My dream/nightmare layout... July Update 7/31/19 Big Boy month!

Nice Work !  When all done you going to have a open house I would like to see it eh

I really enjoy your end of the month reports. The layout is shaping up nicely. It's got to feel great to see such progress. You've got 2 great guys there in Jon & Patrick.

I was going to suggest that when you get done you need to do a nice article on this layout in OGR or some similar venue, but frankly, looking at it now, it will have to be a book, there is so much.  

Just the video camera thing alone is very cool and article-worthly in and of itself.  Nicely done!

How many scale miles of track are you planning Elliot? Beautiful job.

Question:

How many tons of ballast have you ordered and when does the dump truck show up?

I can't imagine

Elliot, thanks, once again, for another stunning update.  No matter how many updates I've viewed of your layout construction, I am always stunned by its vastness and quality.

Hope to see a bill of materials someday.

Elliot...This coming along very well

Clem k

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING !!!!!!!!

Alex

Hi Elliot,

The above are precisely two of the three questions I was going to ask. 

The third question is regarding the camera system you are using. I believe you have described it already, but I can't find that post. Details?

And speaking of ballast, when do you plan to start? I can tell you from personal experience that as soon as you know the final location of the track (in segments, of course), ballast it! I waited a bit to long to do some areas, and it was not much fun to ballast.

Great job, and thank you for sharing it with us!

Alex

Great job, Elliot!  I too look forward to your updates each month.  It's good to see that you are keeping Matt out of trouble too.  Love the way that the Ford plant is shaping up.  You have devoted enough space to it to do it right.

Art

Another productive month!  Thanks for including the photo of the real yard.

You are looking pretty agile there, Big Guy!  I can't wait to come back and see the progress and get another Stuffed Cheeseburger!

WOW and AMAZZZZZING!!!!  Keep on keeping on!!!

Somewhere in the middle of the saga he tells of visiting a quarry to get what he needed. I don't recall exactly, but at least a 1/2 ton.

Edit: June 1, 2014 post...Roofing granules-amount was in a separate thread.

WOW!  Thanks for the update.

As always guys, thank you for your continued support and wonderful comments.

Chad - I'm always happy to have visitors, just drop me an email. Just please don't pick May as I will be out of town. I just found out yesterday that the national narrow gauge convention is coming to the Twin Cities in 2018, and I was asked to be on the layout tour.

Spence - Please don't forget Matt. A lot of what he has done goes unseen but not unappreciated.

Lee - I thought I was writing a book, one page per month.

Brian - Right now I'm estimating 3000' feet of track. I'll get a better count when I've completely redrawn the plan to more accurately reflect what was built. 3000 / 110 = 27.27

Doug - A picture is worth 1000 pounds. See below.

Carl - It's not always a good idea to ask about the ingredients in a good meal. Brains... it's what's for dinner. Sorry, I couldn't resist a juicy metaphor there. The list would be very long indeed, but keep in mind that more than half of everything was salvage from previous layouts.

Alex - I really want to get all the track down, powered and painted before I start ballasting. It is such a messy process.

The camera system is an 8 camera setup that my wife found online. It came complete with the cameras and the control box and all the wires. I have since decided to move up to a 16 camera setup in order to cover a number of areas that will be hidden behind backdrops and such. They will also allow viewing inside both helixes.

Art- Just wait til you see Hiawatha. Half a dozen grain elevators form a "canyon" 40 feet long, and all of them will need to be switched. It could be one of the most fun jobs on the railroad.

Mark - I've gotta get those photos while there's still something left to see. I expect all of that track to be gone by the end of the summer. The city is already trying to make plans for the land.

Bill - I really should go easy on the "Juicy Lucys", but they're so yummy. I still need to fit into the layout.

Carl - A++. You've really been paying attention, and have an excellent memory.

OK Doug, here it is, almost a half ton in my garage. Each bag is about 50 pounds. I have 18 of them.

You sir have a wonderful layout there....very impressive.  You are going to have a ton of fun with that baby.

Elliot,

Following how to build a railroad, part II is teaching me and many.

Why wouldn't anyone follow? It's worth it just for the time that you spend documenting the adventure.

Thanks. keep on keepin' on. 

Elliot,

"Alex - I really want to get all the track down, powered and painted before I start ballasting. It is such a messy process."

