Copper Ridge Railway under construction
- Thread starter roryglasgow
- Start date
Yep Rory, make no mistake, If you don't post we'll a'come looking for ya!
To think that you would leave us with such a cliff hanger! waiting to see more progress on that fab pike of yours. I have a particular interest in it cos it's about the size of the space I have available...... I'm chuckling at the thought of using you as a guinea pig so I can learn from your mistakes ..... (and you haven't made any so far!)
Welcome back friend.
Errol
To think that you would leave us with such a cliff hanger! waiting to see more progress on that fab pike of yours. I have a particular interest in it cos it's about the size of the space I have available...... I'm chuckling at the thought of using you as a guinea pig so I can learn from your mistakes ..... (and you haven't made any so far!)
Welcome back friend.
Errol
I just wanted to drop a quick note before the railroad police came looking for me again 
that I'm working on the layout. Progress has pretty much slowed to a crawl--10 minutes here, 15 minutes there, look at it and start to do something then have to stop to take care of something else... I'm mostly working on scenicking one corner. When I'm done, I'll post a pic.
Later!
-Rory
that I'm working on the layout. Progress has pretty much slowed to a crawl--10 minutes here, 15 minutes there, look at it and start to do something then have to stop to take care of something else... I'm mostly working on scenicking one corner. When I'm done, I'll post a pic.Later!
-Rory
Here's the corner I've been working on. I combined three pictures into one. I'm going to call it done for now...
There is still A LOT to do. None of the track is ballasted (except in that corner), and there's a lot of trees to be planted. The top of the ridge will be covered in trees, especially the back side of the summit (the dark gray part in the middle of the third picture).
I'm more-or-less taking a top-down approach. I figured it would be easier to work on each level if I didn't have to worry about knocking things over on the level below...
One of these day I'm going to make a real backdrop!
My job is going great, Tyson. Thanks for the good wishes!
There is still A LOT to do. None of the track is ballasted (except in that corner), and there's a lot of trees to be planted. The top of the ridge will be covered in trees, especially the back side of the summit (the dark gray part in the middle of the third picture).
I'm more-or-less taking a top-down approach. I figured it would be easier to work on each level if I didn't have to worry about knocking things over on the level below...
One of these day I'm going to make a real backdrop!
My job is going great, Tyson. Thanks for the good wishes!
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glad to see your still here, 10 or 15 minutes is better than none at all. Quality not Quanity.
keep us posted
keep us posted
Last night i sepnt 2 hours or so reading the 160 some odd posts. but it was worth it. i got some really good ideas to use on my own layout. i am having the same problem as rory i cant seem to get the money i need. i have also made some of the mistakes as some of yous have like going in to the layout room and frocing yourself to do something then in a week or two you rip it apart and start over. i have been working on the same 4X8 for almost a year and i still dont even have all the track down. but i have started to do my hills and roads. i tried the card board web with paper towels soaked in plaster, i have used metal window screen in stead of the cardboad a little better. but what i find is the best i have only tried it once is you make a web of cardboard but in stead of covering it with paper towels you hot glue crumpled brown paper bags and then paint the plaster ovewr the bags. it works much better and less mess.
Rory great layout.
Rory great layout.
after reading these post and going to your website i actullu got off my A$$ and started to do some work on my HO scale layout. is there any thing happin on the Copper ridge.
Shawn,
Sorry I missed your post... It's kinda hard keeping up with the board these days. But to answer your question: Yes, things are happening on the Copper Ridge Railway!
Well, no operations are currently going on, but that will change soon, I hope. I have to undo some rock work--seems that the clearance was mis-measured at one spot on the main loop. I think I need to fire that civil engineer... The track needs some serious cleaning, too.
But the big news is that I finally have a backdrop! Using the techniques described by Gavin Miller in the Backdrops and clouds thread, I painted clouds on the back side of a piece of scrap vinyl flooring (got that idea from Charlie). It worked great!
The backdrop is in place, but I will be adding onto it in the very near future. First, though, I have to figure out where I'm going to paint in the background hills and ridges. That will partly depend on the where I place the background trees.
Here are a couple of pics of the layout with the backdrop in place. I brought out the buildings again and set them in their temporary spots...
Sorry I missed your post... It's kinda hard keeping up with the board these days. But to answer your question: Yes, things are happening on the Copper Ridge Railway!
Well, no operations are currently going on, but that will change soon, I hope. I have to undo some rock work--seems that the clearance was mis-measured at one spot on the main loop. I think I need to fire that civil engineer... The track needs some serious cleaning, too.
