The mountain railway layout construction

[ryeguyisme]

Are those coaches on the siding Athearn Heavyweights? And I like what you did with the 2-8-0. It looks good with the high headlight.

I tried modeling the 2-8-0 much like DRGW's C-48's

the heavyweight are old handbuilt Walthers Kits

[MilwaukeeRoadfan261]

Okay, did not know Walthers made kits at one point so thank you for the info. And I like 2-8-0's that look different from the "catalog standard" 2-8-0. I myself want to make a bachmann 2-8-0 look like a Duluth, Mesabi & Iron Range K Class 2-8-0.

[ryeguyisme]

Okay, did not know Walthers made kits at one point so thank you for the info. And I like 2-8-0's that look different from the "catalog standard" 2-8-0. I myself want to make a bachmann 2-8-0 look like a Duluth, Mesabi & Iron Range K Class 2-8-0.

^This guy certainly made quite a model from the Spectrum 2-8-0


UPDATE:


New Key M-75 arrived in the mail today, really excited about that. Going to be converting it to a Worthington FWH style and knocking off the elesco up top, it's a good thing I need elesco's for my New Haven prototype engines for the club layout(converting a PRR K-4 into an NH 4-6-2)


I also have layout pictures to take to update on that progress, stay tuned!

[ryeguyisme]

Here's an update:






Well I rebuilt the second M-75 and filled it to the max with lead weights. during the paint process the original restored engine I had took a dive to the floor due to carelessness. But instead of beng upset it popped the boiler front off which I was originally wanting to do but gave up trying. So besides a couple parts needing rebending(easy for me) the other boiler face that came with the engine i plopped right on. Now I have my first double header matchup.

And as my guilty pleasure oh so needs another one I have this engine on layaway, I fell in LOVE with the paint job:

my wallet is really taking a heck of a beating with these guys, but they're such wonderful runners and pull so well I cant help but have a fleet of them. The Rio Grande had 10, 5 with elesco FWH, 5 with worthington FWH. I prefer the worthingtons in this case.


another Bulline car to the collection and....

bought the MDC Devils Gulch and Helengon 5-pack for a really good price from this nice chap from down under.

I really need to get back to working on the layout since my roster is getting plenty

[ryeguyisme]

PAINT UPDATE!

My 2-10-4 finally got some paint and light weathering:


The M-75's got updated even further with more paint and weathering:


My spectrum connie I finally decided since I got parts for it I'd do some finishing on it to make its appearance greater.

Before on the right and after on the left, some mods and paint make a huge difference. add more running boards and paint and you'll even notice the really neat marker lights I installed. Really gives the connie character to it:

[jonathan]

Very nice... fits right in with your brass locos.

Regards,

Jonathan

[ryeguyisme]

Thanks Jon,

that was the look I was hoping to achieve, wasn't sure if I could pull it off but I might do something with the domes like you did on one of yours



Update, finally some work on expanding the yard lead out to the main layout:

[ryeguyisme]

^oops cab wasn't on all the way  




















UPDATE: well I kind of posted most of my stuff on Facebook and forgot to post here, but here's mostly pictures taken today of the mountain railway.

The L-62 finally has been completed thanks to patience finding the appropriate parts and using reference photos I've kitbashed a rather beautiful model of it. I love it simply because unless you were following the whole construction, you would have never known its parts are from 8+ locomotives, I rearranged the running boards and moved the domes and used bondo to fill in the old dome gaps. The engine was reworked, I had to buy another mantua 2-6-6-2 to get the right cylinders for the front. The smokebox front is from a BLI heavy mikado, the boiler from a spectrum 2-10-2, various brass parts, firebox sides from a monogram big boy kit, lead truck from a Russian decapod, trailing from various parts and a pilot from a Brass DM&IR 2-10-4(finally found a use for it)

TONS of milling involved, I had to shorten the boiler a whole inch and make clearance for the chassis inside. The chassis was modified slightly but nothing major.

Really impressed with myself on this project.


Both routes to the main layout have finally been laid, so once wired I'll be running trains soon and hopefully upgrade to DCC.

A narrow gauge HOn3 line will be added above the standard gauge for hauling coal from a remote mining village and bringing food and supplies back.

The roundhouse stable is looking rather full. I have 5 Rio Grande mountain engines, 1 M-69, 3 M-75's, and one M-78. I have an M-64 that I'm selling on another site but if it doesn't sell, I'm keeping it and painting it and adding it to the roster. I also have a D&SL K-63 2-8-2 on the way with a coffin feedwater heater... Interesting little lokie


Well that's it for now, hope you enjoy!

[electrical whiz kid]

Rye Guy;
Very nice work!  I haven't progressed much beyond taking the old layout down and designing a new one.    This time, I am doing it right, putting cabinets with adjustable shelving under the layout, pre-planning to the nines, each section, and building the plan-I know it is a hard proposition to do that, but I don't want the same "mess" I had the last time.  I spent last winter detailing about fifty-plus refrigerator cars, as well as more box cars, weathering same, etc.
Donaldon:
I too, have a grandson and he is four and change, an info "sponge", and has a curiosity that I want to see grow.  He hasn't been up to "that room over the garage" yet-he has his own bigger stuff that I had bought for him when he was born, anyway, and one day I will surprise him when he comes over-all set up on the deck
Rich! 

[ryeguyisme]

My biggest problem right now is too much emphasis is being put on locomotives, I have an obsession with husky steam locomotive workhorse with a display of sheer power. When I finish one engine, its onto the next. There's so many ideas I have yet to complete, I finished the L-62, then for kicks I started on an L-77 2-6-6-0 despite the fact I'm most likely going to be buying two in brass in the near future... Haha.

I have put some attention into spruce trees and conifers, figuring out how to get a ton of them.... And then looking at getting more rolling stock for the engines to pull, and they all need knuckles and metal wheels and be era appropriate for my tastes(mid-30's to wartime)

And then the layout needs to be wired and running and my father is bugging me about it at this point haha. I think he's starting to become impressed for once. On top of that I'm starting to become more clean and organized with my workspace with is a plus... This layout had been planned, replanned, and boiled down to my visions and needs so far, I even started planning the extensions off either end so eventually a train could in fact make a complete circuit around the 10x25 layout and have two seperate cities along with tons of mainline mountainous drag to slug through making for a rather lengthy journey.

But at the same time keeping it simple for when I move out so it can go with me.

I've had a dozen temporary layouts growing up that were creative and then some real flops, what helped was power-loc track although I should've gone with bachmann ez-track way back then, it would've been a lot simpler. I have a small collection of it for when I bring some stuff for traveling

[jonathan]

Rye,

Have enjoyed watching the progress on your layout.  I understand the obsession with locomotives.  It's hard to turn your attention to trackage and scenery when there are so many great locos to build. Thanks for sharing your progress. 

Regards,

Jonathan