Dick’s been back in touch – he’s still adding his huge Kato Unitrack N scale.
(There are lots of Kato track plans here if that’s what you are after.)
“Hi Al:
After a 3 week stay in the hospital and recovery I am now able to work on this huge layout.
Just before I ended up in the hospital, I had uprooted some track to make changes to Chicago and Oakland.
All track is in place, now it is time to add feeders in many places, do test runs again, then finally start on scenery.
Chicago, Denver, Salt Lake City and Oakland on my layout do not resemble the real places, my track arrangements are freelance.
However I can run point to point, changing out locos at each city. or just simply let trains run for show, there is approx 20 scales of track on the layout, 99% Kato Unitrack.
One can sit at any of the cities and do freight switching as well as dropping and adding passenger cars to the passenger trains.
Layout is against 3 walls, 10.5′ long at Chicago, 23.5′ along the narrow 4 track main, then 24′ along the wall to Oakland. The aisle is 3′ wide by 18″.
I enjoy reading all the input from our model train pals worldwide which inspires me to keep at it.
Sincerely
Dick Chapple Sr
Hardin Mt USA”
The single line throughout represents the all double track mainline as it traverses the 4 cities. DCC operation with 4 divisions.
Denver
Midwest Chicago toward salt Lake City
Leaving Salt Lake headed for Oakland
Oakland at far end
Oakland
Oakland and waterfront
Lower tracks entering Denver
Leaving Denver for Salt Lake city
Mountains outside of Salt lake City
Salt Lake City
Coming into Salt Lake City
A big thanks to Dick for sharing his Kato Unitrack N scale – it’s quite a project he’s got going on there.
You can see his last post here.
Now on to John. I posted his brewery project here – but I forgot the youtube vid. So here it is:
That’s all for today folks.
Please do keep ’em coming.
And if you want to stop dreaming and start doing, just like Dick did, the Beginner’s Guide is here.
Remember, it’s the start that stops most people.
Best
Al
PS Don’t forget the latest ebay cheat sheet is here. Still updated daily.
I’m having difficulty seeing how your track plan matches the actual layout. Quite confusing!
it’s getting there………………great job………..
The hardest job you have ahead of you is wiring and covering the mountains.
Lookin good Dick.
The Critic
Magnificent endeavour Dick. Quite impressive to see what someone can do with a lot of space, not to mention a generous budget. I can’t begin to imagine the investment to date on all that Kato sectional track, turnouts and cross-overs, let alone the buildings and structures. And then, of course, there are the trains themselves. I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for long passenger trains, and it looks like you’ve already got some nice transcontinental services represented. They are going to look as stately as the real thing traversing those long, straight, multi-track mains. It’s looking like a club layout … great job man.
With the Brewery building ,Way too critical. brick mortar,body filling mold holes??
Why? The only one that will notice any imperfections is you.
The Critic
Looking Good!!!
That’s a COMMITMENT!
How can you get away with such short radius turns?
You must be modeling the wonderful California Zephyr! I rode that from Oakland to Chicago in the 1960’s and have been up to the Western Pacific Railroad museum in Portola Ca.
Dick, You’re making great progress on your very large layout. Having just bought an oval of Kato HO unitrack to experiment with, I can’t imagine how much you’ve got invested in just the track on your layout. You must have a lot of time to work on your layout to make such great progress. I can’t wait to see what it looks like when the scenery is complete. Keep us posted with your future efforts.
John, That’s an excellent video that makes your brewery project much more comprehensible. The photos were good but the video is superb. I never would have thought of using plastic filler on the molding marks. In fact, I didn’t know it even existed. Your use of Rustoleum rattle can spray paint also makes a lot of sense — lots easier than setting up a spray booth and air brush. I look forward to seeing the part 2 video when you get it posted.
Dick…… You have quite a job in front of you………Its looks like the makings of a great layout. Enjoy the trip……. send pictures as you progress. Impressive.
WOW. What a great layout. I know you run run point to point but are there reverse loops in all that track to turn trains?
That tutorial was great. I watched all three videos.
Instead of cutting the building why didn’t you just adjust the track accordingly? Would have been a lot easier.. Spray the ballast with water slide the tracks over ,vacuum up the old ballast and re-do.
The critic
In reply to some questions, Greg, the minimum curve I used is 381R.
I do not have any reverse loops at present, I may need to do something about that in the future. Reverse loops would definitely solve a problem, but for now I can run continuos loops and appear as though I am doing point to point.
Ken G. Yes I am modeling the Ca Zephyr Route in spirit anyway as the layout is freelance, but I wanted to 4 major cities represented.
My investment in Kato track is large, financed by selling off excess Garden scale trains. I am on SS so if I want a new toy, I must sell toys to finance new toys.
Thankfully over many many years I collected a lot of trains.
James sorry you got confused. The layout really is huge, I had quite a time trying to put the pictures in order of travel, beginning with Chicago, then on to Denver, Salt Lake City and finally Oakland.
Thanks for everyone’s comments, this is the fuel for me to keep pushing on in hopes of replicating to some degree the wonderful stuff that everyone has freely shared.
I sort of followed your n guage layout as retirement project though my benchwork was build by a friend 35 years ago, L shape 20 ft on one leg and 10 feet on the other with literally 5 shelves that for many years were too easy to use as shelves. I finally built my layout with kato unitrak. using the 20 foot section as a big loop going from a large city through a port, oil refinery, brewery, farm, coach yard, and finally a suburb with a park and an airport with Walthers backdrops. I once belonged to a very large n scale club and even after selling stuff off have alot of n scale, primarily passenger equipment with some freight. I have a large oval mainline, and two small point to point sections for traction passenger and freight and an elevated line. My big city passenger terminal is the first mockup for Chicago Grand Central Station for the HO club that I belong to which scaled out to n scale and which I replaced with a full HO scale mockup (though it is long gone) As I mentioned I belong to a moderate sized layout HOL club which got me to build a two level point to point layout on two shelves of the 10 foot section for HO traction. That layout is built with Bachman track on plastic road bed with each sectional piece jumpered with wires. And finally my old lionel layout is an oval traction layout.