5 Mile Railroad

[NWP Dave]

Progress on the truss bridge/trestle that I have been avoiding forever. The scratch built truss bridge will get some additional weathering and toning down of the nut/bolts but is mostly finished. I'm not happy with the terrain (rocks) in the area so I plan to tear up and rebuild the area before starting the trestle end. There is a good 6" of foam that can be cut out under the bridge to gain height/space below.

http://www.davestrainsandtrees.com/5mile1tyronetruss1.html

[NWP Dave]

The NWSL Spartan shows up now and again on Ebay, that would make a good starting point for an NPC locomotive.  You have to do the cab forward, you're probably the only person in the world that actually has a reason to build such an ugly locomotive. 

Scott

Scott: Thanks for the heads up on the Spartan. I finally picked up a 2-6-0 on Ebay.

[NWP Dave]

Oops, looks like I posted this in the wrong category the first time.

I spent some time over the holidays updating some of the 5 Mile RR website. My HTML coding is not perfect and I still run into some website issues, but it works for me. I added reference maps and more "Area News" articles. http://www.davestrainsandtrees.com/5mile1.html
Accomplishments last year: The truss bridge is complete, although I plan to change out the trestle bents at some point. But the bridge is set and the Shay can make it everywhere (4 years later) on the layout now. The other loco's not so much yet. The Shays are so forgiving! The track is all hardwired. Many of the redwoods are now set. I decided on what structures will be in Occidental and need to work on dimensions for each.

[NWP Dave]

Layout Update:
Started building what is now known as the Altamont Hotel for Occidental. This will be the first (1876) version. My research has it named "The Summit House" and "Noble's Hotel" in 1876-1879. I don't know when "Altamont" came into the picture yet. No major obstacles in the model build. The colors were probably the biggest issue. Building a hip roof may be an issue.

http://www.davestrainsandtrees.com/altamonthotel.html

[NWP Dave]

Updated the website for the Altamont Hotel. Added some newspaper articles that include the hotel happenings back in the day. There are a few new photos of the build. I did a test fit of deck supports. 12x12"s looked too bulky so I plan to use 10x10's. The hip roof is mostly complete.  It was an annoying build and I hope never to build another. The roof needs some trim and weathering before its complete. Overall its coming together.

http://www.davestrainsandtrees.com/altamonthotel.html

[NWP Dave]

The Altamont Hotel build is nearly complete. Needs a chimney and a few other details. I won't set it permanently until the other buildings are complete.

http://www.davestrainsandtrees.com/altamonthotel.html