Aaand It's Gone: Modern Layout Scrapped, Preparing for THE ONE

We barely knew thee.

The decision came swift and sudden. Once the modern layout was brought from the garage into the new basement, I realized it just wouldn't fit right and I'd be wasting time, effort, and resources trying to make it work. So we stripped it of trees and as much of the bushes I could scrape off, tore up the track, and now it's back in the garage awaiting final disassembly. I plan to salvage the wood. Probably a good 90 percent of the boards and plywood can be recut for the new benchwork.  

As a final farewell, here are a few photos of the layout as it stood just prior to early retirement. The only place I could set it up was on the basement countertop. But as you can see, the shape of the layout caused it to stick out awkwardly with the entire side of the hill exposed. I briefly considered trying to just store it or sell it. But both those options were bad and just me trying to avoid making the right decision. 

All that being said, now is the moment we've been waiting for since we started our model trains adventure almost five years ago. It's time to start planning the The Layout, our Civil War Era N Scale Train Layout. It's almost unreal to say that. I'm a little nervous because I don't want to make too many mistakes this time around.

All the modern equipment we've gathered over the last two years will be put to good use, however, in quick temporary layouts to have fun while we work. I also plan on using the modern era equipment to run a nice circle around next year's Christmas Tree. Building a platform for that should be fun. 

Modern NJ layout: Curves fixed, factory built

 Once I made the switch to a modern-era layout set in New Jersey, I ran into the problem of curves being too tight for longer passenger cars like the NJ Transit coaches. After some unexpected construction and a few purchases of wider radius curved track, the issue is resolved as best as I could hope for. The only other option was to tear up most of the foam and completely rework the frame. That wasn't going to happen. So here we are. 

The track realignment was really stressful, having to add extensions to the "east" end of the layout and fill in the angle inside the squares. You can see the old curve inside the new. It's not a small correction. 

Old curve with new curve on top.

Track ripped up. 

Adding the new expansions consisted of cutting new frame pieces and some new plywood that hugged the planned curve. Took about a day to complete, using leftover foam chunks on top. The other addition here was to go with a double track mainline. I figured since I had the space now, why not allow space for a full freight or passenger train to bypass the other. Ultimately, I'd like to add separate power to the inside line and allow for independent operations within that, including the industrial area. 

After adding the new expansions and the first plaster cloth application.

I spoiled the building reveal with that photo, but it's actually the only one I took of the new section before more was added to the scenery. The double main line will be very nice and give much more depth to the layout and operations. 

Factory

Back in November, we picked up a Walthers George Roberts Printing Co. building set at the Edison train show. This spring I finally got started on it. It was surprisingly simple to construct and took about three days from start to finish. And that was only because I had to wait overnight for some of the big glue phases to dry before moving onto the next. 

Sprayed white, with dry-brushing brick. 

Since I wanted the brick to have the older look, I sprayed the base white as the mortar before using a dry-brush technique for the brick color on top. I had to be much heavier with the brick color than I thought. The concrete sections used a dark gray color. I debated whether to use a more tan/beige color, but the gray worked out just fine. I thought the red fire exit doors came out pretty cool in contrast to the rest of the building. 

Finished factory. 

Those trailers are about 40 years old, and too short compared to
modern 53-foot trailers. But they look cool. 

I've got a backlog of updates to post. Just have to write them out and get photos together. Expect another post next week that includes adding real roads and more scenery to the central and eastern portions of the layout. 

Crap! Crap! Crap! The Turns are Too Tight

There comes a time in every project when you realize something is wrong. This time, it's really wrong. Catastrophically wrong, one might say. The turn radius on the layout are too tight for the modern passenger coaches. The Amtrak coaches made it through fairly well, but the new NJ Transit double-deckers simply cannot make the turns. This has forced a major shift in the track plan, which I'll explain below. 

As for the title of this post, yes, it should be sung to the tune of "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!"

The Eastern Curve that's too tight. The NJ Transit
coaches derailed constantly.

