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D&RGW narrow gauge: Back to scenics.


JZ
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Although the plan has been drawn up, but maybe a little tweaking to do, there is not much I can do until August. That is when my Kitwood Hill Models turntable is expected. In the meantime, I have started to put some structures together The first of which is this Bar Mills Models laser-cut plywood kit. Most enjoyable to put together, although the stairs nearly tried my patience.1982516733_Saulenas.jpg.a540ac778e0a6fd4cf5befe308167ff5.jpg

 Some street furniture and figures to add yet. Maybe a shady lady having a smoke between customers at the top of the stairs?

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I have a couple of Blair Line kits, also laser-cut, and some other buildings from Micro Engineering and Funaro & Camerlengo in plastic and resin. With these and some DPM kits that had been used on my Tolmouth layout, I should have enough for the small part of townscape that will be modelled.

 

One job that needs doing early is finding suitable backdrops. ID have some new Rocky Mountain scenes which would do one wall. Some others I am looking at are from  http://www.larcproducts.com/ColoradoSeries.html who have an extensive range of Colorado ones.

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Back to the gradient question. I've just  been doing some tests using the Woodland Scenics 4% incline. No problem with the Goose. The K-27 will happily haul, stop and start 6 cars, but the C-19 struggles with anything over 3. So that really confirms that 2% will be the maximum and will probably use the Woodland Scenics inclines just to maintain a constant gradient where needed. Also been looking at the helix. GH Modules have had some very good reviews, including some here on RMweb. Sells as graydogblue on eBay. 3¼ turns will give a height of 273mm, which is about 200mm higher than my present duck-under, so should be easier on my back. Though, as this short piece will not be scenic, it could be a lift out or hinged section. As for control, I will be returning to my trusty MultiMaus. The loco's only have 12 functions and as I prefer the feel of the Maus, it makes sense to go back. The Prodigy will find it's way to the S&D resurrection layout based around Tucking Mill.

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Had some good feedback on the trackplan on a couple of US narrow gauge Facebook groups. Might add an additional siding at the mine and possibly at the passing point. What I will need to find are some 4mm scale tank traps, as they should be ideal at the base of the viaduct pillars.

 

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Another kit I have put together is this ancient Pola (Tyco) water tower. This was done before my visit to Colorado and with hindsight, the bands should be the same colour as the rest, but I will leave it for now. The spout should be black and this will be repainted.

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The next photo is posted with permission of the owner and should give a good idea of what I am hoping to achieve.

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This is H0n3. I love the way the scenery has blended into the backscene.

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26 minutes ago, Tony Cane said:

Hi

 

Are these what you are looking for?

 

https://www.chaosbunker.de/en/2015/05/18/italeri-tank-traps/

 

Regards

 

Tony Cane

Something like that. It's the Dragon's Teeth with a flat top I want. I found these on eBay, a little more expensive though.Dragon's teeth. These are abot 30mm tall, about 8½ feet in H0. I have a couple of trip to Cardiff on Friday, so I might pop into Antics to see if they have the Italeri ones.

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Put together my first rail-Line kit over the last couple of days. While not that complicated, many parts you would expect moulded on with a UK kit, are separate parts, like door stops and latches. Bloomin' tiny. Fortunately the give a few spares. And 28 wire handrail on each kit, fortunately again, these are preformed. Will be in D&RGW livery. Only another 8 of these to do, plus a couple of stack cars and a flat. Then of course there are the other makes of kit to tackle.

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at 05:37 this morning, I managed to secure myself another Blackstone K-27. Unlettered, but with a set of San Juan decals. And also no DCC. But these things coming up on eBay are so rare. I've only seen one other and I bitterly regret not putting a higher bid on it. It went for only £2 more than my max. This time I waited until 20 seconds to go and threw in a bid that was substantially higher than the previous high, in the hope that some other bidder hadn't done the same. Didn't want to let this one go like the Galloping Goose the other week. And while on the subject, another Goose is up on Monday at 03:30. Just right for getting up for that day's shift.

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If it makes it any easier the other bidder might have been happy to pay substantially more than the extra £2, you only know where the next highest bidder dropped out ;) 

This reminds me I ought to get the HOn30 done but also have a few bits of On30 including MMI K27’s for a one day project!

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7 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

If it makes it any easier the other bidder might have been happy to pay substantially more than the extra £2, you only know where the next highest bidder dropped out ;) 

 

Pretty sure there was only 3 bidders, including myself. The guy who won it, another member of the D&RGW narrow Gauge FB group, who is also a member on here, crept the bids up, then finally banged a big one in at the last moment. He was going up in €10 step, then it suddenly went from €190 to €251. The loco I won this morning crept up in $5 -$10 steps, then I banged a big one in with 20 seconds to go. This time I was determined.

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After this morning's purchase, guess what? Three more K-27s turn up on eBay this afternoon. All sound fitted.

 

The question is, do I go for the Goose. or another K-27. The K-27s are at least buy it now.

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Another K-27 will be shortly on it's way to me. This will give me three. Together with the C-19, more than enough to start running services, when I build the layout that is. No intentions to get another C-19, although easier to get hold of, most were scrapped by the period I will be modelling. Rule 1 applies here. I will be looking at a K-28 and K-36 and K-37 as and when they become available. Had lots of good advice about how to get brass models to go around 18" radius.

