The Blue Ridge Stemwinder in On30

[Doctor G]

Juice for Linville


While not as glamorous as the number two spot working its way to the Linville interchange with a load of logs, electrical wiring is extremely important on a model railroad.

With a foam sub roadbed on a shelf, there is very little depth to hide the jungle of wires so common in Model Rail Roads. The side profile is quite thin, at best 2 inches.

Working with the foam means the lightweight mountains, hillocks and hills can easily be removed.

The whole layout can then be turned up on its side to do the dirty, non glamorous work of electrical wiring.

The inexpensive “router” attachment for the hard working Dremel tool is used to cut grooves in the underside to a depth of a 1/2”.

Next the wiring is pushed in to the groove and secured using dabs of hot glue. “ Suit case” connectors make easy work of splicing in to the wires in the grooves

After labelling the connectors that will go to the electronics box below the shelving the layout is brought back to place on the wire shelving and it is on to the more glamorous work of building the Linville LDE for the On30 East Tennessee and Western RR.

Thanks for looking. Hope this mini tutorial wasn’t too boring.

Doc Tom

 

[Gandolf50]

Ohh My! Every Time I see lichen it takes me back, to pre-teen era!! That smell!! Wonderful! I can still remember opening a couple packs that were a X-Mas gift!!

 

[Bill Nelson]

I'm liking the way this is looking! isn't homabed wonderful stuff. I've not liked the diea of mounting track directly on foam, but homabed on foam will probably give much beter support.

 

[Doctor G]

I'm liking the way this is looking! isn't homabed wonderful stuff. I've not liked the diea of mounting track directly on foam, but homabed on foam will probably give much beter support.

Yes, Homabed is great!! Looking forward to sanding and sealing it and getting some of Peco's nifty On30 track down. I really like the precut Homabed for the turnouts. Maybe running a steam engine before Christmas Tom

 

[Doctor G]

My recent work on the ET&WNC On30 layout reminded me of modern day“ rails to trails" programs. As I placed the roadbed and the first layers of scenery……….

….. the result reminded me of this picture of the" Tweetsie Trail" near Johnson City Tennessee.

The Tweetsie Trail is the actual old roadbed of the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad.

My On30 trail walkers were in for quite a fright when they stumbled into a large hairy humanoid from the Northwest country side who was obviously quite lost in the Blue Ridge.

Thanks for following along. Doc Tom

 

[Doctor G]

The good old boys in the Blue Ridge have been working hard to get the first structure built on the Linville LDE.

I am trying to re-create this scene from Linville in 1920 on the ET &WNC RR. I thought I would start with the simplest structure.... the line side shed

I found it on eBay and thought it was a nifty stand in for the little shed.

Thanks for looking. Tom

 

[bigpetr]

I love it. You have some talent . Everytime I see your work I want to try it too.

 

[Doctor G]

I love it. You have some talent . Everytime I see your work I want to try it too.

Give it a whirl. You will have fun. My motto "Its hard to screw up scenery". Doc Tom

 

[Gandolf50]

My motto "Its hard to screw up scenery". Doc Tom

I don't think that would fly while talking to the Scenery Director about something he didn't like...Of course in my case, a few mouse clicks and time will get it how he wants it !!
Love seeing your layouts!!

 

[Doctor G]

Santa drops off some goodies at Linville. Santee Claus just visited the Gandy Dancers at the On30 Layout Design Element (LDE) in Linville on the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina RR. He left them some fine imported On30 track (Peco from Merry ole England) and the guys were ecstatic. There was some Christmas cheer in that bag of his as well....... .....and the boys merrily went about laying the track for the entire LDE without a complaint. Next up is connecting the dropped wires to the bus wires and getting #11 moving under her own power. Thanks for looking.Merry Christmas. Doc Tom

 

[zathros]

You should be able to "Drop" the picture by using the "Insert Image button". :Computer:

 

[Bill Nelson]

Like the scenery work. like Bigfoot too, have measurements on my Texas space, but my photos are on the phone, and too big to post on Zealot, maybe I'll take my camera next trip sadly the Texas space is not Texas sized.

the layout room really needs to be gutted to make it as nice as the house, so I may stasrt with two bumpass sized modules. holding out on thier design untill I know how big my next SUV will be. my suburban is 23 years old, and has mega miles on it, and is not a good candidate for making multiple trips from Houston to KY lake.