These curved track sections are the tightest radius Kato offers that are meant for standard trains. The problem seems to have been that I originally built this benchwork thinking the biggest rail cars would be the 47-foot Civil War era coaches. Then once I switched to a modern era layout, I forgot the turn radius would be too tight for the much longer modern coaches. 

The Eastern Curve at the necessary radius, much
larger than the current benchwork.

You can see how much wider the curve radius will have to be to comfortably accomodate the modern era coaches. There's not much choice here but to add on "wings" of some kind to widen the surface area on which to build this new track plan. I'll also have to purchase additional track, as I only have the wider turns from the original M2 Kato set, which we want to save separately. 

The Middle Inside Curve, also too tight for the NJ Transit coaches.
I'll have to rip up much of this.

The middle inside curve area just down the line from the trailer yard was also too tight for the modern coaches. This will have to be ripped up and realigned with a wider radius curve. I'm really upset about this part, due to all the ballast I set down for the yard area. That's going to be a real pain to remove. My estimate is that the new track will have to shift right down the middle of these two current tracks. But I'm not sure yet. 

Somehow, the outside/farside curve is not having any derailment issues with the new coaches, despite being the same radius. My conclusion with all this is that the turn radius would have been tolerable is laid down exactly perfect, but they must have been just a degree or two too tight. The tunnel is a similar situation, where I could "untighten" the curve inside the tunnel and the coaches seem to do alright. 

This is so frustrating. But as I've said continuously through this process, I'm learning so many hard lessons that I really don't want to have to learn during the Civil War era layout down the road. That layout will have to be near perfect and I can't afford any screw ups like this. 

Photo Time

I do work on some small side projects from time to time. This one is a new wood load for the DC Atlas 4-4-0's. It looks much cleaner than the previous wood load, and hides the tungsten putty very well. 

New tungsten-weighted wood load on the Scout.

Shelf layout progress: Tunnel hill, final track configuration, No. 4 switches

Slow and steady goes the shelf layout. The foam board is now on. Track is set with one portion glued down. And I'm starting to build up the one section where a tunnel will go through a hill. Using Kato Unitrack has been a revelation, even if I'm probably not utilizing it to its fullest potential by mapping out the exact pieces ahead of time. This has been a trial-and-error endeavor, which has taught me a bunch about using space and other things I can't get without just doing it. 

The future tunnel hill. 

The Tunnel Hill section is something I was debating as an option for the northwestern portion of the layout, as I didn't want to just have a loop that you can see all the way around. Not very realistic that way. So I'm going to use the tunnel and hill to create at least a minor illusion that the railroad doesn't just loop around. I'm using the leftover pieces of foam board to build the skeleton. On top of this I'll use plaster sheets, then the scenery. I picked up a set of tunnel portals at the recent train show down in Edison (more on that in a later post) so all the parts are ready. Just need to block off a few hours to dive in. 

Crossover for switching and passing, along with the industrial yard.

As this layout will be a fictionalized North Jersey, I'm going to try to cram in as much to represent the area as possible. And what would a New Jersey layout be without some industry. The southeast section will have the crossover that will allow trains to both pass on the siding, and switch into the industrial yard area. I'm not sure what I'm going to do here to hide the outer loop. But the middle of it will have a factory of some kind and the outer edge of the scenery will be made to look like something in the Meadowlands. 

All the wiring is fed through the benchwork. The initial incarnation of this layout will be DC, but I'm also adding some things like dead feeder connections throughout so a transition to DCC later will be possible. Speaking of wiring... 

Kato No. 4 switches. Lots of them. But..!

All this progress wouldn't be possible without one of the best eBay finds yet. This lot of six Kato No. 4 switches for less than $100 has allowed me to really shrink the space needed to get some interesting track configurations, something the standard No. 6 switches did not. The problem with No. 4 switches is you have to file a groove into the rails so the points can push in further and be much more flush with the rail. This was a very simple process and the switches are nearly flawless. Even the Atlas 4-4-0s ran over them dozens of times with only one or two derailments. I used Mike Fifer's excellent how-to video. Go subscribe to his youtube channel if you haven't already. 