But the big news is that I finally have a backdrop! Using the techniques described by Gavin Miller in the Backdrops and clouds thread, I painted clouds on the back side of a piece of scrap vinyl flooring (got that idea from Charlie). It worked great!
The backdrop is in place, but I will be adding onto it in the very near future. First, though, I have to figure out where I'm going to paint in the background hills and ridges. That will partly depend on the where I place the background trees.
Here are a couple of pics of the layout with the backdrop in place. I brought out the buildings again and set them in their temporary spots...
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Never fear! The plaid curtain lives!!! The layout is a little too long for the available space, so it runs under the window a short ways. The backdrop itself is long enough to go around two sides of the layout. Hopefully within the next few months our new house will be ready, and there will be plenty of room for the layout and backdrop to be properly aligned...
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" Plaid skies... smilin' at me... nothin' but plaid skies....do I see"
Rory, the backdrop looks super!! Really nice cloud work!
Pete
Rory, the backdrop looks super!! Really nice cloud work!
Pete
Going in circles...
I just wanted to drop in again (one of my sporadic visits) and give an update on the layout. Sorry, there are no new pictures to post...just news...
The big news is that I finally fixed an electrical problem that I was having with the back side of the loop. Everything was working fine until a few weeks ago when, all of a sudden, Block #2 started flaking out. I had finished cleaning part of the track after having removed that extra rock from one of the tunnel entrances when I decided to run an engine around the whole loop. It would get to Block #2 and stop, and the power level indicator on the power pack would go dim. As long as Block #2 was on, the engine would not run (on any block). I fiddled with the track (jiggling it around and trying to make sure that the wires were secure) and it would work for a while, then start flaking out again. It was very frustrating. I took up part of the track on that block today, hoping and praying that the problem wasn't in the tunnel. I think the main problem was that some of the expanding foam had gotten into the join between two sections of track. I cleaned up the ends of a few pieces and put it all back together.
Then I tried running my SW9/1200 around the loop...flaky performance at best... I tried cleaning the track some more. No luck. I was getting very frustrated. I was almost to the point of saying, "That's it. I'm done with N-scale. I'm going to HO." Not that things would necessarily be much better, but I've had far fewer electrical problems with HO stuff... Anyway, then it dawned on me to clean the wheels of the locomotive. I put some track cleaning fluid on a piece of paper towel, laid it over the rails, put one truck at a time onto the paper and cranked up the power supply. I can't tell you how much GUNK was on the wheels of that engine!!!!
Now it runs fine. And the other two engines (whose wheels weren't nearly so dirty) run great, too. I am SO happy to be able to run trains in a circle now!
The branchline is partly disassembled. I've been wracking my brain on how to build the bridges... It has been driving me absolutely crazy. The problem is that the bridges will be in curves. Normally this would not present a problem because trestle bridges can be easily build that way. But in my case (my case seems to never fit into the "norm") I don't have enough room for the piers. The spaces being spanned are fairly narrow, and there are one to two tracks running underneath. Any bridge piers would get in the way of the trains.
I have two solutions to the problem, neither of which I have started. The first is to build a bridge similar to one on Shamus' layout (click here). BTW, Thanks, Paul! A bridge like that could be straight, and allow the track to be curved. At least in my non-expert engineering opinion, it looks like it could theoretically hold the weight of an engine. And even if it didn't, this is all make-believe, anyway, so there.
The other idea is to build a stone or brick bridge using some of my leftover blue foam.
Both ideas have appeal to me. But I'm not totally sold on either one.
The track across the first bridge is a single section of 9 3/4" 30 degree track. The other is two of these sections. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know!
-Rory
I just wanted to drop in again (one of my sporadic visits) and give an update on the layout. Sorry, there are no new pictures to post...just news...
The big news is that I finally fixed an electrical problem that I was having with the back side of the loop. Everything was working fine until a few weeks ago when, all of a sudden, Block #2 started flaking out. I had finished cleaning part of the track after having removed that extra rock from one of the tunnel entrances when I decided to run an engine around the whole loop. It would get to Block #2 and stop, and the power level indicator on the power pack would go dim. As long as Block #2 was on, the engine would not run (on any block). I fiddled with the track (jiggling it around and trying to make sure that the wires were secure) and it would work for a while, then start flaking out again. It was very frustrating. I took up part of the track on that block today, hoping and praying that the problem wasn't in the tunnel. I think the main problem was that some of the expanding foam had gotten into the join between two sections of track. I cleaned up the ends of a few pieces and put it all back together.
