NYC Hudson Valley Lines

[Brian M]

I've been wanting to post an update for the last couple of weekends, but just haven't found the time.

First off, thanks for the comments, Otto and Bryan.  Agreed, nothing like an outside forcing function to help make progress.

I had been hoping that I'd have had made more progress in a little over a month than I have.  But my wife contracted Covid over MLK weekend, and it really knocked her out, despite being fully vaccinated and boosted.  She has other factors that put her in a higher risk category, so it took a good 2.5 weeks for her to start to feel better, and that was after an antibody treatment.  Thankfully the treatments have come a long way in the last two years.  Science is a wonderful thing.  Somehow my daughter and I managed to stay Covid-free, I think because we all took a hard line stance on isolating my wife to her own part of the house, and we must have acted early enough that she hadn't hit her peak contagious level.  But I got quite worn out, caring for her while also keeping our 7 year old happy.  We're all recovered from that experience and things are pretty much back to normal now....

Anyway, back to trains.

I've been doing my best to make things easier for myself as I lay a multi-track mainline.  I try to think of things in terms of an assembly line, since I know I'll be doing everything more than once.  After struggling a little more than I'd like to admit with trying to remember that I was soldering the correct colored wire on the correct rail, it occurred to me to just leave myself a note; green away from me and blue towards me.  Why did that take me so long to think of?   


One aspect that can't be ignored with a multi-track mainline is proper spacing between the tracks.  Since I'm modeling the late 40's, that means pushing towards track centers 13 feet apart.  I want to do my best to capture some of the subtle things that make the railroad look "right" for the era, and I think this is one of those things.  Since a true 13 scale feet is a little tight for our models, I'm using 13.5 feet.  Yes, I know this is only an extra 0.0375 inches, but it gives just that little bit more clearance for the passenger cars.  I made a track spacing jig out of some scraps of hardboard.  Once I get one track glued down, I put the spacer in place and push the other track out so the inside rail is pressed against the spacer, and then I pin the track in place.  I work my way along the track, pinning it as I go.  Once I've done that, I outline the ends of the ties along the cork with a pen so I know I'm close to the right locations when I glue the track down.




Finally, after punching some wires through the foam and having them come out right up against a 1x3 cross member under the foam, it occurred to me to just mark where the cross member is on the track roadbed.  This way when I go to solder wires on the track, I'll know where not to put them.


I'm sure none of these things are new or original, and might be obvious to most, but it pays off to give yourself some good notes or guides as you work.  Especially if you might be in the middle of something and might not be able to get back to it for a couple of weeks.

I'll try to post a couple of more interesting pictures soon, maybe ones that actually include a train.  Thanks for reading.

-Brian.

[Cajonpassfan]

Nice to have you back, Brian! Love the double track spacing tool! I have someone similar, with multiple grooves for different track spacing. Nice curves! Glad you made it through the Big C....I had C/ light despite being boosted and it kicked my butt a bit, but no need for medical intervention here. Glad I got poked, thrice..😎
Otto

[Brian M]

Ok, just under a year since I last made an update to this thread, so I guess it's time.

I had originally been planning to model the small town of Garrison, placing it right at the entrance to the layout from the staging yard.  However, in order to include Garrison, I was going to have to make a sacrifice to how much space I could dedicate to modeling the Hudson Highlands (only 7 feet worth of the layout).  My initial thinking was that by including Garrison, it would give just one more small amount of operational interest, mostly for commuter trains, but also a freight house for the local freight to switch.  But I have always revisited this design choice in my thoughts, as the Hudson Highlands is the most scenic and dramatic portion of the Hudson Division, and also a part of the river that I have enjoyed the most in just sitting trackside and taking it all in.  This was really driven home to me when we were back east in late April, and my wife and I sat along the west side of the river eating lunch, with the Bear Mountain Bridge in full view and the mountains dropping down to the water's edge, and I felt content.  So that was when I decided to change my plan and model what invokes that feeling.

I found a Sketchup model someone created of the Bear Mountain Bridge, took screen shots of one of the main towers, then scaled it to the approximate size for N scale.  The tower works out to about 27" high in N scale, which fits with a few inches to spare to the ceiling.  I printed this out and created a foamcore mockup of the tower and the road deck.  Then I cut a couple of mountain profiles out of 1.5" foam to start to get an idea of what this scene might look like (with a train added for scale):






I was quite satisfied, so I've gone ahead to make this change permanent.  I'm a little bummed to drop Garrison from the layout, because it is a very modelgenic little town, but now I've got about 18 feet worth of layout dedicated to the Hudson Highlands, with one of my most favorite areas included.  The Bear Mountain Bridge holds a very fond spot in my heart because my Dad and I would often drive across it on our way to my uncle's house, and since my uncle had a large American Flyer layout in his basement, I always looked forward to going there.  I don't yet know exactly how I'll build a real model of the bridge, that will be quite an undertaking on its own, but I'm also not going to worry too much about it for now.

If there's one thing that the craziness of the last couple of years has impressed upon me, it's the importance of pursuing things that will make you happy.  And for me, this is one of those things.

-Brian.

