Los Angeles Alameda Spur

I spend so much time on google just “driving around” it’s fantastic

I’ll patch out my boxcar at some stage anyway!

 

Thanks Paul!

i will definitely be taking that on board as I know I will end up running DCC

 

(Edited - added layout drawing)

I think I have finally got my track plan sorted
And settled on something simple 2 industry setup but also adding a run around, have built a small 450mm extension making the total length 2250mm to allow me to fit it all in and be useable, the blank area in the lower section will be some vacant blocks, bit of a yard for the foundry and not sure what else just yet

Needed some workbench space back and fixed some Flexi-rail shelving brackets up on the wall, I’ll be able to add another rail and bracket once I finish off the extension which will be added onto the right hand side,

I’ll grab some lighting for above the layout and below for my bench this week and then back to the track laying!

 

Cheers Gary

That’s exactly the type of thing I had in mind, I’m mixing the area between Alameda St and Irving with the area between fruitland ave and E 55th

https://goo.gl/maps/dRHC7URBfEjkXHpj8

I was a foundry man for 13 years which is why I’m keeping this little scene and industry on the left hand end,
will make for some great little details, bonus is there is a bunch of foundry’s in the Vernon area as well

like you have on your layout, important to include the little curve track in like
We see all over LA and Miami

 

Made up some extensions for my benchwork over the last couple nights, thought it would make more sense structurally to add 225mm on each end rather than trying to support 450mm off one,

all left over materials so we can call it a free upgrade!

brings my total length to 2250mm or 7’4”
much more breathing room for the run around

also messed around with one of the structures, will be doing a bit of a kit bash and only using the rear half of the building but that’s all we really need!

 

Yes correct, this will be the industry on the rear right hand side, Beverage or produce distribution something along those lines, I will base it off an existing or recently existing one at least from within the LAJ

I've got a couple of 60footers coming in the mail this week so i can finalize the spacing,

finished off installing the bench extension and layed down a bit of polyfiller to seal the foam,

picked up some neat LED lights, 3 that i installed up top for the layout are dimmable and a bit warmer in colour,
grabbed a couple standard LED battons for my workbench lighting as well,

grabbed a Kato controller while i was in the city this past week and made a start on the wiring for the layout, had to mod the standard cables and cut in a molex plug.
even though i'm running DC for now, trying my best to get my head around DCC and planning for that later on.

going to run a main power bus, drop feeders down at each end and maybe drop a few more down from the run around or points, but may not wire them in to the bus yet,
will see how it runs anyway!

hope everyone has had a productive week!

 

4x 50's and 1x 60 high cube is due on wednesday i thought i'd ordered 2 but i'll save that for the next order!
ended up getting them from trainworld just based on what was available, i'll post them up once they arrive

 

a few goodies arrived this week from the US of A

first time ive ever seen the Athearn Genesis in person, and wow! blown away by the detail on those,
cant' wait to get some weathering down.

InterMountain BNSF 50' High Cube
Walthers 50' BN Patched RailBox
Walthers BNSF 60' High Cube
Athearn Genesis BN 50'
Athearn Genesis SSW Patched Golden West 50' Primed For Grime

finally got enough rolling stock to properly test my track layout,
got a bit more wiring to do and its test time.

 

thanks Chris!

sorry for the lack of updates, was spending too many hours in the garage each night working on the layout, needed to take a bit of a break.

wiring is complete, track is layed and glued, have ran a few test ops and its all running great.

started one of the industry buildings (which is still undecided on the name) it was the Walthers Modern Business Park kit, but i've pretty much halved it so i can use it as a low relief background type building, one end will have an open roller door with a bit of an interior (forklift, racking, pallets, boxes ect)

braced the building with some 4x4mm oak, balsa for the floor and wall, need to add some thickness on the floor which i'll do with styrene sheet.

i'll grab some photos underneath of the wiring, i think it turned out pretty neat,

going to paint and weather the track this weekend, and next will be ballast/ground cover along with continuing the structure!

 

Sick day with one of my kids today, had a bit of time while they were sleeping and layed down the base colour for the track, waiting on a new airbrush to arrive, so i just used some Rust-Oleum camoflauge Earth Brown, looks pretty good for a base,
wiped the paint off the tops of the rails with some Isopropyl Alcohol and quick clean with the track cleaning rubber.

i will go back over the ties with some different washes to lighten them up and also give the sides of the rails some rust,

shot of my wiring underneath as well, just needs a couple clips i'll pickup next time i'm in the hardware store.

 

G’day, has been a while!

back after a bit of a break, summer was a bit too warm to be in the garage plus many other projects needed to be done around the house..

My son who just started school this year got me to get the layout running again over the weekend, he’s having a blast switching and being my engineer, bit of inspiration to get back into it again, planning to ballast and get some ground cover down, bought a new badger patriot airbrush recently and just waiting for a new hose to arrive,

I’ll get some photos up as the ground cover, concrete and asphalting progresses

 

I've had this Hornby building for a while, ended up being the perfect proto-freelance base for this scene on the layout,
bit of research i found the building is an old scout hall that has since been vacant, and only recently refurbished, timeline on my layout is while its still vacant and looking a bit derelict,

made up a new roof more in line with the proto,
messing around with the paint scheme currently, may go back to plain off white though,
roof will be bitumen and i'll board up the windows

feels good to make a little progress!
tomorrow i'll be building the backdrop panels