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Half past three this morning saw me winning another Galloping Goose, this time a Wayne bus bodied one, #5. Managed to get it for a very reasonable price, even when taking into account it will need a sound decoder fitted. With the helix arriving this week, the final running sessions will be taking place on Gurney Slade over the next few days and the wrecking ball arriving on my next week of rest days in a couple of weeks.

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28 minutes ago, JZ said:

Half past three this morning saw me winning another Galloping Goose ...

 

You're serious about this, aren't you?

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14 hours ago, pH said:

 

You're serious about this, aren't you?

Very. Though, to be honest, I had to be up by half three anyway for work, just set the alarm ten minutes earlier.

 

Anyway, the helix is here. Not put it up yet, that will wait a couple of weeks. But I did put some track on it, then a train and 18" radius doesn't look tight at all. There has been doom and gloom from some other modellers in the H0n3 group. Some say 21" min, others 24" and one 36". Yet Dave Vollmer pointed out that he has a lot of 18" and even 17" rad on his layout(featured above) and no one has said that looks tight. In fact, it is a much admired layout.

 

Edited by JZ
Grammar, punctuation.
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  • 2 weeks later...

Two more items arrived today.

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First is this Blackstone Models K-27. Un-numbered, it comes with a comprehensive sheet of transfers covering all loco's with this layout of cylinders. Not sure which to do yet. It comes equipped with a speaker, but is non-DCC. I have managed to located a SoundTraxx Tsunami decoder, so all my K-27s are fitted the same for ease of programming speeds and the like. I have another K-27 arriving tomorrow. This one is numbered, 453, and sound fitted. It also has a dogbox on the tender to add a little variety. Photo tomorrow.

Next is my second and last Galloping Goose.

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This time a Wayne Bus bodied version. This too is non-DCC, but for the moment will be fitted with a Lenz decoder I have spare and leave sound on this until I have got some track down.

Talking of track, Gurney Slade will see it's last running session over the weekend and my week of rest days will see the demolition begin. Hopefully by the end of next week, the shed will be clear to start the framework to carry the new layout.

 

As to the fictional location, I've now changed it to 'Somewhere in Southwestern Colorado' and may just leave it at that. To make it a bit more vague, I will be naming locations on the layout after my children and grandchildren. Wherever it is, it will be a place where the Rio Grande Southern and Denver & Rio Grande Western ran over the same track. So basically using Rule #1.

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In between demolishing Gurney Slade and waiting for the postman bringing goodies, the sun came out. So here is the full fleet. Rio Grande Southern Galloping Geese 5 and 7. Denver & Rio Grande Western C-19 342 and K-27s 452, 453 and 463.

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The K-27s are in various states of weathering, using photos I took of 463 at Chama back in May as a guide. 342 will be left as is and the Geese always looked fairly clean from photos taken in the 1940s, so maybe just a little below the solebar.

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Cleared almost all of one side of Gurney Slade, the storage sidings. I will be making a start on the helix later this evening or tomorrow. ID backscenes arrived today. I'm using 225A & B desert for the lower part of the layout(although they look to be mirror image on the website, they are in fact, different. And 260A & B Rockies for the higher elevation. I'll be using my own photos, blown up, for the transition.

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A start has been made. The first circle of the helix is done. Will be laying track in the morning and getting the next circle done. The start will be at the back, next to the window, but at the moment I am rotating it as it's being built.

helix.jpg.7254c88cf131590943487636af9cf300.jpg

One of the posts looks skew whiff, but has now been straightened and tightened. The helix is advertised as 18" radius, but this is the centre line. It's actually 42" outside diameter and this has the advantage of easing the radius to nearly 20". Had to extend the existing baseboard a bit. The town/station area will be the only solid top bit on the layout. The rest will be open frame so I can climb inside while building the scenery, as some will be over 48" from the edge. The old layout is being taken down bit by bit as this one moves along.

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Helix all finished, just need to make some lead in/out pieces. I've stuck the track down using double sided Gorilla tape. It certainly ate up some track, 34 feet of it. Gradient is 2.5%, about 1 in 38. Picking up the plywood sheets for the backscene tomorrow, another job I can get done before the turntable arrives.

 

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So, here is the helix. Not the best photo, makes it look steeper than it actually is.helix2.jpg.c537116b7eabf03f562862365df58b88.jpg

Tried a couple of loco's out and at a sensible speed, it takes around 3 minutes to get to the top.

 

Also put the first backscene up today. These buildings won't actually go here, they will be in front of the helix, but just wanted to get a feel of how things will look.

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The fish and chip shop will become a diner and the pub renamed.

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One unfortunate consequence of removing the duck under from the previous layout. I now have an inch long cut on the top of my head from the door frame. For this reason, I will be having a duck under again. Albeit about 8 inches higher than the previous. I've tried it. I only have to stoop instead of crouch.

 

 

The main town will be Lucyville*, after my first Granddaughter. The passing station will be Ava**, after my second Granddaughter. The wye will have a station and that will be Christen*** Canyon after my daughter. Will need to name something after my son****, but don't know what yet. Businesses will be named after friends and colleagues I have had over the years that have had a major influence on me.

 

 

*There is a Lucyville in North America, in Newfoundland and Labrador.

** There is an Ava in Missouri.

*** You'll have to bear with me on that one, but there are many places called by her second name.

****Hundreds of these.

 

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