[Brian M]

Once I decided to go ahead with the Bear Mountain Bridge scene, I got to work on finalizing the plywood subroadbed, getting it glued down, and getting the track all wired and glued down.  This also let me get the track through the wall and into the staging yard finalized and wired up.  Back over Thanksgiving break I was able to get to the point where I can now run a train down the full length of the Hudson Highlands section, through the wall into the staging yard, around the turnback loop, and back down the Highlands.

Some shots of my test train going from the staging yard down the river once I had all the track operational:







Over the last week, I've been starting to rough in more of the scenery, starting with the tunnel (called Anthony's Nose tunnel because it sits at the base of a mountain of the same name).  The Bear Mountain Bridge was built right above this tunnel, and it also gives me a nice way to hide the tracks going through the wall into the staging yard.



I also cut out more mountain profiles to get a further idea of how this scene will come together, which is where things stand at the moment:



We'll see if I end up posting again in less than 10 months, but no promises.   

-Brian.

[btrain]

I’m very much looking forward to seeing how this scene progresses. I feel many N scalers may want to compact a lot of operations in like HO scalers do, especially with eastern prototypes, but opening up a wide vista like this takes back the real advantage and magic of this scale. I never thought my doughnut layout would hold my interest for long as it only has one switch for an interchange, but it’s comforting just to sit on a bar stool with a mug of tea or an adult beverage once a week, and just watch the trains roll for half an hour.

[PJPickard]

Bear Mtn Bridge! I love it...nice to see an update. Yes Garrison is nice but this really says the Hudson Div!

[Specter3]

Drove Peekskill to Bear Mtn Bridge just a week ago coming home from my moms house. That is an absolutely majestic piece of scenery and already looks epic in n the mock up. I am truly looking forward to the progress of this layout.

[Brian M]

Got in some good time this weekend working on the entrance, walls, and roof for Anthony's Nose Tunnel.  Used the good old aluminum foil rock mold method for casting the tunnel walls and roof, as this approach produces something that looks like cut stone.  Even though one doesn't easily see the tunnel wall on the river side, I've included it since it will be seen when taking track level pictures with a cell phone.



I'm also planning to make a section of the mountain removable so I can clean the track or get to any possible derailments if they should happen inside the tunnel, so I cut a section out of the foam to start forming this access hatch.  The tunnel roof will get glued to a piece of foam that will drop into the access hatch:



The Hudson Division was famous for having tunnels with very tight clearances, and it won't be any different on my version.  No double stacks or excess height box cars will be able to navigate this layout!     Afterall, the small tunnel clearances and rock walls almost on top of the tracks is somewhat of a signature of this part of the railroad, and an important look to capture in my opinion.



-Brian.

[wm3798]

Is that Cary Grant and Grace Kelly Eva Marie Saint I see there in the window of that passing Pullman car?

Really enjoying this build.
Lee

[Brian M]

Thanks, Lee.

And yeah, of course.  One of the best 10 minutes of film ever put on screen.  I don't know why, but it hadn't really ever gone through my mind to put N scale versions of them sitting in a dining car.  So thanks for the idea, I might have to do that one of these days.  Although, I might refrain from putting them in a sleeping compartment, enjoying their, um, after dinner activities.    

-Brian.

[draskouasshat]

hows the layout coming along?

[Brian M]

hows the layout coming along?

The quick-ish answer is that a change to fully remote work last year allowed my wife and I the chance to seriously consider a relocation to the Hudson Valley, something we thought we'd do for retirement.  My father is in northern New Jersey and her oldest daughter and son-in-law are in Kingston, so we decided to make the move to be closer to them.  We're now in Poughkeepsie, of all places, currently in the midst of rehabbing a 120-year-old house on a street full of wonderful old homes.  I packed up my layout back in January to get our last house ready to sell, so all progress on it has obviously come to a halt.  Since its sectional, it all came with us to New York.  We have a big basement, but it needs to get finished before it is suitable for the layout, so it will be some time before the layout is up and operational again.  However, I do have a stash of pictures on my phone that I need to upload here to show what progress I had made before taking it down.  Naturally, now living in the same area that I'm modeling has a big upside in that it provides all the inspiration I need to get to work again.  A ride on Metro North down to Manhattan also helps in the inspiration department.

Thanks for asking,
Brian.

[garethashenden]

Sounds like an exciting development! Mind if I ask where you were before?

[packers#1]

Do you have a subscription to Railfan & Railroad? The cover story from the May issue this year was the Hudson Valley lines

[Brian M]

Sounds like an exciting development! Mind if I ask where you were before?

We were in Boulder, CO.  It is exciting to be in NY, we needed a change.  However, it's tough leaving so many friends and an area that you still love.  But we can always go back to visit.  I also had a number of really nice layouts that I was a regular operator on, and so far, I haven't discovered much in the way of ops focused layouts in this part of the Hudson Valley.  There are a lot of operating layouts in northern NJ, NYC, and Albany areas, which are all at least 1.5 hours away.

Do you have a subscription to Railfan & Railroad? The cover story from the May issue this year was the Hudson Valley lines

I don't subscribe to it, but I did buy that issue.  And the May issue of Trains magazine also had a cover story on the end of Amtrak service to Grand Central, so the Hudson Valley was a popular topic month in the railroad press for that month.

-Brian.