Construction Update #1 - Benchwork

Benchwork

 

All of the lower level benchwork is in place except for the section in front of the garage door.  The benchwork for the helix is in the foreground  and framing for the upper level has started.  This picture was taken from the entry (on the south wall) looking towards the north wall on the far side of the room.

 

The view was taken from the northwest corner of the room.  With the exception of the verticle 2x4/'s and a couple of 1x4's on the upper level, all of the lumber used to this point was salvaged from the old layout

The elevated floor is 21" off the floor and this view is taken from my eye level, about 69"  At 6'3" I have about 4' of headroom.

The final two pictures in this update are a look into the future.  I taped up a section of backdrop and sat my under construction engine facility in the foreground.  This scene is only 24" deep.  The backdrop is from Trackside Scenery; highly recommended!

 About 60% of the layout will be build directly on top of 3" of "pink" foam.  Currently I am using Micro Engineering Code 70 flex track and #6 turnouts mounted on cork roadbed.  Almost all of my locomotives are equipped with Tsunami2 sound systems and TCS Current Keepers.  I am using a NCE wireless 5 Amp Pro System along with a 5 Amp booster.  My original DCC system was from Lenz followed by one from Digitrax.  In my opinion, NCE is by far and away the best of the readily available systems.  Mine, with a few updates, has worked flawlessly for about 15 years.

Out with the old, In with the new

 Sn3 Layout Removal

 

The first step was to remove the section of layout in front of the garage door.  This section was designed for easy removal and the whole process took about 2 hours.  It was cold outside so I left the door closed until I had a pile of scrap ready to load in my utility trailer.

January 29, 2020

At this point, one trip had already been made to the transfer station and the second load was waiting in the driveway.  Most of the lumber, including over 100 feet of L-Girder was salvaged for use on the new layout.  The heavy duty shelves, seen in this picture, were used to make up the elevated floor for the interior section of the "Mushroom"

February 8, 2020

After the third trip to the transfer station, all but one section of the old layout in the main room is gone and construction of the elevated floor is about 50% done.  Cabinets, from my old store, are also being placed around the elevated floor.  As they are placed and leveled, a lot of stuff that was sitting around is getting put away.  The new layout will use most of the perimeter bench work and backdrop.  The old photo murals were removed and with a little filling, sanding, and a fresh coat of paint the backdrop will be ready for some new photo murals from Trackside Scenery.

February 10, 2019

The elevated floor section is done, four base cabinets are installed and the inner L-Girders have been attached to the lower (outer) section of the "Mushroom".  The room is a lot neater as more things have been put away.  The helix will be in the foreground in front of the elevated section.

The General Motors Assembly Plant - Bowling Green

General Motors Bowling Green Assembly - Corvettes

 

Its cold outside here in Washington State so I've put off opening up the big door and removing the old Sn3 layout.  It supposed to get up in the low 50's soon so until then I've been working on structures for Bowling Green, Kentucky.  The General Motors assembly plant for Corvettes is located in Bowling Green so I thought some kind of representation of the 1.7 million square foot plant would be a nice addition to the layout.  At this point, the structure is little more than an above average mock-up.  Details will come later.

Unlike the Sn3 layout, where I got bogged down in details, I decided to use the "good enough" approach to speed things up this time around.  After all, at 72, I can't spend the next 14 years plodding along like I've done for the last 14 years.  My goal is to have a trouble free operational and presentable layout in 3 years.  More on that later.

Most of the structures I see on contemporary model railroads are much to small for the prototypes they represent; that bothers me.  This model is nearly 6 feet long and it is designed to go up against the backdrop. It is being built using a combination of modified Walthers kits.  The first photograph shows the office building which is pretty much "stock" right out of the box except for paint.  The sign was pulled off the Internet, worked over in photo shop, and attached to a styrene base.  Eventually, it will have a planter box around it and a 1995 Corvette (Herpa) out front on display.  Although I don't usually do interiors, I may include a ground floor lobby in this model.

The second photo shows more of the plant.  The kit has brick or concrete block below the windows and siding.  I replaced it with sheet styrene to represent concrete (more like the prototype).  I also used the styrene to increase the height of the building by about a scale foot,  Two kits were used here; the Walthers "Assembly Plant" and "Buds Trucking Company" .I have found "fit" to be a problem with a lot of Walthers kits and these were no exception.  I spent a lot of time sanding and fiddling around with the parts and am still not entirely satisfied with the results.  The blue parapet shows up in photos of the prototype so I added it to the model. 

This end of the plant will be in the corner.  The track running into the building will run through the backdrop and into the staging area.  I spent a year working in a GM assembly plant between my Junior and Senior year of college.  As I recall, the two tracks that went into our plant held four 86' box cars each.  The huge cars were an amazing site sitting inside that building.

