The Michigan and Great Lakes is moving

Best of luck in your new adventure.

Make sure the car ferry is the SS Badger! When I was a little boy living in Manitowoc, WI, I would go down to the lake (Michigan) and watch the ferry load train cars, automobiles and people for the trip to Ludington, MI.

Congrats Jim. This sounds like a great opportunity to take your railroad to the next level. You've learned a lot from from the old layout. I'm excited to see what you come up with.

Good luck with the new layout. Keep us informed on the forum of your progress. It won't be long before you'll be posting pictures of trains running on the new Michigan and Great Lakes RR. 

Jim, it sounds like you have given a lot of thought to your new layout.  That will pay big dividends.  It sounds really good.

 

Art

I think one of the biggest pleasures of our hobby is in the construction phase. So the tear down is just the start of something better to come. Enjoy all the planning and new construction.

 

Your ferry boat is a one of a kind marvel, so it sure should be the centerpiece of your new layout. Alex did one heck of a job building it.

Great news!

 

Peter

The around the wall layout will be great. You can make backdrops and carefully light the scenes with LED strips and panels.

 

A small auto parts factory sounds like Checker Cabs in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

 

Andrew

The Food Canning facility sounds like something that would be in Scottville, Michigan that is East of Ludington, Michigan.

 

 

Andrew

You could build something like the line from Ludington, Michigan at the car ferry yard to Scottville, Michigan where they have the food canning facility.

 

Andrew

Great idea on making the ferry the focus. That is one of the coolest things I've seen on this site. Good luck!

Hi Jim,

 

This is sounding like it's going to be great, I'm looking forward to seeing photo's of the progress as you go along.

 

Alex

Hi Jim, your first three changes would  be mine as well as would a custom building from Alex. 

 

I  really like the idea of ground throws -- with the round the room layout, you can easily walk around with the train using command control and throw the switch as you need. 

 

All the best, Dave 

Thanks guys.  I can not wait to get it started.   

 

I 100% agree the car ferry needs to be the focal point of the layout.  

 

I wish I could get started on it sooner.  Tomorrow night I plan to carefully measure out the room and start working on a trackplan.  I will keep everyone updated with the progress.  

Congratulations on the move & the new track plan.

 

Trainroomgary

Detroit, Michigan

www.youtube.com/user/trainroomgary

 

 

 

I also have a around the room, shelf-style layout and I am interested in what you do with this concept.

Congratulations & Good Luck.

 

The opportunity to start over and correct your previous mistakes is awesome.

 

I bet you'll really enjoy "prototypical" operating.  Running trains with a purpose is really a hoot.  You'll need to do something about couplers, though.  My approach has been to replace the lobster claws with Kadees.  This has been quite successful and makes switching a delight, but there is a bit of a learning curve if you use some sort of tool to uncouple cars.  Bob Bartizek has mastered the art of tuning the lobster claws so they couple easily and gently which allows easier uncoupling.  In either case, I don't think remote uncoupling is the answer because it seems like the uncoupling magnet is never in just the right place.

 

There are a few programs available that will generate switch lists or car cards and most offer a demo version so you can try them out before you buy them.  I use "Ship-It" and it works very well for me but it is quite involved and requires a good bit of tweaking to get optimum performance.  The only support available is through a Yahoo discussion group but they are quick to respond and very helpful.  I hope this helps.

 

Have Fun!

Hey Pat

 

I have been running with Kadees for over a year now.  I have converted 75% of my rolling stock and all my locomotives.  I use a small screw driver for uncoupling.  

 

I will check out the Ship-It program.  Thanks for the tip!

 

Jim

Another change I will be making is grades.   Right now I have some steep 4% grades on my "mainline".  The new layout will have no grades on the main at all, but will have a grade going from the top level of the layout down to the bottom level where the car ferry dock and yard will be.  Everything else will be on the main top level only.

 

I also think I will do a peninsula that the car ferry will be on along with its 3 track yard along side it.  It will help it be more of the "center" of the layout.   I plan to do a rough draft of the layout tonight and will post something over the weekend.   

