Hopefully in these pages I will be able to convey my escapade into the On30 world.
Well I guess it had to happen. I like narrow gauge and am planning on adding a 3 foot narrow gauge when the NY,V, & N Rwy. gets underway. Since the "big" railroad was under design and On30 runs on HO gauge track it wasn't hard to get hooked, plus I have a lot of HO equipment that could use conversion to On30.
I have a corner of the basement that finally got cleaned out so I decided to use that for the On30 layout. I've drawn a layout diagram in cad. Each section is 2 feet by 4 feet. Check it out by clicking on "layout plan" below.
| layout plan | Cad drawing of 8 X 22 foot "E" shaped layout. |
I started by cutting some lumber into 1 x 2 inch boards. They were glued and screwed together to form a 2 x 4 foot rectangle. A piece of 1/2 plywood was glued and screwed to the top of the boards. This formed a stressed skin panel that "shouldn't" warp. Next I glued a piece of 2 inch think Styrofoam on top of that with an adhesive out of a tube. The pieces of paper that look like the track diagram are cad drawn track sections. This helps in laying out the track. The turnout diagrams came from the internet. I'll explain all that a bit later. By the way the table is lying on top of a table for now.
| first module | The first module. |
This is the second module. For right now it's just a piece of foam. I still need to make the stressed panel. It shows some of the equipment I have procured in the last year. The O scale equipment I've had for quite some time. The railroad will interchange with a standard gauge line. So what you see is an RS3 by Weaver, a boxcar by InterMountain, A bashed engine that was originally an Atlas MDT switcher that will be made into a wooden box cab engine. Three side dump cars, a shay, a tank on a flatcar, a Porter, a gas mechanical and a scratch built body on a 44 tonner chassis, all by Bachman. I'll address some of the power later.
| Second module | This shows the second module, plus some of the On30 roster. |
| On30 Roster | This shows the On30 motive power roster. |
| On30 Rolling stock | This shows the On30 rolling stock as of now. |
That's about it for now. Check on the what's new page for an update to this layouts progress. I'm sure as the cold season approaches more will be done on this project. I'm determined to get this running.
I finally have the wall behind were the layout is to go studded and insulated. I just need the dry wall to be put up and that'll happen as soon as I get some dry wall.
| Layout area | Area layout view. |
| Layout area | Area layout 2nd view. |
I've done a bit more in the last couple of years since I began the Otter Creek Falls Rwy. I had not been documenting the progress at the beginning. Hopefully this will change from now on since I have a renewed interest to get something running. More pictures of the slow progress made below.
| Layout area | View of the inter-change point between Standard and narrow gauge. |
| Layout area | View of were the passenger station is going to be. |
| Layout area | View down the tracks to be, toward the station. The platform between standard and narrow gauge is the timber transfer area. |
| Layout area | I've redesigned the standard gauge track layout so I can have more room on the siding. I also added a 3 way turnout to the On30 yard so could add one more storage track. |
| Layout area | Two new sections added to the right. |
| Layout area | Larger picture of the standard/narrow gauge area. |
| Layout area | Checking the incline on the two new modules. |
| Layout area | Closer view of the incline jig being used with a bubble balance. |
I discovered Fast Tracks© at a swap meet. I got their video and downloaded their switch templates. They can be found at Fast Tracks. I started with an O scale switch since the standard gauge will have one turnout on the layout
| O scale switch | I wanted to see if I can build a large scale swtich. |
| O scale switch | Much easier than in a smaller scale. |
