Layout maintenance

ALPINE RAILROAD IN NJ-EVOLUTION IN PICS PART VI

Since my last post I had glued hydrocal rock castings to the mountains on the newer section and colored them after having glued the tunnel portals and retaining walls in place. The next set of photos shows the progress.

This is the newest section I mentioned in a previous post with the mountains and portals in place.

ALPINE RAILROAD IN NJ-EVOLUTION IN PICS PART V

Now that I have gone over most of the build for my layout up to present day (I will take pics of the newest table with the mountains and rock faces in place and post them soon), I thought I would show some of the details I have been working on like tunnel portals, bridges and structures. Since I didn't take any before pics of the portals or bridges before I painted/weathered them, I found pics online of what they look like out of the box.

ALPINE RAILROAD IN NJ-EVOLUTION IN PICS PART IV

After fixing my problem with getting my locos up a 2% + grade (it was never consistent for the entire run) I then saw another aspect of my original plan that I never really loved. At that point I had my loco run up hill about 4 inches over the course of 8-10 feet or so but coming back down hill was done inside another tunnel on the opposite end of the layout in about 3 feet. Needless to say it was a steep hill downward though a few tests showed that locos would not fly off the track or even move that much faster so it was doable but I didn't love it.

ALPINE RAILROAD IN NJ-EVOLUTION IN PICS PART III

Due to the nature of my job I was unexpectedly out of work from last Christmas until te beginning of May which presented a wonderful opportunity to fill the cold winter days by working on my layout uninterrupted. In that time I feel like I achieved quite a lot on the layout construction itself as well as building structures and whatnot. Like most railroad modelers, I tend to get "on a track" of maybe wiring for a while then when I get bored I shift gears and build a structure or two or maybe work on scenery.

ALPINE RAILROAD IN NJ-EVOLUTION IN PICS

As promised I am including some pics showing the evolution of my railroad over the last 3+ years. As stated previously, this is really two layouts in one with a DC elec loco layout and a DCC steam and diesel layout.

original benchwork and layout dimensions

Alpine Railroad in NJ

I have been building an Alpine scene railroad in DCC and DC over the last few years in Z scale and have been inspired by other great blogs to start my own and record my progress/trials/tribulatons. I have learned so much from other member's comments in other blogs and I am hoping my story will help others and I may be lcky enough to have some of my questions answered my my hurtles overcome.

New to model trains, wanting to set up for disabled child

I am wanting to get a set up for my disabled child. He has physical as well as cognitive issues. I don’t want to continue to purchase battery operated trains with cheap plastic track that he is unable to manipulate without breaking the tabs. He also has issues with getting the cars to sit on the tracks correctly so that they will run around without falling off. I just need to know a starting point as I have no clue with anything means or what’s available for disabled people in regards to model trains. I don’t understand the difference in gauge, dc, doc power, etc.

What to do with old track

I picked up at least 200 old ho tracks and switches at a garage sale. It looks pretty dirty and I’d like to clean it up. I know about isopropyl alcohol and q-tips. I don’t see any rust but they look like they’ve been used and then stuffed into a container. I’m new to model trains. I’m really enjoying the fact that we found my father in law’s old 0 gage post war Lionel set with track, switches and cars. I also had a full set of HO trains and track as well as a large assortment of N gage track, cars and switches. Any thoughts 

thanks

Track Cleaning

I am president of a cub that has approximate layout size of 20'x65'.  What is every ones best cleaning cars for the track ?

Joe

CMMRA

Central Mississippi Model Railroad Association

Jackson MS


>> Posts index Syndicate content


Journals/Blogs

Recent Blog posts: