Let the construction begin!

Build time has finally arrived

After receiving the timber required to begin construction of the layout earlier in the week, it was time to begin the build of the new layout.

As the date for the timber arrival was all but guaranteed, I made contact with the local crew and asked for some assistance for the day on Sunday. Fortunately Rod Warren, John Colliver, Greg Johnstone and John Fahey all answered the call. So a time was set and things made ready.

Here is a picture of the trailer with 420 lineal meters of 70x19 pine and also 10 sheets to 2400 x 1200 x 12mm C/D ply for the road bed.


As the timber arrived on Wednesday and the plan build start was set for Sunday, I had 2 part and 1 full work day that I could not let slide.. So I made a start on the structure along the top and bottom walls with the help of my son Sam who was eager to help out.

By the end of Saturday Sam and I had completed the sub structure below the North Creek / Corinth Branch line and also the long narrow run from Whitehall to Willsboro.

Come Sunday morning, Rod, John C and Greg arrived at around 9am (unfortunately John F is unwell and was not able to attend).

Upon marvelling at the plan laid out on the floor and discussion re the construction methods needed to make stable and strong peninsula's, it was all hands to the tools and work started with great pace.

After a quick run down to Bunnings for some extra 70x35 timber for the centre of the walls, things were all happening. Rod and Greg got going on the centre walls for the peninsula's and John and I continued on with making L girders for the left and right walls.

Then once Rod and Greg had installed enough wall studs John and I followed them along with the cross braces and L girder's for the centre peninsula.

By the end of the day, we completed a heap of work and made great progress.

As you look at the pictures, you may notice that the wall studs are not all in a straight line.. Don't worry about that, it is all part of the plan..

Don't forget we have master craftsmen at work and probably around 20 to 30 layouts built between us.. In this case, you cant have too many chiefs..

Thanks for Greg, Rod, and John for coming to help. It is most appreciated.

After the guys had left for the day (and their 60 to 90 min trip back to the other side of Melbourne) I continued on some work to build supports for some sections of the cross members.

You may notice that I have used 42mm x 19mm cross members in this section. The main reason is to get down to the right level for staging and allow enough space for the gap between staging and the main deck of 300mm. The rest of the layout (where there is no staging) the cross members are 70mm x 19mm. Hence the extra support needed for the cross members in this location and the return loop that will sit on top of it.

Well, that's the end of build day 1 on the D&H.

Stay tuned for more updates.as I process through the build.. Hopefully in a few weeks time I can start laying track on the lower / staging level..

Thanks.

Testing out the plan

Time to test the plan and see how it fits.

One of the advantages of developing a layout plan with the planing applications that are on the market today is that you can easily print the plan 1:1 scale and with a bit of time, lay it out and see how things fit.

As I am using Anyrail V5 to develop my plan all I needed was access to a A3 printer and a ream of paper. So off to work I went and proceeded to print 250 odd A3 pages.. (Thankfully work is fairly accommodating so this was not an issue.) As part of the application it is easy to define what to print and the scale and it has a simple function that only prints the pages that has layout parts on them. So this automatically dropped the page count down, however due to the size of the layout and the shed, 250 pages were still needed.

Once the plan was printed, and free time allocated for the job, I proceeded to lay out the pages and tape them together. I also cut off the excess parts of the page where the isle is located.
As the shed floor is cold concrete, and the our house has polished timber floors, I decided that the house was the better place to put the layout together.

After a few evenings and a few hours this afternoon, the layout build on paper 1:1 scale was completed. As I taped it together in sections, it was then easy to roll / fold and walk it out to the shed.

Below are a number of pictures of the layout on paper, all laid out in the room.

Now I can walk around the isles I'm happy to say that it fits really well and I'm happy with the isle widths that I have designed into the layout. Some may say, in places it is a bit tight, however I think it will work really well.

Here are a number of pictures to show the layout all laid out.

Standing at the entry door looking at North Creek on the left and Plattsburgh in the middle

Standing at the door looking right at Willsboro against the wall and the end of the main yard of Whitehall

Staging at the door looking over at Ft Edward, on the left, Saratoga Springs in the middle and Whitehall on the other side.

 Looking at Whitehall in the middle and Saratoga Springs on the other side of Whitehall.

 Standing at the end of the Ft Edward peninsula

Now that the plan is laid out, I will continue to mark out on the floor where the peninsula's need to be placed based on the plan and then next week end make a start on the build.

The 400lm of 70mmx19mm timber for the structure and the 10 x 2400 x 1200 x 12mm C/D ply arrive on Wednesday or Thursday this week..

Thanks for dropping by.

Stay tuned as the build now proceeds.

Design Complete

New Layout Design Complete.

With the construction about to begin, I have been doing a heap of work on the design.

I have tried a number of ideas with the staging and have come up with the following design.

Staging:

The plan is that trains will set up ready to leave staging heading either North or South.
As a given train progresses out of staging and onto the layout, it will eventually end up in staging again on the opposite end of the layout.
Once the train has re entered staging it will stay there until it is turned and prepared to depart again with a new train number. (The turning of a train via the reversing loop will primarily be done by me and not the engineers).

