My layout's 5 year anniversary - photos

[GaryHinshaw]

I'll join the chorus and add that I'm impressed what you have accomplished from a cold start in just 5 years.  And it's so neat!  I like your staging setup (even if small).  How much space is there between the backdrop and the wall there?  Do you access that area routinely?

-Gary

P.S. Happy Anniversary!

[Nato]

  Veddy Nice. I really like your representation of the tunnel entrance having viewed it a number of times from various trains CZ , Rio Grande Z and Amquack (Trak). You have done a supurb job and atleast you have Staging. Something that my layout lacks. Happy  Layout 5th Birthday.                                        Nate Goodman (Nato). Salt Lake, Utah.

[rochsub]

Excellent work.  Especially for a first layout.  Your end results are inspiring.

I like that you have a list of things to do over.  Its the first step in improving the quality of our work.  It seems some of the things you listed could be still be changed on this layout.  Maybe not though as you know your layout better than anyone.  Non of the things you listed jumped out at me as I looked at the photos. 

Again, excellent work! 

Daryl

[central.vermont]

The 3 track hidden staging yard buried in the mountains.

Erik

Eric,

You do some really awesome work for only being at it for five years my friend!

One question about your staging yard. Are those some sort of optical sensing devices
you have over the leads? If so I would like to see some closer shots and info on your
application and installation of them.

Jon

[csolivais1979]

looks good, hopefuly after I am at this for 5 years my railroad looks half as good as yours.

[CoalPorter]

WOW. First Class. Nice you avoided overtracking-a typical hallmark of a first layout.

[Erik W]

Those white arms in the hidden staging yard hold Berkshire Junction  http://www.berkshirejunction.com/  infrared detectors that I use to detect when trains are at the end of the staging tracks.  They are connected to lights on the fascia.  I'm able to run trains in and out of the staging yard without needing to see them.





In response to Daryl, the self critique is pretty important to me.  Since our goal is to achieve as much realism as possible, there are definitely things that, to my eye, don't look quite right.  I'm happy with the results so far but I know I can do some things better.  My thought is once I get the scenery to a near completion stage I'll do some tweaking.  What actually worries me the most is I'm making progress on this thing way faster than I thought I would, so I'm seeing the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel much sooner than I want to.  Not sure what comes after that . . .

Erik

[harrym]

What comes next is tear it up, save what you can, and rebuild to include the features you want at the time.  My last layout lasted six years.  It had grown through many revisions, but had reached a point where it was practically finished.  Since I'm retired and need to have a project to keep me busy, I tore it up two weeks ago and started over.  I seem to have less time available than I thought, because the work is progressing slower than I thought.  Or maybe I'm just moving slower in the dozens of daily trips between the basement and the woodshop.  In the meantime, our storage room is covered with trains, scenery materials, and structures waiting for the benchwork to be finished.

[asciibaron]

you can either continue to tweak this layout or rip it out and start anew with lessons learned.  it's up to you which way you go, but the reward is equal - you will have a well crafted layout and your labor will be worth the effort - having a high class layout is the goal, right?

there are things i dislike about your layout, but those are rooted in the prototype chosen.  i'm very impressed with the layout and have enjoyed following the progress.  if only i had my act together, i would have 2 years of layout construction under my belt right now.  the key features that make your layout are the accessible hidden staging, the towering scenery, and the sense of distance.  all are difficult to do in a limited space, but you have overcome your space with a nice 1-2 operator layout.

i have been a serious railroad modeler for nearly 30 years (and i'm only 36!) and in that time i have built several layouts.  each time i decided to tear out what was built seemed to be the right way to go - i learned a great deal and have always had an eye towards operations. 

if i'm ever in your neck of the woods, i'd love to stop in and run some trains, it looks to be a fun layout to operate and watch being operated.  there are several scenes that really draw in the interest and those are not easily done the first time round.

-Steve

[Erik W]

To answer a few of the earlier questions, yes Chris those two steamers are just weathered undec tenders with the loco numbers on the back.  The represent of the last two D&RGW 2-8-8-2s that ran out of Denver in 1956.  The Moffat line was all diesel a month later. 

Gary, the isle to access the hidden staging yard is only 18".  If I gain weight I won't be able to get back there! 

Harry, Steve, I can see myself wanting to tear it down at some point in the future.  It would be fun to start fresh.  Of course, that'll be after I forget home much effort it took to get it done!

I thought you guys might appreciate these in process shots from sometime in the last few years.





Erik

[davefoxx]

Erik,

In a word: Wow!  In several more words: That has to be the most realistic rendition of mountain contours that I have ever seen modeled.  I love it.

Now, one suggestion, if staging is a concern.  It looks as if there is enough room back there to add a fifth track.  That would add one more entire train.  If it seems close to the edge (the edge closest to the aisle, by the way), you could add a small Masonite or Plexiglass fence to keep errant rolling stock from diving into the great abyss.

Dave Foxx

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Erik, I've always thought your layout was killer.

I find myself really being sensitive to scenic contours, and you really have done a great job on them. The rest of the scenery is great too, everything just looks "right".

[John]

I would put it up for sale .. you can bet someone would pay $4K for it.

[Erik W]

I would put it up for sale .. you can bet someone would pay $4K for it.

Hmmm.  I hadn't thought of that.  I actually designed the benchwork to be able to unscrew where the two legs of the L meet, mostly to get it out of the basement in case we moved.  The scenery and backdrop would have to be cut but it may be possible to get it out of the basement in two pieces, minus legs, which are just screwed on.  It's something to think about in the future though.

Erik