Monday, January 16, 2012

Layout Progress but no new name yet.

Got to work on that name...
Any way there is solid progress to report. You can read about it and see all the pictures on the RMWeb blog for the layout



Sunday, January 8, 2012

City Dreams Some progress

For those of you interested in following the development of this project of mine there has bee some development.  
You can read about it in more detail at my RMWeb blog.
I really will have to come up with a new name though.

Monday, January 2, 2012

APA Box Layout Design

Here is another HO track plan using the APA box.

This HO track plan is based on an actual industry located in my neck of the woods. Piramal Glass manufacturers glass containers. Covered hoppers are used to bring in silica sand to the plant. The glass containers are shipped out by truck. No other rolling stock is used at the plant. The industrial spur continues on to a rail container loading/unloading facility, but that facility is currently not in use. Piramal Glass also stores covered hoppers on this spur. Rail service is provided by Union Pacific. The plant uses a Trackmobile to move cars around the facility. The glass plant is located on the site of an old lead mining facility.


Flat River Glass, the former name of the glass plant, is my take on the prototype. The traverser tables are used to move cars on and off the layout. The track to the front can be used for storing extra covered hoppers on the visible part of the layout. The tailing pile is a remnant from the lead mining days. It is used as a view block.


APA Box: 27.5”L x 14”W (approximate)

Traverser/Staging Track: 14”L

Backdrop: Photo or Painted



Feel free to change this track plan as you see fit!


Tom

City Dreams construction blog

Well, it seems like I've started. It looks decidedly like I've started to build the layout. You can follow its progress over at RMWeb
http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/171/entry-8273-new-year-new-start/
In addition I recommend that if you haven't already do sone. You should take a look at the whole RMWeb community. A combination of blogs, forums, articles, competitions and home of the "Modelling Inspiration" pdf magazine. You might even want to join up...

APA Box Layout Design

Here is another HO track plan design using the APA Box. This Inglenook track plan features a section of a railroad's servicing area, with the RIP (Repairs In Place) track being the focal scene. The other service track includes a covered entrance into the railroad's paint shop. The center track is connected with a pair of cassettes. The cassette on the left is where inbound cars enter and outbound cars depart the layout. The cassette on the right is used for switching the service tracks.

I borrowed Ian's idea of using a boxcar as a view block for the left side of the layout. The structure on the right serves as a view block for the right side. The backside of a roundhouse is used as a background structure.

The modeler could create a highly detailed scene with lots of castings and figures, as well as rolling stock in various states of disrepair/repair. The Inglenook design allows operations as well. A small switcher (70 ton or less) will work, but an HO scale Trackmobile* would be even better.


Additional Details:

APA Box: 27.5”L x 14”W (approximate)

Cassette/Staging Track: 14”L

Backdrop: Photo or Painted


As always, feel free to modify this plan. If you do, be sure to share it with us!!


Tom


*Web link provided for information only. Not intended as an endorsement from myself and/or the Micro Model Railroad Cartel.

City Dream re-imagined - Visualised!

Since I first proposed the idea of using the IKEA APA box as a basis for a micro model railroad earlier in the year, many other modellers have taken the idea and run with it. So, with the new year approaching, I was feeling that I should also "put my money where my mouth is", so to speak. Then Tom proposed his "City Dreams" vision which intrigued me enough to want to sketch it up.  Now with the New Year upon us I thought that perhaps that would be a good New Years resolution for me. So I threw some track and structures down in one of my APA's to see if my vision of "city dreams" would work as I wanted it to. 


I think it does. I won't be using a three storey building on the left. It dominates too much. It should only be two. Otherwise I think its very workable.