North West Great Northern Layout

[NorthWestGN]

Finally a construction update!

I was able to get the cork roadbed and track down on my staging yard extension which I widened by about 4” to allow a strip of industries down the middle. The idea is to have these function as two different areas, Nelson BC on the curved northbound trackage, and Washington state on the straight, southbound trackage. The outer tracks are the through tracks and the inner tracks will give me more industries to serve. I just browsed through a current MR at the local grocery store and someone wrote a short article on doing just this, exposed staging…







I’m planning on using a few structures I have on hand and didn’t like the look of, or foot print of in the Fruitvale yard area. Signage on them will be different on them depending on what side of the layout you’re viewing or operating from.

Thanks for tuning in!
Brent

[np1969]

It's looking good. Thanks for the update!

[NorthWestGN]

Well it’s been a little while since the last post but I seem to have a lot less train time over the summer….

I’ve been keeping the wheels and rails clean by running trains a few times a week and trying to solve derailment and coupling issues as they come up. I also sold a few more black wall and redline Hot Wheels to pump up the train budget for some needed purchases.

Picked up and installed a split board TCS decoder for my old school Atlas GP30, it’s nice to have the much brighter headlight and full speed range I now get over running it as address zero and no decoder through my Digitrax box.



I also picked up a couple of new to me cabooses from the local hobby shop…



I can now stage 4 complete trains to start future operating sessions, 2 Northbound and 2 Southbound. I ‘m still reading up on how I’m going to simplify the paperwork so planning and running trains with 1 or 2 buddies doesn’t turn into another job in itself.

I also took some time to tidy up the work table, it seems to inspire me to get more done if I can pre-organize some projects and tools.

Thanks for stopping by!
Brent

[NorthWestGN]

This week I finished a very simple Train Order form I hope will get first time operators up and running prototypically very quickly. I’ll prestage  trains on both the north end in Nelson and the south end in Waneta and schedule meets for the passing sidings in Fruitvale and Salmo…



This first one shows a few set outs and pickups from the Atco #1 spur in Fruitvale as well, I’ll let you know how it goes and what changes are made for it to work better…

Thanks for stopping by!
Brent

[Scottl]

Very interesting,  I like that Brent.

[NorthWestGN]

Thanks Scott, this came from an article in the May 2025 MR N Scale issue - Checkbox Train Orders on pages 53 & 54

Pretty much perfect for a layout my size , it won’t take long to fill 4 orders out for 2 trains in either direction, though I may have to come up with a more detailed Switch Order for the Fruitvale yard work . I’ll see how this one works for the whole layout with a few friends…

[Tad_T]

I think I could run on that TO.

[NorthWestGN]

After a little weathering NW2 #147 is ready for service, I stripped the roadname and redecaled it with the roadname shifted towards the front about 6 scale feet…

[NorthWestGN]

This week I modified my Train Order slightly, ran a few trains and realized it wasn’t doing the job for all the moves required to work the Fruitvale yard so I I came up with a simple switch list form to detail the work that a dedicated  switcher or way freight crew could use in addition the the Train Order…



 
I also did some simple place name and directions labelling, even I was getting disoriented as to north and south because of this folded loop design.

Time to run some more trains and do some switching!

Brent

[NorthWestGN]

Finished version 2.0 of the GN’s Salmo station, version 1.0 had an incorrect profile for the roofline on the end walls. The end walls were cut off level with the top of the interior walls and new end wall were cut and added and trimmed out. The hardest pieces were the distinctive shingled roof returns on each side of both end walls at the lower edges where they meet the roofline…






Now on to paint, glazing and details…

Thanks for stopping by!
Brent

[Tad_T]

Nice work, sir!

[NorthWestGN]

Thanks Tad,

The Salmo station has been painted but is not quite complete. I did take the opportunity to paint my fantasy choice for the Fruitvale station, a resin cast Sylvan Scale Models Grand Trunk prototype station from Michigan somewhere. It's still available and super easy to build as that complex roof is cast in one piece plus 4 complete walls and a chimney...



Here's a preview of the roofing choice for the Salmo Station, completed pics by the weekend I hope...



Thanks for tuning in,
Brent

[NorthWestGN]

Finished the Salmo station build for now roofing it with an enlarged, 225%, laser printed version of the file I posted in the post above. It was trimmed to fit, then glued down with some very slightly diluted PVA wood glue then coloured with some powdered brown and black artists chalks. It was a suer quick and affordable way to get a decent looking roof…



My next project involves theses parts:



And this locomotive:



To get to this:



Thanks for stopping by!
Brent

[Tad_T]

That roof looks really nice!

[Scottl]

The station looks fantastic!