weaver has produced to-date in my collection too.  Here's a couple short movies of some of my favorites.

 

Haven't seen that kit, but it could be scratch-built very easily. It doesn't even have a gable roof. You could estimate the height by looking how many stair treads there are. They're usually 9". You could build it out of styrene using 3/16" square stock for the uprights, clapboard sidings and very simple window casing without any mullions. Why not give it a try?

Originally Posted by Wurlitzer:

Have you seen this kit yet?  It is based on a prototype used in Oneida.  I haven't built it yet.  The box of sticks intimidates me.

I saw it after I looked up some of the companies you had posted you had O&W products from... I was going to do some more research on the prototype as I had never seen that tower before.

     Well, it has been a long time since I have had any sort of update or progress on this. It was a hectic summer and fall, but with the snow finally here, and my other railroad project in hiatus due to waiting for the track I need to be produced, I finally had a chance to start building benchwork.

 

     Now, as has been the theme throughout this process, I've once again changed the game plan a little bit. As time has progressed, it really has allowed me to find what I like in a railroad, and what I don't. It really has come down to me wanting to model the actual railroad as closely as I can. I've also found that by exploring others work, I would love to be able to share my own outside of my home. Therefore, I've taken the around the room layout, and turned it into a modular layout. Seeing all the other modular layouts out there has fascinated me.

 

     I'm going with 30"x72" standard modules, which when combined with 30"x36" modules, and corner modules featuring O-72 turns, allows me to configure it pretty much however I want. It also keeps the modules narrow enough to be put against a wall and reach the back, and small enough, for me at least, to move them around fairly easily. I am using 1x6's for the frame with two 2x3 cross braces. I'm still working around with what to do for the top. I'll be putting down foam on top of some kind of wood, just need to do a little more work on what will keep things relatively lightweight, but will allow me to screw into it for holding wire,switch machines, etc. The one track mainline will run down the center of the module. I went with the 30" benchwork to keep it narrow enough to be placed along the walls of my basement and still reach the back, but wide enough to allow the placement of sidings, structures, and scenery on their correct sides.

 

     My first set of modules, will be for the start of the Utica Division, Pecksport. The track diagram is courtesy of the NYO&W historical society's travel guide for the Northern division. The only building standing on the southern branch of the wye into late 40's-50's was the Train Order Office. This should keep things pretty easy to start the project. I'm hoping to eventually build up to different stations/industries ranging anywhere from Norwich on the Northern Division, to Canal Branch on the Utica Branch. Should keep me plenty busy over the years.

 

     With all that said... I have to return offshore for work until right before Christmas, so I'll be doing research until then, ordering some track, and then diving back into it. Comments and suggestions are welcomed as always.

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Chris, 

  You listed some great books before. I would say if you could only order 2 or 3, the Mohowski book would be my favorite followed by the Helmer classic.John Taibi also had another mostly O&W (part Lehigh Valley) book co-written with Bruce Tracey, When the Railroads Went to the Beach, 

http://www.depotsquarepublishi.../dspbooks.asp?book=4 

  Just to give full disclosure, his publisher for that book is also the same great publisher who published my own book...I get no commision if you buy it, just thought you might like to know about it.

 

   "Back in the day," I was fortunate to know Fred Arone who ran the Depot Attic, a railroad memorabilia store in Dobbs Ferry, NY. Fred had great stuff in his shop, from lanterns, timetables, dwarf signals, builder's plates to caboose stoves, etc. He since passed away, but I was able to get a nice variety of O&W annual reports from him and a few rule books, too.

 

Tom

Last edited by PRR8976

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