Oh yes - that would be the perfect time. You see, I waited to do my ballast until after I had some buildings and ground cover down, and this made it harder to do. I agree, once you have the track powered and painted/weathered, then you can begin having fun with the ballast.

BTW, I used the Ballast King to spread it, and it worked fine. Of course, you still have to touch it up in a few places, and then glue it down, which was the part I disliked the most at first, but after a few hundred feet of track, it was not too bad.

Thanks for the info on the cameras.

Alex

Another fantastic month of progress on the Twin Cities Central. A couple of major milestones were reached in March. Both Jon and Patrick came over twice each. I poured in over 100 hours, a new personal best since I started keeping track.

Track laying at Hiawatha started right away at the beginning of the month.

And within a week it was done.

Jon's first visit, he finished hanging the track lighting. This was one of the milestones. Layout lighting 100% complete!!!

That didn't take very long really, so we decided to tackle a little backdrop, and started to wrap the small helix.

We also extended the Hiawatha backdrop onto the upper portion.

I wrestled with the next couple pieces the following day.

I got the airbrush out again, and weathered all of Hiawatha. I finally got the paint and air mixes correct, and it was pretty smooth sailing after that.

Patrick's first visit, he Bondoed primed and painted what Jon and I had hung.

We also filled in the missing pieces on the Shortline Hill side opposite Hiawatha.

The finished product.

He also painted above the bookshelves, which he had hung last month.

On Jon's second visit, we built the temporary bridge which connects Hiawatha to the rest of the layout. It is made from scrap strips of Masonite left over from the backdrops, and scraps of 3/4" plywood, held together entirely with hot glue.

Then we added some homemade Homasote roadbed.

Jon also hung the light fixtures.

Here is the other milestone. I laid the track over the completed bridge, and with that, all the track on the main level of the layout is 100% complete!!! Since it is point to point, I couldn't exactly take a "victory lap", but this short video is my little celebration.

Patrick's second visit, we hung 16' of backdrop over in aisle one. This section had progress stall out back in 2013.

We are kind of stuck again until some other things get done, but there are getting to be fewer projects to distract from its completion.

He also finished painting above the workbench.

I also spent a fair amount of time wiring, but I consider that to be too dry to photograph. This photo is of a list that I created to help document the wiring of the layout. The layout will have 75 power districts. The colors are the color of bus wire used for each district. There is much more information that still has to be filled in to complete the table.

This final item will probably make Lee Willis' head explode (sorry Lee). I did a final count of switches on the layout. There are 130 powered (Tortoise) and 170 manual.

That was a productive month!

Is Hiawatha the Ford plant or just a section of the RR?

Another excellent report. Are your curves a minimum of 72"?

Wow, that's a lot of switches! 

A huge layout with lots of track.  I'm tired just thinking of all the work you did this month alone!

Enjoy your monthly updates, you're really making progress now.

Looks amazing! I have really enjoyed watching your progress. Thanks for sharing.

I look forward to this post every month and am more amazed with the progress each time.

I still get confused with 15 switches.  Can't imagine 300!

Nice work, excellent update on the layout.

Thanks guys!

Carl - No, Hiawatha is located in Minneapolis and consists of 6 grain elevators / mills, a lumber yard and a scrap metal dealer. The Ford plant is across the Mississippi River in St Paul and is a single large industry. On the layout, the Ford plant is on the upper deck directly above Hiawatha.

Spence - The mainlines are 072 minimum. There are a few places with slightly sharper curves mostly due to being part of parallel tracks in concentric radii. I always use 4" centers, even though the "new" standard should be 4.5" due to long cars and engines. Most of the layout was built before the long equipment even existed. As a result, there will be operating restrictions, mostly not allowing long cars to meet on certain curves.

Todd - Yes, it is a lot of switches. The manual ones are rather straight forward, as they are industrial and yard tracks. There's really nothing to remember. The powered ones on the mainlines will eventually be computer controlled and thrown from a central dispatching board. The dispatcher will be able to route trains from point A to point B, and all the switches on the route will throw.

Thanks, Elliot. I noticed a Hiawatha Ave. in St. Paul near the Ford plant and wasn't sure. Right-coast syndrome.

I really like that you didn't neglect the helix once it was covered by running a track around the outside. Very nice touch. It hides the elephant in the room.

