Jim, the cliffhangers will look great! You’re on the West coast now, so don’t forget to “earthquake proof” the buildings to prevent them from sliding down the cliffs!
Really like the curved switch. That and the “Y” keep the trackwork from looking anything close to mundane. Nice touches.
This layout is really looking great! I can’t wait to see where you’re going to put the rest of the track we just shipped to you!!
It has been a little while since I’ve had anything like visible progress (much work on things like changing to #1 kadee’s, getting more track prepped, etc.). This isn’t much, but I did get another 1400 pounds of rock to add some interest to the Durango side of the layout.
In particular, the rocks were chosen and placed to give me some spots for cliff hangers. My next biggish project is to scratchbuild my first one to learn how to do that kind of thing.
Here are some pix, starting with a rocky arch over a steep road from lower to upper Durango:
Here is an overview:
And from above:
And the obligatory video version:
Those are very realistic looking rocks . . . . . (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Narrow Gauge Lover said:
Those are very realistic looking rocks . . . . . (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Did you make the molds yourself, or use commercial ones? (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Oh how I wish I was using fake rocks. These are sooooo heavy 
I feel your pain, bro. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)
Beautiful track work! I love rocks, so I really like what you are doing. It’s hard work now but EASY maintenance later. Just curious if your clearances will accommodate larger rolling stock like a boxcar.
I’m in the “let the track float” camp. I’m down here in Ventura County, CA with mild temps however we will get several summer weeks in the 90s. When designing my layout I included mild sweeping curves in all of my long runs instead of making them perfectly straight. It looked better in my yard. In doing so, any expansion moves these curves in very small increments that usually offset each other. I didn’t plan it, but it works! It floats on a PVC ladder system. Anyway, that’s my two cents. LOVE WHAT YOU ARE DOING!
Thanks Joe! I sure hope I have enough clearance for boxcars! Probably not enough for really long passenger cars, but I don’t plan to have those.
I guess I’ll need to break out a chisel if I have clearance problems. Sure don’t want to move the frickin’ rocks!
A suggestion, get a car or loco used to test clearance.
On my layout, which is 1:29, the Aristo RDC has the worst overhang, and the container cars the tallest.
Test now if you can. Lot easier to place rocks right the first time than grind/chisel later.
Greg
Sometimes, the infusion of new equipment requires the unsightly modifications. 7P (Military guys will understand) 
Cascade Tunnel at the top of Stevens Pass, Washington. Elev 2247 Ft ASL
Even with proper clearences, rocks can move and settle into the ground. When I built my railroad, the rock wall was close to the tracks. Now its a fair distance from the tracks. So even with proper planning, there may come a time when an “adjustment” needs to be made
I think I mentioned that I wanted to build some cliffhangers on those rocks. This weekend I spent some time with foam board and hot glue and mocked one up to see how things look in place. I wanted to figure out if what I had in my mind was going to transfer to reality (2 very different places in my experience).
Here’s the first cilffhanger mockup:
And here’s a shot from further away to show it in context:
The intent is to have a little cluster of these shacks at different vertical heights, all propped up and close to each other, maybe even sharing walls or at least individual posts. Of course there will be many steps up and down to connect these puppies.
Wdyt? Does this look ok? Or is the shack too big for the rocks, and I need to go bigger on the landscape to justify the cliffhangers?
(and yeah, I know that shack is going to shake when my Shay goes by, and everything will be covered in soot, and nobody would ever do that in real life, but I still like the looks of it)
Been a while since I’ve posted any new track in this topic. Daniel Smith was back today to get started on the last major bit of track: the mine spur.
As a refresher, this is the inspiration for the mine spur on the Durango & Jasper:
This was an HO railroad built by John Olsen in the 80’s.
The mine spur crosses the mainline and a sawmill track. Here is the trestle to do that just begun:
Daniel positioning the bents:
After crossing the trestle, you pass over a short bridge spanning a dry wash, and then end up on a rickety trestle (just the top shown here as it is being test fit):
The bents for the mine trestle being built by Daniel:
Here’s where it stands at the end of today:
Everything is just tentatively in place, no track in yet. Daniel plans to be back on Friday to finish. As usual, I am the planning, digging, and rock arranging guy.
Cheers!
Not supposed to blank post to let you know I’m following so I must write something
" Rooster " said:
Not supposed to blank post to let you know I’m following so I must write something
Ditto
Amazing work you and Daniel are doing Jim!
Your layout is beautiful, and I sure like how you’ve designed it around the central operation / relaxation / enjoyment area!!
Totally off topic here Jim but I’m pretty sure you work for You Tube. I must say kudos to them on the backstop add for the 2017 World Series. I looked at my TV numerous times and the large “Play” button they use and wanted to pause and replay numerous times. Good advertising even though they really don’t need too unless I’m missing something
Ok back to the Durango and Jasper RR!
Thanks Cliff, and thanks all for following along.
Rooster: Glad the YouTube ad wasn’t annoying! I’m a software guy there (in the group that figures out what videos to show you on your YouTube homepage), so have nothing at all to do with that kind of stuff.
OK, done with that for now… I’m now working on some ore cars to go with this rickety mine coming out of a cliff. Will start a topic on them when I get a bit further along.
Cheers!
Here’s a video showing the result of today’s work on the mine spur:
(harrumph: there was a video here but when I went to edit this post to correct some mangled english, it disappeared and there seems to be no combination of ways to re-add the video to get it back)
Probably my last day hiring Daniel to build track for me. All that’s left to do now is to add a few more bits of track here and there, ballast, etc. There’s actually no more room for any more track in my raised planter :-). There are still a lot of details to add to the mine and approach tracks: inside lighting, signage, planking to walk on, railings here and there, some stairs, etc.
There are 2 kinds of wood in this mine trestle: the lighter is cedar, the reddish stuff is redwood. Here’s Daniel building a particularly tricky part of the track coming out of the mine (those rails are actually steel O-gauge rail that Daniel tells me were made in 1941!):
Entering the mine spur, heading across a trestle, then to a short A-frame bridge, and then a rickety trestle where the ore is loaded:
The end of the trestle and the A-frame bridge:
Daniel spiking rail on the bridge. That weird flat-car-with-no-wheels on the rickety mine trestle is the start of an ore car.
Here’s a test fit of the small ore trestle top (awaiting bents). Sorry, no ore cars yet so I had to use log buggies 
Cheers!
