Post by kslrr on Dec 9, 2018 11:43:45 GMT -5
I am going to start this "My Railroad Thread" with the back story of it's 46 year development.
What are the KSLRR, GTC, UPMD? Klundenberry Short Line Rail Road, Garrett Transfer Company and the Union Pacific Mountain Division.
Location? Northern California between Sacramento and Reno NV.
Era? Well, it's somewhat of a time warp. There's 1860's to 1950's steam and 1st and 2nd generation diesel.
(the terms "1st and 2nd generation" are still a bit fuzzy for me).
I had mentioned in another post that I got into HO model railroading when I was 13 or 14. I'm thinking now........Sherman, set the Wayback Machine to 1972.......
I was 11 when I received the TYCO Santa Fe over-under set for Christmas, and my dad built this awesome 4' x 8' hollow-core (not doors. He built a frame of 2x4's, with Masonite and mahogany paneling) hinge down layout attached to the wall in the double size room that I shared with my brother. The over-under set was expanded to fit and I took it from there. Taught myself how to lay cork roadbed and track, wiring, MRC power packs, buildings, lighting, details....... I had LOADS of fun operating for hours and hours......
I think that I came up with the name Klundenberry at that time. It was a mining town that leased an ATSF 0-4-0 for serving the mine. The town was served by the ATSF for both freight, interchanging with the mine, and Passenger although the passenger ATSF Stainless Steel cars were hauled by a Rivarossi NYC Hudson-J3 Streamlined. THAT WAS THE FIRST AND ONLY FULLY OPERATION LAYOUT THAT I HAD. It was moved once from one bedroom to another and then we sold it about 5 years later. Since then I had built smaller 80% operational layouts here and there, some with scenery, some made to be portable.......
Fast-Forward 25 years.... I'm in the middle of a divorce, living by myself in a 1 bedroom apartment, and besides design/building a multi-level bunk bed system so that my 4 boys could come visit me, I'm getting back into my railroad. I started by laying track on 1 of 2 2 1/2 foot by 6 foot tables that a former room mate of 13 years previous had built for his HO layout. This became the beginning of Klundenberry 2.0. At that point I started thinking about "what, where and when" this HO empire would encompass.
And then I meet the lady who would become my second wife....... and she added fuel to the fire of my obsession with trains and motorcycles....... she was dangerous on Ebay.....
I turned to Microsoft Streets & Trips as a way of scouting locations and then drawing the fictitious railroads. I decided on Northern California because of the mountains and the existence of the ATSF (my favorite railroad) and SP between Sacramento, Reading and Reno. That's when I developed what Klundenberry and adjacent Garrett Jct was all about. The table became Garret Jct where the KSLRR operated out of and transferred coal to the UPMD. Klundenberry became a small city. I also wanted to use the names of my family in this empire: Taylor, Channing, Garrett, Lewis - Sons from first marrage. Konecny - last name of my step son. Sarah - my daughter with my 2nd wife. Humphrey - our family name.
The following 2 screen shots from Microsoft Streets and Trips are of the HO Empire and the area around Klundenberry.
You will notice all of the family names. The only name not used is that of my wife, which also happens to be the name of my EX wife......... I know, weird.
I also further developed that the KSL would serve the mine and the town of Klundenberry using a 3-truck Bachmann Shay and a Tyco 2-6-2 Baldwin, while the GTC served the lumber mills using a 2-truck MDC Shay.
Nothing much happened with further development although I did once setup temporary Bachmann Easy Track, on a folding DJ table that I had built 16 years prior, connected in a loop to Garrett Jct so that me and the boys could run some trains. The Garrett Jct moved from my apartment to my future wife's condo, to a house we rented in Garden Grove CA, to Perris CA, to Las Vegas, to Marshfield MO, to Springfield MO (in a Quonset hut at my mother-in-law's) and then finally to a house that we were able to buy in Nixa MO......
I have an 11' x 22' room in the basement. Now, how to squeeze a layout, that will allow me to run 14 car passenger trains and 40 car freights, in a not-so-big space? Answer: Multi-Level! That's when I turned to CAD-Rail. It's not free, it's a bit difficult to use, but allowed me to create a custom library of track based on Atlas Code 100 where I modify the length of switches and use lots of Flex-Track and view in 3D and control viewing and editing of layers.
The following 3 screen-shots are of:
The overall HO empire with all layers turned on
Klundenberry and Garrett Jct
The 3D rendering of what is designed so far
When I say "designed", well it's more like "here's a concept" and "here's as-built" as I'm designing the shelving while I'm laying track. I mainly use CADRail so that I can figure out the elevations based on a max 2% grade. You could say that this is a hybrid table/shelve layout. I also wire up as I go so that I CAN operate some trains and trouble shoot track issues, mainly back and forth from two levels of the storage modules to a point just East of Truckee. The wiring is done with the future of DCC in mind while being somewhat block-controlled for the 7 MRC Power packs that I have. I plan on upgrding ALL of my DC engines to DCC.....one day?
