What I did on my sabbatical

[Old Dog]

I wasn't sure where to put these but since they are civilian and not military this seemed like the spot. All the structures show are built to 1/24 scale which makes some of them quite large. I also like to build structures that actually existed but do some freelance as well.
First up is this station based on one that once existed in Linnville, NC.

I don't generally put interiors in buildings as one would need to get down on their hands an knees to look through the windows and small exterior details are usually limited as I find they tend to disappear over time. The scale does allow for some detail, this was the first time I ever tried modeling flowers

Next up is a firehouse from Orbisonia, PA. It sat abandoned for a number of years but was refurbished as a residence retaining much the look of the original. I don't have a current photo but here are a couple taken during construction and before painting

Next up is a 20s era gas station (my layout is placed in the 20s). It is free lanced but based on photos of ones from the era. The name is from a friend and fellow model railroader who is an auto mechanic, his screen name is Rooster and hence the chickens and eggs for sale sign

Next up is a grist mill, totally free lance again but using features from photos of a number of structures

Next up is an engine house modeled after one located in Mt. Union, PA, for reference this structure is 17" wide and 33" long making it a handful to work on and move

As I noted earlier I don't usually do interiors but due to the large windows I did put some basic stuff inside

Not all structures are large, these passenger waiting shelters add bit of sometimes overlooked detail

Another small structure is this water tank made from an old tank car, such things were common on branch and short line railroads

This trestle with a wooden truss bridge was built to replace a 20+ year old structure that has seen its better day

The next item wasn't a total scratch build, the boiler,cab and superstructure were from another locomotive with some details changed and others added, the frame and drive were scratch built. The goal was to create a locomotive type not commercially available. The frame was machined from brass and the motor, gearboxes and other drive parts were commercially available parts. I have a small lathe and bench top milling machine and I love designing and building drive trains. Brass is my favorite material to machine,it's easy on tooling and for the most part doesn't require lubrication making clean up easy. The completed locomotive

And a photo of the frame and drive under construction

OK, I won't bore you with any more, any questions feel free to ask and as always thanks for looking

 

[moon puppy]

I'm moving this to the Lounge, more will see it.

You haven't been idle that's for sure!

 

[jeaton01]

Hi Gary. Neat project!

 

[Heavens Eagle]

NOT BORING Gary!!!

I for one would love to see more of your layout and rolling stock. It is all good and whatever you are building I at least will learn something from it.

 

[Big10]

Train stuff is cool as all get out. Keep posting.

 

[Tojo72]

I like that kind of stuff looks great.

 

[Rhino]

Bring your 1/32 scale fighters, Men! It's time to strafe the Garden Railroad!

 

[Old Dog]

Thanks for he comments guys ! Lets see if this will work

This is the locomotive shown above starting a train on a section of 4% grade with a 12 car train. The cars are not light weight, most weigh a pound or more and the outside braced steel boxcar weighs close to 3 pounds. As an FYI the locomotive is battery powered and radio controlled and the locomotive itself weighs in at 12 pounds. Sorry for the jerky motion and poor sound, I don't have the best of equipment, it was a blustery day and I don't have any editing software.

 

[moon puppy]

Excellent Gary. Job well done, video looks fine.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

Not a problem Gary! Looks real good! We have a huge hobby shop here and it seems that I have seen some of this scale train items in the store.

 

[Barney]

WOW! Just Wow!

I had a train, once. My dad and cousin John tore it up playing with it Christmas Day! that was almost 60 years ago and I am still bitter and in therapy.

 

[Big10]

That's awesome, would like to see your whole layout. Love the sound.

 

[Old Dog]

I'm glad so many are enjoying my adventures in my dark side hobby. For those wanting to know more about the layout I have a couple of aerial views to share. The layout encompasses a space roughly 60' x 60'. The layout is mostly in the shade so when photographed on a sunny day there is a lot of contrast and the sunny areas tend to wash out.

The ground slopes away from the area in the lower part of the photo and at the back where you see the shed roof the layout is 3' lower than in the front so a lot of the layout is on grade. There is a retaining wall along the right side that ranges from 3' high near the front to 6' high near the shed. It took 64 cubic yards of dirt to fill this area in initially and more was added once that settled. The next photo shows some of the area that was washed out in the first.

The area in the foreground is the narrow gauge / standard gauge interchange with dual gauge track work. The standard gauge line is the outer curve and the rest of the track work and sidings are all dual gauge. The area will eventually have a brick works with kilns and a tannery. For size comparison the Howe truss bridge on the left side is 8' long. The shed is where most of the rolling stock is stored and during the operating season there is a connector track from the shed to move trains from the shed to the layout. Here's another shot look back the other way.

Much of the early part of the layout was build with hand laid track, pressure treated ties, four spikes per tie and 11 ties per foot of track. The use of PT wood necessitated using stainless steel spikes which had a propensity of popping up with the change of season requiring a lot of maintenance in the spring, I eventually found making the ties out of Trex solved this problem. By the time the layout reached the Howe truss bridge I realized at the rate I was building I wouldn't live long enough to complete it. At that point I started using commercially made plastic tie strips which just needed to be slipped on to the rail and planted on the layout. I still build all my switches of which there are over 50 on the layout and I still have more to do. Good commercially made switches typically run around $150 each so building my own saves a bunch of $$$. I haven't made a lot of movies but here is one more featuring a couple of my smaller engines double heading the hill. Sharp eyed viewers may notice that I had the throttle on the second locomotive set too high as it is slipping trying to push the first one up the hill.

If you want to know more and want to go down a rabbit hole my website is http://www.raccooncrkrwy.com/ It hasn't been updated since before the pandemic but shows much of my early struggles.

 

[moon puppy]

That's awesome Gary!

 

[paddy]

we have a weekly tv show hear called Hornby, a model world

Hornby own Airfix, Scalextric and Corgi, as well as Hornby trains. Its perfect feet up TV ;-)