Large Scale Central

New to the forum!

General Discussion
#1

Howdy! Just wanted to post a quick introduction. Some of you know me from the Garden Railways forum. Haven’t been able to get back into it since they “improved” it, so I’m trying out this one.

Anyway, I started work on my layout in January, on a steep slope behind our house. Still have a long way to go but I am making progress. It’s a narrow gauge, desert railroad featuring very rugged, rocky terrain. Lots of tunnels, trestles and bridges, which will be all scratchbuilt.

You can see some pics here:

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=3009006&a=32116967

I’m actually farther along with it than that, but haven’t gotten around to posting updated pics yet.

#2

Ray-
Welcome to the sandbox!

Suggestion: Consider your work-- a chronological photo story – as material for Garden RR. You are using stone and that is a singular feature worth reading.

I hope you would consider a future open house – presumption is you are a member of the San Diego Garden RR club – and would ask, if you choose to do so, would consider non-members attending.

Good effort!

Thanks very much.

(From the Fullerton/La Habra area)

Wendell Hanks
La Mirada, CA (where’s that?)

#3

Welcome Ray.

Nicely done.
I believe you are going to use track power. If so, I hope you have plenty of access to the tunnels as curved tunnels can be a real problem. If no access I urge you to ensure the middle of each tunnel is not beyond the reach of one hand.
It will be imperative you solder each rail joint that is in a tunnel. Screw joiners WILL NOT be adequate.
Otherwise I can guarantee you frustration will result.
Good luck.

#4

Nice looking rock pile you have there Ray. I’m impressed :smiley:

Welcome to LSC. Please post photos of your progress when you can.

JR

#5

Very nice! You’ll know me from Garden Railways

Their forum is back up and looks quite nice.

#6

Hi Ray nice to see you here.

GRs back up but I think they went for the econo web package. Can’t post pics easily anymore, gotta type in the code like it was 1985 on an IBM 386 with DOS…I hated DOS!

#7

Welcome Ray! I am one of the newer guys myself! You probably know me also from the Garden Railways forum.

a.k.a. Train 284

#8
Ray Dunakin said:
Howdy! Just wanted to post a quick introduction. Some of you know me from the Garden Railways forum. Haven't been able to get back into it since they "improved" it, so I'm trying out this one.

Anyway, I started work on my layout in January, on a steep slope behind our house. Still have a long way to go but I am making progress. It’s a narrow gauge, desert railroad featuring very rugged, rocky terrain. Lots of tunnels, trestles and bridges, which will be all scratchbuilt.

You can see some pics here:

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=3009006&a=32116967

I’m actually farther along with it than that, but haven’t gotten around to posting updated pics yet.


Hi Ray,

Welcome to the “better forum”!

Unless “they” put you on ice (over there), your old log-in should work. It’s “contrarians” like myself who have to create a new identity. (I did!) :wink: :wink:

#9
Wendell Hanks said:
Ray- Suggestion: Consider your work-- a chronological photo story -- as material for Garden RR. You are using stone and that is a singular feature worth reading.
Thanks, I do plan to write up something for GR eventually.
Quote:
I hope you would consider a future open house -- presumption is you are a member of the San Diego Garden RR club -- and would ask, if you choose to do so, would consider non-members attending.
No, I'm not a member of any GRR club, but I would like to do an open house someday. I may have to actually attend one though first, to get some idea of what to expect.
#10
TonyWalsham said:
Welcome Ray.
Thanks for directing me here!
Quote:
I believe you are going to use track power. If so, I hope you have plenty of access to the tunnels as curved tunnels can be a real problem. If no access I urge you to ensure the middle of each tunnel is not beyond the reach of one hand.
Yeah, I have removable slabs for access to the center of any tunnel long enough to prevent reaching the center from either end.
Quote:
It will be imperative you solder each rail joint that is in a tunnel. Screw joiners WILL NOT be adequate. Otherwise I can guarantee you frustration will result. Good luck.
Thanks for the tip. I haven't been soldering them, but I am using Split Jaw clamps instead of the standard joiners. I'm not sure yet how to solder rail joints without destroying the plastic ties.
#11
Hans-Joerg Mueller said:
Unless "they" put you on ice (over there), your old log-in should work.
I think the new website just doesn't like Netscape, or at least not the ancient version I'm stuck with. I can get most of the way through the log-in process but then end up at a blank page on the final step.

I tried it with IE and was able to complete the final step, but with IE the pages loaded way too slowly. I run into that (and other problems) pretty often using IE, which is why I prefer Netscape.

A large part of the problem is simply that I’m on a very old computer running very old software, and won’t be able to afford anything new in that department for the foreseeable future. :frowning:

#12
Ray Dunakin said:
Quote:
It will be imperative you solder each rail joint that is in a tunnel. Screw joiners WILL NOT be adequate. Otherwise I can guarantee you frustration will result. Good luck.
Thanks for the tip. I haven't been soldering them, but I am using Split Jaw clamps instead of the standard joiners. I'm not sure yet how to solder rail joints without destroying the plastic ties.
Ray,

You could also solder jumpers across the joints. Drill a hole large enough for AWG16 wire in the foot of the rail with just a small cross section of rail remaining at the edge. Loop the stranded wire through the hole twist it together and solder it to the rail by heating the small cross section adjacent to the hole. That will heat up in hurry, provide a good solder joint and not melt the ties! :wink:

BTW when I do track planning I try to follow these rules when it comes to tunnels:

  • Keep them straight

  • Slope them to either side (better drainage)

  • Keep them short enough to get by with one solid section of track in the tunnel (just short of 3m or 10ft seems long enough for me :wink: )

Anything to prevent “Mr. Murphy” to get a foothold!