 

[Doctor G]

Like the scenery work. like Bigfoot too, have measurements on my Texas space, but my photos are on the phone, and too big to post on Zealot, maybe I'll take my camera next trip sadly the Texas space is not Texas sized.

the layout room really needs to be gutted to make it as nice as the house, so I may stasrt with two bumpass sized modules. holding out on thier design untill I know how big my next SUV will be. my suburban is 23 years old, and has mega miles on it, and is not a good candidate for making multiple trips from Houston to KY lake.

Hi Bill. Good to hear from ya. Looking forward to your Texas build.

BIG NEWS here on the Tweetsie......electrical wiring all in and #11 and #12 generated steam and ran under their own power with magnificent sounds!!! A big day for me as this project has been poking along now for 9 months and only 25% of the track is in.Oh well they say model RR's are never done. Tom

 

[Doctor G]

Geraldo never liked to work.

Least of all, did he want to shovel coal on a hot summer’s day? Naaaah.

He was quite content to while away his time watching trains go by his shack along the ET &WNC mainline up in the mountains.

Thanks for looking and resting a spell with Geraldo.

Doc Tom

 

[Doctor G]

The New Tank at Linville. Dewey and Raylan inspect the new water tank at the Linville Depot site on the ET &WNC R.R.. Well its not leaking and holds water well. Number 11 will get a drink soon……when these guys quit mugging for the camera. These overall shots show the empty lot where the Linville Depot will go and there is a definite need to plant trees to get …….. to this look that I am trying to achieve. Thanks for looking. Doc Tom

 

[Bill Nelson]

how are you liking the peco track on homabed? I find it ythe next best thing to hand laying.

 

[Doctor G]

how are you liking the peco track on homabed? I find it ythe next best thing to hand laying.

Really like it a lot. Both great products. Trains are running well. tom

 

[Doctor G]

Foam core mockup for the depot at Linville on the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad. Ever since I've been a model railroader I have read about foam core mockups for scratch built models. Despite being in the hobby some 40 years this was the first time I have actually done this. What I had read was this is a good way to see if structures actually would fit the model railroad. And in O scale this is extremely important as the buildings and structures can be overwhelming. So here is a foamcore mockup of the depot at Linnville on the ET and WNC railroad. I am getting closer to the look in the old prototype picture. What I found was that the roof overhangs fouled locomotives on the track behind the station. I'm actually fudging history a bit as there was no track behind the station and only a dirt road. But I wanted a team track and it was on Ian Rice’s track plan as well. So I had to trim the roof overhang in the back so as not to decapitate the engineer on Number 12. I lucked up as this is the only adjustment I had to make to fit the depot in between 2 railroad tracks. For sure clearance is tight but it looks like everything is coming together. Next up will be a mock up of the hip roof. And then it's on to purchasing styrene and castings to build this nifty little depot. Thank you for looking. Doc Tom

 

[Bill Nelson]

Tom, the Berghausen-Shoemaker Sawmill, on my RR, is built directly on top of it's foamcore mockup.


I was going to do a board by boaed build, but decided to plank the inside and outside of the mockup instead. good thing I did, cause 30 years later, I still haven't finished it.

 

[Doctor G]

Tom, the Berghausen-Shoemaker Sawmill, on my RR, is built directly on top of it's foamcore mockup.


I was going to do a board by boaed build, but decided to plank the inside and outside of the mockup instead. good thing I did, cause 30 years later, I still haven't finished it.

Yes, I remember that building very well. It has lasted a long time! The corners on this foam mock up or not that square so I will be using styrene. Tom