Bachmann Online Forum

A few pics from my old 1800's layout might give someone some ideas -
(http://www.sarget.com/xmt001h3.jpg)

(http://www.sarget.com/xmt001h4.jpg)

(http://www.sarget.com/XMT001L1.jpg)

(http://www.sarget.com/751522-R1-12.jpg)

(http://www.sarget.com/751522-R1-16.jpg)

(http://www.sarget.com/751522-R1-11.jpg)

The loco "reunion"
(http://www.sarget.com/751521-R1-13.jpg)

(http://www.sarget.com/xmas04-17.jpg)

(http://www.sarget.com/xmas04-20.jpg)

Whow - How steep is that grade in the background! Or is that just the photo angle? I thought I had some steep grades. Looks cool.

Wow that's allot of small steamers

Wow looks very nice.  :)

Wow,that is neat, great work.  ;D ;D ;D

Great pictures Terry. It would seem that you have a lot of rolling stock and engines (I guess there is never a problem with motive power on the extra board.). I especially liked the black & white pictures that made the scene appear as if it were photographed in the 19th century. Thanks for sharing these images with us.

Get 'em rolling,
Ray

The grade in the background is 4%. It went to an oval on top. I had it set up so I could run 3 trains continuously on three separate ovals.
Here's the site with more pics of various stages of it.
http://www.sarget.com/lipdex.html (http://www.sarget.com/lipdex.html)
I wish I would have more B/W pics. They do look cool.

Terry, you could just adjust the color level with your photo software. I use Canon's Zoombrowser and have converted several images from color to black and white - or even better sepia (slightly yellowish or golden tone). If you have the bucks, there is always Adobe Photoshop...of course that would take some much needed funds away from your layout efforts. I am trying to figure out how to post pictures on this forum as I do occasionally on the MR forum (same screen name BTW).

Gosh...a 4% grade? You must have some "mondo" traction tires or run very short trains to be able to climb that hill. Terry, I just know you love steep grades, geared engines and logging! Of course there is always cog railroading or a funicular railway up one of the walls...just a thought (OK...I'm kidding).

Ray

Terry, I searched the "Help" section and couldn't find the procedure for posting pictures on the forum. Since you are obviously successful in this endeavor...would you tell me/us how it is accomplished?

Many thanks,
Ray

Ray - I just ran Bachman 4-4-0's and a (Lifelike?) 0-4-0 on the upper levels. One end had a loop and the other end had an over and under loop. I could go up and down to the main level, too. I just never got around to all the scenicking and bridge building before I changed it.
It might have been 3% grade. I don't remember to be honest. I know it wasn't taller than 4%.
(http://www.sarget.com/xmt001e2.jpg)
(http://www.sarget.com/xmt001e1.jpg)
(http://www.sarget.com/xmt001e3.jpg)
(http://www.sarget.com/XMT001J3.jpg)
(http://www.sarget.com/pxmas02-2.jpg)

To post an image -
If I take this pic (http://www.sarget.com/pxmas02-4.jpg) and put image tags around it, it will show up. To put image tages, click on the second box above (the square with the pic). It will come up with  (Dashes added. Remove the dashes.) Just insert the address of the pic below between the image tags
Like this without the dashes -
[-i-m-g-]http://www.sarget.com/pxmas02-4.jpg[-/-i-m-g-]
Here's the pic -
(http://www.sarget.com/pxmas02-4.jpg)

This is an image of the roundhouse I recently finished. You can see my two American 4-4-0s as well as the ice that seems to form in front of the building (OK...actually the glass top of our deck table).

Holy mackerel...your excellent directions worked!! Now I am just a little smarter...scary.

Thanks,
Ray

What are you planing for the mountain? A lush green area or the opposite? Please feedback, I would love to hear about your layout. I have more questions. Such as:

• What railroad are you operating?
• Where did you obtain the trestles?

So far, I say your doing it very good. I look forward to updates.

CNE Runner,
Is your roundhouse scratch-built, kit-bashed, or is it a kit? Please feedback.

Sincerely,
Green Diamond.

I think the Christmas tree is a little out of scale:)

 
"CNE Runner,
Is your roundhouse scratch-built, kit-bashed, or is it a kit? Please feedback."

Hi Green Diamond...first things first: are you any relation to the Green Hornet? Just kidding.

The basic roundhouse is a Faller product - but that is all. Most of the structure was kitbashed (the old brick walls have an overlay of Paper Creek weathered siding, strip wood added to overlay the brick palisters, etc.). The interior is detailed with scribed wooden flooring (there is even a chess game in progress). The slate shingles are from Micro Mark (Northeastern?). The only thing that was used, from the kit, was the basic structure...and that was done because I couldn't find a 3-stall 19th century roundhouse in a craftsman kit (all the offerings were from a later time period). While I am pleased at the outcome of this structure, it takes up too much real estate on my 30"x 12' layout and will be replaced by the Branchline Laser-Art single stall enginehouse.