You're welcome Carl. Here's a link to Google maps. Hiawatha Avenue in Minneapolis is also known as Hwy 55. It runs at an angle from downtown to Fort Snelling / the airport. The milling district runs about a mile from about 32nd to 42nd. If you follow it down to 46th St, then east across the river you can see what's left of the Ford plant. Most of the tracks are still there, but I expect them to be gone by the end of the summer.

Both areas were originally served by the Milwaukee Road, but access was off different branches. The CP served the Ford plant until it closed in December of 2011. While they still own the tracks in the milling district, the switching duties have been handed over to the Minnesota Commercial. Not sure what year that happened, but it has been a long time, more than 20 years.

Covering the small helix was always in the plan, and so was the bridge. The big helix will also be wrapped, but that will be the last piece of backdrop on the layout. I plan to install cameras in both so the trains can be seen going around.

Elliot, your monthly update threads (as well as the "what did you do on your layout today" posts) are among a small number of my favorites.   Another big "Thank You" for keeping us all informed on your progress.

I don't know if Lee Willis' head "exploded" with your report of 300 switches--I only know that my head is spinning to contemplate that many on a home layout!!!

Again, thanks for another well photographed and explained update.

Oh my.  I worked to not explode, but I get tired just thinking of it.  I think I'll go take a nap, I'm so tired. 

This is a truly a spectacular layout.  I think if you contract with the Russian army, you might have almost enough people to keep in neat and tidy.  Wow, 300 switches in total.  

Bin watching this series and not posting. Making great progress keep going.

Nothing short of spectacular.  There are not enough "positive" adjectives in the Webster's Dictionary that could accurately describe your layout. 

Well done!

Michael

April wasn't the usual exciting month on the Twin Cities Central. It started out OK, but then I got "gazeboed" and that just sucked the energy out of me.

At the end of March my wife talked me into buying a gazebo from Sam's Club. We even paid to have it delivered and installed. By the eleventh, it was clear that they weren't going to do the job, so guess who that landed on.

I got a bunch of wiring done at the beginning of the month, including making two of these. This is a bunch of Polyfuses that I use in my power distribution system. They provide 6A over current protection, one per power district.

Jon came over and put in the last of the layout lighting. That project is now 100% complete.

After that we started hanging fascia at the Ford Plant (upper) and Hiawatha (lower).

The upper fascia is wider and will also serve as a valance.

Most people won't have to stare at the bare bulbs.

The following day Patrick came over, and we built one of the last sections of upper level backdrop.

Trapped inside the helix, Patrick is my prisoner!

The fascia will eventually wrap around and provide a visual separation between the levels.

I've always felt having trains go through the backdrop provides some visual interest.

Here's the other side.

Matt came over and worked on some engines. While he was doing that I sanded and painted the fascia.

I'm not very happy with the way the paint turned out though. Not a real surprise though. Jon warned me about this, and he was right. I'll get it cleaned up.

Here's the gazebo. I just finished it today.

It is all looking good, but I still get tired every time I look at all those thousands of feet of track and those 300 switches!

Nice gazebo, and it is so true: if you want it done, so often you just have to do it yourself.

Oh by the way, nice as that gazebo is, it can be improved: you could put a small ceiling-level loop of track up there in that gazebo.

Thanks Lee, you are so right about doing it yourself. I swear, they were trying to get out the job, and were just being difficult so we would give up. They were successful in that.

Once upon a time, I had considered doing a garden railroad. However, between the skin cancer and the massive project in the basement, those thoughts have pretty much gone away.

"I had considered doing a garden railroad"

Elliot, I don't know about this one. Despite health issues, you do live in Minnesota. This is exactly like us considering one in Maine, no chance!!!! 

Like your progress downstairs.

I look forward to these updates each month. Great progress, though not enough for you as you stated. Your going to have one fantastic layout when all is said & done.

Brian, it is a fairly short season here in the great white north, but some people still do garden layouts. I know a guy who works for one of the local TV stations. He has an HO layout in his basement, and his entire back yard is G scale. I think he even has a snow plow.

Thanks Spence, unfortunately May will be a zero progress month as I will be out of town. I'll be back in June re-energized and working hard toward the 2018 national narrow gauge convention.

your layout is seriously AWESOME!!!! I love that circular spiral part!