Once I finalize the heights I will install the backdrop and the lighting. The backdrop will be pretty simple, probably just a blue sky with a hint of trees.
Monday, June 12, 2017
Initial progress
The switch machines are now installed on the first section and I am working on the wiring. In the meantime, I’ve been testing out various layout and fascia arrangements. I’m using shelf brackets which makes it easy to alter these heights. In this photo the track height is 56.5” and the opening between the lower and upper fascia is around 10.5”.
Saturday, May 13, 2017
Concept and track plan
Welcome! This blog will document the construction of an HOn30 layout based on the two-foot gauge railroads that were built in Maine in the late 19th and early 20th century. I have always liked the look of these railroads, with their narrow equipment running on even narrower tracks. Paradoxically, they required large radius curves, which rules out an On2 layout in my 8x13 layout room. I could theoretically build an Sn2 layout in this space but the track plan would be limited, so I am trying HOn30 for the first time. Here's the track plan:
The layout is a freelanced railroad called the St. George Railroad, after the town and river in Knox County, Maine. The primary customer is a granite quarry in the middle of the St. George peninsula, but it will also haul coal, seafood, and general freight. There is an interchange with the Maine Central at Thomaston, and the other terminus is the seaport at Tenants Harbor, with a cannery and a pier for loading stone onto ships.
Currently I have the quarry located in an adjacent space in my basement, but I'm considering ways to keep it in the same room as the rest of the layout. My current thought is that the quarry's primary product will be paving stones, cut and loaded at the quarry, and that the cutting shed outside Tenants Harbor will be for larger cut stone products.
Track will be Peco's code 80 "mainline" track. The switches are 18" radius, and the minimum radius elsewhere is 21".
Feel free to leave comments and suggestions!
The layout is a freelanced railroad called the St. George Railroad, after the town and river in Knox County, Maine. The primary customer is a granite quarry in the middle of the St. George peninsula, but it will also haul coal, seafood, and general freight. There is an interchange with the Maine Central at Thomaston, and the other terminus is the seaport at Tenants Harbor, with a cannery and a pier for loading stone onto ships.
Currently I have the quarry located in an adjacent space in my basement, but I'm considering ways to keep it in the same room as the rest of the layout. My current thought is that the quarry's primary product will be paving stones, cut and loaded at the quarry, and that the cutting shed outside Tenants Harbor will be for larger cut stone products.
Track will be Peco's code 80 "mainline" track. The switches are 18" radius, and the minimum radius elsewhere is 21".
Feel free to leave comments and suggestions!
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