Jim,

I wish you well on you new layout.  I too plan to build mine in a shelf type around the room.  I think a lot of folks are recommending GarGraves track and Ross switches.  I like GarGraves track, but haven't used Ross switches yet.  I like the idea of a train going somewhere more than just around in circles, but like a continuous run option too.  I have come from many years in HO, and have never tried car card operation, but have visited layouts where they were using it.  It is a great way to go, just a bit to regimented for me.  There is a lot of information available online for that kind of operation, no matter what scale one is in.  I have heard Pat's recommendation for Ship-It is a very good choice.  I think the operations around your dock and car ferry area will be very interesting.

 

I will be looking forward to seeing how your layout progresses.

I really like the idea of a shelf layout! This is what im starting to build up here in the NW. I can't wait to see pictures of the progress! 

 

I plan to make the benchwork pretty simple.  Most places should be no wider then 18 inches and I will use simple shelf hangers that you can get at home depot.   

 

In the wider areas I will build it out a bit larger using 1x4s with legs.   The peninsula will be built pretty much free standing using 1x4s.   I hope the benchwork will go up fast this fall/winter.   

I have been planning to do the same thing, Jim.  I think it will work out fine.

Here is a very basic layout of the new room.  It is 11x11.5 feet.  It has a closet in the corner that sticks out and the wife said I must keep.   It also has french doors but I will be changing them so they swing open out of the room instead of into the room.  

 

 I also laid out a short trackplan using gargraves O72 sectional track but most likely I will be using O63 track to get more onto the layout. The two locomotives that I will be running operations on it are small, a Ten Wheeler and a 0-8-0.

 

 

 

Jim,

Again very similar size to the room I am waiting to occupy.  I don't have a closet, though.  I have a sliding glass door to the exterior and a door to the rest of the house on an adjacent wall.  As you show, you can get pretty broad curves in there.

Best of luck with the layout move.

For inspiration....  https://flic.kr/p/h95zSP  or  http://www.flickr.com/photos/upnorthmemories/

 

Adriatic

I love the picture.  Did you get that at Mackinaw City or in the UP?

Mike P

That is the Mackinaw docks. Though the docks were similar, no picture Ive found of the St Ignance site is this "pretty". Most of those are photos of freight loads only.(though J.D. might find them "prettier") The painting photo isn't mine, I found it surfing. A link to the flicker page is at the top. There are lots of old Mich photos on it.

Link to flicker above doesn't work, will fix it shortly

(done)

Link worked for me!

 

Yes great inspiration!   

Here is a very early trackplan I have been thinking about.  I am not really happy with the placement of the car ferry.  it takes up so much room though.  The opening of the track on the lower will be a duck under or a lift bridge.   

 

Like I said it is a very early design and will change many times before I get it right.  

 

 

  Internet Explorer crashed hard after my last post. Firefox to the rescue! (always keep an extra browser, even if you don't often use it, it can get you online to do repairs) So...The original link may have worked, but I changed it to the guys page. Later Ill try posting the original link (in addition) again, so others wont have to scroll through hundreds of photos to find these, but I need to eat dinner first.

 

Even dismantled, Im still jealous of you and that ship

Ok guys here is another very early track plan.  The ship is just way too big to fit into the center of the layout plus I really wanted to have a much bigger yard to stage cars for loading and unloading.   

 

 

Jim,
I agree, this one is better.  That ship is really big!  I can see why it will be a focal point

Second one has a much better yard. Maybe tie two legs together at the end so you can run the switcher around from front end to rear end?

 

I saw two more interesting pics while fiddling with that link.

 

 

A bit small but I thought you might like this too.

 

 

This is the photo that postcard above was painted from! Its obvious

 

 

You are going to have a lot of fun doing that.  Good luck with it.

Is this going to be a specific railroad?

 

Ann Arbor

 

Chesapeake & Ohio

 

Grand Trunk Western

 

Pennsylvania Railroad

 

 

Thank you.

 

Andrew