I hope you enjoyed the story so far. I will be posting photos of what I have built so far and how I am Using Arduino for Turn-Out operation.......
What are the KSLRR, GTC, UPMD? Klundenberry Short Line Rail Road, Garrett Transfer Company and the Union Pacific Mountain Division.
Location? Northern California between Sacramento and Reno NV.
Era? Well, it's somewhat of a time warp. There's 1860's to 1950's steam and 1st and 2nd generation diesel.
(the terms "1st and 2nd generation" are still a bit fuzzy for me).
I had mentioned in another post that I got into HO model railroading when I was 13 or 14. I'm thinking now........Sherman, set the Wayback Machine to 1972.......
I was 11 when I received the TYCO Santa Fe over-under set for Christmas, and my dad built this awesome 4' x 8' hollow-core (not doors. He built a frame of 2x4's, with Masonite and mahogany paneling) hinge down layout attached to the wall in the double size room that I shared with my brother. The over-under set was expanded to fit and I took it from there. Taught myself how to lay cork roadbed and track, wiring, MRC power packs, buildings, lighting, details....... I had LOADS of fun operating for hours and hours......
I think that I came up with the name Klundenberry at that time. It was a mining town that leased an ATSF 0-4-0 for serving the mine. The town was served by the ATSF for both freight, interchanging with the mine, and Passenger although the passenger ATSF Stainless Steel cars were hauled by a Rivarossi NYC Hudson-J3 Streamlined. THAT WAS THE FIRST AND ONLY FULLY OPERATION LAYOUT THAT I HAD. It was moved once from one bedroom to another and then we sold it about 5 years later. Since then I had built smaller 80% operational layouts here and there, some with scenery, some made to be portable.......
Fast-Forward 25 years.... I'm in the middle of a divorce, living by myself in a 1 bedroom apartment, and besides design/building a multi-level bunk bed system so that my 4 boys could come visit me, I'm getting back into my railroad. I started by laying track on 1 of 2 2 1/2 foot by 6 foot tables that a former room mate of 13 years previous had built for his HO layout. This became the beginning of Klundenberry 2.0. At that point I started thinking about "what, where and when" this HO empire would encompass.
And then I meet the lady who would become my second wife....... and she added fuel to the fire of my obsession with trains and motorcycles....... she was dangerous on Ebay.....
I turned to Microsoft Streets & Trips as a way of scouting locations and then drawing the fictitious railroads. I decided on Northern California because of the mountains and the existence of the ATSF (my favorite railroad) and SP between Sacramento, Reading and Reno. That's when I developed what Klundenberry and adjacent Garrett Jct was all about. The table became Garret Jct where the KSLRR operated out of and transferred coal to the UPMD. Klundenberry became a small city. I also wanted to use the names of my family in this empire: Taylor, Channing, Garrett, Lewis - Sons from first marrage. Konecny - last name of my step son. Sarah - my daughter with my 2nd wife. Humphrey - our family name.
The following 2 screen shots from Microsoft Streets and Trips are of the HO Empire and the area around Klundenberry.
You will notice all of the family names. The only name not used is that of my wife, which also happens to be the name of my EX wife......... I know, weird.
I also further developed that the KSL would serve the mine and the town of Klundenberry using a 3-truck Bachmann Shay and a Tyco 2-6-2 Baldwin, while the GTC served the lumber mills using a 2-truck MDC Shay.
Nothing much happened with further development although I did once setup temporary Bachmann Easy Track, on a folding DJ table that I had built 16 years prior, connected in a loop to Garrett Jct so that me and the boys could run some trains. The Garrett Jct moved from my apartment to my future wife's condo, to a house we rented in Garden Grove CA, to Perris CA, to Las Vegas, to Marshfield MO, to Springfield MO (in a Quonset hut at my mother-in-law's) and then finally to a house that we were able to buy in Nixa MO......
I have an 11' x 22' room in the basement. Now, how to squeeze a layout, that will allow me to run 14 car passenger trains and 40 car freights, in a not-so-big space? Answer: Multi-Level! That's when I turned to CAD-Rail. It's not free, it's a bit difficult to use, but allowed me to create a custom library of track based on Atlas Code 100 where I modify the length of switches and use lots of Flex-Track and view in 3D and control viewing and editing of layers.
The following 3 screen-shots are of:
The overall HO empire with all layers turned on
Klundenberry and Garrett Jct
The 3D rendering of what is designed so far
When I say "designed", well it's more like "here's a concept" and "here's as-built" as I'm designing the shelving while I'm laying track. I mainly use CADRail so that I can figure out the elevations based on a max 2% grade. You could say that this is a hybrid table/shelve layout. I also wire up as I go so that I CAN operate some trains and trouble shoot track issues, mainly back and forth from two levels of the storage modules to a point just East of Truckee. The wiring is done with the future of DCC in mind while being somewhat block-controlled for the 7 MRC Power packs that I have. I plan on upgrding ALL of my DC engines to DCC.....one day?
I hope you enjoyed the story so far. I will be posting photos of what I have built so far and how I am Using Arduino for Turn-Out operation.......
