Cadillac Ranch - UK

EsPeeMEC

New Member
Finally, after too many years of inaction, baseboards have been assembled and fitted to the structure of the house. There's a Heljan(Walthers) 90foot turntable and two Fleischmann Roundhouses plus some flexitrack and some of the Cadillacs have had their first airing in months.
4 EsPee examples - P2K in Tiger Stripes and Athearn in Black Widow and Bloody nose colours, plus a Trains Inc. one in DM&IR livery - share the layout at present.
Once I've got some more track down and some wiring done I'll be able to actually run something...
 

Attachments

  • Cadillacs_06_Small.jpg
    Cadillacs_06_Small.jpg
    110.9 KB · Views: 21
  • Cadillacs_02_Small.jpg
    Cadillacs_02_Small.jpg
    110.2 KB · Views: 18
  • Cadillacs_01_Small.jpg
    Cadillacs_01_Small.jpg
    100.8 KB · Views: 22

Ralph

Remember...it's for fun!
That's the way! Get those units rolling! Nice looking progress and great looking SD9s!
Ralph
 

EsPeeMEC

New Member
Great looking lineup! :) Who made your turntable kit, btw?
The kit's Heljan's, which is marketed by Walthers in the U.S., motorized and not indexed like the Fleischmann ones, so you can lay tracks virtually all the way round it, subject only to the clash of ties as the tracks converge.

There are a couple more EsPee Cadillacs hiding in boxes, plus another DM&IR one, plus several others that will make appearances in due course. And then the SD45, GP40X'es and DD35 have to be slotted in somewhere.

Russ, I knew about Cadillac Ranch, which is why I went with it as the title for the thread:smile:.
 

Epoch IV

New Member
Looks nice there... would look even better filled with SD45s!

And hello BTW, nice to see some fruits of saturday's labour. I challenge you to have a running layout before I leave the country!
 

EsPeeMEC

New Member
Looks nice there... would look even better filled with SD45s!

And hello BTW, nice to see some fruits of saturday's labour. I challenge you to have a running layout before I leave the country!

I've got a couple of Flares - Athearn, Hallmark (unfortunately numbered as an SD40 by the gentleman who painted it, and there's only 1 example I can renumber it to without having to redo the entire nose) and an RPP that'll be done as the Daylight one - as you well know, Mr. Bucknall.

It'll be a running layout by the end of August, even if it means using clockwork and dummy units....
 

EsPeeMEC

New Member
Cadillac Ranch goes live

At approximately 19:50 hours electrical continuity was established on the roundhouse roads; five minutes later power was established to the turntable and roads and a Cadillac made its way from one of the roundhouse roads on to the turntable!

Several minutes of proving included the traditional practice of driving a loco into the turntable wellsign1 and running units off the end of the tracks (who said flywheels were a good idea?)...
 

logicman

Greybeard
the traditional practice of driving a loco into the turntable well
Well, 78 rpm is a bit excessive! :mrgreen:

When it comes to speed of rotation, you don't want to go overboard.

btw, that link has to be the world's oddest turtable location - unless someone on the gauge knows different. :mrgreen:

Great pix, thank you for sharing.:thumb::thumb::thumb:

edit: forgot to give photo-credit to the Schreyer family:
The Schreyer Family Vacation Diaries << some great railfanning pix!
 

EsPeeMEC

New Member
Further progress(?)

The final two roundhouse roads are in place, one with an inspection pit, but not yet wired up.

The first steam loco ran onto, and back off the turntable: a PFM DRGS class P44 Pacific and it really does look the part. My brass DD40AX also made its way onto the turntable - it fits but as it's currently only a chassis awaiting the replacement of the 1833 motors with 1628s I'mnot going to post photos of it. Shots of the Pacific will be uploaded at the weekend, along with some of one or other of my Mikados.

Next up is to install the coaling tower so I can plan out the rest of the roads off the turntable.
 

Mountain Man

Active Member
Well, 78 rpm is a bit excessive! :mrgreen:

When it comes to speed of rotation, you don't want to go overboard.

btw, that link has to be the world's oddest turtable location - unless someone on the gauge knows different. :mrgreen:

Great pix, thank you for sharing.:thumb::thumb::thumb:

edit: forgot to give photo-credit to the Schreyer family:
The Schreyer Family Vacation Diaries << some great railfanning pix!

At the genuine risk of appearing treuly stupid - why is it there?
 

logicman

Greybeard
At the genuine risk of appearing treuly stupid - why is it there?
Mountain Man: There is nothing stupid in your question. There have been some very oddball turntable and sector plate designs, and this is one of them.

The two tracks on the turntable appear foreshortened due to perspective.
In fact, they are just long enough to take the small switcher / shunter seen in the picture. The turntable can switch either or both of 2 switchers onto the center track for placing in the two storage sheds.

The design takes less space, and costs much less to build, than the two sets of points / switches which would otherwise be needed.

I think that the design could be modded to make a great Inglenook aka shunting puzzle on a barge - on a barge because the original in HO wouldn't fit my bedroom wall - it's the Panama canal! :mrgreen:

Sorry for the brief hijack, EsPeeMEC. Great modelling! :thumb::thumb::thumb:
 

Russ Bellinis

Active Member
If you look closely at the pic, there is also a track down the center of the barge that curves just as it gets to the turntable. I don't know which end of the barge they would unload from, but that turntable may be used to get the locomotive behind a cut of cars on that center track in order to shove them off the barge.
 

logicman

Greybeard
Sorry for the confusion. My bad! :eek:ops: I mentioned 'barge' because that photo looks like one, and made me think of a 'freelance ferry' idea.

The turntable is, in fact, located on the Panama canal, and can be seen on Google Earth. The locos are used to haul smaller ships, and to control larger ones as they pass through the locks. I think the center track is used for loco servicing.
 

EsPeeMEC

New Member
Mountain Man: There is nothing stupid in your question. There have been some very oddball turntable and sector plate designs, and this is one of them.

The two tracks on the turntable appear foreshortened due to perspective.
In fact, they are just long enough to take the small switcher / shunter seen in the picture. The turntable can switch either or both of 2 switchers onto the center track for placing in the two storage sheds.

The design takes less space, and costs much less to build, than the two sets of points / switches which would otherwise be needed.

I think that the design could be modded to make a great Inglenook aka shunting puzzle on a barge - on a barge because the original in HO wouldn't fit my bedroom wall - it's the Panama canal! :mrgreen:

Sorry for the brief hijack, EsPeeMEC. Great modelling! :thumb::thumb::thumb:
Not a problem - but the Panama Canal's a shipping thing, not a railroad thing...
 

EsPeeMEC

New Member
Cadillac Ranch Update

Having taken some time off work, and after negotiations with the Controller of Thought, Word, Deed and Finance (especially Finance), further progress has been made on the Ranch.
The roundhouse now has walls and doors, which meant lifting and re-laying the approach tracks and re-wiring them.

It also has developed a dose of the flares:
 

Attachments

  • SP Flares_01_comp2.JPG
    SP Flares_01_comp2.JPG
    167.9 KB · Views: 14
Top