NICE!

There's an unusual mix of gear.  Perhaps there was a dispute about logging the forests, and the line brought the historical commission into things.  In the end, the court stated, "Logging is historical in this area.  Nut, in order to maintain the historical aspect, only locomotives contemporary to the historic logging may be employed," or some such legal justificatiion.

That's very similar to what

That's very similar to what I'm going to try.  I'm a bit of a Southern Pacific fan, so I'd like to have a main running through the edge of the layout with some dual gage track which is part of the "lease agreement" my fictional little carrier has with the SP.   Look forward to hearing more on your progress!

Jon R.

HH&J Logging

IrishRover I'll make sure all the proper permits are submitted before any logs are removed.

Jon, I hope to post some photos tonight or Wednesday night.

I will also soon be posting the rest of my layout, which is in a 22 x 38 and 16 x 30 rooms in my basement.

Joe

HH&J Logging

Here is some early photos of the peninsula (sorry for the mess). The first level is 10 track staging.

A little about the room. The room is 16' x 30'. The upper kitchen cabinets are being removed and as money allows I am insulating and will be hanging drywall.

On the left and right walls is the beginning and end of my layout. During ops sessions, you will end at a yard or go to staging. No roundy round running. There will be a brand line going to the logging peninsula.

Next will be risers for the lowest level for the logging.

Familiar Scenes

It's great seeing an overall view of how train rooms really look during construction (well, mine anyway).  The only problem is that your's makes mine look messy!

-Jack

Update HH&J Logging

  Hello All,

Been a little while since my last post but here is an update of my progress.

I have had a couple of Friday night work sessions where 8-10 guys came by and helped work on the layout. Some work on other parts of the layout and some worked on the logging peninsula.

Here is an over all view. In the back ground you can see Willow Yard.

Mostly all of the sub road bed is installed.

Here is the round house and turn table. To the right you can see an Atlas turnout that is where a hand laid turnout will be and that is where the local train will come in. Above and to the right of the round house is camp 7.

In the picture above, the local comes into the logging peninsula it will enter an interchange yard. This is as far as the local can go. From here on in only the logging trains will run.

Update HH&J Logging

Logging train leaves the interchange yard with empty log cars and heads over the viaduct.

Once over the viaduct then heads over the high bridge.

In the background you can see Birchdale yard.

Leaving high bridge you can see camp 2 on the right.(the raised area) And where the plywood widens is logging camp 1.

The logging train now arrives at the saw mill and passed logging camp 1 and the saw mill.

More to follow.

Update HH&J Logging

Logging train drops off some empty log cars and leave with just 2 log cars and back up hill to camp 2 then pulls forward to camp 3.

Here is camp 3. Just before heading up hill is camp 4 (by the support post).

Now we enter a small town and camp 5. Leaving camp 5 you go up hill to camp 6 to right of  the far support post.

Camp 6 on the right. Leaving camp 6 we head up hill to camp 7.

There will be a trestle over the left side of the turn table and we reach our last camp, camp 7.

Here you can see better where the local train comes in.

Camp 7 is 57" of the floor and we started at 42". The grade are 3%.

Now we need to install more homasote and the track crews can start their work.

Update HH&J Logging

Here is the track plan. I posted it earlier but thought it would help to post it again.

Oh Yeah!

You've got a nice big space, a wonderful switchback track plan that'll be fun to operate, and you won't have to walk around to the other side of the peninsula as you work your way up the mountain until you reach the upper level.  VERY COOL!  Plus you have a host of friends to help speed you through the boring part (being a carpenter rather than a model railroader.)  Lots of visible progress since your post of last fall.  Keep us updated.

BTW, I do have one suggestion, and that's about continuous running.  I know  you don't need it, maybe don't even want it, but sooner or later Aunt Tilly or a nosy neighbor or someone else who knows absolutely nothing about railroads real or modeled (and maybe cares even less) is going to visit, and they'll definitely want to watch the train go around for 5-10 minutes while you show off all your wonderful work.  That's when you'll wish you had some way to just go roundy-round (via a removable bridge, a pair of loads-in/empties-out industries that just happen to make a continuous run if you remove the cars sitting on their sidings, a turnout leading to a single hidden track that isn't part of your operating scheme, etc.)  So I suggest you look at your plan and see if you can't squeeze a loop in there someone. For example, it looks to me like there may be a way at the base of the peninsula (where the logging line joins the main) to loop back from one side to the other, passing through the mountain ridge that the logging line works on?  You can even go down to less than your minimum radius there, just so long as you can get a loco around the curve (as little as 15" with an HO Shay or Climax -- the loop track would be hidden anyway.)  So that might be a pretty easy loop to add to the overall plan, and eventually I think you'll be glad you thought about it before you have all your track and scenery in.   

Oh Yeah!

You've got a nice big space, a wonderful switchback track plan that'll be fun to operate, and you won't have to walk around to the other side of the peninsula as you work your way up the mountain until you reach the upper level.  VERY COOL!  Plus you have a host of friends to help speed you through the boring part (being a carpenter rather than a model railroader.)  Lots of visible progress since your post of last fall.  Keep us updated.

BTW, I do have one suggestion, and that's about continuous running.  I know  you don't need it, maybe don't even want it, but sooner or later Aunt Tilly or a nosy neighbor or someone else who knows absolutely nothing about railroads real or modeled (and maybe cares less) is going to visit, and they'll definitely want to watch the train go around for 5-10 minutes while you show off all your wonderful work.  That's when you'll wish you had some way to just go roundy-round (a removable bridge, a pair of loads-in/empties-out industries that just happen to make a continuous run if you remove the cars sitting on their sidings, a turnout leading to a single hidden track that isn't part of your operating scheme, etc.)  Also, I must confess that I personally like unwinding with my adult beverage while I just watch the train run for a while.  So if it's possible, I suggest you look at your plan and see if you can't squeeze a loop in there someone.  Is there room at the base of the peninsula to loop back from one side to the other, passing through the mountain ridge that the logging line works on?  You can even go down to less than your minimum radius there, just so long as you can get a loco around the curve (as little as 15" with an HO Shay or Climax -- the loop track would be hidden anyway.)  So that might be a pretty easy loop to add to the overall plan, and eventually I think you'll be glad you thought about it before you have all your track and scenery in.   

Sandy

http://www.sandysacerr.com

Small Part of the layout

Thanks for the kind words Sandy.

The logging peninsula is a small part of my overall layout. The peninsula is in a 16' X 30' room but the main layout is in a 22' X 38' room. In the 16' X 30' room there is a roundi-round track just for showing the layout and to aid in re staging. Here is my track plan. It is not complete. It does not have the logging track plan in it and some of the tracks need to be updated and connected.

The sections that are gold / yellow outline are modular and come out of the layout and go to train show from time to time.

As you can see the main line in "City of Hershey" need to be connected.(the darker lines are the main line)

I hope to soon start posting the rest of the layout.

Update HH&J Logging # 4

       Hello All,

Here is the latest from the mountain.

Friday night the guys came over and we worked on the logging peninsula.

Below you see the tie gang started their work. These guys are good, they even dropped some ballast to keep the ties in place.

They worked their way into the interchange yard.

Just ahead of the tie crew was the surveying team and you can see the have the marking all the way to the saw mill.

The outline of the lake can be seen to the left of the tracks.

Update HH&J Logging # 5

      Hi All,

Here is the latest from HH&J Logging.

Most of the ties are laid down in the interchange yard also track laying is in full swing.

Some new businesses have arrived and are a work in progress. Where there are no ties will be in a tunnel.

Ties and rail have proceeded across the viaduct. 

Temporary code 83 flex track is placed over the curved bridge till we work on the bridge at a later date.

As you can see ties have been placed all the way to camp 1.

Well that's all for now.

Come a Long Way...

Joe,

The railroad is looking great!!  It has sure come a long way from our initial review and critique - and I like the direction it has taken.  Just wish I were back there to see it in person!

BTW - can you get a better angle on the Belt Lines box car in your last post???  (Just kidding!)

Thanks

Thanks Alan. Maybe when or if you can come back to New England for the Amherst Railway Society Hobby Show in Jan.25-26 2014,  I could open up the layout one night for you and other that might want to tour the layout.

I will try to keep this blog updated so all can follow and add any input that may help.