Anyone who knows what's going on with his website lancemindheim.com? I haven't been able to access it for several days now.

Hi,

I thought I would share with you my progression on my new layout. It is pretty small, only 4' x 16" (plus a 4' long hidden staging area), but at the moment that is all I have space for. It has one three-way turnout, and it depicts a slightly run-down industrial estate somewhere in the Shenandoah Valley. I am a UK based modeller and I have never visited the Shenandoah, but I hope to one day

The gauge is HO.

Era: Autumn 2015.

Control: DC analogue.

The main industry receives corn syrup, and has two tracks serving it, each holding 4 cars. These are the two spurs at the front of the layout. The rear spur formerly served a warehouse, but now acts as a car storage area and is generally little used. I may change my mind about this, so I have left myself the option of having the warehouse at the rear of the layout rail-served. But we'll see. The corn syrup facility will be represented on the layout with pipework (on the paved area at the front of the layout), with the main buildings being off-scene.

So far I have ballasted most of the track, installed the warehouse and laid down the grassy areas, and started on the corn syrup area with the paving. I have also started work on the wooded area at the other end of the layout, which will eventually disguise the exit. I am slowly adding more details, such as rubbish, debris, etc. Quite a long way to go before it can be said to be done. I also have some work to do on the backscene, including adding a bit more bracing to the rear.

Operations: With the corn syrup facility, I can have operations lasting 15 minutes a session, or an hour, depending on the jobs, etc.

This is very much a work in progress, but I hope to post updates asap!

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Not necessarily track plans but a footXfoot imprint. I don't have a track plan but want ideas for the size of layout that I can fit a certain space.

Since I recently finished a new engine for my fictional Caribou Lumber Company I figured it was time to add some rolling stock in the form of a couple Tichy 40' flat cars.


I'm going to build them pretty much stock but I'll add some log bunks so they can be used as logging flats. I got the Idea from a few picture from the book 'Railroads in the Woods' Published in 1961


I took a look at the photos and the car do look a bit like the Tichy flat cars with a few exceptions so I figured I'd just wing it.

I started with the decks and frames. A few years ago I built the Tichy steam crane and boom car. The boom car is derived from these flatcar kits with the same frames and brake details. I managed to build the boom car in a couple evenings so I figure I can do the same with the two flatcars. The deck is a flat piece with the end and side sills attached.

Then you add the coupler pockets and the bolsters. The center frames are also glued together and left to dry.
I should point out that I scraped and sanded the top of the deck so it will take weathering better later.

I'm actually in the planning process of a new layout at home. After thinking about it, I've come to the conclusion I have enough space for a 16" x 10 feet long shelve layout with a L-shaped staging area and a possibility for an extension.

Planning with software is nice, but I thought making mock ups would speed up the process by dealing with the real thing.

Here's the preliminary results:

1) Hereford Railway - CPR/MEC - Protofreelanced - 1950s - Steam and diesel power

This one is as straight forward as you can. It depicts a typical rural community with the proverbial feedmill and wood products.





2) Hereford Railway (2)

This one takes advantage of the possibility of the extension to add a wye. No need to manually turn engine off layout.





3) Temiscouata Railway - 1948 - Steam power

This one is based on the real town of Connors, NB. Track plan follows the prototype. It was also a small farming community exporting lumber, pulpwood, shingles, poles and ties. Very simplistic, but does the job. I kind of like the vast fields in front of the station. Makes for a believable layout. The engine terminal is also nice in itself, bringing the possibility to operation both daily mixed trains.







Matt

Hey all. Ive been out of the hobby for about 4 or 5 years now, and got bit hard by the bug again. Im wanting to get in to HO scale urban railroading, modelling the modern-era, and mostly small short-line railroading with a big focus on operations.

The thing is... Im not really sure where to start? Does anybody have some advice on where to start?

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It takes a little figuring out and there are lots of uncovered areas and years, but when you hit an area that you have an interest in, and the picture is there these are great. You have to download a free program to unzip the photos which are compressed Tiffs and range from 70 to a hundred MB. once you select a picture and hit download it can take as long as 5 minutes before the download starts.
Regards
Charlie

My next build will be the Mauston Farmers Co-op feed mill.





8-)

Hi,

I'd like to know if industries located on wye were common on branchlines. I've seen it a few times on insurance maps, but was curious about operations. This is a serious problem when you want to turn a locomotive and have to move freight cars. At the same time, turning the engine can be done while performing various switching moves.

What I've seen were small oil dealers, cattle pen, loading ramps... nothing big or built. All on 1950s fire insurance maps.

Thanks

Matt

    Caught the Mannheim Yard Job WPMA-03 with the SD38-2 and a SW1500 doing the switching, while Shore River's SD9 came out of the yard and onto the main. The SD9 had a consist of empty grain cars for the Declan Elevator facility.

After watching the action for awhile went over to the diner on Dock Street and as luck would have it caught the Dock Street switcher as it finished switching General Foods.

Bruce

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