Boxcab

That is truly inspirational track. Reading Gene's blog was one of the reasons why I decided to hand build the track for Project O. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/124219-project-o-148th-scale-switching-layout/

Progress with the track laying. It has taken me 3 weeks to lay these 2 sections of track. That works out at approximately 15 hours labour based on 2&1/2 hours a night in the clubrooms twice a week. If I could build this at home I would probably make faster progress. Patience is important when hand building track though. Several people have commented that it is a massive task that I have set myself & that they wouldn't have the patience for it. Strangely I find that it can be very theraputic.

Some progress, The turnouts have been positioned and a start made on fitting the "Foamex" sub base for the plain track. I cut the ties for the plain track earlier this year and just need to start staining them now. More updates soon.

That looks very good. Is the fishplate just cosmetic? Did you make them yourself? Have you read Mike Cougill's book "Detailing Track"? It is very useful.

I like your idea. Using Marcway kits & replacing with wooden ties and using strategic PCB ties is probably the best cost effective option for most people. Jay Crisswell at Right-O-Way is great to do business with and very helpful. I recently e-mailed him an order on a Saturday evening and the items arrived on Tuesday morning. A good source of O Scale rail in the UK is Karlgarin Models. http://www.karlgarin.com/whatsnew.htm They produce correct size O-Scale code 100 rail too, as used on Project O. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/124219-project-o-148th-scale-switching-layout/ Right-O-Way code 100 # 6 frog & guard rails & Karlgain code 100 rail on Project O.

I have now built all 6 turnouts that are required for the layout. They are all built on a sub base of 5mm thick "Foamex board", this has enabled me to build them at home and then bring them to the clubroom. The need for a sub base came about because the ties were made from coffee stirrer sticks, which are much thinner than the traditional square cross section ties, this meant that the track spikes passed through the tie and stuck out below. Trying to push spikes into 9mm ply baseboards was not going to work, hence the need for a suitable sub base. Coffee stirrers were cheap, a box of 1000 cost £5-00 and yielded approximately 3 ties per stirrer. Also the amount of ballast required is reduced, meaning less weight is added to the baseboards. (And we are Yorkshire folk who don't like wasting money! )

Progress update, Work on the layout was suspended for a short time earlier this year and the boards stored. This was to allow another, short term project, to procede quickly. That project has now finished and we have our allotted space back. The baseboards have now been primed on all surfaces. It took 5 evenings, spread over 2 weeks, to paint them and was a bit of a logistical challenge. The colour has been labelled "Industrial Grey" and was a deliberate choice, as the layout is based on an industrial setting. Work on the turnouts has been slow but steady. I have discovered that handbuilt track can be time consuming, requires patience, attention to detail and a meticulous approach. There have been occasions when it has been very frustrating, but it is very satisfying when you (or I) get it right. More updates to follow soon. "O Scale or no scale."

Yes there is , 10-00 till 3-00. £3-00 entry fee for visitors.

Is the RS3 a Weaver "China Drive" one? The decoder looks like a Loksound XL. Have you got the latest version of the sound file for the RS3? it is better than the earlier version. Nice to see some more O Scale modelling.

The first turnout has been built, only 5 more to build. The switch points, guard rails, frog, rail braces & head rod (tie bar) are all castings from Right-O-Way. The R-O-W castings are high quality with no flash and are beautifully detailed, they are well worth the money. The tie plates are Grandt line from R-O-W with R-O-W spikes. I made the gauge plates & hook tie plates from 10 thou plasticard as described in Mike Cougill's book "Detailing Track". Mike's book has been my track building "bible". The turnout still requires cosmetic rail joiners, these will be added once the turnout is installed on the layout, the plan is to fit cosmetic rail joiners at scale 39 ft lengths. The sub base road bed is 5 mm "Foamex", a plastic that is strong but soft enough to spike into. I discovered Foamex after one of our other club members used it for a large industrial building on his layout. Because the ties are only about 1.5 mm thick (coffee stirrer sticks) I had to build on a sub base to allow for the length of the spikes below the ties.

