 |
 |
|
|
|
|
The following are photos from June to October 2007 of the construction of the Windsor & Midwestern layout. Other pages of photos from the W&M layout can be found on the following pages: Ian D. has been taking photos of the progress from day one. You can view his photos here
* NOTE: The larger images will not load until all the thumbnails have finished loading * |
||
 Photo By: Fred Jr. |
September 22, 2007
This is the spline road bed for the north siding switch for the helper district at tbe base of the grade. We are
experimenting with how to best spline the switch area. This is our first attempt, and we've learned a lot. We plan
to make some minor changes for the next switch as the roadbed here is wider than needed.
|
|
 Photo By: Fred Jr. |
September 22, 2007
All the staging yard switches are in place and spiked down. We chose to save money by not powering the switches
here. Instead we mounted hand throws into the facia of the layout and used metal tubing to guide the throw wire
to the switch. This picture isn't very good, but you can see the hand throws in the foreground and the metal
tubing arcing up to the swiches.
|
|
 Photo By: Fred Jr. |
September 22, 2007
The first scenic element to be started is a small river and bridge between the south staging yard and the cement
plant. Here you can see the cutout for the river bed. The switch to the left leads to the south staging yard.
|
|
 Photo By: Fred Jr. |
September 22, 2007
With the sub-roadbed finished for the cement plant, the main line could be extended into the inside curve. This
curve will eventually be 180 degrees and lead back up the next leg of the layout, but for now it only goes halfway
and will be connected to the last leg temporarily. This will alow us to get this section of track up and running
before we have to remove the modular layout to make room for more construction. It will also allow us to test the
track work before adding ballast and other scenery.
|
|
 Photo By: Fred Jr. |
September 3, 2007
The benchwork along the south wall is now done. This area will feature a branch line serving several coal mines with
the main line elevated along the back drop climbing the mountain. The main line and the branch wrap around the
corner with the main continuing its climb and the branch stub ending at another mine.
|
|
 Photo By: Fred Jr. |
September 3, 2007
We are going to experiment with 'Spline' sub road bed. This small piece of spline is the approach to the large
bridge that the main line used to cross over a river, road and the coal branch.
|
|
 Photo By: Fred Jr. |
September 3, 2007
After waiting all summer for switches to come in from walthers, we have given up. We decided to handlay our own
switched using the Fast Tracks Switch Building System.
Please visit our Fast Tracks site to learn more about this easy to use system. The switch in the fore-ground leads
to the staging yard, while the one behind it is the siding/loop track. The switches are Code 83 #8's
|
|
 Photo By: Fred Jr. |
September 3, 2007
This will be our portland cement plant. The plant was drawn to scale on the computer and then transferred to
cardboard in HO scale. The cardboard template was cut out of plywood to create the sub road bed. The plywood
cut out will be fastened to risers on the bench work and then we can start laying the track. You can see the
scale drawing of the cement plant
here.
|
|
Drawn By: Carl M.
|
July 20, 2007
This is the basic track plan for the whole layout. Most of the industrial tracks have yet to be added. Most are
still in the design phase. We have decided on industry types, just not track plans yet.
|
|
Drawn By: Fred Jr.
|
July 20, 2007
This is the Limestone Quary track plan. The quary is served by two railroads. The WMRC will serve most of the
facility, bringing in coal, fuel and equipment and lifting hoppers full of crushed limestone of various grades.
A second railroad will switch from the right dealing only with hoppers for crushed limestone. The plant includes
crushing and washing buildings as well as large storage piles and a coal fired power plant. The main line passes
over the edge of the open pit on a large curved tresle.
|
|
Drawn By: Fred Jr.
|
July 20, 2007
The Cement Plant occupies an area nearly 16ft long. This plant is HUGE! The plant is a dry portland
cement supplier. Limestone and Clay, Gypsum and Coal all arrive by rail. Dry cement is packaged and shipped by
Truck, Boxcar, and Covered Hopper. An small on-site coal fired power plant provides electricity to the facility
and to near by homes and businesses. The front edge of the scene will be an old run-down dock. The facility was
also serviced by ship in the past. The main line will cross a small bridge over a river to the left of the scene.
The river will serve as a scenic divide between the plant and the staging yard to the left.
|
|
|
July 3, 2007
The double track loop around the staging yards is glued down now. We used thin strips of styrene to elevate the out side of the curve. The electrical team has begun soldering feeder wires to the rails in place now so we can start weathering the rails and ties in preparation for ballasting. |
||
 Photo By: Fred Jr. |
June 23, 2007
This is the Southeast Corner of the layout room. This is the start of the helper district and the grade up the
northern side of the mountain.
|
|
 Photo By: Fred Jr. |
June 23, 2007
This is the first leg of the layout. Each leg is 48" wide with a divider running the length of it. This leaves
about 23" of space on either side to work with. The divider will not always be centered to allow more or less
space on either side depending on the needs of the scene. The right side of the leg is the northern end of the
layout and the left side is the southern end.
|
|
 Photo By: Fred Jr. |
June 23, 2007
This lowered area on leg 1 will be a large trestle over a river and road. There will be a second smaller and
lower bridge below the trestle where one of the interchange railroads crosses the same river. The red wire marks
the location of the trestle.
|
|
 Photo By: Fred Jr. |
June 23, 2007
This is the north staging yard. Each yard track is 12' long. The yard tracks are Atlas Code 100 on cork roadbed.
We paint the cork grey to seal and blend with our ballast better later.
|
|
 Photo By: Fred Jr. |
June 23, 2007
This is the loop track and passing siding that run around the north and south staging yards. These tracks allow
for continuous running when not operating. The main lines and sidings are Micro Engineering Code 83 track. We
will be using walther's code 83 switches on the main lines. (if our order ever arrives)
|
|
