The mountain railway layout construction

jward · August 20, 2011, 08:12:59 PM

i really like the way it's turning out. it reminds me of the layout my dad and i built in about 1976 on a 4x10 platform with 18" r curves. we'd based it on a plan in one of the kalmbach layout plan books no longer in print. we had 3 passing tracks, a reverse loop, several industries and 2 bridges, 7" and 10" high respectively. the only drawback was the 6% grade up the one side of the mountain (the other side was 3-4%).....

that layout was the provong ground for alot of ideas which later surfaced on my dad's wvc&p railway, which he started building 2 years later. we'd discovered what worked well, and what didn't.

mountain railroads are FUN!!.......

ryeguyisme · August 21, 2011, 12:19:54 PM

6% grade?!?! yikes D: though my shays and climaxes wouldn't have too much of a problem tackling that

I use a long heavyweight coach with crazy overhang to decide my mountain wall clearances, don't wanna have a 2-6-6-2 scrape the sides and stuff.

My Brass mountain will be coming in the mail tomorrow and judging from a message sent to me by an avid DRGW brass collector the engine is going to need a new chassis underneath, and I was toying with the thought of buying a mantua mikado chassis and modifying that since it has 63 inch drivers, and I have a helix humper motor installation for one, so it'lll pull a house if I go that route

ryeguyisme · August 26, 2011, 10:21:43 AM

just an update in pictures, didn't work too much on the layout lately since I got the brass locomotive in the mail so I've been working diligently on that project:

^just a rough put together of parts to see how it would look, although I have a problem with trying to put a lead truck on the front

^isolating the frame for the brass boiler using sheet styrene

^pictures of it running on the layout

The original chassis wouldn't take anything less than 30 inch radius, that being said, it was time to shop it, I didn't spend $400 on a locomotive of a certain prototype that I wanted just to collect dust on a shelf somewhere I want this puppy to run and haul things, and I figure I'd make a learning experience from this project.

Basically I used an athearn chassis, built by samhongsa for the rebuild, modified it, isolated the cylinders and the valve gear hangers, and put the rods on and I have to say what a basket case that was trying to put all of the valve gear on, I don't know how those koreans do it. But I managed and the chassis ran like a swiss watch the first time out.

then I cut out space needed under the boiler to fit the chassis, isolated the cahssis to prevent shorts and wired everything together. Theres a hole under the doghouse on the tender that was perfect for the speaker and it's loud enough and enjoyable. Put my trademark brass franklin booster on the front tender truck as per "freelance" prototype

Ran it around a few times the only thing that irks me is the engine's front driving wheel likes to jump the track. It was an interesting try for a project but I'm not satisfied with how the flanges on the drive wheels vs. the sprung-ness work on my nearly great track work.

So the next idea is to take it all apart and this time use and mantua mikado chassis instead, less of a headache and more run-fun keeping it on the rails and making it virtually bulletproof. I have the basic chassis and a helix humper remotoring kit BUT the lot of chassis I bought didn't come with mikado connecting rods for the drivers, so that will need to come first

^the lot of chassis, I bought

any ideas, helpful hints and/or suggestions welcome

adari · August 26, 2011, 10:52:22 PM

Do you have a Youtube account?

? This is very impressive!!! I would love to see video updates!!

ryeguyisme · August 28, 2011, 04:01:33 PM

yes I do! I just happened to shoot some footage of my new engine going around the layout, I just haven't had time to post it but here's a video of both the engine and the new layout:

http://youtu.be/Jy8-J6u2Vsc

ryeguyisme · September 01, 2011, 04:02:34 PM

another update:

a new addition to the mountain railway roster: a DRGW M-75 4-8-2 3 cylinder locomotive by Samhongsa

I heard from a reliable source that this engine would take a tighter radius, so I'll just have to wait and see if it can take 22

ryeguyisme · September 07, 2011, 04:49:22 PM

well the Key Imports 4-8-2 came in today and it runs like a swiss watch despite a tiny bit of binding here and there, and I have to lube it some. But it runs quiet and smooth.

here's a video of the dual eccentric rod feature:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2wPr8T4y3A

Doneldon · September 07, 2011, 09:08:37 PM

rye-

How did you get all of those locomotive parts to stick to the ceiling?

-- D

ryeguyisme · September 08, 2011, 12:52:37 PM

the ceiling? I don't know but I use alot of superglue in the application onto locomotives as well as any other model building I do, it saves alot of time and fustration

ryeguyisme · September 11, 2011, 07:38:23 PM

I'm fortunate to have the M-75 turn a 22 inch radius so no chassis mods necessary so I stripped off the paint and took some detail off and added some missing details, and I took the extra boiler front that came with engine and put it on that varney boiler you've all seen amongst my photos. Those brass details can cost such a pretty penny, marker lights set me back $4 for one pair! I took the elesco FWH off because I thought it made the M-75 look ugly, so I'll put the elesco in my parts for when I decide to do another New Haven Steamer for the Club layout.

Added number boards and marker lights to the M-75, my favorite characteristics of those engine and then painted it black. Went over the smokebox with some dark greyish, took me an hour getting around the details and giving it some touch up for crisp paint detail.

Heres some photos: