Having spent what seems an eternity on the track plan, I started to print it out full size. The first hardcopy was the town of Average and it's main drag, Muir Street. I printed 8.5" x 11" sections and taped them together. I know Kinko's will print my plan in 3' x 15' strips but on larger layouts it gets expensive pretty quick.
Anyhow, I laid the resulting 9' long drawing down in the long hallway in our home. I then grabbed a few odds and ends from the garage to check the scale of the drawing. I "mocked up" the area around the Studebaker dealer...
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| Average: "Mockup" of Muir Street |
This is the most detailed track plan I've ever done and it was pretty cool to see it full size. It's ambitious, to say the least...
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| Average: 1:1 Scale |
There were a few things I needed to learn based on this printout. For those who may use XTrackCAD some advice on the print settings...Best to print as many "tiles" as you can at the same time. I printed in batches and sometimes the ruler marks seem to change. It was as if the basepoint of the drawing had shifted. To get the most real estate out of each tile I suggest you make sure "Engineering Data" and "Ignore Page Margins" are NOT checked....
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| XTrackCAD Print Settings |
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| Pile of Printouts |
This time around I'm combining two ideas tested in previous incarnations. The styrospline road bed will be used again, much of it quite literally. The stuff is flexible enough that it can be reused and recurved if need be. A lot of four track roadbed will be split to make single track right of way. Rather than mount the styrofoam over open benchwork, I've decided to put a "top" on the "storage system" that supports the layout. The top isn't to lay track on, it serves more as a safety net for trains that happen to leave the track. The 600 scale foot drop to the concrete has cost some money in rolling stock and motive power. The top will reduce that plunge to mere inches. No more Kato Mikados vaporizing on impact. It will also help keep the mess of the layout construction out of the storage area, a concern that was recently brought to my attention by a certain female personage.
Once the top is installed all the paperwork gets glued down with wallpaper paste...Makes sense, right?
In other news...Now that I've acquired the AE's first 2-8-0 there is self-imposed moratorium on major purchases like locomotives, That, of course, does not apply in those cases where it would be stupid not to buy something. Still, it really doesn't make much sense to buy more trains until there's track to run them on.
Apart from that, I'm slowly acquiring bits and pieces for scenery and the like. Vehicles for the good people of my small towns are being purchased from fellow "Railwirian" who goes by the user name of Rasputen. I feel his resin vehicles are among the best available in N scale. Separately castings for the body and the interior/chassis allows "see thru" construction. This is done without the oversize window posts found on other cast vehicles. There is some flash that needs to be removed but once that's out of the way...
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| "See Thru" Vehicles |
There's no "glass" in the window openings, but that's just fine with me. Maybe if I can find something clear enough to reveal the interior I'll install "windows". I think these models provide excellent craftmanship at an affordable price. In addition to the ones I already own I just ordered a small herd of 1950 Studebaker "Starlight" coupes for Zellner & Howard, the dealership in Average...
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| Muir Street: Studebaker Dealer |
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| 1950 Starlight Coupes |
While we're talking about vehicles, another source I use is the E-Bay store Willmodels. The resin models are highly detailed and affordable. They lack the open windows but that's not a problem. Besides, where else can I get trucks like these...
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| Muir Street: GMC Cab Over Moving Van and Semi |
Just to be fair I do own Mini-Metals models, but they get rather expensive on a larger layout. I also have problems with the appearance of the N scale vehicles. The HO scale are absolutely beautiful but lose a lot in translation. I really don't feel the 1:160 models are worth the price, especially when compared to the resin products mentioned above.
This payday the top goes onto the benchwork and roadbed construction will start. I'm really anxious to get started.
Regards,
Frank Musick
Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget
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The Average Eastern Railroad
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