Then I tried running my SW9/1200 around the loop...flaky performance at best... I tried cleaning the track some more. No luck. I was getting very frustrated. I was almost to the point of saying, "That's it. I'm done with N-scale. I'm going to HO." Not that things would necessarily be much better, but I've had far fewer electrical problems with HO stuff... Anyway, then it dawned on me to clean the wheels of the locomotive. I put some track cleaning fluid on a piece of paper towel, laid it over the rails, put one truck at a time onto the paper and cranked up the power supply. I can't tell you how much GUNK was on the wheels of that engine!!!!
Now it runs fine. And the other two engines (whose wheels weren't nearly so dirty) run great, too. I am SO happy to be able to run trains in a circle now!
The branchline is partly disassembled. I've been wracking my brain on how to build the bridges... It has been driving me absolutely crazy. The problem is that the bridges will be in curves. Normally this would not present a problem because trestle bridges can be easily build that way. But in my case (my case seems to never fit into the "norm") I don't have enough room for the piers. The spaces being spanned are fairly narrow, and there are one to two tracks running underneath. Any bridge piers would get in the way of the trains.
I have two solutions to the problem, neither of which I have started. The first is to build a bridge similar to one on Shamus' layout (click here). BTW, Thanks, Paul!
A bridge like that could be straight, and allow the track to be curved. At least in my non-expert engineering opinion, it looks like it could theoretically hold the weight of an engine. And even if it didn't, this is all make-believe, anyway, so there.The other idea is to build a stone or brick bridge using some of my leftover blue foam.
Both ideas have appeal to me. But I'm not totally sold on either one.
The track across the first bridge is a single section of 9 3/4" 30 degree track. The other is two of these sections. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know!
-Rory
I would go with the stone or brick idea (easy for me to say! being as you are the one who is going to have to build it. 
), but I think it may be the most practical solution. However there are others far brighter than me here who might can come up with a better (easier) way.
being as you are the one who is going to have to build it. ), but I think it may be the most practical solution. However there are others far brighter than me here who might can come up with a better (easier) way.
Tyson,
My idea with the foam was to scribe in the joints between the bricks or blocks. How I would do that, exactly, I don't know. Whether I made the entire bridge out of foam or not, I was planning on using that technique to make the abutments. I might experiment with making a foam bridge today if I get the time.
My idea with the foam was to scribe in the joints between the bricks or blocks. How I would do that, exactly, I don't know. Whether I made the entire bridge out of foam or not, I was planning on using that technique to make the abutments. I might experiment with making a foam bridge today if I get the time.
Glad to see your back. I thought you might have disappeared.
As for your bridges I can not offer any opinions or advise. Sorry, But I'll think on it and maybe come up with some thing that won't work
As for your bridges I can not offer any opinions or advise. Sorry, But I'll think on it and maybe come up with some thing that won't work
I know what you mean, Shane. Like I said in a previous post, I've been wracking my brain over this problem for some time now. Every time I'd think I had a solution, I'd find some problem with it--can't find the right materials, can't cut the pieces "just so," or it just plain wouldn't work.
But this foam idea turned out to be VERY simple. And it worked!!! I sat down this afternoon and carved myself a simple stone arch bridge out of a strip of foam. I can't say that its perfect, but it's good enough for me. I put it in place this evening. I had to use spackle to fill in some gaps at each end. After that dries, I'll paint it to match the concrete portions of the bridge and/or the surrounding rock. I'll post some pictures after I'm done.
The second bridge is longer (two track sections long). This may be a problem for making a stone arch bridge. The little bridge looks OK because the span is short, but the long bridge probably won't look right with a single arch. I might have to brainstorm some kind of suspension design, or figure out how to place a pier between the tracks below without it getting in the way of the trains...
But this foam idea turned out to be VERY simple. And it worked!!! I sat down this afternoon and carved myself a simple stone arch bridge out of a strip of foam. I can't say that its perfect, but it's good enough for me. I put it in place this evening. I had to use spackle to fill in some gaps at each end. After that dries, I'll paint it to match the concrete portions of the bridge and/or the surrounding rock. I'll post some pictures after I'm done.
The second bridge is longer (two track sections long). This may be a problem for making a stone arch bridge. The little bridge looks OK because the span is short, but the long bridge probably won't look right with a single arch. I might have to brainstorm some kind of suspension design, or figure out how to place a pier between the tracks below without it getting in the way of the trains...