The idea being that, if a train heads North and enters North Staging (aka Rouses Point) then the only way back onto the layout is in the reverse direction and will enter the layout from the North with a South bound train number. The same goes for Trains that enter staging to the south (aka Mechanicville). The only way back onto the layout is to head North with a North bound train number.

As you can see from the plan there is a staging bypass track. This will mainly only be used during non operating sessions where I want to set a train going and leave it run around the layout.

In terms of the reverse loop at the end of staging, I will again use the PSXAR-SC auto reverser that will allow a train to enter the loop, and when the train reaches the end of the block just before the turnout, the PSXAR-SC will auto reverse the polarity and throw the turnout to enable the train to continue with out the need for an engineer to throw the turnout.

Main Deck:
I have not changed the main deck much since the last update as I am happy with it. I have made a few tweaks here and there and adjusted some deck heights to allow more space between levels.

Testing the layout:
I recently came across some software called Train Player.
This allows me to import the plan as it stands from Anyrail V5 into Train player.
I can then set up a train with the car types I want to use and a few loco's and basically operate the layout as it will work in the shed. This software is great.! I could set up a 2 loco, 20 x 50ft box cars and a caboose and run it around the entire layout including in and out of staging.
I am able to see if my standard train length is able to fit into the sidings and also run the train at a given scale speed and see how long it takes to run the entire layout.

During my testing, I ran a 20 car train at 72km/h (scale speed) around the layout from staging to staging. It took about 10 real minutes to run the entire length. This is a great way to test and see how things will work.

Anyway, the timber is due to arrive in the next week or so and then it will be time to get stuck into the construction.
Come back from time to time and watch how we progress..

I am going to set an ambitious target of the staging and main line it self to be completed by Christmas. So lets see how we go.

Thanks again..

Let the building begin

Let the building begin. (well the pre planning bit anyway)

After the demolition of the old D&H 2nd Sub, I have now cleaned up the room, and stored the timber from the old layout.

Once the room was given the once over with a broom and the temporary carpet was lifted up and also stored, it was time to map out where the new layout will go and get a feel for the space and the width of the isles etc.

I used some masking tape on the concrete floor and mapped out the isles and the dividing wall that runs along the peninsula's.

There are still a few things in the rool that line the wall due to lack of other places to put them.

Then I placed the retained staging in it place to see how things fit..

While things will be a little tight, I'm sure things will work out well..

Until next time..

Demolition Complete

Demolition of the D&H 2nd Sub is now complete.

In readiness for the new layout, the old layout needed to be demolished.
This week has seen the completion of the demolition work.

The D&H 2nd Sub is now a fallen flag.
The layout design was started back in early 2008 and took a few years to complete before it was placed in storage while we built our new home and the new shed.

It came out of storage in 2013 and the signalling work was completed in time for the 2013 N Australian N scale convention here in Melbourne. The layout was well received and I received many nice comments about the work I had done.

But alas, time moves on and the new 7.5m x 6m shed is calling to be filled with a new layout. Therefore the old D&H 2nd Sub had to go.

I completed the removal of all the electrical components last week.
Here are a few progress pictures.

Then it came time to start reclaiming the Atlas Code 55 track.

Her is the first piece of track being lifted.

Work continued at a fever pace and before long 4 modules had been completely demolished and all track recovered.
Then finally the main yard on the 5th module was started.

Then before long the final piece of track was removed.

Then the final module, like its 4 sisters was reduced to a pile of timber.

All that is left is the old staging yard that will be reused on the new layout as it is, all be it longer.

Now all the wire, track and parts are in the piles ready to be cleaned up and reused.

 

Good bye to the D&H 2nd Sub.. I learnt a few good lessons in the last 5 or so years that will be put to good use on the new layout.

Stay tuned for the next update on the progress of the new layout.

Time for a new lease on life and a new name

Whats in a name?

With the commencement of the demolition of the old D&H it was time to also bring this blog up to date with the new name for the railroad.

The old layout was based around Oneonta, therefore is was on the 2nd sub of the D&H.

The new layout will be based around Whitehall in the north of New York State.
Whitehall is the dividing point between the 3rd and 4th subdivisions of the D&H, however I like the Champlain division the most and the layout will feature key scenes from the 4th Sub on Lake Champlain.

Therefore the new layout will be called. D&H 4th Sub Champlain Division.

And it was so..

The blog has been updated and away we go.!

New Layout Design:
In terms of layout plan, here is the current plan.

I'm getting closer and closer to locking it in..

This is the main level with industry names.

This is the staging level.

 

 

As you can see things are well progressed..

Now for Atlas to start making N scale Code 55 turnouts and flex track!..

I have enough to build the main line and all the staging (I think) with the use of some ME code 55 in the staging sections also.

Time will tell.

 

Stay tuned..



Demoltion time

Time to pull up stumps!.

Well, the time finally came this week when it was time to say good bye to Oneonta and the old D&H.

With the new plans well and truly on their way, it was time to start to disassemble the old layout.

First the signals were removed, the last train was packed up and then it was time to get stuck in.

Per the picture, there is a heap of wring and electronics under the layout so what better place to start.

I have not finished it yet, but the first 2 modules are all but devoid of electronics and wiring.

I will do the other 3 and then it will be time to get the sharp knife out and pull up the track for later use.

I will keep the blog updated with a few pics along the way of the old one..

Hopefully, before long the new layout will be under way.