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This is my first attempt at building some actual scenery. I've liked the Polar Express layouts that use the two reverse loops (the North Pole), the viaduct, and the scary mountain. They are really the big scenic changes in the movie. This could be in the layout forum, but I am at the scenic part now. I thought I'd share my project as many shared projects posted by others have helped me.

 

I wanted a spiral for the mountain and had to keep it in a 4' x 4' space. It also has to be portable, as the three major pieces will be plopped onto a modular layout inside of larger radius loops. So, here is my attempt. I laid the track according to the plan I designed using SCARM. I only needed a minor design adjustment at the exit off the top. Thanks, SCARM. I used temporary blocks to confirm the elevations and tested with Thomas. (A useful engine indeed!) With all working well, it was time to build the mountain.

 

I started with a 4' x 4' piece of 5mm floor underlayment. Laid the track and traced the spiral. I cut the roadbed from about six inches from the start of the elevation(left the end attached) and went around and cut the end at the top. I then cut blocks for the supports at the correct height and beveled the top edge at 4°, which is the slope of the spiral. Noticing that the center bottom needed more support, I cut some blocks to cross the space created by cutting the roadbed out. Then I needed some tunnel supports for a short space so the train could exit over at the top. All of these were glued with PL Construction adhesive. The base and spiral will be removable with power feeds. The corners will get rounded off. The track and the back ground level corner will be attached and stay. The exit off of the top will connect to the viaduct.

 

Finally, the mountain. I need to keep things light and transportable, so I am using techniques published by Dave Frary. I didn't like the wedding cake look so I took a different approach. The spiral rise is 6" and the mountain will be 30" tall. That won't fit through a door with the base together, so the mountain needs to be removable. I cut the mountain shape forms from the same 5mm underlayment. I braced the bottom and added a 1" dowel piece with a screw eye for lifting. The screw eye will come out when the mountain is installed.

 

So, next week will be the screening and foaming using Great Stuff. The screening will let me create the ridges for the underlying shape. Then I'll be cutting the foam after it dries. The mountain and edges to the inside roadbed will lift out of the center for transportation. The base will transport separately with power feeds built in.

 

I used the Alaskan mountains as inspiration, since the Alaska Railroad will be part of the whole layout. Denali is way to large, so I am getting details from this mountain near the Knik river bridge.

 

I'll post photos of the steps and as I build and finish the mountain around the module.

 

Any comments or suggestions are welcome. I hope this works!

 

Mtn Base n Spiral

Mtn

Mtn Lift out

alaska-railroad-bridge-knik-river

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  • Mtn Base n Spiral
  • Mtn
  • Mtn Lift out
  • alaska-railroad-bridge-knik-river
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Sure, I'll follow with progress photos. I don't think a video would helpful of me fumbling around doing this for first time.

 

Sure looks easy in the pro's videos until you try it yourself. Takes longer and the little things are learned through experience.

 

Now for some fun...screening and shooting the Great Stuff. Creates a shell around the skeleton that you carve\shape and finish. Maybe a video of that would be funny to watch.

rogerpete,

The grade of the spiral was steep enough that the LionChief PE would derail coming down the mountain. I could not use electrical tricks to slow the train down because dropping the voltage causes the train to stop altogether.

 

It was too close to the holidays by the time those trials were completed as the new PE sets didn't arrive until almost Thanksgiving. So, I put that on hold and built something simpler. I had been testing with Thomas as the PE sets were late arriving.

 

see Learning the Hard Way

 

I believe I discovered that I had the bottom or start of the spiral too steep. I need to extend the grade a little more on the transition curve from zero elevation. Then I think the engine will not derail.

 

 

After that frustrated me, I turned my efforts to making my basement area a train room. So, lots of painting, clearing stuff out, made a removable wall to hide storage, track lighting. 

 

It did turn out, however, that I needed to build another mountain/tunnel to hide some stuff on the wall that couldn't be moved. I used the Great Stuff. Still carving on that to ready it for finishing details.

 

Thank you for asking about the project. Is there an element that is of particular interest?

Last edited by Moonman

We build a community layout in our town hall in December. It is a lot of work for a temporary Christmas Layout, but its for the kids. I am doing a polar express layout this year. I just purchased the three PE cars from ebay, and I am (hope your sitting down)converting an extra 2-8-0 MTH PS2 engine into a polar express locomotive. Couple reasons-

There are two of us that foot the bill, no community budget

I have never been overly impressed with the lionel engines that are in my budget

ps2 has cruise control to protect the downhill bullet & keep the climb in line

mth has better smoke

And I have an extra ps2 engine, and I would bet lunch that not a single person will realize it is not the correct wheel arrangement for the PE engine

Last edited by rogerpete

you know- I'm about to pick up a lion chief Pol-Ex set.  I just assumed that since it ran at 18 volts that cruise would be part of the package.   My last Christmas layout was an elevated dogbone where one loop ran over the other.  This would have been perfect for my son to run his new set on.  With this info in mind I may have to re think the whole thing!

Cruise might be part of the Lion Chief set- I don't know. For my situation, I spent $70 to get the three cars shipped, and will use an existing engine. This is about 1/4 the cost of the complete set. Plus, I have the ability to re-letter an extra PS2 engine, and we are not building a scale to the rivet count display for a famous museum...we are a bunch of simple farm folks! Our community display last year I had Batman and other fun items mixed in the display. The kids loved it, and that's why we do it. I know there are some serious scale die hard folks out there that are cringing while they read this post... However, I am not one of them...  
As a matter of fact, during the display one, (and only one) very distinguished gentleman who obviously knew a little about trains looked down his glasses at us & ask, "And just what scale are you modeling?" I simply replied, "Yes- would you like some more popcorn? Its free"
 
At the end of the day, we have an excuse to play with our toys...some very expensive toys that the majority of the population are not fortunate enough to afford. So lets make some kids day a little better while we have our fun. You'll go to bed feeling pretty good.
 
Roger
NE Ohio

you know- I'm about to pick up a lion chief Pol-Ex set.  I just assumed that since it ran at 18 volts that cruise would be part of the package.   My last Christmas layout was an elevated dogbone where one loop ran over the other.  This would have been perfect for my son to run his new set on.  With this info in mind I may have to re think the whole thing!

 

Originally Posted by jhz563:

you know- I'm about to pick up a lion chief Pol-Ex set.  I just assumed that since it ran at 18 volts that cruise would be part of the package.   My last Christmas layout was an elevated dogbone where one loop ran over the other.  This would have been perfect for my son to run his new set on.  With this info in mind I may have to re think the whole thing!

jhz563,

Since the LionChief are RTR sets, the cruise is not included. It is however in the separate engines LionChief Plus.

 

The grade is 4% on the mountain, which is pushing the limits. The engine has enough power and traction, it's just that the momentum on the down travel and my last turn of the elevation was too steep. I stretched it out a little more and it should work fine.

 

The LionChief PE is a very nice engine, so I wouldn't let one steep spiral deter you from your purchase.

Last edited by Moonman
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