Starting a Shelf Layout

I'm building a new layout. This time it's a shelf-style, utilizing the existing shelf in the boys' playroom. This was the original plan years ago, but I was holding off on it since we expected to move at some point over the last 12 months. That didn't happen, and doesn't look like it's going to anytime soon with the market being insane. So I went to the store, picked up some wood, and started cutting. 

The only guide I was using was a pencil sketch I made with some dimensions. You'll see in a sec the shape of the layout on the shelf. But the idea here was to create something that I could easily take apart and move if necessary. So I created a pseudo-module standard for myself. The two ends would be L-shaped to accommodate the loops, with 2x1 sections added between. I'm going use bolts to connect all of them, again for an easy way to take it down and reassemble. 

I used simple pine board for the frame, and 1/4-inch plywood for the surface. It's extremely lightweight, something I'm happy about. I also picked up the "model trains" foam board that I should have used last time. This is all an exercise in "what I should have done last time." 

The two L's are in place, with the 2x1 section in the middle. If we want to expand--the shelf this is on extends to the right about 10 more feet--it's as simple as creating more 2x1 sections and plugging them into the layout. The track is not a final arrangement. This was a quick "let's see what we can do with all the track we have" and it worked out nicely to get some trains running right away and the boys happy.

I have to adjust and buy more track to make the loops fit better and just improve this overall. And of course we also have to put down the foam board. But I can say with confidence this is a vastly improved layout design, with longer runs and much easier access to all the areas. It wasn't easy reaching three feet across the old layout when a train stalled. 

This is the very early stage, so stay tuned as we progress! 

My own 'Transition Era' with new diesels and cars

 It's been a long few months since tearing up the old 2018 layout--yes, I went through with it. Part of the reasoning was that we got new Unitrack for our 6-year-old and new trains to go with it, and needed the table. So in the interest of catching up on half a year's worth of stuff, I'll start with the new purchases. 

For Christmas we got the 6-year-old this fine Atlas Susquehanna #4004 Dash 8-40B, along with a bunch of freight cars, to go with his new Unitrack. 

Here's a quick video run-by I finally got around to uploading. It runs very nicely, especially for a used engine.  Then again, I'm not used to running diesels, or any locomotives that have so many points of contact on the track. It's so nice to not worry about choppy power supply to the motor. 

The other new engine that we got was for the 6-year-old's birthday this spring. He's been wanting a passenger locomotive for a while, since we have the 25-year-old Amtrak double-deckers. The old Amtrak EMD F40PH was beyond repair--at least for me and time--so I got him a new one from KATO. It's easily the best engine I've ever run. We took it outside in March on a warm sunny day. 

That's about it for the modern additions to our collection. I also found a big, cheap lot of freight cars for the Susquehanna engine, and added another switch and more track to the tabletop layout. 

The next update will be back to Civil War era trains, as I've worked on some new cars, figures, and buildings. Stay tuned. Hopefully it won't be another five months until then. 

Testing Unitrack, First New Track in 25 Years

Got to keep this on the DL. I don't want the 5-year-old to find out ;). But I bought him a Kato Unitrack pack for Christmas. It's tough for him to run trains on the layout, since he has to be so careful and the track is pretty spotty. I've heard only good things about Unitrack, especially how easy it is for younger children to get trains up and running with it. MSRP on the Master 2 pack is $210, but I found a NIB set for less than $170 including shipping on eBay. 

Since I haven't purchased any new track in about 25 years, my curiosity got the best of me. I had to try it out. There's also the fear that something may have gotten damaged in transit. I didn't set up the whole thing. Just did a visual once-over of the contents. But I did get the feeder track, one straight section, and the power pack set up. My first test was with the Penn Central E9. It ran smoother than I can ever remember. Of course, I ran downstairs to get one of the Atlas 4-4-0's to really see how much difference this track would make. Well, you can see for yourself...