O Scale Western Maryland RS3, In early 70's condition. It started out as a basic 2 Rail Weaver RS3 with early centre chain drive.(early 90's vintage I think.) Altered to a phase 3 version with car body air filters, long hood access door louvres removed, dynamic brake on short hood, a scratch-built interior added, additional raised footplate on fireman's side. P & D Hobby brass side stanchions with home made handrails. The end handrails & MU stanchions were made from brass rod & channel, pilot step boards & grab irons home made. The snow plough is fabricated from plasticard. The nose grab handles & fan cover are P & D. The airlines are fine electrical single strand wire, couplers are Kadee "New Generation" type. The original Pittman motor has had a flywheel added & the chain drive has had a lower ratio gear fitted (these were already done when I bought it second hand.) I have installed a Loksound L decoder with the latest Alco 244 sound file. The decoder just fits in the short hood. A mega bass speaker is fitted in the nose under the fan housing along with a Sugar cube speaker just in front of the cab to balance the sound along the length of the loco. It sounds wonderful. Weathering is powders.

Time to start building the turnouts ! The templates (Fast Tracks free downloads) have been mounted on the sub-base. The ties have been cut & stained, just need to glue them on to the templates now.

Love it. Really shows how imposing O Scale is.

Yes but it is not repeatable here ! You know that it will be worth all the effort in the end. Stephen, That is looking promising.

Not much progress recently due to lack of working space at the clubrooms. Part of our space has been made available to 2 other layouts temporarily, as they are due to be at our Annual Exhibition next weekend. https://www.wakefieldrms.org/exhibition/ After the Exhibition we will have our space back and work will resume on Project O. It must be the angle that you are looking at the screen Ray. They are not that heavy and they are certainly strong, we had one stacked on top of the other and Richard was able to lift himself off the floor holding on to the top ! More updates soon.

Coffee stirrers, the Yorkshire answer to obtaining Ties. ( IE, You can get them for free.) I have cut 1600 ties for Project O so far. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/124219-project-o-148th-scale-switching-layout/ It can be quite therapeutic really. I agree with you Jordan, hand-laying is the way to go in US O. You just need to put in the time and effort, but the end result is worth it. I look forward to seeing this Daniel.

I don't think that we could get budget approval from the committee to take the layout & team to Baltimore !

Just a couple of photo's of the 3D mock up that I made. This was to help visualise how the finished model should look. The blue bit that runs the full length represents the conveyor corridor that was a later addition to the factory. http://goo.gl/maps/jZF1cbJogvk The black bits represent tanks/silos & the building in the right foreground is the house where the company started.

We will have some inset track. The track is going to be all handbuilt using O Scale code 100 rail ( not HO rail! There is a difference.) This is to represent the lighter weight rail used in the plant in the 70's. Tieplates & spikes will be used. The track is going to be one of the features of the project,one of the "interesting elements" mentioned earlier. I have said enough about track for the moment, more information about it to follow later.

Have you been reading my mind? I would have to get approval from the committee for that of course! It's all part of the master plan for O Scale to take over the World. Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha.(sound of manic laughter. ) .

Part of the "post mortem" process of Menasha included identifying which parts had received favourable comments. One was the size of the buildings & another was that the track was at an angle to the board edge. Also on a rectangular board the longest run is a diagonal, which equals a longer track. Hence the large buildings & tracks running diagonally on this plan. A lot of time (& hot air, Ray!) has gone into the planning of this project, approximately 2 years up to now. It had to be something that would be interesting to both viewers & operators, and that is not easy to achieve but we are confident that we have found that. Only time will tell if we will achieve that. Spoiler Alert! We have a few more " interesting" ideas planned for the project that we will be revealing in the coming months. Stay tuned to this thread

We have not planned to use 2 loco's as the real plant was switched by 1 loco doing all the facing spurs & then the trailing spurs. The real place is switched by road power, they didn't have their own switcher. (At least not in the 1970's which is the period that the layout is set.) But 2 loco's are a possible option. Wait and see.

Some layouts don't need run rounds! (I must have been subconsciously influenced by someone!)It makes for more interesting operation. (The fiddle yard is inside the building at the right-hand side.)

A view of the factory building with freight cars. The baseboard is 4 ft long, the building is nearly 2 ft tall & the freight cars are approx 12 in long. The joy of O Scale.