Thanks for asking! I only included that image to see if I could follow Terry's image-insertion directions correctly. Terry, I noticed a couple of [circus?] wagons...neat! I still have about 10 wagons/teams to paint and assemble (someday). If you need a supplier for 19th century figures and wagons try www.musketminiatures.com - who produce some outstanding cast metal items. Jordan also produces some nice horse and wagon combinations but they are plastic.

Ray

GD - The trestles are Heljan HO Timber Trestle Bridge kits that I modify to suit my needs.
It is no particular railroad. I was calling it the "Fort Michael and Shelby Station Railroad". I was planning on doing cowboys and Indians and cavalry with a "Fort Apache" style fort.
The best part was doing the research. We took a couple of Western vacations and visited about every old military fort West of the Mississippi. We also followed the old Transcontinental Railroad route (as much as we could) from Omaha to Sacramento on one trip. We spent a lot of time on the two lane blacktops as opposed to the Interstates. There is so much more to see doing it that way.
I have already taken it down and went with the multi-scale Christmas layout.
I'm going take the Christmas layout down and maybe do a logging layout. I like switchbacks.
Ray - Glad I could help.  I love your roundhouse. The one I had started was using black foam core board so I could coordinate the entrances with the Atlas turntable.
I can't remember what brand the circus wagons are. Might be Jordan. I intended to paint them so they weren't circus wagons.
I've gotten stuff from Musket miniatures, too.

Hey Terry...you mentioned making a roundhouse so that the door lined up with the Atlas turntable and that struck a nerve. I put a lot of hours into the roundhouse I pictured only to find out that it did not line up with the lead-in tracks! By moving the roundhouse back 6 or 8", and installing some rather wavy track, I was able to line up the lead in tracks with the roundhouse bays. To be completely honest...it looks terrible. I guess that is the major reason I am probably going to sell the roundhouse at our next show and begin construction on the Laser-Art single stall enginehouse. The turntable will still be used to turn engines on my 30"x12' layout (one of the lead-ins will go to the enginehouse. Ah...live and learn. My wife suggested that I build a pit turntable that more closely fits the late 19th century era; but the skill level and expense have made that an illogical choice.

I think your choice of a western-themed layout is a good one. I have seen several plans - I think there might be one in the MR layout plans section of their website. Somewhere, I saw a nice logging layout; but darned if I can remember where ('comes with advanced age I suppose).

Good luck,
Ray

Ray - Here's a pic of what I was trying to do. On the turntable, I was going to put balsa along the sides of the rails and an upright with cables to make it look like a gallows one. Then I was going to bend short balsa walls on top of the gray perimeter  (where there weren't any tracks) to give the illusion of the pit being a little sunk.
(http://www.sarget.com/751522-R1-24.jpg)
I then thought about cutting away the dark plastic on the table, on each side of the deck rails to make it look like a pit.
I took the table apart and that's as far as I got before I changed my mind about redoing the layout to the current one.

Here is an Atlas kitbash that might interest you. Scroll though all the messages for the pictures.

http://66.39.158.142/Forums/viewtopic/t=3122/highlight=turntable.html

I have seen old time photos of railroads the had covered pits.

Rich

Terry, I repainted and weathered my turntable and it came out quite nicely. The added gallows structure would really be neat! If you want to have a roundhouse next to your Atlas turntable, I would imagine you will have to scratchbuild one. Personally, I feel if you want a pit turntable you would be better served by buying a pit turntable and not waste time trying to make the Atlas unit something it isn't. I understand Walthers has a good one in either 90' or 130'. There is a company that sells a craftsman kit that is a copy of a 19th century Armstrong unit - but it is very difficult to build.

I knew I had a prototype picture of a covered turntable pit. After lots of searching here it is:

(http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp38/Allegro34/PrototypeCoveredTurntablePit.jpg)

Ray

Hi Terry

This is additional info on modeling the late 1800s. I have used Google books and found a lot of info from the late 1800s to about 1925 that you can download to your PC or sign up for Google and get your own Google book storage. Here are a some examples in case you ever get bored.

http://books.google.com/books?ei=LPmNSdyZGZW6tweexdGNCw&ct=result&lr=&spell=1&q=railroad++turntable+covered+pit&btnG=Search+Books

http://books.google.com/books?ei=LPmNSdyZGZW6tweexdGNCw&ct=result&lr=&spell=1&q=railroad++turntable+covered+pit&btnG=Search+Books

http://books.google.com/books?ei=LPmNSdyZGZW6tweexdGNCw&ct=result&lr=&spell=1&q=railroad+construction&btnG=Search+Books

Rich

Rich - Thanks for the link. I wasn't aware of the Google books function.