Modeling the Death Valley Railroad in N scale

[AndyG71]

Good evening - finally making my first post in here!

I'm currently in the frustrating...I mean planning stages of modeling the Death Valley Railroad in N scale, and I have a few layout questions.

The DVRR was a narrow gauge line that existed from the early 1900's to the 1930's to haul borax ore to Death Valley Junction from the Lila C mine and the mines located at Ryan, 20 miles away from DVJ. DVJ had a wye that tied the railway in with the Toponah and Tidewater RR. The Lila C mine was a simple straight shot, then they would back the loco and consist back to DVJ. The end of the line in Ryan was another wye, where the 2-bin ore cars were loaded from a tipple built into the side of the mountain, that was loaded from above from 24" ore cars (they called it the Baby Gauge). At the junction was a processing facility where they crushed and condensed the borax and loaded it onto cars on the mainline.

I have an L shaped base being built. The short and left side of the L is 72"x30" from the back corner, and the longer back side is 126"x30". I can possibly stretch that longer length out to 144" but that's the absolute limit.

I want to make the layout as prototypical as possible, with a wye on each end. I'm struggling with the dimensions I have to work with though, to make them fit. I will increase the elevation 1 to 1-1/2" from the junction to the Ryan mine.

Unfortunately I'm unable to post pictures here yet, so hoping my written description paints a good enough picture.

I guess what I'm asking is there a better way to model this so it still feels the same, but is built simpler? I see a lot of great old west / mining layouts that are on hollow core doors, have a continuous loop as well as mining operations, but I'm just not sure HOW to do that, or if it would even feel remotely close to what I've described.

Thanks for reading, I look forward to your thoughts.
Andy

[NtheBasement]

Should be able to fit wyes in 30 inch benchwork.  Can you put an industry inside one or both wyes?

[C855B]

Is that 30" going to back up into a wall? Be thinking "reach" for everything from scenicking to derailments. I ignored the 24-inch rule on a portion of my layout and regret it to this day.

[davefoxx]

Andy:

Congratulations on the first post.  Twenty-four more, and a whole new world opens up here, including the ability to post photos.

I don’t know anything about the Death Valley RR, so it will be interesting to follow along. If it helps, until you can post photos, here’s a map to help you explain what you’re trying to do.



DFF

[AndyG71]

Should be able to fit wyes in 30 inch benchwork.  Can you put an industry inside one or both wyes?

I was able to make it fit easily, but it's the "legs" that need to be long enough for the consist...

[AndyG71]

Is that 30" going to back up into a wall? Be thinking "reach" for everything from scenicking to derailments. I ignored the 24-inch rule on a portion of my layout and regret it to this day.

It is, but I have 2 things going for me...for now. I'm tall with really long arms and I've tested the reach and there's not much issue, even with scenery in front. And #2, I don't really have much in the way of "action" where things are more likely to derail. I hope. 

[AndyG71]

Andy:

Congratulations on the first post.  Twenty-four more, and a whole new world opens up here, including the ability to post photos.

I don’t know anything about the Death Valley RR, so it will be interesting to follow along. If it helps, until you can post photos, here’s a map to help you explain what you’re trying to do.



DFF

That's one of about 100 images and photos I have in my library! I'm a huge history nerd so I do all sorts of research and reading on things before I move forward. Looking forward to being able to post them!

[Dave V]

Oooo... Another narrow gauge fan! So, maybe I missed it, but are you doing this in Nn3?

[John]

You may also link to external hosting sites to embed images

[robert3985]

Oooo... Another narrow gauge fan! So, maybe I missed it, but are you doing this in Nn3?

The title of his post specifies it's in N scale

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[AndyG71]

Oooo... Another narrow gauge fan! So, maybe I missed it, but are you doing this in Nn3?

I wish, but no...going to likely stick with N scale just because of the massive availability of, well, almost everything!

If I could, I'd consider going to HOn30 but that's a different post

[AndyG71]

Pictures didn't work...need to figure out how to show them from Photobucket...stand by!

[Dave V]

The title of his post specifies it's in N scale

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

Right. But he didn't specify in the OP if he's modeling it using N scale standard gauge or N scale narrow gauge. I understand that it's N scale.

[delamaize]

This sounds like a cool idea, and I'm excited to see where you go with it!

My girlfriend and I went to death valley a few years ago, and stayed In Furnace Creek, at the Furnace Creek Inn. Part of our adventuring was going to the Borax Museum down the road from the Inn, at the Ranch at death Valley. They have one of the DVRR Locomotives stuff and mounted on display there.
Here is the picture I took.
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[AndyG71]

This sounds like a cool idea, and I'm excited to see where you go with it!

My girlfriend and I went to death valley a few years ago, and stayed In Furnace Creek, at the Furnace Creek Inn. Part of our adventuring was going to the Borax Museum down the road from the Inn, at the Ranch at death Valley. They have one of the DVRR Locomotives stuff and mounted on display there.
Here is the picture I took.
(Attachment Link)

Yes sir, I stay there almost once each year. Usually rent a Jeep as well and go exploring to some of the old mines. Absolutely love Death Valley - it's one of my favorite places!

Thanks for posting that beautiful picture!