Cane River - a slice of Louisiana in N

[DanielB]

It'll be ready.

 

I've got tomorrow off work for this exact reason. Tonight I'm going to fit the fascia and sort the lighting rig - shouldn't take more than a couple of hours. (Touch wood)

 

Then I'll be covering everything in blankets and newspaper tomorrow morning and getting the fascia painted.

 

Speaking of, I have a dark brown paint for the front of the layout, but I'm not sure on the lighting rig - should I go for that dark brown, or should I paint it sky blue like the backscene?

[Robatron86]

Sky blue I reckon.

[DanielB]

Sky blue it is!

 

Layout is pretty much done:

 

 

Now I'm just getting a few little jobs done and playing trains.

 

I was going to fit the fascia to the layout today but discovered that I can't get the module to connect up if the fascia is there due to the angles involved - as such I'll be passing on that for the show tomorrow, and will figure something out at a later date.

 

I'll be lining the front of the layout with information sheets and such instead - shouldn't look TOO bad - I hope!

 

As I don't know the layout of the venue exactly, I'm not leaving anything to chance in terms of wayward stock falling to the floor, so I've built, fitted and tested some rail bumpers on each of the sidings. The cassette will have something a little more... crude!

 

 

Simply made from I beam and cylindrical plastruct, with a long length of brass bead-artists' wire down the center. I've run a loco into it at speed step 13 just to be sure - rock solid!

 

Not a lot to do now except to disassemble everything and load up the car, but for now it's time to sit back with a beer and chill out!

[GWR88]

Look good daniel

Are the bumpers glued down or held in somehow? Wish i could see the layout but TVNAM is to far for me to travel!!

Lloyd

[F-UnitMad]

Nice to meet up & see this today at TVNAM.

 

I like the scratchbuilt scrapyard machinery in particular - very convincing!

[DanielB]

Thanks F-UnitMad - nice to put a face to a name, though for some reason I pictured you looking like Uncle Sam. ;P

 

Lloyd, They are spiked into the baseboard with a length of brass wire.

[roundhouse]

It was good to talk to you yesterday.

 

Look forward to the extensions.

 

Ian

[F-UnitMad]

Thanks F-UnitMad - nice to put a face to a name, though for some reason I pictured you looking like Uncle Sam. ;P

 

That's okay.... on another Forum I look like a Lego policeman....

[DanielB]

Thanks Ian! I think a small yard and a few more industries might not go amiss.

 

I'm thinking of getting rid of the fiddle yard entirely and replacing it with an interchange yard - give me space for a few trains

[shortliner]

As you discovered Dan, Shows are FUN, can be EXHAUSTING, and above all INSPIRE IDEAS! - Glad you enjoyed it, and the scratched scrapper machinery is very good!

Jack

[DanielB]

I already have plans to make Cane River at least "L" shaped for next year.

 

I want to add in a bit of a scenic run through the bayou, and then have an interchange yard between the N&CRR and the KCS.

 

Fun times.

[DanielB]

Now I've had some time to rest and relax a while, I thought I'd post my thoughts on the TVNAM 2014 exhibition and how I felt Cane River performed.

The Exhibition

For a fan of US model railroads, this is THE event in the UK, with some truly fantastic exhibitors coming from all over the UK to show off their creations. The full list of layouts can be found on the TVNAM website - http://www.tvnam.co.uk/layouts.htm

For the modeler after some new toys, N and HO scale modelers were VERY well catered for, though traders did seem lacking in O Scale products - something I am sure will be addressed for next years show.

I would have loved to have been a visitor to the event, as there were some spectacular layouts on show, which unfortunately I had little time to see as I was a one man crew for my own layout, so didn't have anyone to cover for me so I could have a look around - entirely my own fault, but I'll be sure to take this into consideration for next year - yes I will be back, so long as the organizers will have me!

On that note...

Cane River



I was very pleased with the layout, especially considering I was still working on it at 2am the morning of the event! It was easy to set up, the lighting worked perfectly, after a good clean the night before, there was minimal stalling - mainly on the turnouts due to dirt building up over the course of the day. A quick scrub with a track cleaning rubber and everything was good as new!

Switching proved a challenge, and I was very surprised at quite how intense switching the layout would be - swapping cars out on the team track and scrap yard took all my attention, and the occasional shuttling of freight cars to the lumber yard and warehouse were a welcome break between switch jobs.

The Kato couplers I added onto my freight stock were both a help and a hindrance. That they were compatible with the Microtrains, McHenry and Accumate couplers on the rest of my stock was great, but they did prove a little problematic in getting Accumate and McHenry couplers to connect up when switching. I think I shall reserve them for when switching fixed rakes of cars like grain and cement hoppers in future.

Tanks cars proved the most challenging to switch as - whilst I only had 2 of them - ensuring there was a barrier car between them and the switching loco proved quite difficult due to the space restrictions in the spurs and the run around. I shall definitely be ensuring they make an appearance in each exhibition I attend in future.

Motive power was provided for most of the day by my two latest acquisitions: an MKT U25B and a Southern Pacific GP40 - both Atlas locos and both came DCC fitted as standard. Both perform excellently, and I shall definitely be returning to the traders I got them from in future.