In the next day or two, I will mount the plant on a 8' x 16' piece of  3" thick pink foam.  Track, details and some initial scenery will then be added.  I'm also working on Hill's Pet Nutrition and the engine facility for Bowling Green.

Motive Power for a 1990'a regional railroad

MBG&C Locomotives

 

Generally, I prefer Atlas 4-axle locomotives for an operating model railroad.  They are smooth running and tolerate a reasonable amount of handling.  While earlier versions lack some of the detail included on later versions, I find all but the earliest versions made in Austria acceptable. And, I can install a sound decoder and current keeper in most versions in less than an hour.

 

#5353

 

When it comes to regional or short line railroads, most locomotives have a back story.  That's certainly the case with Madisonville, Bowling Green & Chattanooga #5353.  The last Chesapeake & Ohio U30B's were #8225-8234 delivered in 1974.  These units were similar to previous U30Bs ordered by the C&O but the final 10 came with GE's floating bolster truck.  They later became CSX #5353-5362.  By 1990, the ex C&O U30B's were at the end of their useful lives as far as the CSX was concerned and they were retired and most were sold to other railroads, locomotive resellers, or for scrap but not the #5353.  It was leased to the power hungry MBG&C during the spring of 1989 and now, several years later, still soldiers on long after many of it's contemporaries have gone to scrap.

MBG&C #5353 in a Atlas model factory decorated for CSX.  The trucks and fuel tank were painted flat black and MBG&C sub-lettering was added under the cab number.  A new 5-Chime horn was moved to the front of the cab along with a firecracker antenna.  Mig panel line wash was used to bring out detail.  It was weathered using photographs of actual CSX U-30B's.  It is equipped with a Tsunami2 sound decoder, TCS KA1 Current Keeper and Kadee #58 Scale Couplers

 

#3243

 

Madisonville, Bowling Green & Chattanooga #3243 is another CSX cast off.  Originally it was one of 90 U-23B's built between 1973 and 1975 for the L&N.  #3243 was sold to the MBG&C in 1989.

MBG&C #3243 is another Atlas model factory decorated for CSX.  The CSX lettering was removed and the paint was faded using 91% Isopropyl Alcohol.  Mig panel line wash was used to bring out the detail.  The trucks and fuel tank were painted black.  A new snowplow, 5 chime horn, firecracker antenna and air conditioning were added.  Again, the model was weathered using prototype photographs.  Older  GE's tended to leak oil and this is reflected on the lower car body and side sills.  It is equipped with a Tsunami2 sound decoder, a TCS KA1 Current Keeper and Kadee #58 Scale Couplers.

The Mushroom

The advantages of a Mushroom style layout are pretty obvious.  First and foremost is the height of the layout in relationship to viewing angles.  As can be seen in the drawing below, the lower level is set at 48" above the floor and the upper level is set at 53" above the elevated floor (21").  The second advantage is that one scene doesn't protrude or interfere with the other since the upper and lower levels are viewed from opposite sides.  On the other hand, there are disadvantages.  First, you need a reasonable ceiling height.  In my case, the ceiling height is 100" which I believe is close to the minimum for someone of my height, 6'3".  In addition, construction is certainly more complex than a conventional layout and for obvious reasons it won't work on perimeter walls.  

 

 

First Post - Backround Info & Track Plan

Backround & Track Plan

The Madisonville, Bowling Green & Chattanooga Railroad is an HO scale layout representing a regional free-lanced railroad set in Kentucky and Tennessee during the early 1990's.  In the north, it interchanges with the Paducah & Louisville and the CSX at Madisonville, KY.  From there, the line heads south to Memphis Junction (Bowling Green, Kentucky) and interchange with the Illinois Central and CSX.  From Bowling Green the line heads southeast, over the Cumberland Plateau, and on to Chattanooga, Tennessee and a connection with the CSX and Norfolk Southern. The layout represents the area around Bowling Green, Kentucky..

The main part of the layout will occupy a 27' x 16' room.  A second room, 12' x 6' will contain the staging yards, return loops, dispatchers desk and work area.  A Sn3 layout has occupied the space for the last 14 years. 

 

I generally don't care for double level layouts due the height limitations.  For me, the lower levels are generally to low or the upper levels are to high.  My plan overcomes the problem by using a "Mushroom" style design with a raised floor (about 21") on the inside.  The design also eliminated the need for a "duck-under" at the entry point.  The layout is designed for point-to-point operation (staging yard to staging yard) but also provides for continuous running through a couple of reverse loops, one stacked upon the other.  The minimum radius is 30", but most are larger, and the maximum grade is about 2.25% in the helix between levels.  Design elements are bound to change as the layout progresses.  

Lower Level

Upper Level

  
Actual construction will start once the weather warms up and the existing layout is removed.  In the meantime I will be working on locomotives, rolling stock and structures.