All in all, a great day was had, both operating and exploring the exhibition, though a more even balance of both would have been preferable.

For those of you who are in the UK, mark the date for next year - you won't regret it!

[Adrian Wintle]

For swithcing it is usually best to standardize on one type of coupler - usually this means Microtrains due to the range of options available. Swap the trucks on the cars you intend to switch so that they all have MT ones - this also frequently has the effect of getting the cars closer together, as an MT truck with short couplers is shorter than an Atlas etc. truck with Acccumates or an Athearn truck with McHenrys. 

 

It is pretty simple to change out the Accumates on Atlas locos with Microtrains 1015s - either use one of the suplied shims below the couper box (it's a tight fit) and use the coupler clip or just screw them in place if that's how the old couplers were attached.

 

For switching tank cars, assume that they have something non-volatile in them (corn syrup etc...) and remove the barrier car requirement.

 

And isn't that a U23B rather than a U25B?

 

Adrian

[roundhouse]

It may at first seem expensive changing the trucks but if you can it will be well worth it. The trucks come with a number of different size pins so will normally fit most of the holes in the underside of the car.

 

These days you get the medium flange wheelsets in the trucks so you will get a uniform standard of wheels that also look good aswell as a uniform coupler.

 

I also find that the Microtrains couplers last much longer than the other types, especially the uncoupling arm.

 

Ian

[F-UnitMad]

 

 

The Kato couplers I added onto my freight stock were both a help and a hindrance. That they were compatible with the Microtrains, McHenry and Accumate couplers on the rest of my stock was great, but they did prove a little problematic in getting Accumate and McHenry couplers to connect up when switching. I think I shall reserve them for when switching fixed rakes of cars like grain and cement hoppers in future.

I'd concur with Adrian's post above - in my experience, in all 3 scales (N, HO & O) I have found it best to stick to just ONE manufacturer's couplings; usually Microtrains for N, and Kadee for HO & O.

[Mike Kieran]

Daniel,

I have to say that I'm impressed with the level of detail that you put in, especially since you built it in such a short length of time.

[DanielB]

Thanks Mike, much appreciated. I've got a new list of things I need to improve upon, as well as an extension to begin.

 

No rest for the wicked!

 

To everyone else - I'm happy with the couplers as they are tbh - with the exception of the Kato ones they all seem to couple up fine unless I'm switching on curves. I'm just going to try and plan ahead and avoid curved spurs where cars are likely to be coupled.

[DanielB]

Some more motive power for Cane River. Not sure on the story behind the last one, but it's a nice loco.

 

[Adrian Wintle]

Now you are getting like me...

 

That's 2 Atlas B40-8s, a LifeLike GP38-2, 3 LifeLike GP20s, an Atlas GP40, an Atlas U23B, and a Bachmann Northern. 

 

It looks like you need a front handrail for the GP38-2. I don't know about spares availability from Walthers, but you might be able to make an Atlas one fit (the GP38 Early version has separate handrails)

 

The B40-8s take a drop in decoder, the GP38-2 will need hardwiring. We've already discussed the GP20s and you said the GP40 and U23B were already DCC equipped. The Northern shouldn't be too hard to hardwire. I've done one, but there were a few different chassis variations.

 

Adrian

[DanielB]

The Espee GP20 needs new rear handrails too. I'm probably going to try soldering up my own from thing brass rod first.

 

The Northern is the 1983 version with the white plastic gears - might not be worth converting tbh. That one is at the very bottom of my list of priorities at the moment.

[roundhouse]

Gold medal do brass handrail stanchions which I have found useful for replacing the fragile Intermountain Tunnel motor handrails

[DanielB]

So, with TVNAM over for this year, my attention can now turn toward extending the layout.

 

As it stands, this is likely going to be the first initial plan of how the layout will look, though I'll likely leave out the double slip at the mouth of the receiving sidings, and replace it with pointwork in such a way as to keep the switching lead from fouling the main.

 

Otherwise I think that this is quite adequate for representing a shortline railroad linking up with a interchange yard - in this case the Natchitoches and Cane River Railroad linking up with the fictional KCS interchange yard in Natchitoches. You may also notice the offshoot from the shortline which crosses the feed into the loco stabling area which ends at the end of the board, and the curved spur opposite alongside the rice silo - this is to allow for a lift out section to be placed here if required so I can sit back and run trains in a big circle, should the mood take me.

 

[DanielB]

I had an hour faffing around in the layout room today, and this was the result:

 

 

Some might say I have too many freight cars. I say that my layout isn't big enough!

[F-UnitMad]

Re your trackplan, it looks very interesting, but possibly the curves are rather tight? It's something we all do, especially with 'back of an envelope' sketches. I know from my own experience that although N can go down to as little as 9" radius, just because the track can, doesn't mean trains will go through it reliably....

[DanielB]

Yeah, that's got some serious "back of a beer mat" track plan compression going on there.

 

That bottom curve shouldn't  be that sharp - I've got a layout width of 6' to play with at the bottom there, so it shouldn't be anywhere near that bad in reality.